As you know, many of our dogs come to us from breeders when they are no longer wanted or able to produce puppies. They have lived awful lives up until the moment they are finally released, and then the often-long process of restoring their mental and physical health begins.
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| Nona lying for the first with Iris |
We took in a couple of shiba inu recently, and Iris told me today that one of them, Nona, would never lie down to sleep and remained standing with her eyes closed. I can only think that having lived in a small cage, lying down would have meant lying in her own excrement so standing was preferable. Can you imagine how a dog would choose to sleep standing up, knowing how much they usually love to snuggle in a soft bed? Poor Nona, she is such a sweet lady and now that I know this about her I'm determined to find her a home where she can learn what is normal behaviour. Iris sent me this photo of herself on the floor of the Homing Centre, holding Nona and encouraging her to lie down. As soon as Iris stood up so did Nona, and continued standing with her head nodding and eyes closed.
Regular readers will also know that we have many poodles that come to us who are now either at the Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre or in foster. Almost all poodles are highly strung, sensitive, emotional and not recommended for families with children, but ironically the ex-breeder poodles are the sweet and easy ones, even if they start off having skin and ear infections and various other ailments. The poodles that have been in homes are the ones who have been treated like babies rather than dogs, resulting in unwanted human-type behaviours such as jealousy and selfishness displayed as guarding and/or aggression. Some of the aggression is fear-based and much of the anti-social behaviour stems from improper training and treatment, but the result is the same.
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| Toffee is a real dog who loves life |
Two of the current poodles who are in foster with children and have proved themselves to be lovely dogs are Toffee and Scrumpy, both from breeders. They are lucky to be in a temporary home where they get proper exercise including hikes and swimming at the beach (weather permitting) and it shows in the behavior.
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| This is the life a poodle should live, not being pushed in a pram (Toffee and Scrumpy) |
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| Scrumpy in foster |
Another exceptionally sweet poodle girl is Callie, also in foster, and these three are at the top of my poodle recommendation list. There are others who are close after having been in fantastic foster homes for re-training, but still have enough residual if occasional issues that I would be hesitant to let them be adopted with children.
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| Callie is a super-sweet girl |
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