She loves me...... ALOT

oh ya.. I know for sure now that HC loves me ... ALOT.

She was given a FREE tub of chinese delicacy called Bird's Nest recently. I heard that it is quite expensive, and only rich humans (like superstars) can afford to eat it on a daily basis.

This is how cooked bird nest soup look like...



And you know what? HC said that she will share it with us so that we, too can have beautiful skin (bird nest is known to beautify one's complexion)

Jack licking his bowl clean...


Me, same same....

Any difference in my complexion??

After drinking the delicacy, HC brought us shopping and bought dried kangaroo treats. There is also a packet ofr dried bananas. I love bananas, but Jack hates it and he will spit it out. But funnily, he enjoys the bananas that HC dried using our food dryer. So HC decided to get this packet of dried bananas to see if Jack will eat it.
(yes yes, Scuba, Herbie and Helios - I know HC said the dried bananas are for all the dogs - well, she lied!! it's for Jack and I.. tee hee hee)

Anyway, after the shopping trip, we came back to join the Dogs with Blogs' Pawty. When I was happily chatting to the various dogs online, HC came to me and said she has a major problem! She ran out of toilet paper and had to get it, and would we be so kind as to accompany her to the store? She promised to make it real quick.
And guess what?
She was supposed to buy toilet paper, and she came back with these instead!



No wonder she took so long in the store. We were bored to tears waiting in the car! Grrrrrr.....woman!

A missing HC and a Bully

For the past month, we had our search and rescue training at a new facility - a deserted army camp located about 30mins drive from our place.

It is great that we have another new place to train, cos we dogs get so used to the old facility that it has became slightly boring for us. At first, the humans were worried that we couldn't perform at a new place, but they were pleasantly surprised.

Immediately when we saw the officers, we knew it was time for search and rescue work. And when HC brought out my SAR vest, I got all excited and started to quiver and bark! She had to hold me back initially by the collar as I was raring to go. (HC : the purpose of having a vest is so that we condition the dog that it is time to work. After wearing the vest, the dog is not allowed to do any territorial marking such as pee/poo, or go play with another dog. )

Last Saturday, only Scott and myself were there. As both of us are quite advanced in our SAR practice, we were given independent work - a huge area with lots of buildings to work on.

Immediately when HC gave me the command, I dashed out and started sniffing the air...


Can you spot me? Yes, HC was quite a distance from me.

She was lagging as she was fiddling with her camera and trying to find shady places to walk. (HC : I was giving you the opportunity to be more independent! not lagging!!)

This is the last place she saw me at...


After about 5-10 mins, she didn't see me or hear my barking (as indication that I found someone). Thus, she walked into the building and started calling out for me. After about a few calls, she started to panic a little as I didn't appeared. Trying to act cool, she called me repeatedly for about another 5-10 mins while staying at the same area so that I could search for her.

Finally to her relief, I came back panting....and gave her the look, "WHERE did you go??"

(HC : hehe.. actually Joey had went off to another direction when I wasn't looking. There was a cleaning contractor driving his lorry around the camp, and my guess is, the scent of this human causes Joey to sniff and ran in a haphazard way. Even though I panicked a little, I knew he would be able to find me if I just stood at a certain spot and kept calling as he is quite reliable in his recall. Later on, one of the officers said that Joey spotted him and was running towards him, but ran off to my direction when he heard me calling.)

Of course, after finding HC, I had to continue to find my real victim :)

As a reward for my hard work, I get to play my special rugby ball.







Now, why did I included the word "Bully" in this post title?

That's because HC said I have been behaving like a bully towards Jack recently.

Sometimes, both of us will follow HC around when we want something - time for dinner, treats or just attention. But recently, I have been acting like a jealous dog and started to nip Jack's face to stop him from following HC too closely. I am sure nipping the face wasn't painful at all, but Jack screamed as if I was disfiguring him. He will go, "Ahhhh aaaahhhh ahhhh" until HC slapped my muzzle away from Jack.

After that, he will framed me further by hiding underneath the chair and looking pitifully.



7th Anniversary cum Birthday - 16/04/07

On 16th April 2000, Jack was brought home by HC. Thus, last Monday, we celebrated Jack's 7th "Stray-Free" Anniversary cum birthday at our usual park. Due to the rainy season, some of our friends like Sugar and Chili weren't around, but we had a rare guest - Ice.

While waiting for the rest of our friends, Jack decided to guard his food.















Finally after much waiting, the birthday boy was given the honour of biting into the cake first. (Cake complimentary from Auntie V. Auntie S also made a delicious chicken pie, but in our hurry to eat, we forgot to take pic.)

Demonic Jack and his cake.














More demonic pictures..















After having the food, it is time for "the birds and the bees" lesson.

Actually, Ice spotted it first. Once he saw it, he maintained the same pointing posture throughout the event.

For those who are unaware, Ice is a Britanny, and they are known for their excellent pointing skills.














Close up on what the frogs were doing.. naughty naughty!

















Jack received a few presents and a card from our favorite hamsterrier - Fu Fu.














See, he even know how to draw a portrait of Jack














We forgot to take a picture of the rest of the presents, except for these as they are given by a special someone - Huskee! (Jack has a crush on Huskee!)

See how he enjoys chewing Huskee's presents?














I reckoned that since he received 2 bones, Huskee must have wanted me to have 1.
So I stole the green one.

After awhile, I decided that the blue one looks interesting as well.


Me eyeing at Jack with his blue chew, the green one forgotten.















Waiting for a chance to take the blue chew.
















Hiak Hiak Hiak.. the bone is now MINE!
















HC tried to take away the blue chew as she said I cannot be so greedy.















Since I refused to give up my blue chew, HC took out another present to reward Jack - Dingo Bone! And of course I HAD to take it away from Jack as rawhide is no good for him :)















Hc gave up and decided to keep all the bones away from us.

Me venting my frustration at the wrapping instead!

















Pierce Reservior - 15 April

The raining season is here again, and for some stupid reasons, the rain starts from mid afternoon, thereby spoiling our plans to play in the park. HC had no choice but walk us for an hour instead at night, but that didn't tired me at all. In fact, for the last few nights, I couldn't sleep well and will wake up every 2-3 hours! (HC : guess who suffers? )

Well, luckily the sun came out this morning, and the humans decided to bring us to Pierce Reservior despite the muddy ground. All in all, there were 10 dogs and 13 humans!

I couldn't contain my excitement!



Even Jack, the grumpy one was happy to be out!




Suddenly, Jack spied a very attractive bum...




Then he realised the bum belongs to Huskee, a dog that he has 'cyberly' fancied for a long while. He is so happy to finally meet the attractive dog, and forgot his manners!



Huskee running away at the sight of old man Jack.

Since Huskee refused Jack's advancement, Jack thought he should try another tactic to win huskee's heart.... through huskee's maid!
Huskee maid : Hello old man, how are you?



Jack : can I sit close to you? (nudged his bum besides Huskee's maid)




Still, he wasn't success in winning Huskee's heart, and decided to rest abit. Scuba as usual, was already resting in the comfortable spot.










Very soon.. both fell asleep like dead logs.
Me? I was busying fetching ball during that 1.5 hours!















And while all of us had a job to do - playing ball, swimming, sleeping...
the guarding duties goes to Herbie!

Herbie : Guarding Food!












HC : because there were simply too many dogs, we didn't take notice of Herbie. (His M is busying taking photos, and his MM is.. well.. he is here.. but not really here.. u know what I mean?) Anyway, it was much later that we realised that Herbie has been in this position since we stepped in. He really takes his guarding job very seriously!
There will be more photos coming up, we just have to be patient and wait for Herbie's M to send us the better quality ones.

Herbs, anyone?

HC bought these recently:

















From left : Black Walnut Hull, Neem oil and Slippery Elm.


Besides feeding us a raw diet, HC has decided to introduce natural alternatives for us rather than rely on modern medicine.

She has been feeding us valueheart as a heartworm prevention, but she is now reading up on natural, holistics alternatives. She has trouble getting the various herbs here, and was very pleased to finally found a store that carries black walnut hull.

As for foul-smelling neem oil, she will add in our shampoo to prevent ticks and fleas from landing onto us.

Slippery elm has many many uses, and especiallygood when we have digestive disorders.

By the way, she is looking for wormwood and mugwort capsules. Anyone knows which health store has them?


Edited : in case some of you are interested, the neem oil that I bought did not indicate that it is cold-pressed, thus it is quite cheap. However, since I am simply adding to shampoo, I thought it should be alright. The ones selling at petshops are usually not cold-pressed as well, but the price are exorbitant! Email me if you wish to know where I got mine.

Balls, Balls, Balls

The other day, HC brought a plastic bag full of stuff out of her car. I smelled something really familiar and gets excited and followed her all the way home with my nose sniffing the bottom of the bag.

And when we reached home, she opened up the bag and showed me what I have suspected they were all along..

My favourite balls - all 15 of them!















(HC : I am surprised Joey can recognise the smell of this particular brand of ball.I have brought home stuff i.e. other toys and even food, and he has never followed that closely ... guess he really really love this particular brand.)

I realised that I am not the only dog who love this particular ball. A few dog owners have actually told HC that they introduced this ball to their dogs, and they went crazy over it.

However, sad to say, this ball had also triggered a few dog fights. I. myself had fought over this ball when another dog tried to take it away from me. (HC : that's why Joey only plays ball when the park is not crowded. And new balls are reserved only when he is alone cos he gets really uptight over it)

Recently, there was another dog fight at the park over this ball. Bear, a rottweiler wanted to take the ball that belongs to another GR, and growled. The GR doesn't want to give up what was his, and a fight erupted. Then a few other dogs decided to join in the fun too. It was quite a funny sight (oops) to see a group of dogs jumping and growling, and the owners were screaming and trying desperately to catch their respective dogs. It took quite a while before all the dogs were restrained. I think Bear is still sore over it, cos I heard from other dog owners that he continued to growl at the GR.

Long ago, HC had forseen that I, being a ball freak, may fight over balls. She doesn't mind if I had fought over MY ball, but felt that it will be rude of me to try to snatch balls that does not belongs to me. So, she has taught me to only play with my own ball and ignore other dog's ball. Once in a blue moon (maybe 0.01% chance), I may show some interest in other dog's ball, and HC just had to say, "No, leave it" and I will do accordingly. In that aspect, I am a good dog (grinning proudly).
(HC : it took me a while to teach him that as it is not easy to stop a ball crazy dog to leave a ball alone, and to also bear in mind that the punishment is not too hard and severe that he might decide that playing balls = punishment).

My dear young friend - Helios has also shown some interest in balls. So his M is trying to teach him to respect other dog's ball so that he won't be seen as rude. The good thing is, Helios has learnt how to bring back balls so it will be a easier task than to have to chase a dog around the park (I have seen some dogs doing this to their owners... a disgrace, I should say. A good dog never runs away from his/her owners).

Anyway.. me going off to play with my new balls!

The Demonic Jack

Jack is a demon!

I have photos to prove!!

The other day, he was sitting by the fence at the park, when he spotted a frog.































He turns into a demon when the predator in him kicks in!

















He went into a barking fenzy when he realised the frog is at the other side of the fence.















Much later, he spotted another frog, and this time, the frog is in HIS SIDE of the fence. HC saw Jack using his front paws to whack the poor frog. Luckily, HC stopped Jack in time, otherwise, he'll become minced frog meat for Jack's supper.


More proof that Jack is a demon...
















Close up.








Diet & Supplements

We have been on raw diet for about 4 years. Over the years, HC has changed some components of our diet and supplements based on our needs.(HC : aging needs)

For the past year, except for the bi-monthly huge mutton bones for cleaning our teeth, we have not been eating raw meaty bones due to our broken tooth. To supplement our calcium intake, HC fed us lots of chicken necks, yogurt and calcium supplement.

Recently, she decided to upgrade our calcium supplement and ordered this 100% plant-cell grown organic calcium complex with added minerals and vitamins, that exceeds the absorption, retention and utilization rate of any other form of calcium on the market.















On the right is the calcium complex. On the left is CoQ10 for Jack.

A couple of months ago, Jack is suspected to suffer from slight heart murmur. HC did some research and found out that CoQ10 is good for strengthening the heart. It also will be helpful for both of us because in a couple of months time, HC will switch our conventional heartworm preventives tablets to a natural, holistic alternative. And a heathier heart means less chances of getting heartworm disease.

HC has also decided to start blending vegetables for us again. (She hates doing this chore). Jack, who is not a vegetable fan is naturally upset about it.








What our normal diet would look like : Chicken Necks, Meat, Organs, Veg blend, Yogurt, Flaxseed oil/Multi oil capsule (2x a week), calcium supplement (not shown), CoQ10 (not shown).
































This is what Jack leave behind his dish on a fussy day



















Luckily, I am not a fussy dog and eats anything!