Sun 20th May: Playing in puddles

Beautiful puppy Panda melts my heart all the time

The afternoon started out OK at Whiskers’n'Paws but before long the heavens opened and we had to gather everyone up and move inside, much to the disgust of the older puppies who think that Sunday afternoons are made for playing.  At least one puppy was able to leave for his new home before the rain started and that was Merlin, so it wasn’t an entirely wasted three hours.  I was also able to meet four foster pups, the first time I’d seen them since they were brand new babies at AFCD.  Their mother, Whitney, had been able to stay with her puppies and take care of them in a lovely environment before it was time to send her to Tai Po where she is now living, and the pups are doing fantastically.

Merlin found a home today

Whitney's litter with their foster "brother"

Whitney was the first of three such mother-and-pups cases that came one after another, and two families went straight to foster with one (Katie) remaining at Tai Po.  Now there are three litters coming up to homing age and with the summer looming it’s the worst time for adoption.  There are entire litters of grown-up dogs who were unlucky enough to be born at just the wrong time, dogs who are sweet and beautiful and at any period would have been easy to home.  That’s the luck of the draw, and how sad it is too.

Pashmina is beautiful but my puppies are much better behaved!

The Samoyed puppy that was surrendered on Saturday joined us at Whiskers’n'Paws and of course she was admired by all the visitors.   I’ve given her the name Pashmina, and it’s interesting to be able to compare her size with my other puppies of the same age because it helps to answer the inevitable “how big will it get?” question I’m asked over and over again.  Pashmina is much bigger than all the other puppies although she still has her baby teeth.  I have no doubt that she’ll find a home very quickly despite the fact that she’s a bundle of mischief and my Lamma pups are angels in comparison.  I see golden retriever and labrador puppies with the same type of behaviour which is tolerated because they’re what they are, but in a mongrel it would be called uncontrollable or just plain naughty.

Sophie and Amber enjoy some water wrestling

When the rain finally stopped and the big puppies were let outside again, a huge pool of water had formed in the middle of the terrace thanks to a drain having been blocked by a toy or something.  The dogs thought it was the best thing ever and took advantage of the opportunity to splash and play while they could (also jumping on Manager Andrew while he was busy trying to unblock the plug, no doubt doing their best to hinder his efforts).

As always there are so many great photos on our HKDR Facebook page, thanks to volunteer Semirah who helps out almost every Sunday.

Bea and Opal after the rain