R&R (Rescue & Rehabilitation)

At HOPE, our top priority when we rescue dogs is to find suitable and comfortable living environments for them. We don't have a shelter to call our own; so before rehoming our rescue dogs, we always try our best to find foster homes for them. But despite our continuous appeals, there are never enough fosters.

Three of our dogs had to be placed in commercial boarding while we continue to search for homes for them. Kimmy, Cody and Blake were the dogs that had to be put up in a commercial boarding place due to our lack of fosters. This did not mean that we gave up on them. Our volunteers would walk them 3-4 times a week to ensure that these dogs get enough exercise and fresh air.

We engaged the services of trainer Vivien Chin from Rao Canine to teach our volunteer dog walkers about the proper techniques to use when walking our rescued doggies at boarding. They learnt how to deal with issues such as tugging on leash and dragging, minimizing over-excitement, discouraging the dogs from jumping to greet humans, and how to walk beside the handlers. Through this, we hope that the dogs will become better behaved, to increase the chances of them being adopted.

We feel that it is extremely important and relevant to do this as it imparts the correct knowledge and skills to our volunteers who help with training the doggies. In training our dogs, we emphasize positive reinforcement. We ensure that the dogs are being encouraged to exhibit good behaviour, instead of punishing them for bad behaviour. After all, we believe that rehabilitation is a big part of our rehoming work. It's really not true that strays usually behave badly and are harder to train than other dogs. With the right training, encouragement and some patience, strays also can be taught to exhibit good behaviour.

Of course, the main aim of any training is to increase the chances of our dogs getting adopted. We have seen for ourselves how happy these dogs are when they are put in a home environment; they would eat at peace without fear of their food being snatched, they would play with our volunteers, and they would even smile for the camera. All of this is rare behaviour that we hardly see when our dogs are placed in a commercial boarding place. And until we can find a good home for them, we will not stop.

To adopt a rescue dog, please visit our Adoption Page.