Photograph taken by: Michael Cahill
This is Duke. He plays soccer (read as: he wears soccer socks). One of the overnight guides told me that and I believed him. What he CAN do is catch bread in the air if you rip off a small piece and scrunch it up. He gets practice doing that everyday with the mahouts after afternoon bath time. Not all the dogs have mastered it yet. It’s pretty impressive.
I’ve never had a dog before but meeting Duke has given me a chance to know how it feels to have one. I think I miss him as much as I miss Mae Kham Pan.
I met Duke in December last year. He came into our room and slept on Melita’s (my roommate) bed the night I went to Elephant Haven. I was so excited to hear the news. Maybe he would come again and sleep on mine. Melita is a huge dog lover and I think she found my excitement amusing.
So the next night, Duke was waiting at the door when we got home. He slipped in quietly right when I opened the door, as if afraid we’d shut the door on him if he didn’t act right away. That made me laugh. I patted the end of my bed and he jumped up. That was the first night I slept with a dog on my bed.
Melita slept with Baumi. He was still a puppy then. In the middle of the night, I woke up to see her curled up in the top corner of her bed because Baumi was sprawled on the bottom half. He even slept like a puppy too. No bed manners at all.
The next day, I saw Duke on the platform and I called his name. He totally ignored me like I was some random visitor that he’s never seen before. He was so cold! I couldn’t believe it. I felt a little used.
The volunteers usually hung out in the dining area on top of the kitchen after dinner and talk until everyone was ready to go to bed (Note: This area has now been demolished. A new kitchen has been built and the volunteers eat in the main seating area). Duke liked to sleep on the pillows downstairs until all the volunteers said their good nights. Then, he would follow us back to our room (or around the tree hut because Melita liked to lure Number One’s pack to sleep in our room).
So that became our habit, with the two dogs (and sometimes their friends too) sleeping in our room. Sometimes Baumi slept on the floor, sometimes another dog would sleep in Melita’s bed, but Duke always slept on mine (even though he was so cold to me during the day!).
When I finally looked back at him, I was surprised to see that he was already curled up into a ball by the side of my bed. I shook him awake and patted my bed. I climbed into bed, but he didn’t jump up. I called to him from my bed. He looked up. I patted my bed. Then, he put his head back on his paws and closed his eyes. He couldn’t be bothered to move.
The dogs just want to sleep in someone’s room. In the winter time, it gets pretty cold at night. I woke up a few times wishing I had brought more clothes with me. Sleeping in an enclosed room makes a big difference, especially for a short haired dog like Duke.
Duke was fine sleeping on the floor. But I wasn’t fine with it! I really liked it when he slept on my bed. After the first night, I moved him up so he was sleeping right next to me and I could curl my body around his.
I got out of bed and picked him up off the floor. He was SO heavy. I couldn’t believe it. He’s small, but so compact. I managed to bring him up high enough to put him on my bed.
The whole amused Melita so much. She laughed really hard. In the beginning, it seemed like I was playing hard to get. I was ignoring Duke. In the end, when he clearly showed that he didn’t need me, I showed that I was actually desperate and literally took him to bed with me.
Photograph taken by: Michael Cahill
Duke was always very friendly to the visitors and volunteers. But he didn’t act like anyone’s dog. He didn’t really just follow one person. He didn’t come when you called. Even though he waited for me every night, walked home with me and slept with me.. he didn’t seem very attached to me.
I think the dogs at the park see many people every day. Some stay for a week, some may even stay a bit more, but most never come back after that short period of time. While many visitors and volunteers feel that they have a bond with the dogs at the park (from spending so much time with them). I’m sure the dogs just see the volunteers as people who slip them food under the table and scratch their heads.
Dogs love humans. I think they’re really happy to just be with us, to follow us around, to have the security of a human owner, but the park isn’t a regular home. People come and go at a high rate. A lot of the dogs have also come from bad pasts and there has been psychological damage.
I felt that Duke couldn’t be bothered to extend so much energy and friendship to someone that will inevitably leave soon enough. If that was the case, then I completely understood. Still, I was a little bothered because HE was special to ME and I wanted him to act that way too.
Four months later, I’m back at the park and I wonder if Duke will remember me. Melita told me the dogs wanted to sleep in our rooms last year because it was so cold outside. I was disappointed that Duke probably won’t want to sleep on my bed this time, but I was still excited to see him.
This time, I was placed in a single room in the Jungle Hut area beside the conference room. It was on the other side of where I was staying last time. Last time, I had a hunch that Duke had been sleeping in our room with a previous volunteer, that’s why he so readily walked in and slept on Melita’s bed. I thought that he always slept in that complex of huts SO I was so surprised when I found him sleeping on a straw chair outside my hut the next morning.
The second night, he was sleeping in the same chair when I came home. He stood up and followed me to my doorway. I opened it wide. He took it as an invitation and walked right in. I was so happy. I guess he did remember me!
Last time, twisted the mosquito netting and tied it up so the dogs could sleep on our beds. I wanted Duke to continue sleeping on mine but I couldn’t do without the net this time of year. I let him on my bed, and then draped the netting around us. I didn’t have to worry, he was well behaved inside the net. Sometimes, he woke up to walk in a circle, but he never disturbed the netting.
So that’s how it panned out for the rest of my time at the park. I wouldn’t see Duke very much during the day, but he would also be close by once dinner was over. If he went off to bark at a trespasser, fight with some dogs or fell asleep while I changed locations, then I would find him waiting for me in the passageway to my room.
Once in my room, he would wait for me to pull the mosquito netting away (some dogs just jump on and sleep on the netting so it’s impossible for me to get in) and then jump up. I slept with my arm around him and sometimes when it was too hot, I would just hold his paw. And he would let me. He’s the first dog I’ve ever gotten to sleep with and I’m spoiled! haha
Duke wasn’t cold to me during the day anymore. He slept in my bed every night but he still didn’t act like my dog. That was okay though. I wasn’t bothered when I saw other people petting him and claiming that Duke liked them best. I had a confident secret. haha =) I was fully secure in the fact that he would come find me every night and that was the only thing I cared about.
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