Mon 22nd Aug: Socialising puppies

Piper probably fathered many puppies

I was back at AFCD today to meet up with two more of the ex-breeder schnauzers (and their adopters) who needed to have their rabies vaccinations and temporary keeper status registered.  All of the dogs from this group are lovely characters, and it seemed that the male and female that were there today recognised each other, as well they might because chances are any puppies will have been fathered by Piper.  Happily that part of their life is over as all of the schnauzers have now been desexed, and their only remaining purpose in life is to be happy.

Tiger and Donald are on Lamma and need fostering

Thank you for all of those who responded to my appeal for a foster for our diabetic poodle Willis yesterday, and we have at least found him a temporary place to stay which is close enough to Acorn that he can have checks as needed.

Now I need a different kind of foster home, this time for shy puppies who need socialising.  As I have mentioned before, my Lamma situation is made difficult for puppies because of my blind dog Roley and the fact that he can't be anywhere near them.  Although he has a quite remarkable ability to "see" everything with incredible accuracy via his inbuilt radar, he doesn't seem to be able to distinguish puppies from squeaky toys, which he absolutely loves.  In the pre-Roley days I would keep all puppies in or around my house so they would get lots of human interaction, but now it's not safe so they have to be kept in a separate area.  Normally it wouldn't matter because puppies are gregarious by nature and they only spend a short time with me before they are adopted.  However those that are a bit shy and need to be around people a lot are affected by the Lamma situation, so they need to move to a place where they can open up rather than become even more detached.  Tiger made huge improvements after just a couple of days in hospital when he had tick fever and he was wagging his tail and enjoying the attention, but I noticed on Sunday that he was going back to being withdrawn again.   If anyone can take in a puppy temporarily to help with socialisation, please email Cindy at foster@hongkongdogrescue.com.

The cone's back on Murphy but now both eyes are closed

Things aren't going well for Murphy, and I'll be taking him back to the vet for another check-up on his eye.  A side effect of him having no sight at all at the moment (and hopefully not permanently) is that I've discovered he's deaf, so he is really struggling to cope now.   He has no idea where he is, or where I am, and it may well be this that led to the accidents.  I am having a hard time myself dealing with what's happened because it has changed Murphy's life and personality so drastically, and I feel utterly helpless when I hear him whimpering in pain, or see him trying to find his way around.