The Soi Puppy Who Hid Under a Pickup, and Why We Gave Up Pretending

The first time I saw her she was a pair of caramel ears sticking out from under a white pickup in the car park of our condo in Bang Na. It was January, she was maybe ten weeks old, and she was the size of a loaf of bread. Under the truck she was trembling, and she shot backward when I tried to say hello. I put down a small bowl of rice with some boiled chicken from the market, walked away and told myself that was all.

That became a routine. Every evening after work I put down a bowl, and every evening she came a little closer. By the fourth day she ate while I sat on the curb, five metres away. By the sixth she let me touch the top of her head, one finger, very fast. On the seventh evening it poured, a big winter-end storm, and I could not leave her under a truck. I sat on the ground in my office shirt, holding a towel, and said, "Okay, you win." She walked into my arms as if she had been waiting for the invitation.

The vet in Bang Na checked her the next morning. She was thin, had a few fleas and mild worms, and nothing worse. Our vet said she looked healthy for a street puppy and that the first vaccinations and deworming were the priority, then sterilisation when she was old enough. We followed that plan step by step. I will say it was cheaper than I feared, and the receptionist gave her a biscuit on the way out.

The first week at home was a comedy. She did not understand the floor tiles and slid on them. She did not understand the toilet and used my yoga mat. She did, however, understand tug, and the hem of my work trousers is now permanently frayed. And then there is the lift. To this day, at the door of the lift she stops dead and pulls backward, ears flat. I carry her in, she hides in my arms, and she bursts out at the ground floor as if she has escaped something terrible.

She is mixed through and through, probably some of everything the soi has to offer, and I would not trade a single piece of it. Her favourite treat is the plain sausage from 7-Eleven, cut very small. I know, I know, it is not healthy. It is one bite, on Fridays, and she knows exactly which day it is.