Tues 13th Nov: New recruits

As I keep repeating, if we don't have what you're looking for today we may have exactly the right dog tomorrow, as new arrivals come in all the time.  The only type we don't have other than on very rare occasions are puppy cockapoos, doodle-whatevers, Yorkies and all of those small breeds which too many people seem to think we keep a stock of hidden in the back somewhere.  We are a rescue organisation, not breeders, and while we are fully aware that some "organisations" are simply covers for breeders we're not one of them.  That means we take in those dogs that someone has bought from a pet shop or bred at home and then at some point no longer wants them for whatever reason, or the breeder throwaways, dogs that are no longer useful for making money.  In that respect the mixed breeds are lucky because they will never know the misery and horrors of a puppy farm, although their challenge comes in finding homes because they don't have a designer label.

Mother Edith 

For example the two poodles I took from AFCD in Pokfulam are lovely little dogs, a mother and daughter, who became homeless as a result of a divorce.  It had nothing to do with their health or behaviour, only circumstance.

Daughter Penny

The same is probably true of the two very beautiful four year-old Dobermans that arrived at our Tai Po Homing Centre today, a male and female and probably siblings.  I'm very happy to see that they have uncut ears, as not only are floppy ears much nicer to look at and to stroke, but the unnecessary cruelty of cutting a puppy's ears is horrible. Why?

Mindy the female

Mork the male

I also took a puppy from AFCD Pokfulam, a very handsome boy with a bendy tail - so he's now called Bendy.  It's common to see local cats with misshapen tails, but maybe this boy has some bulldog in him that's caused the twist.  Bulldogs often have a corkscrew tail which is an extension of a twisted spine, one of the many sad genetic problems that inbreeding has produced: "Screw tail is due to a malformation of one of several vertebrae in the tail. It most commonly occurs in Bulldogs, who have a clear genetic tendency for it. The condition can also rarely occur in pugs, Boston terriers and Manx cats. Other names for the condition include corkscrew tail, ingrown tail, tail fold dermatitis and tail fold intertrigo".

Bendy

On Thursday we'll be taking more dogs from AFCD in Sheung Shui, a King Charles spaniel, a shiba inu and the inevitable poodle.  Oh, and some more puppies.

Shiba inu

Kings Charles spaniel