Mon 13th June: Tansy and her corkscrews

Treacle is the last of her litter still waiting to be adopted

I'll skip my wasted time at the hospital where I was trying to have a blood test. because they refused to accept the carefully taped-together form that the dogs had ripped to pieces, even though all of the information was clearly visible. I had to leave to get to AFCD where I'd arranged to meet the foster of Treacle, a puppy who started off the size of a bean and while still only medium-sized is now six months old and due a rabies vaccination and desexing.

Fanta is big and chunky and very sweet

Treacle reminded me that we have other growing puppies at Ap Lei Chau who are also around the same age and needed licensing, so Fanta, Spritzer, Lilac and Shadow came along for their official registration under my name, along with every single HKDR dog all of whom are legally mine.  Every now and then I remember that I really should do something about registering an automatic approval for change of ownership with AFCD in case I suddenly drop dead leaving all six hundred dogs in legal limbo.  I know from past experience that even if someone dies and leaves a dog behind, a Death Certificate is required for a new owner to be registered.  That has led to some ridiculous scenarios where a registered letter has to be sent to the now-dead owner to see if it is returned as undeliverable, even in cases where I know for sure that person has died.

Tansy after arriving at the Homing Centre

Anyway, I was at AFCD so I went to see who was new and found a very lovely tan-and-white Pekingese who had been surrendered at fourteen years of age.  Although very smelly, she appeared to be in good shape other than the fact she had some difficulty in walking.  I thought maybe she had a back problem and ended up having to carry her, trying to keep her away from my clothes and sharing her pungent aroma.

There were also two very beautiful and large Alaskan malamutes in separate kennels, and I was told they had been taken to a pet shop for grooming and never picked up.  Now they have to wait for the often-long process of getting a formal surrender from the registered owner, assuming the address and contact number on the license are still valid.  If not it could be weeks before the poor dogs are released for re-homing.   All kennels sizes are the same, so for the little peke there was lots of space while for the malamutes they take up the entire area available.

Some of Tansy's nails after clipping

After dropping the puppies back at Ap Lei Chau, I took now-Tansy on to Acorn for her health check. The hair on her paws was long and hid the toes, but I thought I could feel something strange under all that cover and asked Dr Andy to take a look.  Sure enough the nails were not only long, but so long they corkscrewed, and in a couple of cases penetrated the pads.  No wonder the poor dog could barely walk, and it must have been a very long time since she had ever done so.  As each nail was clipped off I kept it, horrified at what I was seeing, as was Dr Andy himself.    I ended up with a little pile of corkscrews which I sent back to the Homing Centre with Tansy just so Iris could see, because it would be hard to believe without the evidence.

Tansy is a very sweet little dog and I think she should have no trouble finding a home despite her age. She's booked in for a complimentary beauty session at Whiskers N Paws on Tuesday, and I can't wait to see - and smell - her when she's finished.