Mon 19th Nov: Where to buy your T-shirts before Sunday

It happens every year and 2018 is proving to be no exception, as today was the cut-off date for buying the Peak to Fong ticket/T-shirts online and suddenly we have so many people asking if they can still order.  Allowing for sorting, packing and sending the T-shirts, we wouldn't be able to guarantee delivery in time for Sunday so anyone wanting to buy can do so by visiting any of the outlets shown.  If you can't make it yourself maybe friends can do it for you, and we are also looking at the possibility of pick-up on the Peak on Sunday as long as the T-shirts have already been paid for.  We can't sell on the Peak, we can only hand out those that have been pre-paid.

Sybil and Maud

I took the two Maltese ladies to AFCD for microchipping and rabies vaccinations today, and then on to Acorn for their health checks.  It wasn't a surprise to find that both have heartworm as they have been living outside on a floating raft for their whole lives.  What was a happy discovery though was that these little dogs are incredibly happy and friendly, as well as being closely bonded of course.  I called the ten year-old daughter Sybil and the eleven year-old mother Maud, and other than those horrible worms living in their hearts and rotten teeth (of course), they are remarkably healthy.  We are always in need of foster homes for dogs like these and as I always say, two are easier than one, especially when they are so small. Please email Cindy at foster@hongkongdogrescue.com for information about fostering any of our dogs or puppies.  HKDR provide everything you will need, including food, and all vet costs are covered.

Ruth has the classic facial pattern and eye dots of the black-and-tans

We took in a new puppy today, a young black-and-tan mixed breed and a very pretty girl (with a straight tail) who is now called Ruth.  She is about the same age as the many other youngsters we have at the Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre so she fitted right in and started playing immediately. A singleton puppy is always a sad thing, as their need for playmates is so strong.

Apparently too old for toilet training at 5 months

I heard the funniest thing today, although it's also very sad as it reflects the ignorance of so many puppy buyers.  A long-haired chihuahua puppy was surrendered to us, and the reason given for not wanting to keep the newly-bought five month-old was that after two days of trying it had become clear that the puppy was too old and stubborn to be toilet trained, crate trained to be specific.  Iris was informed in all seriousness by the now ex-owner that puppies are born with sensors on their pads so they automatically know when their feet are standing on the bottom of a cage.  In fact the importance of crate training was written on the surrender form, with strict instructions on what to do.

The fact is that small-breed puppies have proportionally tiny bladders and toilet training is more challenging than with a larger-sized type.  Also if the puppy had only just been bought at five months of age from a breeder (and without microchip or license) then we can assume no effort had been made to train the puppy anyway, so there is always going to be a longer-than-usual training period.  However no age is too old to teach a dog, and none of the ex-breeder dogs that come to us know anything about polite toilet habits.  How could they when they have spent their lives in cages being forced to eat, sleep, pee and poo in the same place?   That's one of the reason why we specifically ask that no dogs are kept in crates or cages, because that's exactly what they have escaped from.