Thurs 10th Aug: A tale of two puppies

Susie at the age she was adopted

HKDR was established in 2003, and during the years I have seen a lot and come across many strange, sad and horrible cases.  However today was a new one for me and it happened just by chance, so let me jump back to last year when a seemingly caring woman adopted senior Maltese Pops and little puppy Susie, who was staying at the Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre at the time.  The same woman came back later to take a second puppy for fostering, and subsequently disappeared.  All attempts to make contact failed, and calls to the home were answered by the helper who said her employer was not in Hong Kong at the time.

Pops in May 2016, just before his ordeal began

Then on Wednesday the woman suddenly turned up at the Ap Lei Chau Centre saying she wanted to return the "foster" puppy, Carter, because he was chewing the computer cables and her husband was angry.  When asked about vaccinations, licensing or desexing, she said nothing had been done because Carter was only a foster.  I was at home at the time but asked Andrea to put the woman on the phone so I could tell her what I thought of her, and to demand that she return all three dogs. Checking with AFCD I had already ascertained that the adopted puppy, Susie, has also not been licensed, so I correctly assume she hadn't been desexed either.

Susie and Carter are very thin and have had no vet care at all

I was actually quite surprised when the woman turned up this morning with the three dogs, still claiming to love them all so much.  When asked why they were all very thin and with long nails indicating they had never been taken out for walks, she said she had so many others to look after that there was no time.  Poor Susie and Carter were terrified of course, never having been outside the apartment they had lived in their whole lives so far, but what was even worse was that Pops, the old dog who had been such a happy boy when with us, was also very scared and hiding.

Our dogs are safe now but I don't know how long it will take them to recover from their experiences, whatever they were, or even if that will ever happen.  Both puppies were happy and social youngsters but they have been turned into quivering wrecks.  What worries me is that there are others in still in that situation, and the women told Andrea that she had taken five puppies from another organisation, and even bizarrely admitted that they too had never been given any veterinary attention or licensing. I have reported the case of course, but it seems the address the woman gave is incomplete so I don't know if anyone will be able to find the place.

The worst thing about homing dogs and puppies is that it's a game of chance in which the animal has no say.  I like to think that we are as careful as we can be about selecting suitable homes, but people lie and some have mental issues that aren't evident at the time.  I suspect the woman in this story must have some such mental health problems, although on the surface she seems to be normal, not to mention wealthy and living in an expensive area in a big apartment.  Often it's just impossible to tell what the real story is and it's the animals that end up as victims.

Pasha and Pepsi

We also received the two schnauzers that had been left at a grooming shop, a male and female, estimated to be around eight years old and both needing veterinary treatment.  They are now called Pasha and Pepsi.

It's been a while since I took the last litter of pups from AFCD, and they were the sharpei-cross babies who were with their mother.  They were all adopted from their foster homes, except the one who looks least like a sharpei and she has an adoption interview on Sunday (so good luck Kayla). Today I was at AFCD for some licensing paperwork when I was told there were four new puppies, so they will be at Whiskers N Paws on Sunday.

Kayla is the only non-sharpei

I'd like to say thank you to all of the volunteers who turned up at Tai Po to help with the heavy moving, despite the hot weather and the physical challenge.  I'm sure there are lots of tough young men and woman who could use their muscles at the Homing Centre, and it's as good a workout as you'd get in any gym!

Hard working volunteers at Tai Po