Mon 14th Jan: Pup of the day: Dribble

Saffron chases Dribble chasing the little girl

Some days are just very frustrating and today was one of them, leaving me angry and irritated by bedtime and especially appreciative of the dogs who are always straightforward and honest.    As a result I achieved very little during the day, and nothing of particular interest or that would be diplomatic to write about.

So instead I'll try to focus on the positive with two additional photo albums of Sunday's Whiskers N Paws puppy afternoon  Puppy Adoption Day 13 January 2019 - Part 2 (by Charlotte Lomas) and Puppy Adoption Day 13 January 2019 - Part 3 (Laura Nie). Thanks to both for sharing their time and talent to help the HKDR puppies.

Dribble on Sunday

All of these lovely youngsters are available to meet any day of the week, either in their respective foster homes or at our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre, open every day of the year from 10am to 6pm. I'd like to mention one little pup that I honestly thought would have been adopted as soon as she was rescued from AFCD, but it was her brother Jumble who won that particular prize.  In fact he came to Whiskers N Paws on Sunday to say hello, and it was sweet and interesting to see that despite their completely different size and colouring, he and sister Dribble have the same outgoing, confident and playful personality.  Dribble is in a foster home so if you're interested in meeting her please contact Cindy at foster@hongkongdogrescue.com to arrange.

A newly arrived baby Dribble on 14th December

Sun 13th Jan: A very happy Sunday

Blake busy at work in the office

Getting straight down to the adoptions for today, we had five puppies chosen at Whiskers N Paws (yay!) with Sassy's brother Blake having his "going home" confirmed from our own Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre office.  We're expecting a new litter of seven babies on Monday so the cycle starts again, but for now I'm very happy.

Sweet Bramble also found her forever family after being in a wonderful foster home.

Bramble was an instant hit with her family

Tobias was the lucky black puppy today

Bertie's going to be very happy with 2 big sisters

Bertie was another lucky boy, as well as Tobias, and it's always good to see the black puppies adopted if for no other reason than it's impossible for me to know who's who when I look at the lovely Sunday photos by Eric Tang  Puppy Adoption Day 13 January 2019.  All I can say is that the remaining black puppies are incredibly sweet, and all girls I think.

Holly left, Bramble in front with Ivo behind next to Mikey (adopted last week)

Also unsurprisingly the newish pugs started to leave with their families, and while brindle Zola had already been adopted, today her one-eyed sister/friend went home with her.  Violet was the other lucky pug girl, and it's so lovely to know that their days of darkness and confinement in a cage are over for ever.

Tilly (left) and Zola have a wonderful life ahead of them

Violet (right) and her lovely new family

Sat 12th Jan: One man's trash is another man's treasure

Handsome Archie gets a second chance

It was quite a frustrating day today, with lots of enquiries and potential interest but no actual adoptions other than Archie going home from Tai Po.  This was Archie's second chance at a family life as he'd been adopted once before as a baby pup but returned as a young adult.  It turned out that despite the promises he was never taken for walks and was instead expected to amuse himself in the garden.  The thing is that although having an outside space is a real bonus, it doesn't mean that dogs should miss out on experiencing life outside the confines of their twenty-four-hour home.  Things get boring for any intelligent animal when you never meet other people or dogs, sniff new smells or see unfamiliar things.  A garden just becomes a large prison where Archie was left to chase the birds, which upset his owners enough that they considered him badly behaved.  What did they expect?

Luckily Archie's looks and potential were spotted by another family, and after some time spent integrating him into the home (where there's already an older ex-HKDR dog) Archie's adoption was finalised and he left the Homing Centre for good.  One man's trash is indeed another man's treasure, as the saying goes.

Hopefully some of today's enquiries will lead to more adoptions on Sunday, and of course there's the Puppy Afternoon as Whiskers N Paws with lot of lovely girls and boys hoping that they will be chosen.

We do also have puppies available at our Tai Po Homing Centre although they tend to be older ones up to a year old, or those that are a little bit shy and need the help of the great staff and volunteers to bring them out of their shells.   This is the latest litter of five gorgeous girls who are currently undergoing socialisation and you can meet them any day.

These girls are doing well with their training at Tai Po

Fri 11th Jan: Life is never fair

Brindle pug Zola was adopted today

Was it only last Sunday that we took in the six pugs, one poodle and the two little pups?  Every day is filled with dogs coming and going and it seems much longer, but today the babies were picked up after their vet check and the first of the pugs, the brindle girl Zola, was adopted.  I expect we'll see a few of the others leaving very soon, if not all of them, and there was also great news from pug Roley's trial home that he'll be staying for good.

Roley is now Jabba, and he has a new brother too

It's an indisputable fact that life isn't fair, in fact it's often cruel and very sad.  I took an old poodle from AFCD today after she had been surrendered to be put to sleep, and in these cases I don't really care if there's nothing that can be done to help the dogs, I just don't want them to die like that, alone and without any kind of love.  This girl is thirteen years old, overweight, blind and with the typical skin allergy that poodles suffer from.  She was crying in the crate while we sat in the waiting room at Acorn, a heart-rending yabba yabba yabba, and I could imagine her confusion.  Blood tests showed nothing particularly abnormal so we'll treat the skin and have her groomed so she looks better, and after losing some weight I think that will help too.  I still use beagle Stinker as a reminder of these no-hope cases, because so far he's still doing well and seems to be happy.

Old and blind but still with a reason to live

While I was at Acorn I also had to make the difficult decision to let young husky Nigel go after his breathing problem returned and he was left gasping for air.  He came to us from a breeder with a serious lung infection, and although we treated him with with specialised injectable antibiotics, after a brief period of seeming to get better the infection returned.  His lungs were so badly scarred that even  without the pneumonia his quality of life would have been poor, and on top of everything else there was a danger of him passing on the infection to other dogs and even humans.

Sadly Nigel's life was very short

While one life ends there are always new lives beginning, and hopefully this weekend means homes for our lovely puppies.  We have so many right now it's impossible to pick just one or two as they are all lovely.  However I'm still rooting for the sisters Pollen and Rose if for no other reason than I have one adult dog exactly the same living with me on Lamma so I know the final size (medium) and temperament (wonderfully sweet and affectionate).  Here are the photos from last Sunday's Whiskers N Paws afternoon Puppy Adoption Day 6 January 2019, and we'll be back this Sunday if you want to meet any of these beautiful youngsters .

Janie is one of my Lamma dogs and she is the sweetest cuddler

Sweet sisters Rose and Pollen

Thurs 10th Jan: Three little dogs

Cara and Bella already have homes to go to

Bad news for anyone who was interested in the two little pups we got from the same terrible breeder as the pugs (and one poodle), as they have both been chosen for adoption and will leave the Homing Centre after their follow-up vet checks on Friday.  The good news is that the other smaller-sized puppies I mentioned previously are still available, and they are really lovely, sweet and healthy, and totally ready for their new families.   You can meet them in their current foster homes by arrangement with Cindy (email foster@hongkongdogrescue.com) or at Whiskers N Paws on Sunday afternoon, 2pm to 5pm.  Please make sure you have completed the Adoption Questionnaire in advance so we can be sure the puppy is suitable for your home and family.   Just as a reminder here are the photos from last Sunday's puppy afternoon Puppy Adoption Day 6 January 2019 , and apart from those in foster homes we have a lot of gorgeous puppies staying at our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre so you don't even have to wait until the weekend to meet them.

Adorable little Holly

Nobby previously spent some time in foster and did very well

I wasn't able to do much this afternoon as I had three small-sized Lamma dogs with me; Murphy, Banjo and Nobby.   The latter pair are staying at the Home for Small Delinquents, and while Nobby the poodle isn't too bad in terms of behaviour I can't say the same for Banjo unfortunately.  He came to us as a very young dog, barely a year old, from an abusive home where he had been kicked, and although he's fine with people he knows and trusts that doesn't include the vet, Dr Andy, who was tasked with giving the rabies vaccination updates today.  It's quite funny in a way to see three adult humans trying to catch and subdue a very small dog, but sad that realistically Banjo will never find a home.  That's not to say he doesn't have a good life as he's luckier than many with his living situation, having lots of space, dog friends and a garden to play in.

Banjo is very cute but he's a one-man dog and needs to trust you

Murphy had been scheduled to have his Cushings disease test, but Dr Andy suggested doing a regular blood test first to check the liver enzymes and I was so happy when the results came back showing everything was close to normal.  That means for now nothing needs to be done and Murphy will just have to have regular follow-up checks to monitor his health, and for a seventeen year-old dog that's not bad at all.

Fidget starts her new life

One more lucky dog left the Ap Lai Chau Homing Centre today, Yorkshire terrier Fidget.  She came to us from AFCD as one of an ex-breeder group and very timid, but she started to warm up and enjoy herself after a short time.  It's lovely to know that these poor ex-breeding dogs will never have to endure that kind of life again.

Weds 9th Jan: Good luck Penelope

Chippy's adoption is confirmed

We've had a few dogs leaving our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre recently, with poodle cross Chippy having his adoption confirmed after a short trial period, pug Roley currently waiting for confirmation of his forever status, and French bulldog-cross Penelope, or Penny, heading off today to start her new life. She's been lots of fun to have in the office as she's a real sweetheart, but her adopters have been given firm warnings about the need to continue the training that Cactus started to help Penny with her anti-dog behaviour. Unfortunately this is a typical French bulldog trait and very difficult to completely eradicate, but  most problems can at least be modified with consistent practise and the right training programme.  Fingers crossed.

We all love Penelope and want her to have a great life

We've got the Pet Expo coming up soon, so volunteers are needed to help out with shifts over the three days:

📣📣 Calling: Volunteers For Pet Expo! 香港寵物節 Pet Show 義工招募!

We are recruiting volunteers to help out at our HKDR booth in Pet Expo next week! Everyone is welcome!

Please sign up for your shift(s) here if you can help: https://goo.gl/forms/clCgbDwxqbvhfiMD3

There's also Chinese New Year and the soon-to-be Year of the Pig ahead, so be quick to buy your Red Packets and Fai Chun as these are always very popular.

HKDR x Happy Woof 🎉2019 Lai See and Fai Chun are now available at both HKDR homing centers and online shop. Go get yours while helping the dogs in need. 🙂🐕🐕🐕
. 
Order online: 
https://hongkongdogrescue.com/merchandise/cny/

Tues 8th Jan: Thinking outside the breed box

Most of the adoption enquiries we get are for small or medium-sized dogs or puppies, and this usually means a breed, or one of the designer crossbreeds that are so fashionable (and more of that later).  However so many small breed dogs are interbreeding with larger ones that we see more and more small-to-medium mixed breeds these days, and I'd like to introduce a few of those puppies currently available.

Bramble, so sweet and pretty

Bramble is a very pretty girl as well as already being used to living in a home where she's been fostered since she was just three weeks old.  Now at ten weeks she's ready to move on, and in fact she must leave her foster home this weekend.  Bramble is a very sweet girl who loves affection and attention, and she'd make a perfect family member.

Holly

Holly and Ivo are siblings, and also smaller-sized and totally adorable.  We know from the AFCD staff that their mother is also mother of Carlo, a shiba inu-looking shape and size with the same curled tail.  Holly also has that distinctive "snail tail", and she and Ivo have also had the benefit of a lovely foster home.

Carlo has the same mother as Holly and her litter

Ivo

Sisters Rose and Pollen may not have a fancy coat or colouring, but they are quite petite and have the best personalities.  They will also be at the smaller end of medium sized as adults, and at five months they are already almost fully trained and are lots of fun and very loving.  You won't find any puppies easier than these two girls.

Rose and Pollen are petite and very sweet

Finally, and I know there will be a rush for these gorgeous little babies, Cara and Bella came as part of the group from the horrendous breeder.  They look like Cavalier King Charles-cross, so maybe we should give them a fancy name like a Cavapoo because that's what people will spend thousands on to buy.

Cara and Bella (centre)

It's all in the marketing, and has really nothing to do with the actual dog. These designer cross-breeds are the saddest of all, pandering to the public's desire to have the latest label.  No thought is given to the facts of interbreeding or what happens to those pups that aren't born looking right.   If you cross a poodle with a labrador to get the "labradoodle", some of the pups will have a curly coat and others the unwanted flat labrador coat and are immediately disposed of (killed).  The surviving pups are then desexed at eight weeks of age before being shipped off to unknown buyers in faraway countries.  Early desexing plays havoc with the healthy development of a puppy, and the only time I can say it's justified is for TNR when puppies must be caught and desexed before they're old enough to be impossible to trap.

If you want a larger-sized curly-coated dog, what happened to the Standard Poodle, a breed that is almost never seen these days.  It's a sad state of affairs when dogs are fashion items rather than family companions.