Thai dog wins Friends for Life award

16 มีนาคม 2558

One flash of light from a camera saved Miracle from the dog meat trade. Friendship with a disabled Scottish boy won him a top prize at world's most prestigious dog show in the UK.

Miracle, a dog from Thailand, and six-year-old Kyle, who has cerebral palsy and autism at the Crufts Dog Show to receive the Friends for Life award (Source: Facebook)

ANIMALS

Saved from the meat trade, a Thai dog wins at Crufts dog show in the UK

15/03/2015
Nanchanok Wongsamuth

All it took was one flash of light from a camera flash to save a street dog (soi dog, stray dog) named Miracle from the notorious dog meat trade in Thailand, but it was his bond and friendship with a disabled Scottish boy which secured him a top prize at the world’s most prestigious dog show last week.

“The dog was presumed dead, and she presumed she was taking a picture of another dead dog,” said owner Amanda Leask, referring to a rescue worker who found Miracle two years ago. When she took the photo, “the flash caused the dog to open its eyes”.

“That’s when the rescue mission really started. It was lost in amongst 3,000 dogs in the equivalent of what was a cattle hold.”

After nine months recuperating at a Bangkok clinic, Miracle was taken in to the Leask family home in Strathglass, Scotland.

It was there that the former street dog would form a close relationship with Ms Leask’s six-year-old son Kyle, who has cerebral palsy and autism.

This close relationship was recognised last Sunday at the 2015 Crufts dog show in Birmingham, where Miracle beat nearly 200 other dogs to win the Friends for Life award.

Miracle had been snatched from the streets of Isan and loaded onto a truck with hundreds of other stolen dogs, all destined for the dog meat restaurants of Hanoi in Vietnam.

Luckily for Miracle, the truck carrying it to what would have been a slow and agonisingly painful death was intercepted by agents working for the Phuket-based Soi Dog Foundation, which has been fighting the illegal trade for the past four years.

The dogs were taken to a dog shelter in the Northeast, and a search began to find the dogs a new home.

Ms Leask spotted Miracle’s photo shortly after he had been rescued, on a Soi Dog Facebook post, and asked about adopting him.

Miracle is the latest of nine dogs from Thailand and Romania which she decided to adopt as companions for Kyle.

“They’ve both faced so much hardship in their lives, it’s like there’s an unspoken language [way to communicate] between them,” Ms Leask said.

“When Kyle gets upset because he can’t convey what he wants to, Miracle will go and lie at his side for Kyle to touch and stroke.

Miracle seems to automatically know when Kyle needs him.

“If Kyle simply wants some attention, Miracle will go over and shower him with kisses. And it works the other way too. Kids can build up confidence in dogs where they seek solace, and Miracle gets this in abundance from Kyle.”

The Crufts Friends for Life award celebrates dogs that have earned the title of man’s "best friend" through bravery, support or companionship. This might include assistance dogs, service dogs or everyday companions who have helped their owners in remarkable ways.

Four finalists were invited to the Crufts dog show, where the winner was chosen by a public vote.

“When the award was being handed to Kyle by the host, as the host approached Kyle, Miracle, being extremely protective, came between the two of them and placed his paw on the host’s foot, as if to say, ‘That’s far enough, I don’t know you, and I’m protecting Kyle...

Miracle won £1,500 (about 72,800 baht) for his Crufts award, which Ms Leask said she would share between Soi Dog and the Autistic Society.

A video with profiles of the dogs nominated for the Friends for Life award: