Thur 9th March: Dogs even in my dreams

Shiba inu arriving on Friday

It's quite funny that not only did we take dogs from AFCD Sheung Shui today, but there are more coming from the Shatin Animal Management Centre on Friday, although all puppies except one more shiba inu.  The love affair with this breed certainly seems to be coming to an end judging by the numbers that are being given up now, and not before time.  We've been through many of the smaller breeds in terms of fashion fads, and whereas years ago it used to be shih tzus and pekes, you rarely see these breeds now.  Then it was schnauzers, and almost all of the schnauzers that come to us are around ten-plus years old.  For a while corgis were the must-have accessory, though their biting habits put a stop to that.  Now it's French bulldogs, so we can expect to see a lot of them coming through our doors, although again a combination of bad breeding and lack of training knowledge means that many of these dogs have serious behaviour issues.

It's probably true to say that a lot, if not most, of the smaller breeds have built-in behaviour problems, although the fact that they tend to be treated differently from the large breeds doesn't help.  They are carried, snuggled and pushed around in prams, and few are treated like the dogs that they are.  It's tempting to want to baby a small animal, and I am guilty of that to a certain extent too with my last remaining small dog Murphy.  He hangs out with the big boys and plays rough with them, but he's the only dog I have that will bite if he's angry.  Behaviour that's tolerated in small dogs would never be accepted in big ones.

4 year-old Yoshi is already at Ap Lei Chau

That brings me back to the shiba inu that's coming to us from AFCD on Friday and who is only a year old, or under.  We also have another shiba, a bit older, at our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre, but it needs to be said that this is not an easy breed or one that is generally suitable as a family pet.

The vizsla boys are so skinny but very sweet

The two vizsla boys that came today were in a pitiful condition, nothing but skin and bone, but they are beautiful and very sweet.  It's incredible that dogs can still be so loving when they have clearly not been well cared for, and this pair hadn't been microchipped or licensed before coming to us.  They are now at our Tai Po Homing Centre if you want to meet them, but please complete the adoption questionnaire before doing that.

We are completely swamped with puppies and still need a lot more foster homes, as well as permanent adoptions of course.  Unlike the small breeds I mentioned, these mixes are such sweet and easy characters, and while they might grow to be bigger than a shiba inu or a corgi, they are far less problematic in every way.  Please come to Whiskers N Paws on Sunday to meet them and you'll see what I mean.

4 old poms that came today as a family

We also now have six senior pomeranians at our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre, all very fluffy and sweet and resembling a flock of small-sized sheep.  They came as a pair and a family of four, so we would like to keep them in pairs at least.

I always say that I live and breathe dogs, and I also dream about them more often that I would like.  In fact there are so many dogs and puppies with HKDR, either on Lamma, at the Homing Centres or in foster, that sometimes I can't remember if we really have those dogs or they just exist in a dream.
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