Sat 16th March: A hectic day at Ap Lei Chau

It was Bran's big day today

There was all sorts of action taking place today, particularly at our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre where three dogs and a puppy left for either a trial (with other dogs) or were adopted.

Like all of the pugs, Spud needed a lot of repair work done 

Making it three pugs in three days, today was Spud's turn, the only male in the group we took in from the illegal breeder. Bran the poodle was adopted outright, while another poodle - Linus - was taken for a trial as a friend for the other large dog in the family.  Apparently this dog adores poodles so he was given one of his own.

Linus had just come back from his foster home

Barney is still waiting for the all-clear after tick fever

Baby Barney also left for fostering, and although the family want to adopt outright we wanted to make sure that Barney was fully healthy first.

Mother and her five babies

At some time during the day I got a message from Catherine Lumsden (Catherine's Puppies) saying there was a mother with five babies coming from the same breeder/hoarder as all of the other dogs we have taken in recently, and luckily I was able to confirm that we had the space to accommodate them.  The Ap Lei Chau team got busy making sure the area was spotlessly clean and disinfected in preparation, but as it happened at the last minute one of our regular and amazing volunteers, Rose, said she would take the entire family until they could be assessed and then moved on to new foster homes.

Five beautiful saved lives, plus mother

The mother looks like a bichon frise while we were told the father is a small-sized mixed breed, and the puppies are beautiful.  They're three to four weeks old and can eat by themselves, which is just as well as the mother has no milk.  They will need to be checked for any health issues before they can go to homes, but they must be in pairs or with the mother.  We see too many cases of puppies that are taken too young from their mother and siblings and suffer behaviour issues as a result.  Cuddling and comfort is an obvious reason for puppies to have a friend, but playing and biting is another.  Only through play biting can puppies learn about bite inhibition and to control the intensity of the bite, and without that they grow up not understanding that it hurts.   Through mutual biting and squeals of pain, puppies learn to stop when it gets too rough, and to moderate bite pressure.   Many puppy owners try to stop the "fights" thinking it's wrong or bad behaviour when in fact it's a necessary learning tool.

Our long-term volunteer Becky was at Concordia Pet Care today and dueto a hitch with the photos taken by Rodger So I'm not able to share the album just yet.   We weren't expecting it to be busy because the younger puppies coudn't be there yet, and the same will apply to Sunday's Whiskers N Paws afternoon.   However as regular readers will know, the four plus seven will soon be available for adoption, and in fact already are as long as they are taken in pairs until old enough to be alone.