Thurs 16th Nov: The value of TNR volunteers

Female pointer Coco

The two young pointers went to Acorn today for heartworm tests, and everyone in the vet clinic commented on how lovely they were, and how gentle.  Coco the female is black and white, and Limbo the male is tan and white, and although they are understandably very close having been together since they were puppies, at only fifteen months they are fine to be homed separately.  You must know the process by now, so if you are interested in adoption please complete the Adoption Questionnaire on our website www.hongkongdogrescue.com (under Adopt).

Male pointer Limbo

Although I was there today I haven't been going to AFCD in Pokfulam as often as I used to, and for several reasons.  The main one is that happily there seem to be far fewer dogs ending up there, either being surrendered by their owners or being picked up by the dog catchers, and I can only make a guess at why that is.  I hope that a big part of it is that education and awareness are reaching the general public and that dog owners are becoming more responsible in their care and commitment.  It would be nice to think that's the case anyway.

The second reason is that there are so many small organisations, whether formal or just a loose group of like-minded people, who are rescuing dogs (and cats) so fewer are ending up at the government kennels.  This is obviously a good thing as long as the dogs and puppies don't end up in small shelters that are often having to close, and in any case can't provide the proper care that is needed.  It costs a lot of money to take care of animals if they are going to have enough food and veterinary care, which is why we have to ask for donations and hold fundraising activities like Peak to Fong.  Nothing is given for free and our overheads are huge, so a lot of small groups get into financial trouble after a while and the animals in their care end up being homeless again.

As I have said many times before, desexing is the only answer to the stray or abandoned dog problem, and TNR (Trap, Neuter and Return)  has proved to have reduced the feral cat population so successfully that there are very few unwanted kittens being born now.  The most valuable volunteers of all are those who catch the stray dogs, have them desexed and vaccinated, and then release them back to where they came from to live the rest of their probably short lives without any further puppies being born.  I take my hat off to them, as not only is the work difficult and expensive, they also have to face harassment from various quarters as well as the obvious dangers of climbing hillsides to set traps, often in the dark.  However without such people there would be far more stray dogs ending up at AFCD or living totally miserable lives, and there are now whole areas and villages where almost all of the dogs have been desexed.   I look forward to the day when this work is taken over by AFCD, as it should have been a long time ago.

Dasher is in perfect shape and health and extremely active

Going back to my AFCD visit today, it was to take out a very lively dachshund that had been surrendered without a microchip or license but fifteen years old according to the now ex-owners.  I found it hard to believe, as did the vet who checked the dog over, and a full blood test showed that everything was perfectly fine.  The only thing that I couldn't help but notice was the very unpleasant smell coming from the dog's furry and green teeth, but that's easy enough to sort out.

This gorgeous chocolate girl looks unhappy but she's not

There were also three adorable puppies with furiously wagging tails, aged about two months and perfectly healthy.  I had to leave them at the Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre in the hope that fosters or adopters could be found, so please, if you can help get in touch with Cindy at foster@hongkongdogrescue.com or go to meet the pups any day between 10am and 6pm.

Cheeky and his brother Elvis over the years

There was some unexpected sad news from Tai Po about one of our long-term dogs, Cheeky.  He had come to us with his brother Elvis when they were baby pups and we were based at our Pokfulam Kennels, and had moved to Tai Po along with everyone else in May 2010.  Cheeky had eaten his breakfast today and been taken out for a morning walk, then lay down and died.  Although it's always sad to lose one of our dogs, in truth I wish every death was as calm and seemingly painless as Cheeky's.  Now that we have been in operation since 2003 and there are a lot of dogs still around from those early days it's inevitable that we have to face losing them, and few are lucky enough to just drift away.