The dog was named Chombeung after the marathon where she was discovered.
Puppies can cause anyone to pause and take a second look. However, there are not many individuals who would actually care about the welfare of a stray animal. In 2019, while running a marathon, Khemjira Klongsanun, 43, observed an injured puppy lying on the side of the road. “It seemed to me that this little guy was lost. There were no houses, no other dogs, or no people around,” she revealed to The Daily Mail. However, her fellow runners just passed the timid Thai Bangkaew dog.
Khemjira Klongsanun was running a marathon in Thailand when she saw an abandoned puppy on the road. Other runners didn’t care.
— Muhammad Lila (@MuhammadLila) January 31, 2019
She bent down, picked him up, and carried him. The whole race. All 19 miles. At the end, he fell asleep on her kit.
Then she adopted him. pic.twitter.com/GDdtOrsdOM
Khemjira, on the other hand, halted, lifted the puppy, and then carried the adorable animal 19 miles to the finish line.
According to the Good News Network, Khemjira participated in the Chombeung marathon in Ratchaburi, Thailand. She did not believe it was acceptable to leave it alone. “So, I picked up the puppy, if only to take him out of the unsafe environment,” Khemjira explained. She reported that it was difficult to carry the dog to the finish line while running a marathon. “Running almost 20 miles carrying a dog was truly a challenge. It was two times more tiring than a normal marathon, but I did it anyway just because he is adorable,” she said. She made every effort to locate the dog’s owner after the marathon, but when she was unable to do so, she decided to keep her and began taking her to the vet for other formalities.
She said, “It took a lot of time to take the new dog for checkups, vaccinations, and treatments but I’m glad to save him and willing to have him with other dog members in the family,” She adopted the dog, naming her Chombeung after the marathon where she discovered her. “Chombeung is about 8 months now and weighed in at 18 kilograms during her last veterinarian visit. She’s lived with us for six months now, and though I can’t be sure, I think she was about 2 months old when I found her,” Khemjira said in July 2019 to Coconuts Bangkok. Khemjira stated that although “might take a while for him to adapt himself,” she feels hopeful, adding that “Chombueng is a very smart boy” and she feels sure that “he is going to be happy living with us.”
Khemjira engages in animal rescue on a regular basis and is extremely passionate about providing shelter to stray animals. She has added 12 more animals to her enormous furry family, which now consists of 28 dogs and 30 cats. She states that some of the animals were also given to her by owners who felt they could no longer care for them. She is currently saving money for her dream project of building a rescue home for her furry children on a roughly 3-hectare plot of land in Chonburi’s Phan Thong neighborhood. In addition, she wishes to establish a fund for stray dogs injured by vehicles.