The 5 a.m. Feeding Round: Looking After the Soi Dogs of Haad Rin

Five o'clock on Koh Phangan, and the island is still. The bars have closed, the roosters are only warming up, and the sky behind the hills is the colour of tea with milk. I put two bags of dry food and a bottle of water in my scooter basket and set off on the same loop I have walked for three years.

I know them all by name. Big Mama lives behind the laundry shop and has raised more puppies than I can count. Two old gentlemen called Tom and Jerry sleep in front of the noodle stall. A small, limping dog I call Captain has a place on the beach road, next to a fishing boat. And in the last lane there is a pale ginger dog who looks very much like my own Noodle, who herself was a beach pup at Haad Rin, sleeping on a sunbed nobody claimed. Maybe that is why I started.

There are a few rules I try to follow. I feed at the same time and in the same place so the dogs know when to expect me, and I use cheap, simple dry food, not leftovers, and never chicken bones. I always put out fresh water, because in the hot season that matters more than the food. I do not leave plastic bags around, and I take every empty packet home. I try not to feed near a shop door, out of respect for the people who live and work there. Most of them are kind and tell me which dog is new.

I also learned the other part of the job. Feeding a dog is not the same as helping him. A local rescue group runs sterilisation days several times a year, and I help by carrying dogs, filling forms and giving lifts on my scooter. The vet there told me that a fed, healthy, sterilised dog is far less likely to get into trouble, and that anyone who finds a sick or injured dog should bring it to a clinic instead of waiting. I have done that twice. One of them, a puppy with a swollen paw, now lives with a Dutch couple in Chaloklum.

By seven, the sun is up, the heat starts to build and the dogs retreat to the shade. I ride home with sand in my shoes and a quiet head. Noodle meets me at the door, sniffs my hands carefully, and reads the whole morning in them. I think she approves.