Tail of the Month: Vietnamese Phu Quoc Ridgeback Edition

🐾 FEATURED PUP STORY OF THE MONTH: WATTIE & LILI – HOW A VACATION DREAM BECAME A PUNK-ROCK PACK 🐾

Each month, we shine the spotlight on a standout Vietnamese Phu Quoc Ridgeback dog. This month, we travel to Finland, the happiest country of Earth, to meet Lili and Watti. Here is there story, as told by their Mom.

The first encounter

Probably in 2008 or 2009 we visited Vietnam for almost 4 weeks.

During that vacation we also visited Phu Quoc island because some friends from Finland were there on their holiday but also because we had learned that it is a beautiful island with clear waters and lovely beaches. And some nice snorkeling too.

The island was at the time fairly quiet and yes, beautiful indeed.

While there we saw dozens of calm, relaxed dogs with a "mohawk" and fell for the puppies that we saw. It was amazing how relaxed these dogs were with all the motorbikes and moped whirling around. I wanted to have a puppy right away but we were realistic enough to understand that this was not possible adhoc. Second reason was our beloved dog who didn't think he was a dog at all and disliked almost every other dog. However we thought how cool it would be to have a little punk rock dog once the time would be right.

Several years passed and we forgot our visit and the dogs...

Our dog, Into, passed away in 2016 in a heartbreaking manner. It took a long while before we could even think of getting a new dog.

For a while we tried to get a rescue as Into was one but found it difficult to find a match as we needed to be sure that we could offer the new pet the correct environment as well as a fit into our lives. Then we started to look for other options too and via lots of investigation and googling pumped into our old dream.

The second encounter

We pumped into articles on the rare breed from Phu Quoc island with puppies in the UK. The puppies that apparently sold for 10,000 pounds. We searched for any possible information we could find and breeders in Europe. Not much information was available but we got more and more interested. And then during a visit to a friend I found on the Facebook page of a family in California who just had puppies... Wait, California - are we insane and shall we ask if they are all booked and how far are we willing to go... A glass (well, a large class) of wine later I was challenged by hubby to ask about the puppies. 

And that is how I got to talk to Jean and Peter. It didn't take us long to make a decision... Even though through the whole process I thought that we are completely bonkers we found ourselves having a weekly session with Jean and Wattie, a tiny Phu Quoc Dog boy whom we had reserved without meeting him. (Not advising this method.)

Finally in December 2018 I flew to California with a friend. I was so worried about not getting along with Wattie but he was a good boy even at that age (less than 4 months). I visited him 4-5 times, took him out for a walk, just the two of us, and tried to figure out will it work, can we manage as everything we knew was that the breed is intelligent and independent and could be very different from any breed we had met.

Wattie was a good boy, and still is. He flew to Finland with me as a cargo but was a brave little boy and recognized me when I picked him up from the special cargo section. 

It was a surprise to us how much energy this little fellow had as a puppy. Everyone of our friends who had had puppies said that they'll sleep a lot - well, Wattie didn't. He woke up around 5 am and the mayhem continued until 7pm and then he'd be quiet. But now that he is older, he is wise enough to sleep too :)    

He has a big heart, he is very gentle and friendly to people he knows or whom we invite into our yard / home. He can be a bit wary of new people but will settle quickly.

He is a fast learner but thinks hard if it's worthwhile... 

Several years passed and we started to think that Wattie might need a partner in crime...

We had followed Jean and Peter on their breeding work but also the wonderful work they do with the rescue side. We thought that we could surely offer a nice home for a rescue dog. And we started the process with Jean and Peter early 2024.

(Oh, I know, there are rescues closer to home too... It was about helping the ones we follow up closely...)

The third encounter 

We had set our heart on Moka, a little brindle girl. Peter started training her to get her ready for our family. He posted loads of videos on the progress and the daily activities at the ranch. She learned new things fast and everything looked set for us to pick her up in May 2024.

Hubby and I flew to California to meet her. With very intensive training for four days and 3 sessions per day we hardly saw anything else than the front yard of the ranch. Moka (or MeiMei as we named her) followed well on what she'd been taught to be, a good girl she is. Sadly, the connection was not just right. Every night we would talk with hubby that this might not be easy but we will work on this and it'll be good. 

Then we had a day off from the training camp and visited the Joshua Tree park. During that day we really talked about what our life will look like with MeiMei, how she'll fit into our family and is she the perfect choice for Wattie too. It was actually something Peter said on the day before, that he always looks for the dogs whose personalities match when he selects the ones to play together. With the heavy heart we decided that MeiMei would not be a good match with Wattie, it would not be a good situation for either of them. (I cried because I was so sad for her.) 

The next morning we told the news to Jean and Peter and they took the news rather well. I suppose they had seen this before we did. Nevertheless, a valuable lesson here: If you are looking for a dog, especially a rescue, go and meet the dog!!

The surprise twist

Jean and Peter had already talked with each other that they don't want us to leave without a dog, and they had decided to offer us Harmony, their breeding line puppy of 5 months. (On the flight to LA we had talked with hubby about 'no puppies' and let's not fall for Harmony...)

Then I heard his voice saying yes, yes, we'll take her. Wait, what happened to no puppies?

We knew that her paperwork and other stuff was not going to be ready by the time that our flight homebound was, as also my holiday would be over. That we would need to come back on one more long journey. And yet we decided to go for it. 

What an insane decision and yet, still we flew back in August  to pick Lili up. Oh yes, we re-named Harmony as Lili Marlene but constantly call her just Lili. She knows she's missbehaved when she hears her full name. It is not used a lot.

She is more worried about the new people than Wattie is. I would say she matches the breed description in that sense more than Wattie. For her humans she is a doll and a cuddle bug. A quick learner as the big brother. We are still learning with her as we've not had a bitch yet and she is a bit more strong minded than Wattie has ever been. 

For us Lili and Wattie are part of our family, pets, not show dogs nor properly trained to any talented work. We have tried all sorts of things but not yet found one that would suit the hoomans too. They are good at anything. We also don't have anything against having them on the sofa or on the bed but they would stay off if you don't want to have them there. 

Crate training - We understand the need and it is good to train the crate as it might be needed for example emergency situations.    However, in Finland it is not allowed to have the dog crate trained unless due to an injury you have to restrict the exercise and it is possible to let them roam freely. Naturally it takes a bit of energy to train what is allowed and what is not. (No dogs shall mess with my shoes and stay alive...) 

Cold weather - they do survive with proper clothing. Neither of ours enjoy snow but it might be something we've managed to train as we don't like snow either.

What do you get when you get on PQD?

Intelligent and elegant dog, who is forever YOUR dog. A dog that is always ready to go wherever you go when ever you go. 

Lots and lots of questions from strangers. Some not so nice comments if you have the PQD on the skinny side (a show style as people seem to think that they are fed properly). On the other hand, lots of compliments too.