Tina – The Dog that Changed the World by Niall Harbison

Not for everyone but I enjoyed its simplicity.

You may not be aware of it but you probably have heard something of Niall’s story as he has been interviewed a number of times on Newstalk and no doubt on other radio stations and I have certainly seen an item on his work on the BBC many years ago.

It was a recent interview with Pat Kenny that brought this book to my attention and it seemed like a good holiday read which it was.

As a bit of background Niall is a Northern Trish lad brought up in Belgium who didn’t really get any qualifications and found himself following a career path of being a chef and quite a successful one at that. He seems to have side stepped into technology at some point and again done rather well for himself but all at a cost to himself, most notably his drinking. Anyway, he sells up and moves to Thailand where things don’t get any better until a very dark day when he checks himself into hospital. He sobers up and begins a mission of caring for the street dogs on the Thai island on which he lives. Indeed, my TV memory of him his him riding on a moped feeding street dogs. Obviously, things grew and he begins to meet their health needs and he realises that the best solution to the problem is to sterilise the animals. He returns them to the street after recovery because that is there home.

However, some of the dogs have a special place in Niall’s heart and he fights for them with everything he has. One such dog is Tina, a golden retriever with whom he develops a special bond, bringing an emaciated, damaged dog back to a normal life. Bizarrely, Tina dies by around 100 pages in but the title lets you know that there is more to this loveable dog. He also looses another dear friend, Snoop around the same time.

The rest of the book is taken up with reminiscing stories, other stories of rescue, celebrity endorsements and some rehoming but they are all part of the quest to raise enough funds to build an animal hospital in Tina’s memory.

For soft people like me it is an incredibly moving book with tremendous highs and humour but also a book with incredibly sad lows. Niall is just trying to fix the problem one dog at a time and he is having great success. Lovely read and you can check it out at www.happydoggo.com.