My Dog in Bhutan
From Chicken Soup for the Soul: Life Lessons from the Dog
By Evan Purcell

Fall in love with a dog, and in many ways you enter a new orbit, a universe that features not just new colors but new rituals, new rules, a new way of experiencing attachment.
~Caroline Knapp

No one owns dogs in Bhutan. In this tiny Buddhist country, most people believe that the animals around us are reincarnations of our lost loved ones, so animals are given free rein to do whatever they want. Dogs wander around the neighborhoods and often poke their heads inside open doors with expectations of food. They greet humans with either friendliness or apathy, but are mostly free to do their own thing.

I moved to Bhutan from another teaching job, in Tanzania, where my roommates and I took care of a mutt we’d found wandering the neighborhood. I was really sad to leave my dog behind, but I knew that my roommates would take care of him. I didn’t know, however, that once I moved to Bhutan, I’d be surrounded by friendly dogs wherever I went. (Keep reading)