Tues 19th June: Whittling numbers down

Can you see little black Indigo? 

Bit by bit the large number of dogs at our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre is being reduced to a more manageable size as two more left today, little poodle Indigo and ex-breeder bichon boy Taro.  We thought we'd be getting another poodle (found stray) in their place, but even though that one didn't arrive I'm hoping to be able to take one from AFCD on Thursday.  This is another dog with a strange story, and there are many with complicated and often sad histories.

Taro is the dog in the centre

It was an optimistically busy day at Tai Po, the main problem being those annoying summer holidays that so many people take, annoying for us I mean.  Several dogs have been chosen to go to new homes but can't be adopted immediately, so that means more waiting unless someone else comes along who can offer a good home.  We had to introduce a No Holding Policy after having been let down too many times by people who disappeared after promising to adopt, but I really hope in these current cases that's not going to happen.

Bruno is lovely but he has has heartwom

I took the new bulldog to AFCD for licensing today as he had no microchip, and then on to Acorn for a health check.  It was easy to see the typical skin problem and the awful facial fold, which Dr Andy said was the worst he had ever seen (me too), but we also found out that Bruno has heartworm.  It's really so frustrating to see so many cases of this easily preventable disease, and it means we can't treat the skin until the after the heartworm.  The good thing is that Bruno is a super-frendly dog and once he's had everything sorted - if not sooner - he'll be very much in demand I'm sure.

I also had another dog with me who needed to have a heart scan, which reminds me that we still have the very sweet shiba inu boy, Hobo, needing a home or foster.  At the moment, and being still very young, you wouldn't really know that there was anything wrong with him as it will take time for the hole in the heart to start causing visible problems.   Hobo loves playing with the other bigger dogs at the Ap Lei Chau Centre and we allow it because a shorter life of fun is better than a long and boring one.  Of course we wouldn't allow or reccommend log hikes or very vigrous exercise, but having fun is so important for a young dog.

1 year-old Hobo