We have been asked by the owner of Novelty Café in Luang Prabang who has recently moved to Chiang Mai to help find her dog George. This is her message:
Novelty Cafe was a small and quaint cafe but we did the catering for BKK Airways together with Chef McDang and I also work with K2 Thailand and was their LPQ stockiest. But the cafe was more well known for George.
George is 6 years old and has been there pretty much from the beginning.
Because of Covid, my landlords increased the rent and we had no choice but to close down. So we waited for a good moment to pack up and finally make our move to Chiang Mai where my parents reside.
George has always been a one to make the headlines in Luang Prabang. Twice he warned us of a fire on the main street in the middle of the night and was known to be our guard and protector against ya-ba dealers and addicts prowling the streets
He was independent and was even able to cross the Nam Khan River by boat because everyone just knew him.
Even here it turns out a few people have recognised George from Luang Prabang.
We left Luang Prabang and the community even hosted a party for him which was very touching with his favourite treats and since he’s more popular than I am it was quite the Sunday event.
So we took a long boat and travelled up the Mekong to Huay Xai/ Cheng Khong.
That was already quite a bumpy mission. In Covid times its incredibly difficult with so many obstacles, papers, permissions, exceptions for permission to cross with goods that would fill a 20ft container.
Although I say George is very independent, which he is, he feels depends on me and my whereabouts and we have a sort of co-dependent relationship.
I had to leave George in the care of a random truck driver and the miraculous thing was that when it was time to put him in the truck he just understood this was the moment I was prepping him for.
Dispite the seat being half a metre taller than me, I picked him up and he squiggled around and then just took a big leap of faith into the truck and sat behind the drivers seat. He made no fuss and made it so easy on our goodbye. I walked off, took one last look at him, and it was as if he said: see you in Chiang Mai mum!
I got over to Thailand a day later and went into quarantine in Chiang Rai. I’m very impressed by the way. Great hotel, delicious food and everything so well managed.
George arrived safely and went to my parents’ house in Chiang Mai-Lamphun Road soi 4. He stayed in their house and was not allowed to exit the garden which meant he never saw the exterior. This is why I know he is lost. He doesn’t know what the house looks like from the outside.
All was good at home but after eight days my parents went for dinner and he was alone and I suppose had too much time to think. He made a hole in the mosquito screen dug himself out of the garden fence and took off.
George has a very protective nature. It’s only natural for him to come search for me.
He was spotted at Nong Hoi Market and then again at the Rajavej Hospital where he made several attempts to surpass the automatic doors and the security guards had to shoo him away a few times. It was his persistence that caught their attention but at that point news hadn’t circulated yet. That was a day after his escape from home.
It’s been 5 days since his disappearance.
It’s not only for me that I am frantically doing my utter best to search for this dog, I owe it to the Luang Prabang community who are cheering me and George all the way. That dog means a lot to a whole community and just as he has always shown up for everyone I am tying to do my best to show up for him. I feel I bear a huge responsibility in caring for a dog that belongs to everyone.
I am overwhelmed by the kindness, the empathy, compassion, nam jai, support, love, determination you name it that I have received being stuck here in quarantine feeling hopeless frustrated by not being able to physically search.
This story has been shared to many Chiang Mai social media groups, shared by people over at least 800 shares. The police, Grab, Food Panda networks of 200 drivers are all helping distribute the word.
So far I’ve received very little calls about his sighting. The problem I fear is that he is and looks like a street dog
At this point I don’t know what else to do. I would love for people to be more proactive and just send in pictures of whatever stray lookalike George.
George is wearing a dark red collar with a bone shaped dog tag with his name engraved on one side and my mum’s number on the other.
I have added the two links that have been circulating on social media.
One describing George and how to better recognise him.
I’m really grateful for any help you can give George and I