Tues 19th June: At the end of the rainbow

Our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre lies at the end of the rainbow, and Horizon Plaza (Whiskers'n'Paws) is one of the buildings on the waterfront (thanks to my neighbour Janeth for the photo)

Every year the local (fishing) community hold Dragon Boat races in the small bay where I live, and it’s usually a full day with a lot of teams competing, each one having their own Lion Dance in front of the small Tin Hau temple on the beach before the races start.  I heard the first round of drums and cymbals as I was leaving for my morning walk with the dogs but not much after that, and by the time I left on the sampan, when in previous years the show was in full swing, today it was already over and everyone had left. The ‘fake’ typhoon had obviously meant a lot of teams cancelling as the Number Three signal was still hoisted well into the morning even though the weather was fine by then.  There was compensation for the disappointment later in the day when the rainbow appeared over Hong Kong, and while there were a lot of photos posted on Facebook, my neighbour’s was the best I think.  And not just because the end of the rainbow landed exactly on our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre!  Maybe we should use this photo on our website as it shows almost exactly where we’re located.

Sweet Sadie, eight months old and already a reject

It was the same old and familiar story at AFCD and this time it was a boxer puppy that someone had dumped, with the reason “can’t afford to keep it”.  I called her Sadie and she’s a very sweet girl, very happy and friendly and desperate for a game with any dog that would play with her.  She didn’t have a microchip so was yet another puppy from a hobby breeder, beyond the law as it stands and making money out of some wretched animal kept in god-knows-what condition.  The market is flooded with these puppies judging by the numbers that have come to us recently.  So if you like boxers and have the time and energy to take care of a older puppy, Sadie is waiting.  Boxers are lovely dogs but completely bonkers (in a nice way) and not suited to small apartments and certainly not one thirty-minute walk a day, the norm if the questionnaires I get are anything to go by.

Two little shih tzus were surrendered to ‘The End of the Rainbow” (not to be confused with the Rainbow Bridge) today.

These two lucky dogs already have a new home to go to

When I first got the surrender request (one of the many I’m getting at the moment) I was told that the couple wanting to hand over these dogs had been the original owners but had given them to someone else when they moved into a no-dog apartment.  Then the people who had taken the dogs had  left Hong Kong so had passed the dogs back to the original owners, who were now themselves leaving the country.  There had been no age given on the original surrender form so I had to ask, thinking that the dogs must be at least middle-aged given their history, but it turned out the boy was only eighteen months old with the female (his mother?) four years.  I had to wonder how old the male had been when first given up if he was still so young now.  Luckily for this pair they already had an offer of a home so they will be packed off as soon as they have been desexed.

In my pending “tray” at the moment there are surrender requests for a golden retriever, two huskies, a pekingese, a dachshund, a pomeranian and many mixed breeds, with only one genuinely understandable reason between them (serious health issue of the owner).  Someone posted some comments on our HKDR Facebook page the other day asking why we don’t make it easier to adopt, or be more flexible in our requirements, and these surrenders are the reason.  Add to those the number of dogs that are returned to us very soon after adoption (and a recently homed one year old poodle is coming back after just two days) and that’s the reason.  In the poodle’s case it’s not even anything to do with his behaviour, it’s simply that the desex wound is slightly inflamed, not a big deal at all, but the adopters want a “healthy” dog.  We have another home for this poodle to go to so it’s not such a big deal, but honestly, all it would take would be a week or so and everything would be fine.

I just got a report from Tigger’s family-to-be and he’s doing fine other than his confusion about where he’s supposed to pee.  It’s quite normal for an older puppy who has lived in one place until being adopted, especially ex-Lamma-ites, because they will have established their toilet place.  When they move away and that special place is no longer available, they have to find a new spot, and until then may well try out the home.  Taking up rugs for a while is always advisable.  Anyway, this is a lovely family and they aren’t going to return Tigger for minor demeanours like this.

Poor Magoo, such a sweet boy

This was the same home that fostered Magoo for a while but had to return him after his many escape attempts.  This is a funny-but-sad story of his final breakout and recapture: “Magoo had a big adventure when he escaped on Saturday.  He went into the Peak Galleria, up two escalators to L3, and then had a nice time looking round the shelves in International (Park’n'Shop).  When he got bored there he went on to MacDonald’s, where the security guards persuaded him to wait until Marilou (helper) arrived to collect him.  It was very sad getting him into the van – he was so scared – but we made a ramp out of a plank of wood and I was eventually able to calm him down and walk him in. Might be an idea to have one in the back of the van in case of other recalcitrant dogs – it would make life much easier for the van driver who didn’t really seem to know what to do.  Hope he’s OK now he’s back at Tai Po.  I will send you some photos later – he discovered the sofa on Friday night and I didn’t have the heart to turf him off when I found him in the morning.”