Sat 3rd Oct: A good day

 I'm so happy to say I was right in thinking that we'd start seeing the results of adoption enquiries and meetings with dogs at Tai Po, and today three dogs left the Homing Centre with a fourth having her adoption confirmed after a trial period.  That dog was Rachel, and the photo shows her after her desexing, hence the cone. 

New-ish boy Mark (on the right in the photo) was adopted outright, while senior Sean, a long-term resident of Tai Po Homing Centre, was taken along too for a trial.  I hope, in the nicest way possible of course, that we don't see Sean again.

One of the ex-caged dogs, Benny, was adopted too, leaving his friend Shanti behind.  We had hoped they could stay together but Shanti has a lot of interest so she should be going off to start her new life soon. 

While every adoption is cause for celebration, there was one today which made me especially happy.  I'd advertised shiba inu King on Facebook the other day as I wrote yesterday, and there was a lot of interest in him so I chose what I felt was the best home taking into account everything that mattered.  However there were other homes offered that would have been fine had it not been for the fact that there was another dog (not a good idea as King can get jealous) or a cat.  One of these potential homes seemed to be perfect for another shiba inu, Damson, as we know she currently lives with a cat, as well as other dogs.  The couple came over from Lantau to meet Damson, fell in love, and that was that.

When Damson first came to us as an older puppy she was a very angry girl, and that behaviour became worse the longer she stayed at the Homing Centre.  Finally I decided to bring her to Lamma where she could have some space to run around and free herself of her pent-up frustration, and after a while with me she moved into a neighbour's home (actually my landlord) where she settled very well and learned to get along with the cat.  I had hoped they would adopt her but when I knew that wasn't going to happen I waited for the right home to come along, and that was today.  To see Damson now you wouldn't recognise her as the angry dog of a year ago, as she rolled on her back and happily accepted tummy rubs and cuddles.  Once again it showed that it's not the dogs that have behaviour problems, it's the situation that they live in and the way that they're treated.