Weds 7th March: Special cases old and new

Sam's is a story of love and determination that paid off in the end

Sometimes I’m reminded about dogs whose stories were extra special for one reason or another.  Like Sam, a full-on character who was first spotted as a head bobbing up and down in a big garbage bin while he rooted inside for anything that was possibly edible.  I was passing by in a car with a couple of other people as we were going to check out some potential kennel site or other (more memories) in Yuen Long, and we stopped to have a look at the “head”.  I gave the  skinny and scarred dog my half-eaten sandwich, and after having been to wherever it was we were going, we went back to look for him but he’d gone.  A few days later someone else picked him up and he started on his long road to recovery.  He had heartworm for a start, was very thin and all his teeth were broken.  He went to a temporary place on Lantau where his heartworm infection was treated and, after a few false starts, recently moved to his final and forever home.  I was told that he’s now having all of his teeth fixed by a specialist dog dentist and is driven around in a golf cart wearing a smart faux-Burberry coat (along with his new doggie sister), the image of which makes me really laugh.  Talk about rags to riches, and I want to thank all the people who were involved is his rescue and rehabilitation, and his eventual re-homing.

George as he was brought ashore after his rescue. We didn't know about his terrible mouth injuries at the time

George is another dog that will always be one of those special cases.  To have been so close to death – literally seconds – and to have suffered such horrible injuries to his mouth (almost certainly from a large bill-hook used for hauling big fish on board), he has been transformed into the happiest, sweetest and best behaved dog imaginable.  It’s all been thanks to his wonderful foster (who has helped many HKDR dogs before George too) and her patience and training, and it shows in this latest video:  http://youtu.be/b9hHl-8L9VM (if you can’t see this here please go to our HKDR Facebook page).

Still this isn’t the end of George’s story because he’s still missing that all-important happy ending, a home of his own.  His foster has to return him now, and it would be a tragedy if he ended up at Tai Po, not because he wouldn’t be loved by the volunteers and cared for, but this boy deserves to have a family of his own.  He’s still only ten months old and very playful, so please share his story and let’s make this happen for George.

Gypsy used to walk on her hind legs like this

There is one dog at Tai Po who also has a special story and who continues to break my heart with her sweet, slightly wonky smile and her happy nature.  Gypsy was born with both front legs needing surgery, and until she was old enough to have the operation done she started walking upright on her back legs.  As lovely as this was (everyone wanted to see Gypsy walking like that), it wasn’t fair to her in the long term.  She was in a foster home throughout her recovery period but then moved to Tai Po via our Ap Lei Chau Centre.   She is such a funny girl who loves people, but she’s not one of the dogs that is regularly chosen for outings or barbeques, and I want her to find a home so badly.  Her front legs aren’t perfect and she still sits just like a meerkat, but she is one of our deserving cases that has been overlooked for too long.

Gypsy still sits up like a meerkat (at Tai Po)

I know that there are homes for these special dogs somewhere, just as there was for Sam who is also a mixed breed and no real beauty.  He even came with a full set of issues due to his abandonment, mistreatment and starvation and was a handful to start with, but love and patience paid off.