Fri 25th Jan: Puppies are hard work

Sassy (centre) with her many puppy friends at Whiskers N Paws last Sunday

I can now reveal the name of the lucky older puppy who went to her new home today: Sassy.  Her adopters have been very diligent about choosing exactly the right character for their home and lifestyle, and asking all the right questions while visiting several times before making the important decision, so we know that Sassy has a really caring family for the rest of her life.

Meanwhile another ex-puppy now adult, Sparky, was chosen to move from his foster home to his forever family, and in fact he had two offers at the same time, both lovely homes, so it must have been his time.

Sparky has been with us since he was a baby

As I often mention, there are always many things happening behind the scenes at HKDR, especially as we have so many puppies coming in and staying at our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre.  Puppies used to stay with me on Lamma but that can't happen any more because I lost an entire area in the typhoon last year, including the puppy space.  On top of that I have to be realistic about the number of dogs I can continue to take care of myself, not only because I'm not getting any younger but also because it has become very difficult with transport to and from my Lamma bay.  It also helps the puppies with their socialisation and their chances of weekday adoption if they are at the Homing Centre to be seen, and interacting with staff and volunteers every day.

Puppies are a lot of work as singles, but in large groups even more so

However, having puppies at Ap Lei Chau has created a lot of extra work for the two staff who work with the dogs, Iris and Andrea, and while there are plenty of volunteers at weekends to lend a hand, extra help is desperately needed during the week.  To that end we are now looking at taking on one or two part-time assistants, work that would be ideal for university students who are planning a career in the veterinary field, or who just love dogs and want to earn something while studying.  It's hard work which can also be difficult and dirty, but it's also very rewarding.  You can send your resume and application to info@hongkongdogrescue.com if you're interested, but please apply only if you genuinely want the job.

The difficult aspect of working in dog rescue, apart from the endless cleaning and feeding involved, is that there are times when dogs, even puppies, get sick and die.  One of the more recent puppy intakes hasn't been well since her arrival and needs to be syringe fed, which is very time consuming apart from worrying.

Even worse, although not actually at the Homing Centre yet, the family of mother with nine babies waiting at AFCD have all been euthanised due to parvovirus, a horrible disease that used to be common but we haven't seen for several years.  It's still around in the New Territories but not Hong Kong Island, or the Outlying Islands that we have been aware of, but if it's made a comeback then I must urge everyone who has puppies to make sure their puppy is fully vaccinated before taking it out in public.  You can carry your puppy in a bag to get it used to the streets, traffic and people, but don't let it run in areas that could be contaminated by unvaccinated dogs.  Parvovirus infection stays in the environment for some time and you need to be very careful.

The owner has gone to work in China according to the note

To end the long day at Ap Lei Chau we got a message that a nine year-old corgi had been abandoned in a dog park, along with a note from the owner.  You can see from the poor dog's nails that it was never walked, and the skin is also bad.  Being abandoned is probably the best thing that has happened to this corgi in his whole life, and now we can help find him a good new home.