Mon 29th May: New playground for the dogs

With yet another Public Holiday coming up on Tuesday (Dragon Boat Festival for those of you who don't live in Hong Kong) it was another case of trying to cram as much as possible into the available days of the week, especially as our van driver is off until Friday.

Rufus is unmistakably a Stanley Barracks boy

Finally the last of the most recent Stanley Barracks puppies was allowed to leave AFCD,  and I also took a four month-old puppy.  I called the Stanley Barracks boy Rufus, and he was more than happy to sit on my lap for the drive to Acorn where I had arranged to meet his foster. I know Rufus is going to love the beach and having two friends to play with after his solitary incarceration.  Unfortunately he developed a bladder infection during his stay in Pokfulam, but that should be easy to fix with a course of antibiotics, and I have heard he is doing very well otherwise and following his new humans around like a shadow.

These Stanley Barracks dogs are such lovely characters, summed up by the adopter of Frank, ex-Woody, from the previous generation: As an adopter of a Stanley Barracks dog, I can only say that anyone lucky enough to adopt one, has a very special dog. Our Stanley Barracks dog (frank), is one of the sweetest, funniest & happiest dogs I have had. He loves people, loves kids, loves other dogs, loves stuffed toys, loves his food, loves our bed & the cool floor. He chases butterflies & swims like an otter. We have 3 lovely looking dogs, but Frank always draws the crowd, with his funny whiskers & big head.

Woody before he became Frank

This was the only thing that kept Tucker quiet

The recently surrendered golden retriever was also with me as he needed to have a license update before being taken to his new home, as well as a health check at Acorn.  Tucker, as we have called him, is typical of his breed in that he needs to carry something in his mouth, so we have to attach two leashes, one for him and one for actually leading.  At Acorn he was barking for attention so I asked if there was a spare ball or something he could have, and a stuffed toy was found.  Tucker loved it and it did keep him quiet for a while, although he still wanted someone to play with him.  To be honest I would find it hard to have a dog like a golden retriever because they are often very demanding in terms of attention and wanting to have a ball thrown.  I much prefer my mixed breeds who are very easy in comparison as the only time I'm required to play is at bed time when Griffin likes a game before we go to sleep.

We want these for the Tai Po Homing Centre

I've talked about the Tai Po renovation, and as part of this project the Homing Centre Manager, May, has been trying to source materials and came across this play structure which I thought would be ideal for the dogs.  We ordered one to try out and it was sent, in many pieces, to Lamma today.  One of the Tai Po volunteers, Ray, came across with the parts to put it all together, not an easy task given the size and weight, not to mention the Chinese instructions.  Of course there had to be puppy moments, because which HKDR volunteer can resist.  Ray laboured on until around seven in the evening, and so far it's looking good except for the fact that the centre part, which looks solid in the image, is in fact a trampoline which could be a lot of fun for the dogs but there is a gap round the edge for the springs.  I'm going to buy a large piece of vinyl to cover the whole area, which might reduce the bounce but the "platform" should still be very soft and comfortable for the dogs to lie on.   If anyone is able to sponsor one of these playgrounds for the Tai Po dogs, please let me know at sally@hongkongdogrescue.com, thank you.

Volunteer Ray couldn't resist a puppy cuddle with Lester