Fri 19th Oct: Typhoon leftovers

India's sleeping at my feet as I type, perfectly fine after the travel dramas

Although September's Typhoon Mangkhut is fast becoming just a part of Hong Kong history, it isn't completely over yet.  For a start, a large section of my dog shelter on Lamma which was completely destroyed is still without any kind of fence, but today a large consignment of building equipment was delivered ready for work to begin on Monday.  I know the dogs that are currently enjoying their freedom won't be happy to be confined again, and I have been trying to figure out how I can integrate at least some of them into my large dog family, or send them to Tai Po where they will have a chance of adoption.  Many of the dogs really aren't suitable for adoption, but there are several who are only here because of bad luck and chance, and they are lovely.  It's been quite an interesting experience seeing how these currently-free dogs have adapted to their new freedom, and how those I'm talking about have made it clear to me that they need a home.  We'll see.  The first thing I have planned is to go to Tai Po next week to clear an enclosure for the Lamma dogs that I want to send up, and the next step will be getting the dogs there.

Gabriel is one of the dogs who should have a chance of a home

It's not easy transporting dogs over from my Lamma home as there's no ferry and the dogs rarely, if ever, leave this quiet and remote bay.  Today I took three dogs over with me to have their rabies vaccinations updated, as well as a fourth who needed to see a vet.  One of the dogs was India, now six years old and needing a license update.  Although she did have knee surgery a few years ago, she has never left my house or garden since then, so today's trip on a windy day with a rough sea was too much for her.  Halfway across the Lamma Channel India started having a seizure and there was nothing I could do except sit by her and watch.  Eventually she stopped, but shortly afterwards she had a second seizure and again there was absolutely nothing I could do.  It was horrible having to watch a dog blindly thrashing and being unable to help, and all I could think about was that she would have to go through the same thing coming home, so rather than go to AFCD I headed straight to Acorn once we got to dry land.  India was checked over and was fine by then, but for the return journey she sat next to me on the front seat of the van and I didn't put her in a crate for the sea crossing.

Kenny (l) is now officially Sarah's brother

Another positive result of the typhoon was the number of dogs that went to foster homes and never came back, and today another lucky boy had his foster status changed to adopted.  Kenny had been staying with another ex-HKDR dog, Sarah, in the home of "Little" Eva, and it worked out so well that Kenny is now a permanent family member.  These adoptions of long-termers are the best, and it's one of the reasons I'm motivated to give some of my Lamma dogs a chance too.

Today was the day I took the dog out of AFCD, the one I wrote about before.  It had been difficult to assess her because of her fear, but when the time finally came she was absolutely fine and very easy to handle, even at the vet where she had blood taken to check that she was free of heartworm.  I had spent a long time trying to get her to accept me when I visited her at AFCD, and today for the first time she wagged her tail when I spoke to her, finally acknowledging that she recognised my voice.  She's a young dog, a year at most, and very pretty, so I hope she'll be happy having friends at Tai Po and will settle quickly.