New Rain Coats

HC was contemplating to get us custom made raincoats for the longest time. She has bought us raincoats before, but it just doesn't work. Why? Because those that she bought has sleeves, and I would not even want to walk cos I hate sleeves.

And she was waiting for the raining season to come end of this year before she made the order....
Then she saw this ultra-cheap raincoat - the exact type that she was looking for (no sleeve)...


Me in blue raincoat















Jack in his yellow raincoat. I like the yellow one better, but it doesn't have my size.















And you know what, HC spent only $2.80 for each!!!

Chinese New Year Woes

Don't get me wrong. I love Chinese New Year cos HC usually just stays at home and be with us.

On the eve of Chinese New Year, HC brought us to her parents' place for lunch. While the human were having lunch, I had this....














This Fa-Cake was placed at the ancestors' tablet and HC's parents thought they had it well-hidden (from us) by blocking it with other stuff (plates of un-cut fruits and wine cups). But I have since learnt how to take the Fa-Cake without upsetting the rest of the stuff (yes.. this is not the first time I had taken the cake).

Quietly, I grabbed the fa-cake and ate it underneath the dining table where the humans are. I figured that if I eat underneath them, they wouldn't notice. (Have you heard of the Chinese saying that the most dangerous place is actually the safest?)

And I was right, no one noticed me eating the fa-cake until HC's dad got up from the dining table. By then, hiak-hiak... it's too late. I had eaten almost everything (including the paper that wrapped the bottom of the cake.

My woes started almost immediately after that. You see, the fa cake is almost the size of my head! I had a bloated stomach and had trouble walking properly, and I looked as if I am gonna puked any moment. But I held on (of course I am not gonna waste the food), and didn't puked till at night.

HC was laughing at my misery the whole time.

this is how my stomach usually looks like.















This is me two hours after the fa cake.






























(HC : This pic was taken 2 hours later. He was actually more bloated immediately after he ate, and really walked very slowly for a while. heheh..he really deserved it!)

The Nasty Side of Me

HC said I am really nasty to my friends when it comes to food and toys.

She made me post this video.



It was NOT my fault. The humans planned this. They enticed me with the food on the table, and carried Scuba up to make me think that Scuba was gonna take my food (HC : Food on the table does not necessarily belongs to you!)

And did you guys catch a glimpse of Scuba's face? He was forced to do this too!

Evil humans!

(HC : Joey should learn to be nicer to his friends, and how to share his food and toys - please, learn from Scuba!)

Teaching Herbie to play

Whenever Herbie's M went to petshops with my HC and saw her spending all her hard earned money on our toys, she (Herbie's M) will happily said that she's glad Herbie doesn't play with toys. But recently, she got to eat her words as Herbie has just learnt how to (see here) . We think Herbie is learning now in case the new dog - Helios gets all the toys.

Anyway, I feel that Herbie is not playing toys the right doggy way. He nibbles the toys as if they are fragile, and he can spent 15 mins - unsuccessful in removing the spikes off the ball!

Since Herbie is a non-retrieving Golden Retriever (so no fetch game), I decided to teach him another new game. I took it upon myself to teach him how to throw a ball for me to fetch.

See my attempts..



As you can see from the video, I even put the ball closer to him at one point. Also, he can hear another dog barking far away (he turned to look at the dog at one point) but totally ignores my barking! He even got a very tortured look and tried to move away from me.

What's wrong with him?????

F.R.A.P

I had F.R.A.P. last night (also known as Frenetic Random Activity Periods, read more here)

When I was younger, I displayed frap condition very very often. I raced around the house, avoiding the furnitures. Sometimes, I also carried stolen human's lingerie or socks in my mouth and frapped at the same time.

Last night, HC brought Jack and I to a small park for our toilet break. I started to display some pre-frap symptoms (grinning widely at HC with a glint in my eye, and excited body language). HC and I had a close bond and she knew I needed to frap to release my energy. So she gave me the cue by saying excitedly, "Joey, go go...!!!" With that 'permission', I raced around in circles at the park with ears flying in the air! However, when my 'circle' went too wide, HC will called out, "Joey, here here" with her arms outstretched. From young, she taught me a game - when she stretch out her arms and squat down, I will race back towards her for a praise.

When I was frapping last night, a concerned man actually stopped walking and thought I was running away from HC. HC could tell he was contemplating whether to help (hiak hiak hiak).

After a few rounds, HC decided to stop the game and said, "Joey, ok , enough". And I happily ran back to be leashed.

(HC : Since Joey was a puppy, I have made him think that racing back to me is a game. And I am glad I did that cos his recall has not failed me so far, not even when he is chasing chickens or ducks. And he knew the word 'enough' means that the game is over, be it a frapping or ball game. I loved it when Joey frapped cos he looks very comical)

Jack's Health Check

Yesterday, HC brought Jack for his regular cartrophven injection (for his arthritis & spondolysis condition), and decided to let him undergo a Wellness Test.

First of all, the vet told HC that he had to draw blood from his neck area. HC offered to hold Jack instead of the vet assistant as she expected Jack to bite if it hurts. According to ME , drawing blood from the neck is very very painful (I screamed very loudly when I had to do that). However, I concluded that Jack has very thick skin, he has absolutely NO REACTION when the vet drew blood from his neck!
And while waiting for the blood to be analysed, the vet did a physical check by pressing Jack all over. He also poked a thermometer into Jack's anus. Again that blardy dog has no reaction to all the poking! I wonder if he had actually fainted from fear. After that, the vet said Jack is actually a very good boy to endure all these and was surprised when HC told him that he bit a vet during his first visit to the clinic 7 yrs ago.

Within 15 mins, the blood result was out. Jack's kidney, pancreas, liver, white blood cells, red blood cells and palettes are all within normal range. However, the vet said that Jack has a slight heart murmur (I think the vet use some kind of 'telephone' to hear Jack's heartbeat). He told HC not to worry too much, as it is not unusual for a old dog to have that, and there is no need to do a chest x-ray until later. Also, Jack has shown no sign of excessive lethargic and coughing.

All in all, HC is very happy that Jack seems to be in the pink of health!

Search & Rescue and A New Year Card

This is a belated post...

I had another search and rescue training last Saturday.

Here's me waiting patiently for the 'victims' to find good hiding places















Sigh... when can we start?
















Finally, me in action.

















Within a few seconds, I caught the familiar scent of a human and started barking to indicate to HC that I've found "it"!

















Once HC confirmed that there was indeed a human inside the locked door, she directed me to search for more victims (As we became more advanced, we have to search for 2-3 more victims before we get rewarded.)


OOOOO.. I think I caught another victim's scent!
















Hehehe... me grinning from ear to ear for doing another successful find!
















As if searching for 2 victims in a row was not enough, HC took me to the rumble area for more search. That day was scorching hot! Most times, HC was standing on the lower ground under the shade, and she was complaining how hot she was. Can you imagine me on top of the rumble in the scorching sun??? Also, it was fortunate that I had applied paw protector cream, otherwise, I would have developed blisters.


Can you see mini-me among the rumbles?
















Climbing up, climbing down, yhew.. I'm dying here!!!
















Found it!















Finally I was given my reward! I loved this reward to bits, I was only given this ball whenever I completed my search & rescue exercise. And each time, I only get to play with this ball for less than 10mins!
















oh.. for those dog who play/walk on rough surfaces, I highly recommend this paw protector.

















Just today, Jack and I received a Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day card from our favourite hams-terrier - Fu Fu! Thank you, that was so sweet of you!

Wonda Ball

Let me introduce you a new toy that HC bought (yes, for me.. her favorite dog. Never for Jack... hehehe).

It is called the WONDA-BALL
















HC ordered it from Australia and the price of this ball equals to NINE spiky balls that I usually play with.


She thought it was a great investment because of these said features:

- Once the button is pressed, WONda BALL will move in an unpredicted direction automatically. (HC : good to keep Joey busy!)

- Even it rolls under the sofa or encounters any obstructions, the WONda BALL can roll out most of the time. Pet owners will no longer need to get on all fours to pick up their toys!! (HC : great! now I can sit back and relax while Joey play on his own. I hate it cos Joey loves to roll his ball underneath cupboards or bed intentionally!)

However, HC was concerned about this small print : "Not suitable for dogs that like to destroy toys" .

But she decided to take a chance and bought it.

And guess what happened!!!!


She switched the 'on' button and watched my reaction (HC: usually Joey will be all excited over new toys and start whining before I allow him to have a go at it).....

I looked at the ball - rolling with a life of its own, turned my head away and played with my other toys!!!! HC was so shocked that she took a moment to recover! Then, she decided to act excitedly, and poked the ball towards me. To humor HC, I pushed the ball with my nose once or twice, and that's it! I don't want to have anything to do with a crazy ball!!!

(HC : Joey is totally not interested in the ball, he is not even scared of the ball moving on its own, he just ignores it! I am so surprised as he is a ball freak!)


Truth be told, I prefer to play interactive fetch games with humans. And I definitely do not want HC to sit and relax at home. No good for her, you know!

Eeeeekkk

Since Herbie's birthday last Wednesday, I heard a few 'eeeeeekkk, Joey.......' when the humans saw me. And, it's Herbie's M's fault... (I'll tell you why later)

Herbie gave us a bento set (chicken rice, shephard's pie, lamb patties, cucumber) on his birthday.

Jack enjoys his bento set so much that his ears was positioned like an antenna.

And that stupid, old man didn't want to eat the cucumber.


Me enjoying my food. I could hear the humans around me going, "look at the way he gobbles his food!!!'

And guess what, I loved the food so much that I had it all over again. Isn't it normal that when you loved something so much, you want to eat it again, again and again??

So... I really don't understand why the humans go, 'eeeeeeekkkk Joey.... ' when HC told them I had the bento set again the next day.


(HC : Joey ate his poo twice the next day! The cooked food was probably not digested properly as he gobbled his food. He gobbles up his normal diet of raw food too, but raw food digest much better than cooked food. Actually, when he was younger and on kibbles, he had the habit of eating his poo. Later, he stopped and I thought it was just a puppy thing. Now I realised it was because kibbles are not as easily digestible. This incident, although disgusting, reaffirms my belief that raw food agrees with my dogs)

Arrghhh

I hate the new blogger! The comment section doesn't work!
anyone knows why????



@#$@()*#)!#$$

Updates : After spending hourse trying to find a solution, I decided to update my blog template to the ones recommended by blogger. And it works! - Joey, 2/2/07