My Disney “Snow White Syndrome”

Actually it should be the Disney Princess syndrome. I’ve seen it in Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty as well.
I’m not talking about the clinical “Snow White Syndrome” with a wicked step-mother and envy issues. I’m talking about when we first meet Snow White. She is busy cleaning and she is singing “I am Wishing” and draws a group of doves to her. Shrek spoofed this with their version of Snow White.
Now I don’t have chipmunks help me out with the cleaning, but I seem to draw the weary and downtrodden to me. It drives my husband insane!

My family have never own pets except goldfish in Canada. Mom was allergic, and in Toronto, most animals are firmly attached to leashes. But, once I moved to Keri Keri, this soon changed. I don’t think there’s been a place that Jonathan and I have lived where we didn’t have some kind of dog or cat hanging out around the house. Jonathan is a great dog handler, his mother is a dog breeder and he loves them. We both agreed though that with the amount of traveling that we do, we should not own pets. It would be unfair to them.
One of our friends here in Thailand had a cat, which quickly has multiplied to 20 cats. He’s running a cat empire (and you thought it was a “cat lady” didn’t you?).
Dogs in Thailand are another issue. I think that you truly understand the saying “It’s a Dog’s Life” here in Thailand. Even the most loved dogs with owners and regular feedings get hurt by interacting with the “strays” around the island. Dogs have a distinct pecking order and often run in packs here. Many of them have “mange” a skin disorder caused by parasites. (You may have heard the term mangy dog before).

Many of them don’t have enough food to eat.
And some of them are injured from being run over by cars or in fights with other dogs.
I think many tourists feel that they can pet the animals, but you need to be very careful. You never know when a dog will think you are aggressive and bite you. Running on the beach may be an issue as sometimes there are packs of dogs around.


(**Warning the following picture, even though it's a before and after is disturbing**)

I’ve never been bitten, but I tend to leave the dogs alone. Even though I feel really sorry for them. It’s one of the things that are a sore point for me, living in Asia.
Luckily, I’ve learned about a dog shelter and program here on the island. They run strictly on donations. http://www.samuidog.org/