The new year...

A time for reflection. A time for new resolutions. But when you're wearing your favorite jammies and wrapped in your favorite blanket, it can all wait till tomorrow.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Everyday is Christmas for Tai

...well, almost everyday. There is a 12-year-old boy who comes to our restaurant with his family for supper almost everyday. And he always comes bearing gifts.

The boy is one of a very small, select group of customers that Tai gets visibly excited about. He loves to play with Tai--of course, doesn't everybody?-- and always brings something for Tai to play with. It is usually just a simple plastic bottle--you know, the Coke- or Pepsi-style of bottle. These half-litre bottles are just the right size for Tai to get his mouth around. He loves to bite into the rigid plastic, making as much crunching and crackling noise as possible. He'll toss it over his head, making it bounce and jump. He'll push it all round by his stubby nose, as if he's in a "Peanut Race." Or he'll simply pick it up and run as fast as he can from one end of the building to the other.

Tai gets far more enjoyment out of something like that than he does from any gift we might purchase from a store. Gotta love that kind of Christmas shopping list.

Tai wishes one and all a very Merry Christmas.

Tai never needs a pedicure

One of the hot topics in the web board these days is cutting a doggie's nails. What equipment to use and how to go about it safely. For the most part, our Tai doesn't have that problem. He never needs them clipped, except the little "dew claw" nails. You know, the ones about an inch above the ankles. (His ankles, not mine.) The nails on his toes are kept trimmed naturally as he walks and runs and plays on concrete. In all the years Tai has been in charge of this family, we've never had to trim his nails. The exception being, as said, for the little dew claws, which have on more than one occasion given me a pretty nasty slash.

What's on the menu--the retraction

Well, it didn't take Tai to long to prove me wrong. After my comment about Tai eating chicken and only chicken, he surprised us all. We brought home two large grilled fish for dinner the other night. Tai was clearly very hungry and sat expectantly beside the table. It's unusual for him to sit beside the table, so he must have been ravenous. We though, what the heck, let's see if he'll eat some fish. He did. His usual chicken was still cooking, so we gave him a little more fish. And then some more. And this continued until he had finished off half a fish. I guess there's no need to tell you that he wasn't too keen to eat his chicken after all that!

What's on the menu?

Tai is a healthy eater. Having said that, I must point out that that sentence can be interpreted in a couple of ways.

Does Tai eat healthy foods? Yes and no. Tai eats chicken... roasted chicken... and only roasted chicken. (I think you get the point. He doesn't have a particularly varied menu.) He pretty much turns up his little nose at everything else. On the very rarest of occasions, he'll deign to eat a tiny amount of pork or fish, but I could probably count on one hand the number of times that would happen in a year. The vet says we've probably spoiled Tai by not forcing him to accept other foods. Yeah, he's probably right. But Tai is a healthy boy, and to make sure he stays healthy, we give him a supplement regularly so he gets all the vitamins and minerals he needs. I should mention that we have gotten him to eat a little bit of dry dog food after all the chicken is eaten. He won't tolerate it mixed in, only added after the fact and only in small amounts. If we try to dump in a heaping amount, he's immediately turned off. So we mete it out a bit at a time till he feels he's had enough and walks away to the water bowl. That's the signal that dinner has officially come to a close.

Does Tai eat a good, healthy amount? Yes and no. Generally, he dives right in and practically inhales his food. Occasionally, he'll pick at it, eat just a few tiny pieces, then walk away. No amount of coaxing will get him back to the dish. This could go on for days. But then he gets good 'n hungry again and dives back into his chicken.

So, how did he become a finicky eater? I think it stems from puppyhood before we 'rescued' him. They were giving him rice with something added (could be chicken, pork, fish, possibly spicy sauces). To him, it was so unappetizing that he would just ignore it. By the time he was hungry enough, the ants had already claimed the food bowl and turned it into a writhing mass. To this day, Tai won't go near his bowl if he detects even a tiny amount of rice.

When all is said and done, though, he is healthy. We know it, and the vet confirms it. Everyone comments on how bright and shiny and soft his coat is. Everybody's happy.

So... chicken anyone?

The Boy's Toys

Tai loves his toys. But then, so do all dogs. He particularly likes squeaky balls. The squeakier--and more annoying--the better. The ordinary non-squeek variety just don't cut the mustard with our Tai. He loves to play 'Fetch' with his squeak toys, although he still has a long way to go to understand the whole concept of fetch--he retrieves the ball, then runs in a completely different direction, with what looks like a smile on his face... "Hah, got it, and I'm not gonna give it back."

For a while, Tai's favorite toy was a length of nylon rope that we tied into a kind of noose. We made it thick enough that he could easily grab it and it wouldn't lose its shape. Perfect for playing tug-of-war. He would work feverishly to undo knots that held the woven nylon in place. Given enough time, he'd have the whole thing completely unwoven. Clever boy! Then we'd weave it back up again, and the whole process would start over again. The only reason he doesn't have one now is that we haven't made any for him lately. Perhaps he'll get one for Christmas.

But his absolute all-time favorite toy is a simple box. Cereal box, toothpaste box, cookie box--as long as it's made of boxboard, it's prime toy material. I happen to like cookies and milk while I watch TV in the evening. Tai comes and sits beside me, waiting to lick the last little bit of milk from my glass, but more importantly, to get the cookie box. When I give the 'go' word, he will tear that cookie box into a million tiniest pieces, scattering its dismembered remains all over the place.

I have to say that I can't help wondering how much of ancient doggie instincts are at work when our adorable BTs are at play. To see Tai attack a defenceless cardboard box or a nylon noose, shake it senseless, then attempt to pull it limb from limb, I have to wonder if he truly believes he is killing something. A rather gruesome thought, huh?

It was inevitable...

Tai has enjoyed a lot of freedom since we moved to our present home in northeastern Thailand. We now have no yard or garden for him to play in as we did when we lived in Chiang Mai. Our apartment here is above our restaurant in a commercial building. So, as long as our front door is open, Tai can pretty much come and go as he pleases.

In the mornings, he makes a bee-line for the nearest pillar or post to pee. But then he likes to wander around to see who has visited the area in the night. We've noticed lately that his wanderings have taken him much farther afield... much too far for my liking. I'm always concerned that he will be either attacked by other local dogs or stolen.

This week, my fears were realized. While out on one of his wanderings, he must have encountered one of the many dogs that claim this area as their territory. Tai always wants to meet and make friends with any dog he sees, and so he's entirely unprepared for those who are mean and defensive. Obviously, the encounter didn't go as he had expected. He was bitten on his hind leg. Nothing serious, but enough to scare the sh** out of him. He was cowering and shaking when I got home from school later in the day. Perhaps he thought he was going to get into trouble. We're watching the wound to see that it doesn't develop into something serious, and we're keeping an eye on him to make sure he stays close.

The question now is, Has he learned anything from the experience? I tend to doubt it. He's just too independent--much too independent for his own good sometimes.

Winter in Thailand

Yup, even tropical Thailand has a winter season. (No snow, though, thank goodness.) At this time of year, the daytime temp reaches about 28C (80F)--as compared with the usual high of upper 30s (mid-90F) during the rest of the year--and nighttime temp is around 18C (64F). When you're used to lows of 28C, a temp of 18C can feel pretty darned cold. It calls for long sleeves, long trousers, maybe even socks in bed. I know, to friends and family back in N.America, it all sounds wimpish to make such claims.

Tai doesn't like the cold weather either. On a cool morning, he quite enjoys wearing his 'pajamas'. The front of our restaurant doesn't get direct sunshine except in the early morning. He loves to sit (or lie) out front, watching the world go by, waiting to greet the first customer. But he is clearly uncomfortable lying on the concrete patio. Hence the need for his pajamas. If it's too cold for his sensitive constitution, he always has a soft blanket inside the restaurant where he can curl up and snooze away the day.

At night, Tai makes a bee-line for the foot of the bed, under the blankets. He usually likes to sleep against someone, so I might wake up in the night to find him flat against my back or my stomach.

Do all dog owners do this? If I have to get up in the night (don't need to tell you why, do I?), I do it carefully and quietly so as not to disturb Tai. Why? Why should I care if he's disturbed or not? It's not like he can't afford to lose a few minutes of sleep occasionally. Weird.

Tai's Part-Time Job

Yes, it's true. Tai has a part-time job. Well, not a job so much as a self-declared run of the video rental shop next door. It's an open-air shop (no actual front door that closes), so Tai--being the ever-outgoing soul that he is--goes to visit the owner and to greet their customers. Tai assures us there is no conflict of interest--he can greet their customers without it interfering with his duties greeting our customers.

I thought Tai might be a royal nuisance next door, so I was always herding him out if I saw him go in there. If I couldn't find Tai in our restaurant, I knew for sure he'd be next door. The owner assures us, though, he's happy to have Tai visit.

Now if we could just get him to stop peeing on the display racks. (I'm not kidding!!!!!!)

The People He Likes...and Doesn't

Tai is such a cool, calm, collected guy. If he were human, he'd be described as a people person. So I guess that means he's a dog's dog.

He loves to greet everyone as they come into the restaurant and checks on them occasionally as they enjoy their coffee or a meal. Well, everyone isn't exactly correct. For whatever reason, Tai will take an immediate dislike to someone, usually a man, as soon as that person walks through the door. It is the only time Tai will growl. We can't figure out what it is about the person that he doesn't like, but it is very obvious that Tai doesn't like him.

When we took Tai on the train a couple of years ago, he was sitting with us as pets are allowed to do in third class. People were moving up and down the aisle... the ticket collectors, food vendors, passengers. Tai's reaction to everyone was merely curiosity. That is, until one particular man came up the aisle. That was the first time ever that we had heard Tai growl. Ever. The man did nothing to provoke the reaction. Perhaps just Tai's sixth sense. Since then, it is only rarely that he will growl at someone.

Tai is great with kids. Well, actually, it just means he's enormously tolerant of their poking and patting and prodding and pulling. Once he's had enough, he sneeks away to some hiding spot to snooze till those pint-sized humans go away. For some kids, he'll bring out his ball. He wants to play. But with others, it's a hasty retreat.

Tai Approves

We recently bought some new outdoor patio furniture for our restaurant. Simple, basic bamboo tables and chairs. Very practical, given our tropical climate, and very inexpensive. The 'inexpensive' part really works for me!

The new furniture has been a hit with the customers. But more importantly, it's a hit with Tai. He has already chosen one table that he uses to bask in the morning sunshine. A perfect vantage point from which to watch the world go by.

I know what some of you are thinking... A dog on the table. Disgusting. Well, this is Thailand, and they don't worry about little things like cleanliness. Well, actually they do, just not as obsessively as we do in the Western world. But then again, even in the Western world, we dog lovers have learned to love our little BTs kissing our faces, sharing our ice cream cones, and cleaning off the plates after dinner... or even during dinner. Simply part of normal everyday life with a Boston, right?

By the way, we do clean our tables. And we don't let Tai jump up while customers are sitting there. We do exercise some common sense! ;-)

Our Boston Bathing Beauty

Ahh, bath time. Those few glorious moments of utter bliss, soaking in a hot bath. A bit of scented bubble-bath, a candle or two for ambient lighting, the sound of birds singing in the background.

Oops, we're talking about Bostons here, so the preceding description, at least for some, could not be farther from the truth. When it comes to bath time, some Bostons hate it and fight it tooth and nail. A battle royale, so to speak. Others revel in it, playing games with the jets of water from the hand-held shower. And I suppose the rest merely tolerate it, looking pathetically woe-begone, as they stand there in full undignified exposure, no doubt planning revenge in the form of a chewed slipper or a little wet spot on the carpet or a "gift" left behind the sofa.

With Tai, it's really hard to tell how he feels about it all. He certainly doesn't hate it. He stands there, seemingly unfazed by all the soaping and rinsing and towel-drying of his mentionable and unmentionable parts. Right from Day One, he has never fought bath time. Always the trooper.

Oddly, though, Tai likes to lick the soap. I don't mean the bar of soap, I mean the soap suds on our hands or feet. Ewww! Yuck! But, then, this is a dog that likes to lick bird poop... and we all know how disgusting that tastes! (oops, just pretend I didn't mentioned that)

The end of bath time usually triggers a mad dash around the apartment. Sometimes he won't even wait to be dried. Dripping wet--and despite our cries of "Stay! Stay!"--he'll take off on a tear from one end to the other, searching for a toy or a playmate. I guess to him bath time is just play of a different kind.

(Sorry, no pics for this posting. Tai would not release any pics of himself in such an unflattering situation.) ;-)

Boston of Another Kind

When we moved to his part of Thailand, we opened a small restaurant/coffee shop. In addition to our famous coffee (many tell us it's the best coffee in town), we serve a pleasing mix of Thai-style and western-style dishes. October 2007 was our first anniversary. During this first year, business has steadily grown--largely by word of mouth--necessitating the addition of part-time staff. Naturally, we're pleased about that.

So what does all this have to do with Tai and Boston Terriers in general, you might ask? Well, the name of our place is Boston-T Cafe. And Tai's face is our logo. In fact, we have photos of Tai all over the restaurant. A testament to exactly who runs things around here! At first, people thought we were a pet store. But with a bit of promotion everywhere we went, they have gotten to know us better.

We're a pet-friendly restaurant. As long as visiting pooches are pleasant and sociable, we're happy to have them. So is Tai.

In our early months, customers would be on their cell phones, saying they were at Boston-T. You just knew the person at the other end was asking, 'Where's that?', because our customer then tried to explain where we are. Today when customers say 'Hey, we're at Boston. Wanna meet us?', there is rarely a need to give directions. By the way, note the reduction in name to just Boston. Ahh, we've become an icon.

Tai is our ambassador. He loves to greet the customers. He lies on the welcome mat in the doorway, waiting for the next customer to come along, or he peeks through the little opening in the window decoration. Many tell us HE is the reason they like to come back... well, that and the great food, of course!

Our Boston Traveller

Tai loves to travel. Just say the words "pai-tee-aow"--the Thai language equivalent of ROAD TRIP!--and he's the first one to the door. As soon as he's finished peeing on the tires, we're good to go, whether it's to the corner store or across the country.

Tai is definitely the co-pilot type, wanting to sit right up front with the grown-ups, preferably on the passenger's lap. Sometimes he wants to be on the driver's lap, but we do draw the line. After all, he doesn't have his driver's license yet.

As you can imagine, tropical living calls for air-conditioning pretty much all the time, at home and in the car. Tai doesn't like air-conditioning; so when we're in the car, he navigates for a while, then heads to the back seat where he curls up and goes to sleep. (Sometimes we have to turn up the music to cover his snoring!)

As mentioned in the previous post, Tai has even travelled by train. In Thailand, pets can travel with their two-legged companions only in third class. Wood seats and open windows. If the weather is good, it is a great way to see the country. Tai loves to watch the countryside roll by, and he loves to see (and visit) the other people on the train. Bostons are not common here, so he draws a lot of attention and prompts a lot of conversations. Tai wouldn't have it any other way!

A Boston at Sleep

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No barking from this boy

I don't like barking dogs. It seems the dogs that bark the most are those behind gates and fences, those who don't get a chance to meet the rest of the world first-hand. Tai, we're pleased to say, is a very quiet dog. In fact, people comment on it. Why is he so quiet? they ask. Because he's a happy, well-socialized dog, we answer.

As mentioned in our first post, we got Tai when he was already 9 months old. Certainly old enough for bad habits--like barking--to be well seeded. Amazingly (to me at least) we didn't hear a peep out of him until several months later. He never barked at strangers, he never barked at other dogs, and believe it or not, he never barked at the postman! Even now, he is a delightfully quiet boy.

I remember very well my own words when, on that momentous day, Tai decided to exercise his vocal chords: "What the hell was that?" It sounded like an old man with a hoarse cough. It sounded like he really had to work hard at getting the sound to come out. But I suppose it would be like us trying to speak after a year of not uttering a word. (Mind you, he's much better at it now, so his voice is not as deep as it was in those early days.)

What brought about the voice from the deep on that day? Simple. His favorite toy was under the sofa, and he couldn't get at it. Little else brings out such vocal lambasting as a favorite toy just out of reach. And once he starts, there is no stopping him till said favorite toy is dutifully retrieved and returned to said owner. Only then, does peace and quiet return to the realm. Until the next time!

Interestingly, though, when Tai wants our attention for all other situations, he doesn't bark, he sneezes. A little sneeze, then an expectant stare. Then another sneeze, then "the stare" again. Only when we fail to pick up on this polite call for our attention does he issue a slightly stronger half sneeze-half bark. It's so cute, how could we not cater to his every whim. One day when we were visiting this city before we eventually moved here, we were up at 5.30am, loading the car for an early start on our return trip to Chiang Mai. We heard Tai sneeze behind us. Then he sneezed again. When I turned, ready to tell him we didn't have time to play, I saw it... "it" being a snake, a big black snake, about 3 to 4 feet long, trying to get into the house. It was climbing up the door jamb and was just about onto a shelf just inside the open door. After some quick work with the broom, we managed to coax the snake out of the house and on its way in another direction. You can be sure Tai was treated like royalty that day. (Well, okay, he's treated like royalty EVERY day! But you know what I mean.)

Tai is an amazingly quiet doggie, for which we're thankful, except when he's snoring... but that's a story for another posting.

Introducing our boy, Tai

This blog is about our boy, a 4-year-old Boston Terrier called Tai. He is the center of our life and, naturally, he wouldn't have it any other way. Through this blog, we'll share Tai's life and times here in Thailand. Perhaps some of his stories will seem out of the ordinary, especially if you too have a Boston, while others might be intriguing and novel. Hopefully, you will find all the stories entertaining.

By the way, here's a bit of basic info, just to set the scene. There are three of us in our little family... a Canadian, a Thai, and of course our boy Tai. We lived in Bangkok for a few years, then in Chiang Mai (northern Thailand) for one year, then recently moved to a small city in northeastern Thailand. (No, we are not on the run!) By the way, Tai has learned to understand commands in both English and Thai... and is very skilled at ignoring those commands in both languages equally well. Thai is very independent.

In this first posting, we share how Tai came into our lives...

Tai came to us when he was 9 months old. We rescued him from an elderly American man living in our apartment building in Bangkok. To call it a rescue is not necessarily a criticism of the man's care of Tai--well, yeah, actually I guess it is--but it was not entirely his own fault. The man acquired Tai from a local pet shop, who acquired Tai from a puppy mill. For the first few months of his life, Tai lived quite well because the elderly man wasn't working and was home most of the time. At any time when he went out for a few hours, he left Tai with the girl who ran the admin office of the apartment building. But then the man got a part-time teaching job, which meant he was away from home more and more. Tai was left chained to a fence. Not as cruel as it might initially sound because the fence was right in front of the office and was well protected from the elements. The girl in the office did show Tai some attention, but let's face it, she had her own job to do. So there he was, chained to a fence for hours on end, with no one to play with and nothing to to do. He had no opportunity to learn how to be a socialized doggie and soon became distrustful of everyone.

Then it got worse. The elderly man slipped in his shower and was quite badly injured. There was no way he could take care of a young energetic puppy. The admin girl tried her best by letting Tai run around in her office, and by feeding him. However, when her workday ended, out he'd go to be chained once again at the fence for the night. And the Thai style of feeding pets, whether dog or cat, is to throw a bit of rice in the bowl with whatever else is at hand (chicken, pork, fish heads, whatever). But the ants usually found his food bowl before Tai did and it quickly became a writhing mass of insect life. Disgusting, to say the least. (To this day, Tai will not go near his bowl if he sees we've tried to mix a bit of rice into his food.)

Soon Tai was spending many long hours--both day and night--chained to that damned fence. We knew the office girl reasonably well, so we asked her if we could take Tai for walks. And we did. Sometimes several times a day. What an immediate change in his personality! Then we asked permission if we could take him up to our apartment where we could feed him something a little more nutritious than "rice and whatever," though we didn't actually tell her we thought her food was crap. And so we did. Everyday we bought something special for him. By this time, the American man had decided to move out of Thailand and gave "custody" of Tai to the office girl. We knew, though, that she was hardly in a position--financially or otherwise--to take care of him, so we told her that we wanted Tai since he was living with us virtually full-time anyway, not to mention already assuming the occasional vet bill. Of course, she agreed.

And so, there you have it. That is how our lives were forever changed. We were no longer in control. We no longer called the shots. From that day moment on, we were owned by a Boston Terrier. More importantly, though, Tai's life changed, very much for the better: comfortable bed, a clean home (oh c'mon, we do clean the apartment every once in a while ;-) , good food, and LOTS of attention. Given the miserable circumstances he had to endure previously, we just couldn't help spoiling him (for which we now pay the price every single day, and we love it!!!).