I don't know the intention of Prachatai to carry this news. But this is for your information from a British site about Thai Ridgeback Dog.(TRD)

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Throughout history man has endeavoured to cross breeds of dogs in order to produce variety. The Thai Ridgeback is an exception. This breed has remained unchanged for centuries. The Thai Ridgeback is possibly one of the oldest recorded purebreed dogs.
With their striking appearance, unique coat and their cat-like agility they are really something special.We are fortunate enough to have the first of these rare and beautiful creatures in the United Kingdom.We would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to this distinguished breed.

http://www.thairidgeback.co.uk/home.htm

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You will find so many sites of TRD lovers & breeders if you surf the internet.

Thong Deng is a TRD.

Correction. Thong Deng is not a Thai Ridgeback Dog. According to His Majesty, it's similar to basenji. Sorry!!

I find the obsession with 'pure breed' a bit wierd. What's wrong with hybrid breeds? They are still Thai dogs if they live in Thailand! I mean if no one imports them, they should be seen as Thai dogs although their parents might be from overseas. Thongdang is a real Thai dog because she was born in Thailand .It is as simple as that (although I have to say i find the 'loyalty to the owner' bit condescending. How abt we change this to "love the owner as long as the owner is sensible, kind, caring and not selfish?? Love should be two-way communication/reponse. We can't expect love and loyalty if we can;t give it to others '

I am a proud owner of a copy of the Tong Daeng book. Unfortunately it's not here with me now, but in Italy, so I can't check. If I remember well, the book says that Tong Daeng is a hybrid, not a pure breed dog. The book says something similar to what Joy states when she writes: "TD should be seen as a real Thai dog because she was born in Thailand, has spent all or most of her life here, and sees herself as a Thai dog". I liked the book, because of its hidden meaning (or at least the meaning I thought I found between the lines): it doesn't matter how humble one's origins are, one can be very smart and achieve a lot of things.

So we should eat Thai dog with Thai Rice?

All some human beings want to do seems to be to eat eat and eat......
I admit i also have the tendency to eat too much

The cats where I live might be 'cool, independent & free' but they are such a blight on the environment & neighbourhood that the local municipal authority is intruducing compulsory registration of all cats, and I understand it also includes some rules about desexing (I'm not a cat owner so I have not researched the rules fully, but I think its long overdue that some rules were put in place)
The cats in my neighbourhood kill the native birds & animals, but seem useless at catching mice, and they just treat the whole area as one big toilet.
I think Joy is right about cats being uncaring - they seem to be the 'love em & leave em' type happy enough to use someone to stroke them & make them purr, but with no real loyalty to anyone or anything but themselves.
Maybe Italian dogs are different to Aussie dogs - we see dogs as our best mate in Australia, and subjugation is an alien concept in Aussie mateship :)

Back on topic: So is there anything worth patenting about Tong Daeng or not?

Hobby, ok, maybe in Australia you need to start some re-education programme for your cats. I am sorry, though, it won't work. They'll keep behaving their way, using your clean streets as their personal toilets, feeling quite happy about it. Face it. Maybe you could exterminate them all, to solve the problem. That is, if you think it's a good idea.
About Italian dogs: yes, they're different. They carry guns and kill people, occasionally acting as hitmen (oops, hitdogs). Italian dogs are mafiosi, and of course so are Italians, which explains precisely why we like to keep our dogs subjugated.

PS, I'm sorry to hear Italian dogs are like that - perhaps they are the ones in need of a re-education programme?
From my experience the Thai dogs are similar to Australian dogs, but perhaps I am missing something about why they are worth patenting.
The only noticable differences are they have different diets, and the thai dogs seem to have freedom to go anywhere, anytime, and are perhaps in a way they are even more free than their human 'subjugators'.
I still dont think, in general, that Aussie dogs are subjugated, but accept that there are exceptions to any rule.

Alex, there may have been some misunderstanding:- I did not say cats do any real harm to humans, but they do indeed do real harm to native animals & birds in my region - by real harm, I mean they kill them and from what I have observed they are not even doing it for survival (food) purposes as they usually dont even eat their prey.
So if they want to kill something for fun, I would much prefer they killed mice, or preferably mosquito's.

'you sound like you expect animals to behave in a certain way because we humans decided so'
It is my understanding that humans introduced cats to Australia, so perhaps its not unreasonable to expect humans to take some responsibility for trying to control the native animal & bird killing habits of cats in our region?

Obviously you are a cat lover, whereas I try to love all creatures equally (except for the odd mosquito, spider or snake:)

Hobby: yeah, cats kill for fun, it's true. And they kill rats and mice for fun only when they like it. Dogs kill cats for fun too, they don't eat them. It's disturbing for us to see a dog killing a cat just for the sake of it and a cat killing a cute bird without any intention to eat them. But if you pay attention, both cats and dogs normally do it for us. Both dogs and cats feel they should give us a present from time to time, but they don't fully understand our concept of "present", so they give us what they think it's cool to give. I had both dogs and cats (I love cats, but as I said I love dogs too), and I remember how some of them used to leave these grotesque gifts by the house's door. I don't think humans are particularly bad with dogs. In fact, dogs are almost universally considered man's best friends. The problem is that dogs get so attached to their "owners" (I'm using the legal term here) that they get depressed (some breeds even suicidal) when their human companion leaves for a while, or dies. Of course that's a beautiful thing, that really makes me love dogs, but as I said, I feel for them, because many owners just don't deserve that. Cats match my idea of human-animal relationship: they live with us, eat our food, show their love in their own particular way (some cats can be just as affectionate and loyal as dogs, believe me), but in the end they retain a lifestyle of freedom and keep living like the hunters they are. Hobby, I am not a cat-lover, I am an animal rights advocate. But the fact that I'm vegetarian, for example, doesn't make me think that my cat (or you, for that sake) should be too. I just do what I think is right, and expect people to act using common sense. Cats, like many other animals, were introduced to Australia by humans, and you're right when you say that humans are supposed to take their responsibilities, as I doubt cats ever asked for it. Just don't expect them to change behaviour, though. And believe me: no species would face extinction because of cats or dogs, I am quite confident in saying this. To end this long post: the reason why I got so heated up is that your logics reminded me about the ones used by a friend's neighbour, when he was asked to explain why he poisoned my friend's 2 cats.
Joy: thank you, you just won... a cat :)

Pescatarian, veganism. Interesting words that I did not know. (Now I know the meanings after consulted a dictionary.) Before the meiji revolution (1986), almost all Japanese were pescatarians. I think it's the healthiest life style if you don't eat too much fat tuna.

In Bangkok, they fixed a lot of stray dogs as a masesure to control the numbers. The dogs caught for the operation also received immunization shots to protect them from rabies. The idea comes from Budhist philosophy. Unkindest cuts for them may be a good idea if the problem is being caused by stray cats.

Somsak,
What is "pescatarian" ?? I read Hobby and Alex' posts and try to look up the definition of 'pescatarian' from my dictionary but can;t find it.
We have on-going drizzle here for a few days now!!
BTW, somsak have u noticed that Pravit is leaving for the US on scholarship /followship? I hope he continues to contribute to Prachatai. His writing is always very interesting and thought=provoking.
BTW., Alex thanks for the cat:-). Hobby, i think having a cat is a big responsibility.. but I will look at it this way: the cat needs to take care of itself as well. Both me and the cat should have equal responsibility for each other. We will try to give equal time for ourselves and for being together. The cat should not be made to make all the sacrifice and vice versa.:-)

When animals are very dependent on their human companions, they tend to imitate their often stupid behaviour. Just like kids.
Hobby, we're not arguing, and I obviously didn't think you'd poison cats or anything, I just felt like explaining the reason of my long postings.
Somsak, thanks for the contribution, I think Japanese food is actually very healthy. About whale-hunting, difficult item. I agree that whales would be better off left alone, but as a matter of fact not all whales risk extinction, whereas some other species no one talks about do, and for similar reasons (humans eating them). Pescatarian diet (or itto-vegetarian, like we normally say in Italy) is basically vegetarian diet + fish, Joy. I agree that's the best diet. As long as fish comes from the sea, and not from farming. I started being a vegetarian 15 years ago, but I interrupted my vegetarianism with some pescatarian periods. Nowadays I still can't decide what's best for me, but I am sure I couldn't live as a vegan, especially in such a hot place like Thailand. Even being vegetarian doesn't help my body stand the heat here, which is why I tend to consider pescatarian the best feasible diet (or the lesser evil).

Thanks Alex for yr explanation of pescatarian.:-)
Somsak, i think Thai and Japanese seem to treat their dogs similarly ( i mean for domesticated dogs) Wonder what is yr opinion of whale-hunting???:-)

But I think whales are mammals (correct me if i'm wrong) and they must suffer a great deal when people hunt and try to kill them. I think the hunting of whales by people from all countries should be banned. I also feel that certain cultural values that cause misery to other living beings should be abolished rather than preserved. Cows /bulls /pigs are also big creatures so it would be good if we stop eating them (although i know this is much easier said than done because it also involves employment, and industry).

I agree. perhaps to say that we should not hunt mamals simply because they tend to suffer more than others when being hunted or killed is not a good excuse after all, come to think of it.
Alex, my mum does have her own little garden where she grows lots of vegies. She also raises chickens (almost like free ranch chickens) although she hardly eat them nowadays. She lives in a small villager where people sometimes go into the woods to hunt small wild animals, snakes included. ..but i notice that during the past few years some villagers begin to raise a large number of pigs for commercial purpose. In the past, villagers tended to keep only a few pigs.. and although they were given natural food (vegies and rice) , they were kept in pen..so it's still a difficult life for the pigs(raised for food).

Somsak, what I wrote here was just my personal idea. I am aware of some theories (not all) related to the vegetarian/environmentalist/animal-rights movements. The one you mentioned is actually quite good. Not only cereals that are "wasted" in farming could feed more people, but also avoid deforestation and therefore slow down global warming. There are also interesting theories about the gasses produced by farms' animals (their droppings apparently produce emissions which are probably more dangerous in size than the ones produced by cars - but that's just a theory).
I am not sure whether pescatarians always choose not-farmed fish. As a matter of fact it's not even easy to make sure that the fish you buy is not from a farm.
BTW I found a very interesting website
http://transitiontowns.org/
They use a concept that I had used in one of my researches (I thought I had finally invented something, but as usual, I was wrong :( ): the concept of "resilience" applied to economy (I had applied that to a concept of "sustainable company").

I wish i could be as independent as a cat. I'm more like a dog. I'm so attached to someone who used to pay attention to me during the last 5 years or so. How can I get over the attachment and the 'subjugation'? Like some dogs, when another human-being shows some interest in me and offers me a more independent form of relationship, my mind still goes back to my old 'owner' and the thought that he perhaps does not see me as important as other people around him at all still causes me pain.
How could one be like a cat, cool, independent and not caring too much?

Imagining myself as a dog, when a new human friend shows interest in me and seems willing to accept me the way I am, I'm very grateful for that but the dog trait in me (the desire to be completely attached and perhaps even subjugated) spoils the relationship. If my old human friend can only accept me in a way that is completely based on his own terms, what will i do? should i simply subjugate myself because i dont want to lose that same old complete attachment...What if i regret having to lose the new human friend as well once i make such a decision?
I suppose the best way is to be like a cat: cool and independent, and stop behaving like a dog...I thought i was almost a cat the other day, but my old human friend still has a lot of hold on me, obviously...

Regarding farming animals for food - I'm not a agricultural scientist, but I have seen claims that to produce 1 kg of beef requires several kilos of grain and many litres of water, which to me seems an incredible waste of resources when the original grain & water could just be used for the food in the first place.
Also, farming of animals does not seem a very 'Buddhist' thing to do IMO.

Joy, on such matters, I have always found the best policy was to just follow your heart, at least then your regrets should be less, and can be justified:)

President Obama described himself as a "mut"
Sir Salman Rushdie said in the spirit of anti-racist anti-purity of breeds "we are all mongrels"
Thong deng is a mongrel ' So what about his owner and his people? QED