Tues 22nd Nov: There is no labrador puppy

Foster puppies Billy and Bejamin enjoying their evening TV.

One of the frustrations of this work is believing that when someone asks for help in re-homing a dog or puppy and you agree, that the dog will actually turn up.  Now, and after many years of being let down, I realise that unless the dogs are coming from AFCD you just can't trust when someone says they have a (young and purebreed) dog that they will bring to the Homing Centre.  Nine times out of ten it won't happen because there's always a "friend" who offers to take the dog just at the last minute.

I received a phone call last week from someone telling me that a friend of his had a dog that he couldn't keep any longer, and asking if we could take it.  It turned out to be a six-month old labrador so of course I said yes, knowing we would have no trouble at all finding it a good home.  As tempting as it was to email everyone who had asked about this kind of puppy so it could go straight to a new family I held back, and I'm so glad I did because although today was when it was supposed to be coming nobody turned up.  At least this time I haven't had to reply to hundreds of potential adopters and then write again to them all saying there actually isn't a labrador puppy after all.

In case you're thinking isn't that a good thing that a dog didn't have to come to us, the answer is yes and no.  At least if we re-home a dog or puppy ourselves we can make sure that the new home is suitable, and a good match.  It's also helpful to be able to show that not all dogs that come from rescue organisations are old and sick mongrels, a common perception that I wrote about the other day. There's nothing wrong with mongrels (mixed breeds) of course, but since there are still many people who simply refuse to believe that, it's good to be able to offer the occasional labrador, pug, corgi etc puppy.

4 year-old bichon surrender

Of course some dogs do appear as arranged, and today we took in a four year-old bichon frise who was being thrown out because of a human baby coming.  The person who contacted us wasn't the owner herself, but when I asked why a baby meant the dog had to go I was told that the poor thing spent most of his life in a cage anyway, so it would be better to get it out of that home regardless. Although not a puppy I know this boy won't have any trouble finding a good home either, and in fact we have families waiting for such a dog.

Sweet Cookie

As an update on the puppy who was destined for the cooking pot in her first "home" and labelled vicious in her second, she is actually a lovely, sweet and very normal pup who charms everyone who meets her.  We called her Cookie because it seemed appropriate, but hopefully all of her past will soon be behind her.  If you would like to meet Cookie, or even better offer her a home, she is staying at our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre.