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| Turpin is very happy in his foster home |
It's impossible to be able to accurately predict what the future holds, which may seem to be an obvious statement but I'm really talking about our puppies, and what happens after they are adopted. We try our very best to make sure that the homes they go to are going to provide the best life possible, and that means turning down some applications to adopt, for a variety of reasons. However, as careful as we try to be there are still a few we get wrong, sometimes because the adopters haven't been honest on their questionnaires, and sometimes because they haven't understood what having a puppy, or even a dog, means.
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| Baby Turpin |
This particular case concerns Turpin, adopted as a young puppy and returned as a doglet, not yet a year old. Happily we were able to put him straight into a foster home, and I'm sure he's a lot happier there than he was before, in fact he seemed to adjust to his new situation pretty much immediately (except for the lifts (elevators)), which were new to him. This is what his foster parents say about Turpin:
He knows basic commands such as sit, lay down and shake (right) and paw (left).
We have been working on a few things that he is a little frightened of, including doors and elevators, but he is making improvements with them everyday.
He doesn't quite realise that he is a bit too big to sit on your lap but will try to anyway to get some snuggles 
He is very sweet and gentle. Although he is a snuggle bug and is happy to just lounge around he is still a puppy and loves to run around and play tug-of-war with his favourite toy.
Turpin is not very food motivated but loves getting praised with pats, cuddles and fetching his toys.
We also had a day trip to the beach, he wasn’t too interested in the water, but he had so much fun rolling around in the sand and going for a run along the waters edge."
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| These puppies are being moved to Tai Po |
Turpin is obviously just one of many doglets (halfway between puppy and adult) waiting for a home, including those that have just moved from our Kennedy Town Centre to Tai Po. I, and the HKDR staff and volunteers who have known these puppies since almost the time they were born, have an emotional attachment to their welfare and well-being, and never stop caring about them and how they are doing. Speaking personally, I can only really let go of them when I know they are happy and settled in their new homes, and that I don't have to worry any more. This is why receiving happy updates and photos means such a lot, and even if the message is to let us know that the particular dog's life has come to an end, at least there's the knowledge that the life was happy and well-lived.
I think I can say that for those puppies who came to live with me on Lamma many years ago, and who never left. One by one they're coming to the end of their lives, and it's tough, I have to admit. Today it was the turn of Margie to go to ALCVC to be given what is almost certainly a terminal diagnosis, and on Friday it will be Gershwin's turn to be checked out. He narrowly escaped death several years ago when his throat was ripped open by an angry wild boar, and following that escapade he refused ever to walk in the woods again. Trauma can stay with a dog for ever, even if at home Gershwin was perfectly fine after his recovery. Anyway for me this period of my life means a lot of time spent caring for seniors and sick dogs, with the knowledge that I will be saying goodbye to them all before too long.
If you can offer a forever home to Turpin, or any of our dogs and puppies, please start by completing the adoption questionnaire with as much information as possible. www.hongkongdogrescue.com/adopt/adoption-questionnaire/
"Homecoming" Fundraising Exhibition for HKDR by CHAN WAI MANDY
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