Mon 1st Aug: Typhoon day

Domino was supposed to go to a foster home

It was a very frustrating start to the day as I rushed to get the dogs walked and everything done very early so I could get puppies over to Ap Lei Chau before the sampans ("taxi boats") stopped running.  We had typhoon fosters lined up too take the pups home for the duration of the bad weather, but while the wind didn't even start to pick up until late evening there wasn't a sampan be to had all day. The sea was as calm as a pond as it always is before a typhoon, and it was still quiet when I went to bed after everything was prepared for the anticipated "big blow".

Wanda is an old lady now

As I always do last thing, I let my funny old dog Wanda out for her pre-bedtime wander to the beach where she can spend five or ten minutes having the place to herself and enjoy some peace and quiet. I'll often join her once I have got all of the other dogs inside, for the same reason, and although it was starting to rain I did so today, not only to breathe in the sea air but also to check on the weather.  I saw that unusually, the wind was coming from direction of Pokfulam and that meant my house would be sheltered.  It happens so infrequently that I always assume I'll be in the direct path of any typhoon, so I was really happy to go to bed knowing we'd all be fine, as we were.

There wasn't too much damage at Tai Po thankfully

Quite a few dogs were picked up from Tai Po for short-term fostering, and thank you to everyone who jumped in to offer help.  Thanks too to volunteer Roni who, as she always does, got herself up to the Homing Centre to spend the night there and keep watch over the site and the dogs.  There is a small "human room" in the Tai Po house which has a bed, and in addition to Roni herself three dogs were invited to sleep there as well.

Lucky Jonny was adopted today

Puppy Jonny did even better than just a foster home as he was adopted from the Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre, joining  now-grown Erica who was adopted last year as a puppy.  I must remember to let his new family know that he loves water, and he has so much fun in the makeshift splash pool at Whiskers N Paws on Sunday.

Foggy sleeping peacefully in his foster home

Small dogs Henna, Paddy and Foggy were also taken for fostering, and possibly for longer than just short-term.  Both Paddy and Foggy are blind, and tiny Henna was very ill when she came to us from AFCD (surrendered by a breeder), so we are all very happy to see them leave the Homing Centre.  They are such sweet characters and and real home will make the world of difference to their lives, like this:

"Henna has arrived at our home this afternoon and she really loves it here. She runs around the apartment happily and she is curious about everything she sees (especially the washing machine). She gets along fine with my two other dogs so far. She enjoyed her dinner - chicken, carrot and 1/4 strawberry. I was worried that she wouldn't eat because I heard she is picky about her food, but turned out she loves her dinner and finished everything in her bowl."

There was one side effect to the typhoon which I don't know is good or bad, and that is that I had planned to take bulldog Frank on his final journey to Acorn, but obviously couldn't.  It's not clear why but Frank's health has deteriorated to the point where I can't leave it any longer and humane euthanasia is necessary.  I feel sorry for Frank, a funny boy at the best of times, three times adopted and quickly returned.  I always wanted him to have a home of his own but that was never going to be, and now it is too late.

Frank on a previous trip to Acorn

Henna is like a different dog now