Niall Harbison is a dog hero based in Thailand. He spends his days feeding, caring for and rescuing the many street dogs he comes across. With every rescue there's a story. Like the sweet gentle McMuffin who was found with many tumours and hours from death, only to be nursed back to health. She now lives with Niall and is a popular member of the pack. Then there is King Whacker - who escaped a vicious attack and is now ruling the nest living up to his name as the king of the all good dogs. And who could resist the puppy eyes of little Rodney, the beautiful dog with big paws who is melting millions of hearts around the world.
Originally from Dublin, Niall was the owner of a successful advertising company. After selling it, he moved to Thailand where his addictions - drugs and alcohol - almost got the better of him. One day he woke up in hospital, close to death, and realised that something had to change. And that was what spurred him on to start saving and helping street dogs. His aim is to help 10,000 street dogs.
This is his story.
I’ve followed Niall for ages on Twitter now, and love seeing his videos and pictures, updates on his life and all the dogs he takes care of. I knew I had to listen to this when I was scrolling Audible for what to use my next credit on. I loved it. I knew a small amount of Niall’s background but I didn’t know just how bad things had gotten for him. I’m so glad he’s on the road to recovery and found his place in life.
I got most of the way through and thought to myself ‘I haven’t cried!’. I had felt so much emotion all the way through but I hadn’t cried. Then Niall talks about Guiseppe… I gave myself a headache with all of the tears. Niall’s last words to Guiseppe broke my heart ‘I looked into his eyes the very second he was drifitng off and I whispered that he was loved by many people, and we’d make something special for him’.
What an amazing man this guy is, the things he does for the street dogs of Thailand is great, he feeds a ridiculous amount of dogs every day, he shelters, he takes care of them, he takes them to the vet, but most importantly he loves them. They are not his pets, they are street dogs, but he loves them. He has nicknames for them all, some are fantastic.
We can’t forget Nialls own dog Snoop, he’s been with him from before Thailand. I remember when he passed, I was heartbroken for Niall. And then Tina passed and my heart hurt all over again.
These dogs have been through some awful awful things, from being abused, whacked on the head with an axe (or something similar, how King Whacker got his name), being slashed with a machete, hit with a nail gun, and just being left to their own devices. I’m glad Niall does what he does, and I know he says there are so many other people there who do the same thing too, so they’re brilliant too.
Thanks for sharing your stories Niall, and the stories of these courageous pups. And thank you for everything you do.
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