Weds 6th Dec: Busy times ahead

Will Mabel be the only beagle left by the weekend? 

Apart from the now almost certain move to a new Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre, I think we're also finally seeing dogs starting to move out of our current and very small space after an unusually quiet period.  I don't like to make any announcements prematurely but there's a good chance that two of our three lovely beagles will be leaving before the weekend, and we'll all be very happy about that because they need more space and exercise than we can provide.  It's not that there hasn't been any interest in these dogs but beagles aren't suitable for many homes for a variety or reasons, so we opted to wait until the right adopters came along.   We will still have the female, Mabel, and she's the easiest of them all.

Look how sweet and gentle Mabel is

Two of our resident poodles also left the Homing Centre today as a pair, Rupert and Ellie, and really just in time as we may be getting a fresh crop in on Friday, although that's not confirmed yet.  If these small dogs do arrive we'll be needing homes and fosters so please stand by if you are able to help.

This weekend will be another busy one with the regular puppy afternoon at Whiskers N Paws on Sunday which is a special event as it's also the annual Christmas Party. Don't miss it! Join our X’mas Party and Photo with Santa!🎅🏼
嚟參加我哋嘅聖誕派對，同聖誕老人影相啦!🎅🏼

⭐️Free of charge, please sign up at: https://www.wnp.com.hk/retail#events
⭐️費用全免，記住預約啦: https://www.wnp.com.hk/retail#events

Bring the dogs!

Sunday is also the Freespace Happening in the West Kowloon Cultural District so it's going to be a difficult choice:

🔅Time: 2pm to 7pm, 10 Dec (Sun)
🔅Venue: Nursery Park, West Kowloon Cultural District

🔅時間: 2pm-7pm (12月10號, 星期日)
🔅地點: 西九文化區苗圃公園

🐾 Free admission. Dogs and kids are welcome!
🐾 免費入場，歡迎攜帶狗狗和小朋友!

Dogtown in Sheung Wan is a "must visit" too and there are great prizes to be won as well as the fun of adding your own characters and captions to the enchanting winter scene.  Visit 15squarestreet on Facebook 15squarestreet or Instagram.

This festive season squarestreet teams up with Hong Kong Dog Rescue to celebrate the amazing work they do to for all our four legged friends. After all, everyone deserves a Merry Christmas!

For this month long charity event squarestreet has painstakingly constructed a miniature winter village called DOGTOWN, complete with model railway, MTR building, HKDR house, Kowloon Dairy milk shed and even food stalls selling Swedish and Hong Kong delicacies.

All proceeds go directly to HKDR and the village itself in its entirety is also up for sale once the event ends in January.

An official HKDR donation box will be placed at squarestreet, and regular donations of any size are of course also welcome!

Squarestreet chose to deal with the heavy and sometimes rather disturbing issue of mistreated and homeless dogs in a more creative and engaging way, providing an entertaining alternative without loosing sight of the underlying seriousness of the subject.

https://vimeo.com/245605614
#SQDogtown #HongKongDogRescue #HKDR #15squarestreet

Tues 5th Dec: Getting close

We're one step closer to our new Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre after a meeting at the site today and the signing of a preliminary agreement with the landlord.  There will be some work needed to make it a safe and comfortable space for the dogs of course, so the fact that our current leases run until March gives us time to get organised.  We're going to need help from individual volunteers or groups to give us a hand with moving office furniture and whatever we can take with us, and as soon as we get the go-ahead to start I'll be asking for sign-ups.  Of course we'll also be asking for donations, either in kind such as building work and furniture, or money to pay for what will be needed.  Details of where our new Homing Centre/office is will be announced once everything is finalised, hopefully before Christmas.

Puppy Harvey needs a foster home

We've had some of our senior small dogs heading out to their respective foster homes, and I'd like to answer some questions that are frequently asked about fostering and what is involved.  For a start, fostering means taking care of a dog or puppy temporarily, hopefully until it finds a permanent home but at least for long enough to make the adjustment and settling-in time worthwhile.  Cindy is our volunteer Foster Coordinator, and she is available to answer questions and help arrange vet visits and meeting with potential adopters, while Cactus is always on hand to help with training advice if needed. The following is a simple round-up of fostering needs and requirements, and all food, beds, bowls etc will be provided, as well as pre-arranged (with Cindy) vet visit costs being covered.  If you are interested in giving a dog or puppy a temporary home, please email Cindy at foster@hongkongdogrescue.com for information. 

Fostering:

Puppies: may not be toilet trained, may have to go to the vet for vaccinations, and will need to be at Whiskers N Paws every Sunday afternoon 2pm to 5pm to meet potential adopters.

Adults:  we usually keep highly adoptable adults at our Homing Centres so they are available to be seen.  Adults who need foster homes may include those with behaviour issues or infectious skin problems, or who need post-surgery special care and medications.

Seniors:  we appreciate being able to send our senior dogs to foster homes for that extra care and comfort they need.

The pug is 3 years old

I mentioned a pug that was being surrendered a couple of months ago, but as often happens the dog never materialised.  I have since been contacted by the current owners and we have again agreed to take the pug boy in, so if you are interested please complete the Adoption Questionnaire on our website www.hongkongdogrescue.com (under Adopt).  I hope this time it will actually happen.  

Mon 4 Dec: Dogtown in Central

With Christmas preparations in full swing now, we think this is the loveliest idea so far, a create-a-story scene that you can add to yourself and share to create awareness.

Dogtown was created for HKDR by our good friend at 15squarestreet! You can contribute to this beautiful winter scene simply by purchasing a character for HK$50 and placing it in anywhere you like inside Dogtown. All proceeds go to HKDR for helping dogs in real life.

Just go, enjoy this beautiful piece of art, post a photo and hashtag #HKDR#SQDOGTOWN #15SQUARESTREET!

15squarestreet Opening hours:
Mon - Sun: 11a.m. - 7p.m.
G/F, 15 Square Street, Sheung Wan

Dogtown Station

Donating to HKDR is easier than you may think as there are many opportunities that help, almost without you noticing.  Things like Coin Dragon, where you can offload all of the heavy coins that are building up in your home or pocket.  You can choose the HKDR option when you visit any of the Coin Dragon locations and that's all it takes. 

Offload all of your coins and donate!

Look at Linus's beautiful markings

In between the holiday build-up there are still dogs and puppies to be homed, so we were all really happy to hear from Linus's foster family that he was already a part of their life and they were going to adopt.  I'm not at all surprised to know that he is a very loving and easy puppy, and the only thing that does surprise me is why he and his sister Betty weren't snatched up on their first visit to Whiskers N Paws.  They are so unusual in their looks and have the sweetest natures to match, but at least Betty was taken for fostering on Sunday with one of our volunteers, Cammy, who has already has her own ex-HKDR dog at home.  

Betty made a good choice for her bed

I'm getting very close to breaking some very exciting news about a new Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre/office, and in the anticipation that it will go ahead without any last-minute hitches we'll be needing volunteers to help with the move.  Stay tuned for the announcement!

Sun 3rd Dec: Byebye babies!

Rafi

I left Lamma with not only the puppies and almost-adult Rafi, but also one of the residents of the Lamma Home for Small Delinquents, corgi Topper.  He was meeting someone at the Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre, and didn't come back at the end of the day even though it is just a trial to see how he and the resident husky get along.  Of course I'm delighted that Topper finally got this chance after so many years of waiting and I have my fingers tightly crossed for good news.

Cleo settled right in

I also had the new small-sized adult Cleo with me, on her way to a foster home where she is already settling in nicely.  Although she has erlichia, a type of tick fever, this is treatable with antibiotics and I'm fully expecting a complete recovery.  If anyone is looking for a really sweet and small short-haired dog, maybe Cleo would be just right.

Bunny found her new home today

I was also delighted not to have to bring home the two baby pups who had been taking up space on my work table in the Giant Cage, as both were adopted during the afternoon.  That was a huge win as far as I was concerned, as it's more than distracting to have little feet and faces right in front of you when you're trying to concentrate.

How can I work with this?

Bunny's sister Flora and her new parents

Although there are still quite a few baby pups, I have several five month-olds, and even though I may be biased I think it's true to say they are all wonderful characters who get along really well.  There's sweet and gentle Grace, Harvey and his sister Laura, short-tailed and smaller sized Bina, Dilys (who was absent today) and - until today - Archie, Harvey's best friend and playmate.  As happy as I was that Archie found a home today, when we got back to Lamma in the evening Harvey was very upset, and I had to let him out so he could go looking for his friend as he was crying so much.  Of course he didn't find Archie.

Archie, his daddy and new big brother

A final goodbye for Archie and Harvey

Jimmy Tsang was the photographer for the day, and as always he did a superb job which you can see here  Hong Kong Dog Rescue (HKDR) added 93 new photos to the album Puppy Adoption Day 3 December 2017 — at Whiskers N Paws

A volunteer group from The United Jewish Congregation of Hong Kong were at Tai Po today to help out, and according to May who sent me the photo, they worked really hard and did a great job.  So thank you all!

A great team of volunteers from the United Jewish Congregation

Sat 2nd Dec: Three hopefuls and a day in Stanley

Boris has been given a new chance

Sometimes the tension of waiting for adoption news is almost too much, because although of course we all understand that committing to a dog is a very important decision, we all get excited at the prospect of a dog leaving.  As it turned out only one of the anticipated homes materialised, although it was one of three trial adoptions at Ap Lei Chau, and I hope Sunday will be the day when many others get their chance too.

I was so happy to hear that Nona had also left for a trial 

Sunday is always the Day of Hope for all the dogs, as it's the busiest for visitors at both Homing Centres as well as being Puppy Afternoon at Whiskers N Paws of course.  This week I have my two new babies to take with me, plus those that have been unlucky for too long, sweet dogs like Grace (yes, unbelievably still waiting) and Betty.  I really hope that their chance will come this time round, and if nothing else the baby pups will enjoy the cuddles and attention they keep begging me for.

Betty

Grace 

It wasn't quite the stall we had been expecting but our team made the best of it

Our volunteers did a great job at the St Stephen's Christmas Fete at Stanley, and the weather was perfect for a day out.  Thanks as always for a great team effort, especially given some initial challenges of finding our allocated space.  In the end it was fine and I think everyone enjoyed the event, volunteers and visitors alike.

Volunteers Tracy and Gina look happy enough

Fri 1st Dec: The Christmas events start NOW!

It's December, and that means Christmas is coming as well as all of the fairs and events that are traditional at this time of year, kicking off with the the St Stephens Fete at Stanley on Saturday where HKDR will have a stall.  Come for a great family day out and all the trimmings, including Santa I believe. 


Next Sunday, 10th Dec, HKDR dogs and volunteers will be at Freespace Happening in West Kowloon Cultural District . A fun (and free) day out with lots of doggy kisses is guaranteed!

Of course the Sunday Puppy event takes place every week at Whiskers N Paws, and I'll have some new babies with me this week.  They're currently sitting next to me in the Giant Cage (begging to get out) so even if you can't adopt please consider fostering.

Professional photographer Mary Dimitropoulou has made a very generous Christmas offer of a free photo session for the next five puppy adopters, each worth $1500, including three digital files. You can see Mary's work for the National Geographic herehttp://m.yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/profile/1422586/…
.
Meet our puppies on Puppy Adoption Day this and every Sunday 2-5pm! Address: Whiskers N Paws, 10/F, Horizon Plaza, Ap Lei Chau

There were three puppies at AFCD today, as well as what I thought was an older one, around six months judging by her size.  It was only when I looked at her teeth to give an age for the license that I saw she was actually an adult, and although I had her registered as seven months Dr Tony at Acorn said she was more like a year old.  Cleo almost certainly has a type of tick fever called erlichia so is now on antibiotics after having an injection, and while we expect a full recovery any kind of tick fever does mean a dog will probably never be able to get into Australia or New Zealand.  It's a harsh rule that has caused a lot of heartache for dog owners, and heartbreak for the dogs themselves.  Cleo also needs a foster home while she recovers, and at only eight kilos she really is a small dog and very sweet too.

Here's another event to mark in your calendars. the HKDR Christmas Party which takes place
After throwing around several ideas about where to hold it this year, we decided to take advantage of the free venue at the Great British Food Festival, Tamar Park because yes, you can bring your dogs too! 

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Hong Kong Dog Rescue Christmas Tamar Park Takeover

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 · Hosted by Tracy Riccio

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  16 December at 19:00–23:00

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Sidney, Fai Shing and 5 other friends are going

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Hong Kong Dog Rescue will be celebrating Christmas with volunteers, staff, adopters, foster parents and supporters at The Great British Food Festival, Tamar Park.

Links of London will have a beautiful Christmas Tree on site and there will be a giant snow globe, provided by British Airways - perfect for photos!

This dog-friendly event has catering from 8 restaurants all with a British theme plus bars and entertainment.

Entry is free, you just need to pay for food or drink once inside.

A great way to celebrate Christmas with HKDR. We look forward to seeing you there!