Thurs 13th Feb: A time for reflection

Socks had a wonderful time at Penfold Park with Yannie

Looking at the photos of our Tai Po dog Socks enjoying an outing at Penfold Park with staff member Yannie, I couldn't help but think back to when he was at AFCD, terrified and untouchable like so many other dogs that find themselves in that situation. 
I can't tell when they're in that state of fear what will happen when they're taken out, I only know that there are subtle signals which give a pretty good indication that it will be fine. 

I waited quite a long time for Socks to communicate in some way, and even the fact that he accepted treats was a good start, but I couldn't imagine seeing him as as happy as he is now.   He was picked up as a stray and went through treatment for both heartworm and tick fever after he came to HKDR, both fairly inevitable for any dog not given some form of prevention, and I met him many times at Acorn and in the van, heading to and from Tai Po for his multiple vet visits.  He's always been friendly and I wonder if he remembers me and the times I talked to him during his dark days at AFCD.

I can remember many of the dogs from their days at AFCD, some instantly friendly but many withdrawn and even seemingly aggressive.  Their faces stick in my mind and nothing gives me greater pleasure than to know that they have been adopted and have new families to love and care for them. 

So many times I've been asked why I decided to rescue dogs, and the fact is I never made that conscious decision.  It was just a case of a need and my being there to help.  In fact even before I came to Hong Kong in 1984 and was living in Taiwan, I rescued dogs there.  Thinking back I have no idea how I managed to find a vet to treat one puppy I picked up from a gutter that had a broken leg, or another badly injured dog that had been run over, because nobody in Taiwan at that time spoke English and my few words of Mandarin weren't much help.  There were also many dogs at the boatyard where I spent  a few months, and I took care of them too, my heart breaking when I had to leave them behind when I sailed to Hong Kong.  I still have the photos of them all.

Bamboo is lucky to have found a foster home

Now many Hong Kong residents are either choosing to leave Hong Kong or are being told to do so by their companies, and the owner of the doberman that was found as a stray is one of them.  Luckily I was able to find out who he was as he had previously been in contact with Catherine's Puppies asking if Catherine could find a new home for his dog Bamboo.  However as the license for Bamboo had expired it's not possible to transfer ownership without a formal surrender to AFCD.  Being a Government Department, the days of email, Whatsapp and other fast forms of communication haven't yet filtered through to AFCD, and a telephone and snail mail is the only way they have of trying to contact someone, so while I was busy messaging Bamboo's registered owner in Australia AFCD aren't having any luck with calling him.

That case is apparently one of many, as I was told by AFCD that as people are leaving Hong Kong and applying to take their dogs with them (thank you), they have found they're not the registered owners and can't therefore get the required rabies vaccination.  So please, if you have a dog and you don't know if it has an up to date license, or if you're even the registered owner,  take it to one of the four AFCD Animal Management Centres and find out.  If you're not the registered owner you can apply to become the Temporary Keeper and have the dog given a rabies vaccination if due, and then the process of contacting the registered owner can begin.