This is Toto
He is not fantastic looking and also as timid as a rat. He had his eye on the humans even when he is eating, and if they even make a movement such as taking out their camera, he immediately ran away. HC had to stand 3m away to take this lousy shot.
We met.. or rather smell him last Sunday. HC drove us to her workplace (damn far, I tell you) and fed him some food. She also brought us out to meet him. Unfortunately he went into hiding and refuse to meet us. Stupid dog!
This is a very serious post.
AMD stands for Advance Medical Directive (a.k.a. living will). In summary, it is a legal document that you sign in advance to inform the doctor treating you (in the event you become terminally ill and unconscious) that you do not want any extraordinary life-sustaining treatment to be used to prolong your life. If you wanna know more in details - look here.
Why did I blog about something so serious? Well, HC is in discussion with some people over this. After much thoughts, she decided that AMD is the way to go. This is because without a living will, how a person in coma should be treated has led to bitter family squabbles and splits as everyone's view are so different. The most famous case is that of Terri Schiavo. I think if Terri knew the heartbreak experienced by her family and friends, she would have set a living will in advance. Sometimes, when one is healthy you don't think about death. But shit does happen...
So HC decided that she will sign AMD on her next trip to the doctor. Her opinion is that she wants to have the final say (and not leave the awful and heartbreaking decision to others) and to die with dignity.
Actually, to be honest she will rather be euthanized if the quality of life is compromised. But then euthanasia is illegal here and in many other countries.
But lucky for us dogs, euthanasia is not illegal. However, that said, I do not agree with how some people/authorities use that as a way to kill dogs who still deserved a second chance in life.
HC had serious thoughts about euthanization when Jack was first diagnosed with some health problems. She promised Jack that she will euthanized him if no treatments were available and he suffers from prolong pain unnecessarily. But of course luckily, Jack is doing well now as his condition is manageable.
So, touch wood, if any one of us is suffering and no longer has the drive to live, HC will say her good-bye to us and let us go with dignity. She promised that the going will be painless and we will be in her arms when that happens. And most importantly, she told us to wait for her in doggy heaven - 'till we meet again.
A final say, should anyone of you human had to make a decision to euthanized your dog.. dun be guilty. Your dog is probably waiting for you over the rainbow.
Finally... the stray dog has a name.
Not Hercules, not tyson, not hero as suggested in the earlier post.
Since he is a true blue Singaporean, HC decided his name should be ---------
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TOTO!!!!!!
(arrghhh.. what a obiang name!)
HC said that with this new name, she hopes TOTO will bless her to win the $1 million toto draw. If she wins that money, she promised to take care of him for life. Yes... for his entire lifetime.
So.... Toto, if you want to have someone to love you and take care of you for life, start praying, okay??
Some readers commented that HC is lucky to have dogs in her workplace, but she said it is more sad then lucky. Because there were so many skinny looking strays around, and it is not possible to save them all. She has seen/heard of strays esp puppies being run over by trains (yes.. trains), trucks, cars, and also being picked up by AVA officers. And sometimes, only the fittest strays survived.
Back in her previous working location in the east, there were a litter of puppies born in the workshop. HC sorta adopted 1 of them. He is black all over, with a tiny clump of white fur in the chest. HC used to share her lunch with him daily. When HC decided to quit the job, she was worried about the dog as it is not possible for her to adopt him. Just a week before she left the office, he had an accident and was knocked down by a forklift in the early morning. A worker just put him inside a gunny sack and left him in a deserted area. HC forced the worker to bring her to the site just to make sure he is truly dead and not struggling. I don't know if it is fate that he passes on when she is leaving.
As HC is feeding this current stray with dog food, she heard her colleagues commenting that the dog is lucky. Lucky to be a stray???? I seriously don't think so. I think my friends and I are the truly lucky ones - we get a roof over our head, eat the best food, clothed in disney themed costumes (well, some of us), and has endless amount of toys to play with.
Darn, I am feeling really teary now...
Can someone pass me the tissue? sniff sniff...
HC is thinking of a name for the stray dog.
She heard that a dog usually lives up to his name, and wants to find a name to let the timid dog grow up to be brave, loyal, smart and strong! Preferably Strong cos her next door office neighbour has 2 rottweilers.
Any suggestions?
Hercules?
Strong?
Hero?
Tyson?
people..... please suggest!!
p.s. luckily she didn't name me Rascal. (*jack 'rascal'*)
HC has a new dog... well, sorta... this puppy stray came over to where HC works and decided to make himself at home. According to HC, he looks to be about 7-8 months and will probably grow bigger cos his paws and head is big and not in proportion to his small body. The staff in the office took pity on him cos he is really skinny with ribs showing.
And guess what? A few of the office ladies have started to feed him, so much so that he has leftover rice on his plate every day. And just the other day, HC gave him OUR portion of fresh chicken breast and tulang. What a lucky dog!
He is still quite nervous being with humans and will hide whenever they came over to feed him. Which is actually a good thing, because we wouldn't want him to wag his tail at the AVA officers. The men in uniform are bad news...
And this dog is actually quite timid. While he was having his meals, HC will stand further away to look else he will not come out to eat. Some strangers walk past, and he started barking very ferociously. But guess what, he actually went into hiding while barking!! What a timid dog. I probably will have to send my 'bark master' - Mr. Jack to teach him how to look and sound fierce.
Just yesterday, HC drove us to a petshop, and we were ecstatic at the prospect of treats and toys. Alas, HC walked out with a packet of dog food and two cans of wet food. And I am sure it they were not meant for us as HC don't feed us with commercial pet food.
Maybe I will go visit him one of these days. In the meantime, HC will try to snap a picture of him when he is not hiding.
We were watching this show on television, about animals attacking humans.
The show talks about how wild animals - lions, deers etc who have been domesticated revert to their wild side and attacked humans. One particular scene was about a lion trainer who brought his lion for some publicity show. The lion freaked out at the strange and new environment and turned against his trainer and bit his legs refusing to let go. After the attack, the lion was shown dragging his trainer back to his 'den' - a place behind the backstage, away from the crowd. Frankly speaking, I don't blame the lion at all.
There were also scenes on dogs - rottweilers who were allowed loose in the neighbourhood and attacked a jogger. Again, I think it is the owner's fault. Rotties are breed to protect, and their prey drive is very strong. So, I think any owners who want to keep such breed have the responsibility to train them, and make sure the dog is under control at all times.
While watching the show, it reminded me of something that happened last night.
HC brought us along to her dinner appointment, and leashed us to her chair. There were a group of noisy and excitable caucasian kids around and they gathered near to pet us. HC and her friends warned the kids several times to stay away from Jack as he will bite. The kids said 'ok' but still continue to hang around Jack.
As you know, Jack has been 'domesticated' by HC long ago, and he has mellowed tremendously in the last few years. In fact, nowadays, he will allow strangers to pet him gently and likes to sit near humans. Also, HC is always on the alert and warned strangers not to pet Jack unneccessarily and be gentle when approaching him.
During the dinner last night, the kids continue to make a lot of noise, and I felt many many hands patting my head and touching my body. I am ok with it, but I wished I had the chance to run away. However, I can sense Jack feeling a bit cornered. Suddenly, one of the kids make a sudden movement towards Jack. Jack got angry, make a growling noise and tried to lunge at the kid. Luckily, the kid moved quickly away and Jack's leash was too short to reach her.
And HC's response? She merely said, "I told you so". And she didn't even reprimand Jack.
HC said she was getting pissed at the kids hovering around at our tables yelling non-stop, and that they didn't heed her advice about leaving us alone. Anyway, she said Jack has developed a bite inhibition nowadays and won't bite hard : he will only nip lightly and growl as a warning.
I wished humans should just let animals be. Do not disturb them unnecessarily and allow the animals their own space.
For a good read, I would like to recommend this article.
For the past few nights, I have been waking up at about 3-4a.m. to poo and pee. HC is puzzled as she had already converted our meals to once a day in the morning, and is surprised that I still got poo almost 20 hours after my meals. And the most amazing thing is that I had already poo like 3-4 times in the day, with the latest at 10p.m. before bed. Auntie S said that there is a chinese saying, "lazy people have more shit" and it applies to me *roll eyes*...
Last night, again I woke up wanting to poo. As usual, I stood near to the closed bedroom door, as I am very sure HC will automatically wake up to bring me to the papers(she is a very light sleeper, and can sense when I leave my bed). I heard her tossing and turning, and was thinking, "oh goody.. she is waking up now...". I waited, and waited, and waited.. but she refused to get up the bed. In fact, I saw her hiding under the bed covers. Finally, I gave up and told my poo to wait till morning to be discharged.
The next morning, she explained that she was having a nightmare that she was able to 'summon' ghosts and they were all surrounding her. I think she watched too many episodes of Ghost Whisperer *roll eyes*. HC even said she was prepared to let me soil the bedroom floor than to wake up, in case the ghosts are still lurking around!
Damn stupid nightmare!
And Ghost Whisperer is on tonight. I better find a way to switch the t.v. off, otherwise she will have more silly nightmares.
We are back from our vacation!
We had a fun time over at Scuba's place - begging, begging and more begging... hehehe
There was a minor problem though. Usually, I like to poo at home Or, if it is outside, I like to be offleash as I don't like Jack pulling on my leash (we used twin leash) when I am doing my 'business'. HC is aware of this, and usually, she will offleash me.
While I was at Scuba's house, Auntie Sam wasn't aware of my weird habit and was worried when I didn't poo for two days. Luckily, on the third day, Auntie V suggested that I should be offleash. True enough, I poo within a few minutes of being away from Jack. After that, I gave Auntie Sam a 'souvenir'. I don't remember exactly what happened, but when Auntie Sam was holding my collar and trying to leash me, I panicked and scratched her arm.
All in all, it was a fun holiday. Auntie Sam and Auntie V took some pictures of us. Maybe Scuba will blog it later as I don't have the pictures with me.
We are sad to leave Scuba's place, but happy to see HC at the same time. Even happier, when we saw our presents.
What we received :
- A bed (we already got a fantastic bed currently, but she said she bought another one in case I had an 'accident'.... please.. I am grown up, why would I leak urine???)
- a tee shirt (not in pic)
- a bowl in the shape of a cat/dog
AND..........
TEN of my favorite balls! YIPPEEEEEE!!!
We are packed and ready to go to Scuba's house in 2 days' time!
This time round, HC managed to persuade us not to bring along our beds cos its too huge and may mess up Scuba's place. Reluctantly we agreed, and instead, we packed a huge comforter to sleep on instead.
I also wanted to bring along all my toys in case Scuba or other regular visitors like Tommy wants to play. Again, HC said NO.
So in our TINY luggage, we had packed a comforter, a bone (for Jack), a ball (for me), two blankets with a teddy attached and a bowl. Perhaps I will sneak in some other toys later when HC is not looking.
Here's a picture of our stuff & luggage.
Look how happy I am.
And look how grumpy Jack is. He must be missing his bed already... hiak hiak hiak
My ball has a life of its own. He likes to play hide and seek with me. One minute he is in my mouth, and the next, it 'suddenly' rolls away and hide underneath cupboards or bed - places where I can't reach.
Come on out.... stop hiding
I'm gonna get you!
please? .......
HC is going for a short vacation next weekend. Of course, we will be sent to everyone's favorite residence - Scuba's. Under the loving care of Auntie V and Auntie Sam, we are sure we will have a blast.
However, I am dismayed (and embarrassed) when HC showed me the list she had prepared to be given to Auntie Sam.
OMG... what a long list.
It basically list my pee and poo schedule (which is embarrassing cos it shows the limited bladder capacity I have), how to make sure I don't bully Jack and Scuba over their treats.
Some excerpts:
1. ... Joey can pee again half an hour if you ..be firm.. and said 'pee pee' here... he understand... don't believe him if he tried to look innocent. He is bluffing!'
2. Average 3 to 4 hours - Remind Joey to pee and poo.
3. Do not give in to their beggin looks for treats. Be hard hearted! (darn....)
4. Leave ball/toy for Joey to PLAY ON HIS OWN. Scold him if he disturbs anyone. (darn...)
5. Remind Joey to pee again...
6. Joey is ok with ears cleaning. Do NOT attempt to clean Jack's ears if you want your fingers intact .. (hiak hiak hiak)
7. Joey will pee just before bedtime. He will take advantage of you and pretend he doesn't have pee. Do not trust him. (oopsssss....)
God... this is soooo embarrassing.
Jack : Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...
Hiak hiak hiak, Jack has been tagged by Billiejean!!!!!
He cannot stop growling because now everyone will get to know his uncool self.
As his favorite brother (ermmm.. he only has one - ME), I will do the honour of telling the world his 5 weird things/habits.
However, Jack, being the 'big boss' said he will bend the rules and will not tag anyone. Guess I'll better not argue with him else my head will roll.
Here goes:
1. Jack can sit still like a statue in the park for 1-2 hours. The only time he moves is when he wants to go poo poo.
2. He takes at least a full five minutes of 'mediation' (going round and round and squeezing his anus) before he expel out a tiny weeny bit of poo. Probably the size of 1 inch x 0.5 inch.
3. He gets into a frenzy when he reach home (after cleaning body and paws), he will rush to the toy box and search for his chew toy. He will then bring the toy to his bed, throw the toy up on the bed, then throw his own body onto the bed and grabbed the toy and chewed it for 2 mins. After that he went to sleep like a log.
4. He likes furry, small, pretty dogs. Even better if they had little cute hair clips on their head.
5. He is able to display a GRUMPY, SOUR face at ALL times .
At home
Patrolling the Beach
By Herbie .....
Rules of the game :
1. The player of this game starts with "5 weird things/habits about yourself."
2. Then player tag 5 friends and list their names.
3. The furries who get tagged need to write on their blogs about their 5 weird things/habits, as well as state this rule clearly, then tag 5 more victims.
4. Don't forget to leave your victim a comment that says "you're tagged!" in their comments and tell them to read your blog.
My weird things/habits about myself:
1. I am overly obssess with balls. I especially like to be a goal keeper.
2. I only play with the same red spikey ball at dog run. For other type of balls, I will only play in other places such as Sentosa and other parks.
3. I can communicate with HC's dead ancestors. They liked me alot and always invited me to eat their 'fa-ko' (brown sponge cake used for prayers) . Using their magical powers, I can somehow moved the 'fa-ko' with the plate still intact without disturbing the rest of the wine prayer cups. Usually, I can succeed in eating half of it before HC found out.
4. I like to put my ball on my bed, and violently shake my bed using my mouth so that the ball will fall off the bed. At the same time, I will make growling sounds.
5. I poo 4-5 times a day, each time a tiny bit. I like to see my caring HC get up from whatever she is doing, make sighing sounds as she is clearing the papers. I especially love torturing her when she is having her meals or when she is sleeping.
I tag Tinkerbelle, Billejean, Rafv, Tommy, Mocha.
The other day, I overheard the humans talking about the anteater featured on animal planet. HC was commenting that she needs one as her estate has a huge colony of ants. Sometimes, we have tiny bits of dog treats left on the floor, and within minutes, the ants will try to carry it away.
This morning, I decided to be a anteater, and picked up this black ant on the floor. HC saw me trying very hard to swallow the blardy thing as it was sticking to my tongue. In the end, she opened my mouth and took out the dead ant. Instead of being grateful, she chided me for being a ‘silly boy’.
(HC : When I took out the ant, it was dead. I am not sure if Joey was attempting to eat a dead ant or he killed it with his smelly saliva.)
Why am I a ‘silly boy’?? I thought ants are full of protein??
I went to surf the net and found out how an anteater look like…
Ermmm.. I am not sure if I want to be an anteater anymore. What if I end up with a long nose?
.
.
.
.....
Or worse a long tongue that is about 24 inches long??
Oh my…. I'll better stick to being a dog.
Better-looking me
Just last night, I had a dream again. This dream was alot more violent. HC heard me growling, paws and body moving as if I am running, followed by soft whines. I vaguely remembered that in my dream, I was chasing after my ball and growl because some dogs wanna take my ball away.
HC realised that active dogs dream alot more. For example, Jack, the "statue" only dreams once in a while. Whereas I dreamt alot more often. Even Tommy's Dad agreed as Tommy dreams very often and he is as active as I.
And I thought Herbie, who is not so active, hardly dreams. But I was wrong!!! I overheard Herbie's M saying that when Herbie dreams, instead of paws moving, his lips will be moving as if snacking. Hiak hiak hiak.. no prize for guessing what his dreams is all about - the greedy dog!
Let me go to sleep and dream about playing balls. I hope no dogs would invade my dreams tonight.
For some reasons, HC woke up later than usual today, despite our not-so-subtle hints that our breakfast is way over due.
Since she is not working, I thought we will get to go out, but alas, she instructed us to go to bed and not to bother her.
Things got better much later in the afternoon, when she drove us to this faraway place and collected a thick stack of cards from this guy. I took a peep and saw this.....
The dogs look so much like Jack and I (of course the one with grouchy face looks like Jack, not me, cos I am never grouchy), except that they have a big head and small body. They looked so comical.. hehehehe...
We had a wonderful time at Sentosa on Saturday. The sun was shinning brightly and the water's clear. And no debris and oil spill on the beach this time. The last time I was in Sentosa, there were some oil spill and my body was black and oily. HC had to use her expensive cleansing oil to clean my body.
I had a good swim for about 45 minutes before the humans decided to have their meals. After that, more ball games for me till about 8p.m. when HC decided to cut our cakes.
I heard Auntie V and Auntie Sam were busy the entire day baking the cakes for Tommy and I. Thanks *kiss kiss*
My cake, the 'dot' signify a ball, and '5' is my age
Tommy's cake. Like me, he is crazy over balls, so Auntie V put a round ball on top of his name. '4' is his age. I cannot believe he is younger than me yet so much bigger!
How long do I have to pose?
Birthday boy gets to have the first bite
By the time we get home, it is almost 10p.m., HC bathes us and immediately we went to sleep... until we heard her opening my presents.
See, what I got for my birthday! I love them all, thanks to all the aunties and uncles.
I got another unexpected 'present' - blisters on my hind paws. Urghhhh... it is damn painful and HC decided we should rest at home on Sunday. Not that I minded as she gave us plenty of deer tendon to chew away our boredom.
I know the humans are planning a birthday beach party for Tommy and I on Saturday (which is tomorrow). But I overheard HC saying that since Friday (which is today) is my actual birthday, she will get me a nice cake to share with my friends. She sounded so happy that I decided not to spoil the fun. Actually, the truth is, my birthday is on 5th August (Saturday), but HC keep thinking that 5th August is Friday.
I was secretly grinning to myself the whole time when I realised HC ordered a fantastic cake for me...... and she didn't realised today's not my birthday until she collected the cake... muahahahaha...
Beautiful cake, isn't it?
OI, don't move the cake away!
What are we waiting for???
Yummy.. cake taste even better than it looks
Jack has been mis-behaving!
HC noticed him chewing his paws and upon closer look, was shocked to see him slowly chewing off the skin on all FOUR paws!
In order to stop him from chewing, HC put on a e-collar on him after applying aloe vera gel.
Grouchy Jack with his e-collar.
More about Jack...
The other day, there was this old man watching us from outside the dog run. He wanted to play with me and told HC to throw my ball out. Thank god HC did not entertain him or else I will have no ball to play. Anyway, the old man looked at Jack and commented to HC, "How come this dog (Jack) doesn't play ball.....dogs are like human, there are stupid ones and intelligent ones". In short, he is implying that Jack, because he does not play ball is STUPID... muahahahahaha
Jack : grrrrrr.. who said I am stupid?
