Royal dog statues take pride of place on Thai king's pyre

Eight months in the making, three master sculptors have nearly finished the statues of Thongdaeng and Cao Cao, the late King's favorite canines. - AFP

Nonthaburi (Thailand) (AFP) - At a studio near Bangkok, a pair of immaculate metre-high statues of the dogs of Thailand's late King Bhumibol Adulyadej are getting a last lick of paint before adorning his funeral pyre.

Bhumibol, a monarch whose reign spanned 70 years, died last October, plunging the country into mourning.