Mon 29th Oct: Every day's a busy day at HKDR

At any given time in the working day of HKDR staff there's always something going on that requires special attention, whether it's an event like the recent Gala or the upcoming Peak to Fong, or something dog-related.  Sometimes it's settling in new dogs, taking care of the sick like husky Nigel, or working with the very shy ones.  Currently at our Tai Po Homing Centre there are a few like this, most notably Taylor and Samantha, two older puppies that until recently wouldn't even emerge from their hiding places.

Taylor at Whiskers N Paws in July

Taylor, with less-shy sister Tinker, was initially on Lamma before moving to a foster home, but nothing persuaded her to interact with humans.  Finally the sisters were returned and sent to Tai Po, and now with the help of staff and volunteers Taylor is even going out for walks, something I never thought would be possible.

Samantha was also an older puppy when I took her from AFCD, and although easy to handle and not at all aggressive, she was completely terrified of everything, even other dogs.  She hid in her dog house all day and only emerged at night for the necessary toilet visits.  Now after a relatively short time at Tai Po she's playing with the other dogs, again something I really never thought would happen.

Wolfie was also a really shy puppy, now going for walks

While Nigel the husky is happily showing signs of improvement after eight-hourly injections, over at Ap Lei Chau we recently said goodbye to one of the very old dogs who were rescued from a horrible shelter situation.  Ronnie and Reggie were very close and had probably been together their whole sad lives, and with the natural death of Reggie last week, Ronnie seems to be ready to join his old friend.  This is our promise to all of our HKDR dogs, that we will take care of them until the end.

Ronnie (l) is missing Reggie I'm sure

Ronnie and Reggie came from this sad situation

Yam on her way to Acorn 

Today I took an older dog from AFCD, one of a few from a boatyard that were no longer wanted.  I have to take a chance with the adult larger dogs, so getting to know them a bit first is important.  Many (most) dogs react with fear and confusion when they find themselves locked up in a kennel at AFCD, so it's hard to tell what they are really like initially.  As boatyard dogs they would have been free-roaming, so being confined is very difficult for them even just in terms of toilet habits. These are dogs that would have had a private place where they would have gone to for toilet needs, and they will hold their pee and poo for a long time.  I always know the importance of walking dogs around before putting them in the van if I want to avoid a nasty mess a few minutes into the drive, and now-called Yam certainly needed that walkabout today, poor girl. She turned out to be very sweet and easy, even when having blood taken at Acorn, and by some miracle she is free of heartworm after nine years of outdoor living.  That's a huge relief.

Now that the build-up to Peak to Fong 2018 has started, one clever dog has already started collecting for the Sponsored Walk section of the event.  Anfield knows that there are fantastic prizes to be won so she got her daddy to organise a Simply Giving page to get the ball rolling.  Good work Anfield!

Be smart!  Be like Anfield!