Mon 20th Sept: Dogs are not robots

 Every day is carefully planned out ahead of time so driver Ming knows where to go and with which dogs and puppies, and with only so many hours to fit everything in we have to try as much as possible to stick to the schedule.   This afternoon was thrown off course when I turned up at AFCD Pokfulam to have the remaining new small dogs licensed, those that hadn't already been adopted, only to find some pet shop person there with cages of tiny puppies being microchipped.  I waited in the van until they were finished (actually I can't bear to be around them and to see the poor puppies) , but in the end we had to leave before our dogs could be licensed because other dogs in the van had an appointment at Acorn. 

Scruffin

We made it back to AFCD just before closing time, so I let the dogs out of their crates for a run (on leash of course) and a pee before having their microchips and rabies vaccinations.  The two poodle boys are fantastic characters, incredibly friendly and very lively.  They're bigger than the regular toy poodles and I'm pretty sure they've got something else in them, possibly terrier, so anyone interested in adopting has to be prepared to give these boys good exercise. 

Scrabble

The French bulldog girl Squash is a sweetheart with people, but not so with other dogs.  This is typical behaviour for the breed but it can be changed, as we found out with our previous Frenchie Romeo.  Do you remember him?  He had very serious dog-dog aggression issues, but his adopter was amazing and worked with him until he learned new behaviour. 

Squash

Little pom-cross Sonic is also a sweet boy, and his video was shared on Facebook yesterday.  

Sonic

The fifth dog is corgi (cross) Speedy, whose name was given before I realised how appropriate is is because he's also full of energy and likes to run everywhere at top speed.

Speedy has a very long body

I have said before we have no idea where these dogs came from, but they are all toilet trained which is quite amazing. 

With so many dogs coming to HKDR meaning many adoptions as a result, there's one main theme that we see adopters asking our trainer Cactus about. This is that the dog or puppy isn't eating, or that it isn't playing or fully interacting with the humans.  All of this is perfectly normal behaviour as described in the  booklet that is given to all adopters, and which was written specifically to help answer all of these standard questions.  So here again are a couple of helpful posters which show what to expect.  Dogs are not robots, they're thinking, feeling animals with emotions such a fear, confusion and loneliness.  Please give them time to adjust.