Fri 23rd March: How do you lose a puppy?

With the Rugby Sevens on this weekend I’m not expecting much to be happening anywhere else, although I’m sure there have to be lots of people who, like me, feel that they have had their fair share of the Sevens (as a newcomer to Hong Kong I felt it was my duty to attend for several years in a row) and others who couldn’t care less about rugby, getting drunk or anything else that’s a traditional part of the event.  As long as enough of our volunteers turn up – which they will, I’m sure – that’s good enough for me.

Kirsten is a funny girl, yet another puppy who was passed over and is now a young adult

It was warm enough today for me to dust off the dogs’ swimming pool and fill it with a few inches of water, just enough for paddling.  All of the younger puppies and many of the older ones have never see the pool used as anything but shelter when it’s raining, so they were intrigued to start with.  Kirsten was the first one to give it a try, and she made me laugh as she tried to keep her feet dry while standing in the pool, lifting each foot in turn as high as she could.  After as few minutes the others were keen to try, and then there were the usual games of splashing and jumping in and out.

I had – and have – an unusual and disturbing situation going on at the moment, involving a baby puppy that went missing en route from Lamma to Acorn.  He was one of four that came from AFCD on Tuesday, and while they had never been lively they had become less and less active, to the point where I needed to send them in as an emergency case today.  I called Kathy to arrange for the van to come and meet the sampan at the Aberdeen drop-off point in the morning,  with instructions for Hing to pick up the puppies and take them to Acorn.  It wasn’t until the evening when I got a call to talk about the puppies’ condition that it seemed rather than the four that left Lamma, only three had arrived at Acorn. So then I made a panic call to Kathy asking her to check with Hing first thing in the morning (it being too late  at that time) to see if there was a puppy anywhere loose in the van.  It was also frustratingly too late to call the sampan driver as the daytime ones finish at around six o’clock and turn their phones off.  As of this morning (Saturday) there is no sign of the puppy, the sampan driver saying she hasn’t seen it and Hing also claiming no knowledge of its whereabouts.  Wherever it is and whatever happened, I have to assume (hope, in fact) that the poor little thing has died.  It was sick anyway, and the other little one died in hospital during the night, and I’d much rather know that the puppy was dead than hanging on to life somewhere, with no food, water or comfort.  It’s all a horrible mystery.

It was Day 1 of Murphy’s diet today and we didn’t get off to a great start.  He wasn’t allowed to join me and the other dogs for his usual walk (I could hear his protests from upstairs as I left), and when I got back I called him into the only room in the house that has a door (bathroom excepted) to give him his morning meal  (I feed Sandy and Murphy separately or their food would be stolen from under their noses).  He was give half of his normal portion but he didn’t even finish it, a sure sign that he had already eaten somewhere else while I was out.  I’m not sure how I’m going to deal with this, as I can’t stop feeding everyone just so Murphy can lose a few pounds.