Fri 1st May: Memories of 10 years ago

To start the new month it was puppy Pepsi's big day, leaving only Cherry from that particular litter.  Ironically Cherry has been the puppy that most potential adopters have been drawn to, even if they decided on a young adult in the end so I'm sure Cherry's wait won't be a long one.

Pepsi was adopted today

Exactly ten years ago today we made the Big Move from our Pokfulam Kennels to Tai Po, and what a day that was.  Many of our current volunteers were there, and even those who aren't still coming to the Homing Centre stay in touch and continue to support us.  There's a video recording the whole thing, showing the packing up and the convoy of volunteer drivers who had offered to help transport the dogs to the new space, which at that time only had one fence in place separating the terraces from the ground level and the front gate.  Take a look here and see who you recognise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK3fTa2hE9E&t=82s

We moved to Tai Po with about a hundred dogs, having had a big adoption drive prior to the day in the hope that we wouldn't have any left (I always dream big).  Now of course we have around four hundred, not quite what I was planning, but I had also said when I started my dog rescue work that I anticipated doing it for five years. There's an interview I did with the Sunday Morning Post magazine at the time saying just that but I'm still here and with no unrealistic plans of retiring quite yet.

I've been getting quite a lot of messages recently telling me about the dogs adopted during our Pokfulam days and who have now reached the end of their lives.  Some of them are still with us at Tai Po, although the numbers are gradually dwindling, and I think all of us who have had dogs in our lives know only too well that the time spent with them is always too short. Nowadays with smartphones the memories are easy to make, but I only have a few photos of the early days and the dogs at that time.  "Just wanted to let you know Piper, my HKDR foster fail from 2007, has died aged 13/14ish. A pup so terrified of the world he had to be carried out of the Pokfulam kennels turned into the most loving, affectionate beastie (even though he was always a little special in his interactions with the world!!). Hope these photos show you a little of how happy he was in the UK after HKDR helped me bring him back with me. Thanks for everything xx"

Piper, adopted as a puppy from Pokfulam

Jumping back to 2020, we homed thirty three dogs during April, a number which would have been a lot higher if we'd had the small dogs which have been quite scarce recently.   Still I'm not going to make any complaints about the month's total:

Tai Po:

Midas (Multibreed)

Cookie (Multibreed)

Esme (Multibreed puppy)

June (Multibreed)

Wizard (Multibreed)

Raffles (Multibreed)

Batman (Multibreed)

Nimbus (Multibreed)

Ap Lei Chau:

Casper (Multibreed puppy)

Tilly (Multibreed puppy)

Madi (Multibreed doglet)

Fergus (Schnauzer)

Amber & Moses (Multibreed puppy)

Candy (Poodle)

Toby (Clumber Spaniel)

Amos (Multibreed puppy)

Waldo (Multibreed puppy)

Charlie (Maltese)

Blake (Multibreed)

Sidney (Multibreed puppy)

Coral (Multibreed puppy)

Zelda (Chihuahua puppy) 

Foster Home:

Wilf (Multibreed puppy)

Adele (Multibreed puppy)

Tyrion (Bichon cross puppy)

Pretzel (Poodle)

Turbo (Multibreed puppy)

Talia (Multibreed puppy)

Tara (Multibreed puppy)

Bambi (Poodle)

Lily (Pom) 

Noddy (Multibreed puppy)