Dog people - where's good?

[mollymillions]

I'm in Malaysia with my family, including a large dog (she's a lurcher x ridgeback). I did what research I could before taking the post about how it would work for us and as you'd expect, there are some good bits and bad bits. We knew that our accommodation choices would be limited but we've rented a house in a Chinese neighbourhood and most people here have a couple of dogs so that's been fine. Being a house rather than a condo means we don't have easy access to a pool or playground though, which is a shame for my daughter.

Walking the dog has been the biggest problem. People on forums say that there are parks where you can walk your dog on the lead and that they sometimes ignore the lead bit if there's no one around. When we got here we found that a lot of these parks were tiny, the size of a couple of tennis courts, so even off the lead they'd be too small for her to really get enough exercise. Most of the bigger parks are totally empty 90% of the time, except for gardeners, but dogs are very much forbidden and I respect the religious beliefs of my host nation. At the weekends we take her out of the city to the jungle which is great, but too far to go after work in the week.

Which ever country we go to next needs to be a bit more dog friendly; being able to walk her would be a good start. I'm assuming that anywhere in Europe, NZ, Australia or the USA would be ok but if you know otherwise please say. What about the rest of the world? If you've kept a dog anywhere in the world and have some thoughts, it would be very useful.

[noseyparker]

Unless your dog has a pet passport, a microchip and has passed a variety of fairly stringent vetinarian standards, you will not be allowed into Europe. It will be very expensive and time consuming. There are also restrictions on certain breeds you might need to check into. In addition, there are many parks where you cannot take dogs because dog faeces (even when picked up by the owners - which is a fairly prevalent rule) and small children don't mix.
Having said that, there's plenty of countryside you can drive out to which is reasonably safe for dogs (fewer parasites, biting insects etc.)
I must admit, I am dreading our next move with our cat....wouldn't like to even contemplate moving with a large dog! Good luck! :-)

[mollymillions]

She's from the UK, we needed all those things to bring her to Malaysia and made sure before we left that she'd be able to go back or indeed on to wherever we went next. Malaysia doesn't have rabies so I'm not concerned about the paperwork side of things. Bringing here her, whilst expensive, was straight forward.

My question is where is the world, apart from the places I listed, welcomes dogs or at least tolerates them in terms of walking her properly? I'm not desperate to return to Europe so I'm trying to find out what my other options are.

[SAS]

The United States is quite dog friendly. We have dog parks in most cities where they can run off leash in a fenced area. The downside of these parks are two-fold. The ground in most if not all is loaded with parvo, other viruses and bacterias, and even tapeworm. While most dogs will be fine there, it certainly exposes your dog to more disease vectors. Secondly, the types of dogs, how well behaved they are and even how friendly they are can be an issue. While I have taken my guys to parks such as these and it has been successful, I also have seen dog fights and owners that are less than responsive if there is an issue between the dogs. I know the trainer I use deplores dog parks for the two reasons I have cited and knows of dogs that have died because of these issues.

There are also many many open spaces, streets, and parks here where walking on leash is easy. I have lived all over the US and traveled with my dog too. Having a dog in the US is not hard at all.

I am moving to Vietnam with my dog in July. It took a lot of planning. He is really, really tall so his crate is a 700 series (largest they make) and it does not fit through ANY cargo door on any plane from my hometown flying to LA. I am driving there instead. I had to get an exemption or special permission for him to fly on the airline I am using as excess baggage, again, due only to the size of his crate which is over the limit they usually accept. I am paying for overweight and oversize but at least he is going with me. I also had to obtain a transit permit for Taipei which wasn't hard, just another step. Arranging his travel has been the most stressful part of the process so far.

[mollymillions]

I'd be interested to hear how you both get on in Vietnam.

[koda]

I am in Eastern Europe with my dog. She is a small breed, so she flies in cabin with me. However, Europe is very dog friendly. I love travelling around as it is really easy with a dog here. A larger dog would be considerable more expensive, but I haven't been to anywhere in Europe that isn't dog friendly. Many of our families came here from elsewhere in Europe with dogs of various sizes- the larger ones just have to go as cargo (expensive).

[mamanaia]

Europe has many places that are dog friendly, but they must remain on their leads. Thailand is also pretty good. There are many stray dogs which can be territorial. I overcame that by bringing food whenever I took my dogs for a walk. I'd give the food to the strays. Eventually, in appreciation for my food, they accepted my pack. If they were to growl or try to be aggressive, I would withhold the food. It worked really well. Some places in Central or South America are decent as well, but I don't have enough actual experience there. I gleaned that information when I was considering positions I that region.

[senator]

Go to a smaller city in China.
If your dog doesn't bite or cause trouble, you can let it go free in a park.
Chinese people are getting more dogs as they become more affluent and would consider your big mutt fun.
It's been 4 years since I left China, so maybe someone who is there now can back me up.

[eion_padraig]

I've heard pretty good things about having dogs as pets in Korea (not joke) though I don't know if that extends to big dogs. Interesting enough, I hear Koreans don't like cats. Though I don't know about the availability of dog parks in Korea.

[PsyGuy]

You have a Rhodesian Ridgeback??? Try africa, they have lions there, would be interesting to see who wins?

[canincm]

I live in Korea, and it is very dog friendly! There are so many parks in the cities, and dogs are very popular to have. My condo building has a manicured roof, and a few sheepdogs, labs, retrievers, and a bunch of little dogs.

[Cee13]

Colombia is very dog friendly! I've seen an Afghan Hound and a Bernese Mountain Dog just in the past two weeks. Many people have dogs here and there are so many places to hike with your dog off leash. There are also quite a few dog parks, but I've only seen two and neither of them were really big. But there is a lot of open land here, and dogs are very common and accepted here in Colombia!

[Mathman]

Somebody clearly hasn't paid attention to which neighborhoods in Malaysia have been cleared out of stray dogs in the past decade....hint hint, factory with large Vietnamese workforce nearby

[mollymillions]

Thanks everyone who's provided something useful. I'm checking each response so any other ideas would be great.