Finding good homes for our dogs and puppies is our main priority, and we have so many puppies at our Homing Centres in Kennedy Town, and adult dogs at our our big Tai Po Homing Centre, all waiting and hoping that they will be the next ones to be chosen. In fact many of the Kennedy Town puppies have really outgrown the available space at small centres and would normally have moved to Tai Po by now, but the summer lull has meant there's no room for them there either. These are lovely characters, and I really encourage families with young children to consider such slightly older puppies whose personality and calm attitude is so important. Kyle and Alan are just two such puppies, really sweet and gentle boys, currently staying at our North Street Centre.
Having all of these dogs and puppies to feed and look after takes both time and money, and ongoing donations are essential for us to be able to continue providing the best level of care possible. There are so many horror stories in the media about shelters that have started off with the best of intentions but have run into financial difficulties, and it's the animals that suffer of course. I've always been clear that as much as the dogs and adoptions come first, it's just as important that we don't forget the support side of the Charity, meaning finding ways to fund our efforts, especially since we haven't been able to hold any of our big events over the past few years.
We're also aware that these are challenging times for many people, so although I've shared the following information before I thought it was worth mentioning again. These are ways that you can support HKDR without it costing anything, or very little, while still helping in a big way.
Before anything else, please remember to collect newspapers from friends, neighbours and your offices because we need it for the dogs' toilet spots. I don't know why but puppies are drawn to newspaper in the same way that kittens seem to automatically use cat litter, and not only is it free it's also far more environmentally friendly than pee pads (which puppies love to rip to shreds anyway). You can drop off the newspapers at any of our Centres in Kennedy Town, Tai Po or HKDR@Elgin in Soho. (For obvious reasons glossy paper doesn't work, so please don't send any fancy magazines).
Another way you can support HKDR without it costing anything, or at least maybe just the loose change in your pockets, is to "feed" one of many Coin Dragons around Hong Kong. Visit the Coin Dragon 換幣龍 Facebook page for more information and the locations of the Coin Dragons near you.
Leaving a Legacy via 遺善最樂 ForeverGift.hk is a promise for the future, so although HKDR won't receive the donation for some time to come, it's not only a wonderful way to be remembered, it's also a free Will-writing service that would normally cost quite a lot of money. I know this because I wrote my Will before knowing about ForeverGift.hk, and it wasn't cheap!
Food donations from Buddy Bites make a big difference
We're also very grateful to Buddy Bites for their donations which feed all of our Tai Po dogs except those that are on special diets. In fact with the launch of their new Sweet Potato and Salmon recipe, that should also help our HKDR dogs who have food allergy issues. For every purchase of Buddy Bites food you make, they will donate an amount to HKDR. You can see from our regular posts about the food donations, that this has made a huge difference to our monthly feeding costs.
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| Little Doris has been back to Acorn many times |
The days seem to be taken up with vet visits lately, either emergencies, old dogs becoming ill or just regular puppy checks and vaccinations. It's quite a challenge for me personally, not only because of my location and every vet visit meaning a long journey for the dogs, but also with so many seniors now it seems that every week there's another dog showing signs of old age. The same applies to our Tai Po Homing Centre, meaning an endless round of daily medications required, and of course trips to the vet.
There was a bit of a panic today when it seemed that not only were our emails disappearing or being blocked, but so too were our online forms. I normally start the day replying to adoption questionnaires, so it was a bit of a shock to find there weren't any, while at the same time our trainer Cactus also reported that applications for the Positive Partners course hadn't arrived (when she knew they'd been sent). Thankfully, even though she's officially no longer with HKDR, Ka Yan came to the rescue and managed to sort things out. I have to apologise again for the email situation, but I believe it will soon be resolved and we'll be able to send and receive messages without the continual bounceback. It's been a real challenge for all of us, and extremely frustrating.
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