Weds 20th Sept: Post adoption training

The start of last year's Peak to Fong

I've been starting to get a lot of enquiries about the date of this year's Peak to Fong event, so for those of you who haven't yet marked it in your diaries it's Sunday 19th November.   The organising team have been busy for a long time and much of the background work is already done, T-shirts made, stalls sold out and brand new HKDR merchandise in the production line.   Tickets will go on sale next month so look out for the announcements, especially with regard to the special prizes for those participants collecting money for the sponsored walk as we have a surprise in store.

Harvey will be back on Sunday

Inevitably we have a group of new dogs and puppies arriving from AFCD on Friday, including four poodles we assume are from the same breeder.  They are all six years old so not puppies, although for this particular breed six is still a fairly young age.   The puppies that are coming are all mixed breeds, so for the many potential adopters wanting small breed puppies we really don't see too many of them. The newcomers will be at Whiskers N Paws on Sunday along with the rest of the young hopefuls.

These 4 sisters are also still waiting for homes

Many of the dogs and puppies need some training after they are adopted, and while our own HKDR trainer, Cactus, is available to offer help to all adopters, some like to hire their own "at home" dog trainers.  If you choose to do that, please be careful about the trainer you pick as not all are good, and many not very nice.  We're happy to make recommendations if needed.

The biggest mistake you can make is to send a dog away to one of those training kennels in the New Territories where threats and punishment are the methods used to terrify a dog into being obedient. We know only too well what happens later, when the fear factor turns the dog into a biter, because we get many surrender requests from those very dog owners.  Apart from anything else, it's the human side of the equation that's important too, because what's the point of sending a dog for training when you as the owner have no idea yourself?  The dog and family need to work as a team so everyone understands each other.

As is well known, at HKDR we insist on Positive Reinforcement methods only and always recommend the www.dogstrust.org.uk training videos for those dog owners who want to learn at home.   Following these videos and being consistent in their use will result in a happy and well behaved dog, allowing of course for occasional errors and general puppy playfulness, and you can find them all here:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3B73E2767DC19590.

I really want to be able to post new photos of Matchstick

After yesterday's poodle post I'm happy to say that Matchstick's foster home has now been confirmed as permanent.  She has been through so much with first of all a leg amputation, then needing an eye conjunctival graft for a deep ulcer, followed by a knee repair on her remaining back leg.  She made it through it all with flying colours thanks to the care of her fosters and Dr Tony at Acorn, and now she can relax and enjoy the rest of what I hope is a very long life.