Sun 26th March: An emotional separation

Sisters Opal and Emerald

It's hard, if not impossible, not to get emotionally involved with the dogs and puppies that I have rescued and, initially at least, brought back to Lamma in the hope that they will quickly move to foster homes or be adopted.  Fostering is something that almost all rescue organisations rely on to help cope with the number of animals that come in, but also because it gives them a much nicer environment to stay in while they are waiting to move to permanent families.  We can also learn a lot about the behaviour and personality of our dogs and puppies from their foster parents, and when it's time for them to move to new homes the transition is so much easier.  However there's a downside to everything, and for the puppies who have been in foster and are then returned before they find real homes, it's very tough.

Right now I'm thinking in particular about a litter of five who were with their mother at AFCD and who went straight to foster homes when I took them away when they were a month old. Tiana and Belle were together until Belle was adopted the other weekend, and the other three started off staying together before being split into Opal and Emerald as a pair, and Chestnut.  Subsequently Opal moved to a new foster home but today, having failed to find adopters, Opal and Chestnut were handed back. These two pups have been in homes since they left their mother several weeks ago, and of course it's traumatic for them to suddenly find themselves back on Lamma and living outside with a large number of other puppies. They don't understand what has happened or why, and as I was having to try and force them into crates at the end of the afternoon and they were struggling and crying, it was very difficult for me too.

With Jill's adoption, only Tom is left

I felt bad for Tom too, also returned from his foster home and the only one from his litter not adopted yet.  His sister Jill had her adoption confirmed today, while siblings Jack and Rupert were last week's lucky pups.

Fergus with his new harness and family

There were two bright spots in the afternoon on top of the adoptions of Jill and little Fergus, another lucky boy, with double birthday donations via Two Presents.  The first was from Tyl and the second from Claire, and I would like to say a huge thank you to both for sharing their special day with the HKDR puppies.

Thank you Tyl for sharing your birthday

Sweet Claire also shared her birthday vai Two Presents

All in all, March has been an inexplicably slow month for puppy adoptions, so I would like to remind everyone that there are puppies staying at our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre that can be seen every day of the week, as well as a few at Tai Po, which is also open for adoptions every day of the week and year.  In fact the last of the three Stanley Barracks puppies who went to Tai Po has now left (that's Dougal) and new girl Lambie was formally adopted today at  Pokfulam AFCD where she had to go to have her fallen-out microchip replaced.

If you are interested in adopting a puppy just take a look through the photos of today's Whiskers N Paws afternoon (with thanks to new volunteer photographer Helen Kwok), and let us know which puppy/puppies you would like to meet.

Puppy Adoption Day 26 March 2017 — at Whiskers N Paws

Lambie went home after her microchip was replaced