Weds 8th Nov: Day trip to Tai Po Homing Centre

The 307 Express bus from Hong Kong to Tai Po is very fast

I experimented today by testing the time it took to get from my home on Lamma to Tai Po by MTR now that I can start the journey at Ap Lei Chau rather than Admiralty, and I have to say it's still a much better choice to use the Express bus, which is the way I came back.  Overall I think I'll stick with the HKDR van though.

Apart from wanting to say hello to some of my old friends at the Homing Centre, those who still remember me from their puppy days, I was also there to meet the team from Dogs Trust, a very large and respected UK dog rescue charity, who are here to run a training course for Hong Kong animal NGOs.  Just in case you want to get in touch with our own trainer, Cactus, or May at Tai Po over the next few days, they will be attending the course and there will be a delay in their response.

I still think of Alison and Jersey as my girls

We have always recommended the Dogs Trust training videos as being the best available, and I was happy to hear there will be a dedicated Dogs Trust Behaviour and Training website, and that all of the training videos are being updated.  https://www.dogstrust.ie/help-advice/training-videos/ The content will remain the same but the look will be more modern, and we will continue to encourage all adopters to watch the videos and follow the methods used, which are the same that the HKDR trainers advise.   It doesn't matter where in the world you live, dogs are dogs and they are the same animal and the training methods don't change.

While on the way to Tai Po I received an email from AFCD in Sheung Shui letting me know that there were several small dogs available for re-homing, age estimated as being around five years but as none of them had a microchip then it was just a guess.  There are four Yorkies, a papillon and a pom, plus a large mongrel thrown in as a bonus which isn't from a breeder of course.  All of these dogs will be available for homing by Thursday afternoon from our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre, but please do complete the Adoption Questionnaire on our website www.hongkongdogrescue.com (under Adopt) as a first step if you are a new adopter.

Time is flying by and Peak to Fong is only ten days away!  We are selling out of some T-shirt sizes so please don't leave it any longer if you want to attend the best dog party of the year in Hong Kong.  Now that the time is getting close we can start talking about details, one of which is the start of the event at the Peak Galleria, which some of you may already know is undergoing renovation.  That means that the actual size of the area available is somewhat less that we have had before, so you will need to get there in good time and leave promptly once the walk down to Lan Kwai Fong starts.  For first timers, you can't begin to imagine what a very large crowd of dogs and their humans look like when they are all gathered in one small place, so you have a big surprise in store. 

I also need to start talking about the HKDR Christmas party, which we have tentatively booked for Friday 8th December (evening).  I had what I thought was the great idea of holding it at a dog-friendly venue in Ap Lei Chau with a large outside terrace, but it's turned out to be rather too expensive if we want to take over the very large and lovely space. So we either scale it back to our usual small and restricted-to-HKDR only party, or ask how many people would come if we opened it up to all HKDR supporters, and how much could we ask for guests (free flow drinks and food included).   Please let me know your thoughts and how many would like to come.  Sponsors are more than welcome of course!