Mon 5th Sept: Sandy

After the excitement of Sunday's multi adoptions today was a difficult one for several reasons, the first being that we are once again without a van driver and couldn't find one of our regular hire vans that was available at the right time.  Secondly it was raining hard again and that makes everything more difficult, including finding a sampan to take me across at a time that would coincide with anything else, like a van.

Sandy at AFCD where she had been surrendered with her extended family in 2004

I had been planning to taking the three tick fever puppies to Acorn for a blood test to see how they were doing, in the hope they would be well enough to be at Whiskers N Paws next Sunday.  However something more urgent came up that overshadowed everything else, and that was that I knew I couldn't delay taking my little dog Sandy to be euthanised.  That word is misused too often but in this situation it really was a case of releasing a dog from suffering, and there was no doubt in my mind that it was the right time.  Sandy had been diagnosed with kidney problems some time ago but had been doing well on medication up until the weekend when she finally became so weak and helpless that she could no longer stand to even get a drink, and would cry for me to help her.

Margaret became Sandy's friend in old age

Sandy used to take care of all the puppies

As dogs owners and lovers we all face this loss at some time, and while Sandy had been with me for twelve years after I took her and her extended family of  "Wanchai terriers" out of AFCD, ironically the decision to end her life wasn't as difficult as it had been for Hilton and Sooty and the other dogs whose minds were still very much alive even if their bodies had failed.  I remembered Sandy as she was when she was younger, the strong and fearless little dog who was always right up there at the front when we went to our long daily hikes and swims, and the one who mothered all of the puppies who at that time used to stay in the house.

2 of Sandy's family at AFCD

Sandy in her walking days

As her vision started to fade she would only do half the walk and then go home by herself, eventually giving up altogether and just wandering down to the beach.  Slowly her world got smaller as she lost her sight completely as well as her hearing, and the bedroom and balcony were enough. Eventually even walking as far as the balcony stopped, and in her last days she never moved from her bed and I had to wash her and tend to her constantly.  When she stopped eating and nothing would tempt her I knew it was the end, so today we made that final journey together.  It wasn't an easy one, not because it was the last, but because it was so hard seeing the little shell of a dog in my arms who had once been so alive and so amazing.  Of course I cried, but it wasn't for losing Sandy as she had become but for all the memories of how she had once been.

How I want to remember Sandy

Of course I have, and have had, many dogs in my life and they are as varied and different as it's possible to be, both in looks and character.  Just recently I brought puppy Hopper back to Lamma from the Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre where he had been staying because he had grown too big.  He had been there in the hope that we could find a foster home for him so he could have surgery, as when I took him from AFCD he had a pronounced limp from a broken leg.  Although the bone had healed it seemed that it would have to be re-broken and properly set, but as the weeks passed and nobody offered a temporary place for Hopper, his limp disappeared and Dr Tony, who would have performed the operation, said surgery was no longer required.

Hopper at Whiskers N Paws

Most puppies coming to Lamma are obviously aware that they are outnumbered and that they need to work their way into the family group, but not Hopper.  From the moment he set foot in the garden he assumed this was his home and I was his mother.  He ignored all of the other doglets and established seniors, and from the first night slept inside the house as if that was his right.  In the morning he joined the rush out of the gate when I left for the daily walk, and in the evening he went with Wanda to the beach for a night time stroll and final pee before bed time.  He acts as if being with me is the most natural thing and responds to my calls immediately.  I don't want to keep Hopper because I already have more dogs than I could possibly need, but I do want him to be noticed.  He will be at Whiskers N Paws on Sundays, weather permitting, but if anyone is interested in meeting this exceptional boy it can be arranged for any day of the week.  Just let me know.