Sat 19th March: Dogs and their friendships

 Weekends used to be a busy time, with potential adopters packed into the small Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre and the puppy parties taking place at Whiskers N Paws, so it seems strange not to have either to write about.  The new Homing Centre at Kennedy Town is coming along, although slowly as materials are hard to obtain, while the design and layout for the office/Red Dog Centre are being finalised.  We have to maximise every available inch of space, and Iris has been putting her years of experience with HKDR to good use, knowing exactly what's needed and how best to fit it all in. 

The Tai Po Homing Centre is open as usual, and for those of you who message saying you've tried calling but nobody picks up the phone, that's because everyone is busy with the dogs.  We have never employed anyone to sit at a desk to take calls, so please contact us by email or Facebook and we'll reply as soon as we can (which is almost always the same day if not immediate). 

Opal is so happy to have Watson as a friend

I asked the Tai Po team how Opal was doing (the "Little White" who came back to us yesterday), and as I had expected she's enjoying having a friend in Watson, and to be able to play.  We always hope that even if not adopted as a pair, all dogs have the opportunity to be able to meet up at least once a day with dog friends that they can run around with.  Dog friendships are important, and the bond between siblings, even if not blood relatives, is very strong. 

It's always interesting to see how dogs choose their friends, and it's something that we as humans can't ever understand.  Living as I do in a multi-dog environment I know that it's the females who form tight groups and the males that tend to be more independent of each other, but as always there are exceptions.  I have two males who not only look alike, although not brothers, who are always together and operate as a full-time pair. It's actually quite amusing to see them.

As always, if you want to be sure that a two-dog relationship will work out, then a male-female partnership is the best option.  Two females can be tight friends, but if they fall out then it's a big problem, and two males can also get along fine even if their bonding is usually less than with a female.  Whatever the partnership, two is always better than one. 

The "Cricket Family", who came together and are currently staying on Lamma, are a perfect example of a natural family unit, and it's hard to imagine that any one of them would manage without at least one of their siblings. Luckily we have a place where they can be together, and maybe they will end up staying.