Fri 4th June: A new start for 8 new lives

Our new van driver had a lesson today on how to get to various key places on Hong Kong island, the most important being the AFCD kennels in Pokfulam.   It was pick-up time for the dogs that were waiting to be taken out, including the mother with her eight beautiful newborn babies. 

It’s always a bit risky getting up close and personal with any animal who is nursing young, but this lovely dog let me take her pups and put them in a crate without any hint of aggression.  Although she wasn’t keen on joining them I eventually got her in as well, ready for the drive to Tai Po where Kathy had prepared a space for them all. 

New dog Sean was picked up by the dog catchers at Mui Wo, Lantau. He must have been someone's dog as he was wearing a collar and he's very sweet.

With the dog-filled crates packing the back of the van we left for the now-familiar drive to the New Territories.  I was worried that the mother would crush her babies on the way but we all arrived safely, although gasping for fresh air after a few older puppies had fearfully pooed in their crates.  It must be a very scary experience for them, but there’s no way round it. 

I also had a new (but not as scary) experience later in the afternoon when I made the journey back to Lamma by public transport.  I have previously been driven in either the HKDR van or someone’s car, so I was interested to see just how long it would take.  After all, others have to do this every day (except for the sampan bit) so it’s not the end of the world.  Actually the first part of the journey was surpisingly quick, although I suppose I cheated a bit by having the van drive me to Tai Po Market MTR station, and from there it took forty five minutes to get to Admiralty.  The options then were taxi or bus to Aberdeen, and since it was getting late I chose what I thought would be the quickest, forgetting that the taxi queue would be long at that time of day.  In the end the time would probably have been about the same, assuming that the queue for the bus wasn’t also so long that I couldn’t get on. Total travel time was about an hour and forty five minutes.

It was only when I got home that I remembered there was almost no puppy food left and I was meant to bring some back from Tai Po.  How I would have managed on a packed MTR train I’m not sure, but something will have to be arranged for tomorrow now.  My young puppies have a very good set of lungs and let me know when they’re hungry.