Tues 11th Sept: The value of labels

Will it hit us this weekend?

It looks as though the first real typhoon could be heading our way this weekend, and after last year's Typhoon 10 turned out to be so devastating, at least where I live, I now take these things very seriously.  We need Bad Weather foster homes for the Tai Po dogs, with pick up before the typhoon actually hits or comes close, because once that happens all of the Tai Po staff are too busy making sure the dogs are safe to be able to handle foster enquiries.  Please email May at may@hongkongdogrescue.com and Eva at eva@hongkongdogrescue.com, and if this is just a short-term foster please don't ask for specific dogs, breeds or ages.  If you're not actually adopting then it really shouldn't matter.

Nobody seemed to notice the labrador puppy with big Zara

Along those same lines I wanted to try something, an experiment to prove that perception and belief is everything when it comes to dogs and breeds, and it was very telling.  Along with all of the breeder dogs we took in last week there were two black labrador puppies, but I decided not to say anything about them.  Instead they stayed with the other puppies at our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre and went to Whiskers N Paws on Sunday, just the same as everyone else.  I didn't hide them, and in fact posted a photo of one of them walking alongside Zara the Malamute, and still nobody noticed or asked about them.  They were simply black puppies, and it was only when I made a Facebook post saying they were labradors that the enquiries started coming in.

Even this close-up, one of many, didn't bring in enquiries

Rum has settled right in 

Meanwhile the adopters of black no-breed Rum are delighted with her and her sweet and easy personality, and to me it just shows that if you stick a label on something the value is suddenly increased.  In fact a long time ago I worked in the high-end fashion business and know this to be true, but it's sad when the same applies to puppies. From Rum's new family: "We have a lovely first day yesterday – she is such a lovely, charming dog.  She settled in well straight away and the boys were nice and calm around her despite being very excited.  We had a couple of long’ish walks and Rum had a nice afternoon nap in her new bed.  She even had a nice shower at W&P which didn’t bother her at all".

Female Nattie

Along with Rum's smaller-sized sister Raisin, I took several puppies to AFCD today to have their rabies vaccinations and licenses issued.  The group also included siblings Nattie and Frisbee, as well as Jack, and all three of them are very small for their age too.  More and more of the mixed breeds are no larger than medium sized these days, and I assume it's because they have some small-breed genes in their DNA.   Nattie and Frisbee are two of the "Rubbish Litter" from several months ago, and when I took them from AFCD as small babies they were really sick apart from one.  They had just about everything, from tick fever to baldness, and even now the two remaining puppies are just growing all of their coats back in.  However they are lovely dogs in both looks and temperament, and being so small I suspect their mother was some kind of little dog who mated with a random passing male.  The fact that they were thrown away in the garbage means that they were in someone's home and not born as strays.

The litter of 5 when they arrived

Male Frisbee