Thurs 3rd Nov: A day at Tai Po

Teabag was one of the two sent for desexing

Two of the new Stanley Barracks female pups were sent off to Acorn early in the morning for desexing, the males having another couple of months before they go for the "snip".  The reason the girls are done sooner than the boys is quite simply that they can come into season and themselves have puppies at a very young age, so we have to avoid any risk of that happening.  It's quite shocking to know that puppies exported to Hong Kong by Australian breeders are often desexed at eight weeks, and that's far too young to allow for proper development.  

Soya is the younger of the 2 Shiba Inu

The two "shiba inu" were also sent for desexing, and they are really lovely dogs even if not exactly purebreeds, but temperament is always far more important than a designer label.

I went up to Tai Po with Jamie today to do a walk-round with May and discuss the proposed renovation.  It's such a huge site and there are so many things that can or need to be done that the whole exercise is really quite daunting, but we will break it down into sections and do the work bit by bit.   We're still looking for a full time (paid) Repair & Maintence Manager for the site so that the work that is done can be kept up to scratch but in the meantime we have a lot to do.

Alexander in a previous foster home

Alexander joined us for the ride to Tai Po after having been at Acorn for some time suffering from lack of appetite and weight loss, as well as severe diarrhoea.  It's not that he is completely better, but his condition has at least been stabilised and he has put some weight back on thanks to a feeding tube and the patience of the vet nurses hand feeding him bit by bit. Now we will have to see what we can do to encourage him to eat, and to observe him closely to ensure that he doesn't start losing weight again.  One thing that was lovely to see was how happy he was to be out of hospital and back with his friends, and despite looking like a bag of bones his tail was up and wagging.

One thing that we need at Tai Po are volunteers to help repair the broken Kuranda (trampoline) beds which have started to pile up, and this can be done by anyone, not necessarily registered dog walkers.  It's a matter of replacing covers or corner joints, and could be a project for individuals, students or corporate volunteer groups.  If you would like to help please contact may@hongkongdogrescue.com or eva@hongkongdogrescue.com.