Mon 11th April: Dandy and Beano

For no reason other than that she's so lovely, I'm posting this photo of Jill who is waiting for a home. She's incredibly sweet, medium sized and staying at our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre

It's hard to feel motivated when the weather is so miserable, and it seems to have been like this for so long that I'm really not sure if it's a typical Hong Kong spring or if it's particularly bad this year.  Rain affects everything, from our adoptions to dog walking and events such as the Sunday puppy afternoons.  My Lamma dogs are frustrated at being cooped up so I'm doubly grateful for the chews I was given on Sunday that have at least kept them occupied and quiet.

Rain or not I had to send one dog over to Acorn in the morning for desexing and the usual health checks that are generally done as soon as a new dogs comes to us.  In this case Larry, who came from Lantau via AFCD, had clearly been a semi-owned free-roaming dog who had had the bad luck to run into the dog catchers. Although perfectly friendly and already wearing a collar when he was captured, he was very upset about being restrained and during the ride from AFCD to Acorn last week when I took him out of kennels, he was fighting with the leash in the back of the van and by the time we got the clinic he was in no mood to have blood taken.   Rather than stress a new dog out even more by forcibly doing anything, things like blood tests for heartworm are left until the time of desexing when the dog would be sedated anyway, and so it was with Larry.

I had already told the vet that I suspected Larry would turn out to have heartworm, because dogs that live outside and who aren't given any prevention such as Heartgard are almost guaranteed to be infected.  Sure enough that was the case once again, so Larry had his first round of worm-killing injections while he was there and still sleepy.

Even little Beano had heartworm when I took him from AFCD in Pokfulam

It seems that the message about heartworm hasn't made its way out to many dogs owners, and the percentage of dogs that come to us already infected is very high.  In fact it's almost 100% if the dogs are from the New Territories and Outlying Islands, meaning those from the AFCD Centres in Sheung Shui and Shatin.  Treatment is not only expensive but it also requires that the dog is kept quiet for the following month while the now-dead worms slowly break down inside the heart.  That's not easy to do in a multi-dog environment so we try to place such dogs in foster homes, which in Larry's case will have to be Lamma unless something better comes along. He's not a young dog and really needs nothing more than a nice place to hang out in, although sadly dogs like these are very hard to re-home.

Dandy pre-makeover

Age doesn't always work against a dog when it comes to finding a new home as many seniors have been adopted over the years, but in the case of beautiful Dandy it's not his age that's the problem, rather that he comes with a side-kick in the form of "brother" Beano.  When I found them at AFCD I was told that Beano had been adopted from HKDR a long time ago, although it was Dandy who looked familiar.  I don't know how long these two dogs had lived together but I suspect it's almost their entire lives, and little Beano is very reliant on his bigger friend.

Dandy and Beano sleep together like this

Dandy really is a dandy after his makeover

Dandy went to Whiskers N Paws today for an on-the-house haircut, and the groomers and staff there instantly fell in love with him and asked if he could stay until a new home could be found.  My immediate response was to say of course, it would be lovely for Dandy, but then I remembered his little friend, especially as Iris had told me Beano was standing at the gate of the Homing Centre waiting for Dandy to come back.

The bond between two dogs, or any animals come to that, can be very strong, and breaking up a pair that have been together for a long time can be devastating for one or both.  In the case of Dandy and Beano while Dandy is more independent and would cope with being on his own, the thought of taking him away from his dependent friend is too sad, so we will continue to look for a home for the two of them together.  Really, in situations like this when the dogs are small and so easy, having two is no more work or trouble than having one.