Sun 29th July: No second chances for most

It’s bad enough to come home  on a Sunday afternoon with the same number of puppies that I left Lamma with, but there is nothing more depressing than having to go back to the happy adoption photos on my previous blogs and the HKDR Facebook page to remove the now-irrelevant shots.

Griffin is back on the market

I had been so happy when Griffin found a home, and a brilliant one I thought, and my early follow-up to see how he was doing reassured me that everything was fine.  But between that first reply and the next email I got telling me that Griffin was being returned left me in total shock.  I can accept that things don’t always work out and that’s something that is to be expected, but there was no word, no inkling of any problem.  A trainer had been called in who had apparently declared that Griffin was a village dog and therefore untrainable, and all I can say about that ridiculous assessment is that “a bad worker always blames his tools”,  in other words – bullshit.  Apart from anything else, Griffin isn’t a “village dog”, and there’s nothing untrainable about village dogs anyway, only poor trainers who don’t know what to do.

Of course I will take Griffin back as he’s obviously miserable, but that promise of a month to give a dog time to settle is specifically included in the questionnaire for good reason.  On top of that, HKDR offers full post-adoption support and back up, and access to our brilliant trainers, as well as guaranteed help and advice from me for dogs and puppies that have lived here on Lamma.  I know the character of every puppy and am always here to help if there are settling issues, so why any adopter would call in a stranger who has no background knowledge or history is beyond me.  It is times like these that leave me feeling so depressed (and angry).

Aria looked like this when she was adopted. Her sister left at the same time and remains very happily in her home. Fate holds all the cards in her hand.

Aria too was the victim of a “behaviourist” which resulted in her being returned, and I knew that was absolute rubbish too.   Aria as a now five month-old puppy is proof of that, a very sweet and easy girl who is happy wherever and whatever she does, but she’s no longer the super-cute baby that was first adopted and I don’t know if she will ever find another home.

Opal's adopters ignored everything I said and lost her about an hour after taking her home, then didn't want her any more

The photo that was in SCMP the day Crumble was returned as unwanted goods

Gorgeous Marnie was also adopted and returned and now permanently with me on Lamma

There’s this strange (to me) thought that every dog or puppy that is adopted and then returned will easily find another adopter.  Well tell that to the many dogs at Tai Po that have once had homes and are still waiting, or the ex-HKDR dogs that are in the queue to join them (those that are being surrendered).  I still have Crumble, the black “Pudding Puppy” whose story was in the SCMP the day she was returned by her adopter (because they were leaving the country).  I still have Opal, adopted for twenty four hours (actually less), I have Fido and beautiful Marnie and many others.  The truth is that few dogs get a second chance other than the small-sized ones, and two of those left Ap Lei Chau today.  For poodle Sophie it was her fourth attempt at finding her forever home, and she’s still under two years old.  The strange thing about Sophie is that at our Homing Centre she has no behaviour issues at all, and she plays happily with the other dogs and loves the attention of people too.  We have been extra careful about the home that she goes to this time, but even so I’m posting the adoption photo with guarded optimism.

Sweet and funny Sophie gets her fourth chance

Kat Kuok was there again at Whiskers’n'Paws today to take more great photos of the puppies, and there are so many shots that I could share but you can see them all of the HKDR Facebook page.

Here are just a couple of my favourites:

Thirsty pups heading for the water bucket after a game of chase

Truffle and her brothers are the soppiest bunch of (big) puppies ever. Truffle was so happy to lie like this for as long as she was allowed