Mon 18th April: Getting ready to move in to Kennedy Town

One of two new puppies coming

There's been an upside to the working-from-home situation for many who normally need to go to an office on a daily basis, and that's the additional number of foster homes that have been available.  Now as things are shifting back to normal that also means many foster dogs and puppies are having to be returned, thankfully just as the new Homing Centre in Kennedy Town finally looks as though it will be ready and open for business by next week, or even sooner.  Even as all of this is happening, new puppies are arriving and two of them are due on Tuesday (thankfully with a foster home to go to). 

Thomas

The small adults that will be some of the first residents of the Centre are Thomas, Tanner and Tessa (see video), all of them "T" for timid. The two boys have been in a foster home together where they've been very happy, and even if they don't find a forever home as a pair they really have to have another dog as a companion.  Tessa's foster home had a resident dog so she has been fine, but it would be unfair to let them go as singletons.   We don't know where these dogs came from, only that they were part of several large groups who don't seem to have had much interaction with humans.   Several of them moved to Lamma, and while they're very happy with the situation there, that's because they have each other and a large garden where they can spend time as a when they want to.  These include the "Cricket" family of four, and beautiful River (who still hides every time I go to the house). 

Tanner

Hunter is 8 years old

Unless a home is found very soon it also looks at though dachshund Hunter will have to come to the new Homing Centre, as his family are already packing up for their move to Shanghai. 

I was up very early today as I'd made an appointment at ALCVC for my Lamma dog Griffin to potentially have surgery to remove a lump, and maybe two depending on whether it was deemed to be necessary. It might seem like a simple task to get one dog over to Ap Lei Chau, but I have a routine which is set in stone as far as my many dogs are concerned, so they know exactly what to expect and at what time.  As Griffin was going to be having surgery he couldn't eat anything, but all of the dogs are fed in the morning, either before I go for my walk or after, depending on who they are.  Trying to arrange feeding without including Griffin was really difficult, not to mention the fact that the timing was thrown out because I had to leave home much earlier than usual.  Anyway, I made it over with Griffin as scheduled, leaving behind a lot of very confused dogs.

Griffin gave up halfway

I'd warned the vet clinic that while Griffin is a very easygoing dog under normal circumstances, and very friendly to everyone, he really hates being "inspected" or having anything done which makes him suspicious.  Even being scanned for his microchip was enough to get him worked up, so as I had suggested he was sedated before any attempt was made to touch him.  Once asleep his lumps were checked and found to be harmless lipomas (fat), so I opted to just leave them.  In the end the only procedure Griffin had was to have one dew claw nail clipped, and after that we both left the clinic at the same time. Griffin was still very dozy but I knew he could sleep in the van while I was doing other things, and when I turned round to see that he was OK I just had to take a photo.  He had obviously tried to climb onto the seat but had fallen asleep halfway, and was stuck in a very funny frog-like pose.

The daily routine which I mentioned is actually important to a dog's feeling of security, and it helps newly-adopted dogs to settle into a new home if they have a structured timetable.  Not knowing when they will be fed or taken out is hard for any dog, and I'm sure most dogs owners have seen that their dogs have a built-in clock which tells them exactly what time it is.