Mon 21st May: Staff Vacancy at Tai Po Homing Centre

I'm waiting for better photos of Buzzy, but he's gorgeous

The new intake from AFCD Sheung Shui arrived today and I was right in thinking the fuzzy-faced boy was going to be a winner.  I have called him Buzzy and I just wish I could take him home myself, although that's impossible so someone else is going to be the lucky one.

Emmy is a very sweet 1 year old bulldog

The bulldog is now Emmy, and she had immediate desex surgery because she was in season and we can't have or home any females on heat.  It's not ideal to spay at this time but it's not impossible, and Emmy is fine.  She turned out to be one of the more healthy type of bulldog, and by that I mean she has relatively long and straight legs and a shorter body, so walking and breathing will be less of an issue than with what has become the standard English bulldog.  It's good to see that there are more of these less deformed types around, and I suspect it's because people don't want to have to deal with the inevitably massive vet bills that come with the breed.

The golden retriever turned out to be in very good health and we have no idea why she ended up at AFCD, but she should be going to her new home on Wednesday.

The last one was the poodle, and he has a bad heart problem which needs to be addressed.  So for now he'll stay with us and we'll make sure he's happy.

I made my usual Monday visit to AFCD in Pokfulam and found a gorgeous litter of young puppies there.  They will be available for release on Thursday, and I need foster homes please.  The pups are six to eight weeks old, quite unusual in looks, and they were found dumped in the rubbish collection point in Western.  You might wonder who could do that, leave puppies out with the rubbish and in danger of being buried alive in a landfill?  It's really quite terrible what some people can do, but at least these puppies are safe now and will find good homes I'm sure.  If you can help with fostering please contact Cindy at foster@hongkongdogrescue.com, thank you.

If you think dumping puppies in the rubbish is bad, abandoning healthy adult dogs that have been with you since they were puppies is even worse in my view.  We have another case of an expat leaving Hong Kong and not taking her ex-HKDR puppy with her. She didn't ask us if we would take the dog back but instead took it to a vet clinic to be put to sleep - at three years of age.  She had previously posted on a popular Facebook pet group that she really wanted to take the family hamster back to the UK, but obviously the dog was unimportant.  Hong Kong is a small place and there is communication between the animal rescue groups, some at least, so it's hard for anyone to get away with horrendous acts like this and not be found out.  This evening, after I had already left to go home, there were calls between the vet clinic, the woman and Cactus, which ended up with an independent volunteer having to take the dog home temporarily to save it from being killed. 

The summertime heat makes life very hard at the Tai Po Homing Centre and I am doubly grateful for both the volunteers who still turn up to walk the dogs, and also the staff, cleaners included.  It's a tough job at the best of times and this is the season when cleaners resign, unable to take the heat and the physical toil of trudging up and down those steep steps. 

I doubt that anyone reading this post will want to apply for a job as a cleaner at Tai Po, but we do also have a vacancy for full-time or part time staff to help with looking after the dogs and hopefully handling adoptions too. If you are interested in working with HKDR at our Tai Po Homing Centre, please send an email to Eva Sit at eva@hongkongdogrescue.com.  Applicants must be over 18, have a permanent HKID and work visa, and be physically fit as basic requirements.  A passion for dogs is also a given.