One black puppy was very friendly, while the other two were a little shy but even they warmed up to us after a while. We hadn't seen any mommy dogs around, so it struck us as odd that these three puppies had suddenly appeared. So we asked around with the people working in the vicinity, and not very surprisingly, we found out that someone had abandoned the three female pups. Now these poor puppies live under this container.
This is the puppies' home and playground
Over the years, we have come to realize that this is very common. People keep the males in their factories but throw away the females, because they don’t want to deal with more puppies. This is so frustrating to us. Have they not heard of sterilization?
Little female pup (Poppy), not more than 5 mths old
Black female pup (Leila) exceptionally friendly and intelligent
So we immediately booked three sterilization slots at the vet for these puppies. Six of our volunteers left work on time to catch the pups in the evening. We brought three carriers, one for each dog.
Volunteers trying to lure the puppies out
The black girl (Leila) was the friendliest, and therefore would be the easiest to catch, so we left her for last. We started with a brown pup (Poppy), and luckily, managed to catch her in the first 10 minutes. But the next brown one, a very cute Shar Pei-lookalike (Marigold), proved to be really difficult to coax and catch. We took almost three hours with her, but our volunteers were very patient the whole time because they know how important sterilization is, especially for female dogs.
Sterilizing each female dog costs $200, inclusive of 2 nights' stay. That’s $600 for just these puppies. Would anyone care to sponsor their sterilization?
They sleep under the container. This is their home. The heat and rain could easily get to them.
On top of worrying about costs, we also have to worry for the very lives of these puppies. While we were trying to catch them in the car park, a group of people parked their cars nearby. The innocent puppies ran up to them, eager to be patted. One of the ladies started yelling, shouting that she was afraid of dogs. She ran and scrambled back into her car. Having witnessed that, we're afraid that someone will complain to the authorities, who would then cull these poor puppies for being “terrors” and “public nuisances”.
But just look at their pictures and see how friendly, cute and sweet they are.
Our haul for the night. It took us 4 hours to trap all 3 puppies.
Black puppy, Leila
Sweet lil Poppy
The most difficult to catch, Marigold, looks like a Shar Pei cross.
All of them are now at the vet. They need homes by tomorrow (Friday) evening. They must not be returned to the car park because it's not a safe place for them. We are really at our wit's end because we're completely swamped and running over our capacity. Our hands are tied and we are unable to give these pups a home. Will someone please step forward to help?
We would like to appeal for the following :
1) Fosters for the puppies
2) Adopters for the puppies
3) Sponsorship of kennel boarding, which costs approximately $380 per month, per dog. We are a small organization and we do not have sufficient funds to run our own shelter, so we need to pay for commercial kennel boarding for dogs without foster/adoptive homes. The weather has been rainy, cold and wet lately, and the outdoors is not a good home right now for anyone or anything.
4) Anyone who has a factory and will allow these sweet puppies to live on their premises and care for them.
It's Christmas, have a heart, give these 3 little puppies a home, would you? If we returned them to the car park, they won't live very long.
If you or anyone you know is able to help, please email hopedogrescue@singnet.com.sg
Written by Elena Lin
