Tues 1st Nov: The Stanley Barracks dogs

The daughter at the breeder

It was a full-on busy day today to make up for not having been able to do anything dog-related on Monday.  To start with the two "shiba inu" arrived from the breeder and they had to be taken to AFCD for scanning and rabies vaccinations if necessary, as neither had any information or paperwork.  It turned out that the daughter had no microchip so no age known, and I estimated her at being a year old.  The mother did have a microchip but no registered owner, so again I had to estimate the age, and both needed rabies shots.  It was only when I got to Acorn (much) later that it turned out that the mother actually had two microchips in her, so one of them might be the registered number and I'll have to check with AFCD on Wednesday.  Both dogs are very sweet and happy characters, even if their resemblance to any shiba inu is coincidental.

The mother at the breeder

I also had the two Shelties with me, the pair that had been reluctantly and tearfully surrendered by their owner.  It's quite astonishing that owners who say they love their dogs so much turn out to have ignored the bad teeth and the fact that the licenses had long ago expired.  I mean I understand that having a dental for two dogs costs a lot, but rabies and licensing at AFCD is only $80.  If you have a dog and can't afford even that then you really can't afford to have a dog at all.


I knew that I would be taking some of the Stanley Barracks dogs out of AFCD today, but wasn't sure how many were puppies (albeit already six months old) and how many of the ten were adults.  The puppies are so big I needed to check their teeth to confirm that they didn't yet have their full adult set, and ended up taking five, each needing an individual crate and even then having to be squeezed inside.  By now I had nine travel crates and was going to stop there and take the adults later in the week, but I had noticed (and been told) that one of them had very sore eyes.

Crusoe in the van

Like all Stanley Barracks dogs this boy was very sweet, and after the nine crates had been packed into the van I asked the driver, Sing, if we could fit one more dog on the back seat.  He said yes, so the now-called Crusoe was lifted up and put inside, and we were finally ready to go.  Crusoe was the first to be checked by the vet and he has entropian, the condition where the eyelids turn in causing the eye lashes to scratch the eye itself.  It's obviously extremely painful and if left untreated will eventually cause ulcers and ultimately blindness.  Of course Crusoe will have surgery to rectify the problem and will then be as good as new.  He is a really lovely boy and his behaviour given that he was in so much pain, not to mention the stress of being manhandled into the van,  was remarkable.

Goofy has a big head and whiskers

The puppies are gorgeous with their floppy ears and big heads, each with a hint of fuzziness around the face which may well develop into a full set of whiskers.  I can easily see the family resemblance to past Stanley Barracks dogs, and in fact two of the adults still waiting to be taken out are clearly related to Justine and Biba, also from there and now in a lovely home together.  Only one of the puppies, a girl, is smaller and not fuzzy-faced, and all will be at Whiskers (excuse the pun) N Paws on Sunday unless anyone wants to jump in quickly and adopt before then.   The pups are very big but also sweet and friendly, so they will be suitable for any family, with or without children.

Gumbo

There was some more very happy news from Tai Po today with the adoption of funny-faced Loofah, and a trial for husky-cross Blondie (after a long wait).

Loofah and his unmistakable face