New Doggy Friend

A couple of months ago, HC's friend mentioned that he is interested in adopting a dog, preferably young and either a cairn terrier or a schnauzer breed.

Coincidentally, HC happened to chance upon a facebook's posting about a young couple who are looking to give away their dog to a good home.

On the viewing day itself, Jack and I were invited to visit the adopters and the dog. This is because HC's friend had never had dogs, and the adopters were worried about his inexperiences. So HC's friend roped in us to help to 'convince' the adopters that we could help him (the inexperienced new owner). HC's friend kept mentioning me as the 'search dog' (although I am already retrenched LOL), and how well-behaved and trained we are.

I guess our manners and HC's friend sincerity moved the adopters because they agreed within an hour of viewing even though they have other people keen to view the dog.

The dog was named 'hitam' as he was almost black as a puppy. (Hitam in malay means black). He was renamed 'I-Tam' by HC's friend later.

According to the first owner, I-tam has only been taken for walks 2-3x in his life. (he's 1.5 years old). He was mainly taken care by the couple's elderly mum - who finds it a struggle to take care of a young dog.

At first, HC's friend was worried that as the dog was not properly socialised, there may be troubles ahead. But their fears were unfounded, as I-tam proved to be very obedient and easy going.

I am happy to say that I-tam now gets at least 2 long walks daily, and on weekends, he gets to visit new doggy friend - us.

Ok, we are not as excited as I-tam. As some of you may know, we don't play with other dogs easily, and Jack is extremely grouchy towards strange dogs.

Even after 3-4 visits, we still have not warmed up to him.

Here's the proof.







I was sitting on I-tam owner's lap, and giving the owner kisses but I-tam has to come in-between us. Jack didn't like I-tam too and we both ganged up against him.

After almost 2 hours of trying to get us to play with him, he failed miserably and went to sleep.



Even though I don't like I-tam, I am glad he found an owner who is willing to spend time on him and showered him to lots of love.

HC is now trying to convince her friend to switch I-tam to raw food.

Happy Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone!

We started the year with good news!

HC sent Jack and I for a comprehensive blood test.

The test results came up with good readings on our liver, kidney, red blood cells, white blood cells etc.. and a physical check comes with no adnormality too.

HC intended to let Jack and I go for a dental scaling as well. But kind Dr. Chua said it is not necessarily as there is not much tartar to clean for Jack's teeth (considering that Jack is now 14-15 years - that is good dental news). As for me, only two of my back teeth requires scaling. But HC decided to go ahead and let me have the dental scaling done now as I am still in good health. She didn't want to wait a few more years as I am already 10 years old now.

(HC : Jack has very good teeth with very little tartar as he keeps it in good condition by constanting gnawing on raw bones and dental chews daily. As for Joey, he does not gnaw as often as Jack, but he does get his raw bones once a month. However, he lost his upper back teeth a while back and he doesn't use that side of his mouth to gnaw bones, hence the build up in tartar.)

At the end of a long day (9a.m. to 3 p.m) we went home happy and exhausted, except for HC who spent more than $600 on us. hahaha

We were so happy to be home that we started playing with each other (HC : they hardly play together in this manner. Usually they let each other do their own thing at home)

We also bought some CNY plants.

Jack has been sniffing this plant for a while. HC thinks he might want to try to eat them one day.

Here's a sleepy Jack wishing all pups good health always.

And me (Joey) wishing all humans lots of prosperity. Huat!

*wink*

Retrenched

The economy must be bad....

even a dog gets retrenched :(

HC received this email from Singapore's Civil Defence - Search Platoon Team, where I have been a volunteer search and rescue dog for 8 years 10 months.

"This email is to inform you that the Saturday Volunteer Training Programme will cease. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your tremendous support for the past months/years. "

I have been doing this since I was 18 months old, and I am at a loss on what to do with my life.... now I can totally understand how the humans feel when they get retrenched. Though I am worse off as I got no retrenchment benefits. The Singapore Government should reward me with a nice steak at least, right?





(HC : I have mixed feelings when I received this email. One, I have been postponing Joey's retirement as he still has the drive despite his advancing age (he's 10). In fact, I am secretly proud that his stamina surpasses alot of younger dogs and reluctant to retire him as it is an admission to myself that he is aging. When I received this email - it is like the case of a woman waiting to break off with her boyfriend but was dumped by him before she could do so. hahaha.
On a brighter note, I now have my alternate Saturdays free!)


We'll miss the training sessions :(

Home-made Treats

HC bought a new oven recently, and decided to dig out her old cookbook from "Three Dog Bakery".



After looking through all the recipes, she decided to pick out "Howl-O-Ween Tricking Treats" because she has most of the ingredients (i.e. pumpkin and flour) and it was near to Halloween then.



As she knows we are not fussy dogs, she decided to tweat the recipe and add in ingredients we love.. such as slice cheddar cheese...

She mixed all the ingredients in a large bowl. (HC was so lazy that she didn't even use a measuring cup for all the ingredients!)


The end product does not even remotely resembles the pic on the recipe book - because she was too lazy to roll the dough!



But it tasted good nevertheless. (The uneven burnt stuff on the top are slice cheddar cheese).

She also purchased some duck liver recently and decided to dry it for us.





After a day of drying... this is the end product.

We had to wait for her command before eating the treats.

See how Jack's body was tilted away from me? He was worried that I might bite his head off. LOL

Remembering Willy

A few days ago, HC told us sadly that Willy has gone to 'the other side' - a place where we would like to believe is a better place than earth. It's a place where demise dogs would be free from pain and suffering, and where they would be waiting patiently for their owners to join them later.

Willy lived a miserable lonely existence in the first 12 years of his life. However in his last 3 years, his life was filled with love and care from his adopted family. If Willy could talk - he would have said to his adopted family - "thank you for your love and care, till we meet again."

The Revenge of the Clothes Peg

Jack has been acting weird since last Thursday ..

He looked scared (tail down, shivering), and hid underneath tables, bed, toilets. Even when there were visitors to the home, he used less than 50% of his usual barking energy and wasn't interested in the doggie cookies (That's a big deal for greedy dogs like us).

Miserable looking


When we visited Scuba, he slept next to Scuba which was very unusual as Jack does not like to have bodily contact with any dog.

He doesn't even move from the bed when HC was leaving Scuba's place.


Our human god-sister thought it was fun to join in.

Sherylyn pretending to sleep.




Remember the previous post when I said we secretly sleep on the leather sofa when HC is not at home?
Well, Jack doesn't care about respecting HC anymore and jumped on the leather sofa when HC was home. Of course he received stern warning from HC.

(HC : as much as I wanted Jack to be comfortable since he is ill, I decided to chase him away from the sofa as I believe in being consistent with my dogs)


After 3 days of seeing Jack in a miserable state, HC made an appointment with the vet on Sunday.

Before visiting the vet, HC did a quick body check on Jack - he seems to be ok in all parts of his body, except when HC tried to pry his mouth open.

Then, HC did some investigative work at home and remembered she threw away a broken clothes peg on the table.

It was then she remembered that on Thursday, our part-time cleaner came to do some household chores. The cleaner must have dropped the clothes peg on the floor, and Jack chewed it. (HC : Jack had destroyed a few clothes peg before this).

However, this particular clothes peg that HC bought is more 'springy' and HC suspected that it must have sprung hard against Jack's mouth while he was chewing it, and hurt his mouth badly.

HC talked about her suspicious with the vet, and the vet thought that it is highly possible as well.
Due to Jack's age, they decided not to put him on sedation to check the extent of his injuries. Instead strong painkillers and inflammation pills were prescribed, and HC will see if Jack starts eating hard treats and allow HC to pry open his mouth. If he does that, it means that his injury had healed.

However, the irony is that upon returning home from the vet, Jack seems to be his usual self - walking around HC to beg for treats - even BEFORE any medication was given to him!!!!

Latest updates : Jack IS DEFINITELY back! He barked very very loudly when HC came home last night and HC joked that she should not sent him to the vet to earn a few more days of peace... HAHAHA

After Jack's consultation with the vet, I thought we could go home but HC said that since we're here, might as well get my paws checked.

I had been limping since Sat, and HC found my rear left paw swollen and there is a black growth in-between my toes.

HC applied calendula oil on my hurt paw, and I seemed to be doing better and doesn't limp as much.

The yellowed paw is due to the calendula oil applied.


After applying calendula oil, I was told to stay at this position for 2 mins !!!


Anyway, the vet took a look at my paw, did a body check and found my left rear lymph nodes slightly swollen and painted 2 scenarios:

1. An inflammation - antibiotics will be prescribed for 2 weeks. Sometimes, inflammation may cause lymph nodes to be slightly swollen.

or it could be

2. A tumor. The vet said that if the swelling and growth did not improve after 2 weeks of antibiotics, then she may have to remove the growth to check for tumor. One of my toes may have to be removed as well!

Scenario 2 sounds bad. Losing a toe may affect my balance, and I may have to quit my Saturday job as a Search and Rescue Volunteer!

My paws are crossed that I won't have to remove my toe!

Fat Jack and Skinny Willy

Jack used to be double his size. He lost weight about 8 years ago, now has a lean body.

This pic was taken like 10 years ago. Beside Jack is our ex-cousin and now godbrother Willy!