Gina settles in

Gina is learning how to be a dog. It is amazing what they will do for a cheesy nacho.
My dogs are teaching her how to behave; and with Ian she takes no quarter.
Here are the first Gina pics...

The kittens are out of the nest

In just a week the kittens have gone from small helpless babies to bright, alert, nosy, squeaking claw monsters.

Here they are at nearly 4 weeks old...

Kittens fostering number 7

Each litter is named for an initial.
We are up to F.
Felicia, Freckle, Fudge and Fred.
When we went to the SPCA to take a look at Gina, Lucy the foster coordinator pounced, as she has a new mummy cat and her 3 kittens. They are soooo cute.
Here are the pics...

Gina defends us from the scary bloke

Gina had arrived at our house on Saturday, which is when Ian is out at work.
When he came home we warned him not to march in, but even so Gina spotted him and defended us from him with growls and barks.
It took treats and walkies to convince her to let him in.
Wise girl.

Gina's first day

I suspect she is on her best behaviour as she is on her first meeting.

However, she is trying to please today. She has sorted out the difference between "bad dog" and good girl".

She is copying my two dogs to learn what works. I had treats on offer. My dogs know they sit on command and get the treat. Badger sits and gets her treat, Harley sits and gets his treat. Gina tries to work it out and rears up to get the treat; not good. So she looked at the other dogs as I say "Sit" and copies them. She sits and gets her treats and a good girl. Job done!

She went up the road for a short walk to get used to the area. She walks well on the lead and does not pull. Heather and I had a lead each to be safe and Gina wears a harness. She ignored the neighbours dogs which woofed as she went by.

On the way back from her short walk she met 20 runners! All dressed up in bright colours plus a dog. Was she phased or stressed? She was not bothered at all.

During dinner she lay on the floor copying our dogs (once she has been told off for begging.)

They are all asleep now. Cute.

Gina comes to our house

At 3:30pm Gina came to our house. I was worried about how she would be with us. We had been given a soft muzzle just in case.

Gina arrived after a very long van drive from Wan Chai - 1.5 hours. The van aircon was good though. I got her a drink of water and she climbed out of the van nicely. The SPCA inspector Anthony took her lead, but she stood quietly and watched what was going on.

I'm not sure she has been outside much before except for a daily walk in the city near Wan Chai. Trees and plants would have been new to her.

She did not seem worried about seeing me, not excited and not silly. So Anthony came down the path with Gina on her lead and the girls brought out our doggies, Harley and Badger, on their leads. They met at the gate.

Harley was very brave and barked at Anthony and Gina - but he was very scared. Noses were sniffed; curiosity and waggy tails. Anthony, Gina and I went through the gate.

Harley woofed like mad, but we realised he was worried by Anthony plus dog, and when Anthony went to the van much sniffing of butts took place.

Visiting Gina

After school on Friday Heather, Alexandra and I went to visit Gina in Wan Chai SPCA. It was a long journey from school (though it should have been shorter) and we were a bit grumpy when we got there.

However when we walked up to the fostering area there was this big fluffy lump who just wanted to play with us. Gina is about 40 kg a powerful girl.

Her manners were not good and she was having to learn how to behave with people. She tended to jump up and tried to mouth us to attract our attention. Turning our backs on her worked to calm her until the end of our play time when she was hyper and as I turned my back on her she jumped up and bit my bum. Ouch, bruises.

I knew that our offer of fostering was her only chance - she wouldn't home behaving like that and being such a big girl means she would not foster anywhere else. So we decided to try her at home and hope she would learn her manners with training and patience.

Gina Tibetan Mastiff

We had fostered 22 kittens over the year and on my return from a UK holiday I phoned Lucy to let her know we were back and ready for kittens.
Last week we got a call asking us if we would consider a dog. Gina is a Tibetan Mastiff who was taken as the result of a prosecution case. The SPCA took over 30 dogs from the breeders flat. Gina had been kept in a cage at the breeders and in an enclosure at the SPCA.
Now she is nearly 1 year old and has been locked up for a long time.
Lucy asked if we could foster her and help her learn some manners and have a more relaxed space for a month so she can be socialised and become adoptable.