A Week That Changed Everything

Unbelievable Momentum

Street dogs suffer around the world massively. I see it on a daily basis and it is the reason why around 3 years ago I came up with this insane goal…

Reduce the 500 million stray dogs in the world by 50% over the course of my lifetime to 250 million

You can still go back and read the original post here but to be honest, I very often doubt myself. We get so many knocks that it often feels impossible. I feel stupid for even writing it down.

Luckily I am starting to see very real and tangible progress this week…

Constant Ongoing Heartbreak And Challenges

Recently the bad news seems to have been coming in waves. Many of the dogs that I have looked after and fed for years are in trouble…

• Shadow and Mr Floofer taken away forever

• Coconut missing presumed dead

• Big red shot with 5 bullets

• Several dogs with us in critical medical condition because of humans

I’d be lying if I said these things didn’t affect me personally. Of course there are times when you feel like giving up. You question yourself and wonder if it’s ever possible to change human behavior. Luckily along with the bad news there have been some huge wins…

Tina’s Field Hospital Is Officially Open

So many things started to come together this week with our first vet starting full time and operations taking place. We are fully licensed, have all our paperwork and can finally get to work on dogs. The whole dynamic of Happy Doggo changed overnight as the field hospital opened.

• Big Red was our first patient with 2 bullets successfully removed after he was shot last week

• 14 Dogs were treated here last week with 6 operations conducted

• We can now do blood tests, diagnostics, provide medicines, do simple surgeries and monitor dogs in life threatening conditions

• Our vet team is growing here with assistants, a 2nd vet and our clinic manager all starting. Our Samui team will be training here and fanning out to run mobile sterilizing units in the coming months.

It often feels like it takes months to make tiny progress but then a wave of it comes along at once. I couldn’t help but feel very emotional talking to Tina under my breath, as I walked in to see dogs getting operated on in her hospital.

Tina’s Main Hospital

While the field hospital is operational we are also making progress on the full hospital…

• Work has started on the roads coming in, flood planning and electric is now in place for the builders

• Our plans have been redrawn. You can see a taste of what it looks like below.

• Major equipment like X-ray machines are being ordered

• Our final permits are being submitted within the next 5 weeks with ground being broken in December / January.

The paperwork, planning and design changes in the background have taken so long but we want to get it right and I’m so delighted that dogs are being treated already in Tina’s name.

Huge Global Potential

This week some truly remarkable things started to happen on a global scale. One was when the president of El Salvador shared this update…

I didn’t actually see it but lots of people tagged and suggested my name in the comments. So I replied with the following. You can see the exchange here…

So the wheels are now in motion…El Salvador is a country of about 7 million people and could be the perfect place to roll out a test case. The fact that a government could be willing to embrace a program nationally is exactly what is needed to show other countries how it is done. I plan to fly there to talk to them ASAP. Who knows where it will lead but the work we are already doing can hopefully scale to help millions of dogs.

Friday was also a great day as we brought our sterilizing partners together in Bangkok for a symposium on sterilizing on how to raise standards for street dogs even further and reach larger numbers. There were 9 partners from 3 countries who we have provided funding to for 130,000 dog sterilizations to date. I’m really trying to build collaboration in the space because global change cannot be done alone.

3 Boys In Need Who Typify Our Values

The big picture is so important to me and I am fully determined to change the world for street dogs. That 250 million number is utterly preposterous in terms of scope and ambition but I think this week shows we might just have a chance of getting there.

With so much going on there were 3 very important boys to deal with…

• Bob. We have guided him through the passing of Angelina and into a beautiful new family home to help with his grief.

• Thumper. Threatened last week with a knife he is now with his new family in rural Thailand galloping through the rice fields.

• Big Mac. The first dog I ever fed sausages to outside a 7-11 even before I started this mission. He is sadly at very late stage kidney failure now.

These 3 dogs occupy just as much space in my mind right now as global ambitions for helping dogs. I’m worried sick about Big Mac and making the end of his life as perfect for him as possible. Millions of dogs are important but so is each individual life.

The Mental Challenge Is Immense

I didn’t notice Earth taking this picture. It’s just after Shadow and Mr Floofer had left forever with their owner. They are dogs I’ve fed and looked after for 3.5 years. This is the moment it dawned on me I’d never see them again. The picture explains the pain and the pressure I am under more than words ever could.

This sort of pain is felt across the team. I can’t explain how much pressure many of us are under keeping dogs safe and well. The highs and lows are like the wildest rollercoaster. I’ve spent a lot of the last week trying to help humans on the team as much as the dogs we save. Many of us feel broken from what we see.

There are endless costs, complicated paperwork, logistics, different languages, permits and 100 other stressful things to navigate.

Having said that the most important work of all is sitting with Big Mac just before I wrote this tonight, knowing it will be one of his last few sunsets ever. He only has days or maybe even hours left.

As we lay outside Alba’s kitchen this evening, which is his spot, I told him about all the great things happening for tens of thousands of street dogs. I also told him about the challenges and the huge hits we have been taking recently. He seemed to use every single ounce of his energy to lift and place his paw onto my shoulder. Dogs can’t talk but Big Mac sees everything and I know what he was saying… “Stay strong and keep on helping my friends when I am gone”.

It’s never easy and my heart is shattered this week but I genuinely can’t believe the progress we are starting to make. I can feel it everywhere.

Please have a lovely end to the weekend wherever you are and keep Big Mac in your thoughts. He’s one of the good guys.

Big Love

Niall

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