Thurs 19th April: Late birthday gifts

This was Shelly when she first arrived

I was so happy today when I passed by the Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre and saw the new Sheltie, Shelly, playing with the puppies.  She had looked like the poster girl for depressed and dejected ex-breeder dogs when she first arrived, with her head hung low and refusing to eat or even move.  We had assumed she was really ill, but what a change has taken place.  Although still a bit shy when there are lots of people around, Shelly is like any normal happy young dog now. 

Shelly has become like a puppy

If you are interested in adoption please complete the adoption questionnaire on our website www.hongkongdogrescue.com (under Adopt), and we would love her to be with another dog to help her progress and learn from him or her.

I took six puppies out of AFCD Pokfulam today, two slightly older ones of around three months and four babies, and all of them have tick fever.  I was so sure that at least the young ones would be good to send to the weekend's puppy adoption events but no, they will all need to wait until they are better.  Anyway the four little ones are staying at Ap Lei Chau which means they can be seen any day of the week, while the older ones were sent to the Tai Po Homing Centre.  They were picked up at the Chai Wan Cemetery where apparently there are lots of stray dogs living, and one of them is undoubtedly related to a previous litter taken from there (and also with tick fever).  Now-Jammy joins Melba, Toastie, Whiskers and Foxy, four once-shy doglets who have been doing really well now that they have lots of volunteers and other dogs to play with.  They have a very distinctive look, which happens when a family of dogs living in one area mate with each other and start to create their own "breed".

My birthday gift from Whiskers N Paws!

My birthday was a week ago, but my asked-for gift from Whiskers N Paws was only collected today - a mountain of dog chews.  The boxes filled the back of the van, so the dogs are going to be kept quiet and happy for some time to come.  I also dropped off a few when I was at AFCD for the long-termers there, those that are kept as testing dogs for anyone wanting to apply for exemption from having to keep large dogs on a leash (www.pets.gov.hk/.../proper.../dogs/large_dogs.html.).., or those like sweet Stubby (now adopted) who have become embroiled in a legal wrangle and have to stay as prisoners while the case rumbles on.  These dogs have done nothing wrong but the system, if it can even be called a system, makes animals the victims .  I hope the chews give the dogs something to enjoy for a while.

Stubby was one of the innocent dogs rounded up and kept at AFCD

I also came to the bottom of one of four boxes of Stella & Chewy's food, another birthday request from my dogs, Murphy especially, who are crazy for this dry raw food.  I found a card when I took out the last packet from the box that I must have opened from the wrong end, so thank you to Dickson from Stella & Chewy's, who is also a Tai Po volunteer.

My dogs go crazy for Stella & Chewy's