It was a very sad day today as one of our Tai Po dogs was sent to Concordia Pet Care to find out why he wasn't well, and his case turned out to be serious enough that euthanasia was the only option if we didn't want him to suffer. Panda wasn't even old, and while I remember him so well as the cutest baby pup, it turned out that I wasn't the only one who felt strongly about him as his early death affected many others. His case stuck in my mind for a couple of reasons and not just because he was so adorable when young, but also because his whole life was affected by one event, a bad home.
Panda was adopted as a puppy but returned later for biting, something we tell every puppy adopter to expect as being perfectly normal. We don't know what happened, but by the time he came back he wasn't the same, and in the end he moved to Tai Po where he stayed until today.
Just this week we had a similar case of a "naughty" puppy, and when this happens I always ask that the puppy is returned immediately, knowing as we do that there's no bad puppy only a situation that makes a dog or puppy stressed and unhappy. This week's returnee is a perfectly normal and playful puppy, thankfully returned in time to prevent lifelong behaviour issues, and she's already having a great time playing with the other puppies at our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre. It's particularly upsetting because we had a lot of adoption enquiries for this puppy when she was staying at Whiskers N Paws, and it was her bad luck that we chose the wrong home.
In every case where a dog or puppy is adopted and we're told that there are problems, I will always ask that the dog is returned because the longer a situation continues where either side in unhappy, the worse it will get. Some dogs just don't settle in certain homes, and some adopters really shouldn't have a dog, but either way we will always take our dogs back.
Our very experienced trainer, Cactus, is another of the many reasons why adopting from HKDR is a good idea. Cactus is available to give free advice and support to all HKDR adopters, but more and more she's getting requests for help from people who have adopted from other organisations, and that's not possible as she is already very busy. We're happy to recommend other trainers who use the same methods as Cactus and studied at the same training school in the USA, but their time and services are obviously not free.
We took in a new small/medium-sized dog from AFCD today, and he now has the name of Rubble. He also has that familiar underbite we see in a lot of dogs that must have some shih tzu or bulldog or breed that has this gene. Some people don't like it, others find it adorable, but in the end it's the character that matters. Rubble is nine years old, so not young but not old either, so once we have had his health checked out and assessed his behaviour, he'll be ready to start a new life.
No comments:
Post a Comment