Thurs 9th Feb: Yet more Stanley Barracks dogs

I'm not sure if this is Wobbly or the other teacup Yorkie

I had to go to AFCD in Pokfulam to arrange for the transfer of ownership for the tiny ex-breeder teacup Yorkie with the wobbly head as he is moving to the UK soon.  It seems a miracle that he is even still alive let alone that he has been deemed fit enough to fly, but obviously we're all very happy about it and hope he does well.

I mentioned the five puppies with their mother who needed fostering (the pups that is), but I saw today that they had been separated due to the fact that the mother is very thin and her babies are old enough to be able to feed by themselves.   That being the case it made sense to take them out immediately so they could have proper baby food for weaning rather than what was available at AFCD, so I unexpectedly found myself with a litter of puppies and nowhere for them to go except back to Lamma.  I really do need foster homes for these little ones, so please let Cindy know if you can help by emailing foster@hongkongdogrescue.com

I also saw that there were yet more dogs and puppies from Stanley Barracks, as always really friendly and sweet, but the never-ending supply from this same source is incredibly frustrating.   As the barracks is under Mainland Chinese control and not covered by any HKSAR rules and regulations, there's nothing that can be done to try to stop the constant production of unwanted puppies.  Not that there are any laws governing the desexing and breeding of dogs anyway, but at least if we had access to the area we might be able to set up some sort of TNR operation.  As it is the puppies are always five or six months old by the time they end up at AFCD, and the adults any age.

Another frustration is that while more and more people are looking at adoption rather than buying, we have a waiting list for those wanting smaller sized dogs.  I have asked the three AFCD Centres in Kowloon and the New Territories if they have small dogs for re-homing and all three have replied no, they have no dogs (and haven't had since last year).  All of the small dogs we have or have recently had available for adoption at our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre have either come from AFCD in Pokfulam, from breeders or have been surrendered directly by their owners.   So I'm wondering if there has been a big change in the public's perception and understanding of what it means to surrender dogs to AFCD, or if there are really far fewer dogs being given up or abandoned.  We are not the only Animal NGO that is offered dogs for re-homing from the various AFCD Animal Management Centres so it's quite possible that the little ones are finding their way to other organisations, but after checking my records it's been quite some time since we took in any from the three AFCD Centres that I don't physically visit.

From our point of view we would much rather have dogs surrendered directly to us because at least that way we are able to ask questions about health, behaviour and medical history.  When dogs come to us from AFCD we very rarely know anything except their age if they are licensed, but more often than not it's only an estimate at best.  However if there is a demand for smaller dogs for adoption and we're not able to supply them then by default we are encouraging people to buy, and that's a really upsetting prospect.

The good news is the more puppy adoptions have been confirmed since last Sunday, but we have plenty more that are still waiting for homes.  We'll be back at Whiskers N Paws as usual, 2pm to 5pm, so see you there.