Hardly a day goes by when we don't see new dogs arriving, and it's getting quite hard to keep up with who's who and where they are. The most recent two, Melody and Morgan, are staying at Kennedy Town in case you want to meet them, even though Morgan is bordering on being too big for the small Homing Centre. However quite a few people have asked about him and they're all on Hong Kong Island, so it made sense to keep him there for this week at least.
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| Nutty |
Another newbie was added today, a one year-old poodle boy who has probably been at AFCD for most of his life as he was one of a smuggling case. This means he will definitely not be toilet trained, having spent his puppy months in a cage, so anyone interested in adopting will have to be patient about teaching everything. We don't agree with crate training anyway, but this is definitely a case where it will be completely counter-productive. The only way to toilet train a dog who has never been allowed to follow instinctive behaviour is to take him out frequently and to praise every time he pees or poos in the right spot, then immediately bring him back in. Punishing a dog for toilet accidents is never the right thing to do, especially in cases like these when the dog has no idea what is required of him. Of course all adopters have the support of our very experienced trainer, Cactus, and she will guide you through the steps of all aspects of training.
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| Jill and Jax, small sized doglets |
Our regular foster parent, Lyndsay, came straight to North Street, Kennedy Town, on her way back from from her holiday, and left with four lucky youngsters. Three of these are small-sized "J" siblings, Jill, Jax and Johnnie, while a last-minute extra was added to the pile. He's black lab-alike Jasper, and you can see all four already having an amazing time on Instagram @why_i_foster.
The two large dogs, a Samoyed and a Malamute, are supposed to be arriving on Tuesday, and these long-haired breeds really don't do well at the Homing Centre as they need to be in a clean and air-conditioned home. Even if you can only foster, we would appreciate having somewhere suitable for them to stay. We have been told both dogs are very friendly and good with other dogs.
As always, for adoption please start by completing the questionnaire at www.hongkongdogrescue.com/adopt/adoption-questionnaire/, and for fostering you can apply at www.hongkongdogrescue.com/volunteer/fostering/
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| Yuki has settled nicely |
I almost forgot one lovely adoption photo of young shiba Yuki. Like Nutty, Yuki had had no training of any kind when he came to us from a breeder, so he needed time and patience from his now-adopter.
Dogs in essence just want to please, and to do what's requested of them, but they need to be taught what that is. Shouting and punishment never work because the dog has no idea what either mean, and it only confuses them. A work in progress is the young corgi Boomer, who was surrendered to us as being completely untouchable and a serious guarder. Boomer is doing really well on Lamma, and is quickly letting go of all the fear and confusion of his previous life. He's happy to be with the other dogs and to have the freedom to choose what do to, something that caging or crating takes away from a dog. Boomer now greets me happily, and has shown no guarding behaviour at all. I won't say that he's ready for adoption yet because complete rehabilitation takes longer than a couple of weeks, but as proof that it's seldom the dog that has the problem rather the owner or situation, Boomer is a great example.
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