Rescuing and rehoming abandoned dogs in Hong Kong

There's going to be a big party at Whiskers N Paws this Sunday, as not only will we have the puppies coming in from their respective foster homes and the Kennedy Town Homing Centres, but I'll also be bringing four hopefuls from the Elgin Street collection (Ali, April, Amos and Archer).  

I also need to mention the current full time HKDR Ambassadors, Gabby and Gavin, who are always at the store if you want to meet them, or just have some cuddle therapy.  Sunday will be like a big reunion of old friends too, as quite by chance I know several people who will also be coming along to say hello, so maybe we should break out the champagne and celebrate being back and mask-free after so many years. 

Other than the many puppies that are available for adoption any day of the week, I wanted to share this video of the puppy I mentioned the other day, the one who had a broken leg and we were asked to help.  I called her Cola, and she's now in a lovely foster home which is close to Acorn Vet Hospital where she's due to have surgery next week.  Dr Tony will do his best to repair the results of the previous failed surgery, but if it's not possible then the leg will be amputated.  It sounds drastic and unfair, but it's the best option when leaving the leg will cause pain and problems in the future.  Cola is still a baby, so she'll never remember that she once had four legs if the worst proves necessary.  Look at Cola's adorable face though, and I'm sure it will make you go all fuzzy inside. 

 

Our ongoing request for newspaper continues, and this updated version includes the addresses of all of the Centres where you can drop off newspapers, and also meet the dogs and puppies that are staying there.  Please remember to complete the adoption questionnaire in advance if you're interested in adopting, and wait for a reply.  I try to respond to all enquiries with a few hours if it's possible, and often within minutes if I happen to be at my computer. 

 

Please also remember that we have a huge selection of dog (and some cat) accessories at our HKDR@Elgin location, all at great prices too. I was there today going through the stock and there's so much it was a real challenge, but if you're looking for top quality collars, harnesses, leashes, bowls and everything else you can think of, please come and take a look. There's lots of humans too, like our big range of great T-shirts, and remember that every purchase means supporting HKDR and the work we do.

There are quite a few venue options when it comes to adopting, with our Tai Po Homing Centre being by far the biggest and with the most dogs.  There are always around four hundred hopefuls staying with us at any given time, so be be chosen is like winning the Mark 6 or the lottery, as you can imagine.  Today's lucky winner was Kasey, who started her HKDR life as a puppy at Ap Lei Chau, before moving to Tai Po as a doglet, and then becoming an adult.  She's waited a long time for this day to come, so her adoption is really a cause for celebration.  Thank you to Kasey's adopters for giving her this longed-for opportunity of a real family life and home.

We knew that dachshund Gertie wouldn't have the same long wait, and she left our Kennedy Town North Street Centre today to start her new life.  She's going to have a great time, I know.

Penny and Paula were very popular after featuring on a Facebook post, and there were a lot of enquiries about them.  However they're now off the available puppy list as they'll be going to their new home together straight from their foster home, the best possible outcome.

As I mentioned yesterday, shy puppies Aaron and Austin weren't sent to Whiskers N Paws to sit behind a rock for two hours, but that doesn't mean that they're unhomeable.  It just means that they need to be in a home with another dog, a more confident one who can teach them how to trust humans and to be able to enjoy life to the full. 

Every day is busy in some way or another, and even if there are no dogs or puppies arriving, or on-site adoptions, there are so many things going on.  We're also still experiencing major problems with the hongkongdogrescue.com emails, so please bear with us while we attempt to get it fixed.  

Today was a big day for beautiful young terrier-type Ilona, as she had complicated surgery on her leg (by Dr Elaine at Concordia) to try to repair a previously botched operation to fix a broken bone. We'd noticed that Ilona had a limp when she first came to us but her knees were found to be quite stable, and it was only when she was X-rayed that the pins from the old surgery in her leg could be seen. 

We'd hoped that, while not a simple operation, at least the bone could be re-set, but once the leg had been opened up it was found that there was infected tissue inside.  We agreed to go ahead to try to save the leg, which includes bone grafts from other areas, but there's a 50-50 chance that the leg will need to be amputated anyway.  In fact simply getting rid of a leg that has major problems is by far the easiest option, and once amputated the recovery time is only as long as it takes for the wound to heal, a matter of two weeks. Recovery from this complicated surgery will take much longer and be far more difficult and painful for Ilona, and I'm still not sure that putting her through all of the trauma was the right thing to do.  Still, now it's done and we will see what happens.  This surgery was very long and complicated, not to mention unexpected, and if you would like to make a donation towards what is going to end up also being very expensive, please sponsor any amount via GlobalGiving.

Happily we are seeing some puppies being adopted, most from foster homes, because we have more arriving as well as some small-sized adults (all mixed breed).  There are also a group of dogs from AFCD Shatin that we need to find space for, and that's why we really need foster homes for the puppies.  If you can help please email Cindy at foster@hongkongdogrescue.com, thanks you!

There was another adoption from a foster home, this time puppy Kyra, and it's a kind of foster fail because the adopter is Kyra's ex-foster parent. There should also be some more puppy adoption announcements coming up, and really just in time because we have always more arriving.

I'm going to start with one good news story because there aren't too many of those these days, and it's that older puppy Juliet was adopted from our Tai Po Homing Centre (currently our only Homing Centre). We're waiting for a family photo from her adopters to share as the official adoption photo, so in the meantime I'll use what I've got. There should be another dog leaving on Monday, but I won't mention the name until he's actually left. Things change at the last minute so we can't assume anything's confirmed until it happens.

For potential adopters looking for smaller dogs, we do have some available but the younger ones are quite shy and really need to be in a home where's there's another dog. Tanner and Thomas are two who are currently in a foster home together, while Tessa is another small girl who came to us in the same group. She's shown here with beagle MJ, who isn't at all shy but he's eleven years old (although still active and playful).

River is a very shy girl, and she's now at the Lamma Home for Small dogs where she and Rumble (not a shy dog) have become great friends and playmates. It's wonderful to watch them rolling around and having the best time (see the video), so a home for them together would be perfect.
Unfortunately shy dogs aren't suitable to be adopted by families with children, or by anyone living in a busy or built-up area, and this is why these lovely smaller-sized young dogs are still with us.

We've come to the point now of having to say no to taking any new puppies, and "please wait" when asked if we can accept more large adult dogs. We have accepted several from AFCD in the past week, and one senior husky called Bailey, and we just don't have the manpower to be able to take on any more at the moment.
This is really proving to be a very difficult period in HKDR's history, with so many core members of our HKDR team having to stay home and isolate, leaving us short of staff and volunteers at our very large Tai Po Homing Centre (with the Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre now permanently gone).

There's no way that we can just close the doors at Tai Po and let everyone work from home because the dogs are there, and nothing will change the fact that they need looking after. It didn’t help when one of our two remaining cleaners sprained her ankle this morning leaving us with just one cleaner.
We are urgently in need of volunteer manpower. If you are a registered dog walking volunteer, please try to take up extra shifts on weekdays (especially morning shifts). The dogs need their daily walks anyway and it’s just physically impossible for the staff on duty to walk them all.
If you are not a registered volunteer, please come to help with kennel cleaning on a weekday (either from 10am to 12pm or 3pm to 5pm). Please email eva@hongkongdogrescue.com to schedule a shift.
If you aren’t able to physically come by to help - please consider making a donation to HKDR. The situation in HK now not only hurts us in terms of manpower, but also financially.
Dogs will ALWAYS BE OUR PRIORITY and we really don’t want to face the extremely difficult choice of having to say no to a dog in need due to financial pressure. We still have new dogs coming in almost every day so that part of our work has never stopped, and we never intend to stop because this is what HKDR is here for. However, we can only continue with your support, especially in challenging times like these.

Instead of dogs leaving we took in another, following an emergency call for help about a shiba inu whose leg was broken and the breeder didn't want to have to deal with it.  Via a go-between we arranged for the poor dog to go straight to Acorn so he could be at least assessed and started on pain relief, but by the time the van was arranged to come from the New Territories somewhere (probably Yuen Long), it was too late so we had to let the shiba stay the night at the Homing Centre before going to Acorn in the morning. 

From life on a rooftop, this is an upgrade

I now have a photo of the two ex-rooftop dogs to share, the ones I mentioned yesterday. If I have one last mission to fulfil in life, it is to show people that breed names mean nothing, and that every dog's life is precious.  I've been getting daily updates about Ziti, who flew to England last week to start his new life, and I have never seen a sweeter dog.  Every photo and video makes me smile, and it's quite incredible how Ziti has slotted into his new life so perfectly.  He's not a handsome dog in the traditional sense, and had he not been chosen by this particular adopter there's a very good chance that he would have spent his whole life at the Tai Po Homing Centre, as many dogs do.  What a waste of a beautiful character that would have been.  Who can look at Ziti trying to flirt with his new "sister" and not see what an amazing dog this is?   Please open your eyes and heart to the many others that are waiting at Tai Po, and give them the same chance to prove to you that they are just as kind, loyal and loving as any other. 

Suki has no back feet and is very sick

Would you rather support the breeders whose recent throw-outs include the new shiba inu with a broken leg, the shiba puppy with no back feet (who is also in hospital with parvovirus) and the pom puppy who not only had distemper but such bad congenital problems that she had to be euthanised?  Or do you think that a strong and healthy mixed breed with a heart of gold is a better choice?  I know where I stand.

 Poor tiny Snowy has to be euthanised