For 21 years my husband and I worked in Germany 8 months of the year while travelling the world the remaining 4 months. Although a great and suitable life for the both of us, this lifestyle was not an ideal setting for pets, at least not in the way that I would treat them!

In 2005 many changes came in our lives, one of them being our life changing move to Thailand to pursue a dream of finally living in the Land of Smile.

Initially settling in Hua Hin I found I had ample time on my hands to delve into something that full time work or life on the road had kept me from all those years….and that was working with dogs.

As luck would have it the Hua Hin Dog Rescue was located two minutes from my doorstep, thus beginning my new found love and respect for the street dogs of Thailand and opening my home for the first time to a pet, Vida, our little survivor and joy of our life.

Gentle in nature, forever in need of love, and living at the mercy of the people and surroundings around them have endeared me to the plight of the street dog. For once in my life I finally found a passion that felt reciprocal in its rewards, its pains and its fight. When I see a street dog alone, bleeding and emancipated in the middle of a bustling crowd not hated, not loved, not seen, but treated with indifference, this is what I can no longer turn away from.

Now re-settled in Chiang Mai since 2007, working full time and living 45 minutes from Care for Dogs I no longer could dedicate my time to the cause that had come to be such a large part of my day.

Then along came “Daisy”! Daisy was the bleeding, emancipated dog in the middle of the bustling crowd standing in front of Wat Nong Pla Mon that I rode by daily on my bicycle to work at The Prem International School.

That day was what began for myself and Sandy Clyburn, the first steps towards launching the Hand to Paw Animal Outreach program for the 12 dogs that reside at Wat Nong Pla Mun. With the help of students at The Prem reaching out and taking part in their community, hopefully we can make a small difference by changing indifference to awareness.

I have now found a balance that I hope continues to grow not only for myself, my relationship with Care for Dogs, but also for a handful of dogs in Nong Pla Mun.

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