Thurs 20th Dec: A sad day

These beautiful babies are no more

It wasn't a happy day for me today as the second baby pup that I'd been nursing at home lost her fight for life while I was at the vet with Murphy (having the stitches taken out after his eye removal).  This was the litter of six very young babies that we took in, and somehow they were infected with something unknown, probably a virus although all tests came back as negative.  Such young pups should be with their mother and still suckling, and while we would usually find foster homes quite easily, at this time of year it proved to be very difficult.  In the end I took a pair home with me so they could be fed and cleaned during the night, but by then they were already refusing most food and had no natural strength or resistance to fight.  The only two surviving pups are the pair that went to a foster home immediately, and they are doing well. 

In the early days of HKDR infectious puppy diseases like parvovirus and distemper were common, and there would be regular outbreaks which decimated whole litters.  I became quite used to looking after sick pups and there are a good number of parvovirus survivors still living with me on Lamma.  Distemper is another matter, and it's a horrible virus that stays in the system even when the obvious symptoms have cleared.  Puppies that seemed to have recovered would suddenly die, or be left with nervous system disorders like bobbing heads and wobbling gait.

It's been a very long time since we've seen parvovirus or distemper in our puppies, many years in fact, and I hope I never have to deal with either again.  This latest litter was a horrible reminder of what used to be a regular event, and I can only think that it's thanks to education about the importance of vaccinating puppies that such diseases aren't such an issue any more, although they still pop up in the New Territories and the puppies that are born to unvaccinated mothers.  Most adult dogs have developed a natural immunity to these infectious diseases or have long-term immunity from being vaccinated when young,  but puppies are very vulnerable, especially if taken too young from their mother.

If you are able to foster young puppies in the future please let our Foster Coordinator, Cindy, know so she can contact you if and when we have another litter like these babies in need.  Her email is foster@hongkongdogrescue.com.

I keep getting messages asking if we're open and whether we have any special working hours for the Christmas a New Year holidays, so to repeat: We are open every single day of the year from 10am to 6pm, including Sundays, Public Holidays and even T10 typhoons.  You don't need to make an appointment if you're looking for a dog or puppy to adopt but it's helpful for both sides if the Adoption Questionnaire is completed in advance.  You can find the questionnaire (and all other information about HKDR and our dogs)  on our website www.hongkongdogrescue.com (under Adopt).

Murphy now with no eyes

To end on a happy note, Murphy has recovered well from his surgery and is back to his usual self even now having no eyes, being deaf and having also lost his sense of smell.  What a boy!

Weds 19th Dec: More in than out

It's been frustratingly slow on the adoption front recently, but maybe I'm expecting too much just because we had an exceptionally good total in the previous couple of months.  "After the holidays" is a common phrase at this time of year, and it makes me want to speed up the days until the New Year.

We're so happy for Sybil and Maud

Still, there were two adoptions today and one of them a double one as Maltese mother-and-daughter pair were taken home together.  These two little dogs were very close due to the fact that they had lived for many years, and maybe their whole lives, on a floating fish farm raft, so it was no surprise that they both had heartworm (just treated). What is surprising is that they are both such happy dogs and really very sweet, and we were determined that they must be adopted as a pair.

Gina going home

The other adoption took place at Tai Po where young rottweiler girl Gina was literally carried away by her new family.  She came to us as part of the ex-breeder group as an older puppy and she's never been confident about going for walks.

Gina getting carried away!

Of course we are still seeing dogs and puppies arriving even if they're not leaving at the same rate, and today we took in a black chow chow boy, eleven months old and with a sad background story.  He ended up at AFCD in Kowloon, and was brought to us very late in the day so we haven't really had any contact with him yet other than to allocate him his own room for the time being.  Hopefully he'll be able to join the group of older puppies/young adults that have started their own playgroup upstairs at the Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre.  These are Blake, Carlo, Jack and Penelope (the Frenchie cross), and they have a lot of fun up there and at the dog park.  Here's a sweet video which our trainer Cactus made today: https://www.facebook.com/cactusndogs/videos/291780094807814/

Chow chow boy Sooty

Tues 18th Dec: A natural way to live

Puppies at our Homing Centres have lots of playmates

There's only one good thing about having so many dogs and puppies at our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre right now, and that's that they are all well socialised.    Socialisation when young sets the foundation for a dog's whole life, and in a small country like Hong Kong where there isn't much space it's vital that dogs are able to get along with other dogs when out walking or playing in dogs parks.

Penelope loves her walks but not other dogs she meets

Some breeds have a genetic tendency to be difficult with others, like the French bulldog, and then it's even more important to introduce them to other puppies when they are still young and naturally playful.  We're currently dealing with Frenchie-cross Penelope's lack of manners (to put it mildly) when she's out for a walk and spots another dog, and it makes life very difficult for everyone when you have a dog-reactive dog.  Walking becomes so stressful, and there's no pleasure at all when you're constantly looking out for who might be coming round the corner.

Many of the questionnaires that I receive are from very nice people who really want to adopt a puppy but they are out at work all day.  The first six months of a puppy's experiences are what will set it up for life, so without anyone at home to train it, play with it, walk and socialise it, you end up with an adult that may well be very difficult, shy and awkward with other dogs.   The formative period is so important and it makes me sad to know that many puppies lead solitary and lonely lives with nothing to do and nobody to play with.

Dogs are adaptable animals that are happy to live anywhere, but they aren't by nature solitary and will always live in family groups, or packs.   At the very least if you need to be at work and leave a dog alone for hours at a time there should be a pair so they have each other as company.   An old photo from a few years ago popped up as a Facebook memory and it shows one of my early rescue dogs, Sandy, in the middle of a group of puppies all lying at my feet while I worked at my desk.  Sandy was foster mother to all of the puppies who came to my house,  and this photo shows what's natural behaviour for dogs.

Terrier Sandy with an assortment of puppies 

Mon 17th Dec: A mixed bag of happiness

Just as a reminder we will be open over the Christmas and  New Year holidays if anyone wants to come and meet our dogs and puppies, and thank you in advance to all staff and volunteers who care enough to be there regardless of the day, weather or anything else.

The missing (brown) "adult" was in with the other pups

I thought we'd lost one of the dogs that came from AFCD Sheung Shui today when the list we were sent included two adult mongrels but there was only a German shepherd.  At least we could identify doglet Lisbeth as being one of the "adults" even though she's only six or seven months old, but the second one was nowhere to be seen.  It was only at Acorn when I checked the two crates containing younger puppies that I spotted the missing "adult", who is in fact no older than five months and small for her age due to obvious malnutrition.  At least we didn't lose a dog on the way, which was a relief.

Lisbeth wanted hugs from everyone (here it's Eva)

The doglet Lisbeth is such a beautiful girl, both in looks and character, and she was so close to the German shepherd (now Jenna) that we wondered if they were mother and daughter.  Anyway, if you are looking for  large sized dog who loves everyone and was ecstatically happy even when having blood taken or being injected by Dr Joe, then take a look at Lisbeth.  She's pure gold.

The litter of four are now the Curry Pups being Curry, Korma, Chutney and Mango, and they have obviously come from a home as they're all incredibly happy and friendly - and healthy.

This poodle cross has long legs and will be very energetic

We also got four poodles, three of which are clearly sibling crosses and with something like a dachshund judging from their body shape.  They're also lovely dogs, very happy and friendly, so be quick if you want to adopt.  They didn't have licenses when arriving at AFCD so their ages were estimated by the AFCD vet as being around five years, but it could be younger.

This one's a boy

We are desperately and urgently in need of puppy fosters if anyone can help.  Please email Cindy at foster@hongkongdogrescue.com if you can temporarily look after any of our lovely youngsters.

Here's an additional set of photos from Sunday's puppy afternoon for you to look through

Puppy Adoption Day 16 December 2018 - Part 2 — at Whiskers N Paws (Hong Kong)

All photos by Vaness Kow

Sun 16th Dec: Rose and Pollen, sisters in synchrony

I adore these sisters Rose and Pollen, always together

There are two sets of puppy photos for you to enjoy today, one being from today's Whiskers N Paws afternoon on the (sunny) terrace:

Puppy Adoption Day 16 December 2018 All photos by Tatiana Yankovskaya 

Rose and Pollen in November

https://www.photanya.com/

https://www.instagram.com/photanya/

and the other from Saturday at Concordia Pet Care in Happy Valley

 Puppy Adoption Day 15 December 2018 All photos by Yvonne Chan.  

Baby Luther found his forever home on Saturday

This is our new regular every-other-Saturday spot for the puppies, so you can visit either venue as well as our own Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre at 5 Wai Fung Street any day of the week.  In other words, every day is Adoption Day at Hong Kong Dog Rescue!

One of my Lamma dogs, Janie, is the same "breed" as current Rose and Pollen, and shares the same enchanting nature

This 3 year-old German shepherd girl will arrive on Monday

As if our current number of dogs waiting for homes wasn't enough (over six hundred at last count), we have even more arriving on Monday including four poodles, a three year-old German shepherd and a selection of multibreeds, adults and puppies.  It's really not a good time of the year for adoptions with Christmas and New Year coming up and so many people going away for the holidays, but we hang onto the hope that in January we'll see a return to our usual numbers.  It's a problem fitting all of the newcomers in, not to mention the additional feeding and cleaning, which is why the foster homes are so important to us.  Once again please contact Cindy if you can help with temporarily looking after any dogs over the holiday period, or at any time and her email is foster@hongkongdogrescue.com

More puppies arriving on Monday

Sat 15th Dec: Christmas is coming

Our trainer Cactus with some of the older puppies, Rose, Pollen and Sassy

We had two events on today, one being the puppy afternoon at Concordia Pet Care in Happy Valley, which I'm told by volunteer Becky was very busy.  Photos will follow soon but there was one adoption, one trial adoption and two pups finding foster homes, but there are still many - and I mean really a lot - in need of the same.  You can meet them at at Whiskers N Paws on Sunday afternoon if you're interested in adding a new member to your family.

One of the things that we're always concerned about when puppies are adopted is that they will never themselves go on to become father or mothers of more unwanted puppies.  That means desexing at six months for females, while we recommend later for males, at least eight months.  It seems unfair that the girls should have to have surgery at such a young age but that's because they can come into season and mate while they are still puppies themselves and need the calcium and other nutrients for healthy growth.

Toyah and Peach earning their keep at Topshop today

The other event today took place at Topshop in Central where HKDR had a small stand selling our dog-shaped fold-up shopping bags and buyers would then receive a 10% discount for all store purchases.  Thank you to Topshop for supporting HKDR and our dogs, and to the volunteers who helped out during the day.

Fri 14th Dec: What's in a multibreed?

Gorgeous Dribble was one of today's litter

As planned, I went to AFCD today to take out what I thought were going to be ten puppies, but three were held back (don't ask because I don't know) and I ended up with a litter of seven.   At least I think it's one litter but it's always hard to know as mixed breeds can look very different and also have varying characters, even if they come from the same mother.  The reason for this is the very fact that they are mixed breeds, so the genes passed down to each pup can come from the mother, the father and either grandparent, and if they also came from a mixed heritage then there are dozens or more variations possible.    It's also possible for one litter to have two or more fathers, as the mother can mate with multiple partners during the period she's fertile.  This is also true of humans, but for obvious reasons it's quite rare.

Jumble is from the same litter as Dribble

Many of today's mixed breeds may only have a few known breeds in their DNA make-up, but it's impossible to say unless there is a very distinctive look.  DNA testing for dogs is available if you want to have it done, but I dont know if there is a Hong Kong-based company offering this service and I believe it's important that such tests are relevant to the area.  Hong Kong is a small country so we see the same type of mixed breed looks occurring over and over, and it's highly likely that the "Black Fluffies" for example share at least some of their DNA with each other.  DNA tests from America, say, won't have the "Black Fluffy" genetic code in their database so there would be unlikely to be a reliable result.  When DNA testing was first offered in Hong Kong it was totally unbelievable what was being given as the breed breakdown, so I have always been suspicious of the tests.

Tiny Tilda just had surgery for patella luxation and she needs a foster home please

Another beautful baby labalike

However DNA testing is valuable for checking the breeder dogs to make sure that they aren't being inbred, which results in all sorts of health problems the same as it does for humans, or to identify dogs that are being sold as purebreeds when they're clearly not.  I have heard so many stories about breeders taking microchips out of one dog and implanting into another to get round licensing issues and other identification requirements, and knowing what these breeders are like really nothing surprises me.  There's so much money to be made out of selling puppies that they will stop at nothing, and we see all of the genetic problems surfacing in so many of the ex-breeder dogs.  Things like luxating patellas and hip dysplasia are two of the very common problems that are inherited from the parents, but the worst of all are the breed issues which are now part of the common genetic make-up.  I've noticed so many King Charles spaniel puppies recently so it's clear there is someone breeding them, but how many of the buyers know about the terrible brain condition that afflicts this breed and causes such suffering?  Not many I bet. "It was found, in a recent study, that 70% of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels showed syringomyelia by six years of age – the presence of fluid-filled cavities in the spinal cord of the neck. ... This condition is known to be very painful in humans and affected dogs may show signs indicative of head and neck pain."

That's why mixed breeds are in general much healthier and sronger than any purebreed, and that's a fact.   You can meet our beautiful multibreed puppies at Concordia Pet Care in Happy Velley on Saturday afternoon, and Whiskers N Paws of course on Sunday 2pm to 5pm.