Mon 24th Feb: Frustrating times

One of the side effects of the current virus situation is that there are few AFCD staff working on a daily basis and that has created a backlog in the paperwork, as if it wasn't slow enough anyway.  I've been trying to get one particular dog out of the Pokfulam kennels as he has a home waiting, but the release documents are somewhere at AFCD Headquarters with nobody to sign them it seems.  The dog, a spaniel, was surrendered by somone who wasn't the registered owner so there's a long process to get him out even by normal standards, but now who knows when it will happen. I was there again today to see how things were progressing with the spaniel, but only left with a large and very hairy cat I was picking up for Kirsten's Zoo (he's a lovely boy by the way).

This government staff shortage isn't only affecting the dogs waiting for their release from the AFCD Animal Management Centres, but also any other paperwork relating to licensing, or the issuing of any other documents, and that's a worry for dog owners wanting to take their pets out of the country.

There also seems to be a bottleneck in the supply of small-sized dogs from our usual source, and that means we actually have very few available for adoption at the moment, even if we have plenty of puppies. It's frustrating to have so many applications from would-be adopters without having dogs waiting, especially when I'm sure they're out there somewhere, just as they have always been.

Wilfred is 2 years old and loves his walks

Of the small dogs still waiting we have young Wilfred, a very good-looking young boy who loves walks and adventures.  He's not really suitable for a home with children but for an active couple who enjoy the outdoors he'd be perfect. 

Another small dog who's also still waiting is French bulldog Romeo, a very sweet boy with people but not with other dogs.  Again we're looking for an adults-only home for Romeo, but not with anyone who enjoys hiking as Romeo is a short-walks-only boy.

Romeo has funny feet that get sore with long walks

Sidney is due to be returned on Tursday

There was more disappointing news today regarding two recently-adopted puppies who will be coming back, one due to unexpected allergies and the other for another reason totally unrelated to Sidney or his behaviour.  In fact the adopters said he had been well behaved and very easy, so at least that's some consolation.