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| Pickle the shiba puppy is 5 months old |
There was a big response to the arrival of two ex-breeder puppies today, a pomeranian and a shiba inu, and the pom has already been taken home. The shiba boy is five months old, and both of these puppies are survivors of the dreaded canine distemper virus which has left them with the typical neurological twitching. Hopefully this will improve over time and as the puppies grow to be adults, but there are never any guarantees.
At least the twitching isn't as severe as it was with Kira, another ex-breeder shiba, probably from the same disgusting illegal breeder whose poor animals are clearly spreading the virus amongst each other, killing many of the puppies. Kira is now much improved with the medication she's on to control the muscle spasms, and she's taking regular swimming lessons to build strength and coordination in her legs. You have to bear in mind that before coming to us she wasn't even able to stand, so her life has improved dramatically, not to mention that she escaped from the horrors of life as a breeding dog. Kira is a very sweet dog, just a year old, and it's really time for her to move on and into a family home.
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| There are four of these lovely youngsters |
The other puppies who were also stricken with one of the two puppy viruses that vaccinations protect against are also now ready to leave. For these three it was parvovirus, and at least once recovered there are no ongoing long-term effects. We would love to see these puppies in their forever homes now, or at least in foster care. There's a fourth puppy in this litter, Rennie, and she was one of the lucky ones whose immune system is strong enough to fight the virus before it takes hold.
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| Four gorgeous babies needing foster homes |
Also, as mentioned yesterday, there are some puppies that are not yet with us as we need foster homes for them before we can accept them. They will need to be fostered in pairs until a bit older, and remember that we provide everything that you will need as a foster parent in terms of food, bed, toys and fences.
In case you're wondering about crates or cages for puppies, or even adult dogs, we are strongly against the use of these for training or confinement purposes. Modern research into dog behaviour has shown the importance of allowing dogs freedom of movement and the option to choose their sleeping/resting locations. For example, dogs love to lie in the sun, so as the sun moves during the day a dog will follow. It's also important that dogs are allowed to make choices (to a sensible degree of course), and confining them in a cage takes away that ability. Dogs that are kept in cages/crates can become very insecure without them as they can't develop independence and freedom of thought and action. If you need to keep a puppy safe while you're out of the home, then using a fence or baby gate to section off an area is the way to go. The space must be large enough to allow for free movement, and to contain a separate toilet, play and sleeping area.
I almost forgot to mention that two puppies taken for fostering when they arrived as almost-newborns have been adopted by their "failed" foster home. These are the Rain Babies, also called the Warehouse Puppies, and they'll be staying together forever now.
If you can foster any of our puppies, or puppies-in-waiting, or even adult dogs, please start by completing the foster form at www.hongkongdogrescue.com/volunteer/fostering/
For adoptions it's www.hongkongdogrescue.com/adopt/adoptionquestionnaire/
This is not about a puppy but yet another surrender request for an adult dog, a Doberman, four years old. I'm still waiting for a photo, but I think if you know the breed you'll have a pretty good idea. Sadly this boy has had a sad life of being kept isolated so he won't cope with being kept at our Tai Po Homing Centre, and we're looking for an understanding home that can give a Doberman the chance of a new and happy future.
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