Niall’s latest book ‘Tina’ tells the story of the incredible golden retriever that touched millions of lives around the world
Niall Harbison is an Irish man living on the island of Koh Samui in Thailand since 2018. Despite achieving huge success as a private chef and social media entrepreneur in his earlier career, the Tyrone native is now at his happiest rescuing street dogs and as a result, has inspired millions of people around the world.
In his first book, Hope – How Street Dogs Taught Me the Meaning of Life, he wrote openly about his struggles with addiction and depression before finding his calling to help solve the global street dog problem. His honesty won him a legion of fans and followers and in the intervening years, he has created an enormous community of like-minded animal lovers who follow his journey every day via Instagram and Youtube.
While promoting the book, I got the chance to chat to Niall about his latest book, Tina: The Dog Who Changed The World and how things are going in Happy Doggo Land:
You have rescued so many dogs now and shared their journeys with your millions of followers. Why was Tina so special amongst them all?
Oh, Tina was just an incredible dog. There was just something about her, she had an aura, she had a way about her, a gentleness and kindness. There was a spiritual side to her that she shouldn’t have had after the way she was treated. She was treated so horribly, she should have been angry and bitter and resentful, but she just was a special dog. She was like a nurse to all the other dogs. She was gentle, kind, loved humans, just a special, special girl.
How are you feeling following the launch of Tina: The Dog Who Changed The World?
Tina’s book is a huge success! It got to number one in England and Ireland and number three in America. I feel fantastic about it for Tina. I don’t care about the numbers for myself, but I just feel like I saw Tina’s face up on the top shelf of the bookshops, and that for me was amazing. I was, like, “I’ve done her legacy proud.”
The videos/images of her that you share are often as heartbreaking as they are heartwarming – was it difficult to revisit your time with her to write the book?
Yes, it was unbelievably difficult to revisit those times. I had sort of parked them out of my head, just stayed busy, but then having to write about them and actually read the audiobook… It was incredibly hard because, you know, she was just was so magical that it was emotional. I still think about her every second of the day – well, about 100 times a day, I would say.
Has there been any other dog that has come close to the impact that Tina has had on your life?
Snoop, my dog, who I brought from Ireland. I don’t talk about him as much because he’s more private to me. I shared him a lot on social media and stuff, but he was my dog that I brought from Ireland, and he was just as special to me as Tina. For public consumption, it’s Tina, but from my own personal sense, I do this as much for Snoop as for anybody else.
You’re very open about your mental health – do you have certain strategies or things you do to help on a daily basis?
Yeah, I struggle quite a lot sometimes, and especially after things like the book tour or travel or burnout. I would do a lot of meditation, nothing special, I’ve just got an app, you know, from the App Store and 30 minutes of that helps a lot.
I do a lot of walking, I find that helps – just clears the head. Massage, which in Thailand is very cheap. It’s only about ten dollars for a massage for an hour, so that really helps. And staying off the phone, which I’m very bad at, like everybody! Those are the things, and obviously not drinking or doing Valium – those sort of things that I did before. That’s the biggest one, not drinking.
My colleagues and I (along with the rest of the world) were incredibly moved by Alba’s story – what do you think her legacy will be?
Alba was just amazing. With her song as well… I don’t know why she touched people as much as she did, I think she was just so frail and beautiful and a kind, soft, gentle little girl. She just didn’t get long enough, but we’ve got the kitchen now here, built in her name, which is amazing. We feed 1200 dogs from there, every single day, which is all in Alba’s legacy really – it’s her kitchen. Her bandana hangs up outside it, and people remember her fondly. So, she had a name, a bandana, a kitchen, a song. It’s not much, she had a terrible end to her life, but she’s got a legacy, definitely.
For those who don’t know, tell us about Tina’s hospital and when you think it will be open for business
So, Tina’s hospital is actually open right now! There’s an operation going on over there at the moment. It’s not the full hospital. It’s what we call a field hospital, and we are operating on dogs in there, we’re sterilizing dogs. We are doing really serious things in there already. There’s blood machines, there’s oxygen tanks – it’s a hospital, but the big building is being built in the background and that’s a ways away yet. We’re still trying to get planning permission, and things like that. So that’s taking time but Tina’s Hospital, the field hospital, is already open and running, which is great.
Have you noticed any improvement or change in the street dog issue in Thailand?
Yes and no. I mean, obviously, we’re sterilizing so many dogs, we’re feeding dogs, but there’s 10 million dogs, so it sometimes feels like a drop in the ocean. Sometimes it feels like I’m making a huge difference, and sometimes I feel like I’m making no difference at all. It’s really frustrating because the problem is so big.
I think of it as like the plastic problem in the world. With the amount of plastic there is, you can save your water bottle or whatever it is you do personally, but it still feels like, are you making any difference? Or being a vegetarian. If you’re a vegetarian yourself and everybody’s still eating meat, what difference do you make? That’s how I think about it. I’m definitely making a difference, but sometimes it feels better than other days.
In 2023, Ireland was dubbed the ‘Puppy Farm Capital of Europe’. What is your advice to people thinking about getting a dog?
I saw that even today or yesterday about Ireland being the Puppy Farm capital of Europe, it’s horrendous! You know, I was in Ireland recently and Irish people are very big dog lovers, animal lovers, but then they’re all saying to me, “Oh, Thailand is terrible.” It’s terrible, but I also hear that Ireland’s not great, you know? There are things that could be done there too.
I mean, the simplest thing, if everybody could just adopt a dog, it would be fantastic. Shelters are full of dogs. We don’t all need a designer cute puppy. It’s something like the cocaine industry – the drug industry is hidden away from you and as consumers, you think you’re not doing any damage, but by buying the fancy designer puppy, that’s what is fuelling more breeding. So, yeah, adopt a dog. Definitely!
How many different countries have you had dogs adopted to now?
I can’t tell you off the top of my head, but I could have a rough guess. England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Germany, Spain, Czech Republic, America, Thailand, Singapore… I would say 12 to 15, but let’s say 12, to be safe!
Is there something extra special about rehoming a dog in Ireland?
Yeah, we’ve re-homed a few – Marshmallow and the two little ones Phoenix and Faith. I love just seeing them in Ireland, seeing them out in the Phoenix Park or Sandycove. It’s amazing because I know those places!
What does a perfect day for you in Happy Doggo Land look like?
A perfect day is like today! Earth has just walked in with a dog called Tom Cruise which is lovely to see. It’s helping dogs really. You know, we’ve got a dog in the operating theater and we’ll be feeding 1200 dogs from the kitchen over there, there’s dogs being sterilized… It’s just a perfect day. We’re helping loads of dogs, and it feels really good.
Click here to read about the last time Niall visited Ireland and went for a walk with hundreds of dog lovers in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.
To find out more about the ongoing work of Niall and the Happy Doggo team, follow them on Instagram here or visit their website. You can purchase of copy of Tina: The Dog Who Changed the World here.
