Tues 8th May: Goodbye Chimney

I don't think this little girl will be with us for long

The little pom girl that we got from AFCD in Sheung Shui today was one that had been posted on Facebook after having been found as a stray, and while Kathy was there to pick her up she was also offered a springer spaniel boy (which I said yes to when asked).  With recently-surrendered pom Sparkle already gone finding a home for the new one should be easy, and as it turned out it was lucky for her that she had been abandoned because she had early pyometra, an infection of the uterus that can be fatal if not dealt with.  Spaying (desexing) a female means removing the uterus so pyometra is never an issue, and it’s just one of the many reasons why desexing is an absolute must for any dog.

I should have called the new springer Crypto

The springer spaniel, a handsome four year-old, also had a good medical reason for neutering as he was cryptorchid, meaning only one testicle had descended leaving the second still tucked up inside the body.  This is another not uncommon problem which shouldn’t be ignored as the retained testicle can become cancerous.  So they were two lucky dogs in more than one sense of the word, and I don’t think either will wait long before being adopted.

Although I didn’t really need to accompany the two newcomers to Acorn, I went along because someone had left a Blackberry charger there for me and I couldn’t wait to get it.  In fact I plugged it in while waiting to see the vet so had a semi-charged phone by the time I left.  I can’t imagine how things ever got done in the old days before even mobile phones were available, and you actually had to be next to a real telephone to make a call.  I don’t think HKDR could even function, since the land line connection at Tai Po is so bad and even internet connection is a matter of luck. Some days we have it, others not.

Chimney has found a new home at last

It took a while to find the right home for our little poodle Chimney, although we had a lot of enquiries about him.  Without wanting to sound like a cracked record, poodles really need more exercise than most people can give, and they also have to be mentally stimulated or they go bonkers.  It’s not enough for them to be left alone all day and walked once in the evening.  As easy as poodles are to train (because they’re very smart) they can just as easily turn into little monsters, which is why so many are abandoned.  With Chimney now in a home we can focus on Billy, another young poodle who is  in rehab with our trainer, Eddie.  Billy’s issues aren’t serious but we have to make sure that whoever adopts him will continue with the work that Eddie has done and in that way ensure that Billy will stay on the straight and narrow (for non-native English speakers that means stay on the right path).

Billy is a sweet boy