Tues 3rd Sept: Two turtles and an exchange

It felt like I hadn't been off Lamma for weeks as I made it over to Ap Lei Chau today, and then went on to my usual AFCD and Acorn, with a quick supermarket stop on the way.  There are dogs at AFCD waiting to be taken out of course, as there always are, but today I only left with two turtles who had been surrendered by their owner.  Now they're looking for a new place to stay if anyone can take them, and at least one is a senior who had been in his previous home for many years.  Please let me know if you can help, and my email is sallyandersen@hongkongdogrescue.com, or you can send me a Facebook message.

Kira and Tasha are quite small and very sweet girls

Madi at Tai Po (and still with the extra back toes)

Leaving Acorn with two puppies that had been there for vaccinations, I met some Tai Po dogs in the van.  Two were the little akita girls who are so pretty and very sweet (why haven't they been adopted?), while the other two were doglets Madi and Joseph.  Madi in particular is really quite small, and I had to ask the Tai Po team who she was.  I could see she'd just been desexed and had her dew claws (extra back toes) removed, while Joseph had been to Acorn for his final vaccination.   It occurred to me that both Madi and Joseph were much smaller than some of the older puppies we have staying at Ap Lei Chau, so I suggested an exchange and that's what happened.  Rex and Ozzie, both really sweet boys, were fitted out with harnesses and put in the van, while the smaller two were carried out of the van and into the Homing Centre.  It's not easy to say goodbye to puppies you have seen growing up from babies, but remembering Tomlin who made exactly the same transition just a week ago and was quickly adopted, we all hope the same will happen for Rex and Ozzie.

I have something important that needs to be done and it's always at the back of my mind as I check the weather forecast every morning.  You probably all know about "Dog Island", the place that started my dog rescue "career" as far back as 1986, and I recently shared an old SCMP article about the dogs there.  The current pair have been living on the island for many years now, and they had at least two litters of puppies, maybe three,  before I managed to have the male desexed.  Recently it was reported to me that the female had something wrong with her, and when I checked I could see she either has a prolapsed uterus or vaginal hyperplasia, a large growth protruding from her rear end.  Either way surgery is necessary, but how to manage it when the dog is extremely timid and unapproachable.  Trapping is the obvious answer but then there are the logistics of getting a heavy trap to the island and making sure the female, not the male, goes inside.  Assuming the female is successfully caught inside the trap then there's the problem of getting her off the island, something which can only be done using a sampan and at high tide, and then I would have to get the dog to Acorn at a time that would allow her to have surgery fairly quickly, bearing in mind that she has never had really had any human contact.  I've been offered help from the local kayak group, for which I'm grateful, but I don't think a kayak is going to be of any use when it comes to carrying anything heavy.  Anyway with the current weather nothing is going to be possible, and it's worrying me.

At least another worry will be sorted on Wednesday, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to read about that.