Coping with Dogs in the Classroom – A Teacher’s Story

There are many stray dogs in Chiang Mai and this does not stop at the gates to the university. Dogs can be seen in virtually all areas of the campus: lounging on second floor hallways, barking and growling in parking garages, sleeping in the middle of the street and yes, even in the classrooms themselves. Here is a short account of two incidences Ligeia had with two very different dogs:

1) During the midterm for Oral Expression 310 a dog had seemingly followed the students into the testing room and made himself comfortable right in front of one girl’s desk. Trying to instill some sense of order Ligeia tried to take the dog outside but he refused to go. When the girl got up, however, the dog followed, so she led him outside, where he stayed just on the other side of the glass doors sadly looking in. The exam began. Every time a late student entered the classroom the dog snuck in behind, making his way over to the girl’s desk and where he lay down. After several times of having the girl take him outside, Ligeia realized that this had become more disruptive than just having the dog stay in the classroom, which he did until the student completed her exam and walked out. This dog had clearly made a friend.

Not all the dogs on the CMU campus are as sweet as the one described above:

2) While beginning Thursday’s 8am writing class a dog popped up seemingly out of nowhere and started walking towards the front of the classroom where Ligeia was standing. She greeted the dog in a humorous manner, “Oh hello doggie. Do you want to learn English too?” But to everyone’s surprise the dog began growling and bearing his teeth at Ligeia before turning and walking towards the students, still growling. Many students backed up out of fear, while a few students took turns trying to coral the aggressive dog out the door. Several times the dog would get close to the door and then turn back around towards the students instilling many with fear. A student suggested getting an authority to assist and ran off in search of someone. A few minutes later a uniformed member of the campus police arrived and having no luck, left and came back with some food. To everyone’s surprise the dog was not interested in the treat. We were all at a loss and suddenly out of nowhere, as if his mother was calling him from down the hall, he simply ran out of the classroom. The class began 20 minutes late that day but it gave us all an interesting story to share.

Who knows when and where a dog might surprise us next and whether we will cope by changing our ideas of what is acceptable or by calling the police.

Love,
Mindy and Ligeia :):)