Does Pattaya belong to it's Dogs?

Does Pattaya Belong to the Dogs?

During the months spent in Pattaya during our first cooking school set-up contract I heard one common complaint amongst the foreigners there.

If they walked or cycled they all had to deal with wild dog gangs. They are everywhere in Pattaya just take a walk or ride a bike and you will personally see which dogs belong to which gangs as they come on a run and ready to rumble on the bark of any one of their members.
There were gangs on north beach and Pattaya beach and south beach and Jomtien beach as well as nearly every side street and especially near all the Wats.

Why are there so many wild dogs here? I'm told it's a culture problem with Buddhists being unable to destroy an animal (maybe a relative) so when they are old (no longer beautiful) or injured (can't defend themselves) the Thai's simply discard the animal at a Wat (church){what a way to treat your granny} and pick up a new puppy on the way home. When the discarded dog is first dropped off it has to fight for a place in a dog gang for group protection and then they get to die, wasting away, slowly and painfully.

I rode bicycle nearly everyday and nearly every ride I was dog attacked. Now, unfortunately for the dog(s) I am an experienced mountain biker and I do know how to do lip stands and side sweeps which means, as the dogs are cowards they will nearly always attack from behind, and knowing this I keep a cautious eye on any dog I passed while riding and I was always prepared to lip stand my bike at precisely the right moment and then side sweep it through the dog but they always move. This action placed my bicycle between me and the dog(s). Then I would have some fun first chasing them with the hand held bike, making me a much different creature than the dog started out chasing. When the dogs didn't disappear right away I would put a mountain bike chase on them like could only be done on a mountain bike. A chase that the dog(s) will never forget. The chased dog never came at me again, ever. A less experienced rider would have just simple been bitten! Oh, always pick the leader of the pack to chase.
I often chased these dogs to their residence to have words with their owners but no-one in Thailand is responsible for their animals, or their actions and none of the owners would come out of their homes to discuss it. It was a useless move anyway as virtually no-one would have sufficient English to discuss the problem let alone resolve it.

Funny, how after 20 + years of English classes in every grade of school there is still virtually no English in Thailand. Must be a result of their education system, but that's another topic. Oh, and I suggest you don't believe what you read in Wikipedia as it is heavily censored and says what the Thai Gov't will allow said about Education in Thailand.

I walked everyday in Pattaya and everyday I would have to pick up a stick at some point on the walk to use as personal protection every-time I saw a dog along my path.
I watched one man walk his pair of dalmations nearly daily and on a leash. He caried a thin but aggressive whip for whipping the wild dogs that would attack his leashed dogs.

I watched old ladies carry a stick to beat any attacking dogs and I watched young women in small groups exercising and all of them carry dog sticks.

So why are these dogs not otherwise rounded up and put down? Bangkok doesn't have this problem. Is it because BKK picks them up and trucks them off to Laos where they become special meat in the pot?

From my point of view Pattaya belongs to the dogs.