Moving with dog to Vietnam

Good questions!     

I research eco tourism, and have travelled thru many & diverse areas in Viet Nam,
Laos, Thailand (etc), so here are my thoughts...


"Are there certain areas in Vietnam that are more pet friendly than others?"

No.   Dog dependence is universal.

"Just how common is dog snatching now?"

Less for food; more for reward.   Dognapping is on the rise, in line with capitalism,
but no more so than anywhere else.   Less so in my experience.

"Are there any laws/rules about where I can take my dog hiking/adventuring?"

Seriously..?  (???)       This is Viet Nam.   (There is no correlation)   ..as you will see...

"And any other advice anyone could offer me about actually living in Vietnam with a dog"

No.   You are aware of the levels of safety and security required.   Common sense.

Welcome to Paradise!       

Not trying to disalusion you, but in past 10 years, I have lost 6 dog's (after we fattend them up) two cats , 4 Tom Turkeys  and I don;t know ow many chickens, dozens and dozens, to thieves - one bold bastard drove up on a motorcycle and snatched our female dog, who was pregnant, right from under our noses, ran out, jumped on the moto but he was long gone.  All our dogs were tan and white, short hair mongrels.   If you live rural, expect one day your dog may disappear.

That's awful! I have heard some other similar stories about dogs being snatched like that, so I have no plans of leaving my dog unattended outside of the house at all ever, and I also plan to get him a GPS tracker. 

However, my question for you is over what time period were your different dogs snatched? From what I can tell it still happens, but it has become less common. You say you've lost 6 dogs over 10 years, but were most of them taken earlier in those ten years? Or have more been snatched in the past 2 or 3 years? I am trying to be as realistic as I can about the possibility of someone trying to steal my dog, and am simply trying to figure out if dog snatching really has decreased in the past couple of years.

There are photo posters everywhere in Hanoi and Nha Trang of stolen expat dogs. They're snatched from your gated yard when they're on chains and you're in the next room watching them. They're snatched when you're walking them on leashes down your own street. They break into your house when you're not home and steal the dog. I think you're crazy to bring a dog here. The downside is so horrifically huge - truly torturously huge; have you ever seen a skinned dog hanging to cure in the sun? I have, just outside Saigon - that I, as a total dog lover, would never risk bringing a dog here. Thailand, yes.

So many dog stories, ok one more! 

Looking down on my alley in central Saigon, only 3 buildings to the main street, I watch the same 4 dogs running free every day, then hear them barking at night. Well, actually mostly just sleeping in the alley, in the path of motorbikes, because it's a dog's life. They range between 10 and 20 pounds, average to ugly, but no obvious sores. Apparently there are some dognapper-free zones.

A 46 pounder is a giant breed here, and would be harder to haul up on a motorbike. In Phu My Hung, the expat dogs are purebred shih tzus, mini poodles and the like, that snatchers see as "expensive dog so rich owner will pay big ransom".

What data are you using to make the statement, "From what I can tell it still happens, but it has become less common."?

What number would you like to hear, 5 in the first 2 years, but only one in the last two?
So that should give your dog a half life of two years.

BTW, if you really want to live with your dog, then there are other countries, Korea and Japan come to mind, that pay ESL teachers well and your dog may live to enjoy the experience.

Sounds like your mind is made up.
Good luck.
but remember you were warned.

Wxx3 wrote:

What data are you using to make the statement, "From what I can tell it still happens, but it has become less common."?

What number would you like to hear, 5 in the first 2 years, but only one in the last two?
So that should give your dog a half life of two years.

BTW, if you really want to live with your dog, then there are other countries, Korea and Japan come to mind, that pay ESL teachers well and your dog may live to enjoy the experience.

Sounds like your mind is made up.
Good luck.
but remember you were warned.

I have been reading every article I can find on living with a dog and Vietnam, so when I say it "seems to be less common" I simply mean that any article I have found published in the last 5 years has said that Vietnam has made huge improvements towards being more open to dogs as pets and that dog meat is falling in popularity. Of course, it's nothing like the US, and no specific numbers are given, however if more dogs were snatched over 5 years ago, and less in the most recent 5 or even 3 years, then that would potentially support the notion that it really is improving.

I'm aware that there are risks, and I am not dead set on Vietnam yet. Right now I am just trying to do everything I can to get a realistic picture of the situation, as it is very common for negative news stories to become sensationalized and made to sound like it is a constant issue happening to everyone all the time, when often that is not the case.

cmax377 wrote:

Wxx3 wrote:

What data are you using to make the statement, "From what I can tell it still happens, but it has become less common."?

What number would you like to hear, 5 in the first 2 years, but only one in the last two?
So that should give your dog a half life of two years.

BTW, if you really want to live with your dog, then there are other countries, Korea and Japan come to mind, that pay ESL teachers well and your dog may live to enjoy the experience.

Sounds like your mind is made up.
Good luck.
but remember you were warned.

I have been reading every article I can find on living with a dog and Vietnam, so when I say it "seems to be less common" I simply mean that any article I have found published in the last 5 years has said that Vietnam has made huge improvements towards being more open to dogs as pets and that dog meat is falling in popularity. Of course, it's nothing like the US, and no specific numbers are given, however if more dogs were snatched over 5 years ago, and less in the most recent 5 or even 3 years, then that would potentially support the notion that it really is improving.

I'm aware that there are risks, and I am not dead set on Vietnam yet. Right now I am just trying to do everything I can to get a realistic picture of the situation, as it is very common for negative news stories to become sensationalized and made to sound like it is a constant issue happening to everyone all the time, when often that is not the case.

Are you rally a pet lover or is it just another toy?

I've lost two pets in my life over 40 years and I remember each time vividly. To make matters worse, they both happened while I was living in the same place and within a year.
I wish I had the internet to look up what the situation was.

Even with your most recent response, you are looking for the answer you want to hear.

For any pet owner, there is always some risk, it's never zero. But once it goes higher than just above zero, in my mind it's significant. Let's say it's only 10% risk.  That's 10% over what period of time?
The longer you are in that risk environment, the higher the chances become.

That's why I referred to half-life. Half-life is a probability that describes and chances of the given event over a specific time and cumulative time.
Good luck

I object, your Honor, argumentative.
I motion to disregard the last three posts.

No need, gobot...

The OP can see the wood in the trees...     

What? 46 pounds is huge? I set 68 kg with 88 cm shoulder against it. And he is trained to for guarding. Some 20-40 kg is a pretty normal weight here for a dog to and they get stolen to.
To the OP; You will have to guard your dog well, at any time. I lost 6 dogs in 13 years in between 15 and 43 kg.