I know, I know, it's been a month since I last posted my blog, and it's not because nothing's been going on. Yannie and the team have been very busy with the build-up to Peak to Fong, taking place on the 6th December, a bit later than usual. There's also the 2027 Desk Calendars that had to be designed, printed and then mailed out, a task that now also includes the T-shirts for P2F. We don't have extra staff to help with anything that we do, so everyone has to pitch in to lend a hand, on top of the normal workload. You may not realise that organising an event requires all sorts of applications to the various government departments, including the police, so the additional paperwork is another extra job to add to the list.
On a day-to-day basis there's the non-stop intake of new dogs and puppies, vet visits, replying to adoption applications and actual adoptions, plus all sorts of additional enquiries and requests. At this time of year that includes many emails from students asking for on-site interviews, visits or information, which is really difficult to handle due to our already-bursting daily workload. It's reassuring to know that so many young people are passionate about animal welfare, but we just don't have the manpower or time to be able to grant the interviews or visits.
Of course everything that we do on the office side is necessary to support our work in rescuing and re-homing, and I know the adoption are what people are really interested in reading about. Happily during October we had a steady trickle of adoption enquiries, resulting in 30 lucky dogs and puppies finding their forever families. It took a long time for the German Pinschers to be adopted, mainly because people didn't know the breed or what size the puppies would grow to be. In fact AFCD didn't even have German Pinschers on their database and wanted us to license them as either Miniature Pinschers or Doberman Pinschers, but I insisted they be properly licensed as their actual breed. I'm happy to say that after sending the breed information, German Pinschers have now been added to the database. Now we do have two actual Doberman Pinschers coming from AFCD next week, with details and photos coming on Monday.
I saw a recent article in the South China Morning Post saying that one in three dogs that end up at AFCD are destroyed. That's a sad and shocking statistic, especially as so many of the dogs are very sweet. If you're wondering what you can do about it the answer is simple. Adopt, and NEVER buy a life. DESEX your dog (after a year old) to prevent more unwanted puppies. Make a serious commitment to the dog's life when you bring one into your home. If you have children, or are planning on having them at a later date, please train your children not to pester the dog. Too many give up their dogs because of children, and it's your responsibility to make sure that the dog remains in the family. If you're not sure if you'll be leaving Hong Kong, consider fostering instead of adopting. Leaving a dog behind when you leave should never be an option.
For all adoption enquiries, please start by completing the questionnaire at www.hongkongdogrescue.com/adopt/adoption-questionnaire/.
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