This is likely something that every dog owner thinks to themselves at one point or another, particularly if they have a busy life or live in an urban environment. I can honestly say that Da Nang or really any other part of Vietnam is not a great place to have a dog and I am just fortunate that my dog is small and rather lazy, and therefore I don't have to feel bad about not taking her on long as hell walks every day.
This isn't entirely possible even if you want to make it happen because unfortunately Vietnam bans animals from being in most nice areas like parks or even at the beach. In the picture above we are both breaking the beach rules and we frequently get approached by busybody beach security who desperately wish they were real police officers. I intentionally take her to the boardwalk during times of day that there aren't going to be many people around and she is NEVER off the leash. I don't really see what the problem is but if there is one thing I have learned about authority figures in Vietnam it is that they don't often deviate from the rules regardless of whether or not the rule actually makes any sense. I suppose it isn't their job to interpret the rules, only to enforce them. Half of the time we just ignore the security people who are kind of afraid to approach me anyway because they don't speak the same language as I do. It probably doesn't hurt that most of the time I am 6-8 inches taller than they are and outweigh them by 60 pounds or so. I'm not saying I am going to attack a security guard, but if you threaten my dog with physical harm, all laws or sensibilities immediately go out the window.
Anyway, potential assault on an overactive rent-a-cop aside, I sometimes don't really feel like I am doing enough to make her life as good as it could be.
I live in a pretty small apartment for starters. While Nadi is really small there really isn't anything to do in here. The total space in my 1-bedroom is about 50 square meters and while it is comfortable and completely adequate in my mind, we can't even throw a toy across the room and have her bring it back to me, it is really small especially since my multi-monitor desk occupies so much of the space in the living room, which is the only room other than the bathroom and bedroom.
For the most part Nadi just moves from place to place and chooses yet another place to lie down until eventually we end up going on a walk, which is normally cut short because of the crazy traffic here. We almost never leave the neighborhood because there are so many dangers on the road and virtually nowhere has any footpaths. This is a big downside to Vietnam and even though it was years ago, Thailand as well. If a place does have a footpath it is almost always used as a parking lot or in worse situations, someone just takes over the sidewalk and makes it part of their own property even though it is definitely not. I don't know why the government doesn't do anything to stop this but they certainly don't.
Because of this we spend a lot of our time just sitting in the room and I wonder if she is just terribly bored because of this.
I placate her with treats and chewy things, but this only lasts for a little while and then she heads right back to lying down and either staring at me or sleeping.
In the past I've lived in places where we had a garden or yard and she could go out there and at least sniff around a bit. These days we rarely even get to touch grass.
Any time I leave the condo she has this look of excitement in her eyes and she is probably really disappointed when I don't take her with me. I would just like to take her everywhere that I go and many places I visit are very welcoming of anyone wanting to bring a dog with them. The problem is that the streets to get there are just a nightmare.
Another thing that I rarely talk about is the dog meat trade that exists in this country and how if you ever do let your dog out of your sight, or if it gets out of your yard should you be fortunate or rich enough to have one, there is always a chance that a roaming dog thief could pick up your dog and sell it into the horrible trade of cooking dogs for food. I think this would be the worst possible thing to have happen because it would keep me up at night for the rest of my life thinking about how she was in a cramp cage, scared, wondering where I was and why I am not coming to get her. Ok, I think it is just best for me to not even think about this scenario but it does actually happen to a lot of dog owners here. This is why I will never even let Nadi out of my sight.
I really don't think this is the right place for us and when I look at her in her mad scramble around the small apartment I think that I am not doing enough to make her life good. I think that our time here will soon be coming to a close and we will move somewhere that there is more public space for us to use.
Perhaps this is not something that other pet owners out there even consider but unfortunately Vietnam is not a very pet-friendly country. I've known this for a while and it is a primary motivator for me to seriously consider getting out of here before too long.