We're very slowly whittling down the numbers at Ap Lei Chau, with some dogs going to temporary "renovation fosters" and other lucky ones forever homes. Chihuahua Gilbert is one of the latter, and hopefully Sunday will being more good news.
As wonderful as foster homes are, the hope is always that the dogs can move directly into a permanent home and never have to come back to Lamma or either of the Homing Centres. This is probably especially true of puppies who have grown up as family pets, as they have no idea that their homes are only temporary. If they are adopted while still in foster the adjustment period is usually a matter of days as they are still young enough to be accepting and adaptable, but the unlucky ones end up being returned to us without having another home to go to. Then they are very confused and unhappy, not understanding why they are suddenly homeless and living outside with many others.
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| Sesame is a handsome doglet now |
We have a few such puppies, the oldest of which is Sesame who was taken for fostering as a young baby pup and is now six months old. He has been through all of the phases of growing up, including a period of being the Whiskers N Paws troublemaker, then being the one who hid under a bench for the full three hours, and he has now come out of that to be a happy doglet who loves to play with others. His foster parents say he is a very easy boy at home, well behaved and quiet, but he was overlooked during his "golden opportunity" weeks because he never showed his best side at the Sunday puppy afternoons.
In fact many puppies behave out of character at these "parties", and you can equate the situation to a human child's party where the kids get over-excited and tired and then the tears and tantrums start. It's exactly the same with puppies and it's upsetting, and actually quite annoying, to hear people commenting on the "aggressive one", or the "alpha". It's just not true, and away from the crowds each puppy is very different from what you see on the Whiskers N Paws terrace. That's why we are there, to recommend and guide potential adopters towards the right puppy for their home and lifestyle. It's my job to know the puppies and their characters and to suggest individuals accordingly.
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| Young Sesame (left) |
So back to Sesame, his foster period is coming to an end and we are quite desperate to make sure that he has another home to move on to, hopefully permanent. If you think you would like to meet him the ideal meeting place would be in or near his home where he's comfortable and relaxed, and you can do that by emailing Cindy to arrange an appointment (foster@hongkongdogrescue.com). When Sesame, and all of the others puppies, are at Whiskers N Paws they are far more interested in playing than saying hello to strangers, and you're lucky if they take a short break for inspection and petting before racing off again to carry on with their games.
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| I love these Stanley Barracks boys like Bruno |
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| Sesame (left) loves other dogs |
Stanley Barracks boy Bruno is another older puppy who's reaching the end of his foster period, and you all know about these beautiful boys if you read my blog regularly. Bruno is the whiskery one and perhaps the most outgoing of all of this litter, but they are all truly wonderful characters.
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| Casper is such a lovely boy |
Casper is also going to lose the foster home he assumes is his forever family, and while his two brothers Wallace and Lester have grown up on Lamma so know no other situation, Casper is going to feel lost and confused if he ends up having to join them.
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| Brothers Lester, Wallace and Casper |
Please consider these already-trained and very easy puppies/doglets if you are thinking about adopting, or if you can take them on temporarily as fosters.
You can meet them all on Sunday at Whiskers N Paws, along with a huge collection of other pups all eagerly waiting to be chosen.
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| Every Sunday rain or shine |
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