Tues 12th April: Yuki free at last!

It only took a haircut to win Dandy a home

I'll start with some happy news about sweet Dandy, whose charm and looks instantly won the hearts of the Whiskers N Paws team when he went there for a makeover yesterday, and resulted in an offer of a home (hopefully with his "brother" Beano). Often it just takes that one connection to get a dog noticed and into a home, and there are so many lovely little characters waiting for that opportunity to shine.

It would have been a good day to stay at home but I needed to get to AFCD in Pokfulam as well as the office for this and that.  I knew there was one particular dog that was being freed for re-homing and I'm not talking about the standard four day rule wait.  This shiba inu girl had been living at the Animal Management Centre for eight years.  Yes, eight whole years in a kennel.

Not many people are aware that you can apply for exemption to the "large dogs must be on leash" rule (http://www.pets.gov.hk/en_dog_1_4_5.php#e2), and that AFCD keep some dogs specifically for the purpose of testing applicant dogs for temperament and their reaction to other dogs.  How the test dogs are chosen seems to be completely random, and as I recall from many years back relied on nothing more than the fact that some staff members liked a particular dog and wanted to keep it (in kennels).  I remember one such golden retriever who incarcerated as a test dog for a long time, and when I was eventually allowed to him out he was sick with heartworm and didn't last too long.

I'd spotted the shiba inu a while back and asked why it was there and being used as a test dog when it was a breed that could very easily be re-homed. I hadn't realised that it had already been there for so many years but was very happy to be told recently that it would soon be released, and wanted to take it as soon as possible.  Today was the day, and the little dog was brought out to have the relevant paperwork signed which would make me the registered owner.  I had quite naturally assumed that the dog would already be licensed but was stunned to be asked how old I thought it was, given that it had been at the Centre for eight years.  It seemed that the dog had never been registered or rabies vaccinated, so no age had ever been recorded.  I was completely taken aback by hearing this, that a dog that was being kept by AFCD had never complied with the government's own rules about compulsory licensing and rabies vaccination (and nor had it been given any heartworm prevention). Really nothing should surprise me any more, but I just couldn't stop shaking my head about this situation and the sheer irony of it.

The shiba inu is a very sweet girl who is now is technically nine years old, although of course I can't be sure.  By some miracle she tested negative for heartworm but she does have a phantom pregnancy, or at least I sincerely hope it's not a real one. She's producing milk for imaginary babies that maybe she was hoping would come along to give her the company she has been missing for her entire life.  I kept looking at her and her happiness at being free, and felt so sad that it had taken eight years for this day to arrive.   Yuki had also never been given a name and had just been referred to as "the Japanese dog", and now she needs a real home and the life and love that she has been missing.