Thurs 23rd April: Looking ahead to what's coming

The long wait is finally over for Batman

Another very lucky senior dog from Tai Po had his adoption confirmed today, so Batman is officially no longer available and is now a much-loved family member.  His now "brother" Amos is also an ex-HKDR dog from a long time ago so they will have lots to talk about.

Piper

Most of the adoption enquiries we get are for small or medium-sized dogs, and due to the coronavirus situation we haven't been getting the dogs that would normally be coming to us.  We do have smaller dogs of course, but they aren't puppies and they are either "Red Dogs" or those I mentioned that are staying on Lamma. 

Here's a video of Piper with Iris from the other day showing what a happy and playful boy he is, and maybe someone will want to give him a chance.  If you can't play the video and are interested please complete the adoption questionnaire at www.hongkongdogrescue.com/adopt/adoption-questionnaire/ and we'll send the video link by email.

 Piper's nine years old but that's still not old especially in smaller-dogs terms.  Many of the dogs that live with me are ten-plus and still as active and playful as they were when younger.

Waldo (adopted), Cherry and Pepsi, with Igloo behind

We do still have some puppies at our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre that are very happy, sweet and friendly although not small sized, at least when they become adults.  We really can't know how big Pepsi and Cherry will become but it certainly wan't be small and probably medium-large.

Although in terms of dogs and puppies arriving it's been much quieter than usual, behind the scenes there's actually quite a lot happening and many things in the planning stage that will be announced over the coming weeks.

One of these has been the re-structuring of HKDR, something that has taken years to implement but has finally been achieved, and this will mean a lot of work in changing the official name of the charity as well as the bank account number.  It doesn't affect anything else in terms of what we do or how HKDR is run and managed, it's just that when HKDR was first set up in 2003 I never envisaged that it would grow into what it has become.    The switch from a Society to a Company will become official in July by which time we'll have everything that needs to be done in place.  I know Ka Yan who manages the admin and accounting will breathe a huge sigh of relief once it's over, as this has involved an incredible amount of work, not to mention patience.

We were also visited by a group of District Councillors at Tai Po, keen to understand our work and to help if possible.   Overcoming old ways of thinking and dealing with the huge problem of unwanted dogs in Hong Kong has always been a major stumbling block, so we're very grateful for new thoughts and open minds.

 Thank you District Councillors Jasper Law, Dream Law, Vincent Chan and Sea Yuen for visiting Tai Po Homing Centre yesterday and understanding the challenges we face running an animal rescue organisation in HK.