Fri 24th Feb: Billy and Doris

Now that the two poodles that were at Ap Lei Chau have gone to (very nice) foster homes I was able to move Billy over from Lamma to take their place.  He is also a very young poodle, eighteen months now, and he was in a bad way when I first got him, not physically just very scared.  Being on Lamma gives the dogs time to deal with their issues in their own time as there is no pressure on them to be “pets”, and Billy went from hiding all the time and never being seen, to playing with the other dogs and starting to enjoy life, possibly and probably for the first time ever.

He was due a vaccination and was in badly in need of a haircut, so I took him to Acorn before dropping him at Ap Lei Chau.  I really had no idea what to expect, but Billy was lovely and a typical poodle, interested in everything and keen to explore the sampan and everywhere else.  What a difference a few months have made.  I can’t say that he is “cured”, and if he went back into a home that didn’t understand dog behaviour he would quickly revert to his old ways, but he is ready for a nice home.  He even tolerated having a virtual forest of ear hair being plucked out, though he was wearing a muzzle just in case.

Before taking him into the Homing Centre I stopped off at the Ap Lei Chau dog park to let Billy have a runaround.  There was another little dog in there and Billy was perfectly fine with him, just having the usual sniff’n'check, and then bouncing around – and I do mean bounce.  He likes to jump, so I was pleased to note that there had been a fence put up behind the benches where previously it had been so easy for dogs to jump straight out (as demonstrated by Batty).

A bad photo of a lovely dog called Doris

I have so many really wonderful doglets on Lamma, all waiting for a turn to be shown and hopefully adopted.  I highlighted one of them (Lamma) recently and it resulted in a great home for him, so now I would like to introduce Doris.  She was a shy puppy (the reason why many of them don’t get adopted when they are very young) but she has grown into the sweetest and most gentle of young adults.  While the rest of the “gang” push their way to the front of the queue for attention from me, and jump on top of me the moment I sit down, Doris waits in the background until the coast is clear before coming over and quietly waiting for me to notice her.  When I stroke her head she gives me an appreciative lick and then moves away.  She is only medium sized, slim and very pretty, looking a lot like a miniature German shepherd.  I’ve been waiting to move her to Ap Lei Chau in the hope that she will find a home, and maybe there is enough space to do that now.  Hopefully someone who has read this will want to meet Doris in person and give her the chance to prove herself.