Mon 6th May: Long-termer Phil goes home

Looks like Phil can't wait to get home

It seems that the very un-May-like weather is keeping potential adopters indoors, other than die-hard volunteers like Terry who comes to our Tai Po Homing Centre without fail every Monday to walk the dogs.  Not only that, but over the years Terry has taken many seniors back home with him, most recently Bindi who settled in so well that Terry chose another one to join his multi-dog family.  Phil was the lucky long-termer who packed his bags and left today, and I know many volunteers from a long time ago will be very happy to read this news.

Inca is one of the Stanley Barracks family

Meanwhile we have so many other gorgeous dogs and puppies hoping they won't have to wait as long as Phil did, including the most recent additions from Stanley Barracks (and one from AFCD Sheung Shui).  They are all heart-melters, the sweetest of boys and girls and perfect for families with children.  Please do come and meet them and you'll see what I mean.

I get many messages from concerned dog lovers reporting that they have seen stray, injured or possibly abandoned dogs in the hills or by the side of roads.  There are sadly a lot of wild or semi-wild dogs in Hong Kong, the result of either recent abandonment or those that have managed to survive for long enough to mate and produce even more unwanted puppies.  Those litters that are born to mothers who themselves were born wild have a strong survival instinct as well as a mistrust of humans.  A lot of people think, as I myself did many years ago, that if you show a puppy enough love and treat it kindly, it will become tame.  However depending on how far back the generations of being stray goes, many of these puppies will never become normal domesticated pets.  Some will respond to the care shown while they are still young, most will take a long time to overcome their instinctive fears and some will never let you even touch them.   I can say this because many of my Lamma dogs came to me as young puppies that were very fearful, and while most now accept and even ask for cuddles and my attention, there are still plenty who are happy to live with me as long as it's on a hands-off basis.  Luckily it's not a problem for me having such dogs at home, but under normal circumstances it wouldn't work at all.

So for those who are asking me if HKDR will take such strays, the answer is we can only take dogs and puppies that can be adopted, and most of the born-wild dogs don't want to be pets.   In addition, we don't have the staff, the vans or the equipment to go out catching such dogs so it would be up to the individuals, SPCA or AFCD to arrange that.   If the dog or puppy is friendly enough to be caught and handled then it should be taken to a vet to be checked for a microchip in case it's a lost dog, and depending on the result we could possibly consider accepting.  However right now we are crammed to capacity with dogs and puppies of all ages and unable to take in any more.