Micky’s Happy Ever After
Two-month-old Micky arrived at the SPCA in October 2025 after she was rescued by inspectors from a rubbish station in Sheung Shui.
With her small fluffy body, over-sized ears and uniquely pinkish nose — resembling that of a little piglet — Micky’s social post calling for adopters drew the attention of netizens who shared her post far and wide, in the hopes of finding the little pup her happy ever after.
Micky was quickly adopted and went to her new home on 1 November 2025. However, less than 24 hours later, reports of Micky slipping her lead whilst out on a walk in the Tai Tam Country Park started to surface, mobilising scores of volunteers to search for her. Thankfully, Micky was found a few days later, unharmed, and returned to the SPCA Centre, where she began her search for a second chance at a happy ever after.
As fate would have it, Micky didn’t have to wait long before she found her forever family; Kim, Ray and their 4.5-year-old mongrel, Kaila. Now going by the name Raiya, we catch up with the new happy family to see how she’s settled in.
Pawprint: When did you first come across Raiya and decide to adopt her?
Kim: We stumbled across Raiya’s adoption post on the SPCA Instagram account and were instantly obsessed with how wonderfully frazzled she looked. To be honest, a second dog wasn’t even on our radar, but after reading about her “camping incident”, I felt an overwhelming pull to meet her.
We met with her at the Tsing Yi Centre and it took every ounce of my willpower not to scoop her up and smother her.
Over the next few days, I couldn’t get her little face out of my head. However, love aside, the bottom line was Kaila; if she didn’t approve, it was a hard no. We arranged a meet-up, and while it took Kaila some time to adjust to the environment, she eventually relaxed and began to tolerate the tiny ball of energy bouncing around her [and] responded to Raiya’s 100th play attempt.
PP: How long did it take for Raiya to settle into her new life and what has helped the most? What’s been the hardest part?
K: Surprisingly, Raiya settled in almost immediately! Her entire security blanket was Kaila, so as long as her sister was within eyesight, she was happy. She is an incredibly observant dog and essentially learnt how to navigate her new life simply by copying everything Kaila did.
PP: How does she behave around other dogs and people now?
K: Oh, she absolutely loves all dogs. She desperately wants to say hi and play with every single dog she meets. We’re lucky that our neighbourhood has a fantastic mix of dog sizes and personalities, which has been a great crash course for her.
When it comes to human strangers, though, she’s completely indifferent. She doesn’t hate them; she doesn’t love them; they are basically just moving background props to her.
PP: What sort of training do you work on with Raiya and how often? How long did it take to train her for you to become confident in letting her off lead?
K: The training journey has been a steep learning curve because [what worked with Kaila, didn’t work with Raiya]. We firmly believe that consistency is key, so for us, every single moment is a training opportunity.
In the early days, housebreaking was exhausting. We took her out every =two to three hours, just to get her used to going to the toilet outside. But the hardest part was just getting her to walk on the pavement. For the first three months, if she heard a minor noise or saw a person across the road, she would completely freeze. A 20-metre stretch of pavement would easily take over 30 minutes. It was mentally and physically draining because we still had to ensure Kaila got her proper exercise while managing Raiya’s exposure.
To tackle this, we spent three months [sitting at] coffee shops on weekends to desensitise her to city noise. Every day after work, I would sit with her at a busy junction for 20 to 30 minutes just to acclimatise her to city life. The day she finally decided to comfortably trot beside us felt like winning the lottery.
Concurrently, we practiced her recall and name recognition at home. It took about four to five months of solid foundations before we felt genuinely confident letting her off lead.
PP: What sort of toys or activities does Raiya enjoy now? Any quirks or special traits you would like to share?
K: Raiya’s absolute favourite hobby is stealing her sister’s toys. She gets this hilariously cheeky “look of success” every time she pulls off a heist. As for quirks; she is incredibly talkative. We never expected to have a vocal pup, but she loves to give us “feedback.” If we take a second too long to hand over a treat or serve her dinner, we get full-on verbal complaints.
PP: Do you have any future goals or milestones you are hoping to reach with Raiya?
K: I really want to see her learn to swim! But more than anything, the ultimate goal is just to watch her confidence continue to bloom.
PP: Any final words you would like to share with Pawprint readers?
K: Adopting a dog really is a commitment for life, and it helps to go into it with an open heart and zero expectations. Your new fur child might turn out to be the complete opposite of what you anticipated, meaning you’ll have to rewrite your old playbook and adjust to their unique quirks; but that’s honestly part of the magic. Watching them slowly trust you, celebrate a tiny breakthrough, or just make you laugh with their sudden bursts of personality brings a pure, irreplaceable joy to your everyday life. It is a promise to stick by them through all the learning curves, because helping them blossom into their true selves is the most rewarding journey you’ll ever go on.
