The 10 Questions I Most Often Get Asked - Answered

Who owns Chopper?

Every week the questions I get asked are pretty much repeated in my DMs. I thought I’d gather the 10 most popular ones here so as everybody can benefit…

1. Who Owns Chopper And Lucky?

They live in the jungle on a plot of land where workers come and go from week to week. They live under the houses as they make great shelter. It is private land and one family said they owned Chopper when he was a small puppy but they are rarely, if ever there. They are however not my dogs to give away or to adopt out. As you can see they are extremely happy, well fed, sheltered and love their spot. As street dogs go, they have a set up fit for royalty.

2. Can I Adopt One Of The Dogs I See?

Yes. I have managed to re-home 14 so far. 13 are in Thailand and 1 (Izzy) is making her way to Europe. There is a lot of admin and paperwork involved in getting the dogs to Europe / USA and it takes about 4 months (where I need to find a home for them here). At the moment I am not set up to do that properly but I will be soon. In about 2 months time I will have a full system in place to do this at scale. A flight for the dogs typically costs about $500-1000.

3. How Can I Start Doing Something Like This Myself?

So many people want to help animals or make a difference but don’t know where to start. I was the exact same in January of this year.

• You don’t have to start with 100 animals. Start with 1 or 2

• Read, follow and watch what me and other people do. I didn’t know a thing about any of this 9 months ago. Everybody who does this is learning as they go along and you will too.

• It doesn’t have to be an all or nothing that you do in 10 years time after lots of planning or quitting your career. There is no reason why you can’t do a tiny little bit tomorrow.

4. How Do You Afford To Do This?

I’m lucky enough to have savings from when I worked in corporate world and had my own company. Living costs in Thailand are very cheap and I have a very modest 2 bed apartment and don’t do much apart from the dogs. As it has grown people have donated to help with vet trips and sterilising as that is where the costs really add up.

I’m very conscious that longer term to save 1000s of dogs I’ll need to create revenue streams to facilitate that.

5. Can I Volunteer?

Not yet. I’m not set up for it here in Thailand at the moment. I would love to have help but I am in the process of setting up a charitable foundation. When I have that set up I’ll have a great volunteer programme. I can point you in the direction of people who help dogs who need help.

6. Can I Come Out And Feed The Dogs With You?

At the moment it really is just me who does everything from feeding, making content, sterilising, vet trips and everything else. I have so few hours in the day that I literally zip through it on my bike. As I get more set up I will have ways to come and see the dogs with me in one central place but at the moment my days are just too stretched.

7. How Can I Help Now?

I don’t really like shouting about donations or constantly putting up sad images as I feel there is enough of that out there. I try to bring happiness to social media feeds even if the stories are not always perfect they can hopefully show the positive in the world. There are 2 simple ways which are super powerful and which will directly help save dogs…

1. Spread the word. Just tell other dog lovers about Instagram or TikTok

2. You can always donate here.

8. Have You Ever Been Bitten Or Attacked?

Not yet. Britney was the closest. The trick so far has been walking away when you get a bad feeling from the situation. It’s bound to happen now tomorrow after saying I haven’t so far!

9. What’s Wrong With Jumbo’s Legs?

We have tried everything with the vet. We’ve treated him with about 5 different types of medicines. The good news is we have medicines now that work but which are strong and bad for his kidneys. I have to start and stop these as they swell up. He is only ever in pain and a bit down for about 1-3 days per month total and the rest of the time doesn’t suffer.

10. How Long Will You Do This For?

My entire life. I don’t want or need anything else from life. I’m slowly morphing from aiming to save 10,000 dogs per month to trying to improve the lives of ALL street dogs around the world. This is a vocation and my life’s calling. Very very few people are lucky enough to find themselves in a position to have that and to actually be able to do it. If I’m lucky enough to live long enough I’ll be out feeding dogs in my 80s.

If you ever have anything more specific just reply to this email and I’ll see it and can answer it there.

Hope you are all having a great week.

Big love

Niall