I need protection!

Remember my post about me giving lottery numbers to HC and friends? Well, HC has been buying the number (9569) since then. And guess what, yesterday (Sunday) the number 9659 came out instead! What is worse is that, she also accidentally bought 9659 on Saturday only!!!!

Oh dear... I am so sure HC will 'kok' my head when she comes home later tonight...
How? How?


Suddenly, I remembered seeing this poster recently













That gives me an idea! Maybe I can get a helmet to protect my head tonight!



Something like this will go nicely...















Anyone has one to lend me??

Tug of war

I love to play tug of war.

When Jack is in a good mood, he will play with me















Playing with Tommy















arrrghhh.... whose stronger?















Scuba joining in the fun

Hey.... not fair! Two against one!!!<

Maybe I can get a better grip here

I gave up. Can't fight with the two bigger dogs.

Scuba cheating... he is using his paws

The Aftermath

The poor tug toy was split into three sections.

The other culprit escaped sentence by pretending he need to pee urgently.

Begging

Herbie posted about his talent in begging. Unfortunately, I am unable to follow his recommended steps as I am way too short to put my head on humans' lap. But I do get my way by resting my two front paws on humans. It worked very well for weak willed humans like Auntie R. In fact, Auntie R is so kind that sometimes she will take a chicken wing on the pretext of eating, when she is actually plotting to feed the dogs secretly. I loved her especially when it comes to dinner time. Alas, no begging antics ever work for my HC. She scolds when she caught us begging. The rest of the humans don't really want to feed us cos my HC doesn't like it. She will use the excuse that Jack is allergic to some food. But I am NOT!!! Not fair right??

Besides putting our front paws on humans' lap during dinner time, Jack and I also tend to guard the kitchen at Auntie V's house. Whenever we see the kitchen door ajar, we will rush in, hoping to find some food, any food... we don't mind even if it belongs to the cats.

Jack guarding the kitchen door.














Here's a picture of me lying near to the kitchen door. Actually, my nose was touching the door, but RAFV came and disturbed me. Can you see his paws?















However, we only dare to beg at Auntie V's place. At home, we cannot even stare at HC if she is eating. So unfair, we cannot even stare!!

This is a pic of me, lying on my bed feeling dejected after I was scolded by HC for staring when she is eating.

Good news for Beer Drinkers!

Dogs living in US are really fortunate! Happy Tail Ale are beer brewed just for dogs. I am drooling as I read... hmmm... I wonder if I can persuade HC to get it shipped to Singapore?

Well, actually I have not really tasted 'human' beer. But, I have tried white wine before and I loved it. In fact, HC got to physically stopped me from drinking more. It was a human party, and as a joke, HC's friend poured some wine on our drinking bowl. Jack and a few of my canine friends turned their nose away from the wine, but not me. In fact, I am as much of a "garbage collector" as Herbie is.

Anyone going to US? Can help me to get two cartons back????? please........

Limping Duo

HC has been limping for a week now after her accident on her step machine. Our old man, Jack decided to follow suit yesterday evening. He started limping on the right front leg, which I highly suspect is a ploy to get HC to sayang him. But his ploy backfired this time...

A while back, HC had some vouchers which I won in a photo competition in Straits Times. There was absolutely nothing in the petshop worth buying and she had no choice but to get this Solid Gold's Aloe-Bi Liniment as a last resort. It contains Yucca, Aloe Vera, Biotin, Comfrey & Jojoba, and it said that it is good to soothe painful joints from arthritis, hip dysplasia and soft tissue swellings.

Anyways, HC applied the ointment on Jack, which he absolutely detests. In addition, he was made to swallow 1/2 tablet of painkillers. hehehehe....

By this morning, Jack is walking very well. Wonder if the ointment & painkillers really works or yesterday's limping was just a ploy for attention?

An (almost romantic) encounter

We dogs have quite a boring life. We don't get to go out as often as humans cos there are alot of places that don't allow dogs. But I am lucky cos HC will tell me stories of her encounters. Here's what happened to her today..

She was queueing to pay in a busy supermarket, when the person in front of her whispered to the cashier auntie. The auntie said quite loudly, "ha? don't want so many apples? You got not enough cash? No nets meh? So difficult for me to void transaction, you know? I got to explain to supervisor... " and off she goes grumbling away. The person in front of HC was really embarassed and kept apologising. HC felt bad, and offered to pay for the shortage.

Doesn't this sound like a scene from a romantic movie?

Well, I said it was ALMOST a romantic encounter because the person in front of HC is a girl! Not a handsome, tall, rich (but happened to have no cash on that day for some silly reason) man. And the place is a local supermarket in the heartland, not a upmarket one like Jason's.

Damn...... HC is really unlucky recently. First, she sprained her ankle, then her car got knocked for no reason, and now her supermarket encounter is not like those we saw on movies.

I wanted to tell HC that it is ok... and that I thought I saw a faint halo above her head today.... hehehehe...

What a Sunday!

What an eventful day ....
It started off on a good note, when all of us slept till 12 noon. Had a late breakfast, and more snoozing until in the afternoon when Auntie V askes us over to have dim sum. Yes, we dogs get to eat too.... char siew bao (just the bao, no char siew though).
After the sumptous dim sum, we went over to The Animal Resort. At first, I thought we had to go dog training again and was not too pleased. But I was pleasantly surprised to know that HC was only there to meet a friend cos she can get some dog treats at a good deal. She spent more than a hundred dollars on them.

We bought 6 packets of roo treats, one blinker and two small tennis treat ball. So happy...















But things started going downhill after that....

While we were on the way back to the car, HC suddenly saw 3 huge dogs in the property next to Animal Resort. They saw us and started barking. HC continued to walk us back to the car, while keeping her eyes on the dogs. Then she saw one of them running towards us. She quickened her pace, at the same time fumbling with the car keys. It was made more difficult cos she was holding our leash on one hand and the other hand holding the box of treats. Luckily, she managed to open the car door with the remote. She panicked when she heard the barking coming closer. In her hurry, she threw the box of treats to the ground, and with her free hands, grabbed us and throw us into the car seat. Yhew... that was a close call! Thank god the treats are still intact.

After that we went to the park for my usual ball playing. Met Tommy there and decided to have a quick dinner. On the way home, HC was driving on the right side of the road. All of a sudden, WHAM! Our car shook and HC screamed. She quickly pulled over and went to see the damage..















There were scratches on the left front side as well as the side mirror. HC was so angry that she started scolding. In the end, she realised that one stupid car driver (A) drove out of a bus stop into left lane without looking out for oncoming traffic. Another stupid car driver (B) in a panic to avoid collison swerved to our lane. Both of them are to blame! A for driving out without looking, and B for swerving to our lane. Damn ASSSSSSSSS..........

@#!$#!@!% stupid drivers!!!!!

Anyone won lottery yesterday?

If you had won lottery esp the number 2806 yesterday, I am gonna give you a flying kick! Because of your lucky numbers, HC and four other humans did not strike lottery! If their set of 4 numbers were picked, they would have been $45,000 richer! And because they did not win, I will not get the promised gucci collar and treats! Grrrrrrr.....

What happen is this - last Sat, the humans were having dinner at Scuba's house. I saw Scuba's treat ball lying around and started playing with it cos it still have 2-3 pieces of lamb trails inside.
The humans were all saying how good I am with the treat ball. After a while, one of the human had a bright idea! They decided to fold tiny pieces of paper written with numbers ranging from 0 to 9 on it. After which, they threw the 10 folded papers and more treats inside the treat ball. Than, I started rolling the ball aggressively. Each time something rolls out, I heard screaming, "Joey... wait... don't eat the paper!". They will then read the number out and threw it back inside the ball. This continues till 4 numbers were selected. I felt like a pet mice in a ball, the only difference is I am OUTSIDE the ball.

The funny thing is that at the end of the session, only 6 papers were found inside the treat ball. There were supposed to be 10! The humans started to look around the house but couldn't find any. HC said maybe I had eaten the balance four papers in my anxiety to eat whatever that drops out of the treat ball. Cos you see, Jack was trailing very close to me when I was rolling the ball and I was afraid he would eat the treats.

After a long while, HC suddenly said that they should also buy the numbers of the missing 4 papers. But alas, Auntie S had already threw the balance 6 papers away and they are unable to check the numbers. HC said she will monitor my poo the next few days to see if the papers (with writings intact) will show up. ... hehehe...

Anyway.. I am so sad the numbers I picked didn't showed up in the lottery. Darn........sorry guys....

Raw Food Diet

As some of you may know, we are on BARF diet for more than three years. Despite some disadvantages - such as chipped tooth, I still think it is a great diet. Why??
For one, Jack's skin condition has improved tremendously. When HC first adopted him, she had to bring him to the vet almost every month to have a steriod shot to stop him from scratching. Once, it got so bad, that he accidentally scratch his cornea, which requires an emergency surgery. His inner eyelid were in fact stitched together to allow cornea to heal (I think... can't remember the specifics cos it is so long ago). All I remember was that he was partially blind for almost two weeks. Anyways, now he no longer need steriods (steriod known to shorten life span of dogs). In fact, he hardly ever has allergic reactions. A lot of people who has known him in the past were surprised by his overall improved skin and muscle tone. His godma even said that Jack looks like a 'puppy' now.

As for me, I have no major health problems, has good skin (except for rashes which is due to the wet grass), good clean teeth (except for one tooth less.... hehe), and is still very active at almost 5 years of age. In fact, I have more energy than a lot of dogs younger than me.

Recently, HC happened to see some old friends. One of them commented that his dog - a beagle had a persistent ear infection. After BARF, the ear infection cleared up. Another one, a JRT reported better skin and more active. Except she has lost too much weight and owner is now increasing food intake to balance it.

So for those who are still on kibbles, please consider giving fresh food to your dog either raw or cooked. With kibbles, you never know what goes in the manufacturing process. And kibbles have a long shelf life.... so what do you think was added to preserve the so-called freshness?

Oops.. there goes my chance to endorse some pet food! Maybe I can endorse some toys instead? Anyone?????


I can swim faster than a HUSKY!!!! hehe




















Exercise cum good diet keeps me healthy

Post-Surgery Trauma

It had been three days since my surgery, and I am still in trauma over it! Just this morning, I thought I was feeling better, and went to find my chew toys in my toy box. When I found it, I immediately bite it hard.. and ahhhhhhh... I jumped backwards, shrieking in pain. I quickly ran back to HC and sat on her lap. She comforted me with kind words, but I can hear the almost silent sniggering from her!

HC called the clinic asking if she need to get my stitches removed cos she saw some black stuff where my wound is. The nurse was unsure if stitches was made as some of their vets preferred to leave the wound open (OPEN??? GAPING HOLE????) . But in any case, the nurse said the stitches can dissolved on its own. So no need to visit the clinic again. Yhew... thank god for THAT. I absolutely hate VETS.

Back to the pain topic, HC was laughing at 2a.m. the night before. Why? Because I woke her up with my scratching (yes, dogs love to do that in the middle of the night when we had enough sleep, and we love to make noises to keep everyone else awake) . Than all of a sudden, I yelped cos I accidently hit my right mouth with my paw. In my confusion, I associated the pain with the bed, and refused to sleep on it.

(HC : Joey is very stupid. He thinks it is the bed that causes the pain and refused to sleep on it. When I checked on him, he looks really scared with the tails tucked, and walked around my bed, waiting for an invitation to jump up.... rofl)

Surgery

I am ALIVE!

This morning I was given two doses of rescue remedy to soothe my nervousness before the trip to the vet. Along the way, I kept telling myself I had to be brave. But when the nurse led me to the treatment room by the leash, I started to panic. I held on to the ground with all my mighty strength (some humans have seen how strong I can be despite my small size when they played tug with me). I heard some humans sniggering in the reception area when I was practically dragged against my wishes. As I held on despite the embarrassment, I shaked my head so that the collar came loose. Immediately, I ran back to HC thinking that she might save me. Alas, instead of bringing me home, she told the nurse, "you better carry him. It will be easier on you."

(HC : When the nurse was carrying Joey to the room, I can see his pupils dilated, and looked panicky... hehe... I was trying hard not to say the words - "Bye, see you". I think he will freaked out if he hear these words)

After a long long wait (about 2-3 hours) the vet is finally able to do the operation on me. I was so nervous as the metal table was cold and hard. I think there were some humans holding me down when the vet injected me with something. Ouch... but after a while, my eyes felt heavy....

When I woke, there is a funny sensation in my mouth, and I felt really really groggy and drifted in and out of consciousness. I realised I was in a crate.. oh boy.. I haven't been in one after I reached about 7 months of age.

By mid afternoon, the nurse came over and carried me out. I was again panicky as I thought I was about to undergo another surgery. But when the door opens, I was so ecstatic to see HC. I licked her all the way, even on the drive home.

When I reached home, instead of being happy to see me, Jack growled at me and sniffed me from top to toe for a full minute. He only stopped when HC warned him to be nice to me... HUMPH....

I am still feeling a bit groggy, and hungry. HC made a very delicious porridge consisting of lamb, chicken, vegetables and egg. Yummy.... but she only fed me a little whereas Jack got a full bowl. Look, whose the one who had suffered earlier?? ME!!

After that, HC brought me to the park for a short while since I looked quite active. But I was so angry cos when the other aunties and uncles saw me.. they laughed and called me "bo-gay". Uncle M even said I barked differently cos there is 'wind' going through my teeth. @##$@$#!

I am groggy and hungry now.... sigh.... when will my next meal be?

Oh shit.. I just saw myself in the mirror! There is a huge gap that is swollen and bloodied in between my used-to-be perfect teeth.

Perfect teeth no more...

Pre-surgery Jitters

Ya.. I am feeling it now..

Last evening, HC was brushing and checking our teeth when she realised that my right largest pre-molar was split into two! She was so upset as she knew that surgical removal of the tooth is inevitable. She said that Jack had the same problem on the right largest pre-molar as well last year, but it was chipped 'nicely' and does not require surgery. But mine is different cos it is split!

Today, she brought us to the vet. True enough, the vet said I had to go through the surgery, otherwise, it may lead to infection... abscess... blah blah blah... I couldn't absorb all the technical terms as all I could think of was... SURGERY... GA... SURGERY....

Tomorrow will be a tough day for me. I had to go without food in the morning, and will be sent to the vet at 9a.m. And god knows what time will the surgery be.. I think I will shiver with fear the entire time alone at the vet...

Now, HC is having a tough time deciding how she should feed us in future. As you know, both of us are on raw food & bones, and she didn't want us to spoil our other good pre-molars... HOW???? NO BONES in future??? oh no.....

Can I bring Bunny along for the surgery??
















Oh.... evil Herbie's M actually called me 'bo-gay' (toothless) when she bade us good-bye just now. #$%^#@@@*&

MOM, is that YOU???

I was surfing the net, when I came across this picture...





















For a brief moment, I thought.."could that be MOM??"

As I read further, I realised that the dog in the picture was a Maltese and she is from US. hehe.. thank god. But I reminded myself that my parentage is unknown, and for all you know, my mom and dad could be in some awful commercial kennel made to breed over and over again!

You can read more about Hope's story here

HC have heard from some humans that it is okay to breed cos they love their dogs, they will take good care of the offsprings, and their dogs ASKED to mate! Yeah right.... guess what really happens when their dog give birth to a litter? The humans will probably keep none or one, citing reasons that their house too small, no money to feed so many dogs, and no time. In the end, the puppies were sold, and possibly ended up being neglected by some owners once they outgrew the puppyhood.

Beside dogs, other animals were bred for silly reasons. Remember Herbie's post about the four abandoned rabbits? In the end, one died, two rehomed, one other female gave birth to a litter of rabbits. Out of the litter of rabbits, only one survived. Not only that, mummy rabbit died too a couple of days later.

Enough said....

Life as a Dog

HC had just finished the highly acclaimed book - Marley & Me, with tears in her eyes. I guess all dog owners can identify with the author, the exasperation over our bad behaviors, laughter over our funny antics and as well as the sadness over our death (in future, I mean). Well, we dogs live a much shorter life than humans. But honestly, I wouldn't want to trade my life with that of a human. You see, humans work hard for a living at least half of their lives. We, dogs, with the exception of farm working dogs (never met one before in my entire life), live in bliss. We get treats before the humans leave for work. Sleeps 10-12 hours while no one's home. And, contrary to popular beliefs, not all dogs will watch over the house. Some feel that being a watch dog is way beneath them (ask Herbie and Scuba.. hehe). When the humans drag their tired body back home, we demand them to play with us (ask the long-suffering HC). In my opinion, the term, "work like a dog" should be changed to "work like a dog owner"!

Now, which human wanna trade to be a dog??

(HC : P.S. I would highly recommend another book - A dog called Perth. It is as good as Marley & Me, if not better. It is availabe at the National Libray... go borrow it!)

My paw hurts...

Herbie posted about our Sentosa trip yesterday. Oh yeah.. I had lots of fun... and PAIN!

Why pain? Well, as the waves became too strong for me to swim, HC decided to let me play ball on the pavement instead. There, HC and Uncle TCL started playing football with me. Uncle TCL even commented that the rough pavement should help to file my nails. On the way back, HC even reprimanded me for walking so slowly to the car.
She only realised it later in the evening when I yelped as she was cleaning my paws. After checking, she was horrified to see that the paw pad on my front left and back left paws were coming off, exposing the slightly raw skin beneath.

Poor me.....HC said no exercise for me the next few days until my paw heels. She is diligently applying aloe vera gel for me. I hope it works fast.

Branded Collars & Leashes

HC was packing her house recently and came across the collars & leashes she bought for us last year. These are no ordinary collars & leashes because she hardly allow us to wear it in case we get it dirtied!!! Weird, aren't the collars & leashes meant for us to wear?

The reason why we don't get to wear it is because HC said it is not available at COACH store in Singapore. Frankly speaking, we dogs don't care what brand our collars & leashes are. In fact, we much prefer without it so that we can run free.. hehehehe

Since it is so precious, we only get to look at the photos ....













Actually, our collars and leashes are not extravagant as compared to my friends. Herbie got his Louis Vuitton collar in Europe (wow!!!!)
Scuba got a gucci collar from his godpa. (I need a godpa too... anyone??)
Rafv, the rich one, got TWO sets of branded collars & leashes - Louis Vuitton & Gucci.
And guess what, their collars & leashes are more expensive than mine, yet I have seen them wearing it to PARK! Life is so unfair.....

Maybe I should secretly sell or trade it for more food or balls. At least I can get to use them. Anyone interested?

Dog's Best Friend

It is a well known fact that "Dogs are a man's best friend". In fact, Harry Truman said, "If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog." And it is no surprise that almost every US President in recent years has had dogs while in office.

However, my guess is that Presidential Dogs have no choice because they hardly get to socialise with other dogs.. what if they get kidnapped by terrorists!!!!

But for normal dogs like us, who are our best friend? Is it our human companion or other dogs?

I have seen so many dogs, when off-leash at the park, went crazy playing with other dogs, ignoring calls from their human companions. I have also seen countless humans chasing & shouting after their dogs and finally gave up as they can never outrun the dog. (it is really a funny sight.. many a times, I tried to control my giggling)

WHY?? The humans will start asking themselves or complained to their human friends that their dogs are usually very obedient at home, but once outside, they turned deaf and/or rebellious.

Let me give you our dogs' perspective. We ignored you because you are NO FUN as compared to the other dogs. And it is all your fault because you allowed us to play endlessly with other dogs, and just stand there and watched us play. And if you tried to recall us, we will pretend not to hear knowing that you will eventually give up trying to recall us.

When I was merely a puppy, I resented HC's strictness. She will allow me to play with other dogs only for a short while. And when she calls me back, I HAD to respond to her within the third call. If I rebel and let her chase me around the park, I will get a major punishment from her! But I have learnt to realise that if I respond to her, I will get rewarded either by a praise or a game of fetch.

What I am trying to say is, it is okay to allow your dogs to have fun with other dogs, but ultimately, they must still prefer to play with their human companion. And at any time, they should respond to their human companion. The human should be the dog's best friend just as dogs are man's best friend.

Long ago, HC had signed up for Mogens Eliasen's online newsletter - The Peeing Post and found this particular article extreme beneficial. It talks about how humans should strive to be the best fun provider in order to improve the bond between them. Note to humans - please sign up and you will get regular online newsletter for FREE!

Oh... the previous post - I talked about Rude Dogs. I was rude once cos I loved to snatch other dogs' new squeaky balls all the time. When that happens, HC will punished me by scolding me and/or making me sit/stay at a corner. But she will later show me my ball, and started playing happily with me. After a while, I started to realise that it is definitely more fun if I just play with my own ball with her. In fact, if I happened to take someone else's ball mistakenly (same type of ball), she only need to say 'leave it' and I will obey.

(HC : we had the experience of having this crazy dog who keeps snatching Joey's ball all the time. I have tried to bring a few balls with me as spare but all will be stolen by him. It is so frustrating, and more so, when the owners merely said, 'Sorry.... but I cannot control my dog too!'. So, I make sure that Joey does not learnt this bad behavior too by being firm with him initially.
This particulr dog is trained using 'Positive Reinforcement' by some self-proclaimed animal behaviorist who prefers to reward good behaviour and ignore the bad ones. Yeah.. she didn't realised that by ignoring the bad behavior, it will distress the other party.What is ironic is that when the owner show the treat (reward) to the dog, he ran away from her because the stolen balls are definitely more fun than some treats that he can easily have anytime of the day)

Jack's Birthday

Jack celebrated his birthday last Sunday. HC guess he is about 8-9 years old.

HC had been slogging in the kitchen since morning and she was grumbling that we dogs had it easy, cos we only need to sleep and eat. But that's not true! We (Jack, Tommy & I) were actually salivating the entire day.

We had set dinner - Meat patties, mashed potato and carrots. One more scheduled item - shepherd pie was missing cos HC decided she had slogged enough in the kitchen for the day.













As usual, we had to 'queue' up for dinner - Jack, me, followed by Tommy.
However, Tommy was not happy he was last in queue that he actually barked at Jack when Jack's eating! Poor Jack almost choked cos he heard Tommy barking and tried to gobble down the food as quickly as possible.


Picture of the cake...













Jack had the honour to bite into his cake first. All the while, I was busying barking below the table and at the same time trying to eat up those crumbs that fell onto the floor.













When it was time to distribute the cakes, it was chaos! No pictures cos the humans were busying feeding their own dog.

Jack was not happy that he had to pose with his presents.
He can't wait to open them up.














Jack opening up his first present - Salmon Sticks!















As Jack is quite stupid when it comes to opening presents, I decided to help him.

Jack looking worried that I will take away his presents.

A Different Tommy

A lot of us have seen the macho side of Tommy. The one who is active, likes to act tough and basically gets into trouble with other dogs...

He is now staying with us for a few days, and at home, however, he behaves differently.

Unlike the usual macho him, he likes to play with squeaky soft toys at home. Sometimes, he fell asleep with the toy still in his mouth. And the other unexpected behavior is that he is terrified of thunder and rain!

Tommy has a special gift. He can sense when the rain is gonna start without looking up the sky.

Here he is, getting worried and hid underneath the table among his favourite toys. (These toys are all MINE!)














Thunder roaring... now, where is Tommy?














oh.. there he is! Hiding behind HC's chair..














He tends to follow HC wherever she goes, even in the shower and toilet. HC decided to calm him and use Bach's Rescue Remedy by spraying the essence on his tongue. Within mins, he calmed down considerably, and laid down near to Jack. He still look a bit worried, but was no longer panting hard and hiding. Even when HC moved away, he was confident enough not to follow her everywhere.

The longest night of my life

I have not been sleeping well for the past few nights, and will usually wake up at 4a.m. HC will also be woken up by my tossing and turning, sneezing, or staring (sometimes, I just stare at her when I am bored). Since she is awake, I will asked her to open the bedroom door so that I could go to the toilet. And she complained of being so tired to clear the papers in the middle of the night. After my toilet break, I will jumped up on her bed and snuggled real close. (which she hates!)

So, just before bedtime last night, she insisted that I pee and poo hoping that I wouldn't wake her in the middle of the night. I pee but decided not to poo. She was very upset and keeps asking me to... but I could only sit on the papers looking at her nervously. She got so angry that she threw me, along with my bed out of her bedroom. She then proceeded to lock the bedroom door.

I waited and waited.. and eventually went to poo but she didn't even open the bedroom door! I was so scared and nervous as this is the first time ever that I am left alone to sleep in the living room.... waaaaaaaaaa.......

(HC : My intention is to keep him locked out of my bedroom for 10 mins but I was so tired that by the time I opened by eyes again... it was 4a.m.! Poor Joey was outside alone for almost 5 hours.. when I quickly opened the bedroom door, Joey was staring at me, ears folded and looking oh so sad)