It's a dog's life ... or is it?

Danny's Check Up

2011-08-11T10:49:00.004+08:00

Okay, okay, it's been uber long since I did my last post! Ever since I became a full-time copywriter, it's like my creative juices have been drained by the end of the day! It also doesn't help that I've spent the last couple of months ghostwriting.

But for everyone who has been so supportive over Danny's fit episode, I totally, totally owe you guys an update.

Danny is doing fantastic! Ever since we brought him back from the vet, it's been a steady climb back to his usual rambunctious self. I brought him back to the clinicfor his yearly check up in June and he was bouncing off the walls and pouncing on every doggie (and non-doggie) scent. When it was his turn, he dashed into the clinic and the moment he saw Dr Kenneth, he jumped on him and started licking him. I guess he's got a good memory.

He was so excited about seeing Dr Kenneth and his assistant that he didn't even seem to notice he was getting an injection. Normally he yelps when the needle goes in, but this time, he was wagging his tail-stump the whole time.

He was supposed to get a blood test to check on his damaged liver but Dr Kenneth decided that as he hadn't had another fit and he was so obviously healthy, we could skip the interrim test and just wait till September to do the final one - saving me about $150.

With that, I went back and did my sums:

Danny's hospital stay - $900
Danny's check up and distemper shots and deworming and heartworm pills... - $120
Having Danny's smackable Schanuzer butt destroying the living room again - Priceless

Stay Danny Stay

2011-04-11T11:40:00.008+08:00

A while back, one of Danny's trainers taught us this trick to calm him when he's scurrying around. It's supposed to work whether or not there's food involved, but Danny is a slave to his stomach so thus far it only works when he has some sort of incentive.

He's chained up in these pics cos the floor was getting cleaned and after his incident, the last thing we want is Danny lapping up soapy water. (Yes, Danny, it smells of roses but I don't think your liver can take another blow!) But the trick works when he's free too.

Seeing he was such a good boy with just one cracker, we decided to up the ante...

On a seperate occasion, I managed to surround him with crakers and make him stay for a good 3 minutes. Yay! Success!

The down side is you need to keep an eagle eye on him or the temptation is just too great. Ah well...it's still an improvement!

For better or for worse

2011-04-05T20:08:00.004+08:00

As each day goes by, Danny is getting visibly better.

On his first day back, walking a few steps would make him pant.

On the second day, he could prop himself up at the dining table to check out what we were having.

On the third day, he tried to bark with the neighbour's dog but could only emit a growl.

On the fourth day, he joined in the doggie chorus.

On the fifth day, he could scuttle around a bit without breaking a sweat.

On the sixth day, he was protesting being confined in the air-con study with me and scratched the door and yelped to be let out.

And, as his energy returns, so do the pitchfork and tail.

Yesterday, I scolded him for the first time since he came home when he barked at me to share my lunch. First time I scolded him all week. (Normally I'm yelling at him everyday.)

Today he tried to snatch dad's socks - got yelled at again.

Hubby is really happy though. He said that this meant that Danny was getting better. (I was surprised cos he's been trying to make Danny a lap dog ever since he arrived.)

It's true, and yes, we are glad. But I think I'm with dad when he said with an air of resignation, "When Danny gets better, he gets worse."

"I'm back!"

The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

2011-04-04T22:22:00.005+08:00

Danny's much better now!

"Thanks everyone for your prayers and concern!"

(He's a little scruffy in this pic cos he was scheduled for a grooming session when he got sick.)

It's been a week since his fit and so far no repeat. We've been watching him like a hawk. His blood test came back and showed he has some serious liver damage. The vet said that it was partly caused by the severe fit and partly by something he ingested that damaged his liver.

Danny had been running around the garden the whole morning so he could have nibbled on something toxic at some point though I really can't think what it could be!

As we all know by now, he has this tendency to nom on all objects regardless of material. Case in point, on his first day back, we turned our backs for a couple of minutes and found him with a piece of styrofoam in his mouth. Sigh.

Well, at least now we know what went wrong. The new revelation saw me hauling him back to the vet for a jab and to pick up more meds. (Add another $150 to the mounting bill. Expensive dog, no?)

Still despite the scary test results, the only sign of his sick liver is that Danny's energy level isn't at 100%. He sleeps a lot more and doesn't scurry around like the house is on fire. But he still has the old Danny spirit.

In the last week, he has:
1) Made off with used tissue with paint on it, which I had to pry from his jaws.
2) Tried to snatch mom's slippers twice. I say "tried" cos the extra weight made him tired and he dropped it after a few feet.
3) Hauled the floor cloth up from the basement (Dropped it midway past the stairs, like I said, not 100%.)
4) Poked his nose into the kitchen dustbin 4-5 times but got caught. (Not as fast as he used to be.)
5) Barked at me when I refused to share my lunch.
6) Tried to steal my lunch when I got up to get ketchup. (Couldn't reach. Too short. No energy to jump.)
7) Woke me up with his yelping this morning.

Think of what he could have accomplished if his liver was fine.

"I'm up on all fours and trying my best to be naughty again!"

Danny's Home!

2011-03-29T19:41:00.002+08:00

Danny's back home! His vet called the night before and told me to wait for his call before collecting him. He said he wanted to give him a thorough checkup before discharging him and asked me not to appear first thing in the morning. How did he know that was exactly what I was planning?

Anyway, he opens at 10 but by 10.30 I couldn't stand it and called the clinic. They said he was in the clear so I could come by around 11.30. I left the house immediately after putting down the phone and was there by 11. Heh!

Of course I had to wait. Anyway they handed Danny over together with his cocktail of meds which have super complicated feeding instructions - or maybe I'm just not very smart.

Total damage: $680
Having Danny back from the dead: Priceless.

He's still not 100% though. He is curious about all his usual stuff and poking his nose into garbage cans and trying to sneak upstairs where he's not allowed, just that he is doing everything at half speed. Walking from one end of the room to the other makes him pant and his back legs are quite weak so stairs are a bit more of a challenge than usual.

He seems to have more energy in air-conditioned rooms and pants a lot less, especially when it gets hot, so now from 11am onwards, our friend stays with me in the study. I keep the temp low and wear a jacket.

He drinks copious amounts of water though, which the vet said it's caused by the steriod jab, which means I'm changing his newspaper every hour on the hour.

Everyone at home has come to realise that he's not quite as indestructable as we thought. He now needs more looking after, but we're all glad he's home.

Will take new pics soon!

What a difference a day makes! - Danny update

2011-03-28T21:02:00.005+08:00

Thanks for all the prayers! They worked a miracle!

Got a call from the vet this morning. Danny's doing a lot better. He was up on all fours and polished off a whole can of dog food. He was still panting a little heavily although all the twitching and jerking is gone. The vet said he still wanted to keep him another day so as to monitor that his seizure doesn't reoccur, but we were more than welcome to visit him at the clinic.

So hubby, Rhoda and I all trooped down around lunchtime to see our friend. He was like a completely different dog! When I left him yesterday, he was lying down on his side with muscle spasms coming every 2 to 3 seconds. When I called his name or patted his head, all he could do was roll his eyeballs in my direction. As it was, the vet called it an improvement on the previous hour, which had him having no recognition in his eyes whatsoever and pee and poo streaming out of his other end. (The latter was when the vet thought we would lose him)

Today, however, when we appeared, he stood up, his tail (or stump) all twitching, and banged against the cage door. He's been on a drip since yesterday so that wasn't new, but we were a little puzzled to find an e-collar on him.

It was soon cleared up when the vet's assistant explained that Danny's unstoppable mouth (save for the fit) had been nomming on the tube for the drip and the collar was to prevent him from biting through. Also, he had somehow gotten his gangly legs tangled up in the tube during the night and they had come down to find him in an "oh help!" position.

Eating for two and getting himself into all manner of trouble? Mmm...yes, he IS feeling better. Still can't believe he actually managed to be up to mischief confined in a cage. It's some kind of talent.

We opened the cage door to pat him better but then had to physically hold him in cos he kept trying to jump out despite being a good metre from the ground and still being attached to the drip! And when we left, he started yelping as in "You guys forgot something - ME!!!"

Anyway, if this keeps up, Danny will be coming home tomorrow!

Danny Had Fits

2011-03-27T16:11:00.004+08:00

I haven't blogged in a while mainly because Danny's been improving and while he is still naughty, nothing he has done recently beats that last two years.

Doing a short blog today because Danny had a fit this morning and we had to rush him to the vet. At first they thought it was a heatstroke, but even after they brought his temp down, he went into another fit, which the vet thought was it. But they managed to bring him back on track. When I left the clinic, he was still twitching to a good extent. The vet said they would put him into an induced coma and see how he is in a few hours. If he is better, he can come home and we can monitor. If he isn't, they propose sending him to the hospital for them to run thorough tests on him. And of course, there is also a possibility of him not making it till morning.

At this point, I really don't know how I'm going to handle losing another dog so soon after Chassard. I really do hope for the best because, even though he is the naughtiest dog I ever had and the most disobedient, I do miss him. It's been a short 2 years, but already he's wormed his way into everyone's hearts in only a way a dog can. Please pray for him.

Danny and the Pull-Up Bar

2011-01-11T12:01:00.004+08:00

Chinese New Year is going to be here in three weeks and I am desperately trying to get my flabby arms in shape so I don't do a double wave at the relatives. I've been doing chair dips which takes care of the underarms but couldn't think of anything at home for my jelly-soft biceps.

So, for the first time ever (which shows my fitness priority), I headed down to the exercise station at the park. And for fun I brought Danny with me.

I chained him to the base of the pull-up bar. He peeked at me rather curiously but let me get on with life. The moment my feet left the ground, however, he started barking like there was no tomorrow. When I came back to earth, he stopped.

I thought maybe being tied 3 feet away was to freaky for him, so I re-tied him right next to me and reminded myself to be careful not to land on him.

It didn't work.

Danny kept barking his head off and even after I stopped, he continued barking right in my face. It was the first time he had ever seen me do pull-ups (as in pull up and hang there) and all the humans he has seen always had two feet firmly planted on the ground. I think he thought I was going to fly off without him or something.

Anyway, it turned out for the best. We were being observed by a team of construction workers, an elderly couple plus the neighbour's dog. And since two (half) sets was all I could manage, I used Danny as an excuse to...hem...cut my "routine" short and left.

I'm bringing him with me the next time.

Ooooh! That Ruffian!

2010-10-04T19:42:00.003+08:00

Quick Danny update.

He was a good dog for a bit and then he reverted back to his naughty ways. I've blogged about the usual stuff so much in the past, it's practically become "normal Danny".

Yesterday, however, he outdid himself. I came back home about 9pm to see Danny scurrying about in the garden. When he saw us, he shot up the stairs and whined like some great injustice had been done.

Me being the gullible owner, thought he had been mercilessly chucked outside sans his dinner. So I pick him up and brought him into the house.

It turned out that he did have his dinner (and more, seeing that parents sneak him tidbits when I'm out), had been brought down to sleep but had escaped into the garden.

Feeling a lot less sorry for him, I held on to him and propped my butt on the armrest of the sofa. Danny, in the mean time, was getting really frustrated at being so close to so many objects but not being able to get at them. He struggled like his life depended on it and I tightened my grip on him. Before I knew it, I fell backwards onto the sofa.

And because he was still wriggling madly, I was pulled off the sofa onto the floor. In my descent, I hit my leg on the coffee table.

I now have a two-inch-by-one-inch swollen black bruise on my thigh curtesy of the dog.

Danny isn't too bothered. I'm the biggest object he's damaged in his one and a half years of life. It's quite an achievement.

PS: Thought of taking a photo of the bruise but didn't want to spoil everyone's dinner.

PPS: Thought also of taking a photo of Danny but didn't want to spoil MY dinner. Maybe another day when I stop being mad at him.

Danny Upgrade - The Novita Experiment

2010-09-04T10:08:00.007+08:00

You know how everyone says that you need to keep upgrading yourself and expand your skill sets? Well, Danny seems to have taken it to heart - unfortunately.

He has been kicking things up a notch around the house. Previously, he used to limit his destruction to newspapers, pens and old slippers. Now he has decided to take it to the next level.

His latest list includes:

Mom's blood pressure machine
Mom's set of paint brushes
My handphone cover (thank God my handphone wasn't in it!)
And the switch of the mosquito zapper in the study room

Of all, the last one caused the biggest headache for me. The blood pressure machine, although it bears the scars of Danny's affections, still works. The zapper, on the other hand, doesn't work without its switch.

As it faces the garden, the study attracts a good share of mossies, and hubby bought the machine to enjoy an itch-free life. He religiously turns it on everyday and takes gleeful pleasure in hearing it spark.

Danny destroyed all that in a matter of minutes. Hubby was already upset with him for a previous rampage of the house, which involved the first three items on the list. If he found out about his precious machine, I'd be feeding Danny through a tube.

So, I dropped everything including my facial appointment which I badly needed, and rushed the machine down to Novita's HQ. The receptionist peered rather strangely at the problem and got a technicial to look into it.

After a 20-minute wait, it came out as good as new. The best thing was, it was free! I was really, really surprised. (And you know how nothing is free unless they have a bigger scam in mind.)

The recep replied that they don't charge for small repairs. And this is even though it was past warranty and they had to replace the entire switch with a brand new one! Talk about good customer service!

She had one question though, "How did the switch get like that?" I spent the next five minutes explaining about the extra large rodent we have at home and she laughed. "Ya, we were just wondering!"

The only problem now is I still have a big fat pimple on my chin and it's all his fault.

Breakfast with Danny

2010-08-14T19:09:00.000+08:00

For some time now, I've been wondering why despite all my scoldings, Danny still jumps and barks at me when I eat.

Meals and snack time with Danny loose in the house is quite an affair. Our friend already has an egg every morning, which is plenty for a little dog. But he still goes after scraps.

It turns out that I've been going about it wrong. It's the parents that need training.

Danny's breakfast routine:

Step 1: Go to mum. Beg and bark.

Step 2: Go to dad. Beg and bark, but don't bark so loud cos dad will kick ass.

Step 3: Eat reward for being a bad dog.

When I told mum she's too soft on him, she shot back, "But he will bark at me!"

To think she speant her life in teaching and retired a vice principal.

Danny's new groom

2010-08-12T13:45:00.000+08:00

I still can't get over how different Danny looks every time he comes back from the groomer. Recently we had to send him again as he was getting that scruffy alley dog look even though it's been less than 3 months since his last cut.

I asked Bryan to give him a schnauzer trim minus the beard and long leg fur - that basically meant everything was cut short. Such a difference! Honestly, I might have taken the wrong dog home and wonder why "Danny" was so well behaved.

But not to worry. My ears are still ringing from him shrieking in the morning and mom shrieking right back, so it's definately him.

He looks so stern and serious with this cut. So doesn't suit his personality.

Holiday without Danny - Flowers, Food and Other Observations

2010-08-10T17:15:00.017+08:00

Okay, final post on my trip and I'll go right back to Danny. I just need to get it out of my system.

One of the things I really like about Canada and the US is that people can do what they like and be respected for it. The following two shots are taken in Vancouver.

In this shot, the guy did these "paintings" on the sidewalk completely in chalk, as in blackboard chalk! (The white bucket is for "contributions". )

In this pic, the guy crouched down is a spray paint artist. He is a degree holder with a full-time job as an IT engineer. (SMRT is you're reading this, I think we should pay him to do up our trains.)

And it's not just Canada.

In Alaska, our bus driver was a Masters student who lectures part-time at the university. He likes being a bus driver as it lets him interact with people which is a nice balance to research and books. Can you imagine someone with a Masters degree doing that here?

Again, on the train, our waitress was a recent uni grad.

I can't imagine any family here allowing their children to taken on jobs for which they are way over qualified. Somehow, it's seen as "beneath" them to do "menial" jobs. Our service sector here doesn't get the respect it deserves and it shows in the attitude of the staff.

Sad.

* * *

Another thing to love - flowers and scenary! The weather allows a vast variety of flowers and plants.

These flowers were in the Butchart Gardens in Canada. Don't ask me what they're called. I just take photos.

The rest were taken in Alaska. I thought this photo was quite nice but hubby doesn't think so. I guess the flag pole could be a bit shorter. Anyway, this was in Denali National Park.

These were taken on a track through a part of the rainforest.

Alaska was just entering Autumn when we went. Obvious, yeah?

It rained a lot in Alaska
This is so Smurf!

* * *

The people we met in Vancouver and Alaska were wonderful! We could be at a street corner studying a map and people would come up and ask if we needed help. Drivers on quiet roads would happily let us cross even though they had right of way (and hubby and I were jaywalking).

And cashiers and waitresses would have a quick chat with you. At no point did we feel like outsiders. It all added to the great time we had there.

The one thing that wasn't so great was the food. It was mostly bland, bland, bland. The burgers and steaks had little or no seasoning, Japanese gyoza was made with chicken, and even this Chinese restaurant that our originally-from-Hong-Kong guide recommended needed more garlic and soy sauce at the very least.

And for the record, I prefer our MacDonald's apple pie to the US MacDonald's.

Oh heck. I even prefer Brewerk's mac & cheese to the one I tried in Alaska. I ended up dumping a fair amount of salt and pepper on it.

My only memorable dish was this lavendar-something-cotta. First time I ever had a dessert that tasted like flowers! So super yums I had it twice!

When we came back, we made a beeline for Crystal Jade and Penang Place. Next stop - Newton.

Holiday without Danny - Fur, Feathers and Fins

2010-08-06T14:53:00.001+08:00

You probably noticed in my previous post that the Alaskan huskies don't look like the Siberian Huskies with grey and white fur. That's because unlike other breeds, Alaskan Huskies are typified by their purpose rather than their looks. This defines them as being highly efficient sled dogs, regardless of ancestry. (Credit: Wikipedia) As a result, a lot of them look like the street dogs we have here.

One of the most famous sled dog races is the Iditarod, or as our guide called it, the Great Puppydog Race. It stretches around 1,100 miles or 1,770km, across 3 mountain ranges. Each team comprises of 12 to 16 dogs and takes anything from 8 to 30 days to complete. To prepare for the race, they are trained from puppyhood and can run 20 miles a day as adults in training.

Oh, and did I mention each dog eats 10,000 calories a day? Our guide likened it to a grown man eating 80 Big Macs every day!

So they may not look it, but these dogs are athletes in their own right.

Getting ready to mush

Taking a drink in an icy river

The other thing Alaska is famous for is Salmon. Hubby and I saw fishermen fishing in a river just outside downtown Anchorage. Hubby was actually super grumpy cos he had a runny nose, wanted to sleep in and was so sure we wouldn't see anything. When I said I'll go on my own, he got out of bed and got dressed.

He was Mr Sourpuss all the way from the hotel to breakfast and on the way to the river. When we reached, a fisherman happened to be reeling in a catch. Thank God! After that, he was the one scurrying around trying to spot salmon.

I spotted a few of them among some rocks and I yelled to hubby. The fishermen heard me and they started casting their lines there. One of the salmon came up with blood running down. Oops.

* * *

I was without Danny, but Alaska wasn't the only place I managed to get my dog fix. Up on Whistler mountain in Canada, we headed to this park by the river. Someone was playing fetch with her German Shepard.

Canada's quite a dog friendly place. We spotted this water fountain just for dogs outside the Buchart Gardens. I think it means dog parking. We also spied a few water coolers for humans with an identical one below for dogs around the city.

Oh, and check out the ENORMOUS chew bones for dogs! I have no idea what animal they're from ... goat, cow, ...dinosaur?

We saw several birds but they were too small or too fast for the camera. However, this seagull and his girlfriend, made themselves quite comfortable on our hotel balcony. They were our wake up call every morning in Vancouver...and he still had the cheek to moon me!

In Stanley Park, I had my first encounter with a black squirrel, which came racing up to me, ...

...and a racoon!

Both of them were heading my way because they thought I was going to feed them. Appearantly people have been doing so cos they think they are cute, but as with our monkeys here, they bite and scratch.

Still, I have these people to thank for me seeing the racoon. They are nocturnal animals and this one only came out during the day hoping to be fed. He is super cute though!

* * *

One of the stranger pets I saw was up on Whistler. From a distance, I saw this lady walking what I assumed was a small dog.

Erm...It's a mongoose.

Funny thing is, no one else thought it was weird!

* * *

Oh and yes, what is Alaska without the reindeer? In case you weren't aware, there are 2 kinds of reindeer. The first come in herds.

The second come in sausage. And they're yummy too!

Holiday without Danny - Canada and Alaska

2010-08-03T12:33:00.018+08:00

Yes, it's been a really long time since my last post, but this time, I have a good reason. I was away touring Vancouver and Alaska. Since Danny's been annoying me (he figured out how to pull off his muzzle and promptly chewed it up), I'll be posting about my trip instead. Hah!

Just before I left, I tried to take a few photos of Danny so I have something to look at when I miss him. The rascal was busy running all over the place, making a mess and wouldn't let me to get a good shot. Eventually, dad managed to catch him in mid dash and hauled him right up to the camera.

For the record, that's a tea towel he pulled off the table.

I think he was wondering what the heck was happening when the flash went off.

Anyway, yes, the trip. Canada has much nicer scenery than Alaska. I think it's because they benefit from longer summers so plants and flowers have a chance to bloom. Though I could be biased cos when I was there, Vancouver's weather was absolutely perfect, while Alaska was raining a lot.

Favourites from Vancouver?

Rocky Mountaineer (FYI, that the name of the train going up the mountain). They serve you breakfast in nice comfy, cushy chairs and free flow of drinks. Way better than taking the coach!

My advice? Sit on the left side going up and the right side coming down. You get a better view!

Whistler Mountain, where I did ziplining for the first time! You're about 7 storeys up in the trees and you zip across the river below. We also went up the gondola to the top of the mountain.

Surprisingly, it wasn't very cold. I just had a long-sleeved top on and I was fine. Some people were a bit mad. They were up there in shorts and slippers, bouncing about in the snow.

Coal Harbour....Luxury yachts and mountains. What's not to like?!

Stanley Park. Okay, to quote my friend, no park is complete without ducks in a pond. Plus, calling it a park is quite misleading to this Singaporean who pictured it to be about the size of Bishan Park. It's more like the size of MacRitchie and the Botanic Gardens put together.

And definately the Butchart Gardens! I know it's manicured and maintained by an army of garderners, but it's absolutely lovely!

As for Alaska, I'll be frank. I travelled halfway around the world just to see huskies in action. And after almost a week in Canada, I finally did!

Dogs at work - Coming back from a run. Since it's summer, they train them using a tractor sans engine.

Dogs at play - after the run. I can't believe a couple even jumped in the river! It was frigid cold! I was on the boat and I couldn't feel my fingers from the cold!

Dogs back at work - with me in the buggy!

AND THEY HAD PUPPIES!!! These little guys are only 3.5 weeks old!

Curiosity snagged the dog

2010-07-10T19:17:00.003+08:00

Danny went poking his nose around the fridge yesterday. He must have smelt something interesting, cos he pushed his paw into the narrow space under the fridge, trying to get at God-knows-what.

With his short attention span, something else caught his eye five seconds later and he turned towards it. In doing so, he shifted the angle of his paw, effectively catching it.

When he realised he was stuck, he panicked and yelped to high heaven. It was so shrill and so piercing that Rhoda came running up from the basement and mom can rushing in from the living room.

They found him flat on the floor with one paw under the fridge and the others waving frantically in an effort to get loose. Mom, as usual, joined him in panicking. Remember how she thought he had sliced off his tongue the last time? Well, this time she thought he had been electrocuted.

Using a combination of chair and broomstick (you're not supposed to touch something with a live current), she tried to manouvre him out from under the fridge. All this time, Danny was madly wriggling away. Between the two, they must have done something right and his paw popped out.

Rhoda was relieved. Mom was relieved. But the happiest camper was Danny. Finally free, he headed straight for the tissue box and ripped it apart.

Spot the Danny

2010-07-02T21:48:00.000+08:00

Can you see where the dog ends and the carpet begins?

The carrot and the stick - Part II

2010-06-30T09:12:00.000+08:00

As magnificent as peanut-butter-stuffed Kong is in keeping him busy and quiet, Danny still bores quite easily. That's where the stick comes in.

No, I'm not talking about the cane. (Although that reminds me, he has chewed up the fifth and final cane and I need to buy some more. Anyone know a wholesaler?) I'm talking about the muzzle.

Yes, I know I have tried the muzzle before but this is a different muzzle. The previous one was a very forgiving cage muzzle which gave him some room to manoeuvre. Our friend figured out how to get it off within a week and promptly chewed it to bits.

He sensed its vulnerability and would look at us with reproachful eyes whenever we put it on (see below). If you look closely at the top of the muzzle, you'll see where we stapled the damaged portion together. A couple of days after this shot, it was bye-bye muzzle.

I didn't bother to replace it, but after a nerve-shattering day of Danny's non-stop high pitched yelps and my neighbours' (so-far) polite comments of his noise, I decided to give the muzzle another try.

This time, I went in search of the one they use at the vet, you know, the one that wraps around the mouth.

Well, it's been a few weeks now, and Dan-boy can't get it off. And trust me he tried. He rubbed it against walls, carpeting, the floor, my leg,....but it didn't even budge. Now, when we put it on, he goes all limp. Place him on the floor and he'll slump down in a corner. You can place him on your lap and pat him as you browse through the paper.

Note: The dog below is fully awake.

It's like his mouth is a generator or something!

Anyway, he seems to be getting the message. When he is overly noisy or destructive, his mouth privileges get revoked. When we remove the muzzle, he becomes the quietest dog ever. If we're lucky, it even lasts the whole day.

So far, so good.

The carrot and the stick - Part I

2010-06-25T15:14:00.009+08:00

Now that the playmate programme (for some reason this sounds kinky) is in the trash, we have resorted to other methods of keeping Danny quiet.

Danny likes toys which fit nicely within his jaws. Roaming around Pet Lovers Centre the other day, I chanced upon a Kong rubber bone.

All Kong toys have a hollow space for you to stuff all sorts of treats with. This one has two! The idea is that your dog will be so occupied trying to get at the treat that he'll forget to be noisy, destructive and a general pain in the *beep*.

...Sorry. When I say "your", I actually mean "my".

The toy itself stinks. It's made of rubber and it smells like rubber. On its own, Danny actually prefers my socks. (Yes, he does really, right out of the laundry basket too.) But smeared with goodies, it's suddenly a wonder toy.

We experimented with a few: bovril, honey,... and the winner is PEANUT BUTTER! Yup, the dog goes quite mad for it. We stuff it and then chuck it into the freezer first to make it more challenging.

Keeps him busy for a couple of hours or until the treat runs out.

Mouth- and paw-stained Danny....Yums!

Adopt a dog this weekend!

2010-06-21T13:31:00.007+08:00

Hey all, Dog Mill Rehomers is having an adoption drive this weekend. Over 80 pedigree dogs were rescued when a dog mill closed its operations. Since then, 42 dogs have been adopted with 36 more needing homes.

The breeds include beagles, terriers, mini schnauzers, golden retrievers and many others.

Details on the adoption drive are as follows:

These dogs were formerly kept for breeding and some do have health problems. Note: no puppies available. More information on the dogs available can be found on their website at http://dogmilllrehomers.blogspot.com/.

So spread the word and help these dogs find a great home!

PS: DANNY POST BELOW!

I didn't know tissues were edible

2010-06-21T11:23:00.003+08:00

Every morning, Danny gets one hard boiled egg for breakfast. That's a lot for the little dude especially since he weighs 9.2kg.

However, he doesn't agree.

Just after breakfast yesterday, he grabbed a box of tissues off the table. It didn't stand a chance. Danny chomped down half the contents before we discovered him.

I had no idea they could be eaten but as per Experiment Danny, they didn't do him any harm. Actually, they seem to make for pretty good roughage. (Tissues come from trees and trees = fibre, right?)

Well, whatever went in popped out in a few hours. They must have cleaned him really thoroughly too cos when dinner time came, he yelped for his food and polished it off faster than ever.

DISCLAIMER: Not recommended as alternative treatment for bowel movement.

Destructive Danny

2010-06-19T10:25:00.002+08:00

A long time ago, I promised a naughty Danny video. I finally caught him in the act with a camera handy. Soon after, I got scolded by hubby for video camming instead of stopping him.

See the risks I go to through get live coverage?

Anyway, THIS is typical Danny behaviour on an average day.

Sanitation Officer

2010-06-17T09:35:00.000+08:00

I can't believe it but Danny actually did something good this time.

He's paper trained, and we usually leave a thick wad of newspaper on the floor for him. When we're feeling industrious, we would remove the dirty sheets, leaving the clean ones below. On more lazy days and if it's just pee, we would simply flip the sheets over.

Danny's been observing us clean up his mess all this while. Today, I was petting him when he suddenly got up and headed for the paper. I praised him while he peed to reinforce the act.

After he was done, I thought he would come back to me but he didn't. Instead he sniffed around the area and started nosing. I thought he was doing something grouse so I told him to come but I got ignored.

Then to my surprise, he pushed up a corner of the newspaper and using his nose, he rolled it over his pee. He did it again until it was completely covered. Only then did he come to me.

I've never seen him do that before and I don't know if he actually meant to cover up his stuff, but for now the whole family's in shock.

Except for Rhoda. She thinks he's showing off.

Project Playmate Aborted

2010-06-16T10:50:00.004+08:00

Yep, you read the heading right. We terminated Project Playmate yesterday. Sounds bad? Yeah, well, it was like Chassard all over again.

I was on my way back from work when I got a call from mom that Javier bit her when she picked up Danny's chew toy. He snapped at dad a couple of days back also over a toy but didn't break skin, so we figured we'd monitor him and see how it goes. Mom said that there was a bit of blood and she just wanted to see the doc to get a tetenus shot just in case.

Mom has this habit of making a molehill out of a mountain. When I reached home, the back of her hand was scuffed with several teeth marks, and even though it had been over an hour since the bite, blood was still oozing out of her hand which was starting to swell.

Mom got an antibiotic shot on top of a course of strong antibiotics and was told to come back in a couple of days to check if it was healing or getting infected. As of this morning, it had swelled to the size of a golf ball.

I contacted Javier's owner and told her that it wasn't working out. She apologised but the best, best part was when she told me that Javier had bitten her and her mother before when they touched his toys or food. Ya, thanks for telling me now.

All the smses and phone calls where she gushes over over how cute his is and what a sweetie he is and she couldn't tell us that Javier has aggression issues? Seriously, I don't know how people can be so irresponsible to put their dog up for adoption and not brief the new owner on important things like behavioural problems and fleas. Oh yes, Javier had fleas and almost passed them to Danny. Just one of those details she forgot to mention even though she knows full well we have another dog.

Another little detail she left out was that Javier was behaving aggressively towards her new baby and that's why she had to give him up. Her reason previously was that she and her husband were going to travel more for work and they don't have time for him.

HONESTLY!!! That was a downright blatant lie!

The irony is that I was more concerned about how he would react to Danny. Danny, however, had a load of fun (except when it came to toys, which Javier would take from him) and I'm now quite confident that Danny doesn't have any social issues (except for his fetish for humping other dogs).

Through this, we also realised that naughty, noisy Danny is really quite a good-natured dog deep underneath it all.

That being said, Project Playmate is dead and won't be ressurected. Danny and his owners will have to contend with him being a bored, only dog.

Oh yes, in celebration of his reinstated status, Danny promptly tore open a packet of biscuits and helped himself to 3/4 of the contents.

That boy works fast.

Trouble in Paradise

2010-06-12T14:11:00.003+08:00

I don't think Javier likes Danny very much. Not that Danny isn't to blame. Cheeky Danny spent the first day trying to hump him and steal his toys. If I were stuck in the same house as a thief and serial molester, I'd growl at him too.

Unfortunately, that isn't the only problem. Javier seems to have quite a possesive streak. He's decided that he likes Rhoda and follows her wherever he goes. Danny isn't that into following people; he prefers nosing about for trouble.

The result is that after a couple of days, Javier decided that Rhoda was his "property" and growls whenever Rhoda gives Danny any attention. One night, when Rhoda wanted to bring Danny down to sleep, Javier growled at him. His growls got progressively louder when he was ignored and Danny actually got scared.

When I came out of the study, Danny made a beeline for me with his ears pinned back and the unmistakable look of "Oh help! Save me!"

To his credit, Danny hasn't growled back. Well, not yet anyway. Most times he just stares at Javier with the "Boy, you're strange" look and scoots off.

There was only one time Danny growled at him, and that was when Javier made off with his toy. I got it back for him and that was it.

Dan's also fine when other family peeps pat Javier. He snots a bit or looks for something naughty to do but that's it.

I guess they both need time to settle down to this arrangement. We want Javier to be happy and comfortable with us, but at the same time we don't want Danny to feel that he's being invaded when all things considered, he's actually been quite welcoming to the new little guy.

Hmm, we'll see...

Mirror Images

2010-06-11T12:16:00.001+08:00

In an earlier post, I had pics of Danny copying Javier's actions. The next day, we let them loose, and they ended up doing a "mirror".

Look straight

Look side

Look all the way to the side

Heh!

The new dog in town

2010-06-09T21:23:00.008+08:00

We have been thinking of adopting a new dog for a month or so now, one because Danny likes the company of other dogs and two, to (hopefully) have a good influence on the little rascal. We debated long and hard whether to get one as we were quite convinced that Danny was capable of corrupting any good boy.

Eventually we decided that Danny seriously needed a friend and I poked around a few sites. We wanted an adult dog so that his character would be less corruptable who could get along with other dogs. Size was no issue as Danny has proven that he is quite comfortable with dogs of any size, however, my bro and sister-in-law are quite scared of local specials, and my mom still wants them to visit so we had to rule those out.

Several websites had adoption posts but many of these "adoptions" came with fees, which reads like selling to me, so I avoided them.

After a few hunts, I chanced upon Pets Channel's adoption site, where we found Javier, a four-year-old silky terrier. A few emails with his owner and Javier was dropped off at our house for a one-month trial.

Danny and Javier seemed to get along right off the bat. However, when he realised that his owner was gone, he moped about for a good hour before cheering up a little.

Wanna see how he looks like?

Well, here you go! Isn't he a sweety! He not only looks sweet but he IS sweet too.

He's a placid, gentle dog, unlike Hurricane Danny. But like all terriers, he can be a force to be reckoned with. Danny found out the hard way when he tried to hump Javier.

Danny's a smart cookie but he really needs to work on his EQ.

We tied Danny and Javier apart so they each had their own personal space but could still interact if they wanted to.

The funny thing with Danny is that whatever Javier did, he just copied.

Everybody sit

Everybody down

Everybody look left

If this keeps up, there may be hope for Danny yet!

Not again, Danny! - Part II

2010-05-23T13:34:00.001+08:00

Danny and the Shaver

Two weeks back Ross and his wife came to stay with us for a few days. They stayed in the guest room, which shares the same floor as Danny. (Yes, I know. I pity them too.)

One morning, Ross left his shaver on the coffee table and headed back into his room. Danny poked his head out, and as usual, made a bee-line for the most unusual object in the room which can fit between his jaws.

He brought it up to the dining room, where he proceeded to gnaw on the most interesting part of the shaver. After a bit, he succeeded in removing the cover, breaking off the whole head and, well, I think you can guess what happened next.

He ran around the dining room, leaving a long blood trail before hiding under the table with the fur around his mouth all pink.

Mom was the first to see the carnage. She grabbed hold of Danny and tried to pry his mouth open. When he refused to let her take a look, she panicked.

I came down to find mom under the table hunting for a piece of tongue which she was hoping to pack in ice and let the vet surgically reattach.

Despite the drama, Danny had merely cut his tongue. By afternoon, he was drinking water and by evening he was eating happily.

The biggest damage was to my pocket. I had to run down to the store and spend $20 on a new shaver for Ross.

The only change in Danny was that he was quietest he's been in a long while.

What can I say? He's built like a tank.

Not again, Danny!

2010-05-21T11:53:00.005+08:00

If I could, I would have placed the above title in caps, italics and bold.

I haven't blogged in a really long time. I've been completely swamped at work but decided that I need to do something before May passes without a single post.

In case you've been thinking that it's cos Danny's been such a good boy, ........

...........................NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH.

I vaguely recall that in an earlier post I said something along the lines of Danny getting a whole lot better, blah, blah, blah. Well, it looks like I have to chuck all my words into a blender and send it down my gullet.

Danny and the Exercise Machine
A few weekends ago, I was torn between watching a DVD and spending quality time with Danny. So I decided to do both. I headed to the basement and Danny-proofed the room. This meant:

a) taking all the cushions and other small objects and placing them on higher ground
b) hiding and/or covering all electrical sockets
c) spreading newspaper over his favourite spots
d) bringing down an array of chew toys

Once everything was in place, I brought Danny down and popped in the DVD. Everything went fine for the next half hour. He sat on my lap and quietly chewed his toys, running off occasionally to get a new one.

Then he got bored. He started jumping on me and trying to get at the cushions. He managed to snatch one, at which point I stopped the DVD and chased him all around the room to get it back. Honestly, if i wanted exercise, I'd go to the gym.

After that, it was one eye on the dvd and the other on our friend. Whenever he seemed to be doing something naughty, I yelled "NO" and he stopped.

He eventually settled in a corner and I went back to my show. However, after a while, I began noticing a gnawing sound which was progressively getting louder. I thought it was his hard bone toy, and then I realised he didn't have one any more.

It turns out our friend was chewing on my mom's brand new Ogawa exercise machine, and had successfuly gnawed away at the corner of the rubber mat.

Here's a shot. Can you see it?

No? Well, here's a closer view of the corner. It's got this rat-nibbled pattern now.

Here's one of the other corners for comparison.

I smacked him hard and threatened to shave him bald and use his fur to patch the mat. He did try his best to look sorry and didn't even make a fuss when I chucked him back in his room.

HOWEVER....an hour later, Rhoda let him out. He shot upstairs (he knows he's not allowed upstairs), went into my bathroom and pee-ed right on the floor.

ARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

(Stay tuned to Part II: Danny and the Shaver)

Feeding Frenzy

2010-04-17T19:46:00.018+08:00

Hey all! Back from Vietnam and in one piece. It was just an overnight trip so I didn't get to see much of the city, but I did get a good feel of the traffic. First impressions, they have a lot of motorcycles and are experts in "creative" driving, of which one of the more innovative is driving against the flow of peak hour traffic.

Rush hour in Ho Chi Minh

I also had the most interesting massage experience. For the first time in my life, I had a full body massage done by a guy! The place seemed a bit dodgy cos men were massaged by ladies and ladies by men, not to mention the male masseuses were all young and virile. But at least mine didn't ask me if I wanted any "special" service. I think I would have run out screaming if he did.

It's called the Golden Lotus. Guess I should have known.

Anyway, the last weekend was a non-stop binge fest. And to Danny's absolute dismay, he wasn't part of it. He paid me back by yapping his head off during my nap so we're even.

Mom and hubby's birthdays are exactly one week apart, so although I brought hubby to Forlino for lunch, hubby got a family treat with mom at North Border Bar and Grill at Rochester Park.

I picked the place after reading the reviews from hungrygowhere.com. Love the ambience!

Food's not bad too!
The birthday tart was a special request from hubby. Knowing that I suck when it comes to hints, hubby hauled me down to Fruit Paradise at Raffles City about a month ago.

Hubby: Don't the tarts look nice?
Me: Wow! Ya. They look great!
Hubby: Good. I want one for my birthday.

Not very subtle, is he?

Anyway, I headed down just before dinner and picked out a Mango Tart with cheese cream and candles for 104 years. Looks yummy, yeah?

It was a big hit! There is loads of cream but even hubby's family loved it and they aren't cream people.

Here's another pic. I thought it was quite a cool shot of the cake.

The very next day, hubby had birthday treat number 3. We did the whole tourist thing and headed down to the zoo for breakfast with the wildlife.

Hubby's shy and wanted his face pixelated.

I really love the zoo! Every now and then we threaten to introduce Danny to the monkeys if he misbehaves (hey, if he's gonna act like one...). But the truth is, the monkeys are far better behaved than him.

Okay, FINE. They're orang utans. And they are very well trained. They came and left on cue without any fuss. One even tapao-ed a small branch on her way back.

I think the one in the middle is cute! Caption: "Er...what am I doing here again?"

The baby was uber cute!

The animals were only out for half an hour. We didn't have much time after that so we just wandered around for a bit after breakfast.

I'll leave you with clips from the otters' feeding time. Turn up the volume and you can hear them squeaking for the keeper to feed them. It's not in clip but the whole group of them went around the enclosure hunting for the keeper. They kept peering through the glass and under the fence.

I really have no idea how they know they are going to be fed! If anyone can figure it out, drop me a note.

The first clip really reminds me of Danny just before dinner time. Guess I should be glad I only have one dog.

Waiting for food

Feeding time!

Danny and other random stuff

2010-04-05T18:58:00.019+08:00

Hey guys, just a warning upfront. I was really thirsty before I did this blog and downed a whole cup of punch before realising that it was seriously spiked. I'm feeling a bit wheeeee while doing this post so apologies if no one understands this.

Following up from my previous post, I did try to get the camera back from dad, However, every question was met with comments like "oh er... LOOK at the TIME!" before he scooted off. So, I really dunno what happened to the cam.

Anyway, I resorted to taking new Danny pics with my phone. Either I or Danny shook for the first one but I think the second looks pretty good! :D

"Hello! I'm back!"

Speaking of our friend, despite the overhanging threat of boarding school, he proceeded to completely destroy my bro's video tape the very next day. My bro wanted something recorded while he was at work and left the tape on the table. Somehow, Danny snatched it down and started to chomp on it. He did a pretty good job too. Two corners were completely gone and part of the tape was peeking out.

I've been really, really irritated with him when this morning NEA suddenly decided to fumigate the place without warning. I had mosquito-killing fog pour in from every opening of the house. Danny was in the balcony as usual, and he dashed in as far as he could, yelping away. At one point, he turned around a looked at the fog as it came in. He probably thought it was the end of the world.

Mom told me to close all doors and windows and I said "What about Danny?" Without skipping a beat, she said to toss him outside. I looked from her and then at Danny staring desperately at the weird smelly white smoke, and for a fleeting moment, I pictured him on his side gasping for any last molecule of air as the fog closed in on him.

I brought him in instead. I guess somewhere in between the incessent yelping and the active destruction of the house, Danny must have done something right.

He's an irritating furball, but he's MY irrtating furball.

"Saved! Whoa yeah!"

In other news, it's hubby's birthday today! I took him out for lunch at Forlino at One Fullerton. I read about it on Xiaxue's blog and decided to check it out.

It's a bit of a maze trying to walk to the restaurant but once you're in, you get a great view of the city.

Hubby and I had a great time people-watching. We were wondering why so many tourists were risking being fried in the afternoon sun to take photos at the Merlion, when we realised that's what we did when we were in Israel and the temp was like 40 degrees! I think all the Isrealis thought we were nutz!

Anyways, Forlino is quite classy. For ladies, they have a special chair for you to chuck your bags and the waiter came with a selection of napkins for us to choose from. We had an appetiser but I forgot to take pics. I should have though. It was sort of like mash potato mixed with bits of ham and fried like a harsh brown. Tiny thing on a relatively big plate but very nicely presented.

I did take a photo of the soup though...

...And promptly forget to take the main course. Still, I think the highlight of the meal was the LAVA CAKE! *drool*

It came with a small scoop of banana ice-cream. I was wondering why "banana" but really, it goes perfectly with the chocolate.

Hubby gobbled up half with cake before I even got a bite. (Humph! If it wasn't his birthday...) He was slurping it up when he dropped a bit of chocolate on the table. Being the highly mature person that he is, he fished out a mint leaf from the plate and started playing with the chocolate.
He calls this shot "Going Green". He said something about planting a tree in a nutritious pile of sh*t.

Humour the birthday boy, okay?

All this time, a waiter was hovering in the background. When hubby was done playing, he came over and promptly wiped the spot away.

We are soooo not five-star.

Not satisfied with stealing the lava cake, hubby continued on to swipe my cookies. I ordered the set, see? And it came with coffee and cookies. They called it something fancy, petite fours I think, anyway its cookies.

The one hubby's holding is almond, the white is a meringue and on the right are the butter cookies. Totally yums!

Despite his food thieving today, hubby's been quite useful recently. For the longest time, I've not been able to bend over when wearing certain dresses cos they're kinda loose on top, or having to bear with straps that slip off shoulder a bit too easily. (This is espeically since I started my blogshopping craze.)

I always hear about hollywood stars wearing gravity-defying clothes cos of some body tape but could never find it here. I mentioned it to hubby one day and in a couple of days he sent me a website and told me to look under "Hollywood Fashion Tape".

Considering it's just tape, it was a little pricey but I figured what the heck. No harm trying, right? The package arrived in a couple of days in nice pretty pink packaging too! It's like someone sent me a pressie.

I used it the other day and it really worked. I was out for about 10 hours and it held my top in place. Brilliant!

Got to hand it to hubby though. How in the world he could find girly girl stuff I really don't know.

Anyway, it's been a really long post and if you're still with me... yeah, cool! I hope to blog again really soon but given the state of my desk at the office, well, I'll just keep my fingers crossed.

Oh yes, this is really how my office desk looks like. It's not staged in anyway. I'm off to Vietnam next week for some conference so I have a ton of things to settle by then.

Take care, ya'll! And I'll see you real soon. Cheers!

The Devil Incarnate

2010-03-28T15:05:00.003+08:00

There's a good reason why I haven't been blogging about Danny recently. I can sum it up in one word - pissed.

In the last few weeks he's been going out of his way to annoy the whole family. Almost everyday, I've been returning home to a tirade of all the rubbish he's been up to. It seems that after the last few months of being relatively good, he's gotten tired of his halo and now the tail and pitchfork are back.

He's favourite hobby, it seems, is grabbing a cushion and making off with it, forcing mom to chase after him. Of course mom is 70 years old and isn't quite up to dashing around furniture and crawling under tables. Often, she ends up grabbing the nearest item and hurling it at him.

I must say, at 70, she's dead accurate.

Hobby no. 2 is yelping at the top of his voice for whatever he wants. Example, he started this morning at about 11. Taking trainer no.1's advice, we are ignoring him. It is now 3 in the afternoon and my nerves are shot.

And of course, the moment he misbehaves, he becomes "my dog".

Anyhow, I think "my dog" signed his own death warrant yesterday. He grabbed a small pillow and ripped it to shreads. All the stuffing flew all over the place. After we cleaned it up, mom announced that her friend claims to be great at training dogs and has kindly offered to take him in for two weeks.

Nothing's confirmed, but if he doesn't get his act together, Danny may soon be off to boarding school.

I think I feel sorrier for the trainer.

Schnoodles

2010-03-14T21:01:00.007+08:00

Just for the heck of it, I googled "schnoodle". Guess what? It really IS a designer dog breed out there! And here I was thinking that no one in their right minds would actually call their dog a schnoodle.

(Okay, fine. I did in my previous post but that just demonstrates my mental state.)

Anywayz, here are some real-life schnoodles.

So cute, can??? I love the middle one!

After comparing them with Danny, I realised that mom and Lance were right. Danny resembles a terrier more than a poodle.

So, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to reintroduce Danny the Schnerrier. Now that is one breed that does not exist (at least on google)!

Note to self: Get camera back from Dad and take more pics of Danny.

Designer Dog

2010-03-07T19:19:00.010+08:00

The other day, hubby and I went to have lunch at Greenwood Ave in Bukit Timah, where we chanced upon a pet shop that was advertising a Cavoodle puppy. I'm still pretty new to this whole designer dog thing, and up till that point, I had never heard of a Cavoodle.

Appearantly neither did the lady inside inquiring about the pup. She kept calling it a "Cavadoodle". Anyway, it's a mix between a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a Poodle and this is roughly how it looked like.

Cute, yes? It was the sweetest thing too and I overheard the sales assistant say that two people had already booked the dog. It doesn't take a genius to figure it probably cost a small fortune. Not that it matters to us. Because, by now, we've figured that even the sweetest dog will get corrupted by the grey, furry ball of bad influence we have at home.

As snazzy as "designer dog" sounds, it bottom line is that Cavoodles, Spoodles, Labrodoodles, etc., are all basically mixed breeds. As a result, they come in all colours, shapes and sizes, depending on how which breed features more dominantly.

These are just some other versions of the Cavoodle I found online.

It just seems that as long as your mongrel dog looks reasonably cute, all you have to do is stick a fancy name on and suddenly he gets pedigree status.

That got me thinking. Almost everyone I've met thinks Danny is mixed. His face is too round, he is too big and his legs are too long for a mini Schnauzer. Even Danny's trainer once said that he seems be mixed.

So, I think from now on, I'm going to pimp his status. Allow me to introduce the latest in designer dogs, Danny the Schnoodle.

Expensive doggy

2010-02-19T19:03:00.007+08:00

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

It's been busy, busy, busy for hubby and me but something popped into our mail a week ago that totally made our day. About a month ago, we decided to start the new year by sponsoring some kids under Compassion Canada.

We went to the website, made our selections and waited for the kiddy packs to arrive. It took much longer than expected because they got lost and damaged along the way, but they finally arrived after a month with apologies from the Canadian post. Woohoo!

But no worries. My time in between was well-spent pelting Compassion Canada with emails. (Yes, I'm one of those irritating people-types.)

Anyway, I was so excited, I stayed up till 1am reading all the material and the dos and donts for writing to the kids. I even broke out my pretty letter writing sets and penned my first letter.

No, my handwriting's not that bad. I just pixelated the details.

I must say, most of my writing material is over 20 years old! I'm a stationary geek and I used to collect all manner of remotely cute paper stuff that I'm finally putting to use!

One of the things I can send the kids are photos so I hauled the family into the living room after dinner for a group shot. I think the flash was a bit bright or something cos you can see my bro's singlet underneath his white shirt! So ah peh!

In case the kiddies can't identify us, we included the shot below. The kids are quite poor and many live aka Slumdog Millionaire, so one of the guidelines for photos is not to take shots with any expensive, wealthy looking stuff, such as your Ferrari collection or 2,000 carat diamond ring.

With this in mind, we carefully selected our attire...

What do you think? I was nicely tucked in bed when hubby chucked me out to take this shot. Hey, at least the colours match! ... Some days they don't.

By now you're probably wondering what all this has to do with Danny. Well, I was doing up my sums the other day, and this is roughly how much it costs to keep Danny alive:

Grooming: $45 (once in 3 months)

Food: $50 (once a month)

Training: $200 + $900 (one-time)

Toys, leashes, replacement towels, cushions and wires: Lost count

By contrast, it costs roughly $45 Sing to feed, clothe and educate a child in Ethiopia, AND this is without the mental aggravation.

Danny's only plus point, he comes fully clothed.

"I'm expensive. Feed me."

All set for CNY

2010-02-11T22:11:00.000+08:00

Danny's latest adventure with wet paint totally earned him a trip to the groomers. He had an appointment with Bryan in anticipation of CNY so we didn't bother trying to clean off the paint.

Hey, it's Nippon Weatherbond, meant to withstand sun, rain, hail and snow. I didn't think it would come off easily. Plus we didn't want Danny roaming the house smelling of turps.

Bryan was all booked up for the weekend and I couldn't take leave. So the plan was for Rhoda to walk him there around lunch time, and I pick him up on my way back from work.

I had to work late that day and made it to Bark Angel 15 minutes before closing. The first thing I heard when I stepped through the door was Danny half yelping half howling.

By rough calculation, he had been waiting for me for about six hours.

I turned to one of the staff, "Er...I think that's my dog." The guy nodded and looked positively relieved.

"Has he been doing that the whole afternoon?" He nodded again. Oops.

Still, he handed Danny over with a smile and charged me the mini schnauzer rate of $45, even though Danny's more like a maxi schnauzer. They had to shave him really close to get rid of the bits with paint and in some places, you can almost see his skin. I'm sure he felt a draft.

Danny was estatic to see me. I think he thought we had abandoned him. He didn't have his chew toy, didn't have his afternoon nap and was stuck in some weird place where they grope your tush and shave it bald.

He was nice and quiet in the car and when we hit home, he greeted everyone, headed to his corner and went straight to sleep.

So now I have a nicely groomed dog all ready for CNY.....which is more than I can say for his owner. :Þ

PS: Oh yeah, on a seperate note, someone abandoned a 2-month-old red poodle puppy on the street near Bark Angel. The staff took her in. I saw her when I went to pick up Danny. She was quite weak and was having fits. I guess that why she was left behind. They said they would bring her to the vet in the morning.

Don't you just hate people who chuck their pets? If she's really that sick at least put her down humanely! Grrr....!

Momma's lil helper

2010-02-10T21:39:00.005+08:00

We had a busy, busy weekend preparing for Chinese New Year. A whole bunch of relatives will be descending on our house on Sunday and mom volunteered us for cleaning duty. She herself spent the bulk of the day getting the garden ready, repotting plants and stuff.

Danny began the day indoors, but as there is no clean house when Danny's about, we soon quarantined him with mom. Which turned out quite well.

Mom was puffing and panting, trying to loosen the soil in the ground so she could stuff it in pots. Danny observed her for a minute before he dived in and sent the dirt flying. Schnauzers, it seems, are bred to dig and chase after all sorts of underground creatures.

I guess he wanted to show her how it was done.

Mom just happily scooped up whatever he tossed out. After a while he got a bit bored and decided to help Rhoda.

That didn't turn out quite so well.

Rhoda, you see, was busy painting the garden wall. By the time I saw him at dinner, he had white highlights on his butt.

Do you see it? No? Let's go a bit closer... Taadah!

He even managed to get a couple of splotches on his head!

Although for a dog with a white paint-matted tush, he looked really pleased.

Danny Turns One!

2010-01-31T15:01:00.004+08:00

Yep, today is Danny's birthday. Dad gave him an extra doggie treat plus cornflakes and everyone made a huge fuss over him ... before he was unceremoniously tossed into the garden.

Poor thing really. He likes to follow people around. So I got him into the garden by stepping in first. When he shot past me, I made a mad dash back into the house and slammed the door shut right in his hairy face. Boy, did he look surprised!

I haven't been blogging much recently because crowd-phobic me has gotten addicted to blogshops for my supply of clothing. Also, he's been quite a good boy for the last couple of weeks.

He's starting to mature a bit (finally!) and enjoys his me-time in the garden. He's also quietened down a lot. He still has his naughty moments though...

...but the last time he was seriously bad was in December when he gnawed through the telephone wire. Hubby went out and came back with three canes.

They must have worked cos, now, he likes sitting on laps and licking the person to death.

And, yes, he IS getting scruffy again. Hubby thinks the messy-look makes him look like a boy. But I'm sending him in for a trim before Chinese New Year, so he'll look all girly soon.

Hope Bryan doesn't put another ribbon on him!

Somebody's watching me

2010-01-23T23:20:00.000+08:00

Danny gets a little ...er... disconcerted when people follow him. Especially when he's looking for a good spot.

Reversible ears

2010-01-20T23:13:00.000+08:00

You know those bags and hats that can be flipped inside out and look completely different? Danny's ears can do that too!

View 1

View 2

Doesn't affect hearing in any way.

Garden dog

2010-01-17T22:46:00.004+08:00

Danny has a strange dilemma. He prefers being in the garden cos that is the one place he is free to roam, but he loves being with people even more, even if it means he is restricted to the balcony.

On normal work days, he spends the day in the garden but is brought in at night. We tried leaving him out after we come home but he kept yelping to be let in.

On Saturday, I decided to brave the mosquitos and hang out with him in the garden. He really is a very good dog when there is nothing around to steal. He followed me wherever I went. At one point, he was happily chewing his bone and when I walked off, he quickly grabbed it and trotted after me.

I think if I had a farm I could milk the cows and have a wonderful little Danny follow me about my chores. He'll probably annoy the cows though, but they would set him straight in a second.

I hurled tennis ball after tennis ball down the path.

He'll actually bring the ball all the way back...except when he is tired. Then he will give you a "go fetch yourself" look and make himself comfy on the floor. After a while he got really pooped.

I let him loose in the house and he was a good boy for the next hour.....only an hour...

The last training session

2010-01-04T16:51:00.003+08:00

Yes, I know, this post is seriously late. Danny had his last training session a couple of months ago actually. I've just been an absolute sloth getting round to posting it.

Right up to his second last lesson, Danny still wasn't quite getting the hang of walking. Lance had previously recommended the choke chain but our friend turned out to be immune to it. Appearantly his neck muscles are quite strong or something.

So, for the last lesson, Lance brought along with him a pinch collar. In a previous post, I said that I didn't like the sound of a choke chain, but if you're like me and think this sounds better, you haven't seen a pinch collar either.

This is Danny's now-useless choke chain.

The idea is that when he does something wrong, you do a quick tug on the chain and release it. Most dogs would learn quickly because it cuts off their air supply for about a second. Danny didn't care.

This is Danny's new pinch collar, also known as the prong collar.

Looks scary? Totally! I freaked out when I first saw it. Correction is also a quick tug, if not, the collar sits on his neck like an ordinary collar.

Terrifying as it looks, this collar is actually physically better for the dog than the choke chain, which can cause spinal damage if used incorrectly or too often.

And yes, the ends of the metal bits sticking out are blunt.

As hesitant as I was to using it, it worked. I still don't dare tug too hard, but even so, he seems to get the message. Walks with him are great now. I can even go jogging and he'll run nicely by my side.

He also ignores the neighbours' dogs. He still doesn't auto-sit when we stop (he's supposed to), but he just needs a light correction to do so.

And, you can see in this video, the scary metal bits, don't seem to bother him at all.

And, oh yes, that's my voice at the end of the video. Nooooooooo, I don't normally sound like that. It's just that dogs like high pitched, excited voices, so when praising him that's what I use.

FYI, when I scold him, I sound like the Exocist.

It's a brand new year, Danny

2010-01-02T11:50:00.002+08:00

I know I said that I would sleep my way into the new year, but I ended up watching the fireworks with the family.... on TV, that is!

When it ended, I decided Danny should join in the celebrations. I headed to the basement, woke him up and hauled him upstairs. He was probably in some deep doggie sleep, cos even though we set him loose in the living room, he meekly went up to mom and dad and licked their hands.

Dad was snacking on cornflakes and offered him some. Danny took about 6 or 7 handfuls.

After that, he fully woke up, or maybe he was feeling a bit weak earlier from his new diet plan. Whichever the case, he poke his snozz into mum's handbag and fished out her towel. When I finally got that away from him, he went back for her make-up kit.

Dad eventually caught hold of him and chucked him back in the basement.

I guess his first new year experience was a bit too exciting for him. Danny spent the whole morning and part of the afternoon of New Year's day all hungover in his favourite napping spot.

I tried to sneak a beer can in this shot for effect but he moved.

Oh well, I hope dogs' necks are more limber than humans cos I'm not sending him to a doggie chiropractor.

Zzzzzzz....

Danny's New Year dinner

2009-12-31T15:24:00.015+08:00

Hello! Hello! It's New Year's Eve and I'm sure a whole bunch of you have wild party plans tonight. As for me, my plan is to sleep my way into the new year.

The year has been filled with a number of firsts - first (and last) sibling's wedding, first time in a recording studio, first time singing solo at a wedding (needed 2 beers and a wine before I could get on stage), and of course, Danny's my first schnauzer. Along with him came the first grooming session and the first visit to a pet cafe.

Yes, I don't know about you, but Danny's ending his year quite pleased and round. He's now a not-so-mini schnauzer, tipping the scales at 9.5kg. It really didn't help that I brought him to Bark Angel for a post-Christmas-early-New-Year dinner.

Danny recognised Bryan straight away and was straining on the leash to get to him. Hubby held on to him while I headed to the counter to check out the doggie menu:

I actually turned to hubby and asked, "So what do you think he will like?" Hubby's face said it all. I was asking about a dog that happily eats tissue paper right out of the box.

I ended up ordering a grilled boneless chicken with honey. It came with a choice of two sides. The chef recommended the mashed potatoes and egg, but I took one look at Danny's round furry butt and picked a double helping of vegetables instead.

Then came the wait. We had to keep Danny entertained cos he kept wanting to explore. One of the staff came over and said it was okay to let him off the leash. I told him that if I did that, there wouldn't be much of a shop left. You see, they have a section where they sell shampoos and other doggie items, and Danny was showing a lot of interest in the smaller items that would fit between his teeth.

After a bit, the scent of Danny's dinner came wafting through the kitchen door. It smelt really good even by human standards!

And whenever there's food, Danny will suddenly turn into the world's best dog. He sat and waited patiently, never once taking his eyes off the bowl.

And then when I placed the bowl down...

He polished off the chicken first and then went on to the veg. The carrots and tomatoes didn't bother him, but it was his first encounter with broccoli and he seemed a little fazed by it. He initially picked up a piece and then after mouthing it for a bit, he dropped it on the floor. Only when everything else was gone did he give it another go.

I guess if you've never had it before, broccoli is a strange vegetable.

Have a wonderful new year all!

Problem solved!

2009-12-25T10:54:00.001+08:00

Danny is a good boy on walks, thanks to Lance from Shiloh Dog School. Danny will sit immediately and wait when you offer him food or a toy, thanks to Angela from PuppyLove. He does not mind having his food taken away from him while he is eating (heck, you can shove your whole hand in there and he will step away). And you can wiggle his toes as much as you please.

But despite having two trainers (who have both seperately labelled him as a naughty, stubborn dog) with two very different training methods, Danny still loves grabbing and chewing on things.

Angela's solution was to ignore him when he grabs something. The idea is that Danny wants attention so when he doesn't get it by being naughty, he'll stop. Problem: When he doesn't get attention, he's more than happy to entertain himself by ripping up whatever he grabbed.

Lance's solution was to say "leave" in a firm tone and smack him upside the chin if he still goes for it. Problem: Danny's a masochist. Plus, it only works when he is put on a leash and watched like a hawk. Once he's loose, you'll have to catch him to smack him, and he relishes the chase.

We were really at out wits' ends. Then, suddenly, in the middle of the night, I hit on the solution. You see, with both trainers, it was about giving him the option of being naughty or good. However, Danny kept opting for naughty.

So I decided to forget about options. Having a mouth is a privilege...

The first time it went on, it worked like a charm. He shot about the living and dining areas heading for his usual favourites. He tried to grab cushions, floor cloths, dad's shoes, but to no avail. He eventually lay down on the floor and glared up at us.

One frustrated dog? Totally. One happy owner? You bet!

The muzzle fixed 95% of the problem. Why 95%? Well, when he realised that he couldn't bite anything, he shot upstairs, jumped on my bed and sat there waiting for me. When I appeared, he immediately jumped off and headed back down. I think that was the doggy version of "You ain't the boss of me".

The muzzle is only reserved for times when he is acting up. I also hope that he'll eventually find other avenues of fun and it'll break his habit. I chose the cage muzzle so that he can still pant, bark and even drink water. It's also only on him when we're around and even then for a max of 30 minutes.

Hopefully it works cos I'm all out of ideas!

Termite

2009-12-23T10:14:00.010+08:00

Recently, it became quite appearant to the family that we have a major termite problem. We started finding damage to wooden parts of the house, such as doors....

... and door frames

The good news is that we've found the source of the problem. It turns out that one single termite, albeit a rather large, hairy one, is responsible for the destruction. Here he is trying to get into the house.

Don't be fooled. That happy, friendly face is just a trick.

"I will chew your house from under you!"

Footnote: This species is that it doesn't just go for wood; it also attacks, cushions, socks, shoes, rugs and all types of food.

A different dog every month

2009-12-13T09:36:00.011+08:00

Danny is our very first schnauzer ever. While we are still grappling with his hyperactivity and high doggie IQ (after chasing him around for the umpteened time this morning, Dad declared that next time we pick a stupid dog), look-wise, it's been like have a different dog every couple of months or so.

Don't believe me?

April: When he first came back from the pet shop.

May: The naughty was already kicking in...

June: On the way back from his first puppy class

July: On his way back from his last puppy class

August: Looking for something to grab

September: Danny's usual spot when we are not around to watch him.

October: Hairy little bugger

November: One freshly groomed puppy!

Maybe after the next grooming, I'll come back with a poodle.

Danny Gets Groomed

2009-11-28T11:37:00.014+08:00

If you've been following this blog, you'll probably realise that Danny has been getting shaggier and messier with each post. I initially booked an appointment with Bark & Bubbles at Bukit Merah. This meant bundling our friend in the car for a 25 minute drive but I didn't mind because the place got quite good reviews.

But shortly after, I discovered that a new grooming salon was opening within a 10-minute walk from my house. During one of his walks, I popped over to Bark Angel while it was still being renovated and managed to speak to the main groomer, Bryan. Danny and him hit it off right off the bat. Bryan also came across as the nice, gentle sort, so I booked an appointment.

Yesterday was D-day.

"Yes, I know. I look like a mess."

The great thing about Bark Angel is that it is a pet cafe cum grooming salon. My plan was to be present throughout the grooming session, (mainly because the very naughty dog was going for his first grooming and I wasn't sure how he would behave) so having a cafe where I could lounge was brilliant.

The decor is nice an cosy, with sofas, magazines and even a Nintendo Wii! The place is equipped with wi-fi so next time I'm bring my laptop. The cafe serves a range of drinks and some simple sandwiches for humans, but for dogs, the menu includes chicken rice balls and grilled boneless chicken as well as side dishes. *Drool!*

Very importantly, it doesn't smell of dog.

Danny lost no time in making himself comfy.

I settled down to a nice breakfast of kaya toast and fizzy Ribena...

...while Danny got his haircut. I went ahead with a full grooming as his fur was getting a little matted in some parts. Bryan discussed his cut with us and we eventually decided on a terrier-like cut for his face, and a good trim for the rest.

(Yes, I know he is a Schnauzer, but the beard is really impractical. When he drinks water, he drips all over the floor, and then his chin fur gets matted cos the water makes it clump together.)

Getting sheared.

Danny giving Bryan some lurve...

"Check it out. I'm getting my paws done!"

"Don't I look neater already?"

After watching him for a bit, hubby and I hit the Nintemdo Wii so we missed the bathing and nail trimming. But eventually, Danny emerged. We couldn't recognise him.

What I like was that Danny was never left alone at any point. He was also dried with a hair dryer instead of being chucked into drying cage and left alone.

Despite having two other dogs waiting, Bryan still took the time to do a great job. I was initially told that the grooming would take about 1.5 hours, but because of his matted fur, it took a total of 2.5 hours in the end.

Mom still likes him to be messy and shaggy. She was trying her best to convince me not to "waste my money on grooming". She thinks that dogs shouldn't look all prissy and neat, and that now he looks like a Dandy, not a Danny.

But she's outnumbered. Rhoda, Dad, hubby and I all think he looks so much better and a heck of a lot cuter! Dad said that he never realise that Danny had so much white fur.

Before

After

Oh yeah, I discovered one bad thing about getting your dog neutered...Bryan thought he was a girl! We spent the rest of the afternoon calling him Danielle.

A method to his madness

2009-11-14T16:17:00.000+08:00

It is a known fact that Dannys are expert grabbers. Mainly opportunistic by nature, they are constantly on the look out for interesting artifacts unguarded by their owners. However, once something piques their curiosity, they will endeavour to reach it at all costs.

This recent footage unveils a Danny in action, providing rare insight into the grabbing strategies of these curiously annoying creatures.

Target in sight

First attempt - unsuccessful
Second attempt - would have been successful if it wasn't for owner

Leave ... like real

2009-11-11T15:28:00.000+08:00

One of the things we are trying to teach Danny is the command "Leave". One of the main things that makes him a naughty little fuzziod is his habit of grabbing things he knooooows he shouldn't, and promptly chomping on them.

The command is to be given when he's about to grab something and he should stop. Unfortunately, the command only works when you're watching him like a hawk and really quick with your hands. If not ...

Which is why I didn't bring him along to my friend's birthday party in Pasir Ris over the weekend. I was all prepared to but then I started having visions of him grabbing and chewing stuff he shouldn't, like the birthday cake or the food table or the BBQ pit.

Oh Danny, if only you knew the fun you could have if you were good...

Was blind but now I see...

2009-11-08T14:56:00.005+08:00

After five ungroomed months, Danny was starting to look quite poofy. While it was fun stroking and playing with him, his vision was starting to get quite limited.

He wasn't exactly running into walls but he was peering between fur for a view of the world, and eventually, even Lance commented that he couldn't see.

After a long hard search, I made an appointment with Bark and Bubbles for a grooming session but since it's in end-November, Rhoda decided that being blind for another month wasn't in his best interest. So, during bath time one day, she whipped up a pair of scissors and ...

Paranoid Owner

2009-10-26T21:34:00.008+08:00

[Caution: Long post.]

Oh yay, oh yay! I am sooo relieved!!!

I never realised how much Chassard's biting incident affected me until I took Danny to the vet for his op. At the clinic, he sniffed a Shettie and started growling. Hubby took him to one side, but when a Westie came out of the clinic, he growled and started lunging. Later, even in his drugged out hazy state, he sniffed and then growled fiercely at a Corgi who was minding his own business.

Every other dog was so well behaved and everyone at the vet was staring at him. I started having flashbacks of when Chassard would fight with the neighbours' dogs and people would come knocking on our door with a list of complaints. The vet's assistant said that maybe Danny wasn't well socialised when very young.

I felt like a terrible owner, especially since I read up on dog aggression and knew the importance of socialisation. For that reason alone, I had sent him for puppy class just so he could mix. I knew at 9 months, the window for socialisation had long closed (ideal is up to 16 weeks). I felt that maybe I hadn't done enough, that I should have brought him to the dog run, took him on dog play dates, blah, blah.

I don't like comparing having a dog to being a mom cos I think parenting is 100 times more demanding and sacrificial, but I had a micro-experience of how it's like when the school calls and says your kid was bullying other kids in the playground.

When we hit home, I called Lance, Danny's trainer, and asked if he could bring along one or two well-behaved dogs for his next lesson so I could get his advice on the situation. For the whole week, I tried not to think about it. Whenever I did, I would start wondering whether he would attack the trainer's dog.

The problem with me is that the more I think about something, the worse it becomes. I pictured Danny becoming a violent, vicious dog that had to be locked in a cage and fed with a stick.

Well, his training session is just over. Lance brought along his golden retreiver which has got to be the best dog in the world. And Danny? Danny didn't make one single growl. Instead he kept sniffing the big dog all over and wanted to play.

Lance said his socialisation skills were fine. The problem was that we were pulling on the leash which caused him to instinctively pull in return and growl. For the meet and greet, it should be loose leash, no tension if not, they would sense anxiety. The idea is for Danny to be relaxed to do his doggie stuff.

When left to their own devices, dogs wouldn't fight. Like humans, dogs like some dogs and dislike others. If they didn't like the other dog, they would simply stare at a certain distance and ignore each other. If the owner is there, however, the dog will think that he's got his pack with him and attack. Once a dog gets used to fighting, he will start thinking that every dog he meets, he should fight. (Which is also one reason why dogs need to socialise with well-mannered dogs.)

The verdict? Danny is simply too full of energy and extremely playful.

Still, to be extra certain, next session, Lance will be bringing the naughtiest of his dogs to meet Danny.

"I destroy personal property and reck people's lives, but I'm polite!"

"PS. I need a haircut."

UPDATE: For the last lesson, Lance didn't bring his dog along as he wanted to focus on other areas. But on one of his walks, Danny met a chow chow and a husky...and everything was perfect!

Back to the drawing board

2009-10-26T16:12:00.003+08:00

The day I've been dreading has finally arrived.

For the last few months, we have been enjoying toilet-trained Danny. We could let him out all around the house and as long as we have a paper out, he'd go on it like some expert marksman. No more worrying about stepping on ;"something wet", or needing to keep bottles of vinegar handy. It was a dream come true.

And all of a sudden, literally overnight, it was back to square one. At first I thought we forgot to give him paper; then, I realised there was a huge wad on the balcony all nice and dry. He now is back to going wherever and whenever he feels like it, and even when he is confined, he will pick the spot WITHOUT paper.

Why? Well, back in puppy class, Danny's first trainer was teaching us about toilet training. It was about confining him to one area and getting him used to having the feel of paper under his feet to do his stuff. We were all happily taking notes, when she said that unfortunately, despite all efforts, when dogs hit 9-11 months, they will untoilet-train themselves. A huge sigh went up. It is sort of like they hit their teenage phase and become rebellious, wanting to test whatever they've been taught. Toilet-training will have to be restarted and once we win that battle, we would have won the war.

Danny is now a week short of 9 months. For the last week every non-papered place has been fair game. We've dusted off our toilet training notes and geared up for Round 2.

*Ding ding!*

Donations of kitchen towels and disinfectant are welcome.

Post-Op Danny

2009-10-22T21:36:00.000+08:00

Danny's back to being all happy and sappy again. A real far cry from the sad little thing on Sunday. He's now having his movement restricted cos the vet said that running, jumping, etc., would aggravate the wound.

He's still not too used to the collar. Just yesterday, he tried to go under a chair and the collar got stuck. He just went ahead anyway and ended up dragging the chair with him.

Still, he seems to be taking it in his stride.

His mouth is wet here cos he was drinking water.

The silver lining for him is that he doesn't need to bathe for 2 weeks. So not looking forward to that!

Groggy Doggy

2009-10-21T15:32:00.000+08:00

Sent Danny for eunuch-ization over the weekend. When I picked him up, he was seriously drugged out. He didn't even look at me when the vet's assistant handed him over. After that he totted and swayed his way to the car. It was only halfway home that it suddenly occured to him to check that he was with the right guys. He jerked his head up and took a good hard look at me. Satisfied, he settled back down to sleep.

Back home, he was the saddest-looking thing. I wonder if he knew something was missing. It was also his first time with the collar and he kept bumping into things.

All in all, it was a rough, weird sort of morning for him, and he wasn't in the mood to entertain the camera. He kept looking away and eventually, he made his feelings very known:

The rest of the afternoon was spent in La La Land. Even when he woke up, he was nice, quiet and placid.

For once, I had the best dog in the world...

A dog owner's best friend

2009-10-18T14:38:00.007+08:00

By now, I think everyone knows Danny is one extremely hyper dog. He has been officially labelled as "very naughty" by both his trainers, and even under strict training we are just barely lowering the grade to "naughty".

Just yesterday, he snuck into my room, grabbed my brand new chiffon blouse with satin trimming right out of the bag, and dragged it into the living room for us to give chase. Thankfully he didn't do any damage save for some drool, and thankfully for him, it was on clearance.

I recently discovered a way of wearing out some of that boundless energy. And it's all thanks to this:

Yes, the humble tennis ball.

Ping pong balls only last a minute and simple dog toy balls cost a good $5 at the store. I got him a set of 3 tennis balls at Cash Converters for only $1. They've been used before but Friend Dan doesn't care.

Directions for use:
1) Locate a good flight of stairs.
2) Bounce ball to get Dog's attention and then pitch it down the stairs.
3) As Dog scampers after ball, prepare second ball in hand.
4) Just as Dog reaches top of stairs with ball in mouth, send second ball flying down the stairs. Dog should automatically drop first ball and chase Ball 2. (Note: If Dog does not drop Ball 1, wave Ball 2 frantically in front of Dog until Dog released Ball 1.)
5) Repeat until Dog looks like this:

6) After which, you can read the papers, have breakfast, paint your nails, etc., and not have to worry about what Dog is up to.

Variations: For owner's amusement, you may consider releasing three balls at once in different directions.

Side effect: You may experience constant background panting from Dog which you'll eventually get used to. This is normal and indicates that Dog is in operation.

Note: When panting stops, it signifies the need to repeat process. Ignoring this may result in destruction of property and personal artifacts (e.g., chiffon blouse with satin trimming).

Caution: Continuing process after Dog has reached tongue-lolling state may result in Dog producing partially digested stomach contents. This may occur without warning.

This may also result in hubby scolding you for over-stimulating Dog and being a lousy owner.

List of Sins

2009-10-11T17:00:00.004+08:00

Whew! The last few months have been busy, busy, busy. My brother's wedding is just over, I came down with the flu twice, and now, things are seriously heating up at work. Still, I had really good fun at the wedding. (My handphone pics didn't come out well but I'll see if I can get some good shots to upload later.)

Incidentally, Danny's been having a great time too. The last few weeks can be summed up in the following list.

1) Stole my lunch off the table and ate it in front of me. Was kind enough to leave behind the mashed potatoes and fries for me though. (He just ate the chicken).

2) Chewed up dad's socks.

3) Chewed up dad's shoes.

4) Chewed up mom's slippers.

5) Grabbed a brand new carton of eggs and ran around the dining room, breaking three eggs in the process. Had eggs for tea.

6) Grabbed a whole loaf of bread off the table and ate everything save for three slices. Kept one slice hidden in a corner so he could bite it and dance in front of us when we appeared.

7) Almost managed to pull a hunk of raw beef off the kitchen counter (which was meant to be our dinner).

8) Chewed up dad's new socks.

9) Chewed up mom's new slippers.

10) Spent several afternoons redocorating the living and dining rooms with rubbish.

11) Jumped on mom's bed and got hold of her eye cushion. Tore it apart in the living room, leaving grains all over the floor and carpet.

12) Chewed up a container of cockroach bait. Thankfully the roaches got to it first.

13) Jumped on the sofa and pulled off all the cushions.

14) Grabbed documents dad brought back from work and made everyone chase him around the house for them - right in front of the trainer.

15) Took off on my leg leaving me with a long scratch and three bruises.

16) Dug holes in the garden and tracked the mud and soil all over the house.

17) Chewed up mom's friend's drawing from Bible study class.

18) Act cute and innocent when we try to smack him.

And right now mom's telling him what a good boy he is.

Fake Schnauzer?

2009-09-23T21:46:00.000+08:00

When Danny's trainer first saw him, he asked if I was sure if he was a schnauzer. He said he looked more like a terrier mix because his snout is a bit too short. That got me wondering. I started observing other schanuzers and realised that their snouts are longer than Dan's.

Take this photo, for example,...

...And compare it with Danny. Doesn't it look like there's about 1/2 inch missing?

Well, there were a couple of times Danny fell bang on his face but I doubt that would stunt its growth. Another theory is that Danny's still a puppy and there'll be some snout growth hormone that'll kick in later. But I kinda prefer him like this. I've always liked terriers and wanted a silky but mom threw a tantrum at the pet store and demanded we bring Danny home.

He didn't come with papers, and we didn't think of asking. We just took the shop owner's word that he was in every possible dimension a schnauzer. Then again, we also took his word that he would be a nice quiet dog, (RAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Good one!) which demonstrates what suckers we are.

Anyhow, I really don't mind. Danny the fake Schnauzer - full of character, and gives me more than enough stories to keep blogging.

Back in training

2009-09-21T21:08:00.007+08:00

Phew! With my brother's wedding coming up in just two weeks and my annual report kicking into production, all I want to do when I hit home is lounge. Still, despite the chaos, we decided that Danny needed personalised attention and so we called in Chassard's old trainer.

I'll be frank. The puppy class Danny went for previously was a complete disaster. The class used the soft approach which may work for more timid dogs, but for rambunctious, hyperactive, no-holds-barred Danny, it was a waste of $200. All we got from it was toilet training and how to get him to sit. Danny's baaaaad habits were still completely intact. Every morning and evening, the neighbourhood has been treated to a variety of ear-splitting shrieks we came to call Danny's Symphony in E minor.

He has also been chewing everything in sight, including...

Yes, even his leashes aren't spared (sorry Gerry, this is the one you gave Chassard). In the short four months since he arrived, he managed to completely chew through two leashes, leaving one in four pieces and the other....well, the other we just managed to find the handle. I eventually bought him a metal leash. I'd love to see him get through that one!

Anyway, after a month's wait, the trainer came last week. Lance trains both dogs and horses, and takes a completely no nonsense approach with them. Any toe out of line is quickly whipped back - unfortunately, same goes for the owner. He lost no time in telling us that all his bad behaviour is our fault cos we haven't been correcting him or have been inconsistent.

Mom and Rhoda have both been condoning Danny's nipping habit. Mom would call them "Danny's love bites" and tell me to stop scolding him. Now, every "love bite" gets a smack on the snout.

Straining and pulling on the leash gets corrected with a quick tug on the choke chain...yes you heard right - a choke chain. I hesitated in getting Lance for the longest time because he uses the choke chain for some behaviour correction. I didn't (and still don't) like the sound of it and even the guy at the pet shop gave me a look when I bought it. (Hey, he sells it , right???) Plus, I read somewhere that Schnauzers take better to "soft" training. (Haha. I know better now.)

The truth is, it's only been one lesson, and Danny's improved by 10 fold - no kidding. He now sits quietly waiting for us to finish dinner before getting his, even without any toys. On walks, he follows our pace and walks right by us. It's some kind of a miracle.

We can't wait for the next lesson.

Fetch

2009-09-04T14:55:00.001+08:00

One piece of advice a veteran schnauzer owner had was "Always keep one step ahead of your schnauzer. They are very smart dogs, so if you're not careful, they will out-wit you."

With Danny, I think we've long lost that battle. During dinner, he is leashed to his corner which overlooks the stairs heading to the basement. We leave him with some toys so he doesn't get bored.

However, our friend has turned it into a far bigger entertainment than we anticipated. It began with him nicely chewing his toy and then with a flick of his head, he would toss it just out of his reach. He would then put up a huge show of trying to get it back, before launching into a series of desperate yelps. This would result in one of us stopping dinner and getting his toy for him.

In another 5 minutes of so, he would do it again.

Annoying as that was, he soon devised an advanced level to his game. This time, he would toss the toy on the stairs, and watch it crash and bang its way down. Then, his tail stump still twitching, he would turn to us, "Did ya see that?! I need it back now, please." If we ignored him, the whining and yelping would start.

One evening, while I was on my third trip downstairs, my brother commented that he was teaching me to fetch. I froze, turned around and headed back up the stairs without his ball. I ignored Danny's excited "Did ya get it?" face and went back to my dinner.

He's so not training me!

One ungroomed schnauzer...

2009-08-30T13:32:00.000+08:00

Okay, I know that schnauzers are one breed that do need grooming. All the schnauzers I see around all have that "old man" look. Danny had that too when we first brought him home.

Now when I look back at this shot, Danny actually has sort of a weird alien look. Sort of like Stitch. It's the typical Schnauzer look which, quite frankly, I never really liked. After 4 ungroomed months with us, he now looks like this:

And there no sign that he's ever going back to being a neat dog again. We brush him down and bathe him regularly, but to us, he looks more like a dog with his fur all long and scruffy. I just think dogs look a lot cuter when they are not so manicured and prissy.

And it's not just schnauzers.

For example:

And to seal my point...

I read somewhere that ungroomed schnauzers will eventually look like small Old English Sheepdogs. I think we're going to find out ...

Future Danny?

Peeping Dan

2009-08-27T12:47:00.001+08:00

Forget peeping tom. The latest offender in the Chew family is Danny. He hasn't been charged as he is still a minor.

The scene of the crime is the ground floor bathroom.

His favourite victim? Mum.

Background info: When we can't keep an eye on him, we normally leash Danny to the railing near the balcony. We give him a fairly long leash which allows him to reach the bathroom door. Which brings me to yesterday.

I came home to find mum complaining about the dog having loose morals. It turns out that in the last week, every time mum uses the bathroom, Danny would er... interfere. Even though she takes care to close the door properly, Danny has managed to figure out certain "pressure points" to effectively nudge it open.

Once it is slightly ajar, he would poke his face round the corner and peek in all curious-like with the "so whatcha' doing in there?" look. Mum would shout at him to go away, but Danny is one dog that is oblivious to screams.

After several encounters, mum has now taken to walking all the way upstairs when she needs to go.

"Whatcha doin'?"

Sweet Thief

2009-08-24T12:13:00.000+08:00

A description of schnauzers in a dog encyclopedia states that they are not fussy eaters. Danny takes this to a whole new level. Danny eats everything...even things that no dog in his right mind would like.

His most recent discovery are ginger sweets. And I'm not even talking about sweets with a hint of ginger; I'm talking eyes watering, mouth on fire ginger sweets.

I found a box of those in the pharmacy and bought them for mum. They were chewy too which mum absolutely loves. She put them in her bag and placed the bag on the stairs while she went to get something.

When she returned she found this:

Front view

Back view

Danny had fished it out of her bag, torn the box open, and was finishing up his second sweet by the time she found him. Each sweet is individually wrapped and the wierdest thing is that he had carefully removed the wrapper before consumption.

Still, he was kind enough to leave a few behind for us. All I could stomach was one, and I could feel it burning in my mouth.

I'm surprised he wasn't sick after that.

Yipes! Time flies!

2009-08-21T09:57:00.003+08:00

Goodness! It's been two weeks since my last post! I've been extremely busy, busy, busy with work, finishing up Spanish class, doing up my brother's guest book for his wedding, and recording the song I wrote for him and future wife. I've also been working on some new songs. No idea what in the world I'll do with them, but it's been good fun!

Danny's been up to more rubbish. You know, the funny thing is that when I first held Danny at the shop, I called him a silly rubbish dog. It was a term I used on Chass when he was deperately trying all ways and means to get attention. Danny, however, appears to have taken the term quite literally.

He's learnt how to open the lid of the kitchen bin with his nose, and fish out whatever smells good. He will then carry it to wherever we are sitting and gnaw it in front of us. Humph. Show-Off.

Now whenever things are a little too quiet, we'll drop everything and head to the kitchen.

We need a taller bin.

Danny-long-legs

2009-08-06T22:05:00.000+08:00

Danny has a set of really long legs. He's my first schnauzer so I don't know if it's common with the breed but they seem a little...disproportionate.

He's like a spider with such gangly trotters. But when it comes to waiting on the stairs though, he's almost human. The silkies could sit nicely on one step, while Chassard would simply stand and wait. Danny, however, will sit with his legs on one step and his butt resting on the one above it, kinda like how we would sit.

It's been months but we still find it funny.

Tubby Puppy

2009-08-04T21:42:00.000+08:00

I've been giving excuses and brushing it aside, but there's no denying it. Danny is getting fat.

He's always been a greedy dog which has been absolutely wonderful for training, but between getting two full meals a day and the tidbits mom sneaks to him, he's been putting on some.

I took some ariel shots of him lying down and...

Taa-daah! Check out his curves, man! Different days, but he still looks like he needs a good slim wrap.

One satisfied customer...

19 nails and counting...

2009-08-01T20:43:00.005+08:00

Yesterday, Danny was let off his leash. Ever the hyper active schnauzer, he took off like a race horse. He shot around the dining room, scampering under chairs and racing through the kitchen.

Somewhere around the 10th lap, mom heard a loud yelp. She rushed over to find him hobbling about on three legs with blood dripping all over the kitchen floor. She tried her best to calm him down as she and Rhoda hunted for the source.

Their investigations churned out this:

It appears that as he was in fifth gear, he dashed past a metal rail on the floor and one toenail got caught in it. Totally unaware and unable to stop, the nail ripped off, leaving Danny with badly bleeding paw.

Mom tried to stem the bleeding by applying a rubberband to his paw as a sort of weird doggie tourniquet. It didn't work. Rhoda kept asking for him to be brought to the vet.

I was happily driving down Orchard Road on my way to meet a friend for drinks when I received the frantic SOS. At first I thought something had happened to my dad (daddy and Danny sound alike - see previous post), but I relaxed a little when I realised it was the dog AND it was a damaged toenail, not toe.

Being the wonderful, caring owner that I am, I told mum that if he wasn't fine by the next day, I'd bring him to the vet, but there was no way I wasn't going to miss my beer binge. Mum muttered something about him missing a toenail for life thanks to a lousy owner before she unceremoniously put the phone down on me.

I wasn't too worried because when I was six, I lost my toenail when my brother (who was suppooosed to be babysitting me) slammed the door on my left foot. The entire nail on my big toe broke off and I was nailess for about two months. I had blood pouring from the toe and when my parents came back, they simply bandaged it in tissues until it stopped bleeding. No doctor, no meds, no fuss.

I figured that if I lived, he'd be fine.

When I got back, I went straight to see him. The bleeding had stopped and he was his happy, sappy self.

The whole of today, he has been the best dog ever since he came. He was nice and quiet, didn't make a peep when he was left on his own. Gone was the mad rush about the house, the ripping of paper and sneaking to the garbage bin for snacks. He even stopped nipping completely.

Everyone loved him and we figure it's because his paw is still hurting him. He walks about normally but he licks at the wound occasionally.

I know it's terrible, terrible, terrible of me to say this but....he really is a nicer dog when he's in pain.

"Aww...whaddaya want? My paw hurts!"

"Quality" time with mom

2009-07-27T17:12:00.000+08:00

The other day, Danny was driving mom insane. For some reason, he was extra, extra hyper. Mom was trying to work on the computer and he was dashing about, chewing on things and leaving half-eaten bits of tissue all over the place.

She decided to tie him up until he calmed down a bit. Can someone say "Bad idea"? Danny launched into a series of high pitched yelps punctuated by the occasional howl.

Mom got so upset she started howling back. It didn't work. If anything, he squealed even louder. I think Danny was just glad to have a partner.

Mom was determined to sap his energy. She put on her running shoes and set off on a brisk walk all around the estate. She and Danny went up-slope, down-slope and round the park for a good half hour before mom decided Danny looked sufficiently de-energised.

The moment they entered the porch, Danny stopped in his tracks and started to arch. Thinking he was about to poop, she quickly shoved some newspaper beneath his bum. It came out the other end instead.

Danny spent the rest of the evening with his belly flat on the floor. He didn't even get up when I reached home.

After he gobbled up all his dinner though, he was back to normal.

Parties = Happy Dog

2009-07-25T18:48:00.000+08:00

Some time in June, we had Ka Lic's birthday bash at my place. There was loads of food from Pizza Hut and KFC. Ka Lic, you see, is this huge KFC nut.

Just about the whole gang turned up....

Louis and Shine made a special appearance...

...Even Angie joined us via Skype from New York... and we were showing her what she was missing. Mean, no? :D

While Isaac was hard at work ...

...the birthday boy was guarding his cake.

Danny, of course, was one happy dog. You could see it on his face "So many people, so little time!" He was still teething at the time and just about everyone got a mouthful from him...including poor Louis. Yunita was carrying him at the time and Danny jumped up and nipped his dangling feet.

He doesn't even spare toddlers.

Danny acting nice to Isaac.

Cozying up to Fran and David.

"Finally! Don't think anyone's looking...maybe just one nibble...."

The highlight of Danny's evening was his very first taste of KFC. He hauled a couple of eaten wings out of the trash and knawed on the wing tips. I had to pry open his mouth to get them out.

Looks like KFC could have their very first spokesdog.

I'm getting exercised

2009-07-23T12:00:00.001+08:00

The best part about having hyper-active Danny around is the amount of exercise my jelly-like muscles are getting.

Yesterday, Danny was tethered to the railing near the kitchen when everyone went off one-by-one. Instead of squeaking like he normally does, he propped himself up on his hindlegs and unhooked himself.

Then, knowing all the humans go upstairs to roost, he trotted up and started sniffing at the gap below the room door.

He was estatic when I opened the door...hubby was not quite so happy and promptly brought him down.

To keep him quiet and busy, I figured I should attempt wearing him out. Sensing this, Danny decided on Catch. For some reason, he insisted on running around and around the dining table with me chasing him. It was making me dizzy.

So, I decided on a more dignified approach. He likes to follow people, so I headed down the stairs to the basement and he sped past me. By the time I reached the bottom, he was waiting for me. I immediately made an about-turn and headed back up.

I did about 10 over sets of up and down before he conked out on the floor, panting away and refusing to budge.

I was quite pleased with my efforts. However, in about 10 minutes, he was up and ready to have another go.

I, on the other hand, ended the evening with a cramp in my butt.

Thanks to Danny, in another month or so I should be the proud owner of a nicely toned tush.

What's my name again?

2009-07-22T12:00:00.002+08:00

Still on the subject of names, one of the things we were taught in puppy class was how to teach your dog his name. Dogs don't understand English so it's not like you can go "Your name is Rover, okay? Geddit?"

They have to learn that a certain sound is their name by association.

Step 1: Have some treats nearby and call your dog. Just one time. The reason is because if your dog hears "Rover! Rover! Rover!", he thinks his name is "Roverorverrover". There's a good chance he won't respond, so after that...

Step 2: Make a lot of noise. Clap, tap something, whistle. Stuff that would attract his attention. If that still fails...

Step 3: Walk up to him holding the treat. Push it in front of his nose so he can smell it. Lead him back to where you were and then give it to him.

And repeat.

Danny, being the greedy, bottomless pit that he is, took very well to the treats. A very good thing, too. Remember how he's this hyper-active dog? Now, whenever he's tearing up the house and driving us crazy, hubby and I will go get a handful of treats each. I'll head to the basement and we'll start calling him.

The first time I called him, he dashed down the stairs so fast he rounded the corner, skidded, crashed straight into the door, shook his head a couple of times and made a beeline for his treat.

By the fourth of fifth time, he was down to trotting. By the time we were done, so was he.

I love training, don't you?

What's my name?

2009-07-20T18:01:00.002+08:00

I never really gave much thought to my dog's names. Generally me and the family just picked whatever caught our fancy and that was it. So far it's been names that most people wouldn't dream of using on people: Trakker, Chassard, Victri,.... Danny is the exception, thanks to my hubby, who is a whole lot saner than the rest of us.

As it was, I was doing a little read up about dog names and realised that there are actually a couple of guidelines when it comes to naming a dog.

1) The name should ideally be two syllables. Why? One syllable words are usually commands, for example, "sit", "down", "stay". Naming a dog Bob, for example, could confuse him into thinking you're giving him a command. And, any name longer than two syllables are hard for dogs to process.

In Trakker's case, the two syllable rule worked too well. It hit a point where we could call whatever two syllable word we wanted, as long as we used the same tone, our friend would come running. No kidding. "Furball", "Fat Butt", "Armpit" all worked wonders.

2) The name should not sound like anyone's in the family or the dog could get confused; ie you could be calling for "Bobby" but Poppy arrives instead of your bro.

Unfortunately, by the time I discovered this rule, we had already named Danny. "Danny", you see, rhymes with "Daddy".

The good news is that Danny doesn't seem to get mixed up. The problem, however, is that when we call "Danny", Daddy comes running.

Puppy class 4: Graduation

2009-07-15T00:00:00.000+08:00

Thing's went only slightly better on the 4th and final lesson. Danny was still humping and still struggling and still growling...so much so, he earned the class' first TIME-OUT session.

Especially after the previous week's disaster, I have no idea how he could possibly be considered to graduate. I guess it's like kindergarten where no matter what you do, you can't flunk out.

So by default .....

Bottomline is that we decided this guy needs intensive tuition. We have quite a bit of leftover lessons with Chassard's previous trainer, so we decided to carry on with him. These will be one-on-one and this trainer is completely no nonsense... especially on the owners

Good luck us.

Puppy Class 3: Delinquent dog

2009-07-12T21:04:00.007+08:00

In my previous post, I said the 3rd puppy class was an absolute failure. Why? Hmm... where to begin? I know. Let's start with this. Can you tell what this speck is?

It's a tooth, in particular a canine. Here's a closer look:

It dropped out during class. He's teething, so what's the fuss, right? I'll tell you what the fuss is.

During class, the owners are to hold on to their puppies while the trainer explains stuff. ADHD wouldn't sit still. When I persisted, he growled and BIT ME. I got a scratch but he lost a tooth.

So loser, right?

That's not all. During play time, he decided to hump Coco...and he wouldn't stop! Coco's owner said Danny was molesting her dog. Kept asking me how old he is. I think she was afraid Coco will get preggers. Super malu, can?

Good thing the trainer said that it's normal and that it what puppies do to "prepare for what they need to do next time." Hope she's right, although I still think I'm raising a chee ko pei dog.

(Note to self: Get Danny fixed next month.)

And the mark of any delinquent: he's a bad influence. For session 1 & 2, all the other dogs were nice and quiet. This round, Ally and Coco started struggling too. Not only that, Ally started barking with Danny during class ... and she's the shy one!

Bad habits are easier to pick up?

Latch-key puppy

2009-07-06T12:39:00.007+08:00

Phew! Been really, really busy in the last week. I have lots of Danny news but just haven't had the time to blog. We just had Puppy class 3 over the weekend and it was a total, outright disaster!

No, not exaggerating ... really. I'll detail it in a seperate post but the result of the disaster is that Danny gets to spend more time with us. Why? Basically delinquent kid = neglected child. My mom's a former vice principal, so the solution came to her quite easily.

But the truth is we haven't been spending very much time with the fuzzball. On days when i come home late, I don't even get to see him at all. The main culprits are Dad, his yelping and toilet training (or rather the lack of it).

Allow me to give you the background.

Dad
When Danny first came, we turned the kitchen toilet into his room. It worked pretty well. We could let him out and chuck him back in for his "business" quite easily. The only person who wasn't happy with the arrangement was my dad.

For some reason, dad must do his own "business" in that same toilet. Nevermind that his room has an attached toilet. Nevermind that he may be snug in bed watching TV. When he needs to go, he will pop out of his room, walk down one flight of stairs and head all the way to Danny's room for a poop.

After a couple of times, he decided that Danny smelt worse than he did (yeah right!). So Danny was chucked into the basement where he sleeps between Rhoda's room and the gate to the garden.

(Lack of) Toilet Training
Toilet training calls for us to confine him in one area until he gets used to using the newspaper, and then slowly increase his space. Having too much space at one time confuses the puppy. Thus he was restricted to his basement corner unless we could supervise him.

However, Danny is fast. I'll be wondering "Is he about to..." and TA-DAAH!. Most guides on paper training will tell you that puppies will sniff the ground area and squat before they go. So not Danny.

Problem is that the living and dining areas of our house have granite flooring which absorbs any liquid that drops on it. ANY liquid.

In addition, the living room has a couple of carpets which Danny has started taking a shine to.

After having far more misses than hits, Danny has been tethered to a leash and surrounded with paper whenever he comes up. (It's also great for us cos he was a very nippy dog and the arrangement helps save our ankles.)

Doing clean up when you're rushing in the mornings isn't exactly our idea of fun. Hence we see him for only an hour at night, cos Rhoda rushes him down after dinner in case he messes up.

Yelping
Being alone in the confines of his basement corner doesn't making him very happy. He would yelp for his breakfast (begins at 6am), yelp for his dinner (starts around 7pm) and yelp when we come home. Danny's trainer told us to ignore him and only go to him when he is quiet. The reason is that if we go to him when he is noisy, he will learn that yelping works and do it more.

Problem is our friend can go on for a whole hour or more. Which means a whole hour or more of no Danny time.

The result of all this is that we don't see Danny as often as we should. I felt really bad. And especially since his toilet training's been improving, I decided to make it up to him.

On Sunday, I wanted to watch some DVDs. Instead of watching it in the troublesome living room, I laid out newspapers here and there in the basement, placed kitchen paper on standby, put out some of his treats and brought out a couple of his favourite toys. I even put a whole dollop of peanut butter into his Kong. It took me a good 20 minutes to prepare everything before I let him out. I was still wondering if I would need to chuck him back in 10 minutes.

But everything went really great. Three out of four was on the paper (woohoo!). Danny polished off the peanut butter and munched his toys. Later, I paused the movie and we played catching until he was really tired. When I restarted the movie, he lay down right next to me and fell asleep.

He's really sweet when he's not yelping or nipping or actively destroying something. I think I'll try something else tonight. Maybe a walk in the park....

Puppy Class 2: ADHD Danny

2009-06-30T00:00:00.006+08:00

Introducing the Class of June '09. Ahem.

Coco, the red poodle: Danny's best buddy and partner in crime. Isn't she a sweetie?

Ally, the American Cocker Spaniel: She's the belle of the class with gorgeous fur and a personality to match.

Coffee, the Silky Terrier: The cutest lil' thing you ever saw. He's the smallest of the lot but he can hold his own just fine!

.

.

.

And of course there's Danny, the Attention Deficit Hyperactive Dog.

Puppy class 2 went decidedly worse than the first. To begin with, Danny was late. By the time he arrived, all his classmates had already done one play session and were settled nicely on their owners' laps. Danny, on the other hand, was all geared up to play and refused to sit still.

He eventually got to play of course, and got more than he bargained for when, at the end of class, a 6-month-old Labradoodle named (what else?) Doodle came in. Danny started barking up a storm and I had to distract him with treats. And then even treats failed when Doodle barked back.

According to the trainer, it's just a sign that they want to play and not one of aggression.

When we let them all go for the final play session, Danny was the only one who dared to play with Doodle (he's 3 times Danny's size, 4 if you include the fur). Ally's owner says it's cool that he's so confident. The trainer calls him obnoxious.

Either way, I'm stuck with him.

Recharging before the next ruckus.

Ear progression

2009-06-28T11:28:00.007+08:00

I've been meaning to blog about this for the longest time, and would have forgotten if it hadn't been for Gerry. If you've been following the Danny posts, you may have noticed something interesting about his ears.

Gerry certainly did. She recently commented that he looked different now and finally figured it was something to do with his ears.

When we first got him, his ears looked like this (ignore the mess, please):

One ear is bent forward, while the tip of the other is tilted back. I kept telling him to make up his mind about it. After a couple of weeks, I returned home to find him looking like this:

His right ear is still headed back, but his left one is completely upright. Personally I think that way they look rather disproportionate to his head. but all the better for hearing, right?

So I thought that he had decided on going straight (no pun intended). But then a week later, I reached home to find this:

Yes, I know he hasn't been groomed since he came back from the pet shop, but check it out: I've got a floppy-eared dog! First time in my life too!

My colleague, Shirley, has a 10-year-old schnauzer and she told me I'm quite lucky, cos that's the typical look of the breed. Her schnauzer's ears are completely erect. She even tried sticking blu-tack to his ears to weigh them down, but he just shook them off and sent bits of the blue stuff flying across the room.

Appearantly some people also try taping coins to the tips of the ears in an effort to get them to flop down. If all else fails and they're stuck with a straight-eared schnauzer, some owners take them to the vet to get their ears cropped to reduce the satelite-dish effect.

They already have their tails cropped, now the ears?!?

Ouch.

Puppy Class 1: Meet and Greet and Puppy Treats

2009-06-26T00:00:00.000+08:00

When we got Danny, we decided that we would start him off on the right foot, and promptly signed him up for 4 sessions of puppy class with PuppyLove. We decided on a group class so he would meet other puppies and get some solid play time in.

Let's face it, we're pretty boring to play with. The moment he starts nipping or scratching, we go NO and walk off. It's happened so often he was beginning to think his name was Dannyno.

Anyway, he had his first official class on Saturday. He has 3 classmates: a cocker spaniel, a poodle and the smallest, cutest silky terrier.

It was the first time he has seen other dogs since his pet shop days but, according to the trainer, he still has good manners.

Step 1: Everybody sniff the front
"How y'all doing?"

Step 2: Everybody sniff the back

"Ooh! You had slippers for supper! Yum!"

Step 3: Run around and drive the humans crazy

The poodle's Coco, and she's Danny's best friend in class.

We also learnt how to get them to sit and teach them their names, or in Danny's case, unteach him his name. PuppyLove's methods all involve positive reinforcement which mean lots of treats. Danny like!

Actually Danny like a bit too much. Every other puppy was sitting patiently on their owner's lap waiting their turn to practice. But Danny was determined to sample every treat in the house. It took all I had to hold him steady, and it drove him absolutely mad when other dogs didn't get to their treat fast enough.

The worst was when Coco drop her treat right by my foot, and I refused to let him have it.

By the end of the session, Danny was pooped. It was first time he sat quietly anywhere. You wouldn't have known there was a dog around.

After 10 minutes in the car....

After 20 minutes...

ZZzzzz.....

One doggie bag coming right up!

2009-06-24T21:13:00.013+08:00

Danny's packet of Science Diet ran out. I've been itching to try Orijen so I decided that even though their puppy chow contains chicken, I'd get a bag. However, the only one they had at the store was the BIG one.

I needn't have worried. Turns out Danny loves Orijen. Can you tell?

Psst...don't tell SPCA, but aren't you just itching to shove the whole dog in?

"Don't mess with me and my puppy chow!"

Hmm...maybe I can get Orijen to sponsor him. Anyone know their marketing guys?

Ode to a Fat Black Dog

2009-06-22T17:32:00.002+08:00

I was digging through some files when I found this poem I drafted some time ago about Chassard. It really happened.

Angie had a big fat dog

His fur was as black as coal

And everywhere the black dog went

Chaos was sure to go.

She took him to the park one day

When it was bright and sunny

He dove into a flowering bush

And came out looking funny.

They walked home past a petrol kiosk

The pump guys started laughing

"What happened to your dog?" one asked

Where should she begin telling?

When they reached home she took a brush

And brushed him till he shone

And then she said, "If you try that again,

You'll wish you were never born."

"Erm...sorry?"

The fishing expedition

2009-06-18T04:59:00.000+08:00

Danny likes to chase anything small that moves. Balls, birds, fingers, toes are all fair game.

He's also one curious little bugger. Everyday when Rhoda makes her rounds about the garden, he'll tag along. It's hard to predict where he'll be, so this often means he gets watered along with the plants.

One morning though, he peeked over a small ledge, discovered the garden's tiny pond and spotted it's even tinier goldfish. They move about in a clumsy fashion which allows light to shine off them as they half waddle half swim.

It was a dream come true.

It only took a second for his brain to process before he leapt off the ledge and got an unexpected mouthful of water. Rhoda eventually found him mournfully treading water and fished him out.

Needless to say, the goldfish darted off and Danny got nothing for his trouble except a load of wet fur and his first swimming lesson.

Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

Dog eats better than me (food followup)

2009-06-16T07:13:00.003+08:00

A couple of weeks back I was still deliberating about what to feed Danny. Honestly, I have never given so much thought to my own diet. Just about everything that goes in is what I feel like eating at the time.

Case in point: I woke up one morning and spent the next 10 minutes opening and closing the fridge door in the hope that something inspiring would magically appear. Then the light blub went off. I made a beeline to a bag of Rufffles (cheddar and sour cream) and downed half the pack. Breakfast solved!

The same went for ice cream on a seperate morning. But my argument has always been that it's part of a complete breakfast (even though it doesn't say so on the box). Look, it contains milk, carbs and plenty of liquid (in solid form). And if you're lucky, it'll even have nuts (protein and fiber). How brilliant is that?!

Anyway, back to Danny. My concern was to make sure he was getting all the nutrition I wasn't. After hunting about a bit more, I decided to try out Orijen. Remember the BARF diet? Well, Orijen's formula follows the diet very closely, so much so that it states BARK (Biologically Appropriate Real-Food Kibble) on the packaging.

Enquiries at a pet store revealed that Orijen doesn't use any grain or corn as fillers, resulting in kibble that doesn't give off tiny crumbs. The only problem I could find with the brand is that some people feel that it contains too much protein for the dog.

The problem with too much protein? It can cause the pee to smell and some people believe it may result in kidney problems in the future. The other school of thought, however, is that it's not the quantity but the quality of the protein that causes problems.

Either way, I've decided to give it a go. The tricky thing about him is that mini schnauzers are generally prone to skin problems. According to the vet, dogs with skin problems shouldn't eat dog food that contains chicken, and Orijen's puppy food does.

My solution is to start off on Science Diet puppy chow. It's one of the very few designed-for-puppies kibble that doesn't contain chicken. Once he hit's adulthood, I'll start him on Orijen fish.

He eats anything including my mom's plants so I'm pretty sure he'll like it. Even if he doesn't, one thing's for sure - he'll be healthier than I am.

The envionmentally friendly dog

2009-06-13T04:00:00.002+08:00

This is our recycling box. Everything plastic, metal and paper gets cleaned up and tossed in here for collection on Mondays. (The wire mesh behind is courtesy of Danny.)

Danny's into recycling too - although he doesn't quite know it. Since he discovered it a week ago, it's been his magic toy box. Whenever he's bored, he will pop over and whatever looks fun is his next toy-of-the-hour. It never disappoints.

Danny with a vitamin bottle. That's my dad's foot, by the way. He pats Danny like that when he doesn't want to get his hands dirty.

Danny still going at the bottle. Next to him is an ex-yoghurt pot he dragged out 10 minutes earlier.

His most recent discovery is a small metal tin that's driving me nuts. He gets big kick out of dropping it down the stairs and watching it crash and bang it's way down before picking it up and starting over.

Still, he IS saving me money on toys. Plus his collection time is twice a day. How's that for saving the earth!

When Gerry and Jane came to play

2009-06-08T15:00:00.000+08:00

Last weekend, Danny had his first visitors ever. Jane just came back from Shanghai and so Gerry proposed to meet up at my place and see Danny.

(Note: No one comes to my house to see me.)

Happy Jane! (cos got curry puff)

Happy Gerry! (cos I said photo would go on blog. haha! kidding!)

Gerry came with hubby. My only evidence of that is the corner of his sleeve on the left side of the photo. But he's there. Really.

She also brought a pressie that Danny just loves. Which was a good thing too. Once he got hold of it, he stopped chewing Gerry...for 20 minutes, that is. Poor Gerry.

Yes, Danny is into his teething phase now. He's 4 months now and will be changing his teeth over the next 2 months so we're stocking up on toys. He's was chewy when he first came but now he's really going for it.

After two accidents on the floor (where does it all come from???) and numerous attempts at knawing appendages and clothes, I finally chucked him back into his "room" so we could have some peace.

I have another two sets of friends who have been asking to see Danny and who insist they want to see him as a puppy. One will be coming all the way from Clementi later this month.

I hope she knows what she's in for.

Toilet training: Danny - 37, Owner - 2

2009-06-06T17:47:00.001+08:00

Toilet training is ... not going so well.

We've had Danny for about a month now and he only pees on the newspaper when he is in his room. Once he's out, only poo goes on the paper, the other one? Well, it's a free-for-all.

Today was a classic example. In an attempt to confine him a bit more, mom tethered him to the railing and placed some paper in a corner right under him.

I went into the house to get something and when I came out, he had made a special effort to walk off the paper and take a leak on the floor.

I took the paper and spread it out so that it covered the radius of his leash. However, he was engrossed in a toy so I left one square foot uncovered.

I went back in again and I'm sure you can guess what happened.

Yep, that's right. He peed right in that tiny spot and left the newspapers pristine clean. So cliche, right?

But that's not the end. Our friend decided he was tired (and maybe a little hot) and proceeded to lie down right in his own puddle! *Faints*

AND WHEN HE SAW ME, HE JUMPED UP AND PUT HIS PAWS RIGHT ON MY WHITE T-SHIRT! *FAINTS*

All my yells of "NOOOOOOOO!" just made him decide he really wanted to jump on me.

Anyway, normally if he steps in his pee, I just do a wet wipe on him. But this time, his whole underside was drenched. So I had to take the one with no sense of personal hygiene down for another bath. He just had one yesterday.

Rhoda likes Danny. So when she heard I was going to bathe him, she wanted in on the action. She held him while I took pics.

"Not again...Why me?"

"Is that a camera?"

"Yay! It's over!"

All things considered, I must say he's one better than Trakker, who thought the whole house was a toilet. Traks especially liked the fresh scent of the morning paper. By the time it got to us at breakfast, however, it wasn't quite so fresh any more.

Maybe I should be thankful Danny doesn't do it on the paper.

S. N. A. D.

2009-06-05T13:14:00.000+08:00

Oooh! What's this?

Pretty, no?

It's Danny's new collar!

(Top view)Here he is sitting on hubby's lap. He likes to do that. And yes, I know hubby has no exercise fashion sense...

(Side view)

...But Danny does! Doesn't he look handsome? *adoring smile*

Eh? What's that? Why did I put a pink collar on a boy dog?

Oei! I'll have you know that it takes a real dog to wear pink! Besides, he's a sensitive new age dog and TOTALLY in touch with his feminine side, okay? So there! Humph!

(P.S. The owner likes pink so he has no choice.)

(P.P.S. Hubby says taking him for a walk like that will emasculate him, but he doesn't have a choice either. Hah!)

Things I didn't know: Food

2009-06-01T15:11:00.000+08:00

A large part of my life has been spent as a dog owner. It all began when 8-year-old me brought home a puppy from my friend's place. She was a yelpy silky terrier and I changed her name about 10 times in the course of her life. When she was Sheila (or was it Suzie?) she gave birth to two puppies, one of whom mated with a fellow neighbourhood silky to produce Trakker. Two years after Traks passed on, came Chassard.

My point? You'd think that after all this time, I'd be a walking encyclopedia on everything dog. Truth is, I'm nowhere close.

To me responsible dog ownership is making sure he's fed, bathed and brought to the vet when necessary. When everyone else was talking about how much effort it takes to be responsible, I nodded my head gravely and wondered what the heck they were talking about.

With Danny, I decided I should do a bit of research...

...I wish I didn't. I'll start with food, shall I?

The BARF Diet

Have you ever heard of BARF? Yes? No? Well, it stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food. It's based on the theory that dogs eat raw meat and bones in the wild, hence that is the best way to get all their necessary nutrients. Appearantly dogs on the BARF diet are happy, healthy and free of the usual doggie ailments.

Sounds easy to do? Just get some cheap leftovers from the market and chuck them straight into the food bowl, right?

Haha. It involves a combination of meat, bones, fruits, vegetables, offal (aka spare parts) and other supplements, all mixed in the correct proportions. Specifically, it needs about 60% to 80% of raw meaty bones, such as chicken necks and wings, and 20% to 40% of the rest.

As organs like liver and kidney clear toxins from the body, some people opt for organic offal to minimise the toxins for canine consumption. Others also grind up the meat and bones in a meat grinder to prevent their dogs from chipping their teeth. And where do you get a meat grinder? Why you buy one of course!

There's also an assortment of other stuff like eggs, vitamin E, alfalfa and cod liver oil which supplement the diet.

If you're barfing at the BARF diet, you're not alone. I thought about all the cheeseburgers, goreng pisangs and pizzas that I eat, and frankly, if I put Danny on this, he'll be eating a lot better than I am.

Thus, I decided I'll go back to good ol' kibble (aka dry dog food).

Kibble

Kibble is what we fed Chassard. That's just about all he got. One bowl of Science Diet in the evening and one egg in the morning.

I thought of returning to that with Danny when I opened my big mouth at a pet shop. The staff were very friendly and helpful but I left with more info than I bargained for.

Ahem. Science Diet is generally considered a good brand, although it has its detractors. Chassard was all happy sappy with it and was actually getting fat, so I don't have issues with it. For dogs with skin problems, it's best to avoid the chicken version. However, the only alternative is lamb which results in smelly poop.

The brand some vets and pet shops are plugging now is Fish 4 Dogs. It's appearantly very good for dogs with sensitive skin as it is fish based and hence minimises the chance of allergies. The problem? Your dog gets fish-breath, which, as the pet shop peeps happily pointed out, I can buy a seperate pack of chews which function like breath mints. Yeah, right.

Then, upon a net search, I found people recommending Wellness, Canidae and Orijen. I was told to look for labels like "holistic" and food which does not contain corn, which dogs can't digest. Why is it in the recipe? Well, corn is used as a filler to bulk up the food.

I was also warned against vitamin K or menadione which is a controversial man-made vitamin. It helps stop or control bleeding but also weakens the immune system and induces allegic reactions among others.

So what's a girl to do?

Danny was on a mixed diet of dry and canned food. That's what he was getting at the pet shop. Unfortunately schnauzers come with a built-in beard and we have to wipe his mouth after each meal thanks to the wet food. Fun for him, cos he thinks it's a game; not for us, cos he was getting puppy breath.

Fortunately his canned food ran out. Being the efficient, responsible owner that I am, I failed to replace it. Now, he's left with his dry food (and his breath's perfect). It's ANF though, which contains the dubious vitamin K.

I don't know that to do when that runs out. I'll let you know.

For the record: Things dogs can't eat
Chocolate, garlic, onions, grapes, raisins, cooked bones, tomatoes and dairy products.

Everything's a toy

2009-05-28T15:23:00.000+08:00

Danny's at the puppy stage where he likes to chew...and I'm not kidding. The moment he can get his jaws on something it's happy time.

His chew toy...

...Newspapers...

...Slippers...
...And his favourite: Owners' fingers....

...Ouch.

Danny vs Redang

2009-05-25T17:27:00.000+08:00

Two weeks after we got our friend, the bulk of the family set off on a cruise. Mom had been hankering for a trip to Redang; so entrusting Danny's toilet training (which isn't going very well) to our helper, Rhoda (who's been spoiling him rotten), I chucked the parentals + brother (who were extremely excited) on a 2-night cruise to the island famous for its corals and marine life.

After hearing so much about it, it really didn't disappoint.

First sight of the beach

Second sight of the beach with someone's head spoiling the pic.

The big attraction is diving or snorkeling. (The people who look like they've drowned are all snorkeling.)

While dad opted for a snooze in the shade, mom and bro decided on snorkeling. (Hmm...bro needs to lose weight.)

Me? I opted for the age-old past-time of wading. Hey, I can't snorkel. I keep thinking I'll hit my head or choke on some fly going past my snorkel.

I haven't been to many beaches but the waters here are so clear. I was thigh deep in the water and I could still see my feet! (FYI, those are the weird objects at the bottom of the pic. Weird object at the corner is the camera case.)
Also, you get little schools of little fish swimming about. They're all white so you need to spot them by their shadows.

How does this post link to Danny? Well the sun, sand and sea couldn't distract dad. The moment I came out of the water, he handed me his handphone and told me to dial home and ask about him.

I did. And of course what else could he be up to but messing up the house.

Noah's Ark

2009-05-21T16:31:00.000+08:00

A couple of days after Chassard passed on, we decided to donate all his stuff to Noah's Ark Natural Animal Sanctuary (NANAS) in Johor. (They were previously located in Singapore but had to move as the rent was too high.)

So on Saturday morning, we packed up a half-eaten bag of dog food, a worn collar, a brand new bottle of shampoo and a host of leftover medication, and headed up north.

I expected to see dogs in their own pens and some cats roaming about but boy was I surprised. The moment I opened the car door, a friendly mongrel face pushed his way onto my lap for a bit of TLC.

Once we entered the building, we were surrounded by packs of dogs, all hoping for some attention.

And forget the pens. It turns out that Noah's Ark's 800 over dogs all roam free on some 10 hectares of land.

Not all the dogs came to us though. Appearantly those that did had been cared for by humans before. Others were quite happy to snooze in the afternoon sun.

These guys were behind a fence but the gate to the compound is wide open. This is one of the "territorial" areas. Although there are no barriers stopping the dogs from roaming all over, they have established certain territorial boundaries. Only a handful are able to cross into another area without getting into trouble.

But interestingly enough, if it rains, they will let any dog take shelter with them. Better than some humans, eh?

One of them is Toby, my mom's favourite. At a certain point of our walk, she joined us and lead us around the compound as if she owned the place.

This is my favourite. I don't know his/her name but she is such a sweetie. She looks ordinary but she came nosing for a pat and she's got lovely fur. I would have played with her longer but another dog chased her away.

And they are not called Noah's Ark for nothing. In addition to the dogs, they also have 400 cats (sorry no pics), a couple of monkeys, horses and guinea pigs.

How did they come by their horses? Well, once the horse gets too old for work at the turf club or zoo, they are shot and fed to other animals. These are some of the lucky ones.

Noah's Ark allows all their animals to live out their lives in peace. In many cases, it gives them a second chance.

With all the land to roam about, Chassard would have loved it.

First camera experience

2009-05-19T15:01:00.000+08:00

This is the first shot taken of him with a proper camera. I think it's the first time he ever saw flash.

"Oooh! what's tha... *FLASH* ...WTF???"

Daredevil Danny

2009-05-15T21:44:00.000+08:00

The first couple of days he was here, we didn't need a fence to stop Danny from going places. All we had to do was to place him in the kitchen balcony, and the two steps down into the dining area were enough to frustrate him. He would stand right at the edge of the steps with his ears pricked up and neck craning in our direction.

He would look desperate enough for us to walk over and pick him up. Unfortuately, he wasn't one for planning ahead. Something would entice him to run up to the balcony and then he'd realise that he was stuck again.

The bright side was that I was getting some much-needed exercise. The downside... well, actually there's no downside.

Anyway, on Day 3, he decided he had enough of it and bravely attempted to head downwards. He ended up slipping, tumbling and bumping his head on the floor accompanied by a loud yelp.

On Day 4, he was stuck on top of a short flight of stairs, and my mom was ignoring all desperate whines. He plucked up enough courage to try again. This time, he only half-slid down. When he hit the bottom, he immediately shot up the stairs and tried again.

By the time I reached home, he had figured it out. It goes like this:

Step 1: Do ground survey

Step 2: Get into position

Step 3: Have a break before repeating process

So everything's good, right? Actually no. Our friend is getting cocky. Today he was sitting on my lap when he decided to jump off. That's right. The height was like three times his.

He slammed his jaw into the (thank God) carpet, and then made a whole lap around the house yelping away. I thought he broke his jaw.

Think he learnt his lesson? Yeah, right. Half an hour later he was happily sniffing the balcony railing and he placed one paw on the slopping roof!

Tomorrow the wire mash goes up EVERYWHERE.

A puppy for Mother's Day

2009-05-13T15:01:00.000+08:00

Mother's Day began like any other day. Mum woke up bright and early and was gushing about how clean the house was without a dog around. When I commented about what fun they are, she immediately told me to go do something more useful with my money like take up the violin or something. Being Mother's Day, I didn't say a word and just went back to my paper.

The propect of having a fuzzy one in the house again never looked bleaker.

Also, we got round to discussing this a couple of weeks back, and everyone had their criteria for the new dog. When I compiled everything, the new boy needed to be *ahem*: a free 3-month-old puppy of a unique, manja, non-aggressive and easy-to-train breed with minimal health problems, needing little grooming that will grow up to be a small dog which won't shed but isn't so small he will fit through the bars of the front gate.

Easy, ya? While I'm at it, I'll wish for a billion dollars and a castle in the sky.

Even after eliminating the "free" bit, no dog breed selector on the Internet could suggest a suitable dog. Still I wasn't in a hurry and decided to take my time to look around.

When my dad reached home on Sunday afternoon, I casually mentioned as he was removing his socks that mum didn't want another dog. He jerked his head up, leaving half a sock dangling from his toes, and said, "Who said they don't want another dog?!!?"

He proceeded to announce that Mother's Day or not, mum was out-voted. To prove it, he packed mum and me back in the car and headed to a few pet shops just for a look.

Mum was sleepy but she wanted to make sure we weren't going start liking some "boring ol' breed". As adament as she had been in the morning, she really seemed to like all the puppies, but one in particular stood out. "Ooooh, what's that? It's so cute!"

Me: "Er? Oh...that's a schnauzer."

Mum: "Ah? A what? How to spell, ah?"

Me: "Nevermind. It's an Ah Pek dog. Next."

But there was no "next" for mum.

"So cute! I like the colour!" "So friendly! Is it trainable?" "Does the fur grow like that normally?" "Such pretty eyes!"

Me and dad: "..."

Pet shop owner: $$$

By 8pm, we were on our way home with brand new 3.5 month old mini schnauzer with a load of accessories and puppy chow in the boot.

Danny loves to be carried and thinks moving toes are fun teething toys. He loves to eat and of course what goes in must come out, right?

Unfortunately, yes.

This morning he was so happy to see me, he was dancing in his own poop. Good thing he's cute.

Neighbourhood bully wannabe

2009-05-11T15:20:00.000+08:00

Chassard was a big dog with big ambitions. His number one goal in life? To be the top dog in the neighbourhood.

He started off small, picking fights with a couple of collies who took walks past the house and terrorising the postman. The poor man finally took to parking his scooter at the start of the avenue and delivering the mail on foot so as to minimise the noise level. It must have worked pretty well cos he started doing it throughout the neighbourhood (aka dog central).

"It's the postman, I tell you! I need to go out and bark!"

One fine day, with his ego boosted from past successes, he decided it was time to take on the neighbourhood stray.

How he slipped out I have no idea. All I know is that I was on the way back from a nice relaxing stroll, when I saw a familiar black dog with ears down and tail between his legs racing straight for me. Giving chase was the leaner, meaner, street-wise stray.

And do you know what that gung-ho, geh kiang dog did? He ducked behind me and hid!

I jumped away, leaving him very exposed and equally confused. For one moment he had the safety of a pair of thighs, and the next he was in full view again.

As unglamourous as his strategy was, it worked. Confronted with a new albeit unwilling entrant into the foray, the stray stopped, took a couple of seconds to size me up and then decided I wasn't juicy enough to sink his teeth into.

Once he left, Chassard gave me a mopey look and spent the rest of the night feeling sorry for himself.

Ever since then, he wouldn't go near the stray. He figured dedicating his life to annoying the postman was a lot less risky.

I agree.

Why you shouldn't feel sorry for my bro

2009-05-10T15:05:00.000+08:00

My bro is more or less okay now but get this. After one and a half weeks of medical leave, the hospital gave him another seven days!

That's a total of 2.5 weeks! All that for one small wound half the size of a one-cent coin...on his hand! He doesn't even have an ounce of fever! Even people suspected of swine flu only get seven days quarantine!

The doctor's reason? He has to use the computer at work so he needs to rest.

Like real. He's been going out everyday since!

Hey, suddenly occured to me...so, does this mean if I have a mouth ulcer I can be put on a drip?

Hee!

2 weeks ago: "Talk to the hand"

How to treat a dog bite (or how to get a long MC)

2009-05-06T15:32:00.000+08:00

I thought it was about time to post something useful instead of just gossiping about the dog. So here it is, my very first sensible post. Taa-daah!

The family's had dogs for many years but even so, when my bro got bit, we were totally clueless on what to do. As it turned out, so was the A&E department.

The result was three days of MC, a two-night hospital stay during which they operated on his hand, followed by another seven days of MC coupled with daily changes to the dressing at the GP. The bandages came off today and he's just left with a plaster of sorts, but for a week he had chipolatas for fingers.

So, to save anyone who's reading this the agony, here's a recap of what went wrong.

1) Prevention is better than cure. Chassard was already growling when my bro tried to leash him. Continuing to do so was a bad idea.

2) We rushed down to two hospitals in search of a rabies jab before we found out that Singapore is rabies-free. If you get bitten by a dog on this tiny island, there is no need for a jab. If you get bitten abroad, however, it is not just one jab you need but a series of jabs. Tan Tock Seng is the only hospital in Singapore that carries the vaccine and it costs around $100+ for each jab alone.

3) The doctor at the A&E didn't stitch it as the dog's mouth (and any other mouth for that matter) carries a lot of bacteria, hence closing up the wound would increase the chance of infection. As his hand kept bleeding, the nurse proceeded to bandage the wound. However, this had the same effect as sealing up the bacteria in his hand. By the morning of his review check-up, his hand was still swollen and he had to be warded. The doctors decided to operate to remove the infection at midnight when they realised the antibiotics weren't working.

According to our GP, he should have just kept it clean but let it bleed out. That way bacteria would be flushed out of the wound.

4) A day after he was sent home from the hospital, his hand continued to swell and was turning a darkish colour. It turns out, he needed to keep his hand in an upright position so the blood wouldn't collect in the hand. He spent the next seven days looking like he was waving at everyone. But it worked. By Day 4 (post-hospital), it had shrunk back to normal and was a nice healthy shade of pink.

So yes, now the family knows what not to do... especially my brother.

Tit for Tat

2009-05-03T19:37:00.000+08:00

I never thought of Chassard as a vindictive dog. But this episode really changed my mind.

One warm afternoon, Chassard was cosying up to a sofa and about to take a nap when my brother walked in. As he reached for the TV remote, he let off a really bad, noisy one....And believe me, my brother's ...er... excesses are serious. Never get caught in an enclosed space with him.

Anyway, the worst thing Chassard had smelt so far was himself (this was before the diarrhea incident). He scrambled to his feet, cast a furtive look at my bro and scampered into the kitchen where his favourite smells are.

The very next day, my bro was lounging on the sofa in front of the TV. Chassard was in the dining room with me when he suddenly got up, hurried up to my bro, let one fly in his face and came back to me.

It was the only time he had given off a noisy one but it couldn't match my bro's for deadlinest.

Still it was a valiant effort. Maybe he thought he was returning some wierd form of human greeting.

Whatever it is, after that my bro was a lot more careful around him.

The lull after the storm

2009-04-29T16:02:00.000+08:00

Thanks for everyone's concern. The family is slowly coming to terms that the fat black one isn't around any more.

I still find myself keeping an eye out for him trying to sneak out of the house. Everyone continues to latch the gate immediately after we've stepped out. It's just something we've done for seven years and to break it now just feels wierd.

Coming home isn't what it used to be without the flurry of tail and fur, and me calling him a noisy dog amidst his happy barks. Now, when the neighbour's dog barks, we catch ourselves assuming it's him.

It's really strange to see his usual corners devoid of their occupant, and the living room window empty of a certain hairy face.

My mom said Chassard was more like a naughty little boy than a dog. And like any little boy, he was one-of-a-kind, irreplacable and loved in spite of everything.

As for the question of whether we are going to get another dog, the answer is yes, eventually. We'll be taking our time with this though, but hopefully before the year is out, there'll be another four-legged rascal creating a ruckus in the house.

God bless.

He really was a watchdog afterall!

2009-04-27T22:14:00.000+08:00

If there is anything good that came out of him biting the neighbour, it was that I gained a certain respect for the dog.

You see, despite his size, he was always such an attention slut. And because of his size, he was hard to ignore. He would go from person to person, pawing, jumping, clawing, pushing, rubbing and nosing his way into getting some lurve. Even if the reward for all his efforts was a finger prodding the back of his head, it was well worth it.

I always thought that if a stranger were to enter the house, his only attack strategy would be to lick him to death. Death by slobber.

Boy, did he prove me wrong. That boy was impressively quick on his feet. And this was with a dislocated hind leg too.

We really spent 7 years worrying for nothing.

Dog on duty

Eulogy

2009-04-26T16:39:00.000+08:00

Chassard

January 2002 ~ April 2009

My first memory of Chassard was of a sad mopey little thing peeking round the toilet door at me. The fat pudgy puppy was all black except for his paws and had a typical ordinary mongrel look. I was totally unimpressed.

I didn't want to keep him, especially after he kept half the neighbourhood awake with his puppy howls. But by the time he had to be put down, I couldn't let go.

That was the story of his life. Despite his ordinary appearance, he was able to endear himself to the people around him. His reputation of a big black dog was enough to keep strangers at bay and new visitors to the house always asked for him to be chained up. But when they left, he had become a friend.

And Chassard never forgot a friend. People could come back a year later to be greeted by an enthusiastic dog, falling over himself to welcome them. As such, I often felt Chassard was more popular than me. One of the first comments upon meeting friends is "how's Chassard?" or "I miss your dog." The "how are you?" comes much later.

To friends, he was a lovable dog with kind eyes. He was such that people who were afraid of dogs liked him.

To family, he was loving, affectionate and playful. He poured out his heart to us, and received ours in return. In some way, I think he loved us so much, we couldn't help but love him back. He showed us what it meant to love unconditionally.

He would demand attention and readily accept it in whatever form. Because of that, he was my mom's favourite stress ball. She would scold him, pinch his fats and scratch his ears, and the gian dog would ask for more.

He was my bro's sleeping buddy. On the nights when he was so tired, he slept on the living room sofa. Chassard would snuggle into a corner and keep him company throughout the night.

He was my dad's fourth child that he spoilt absolutely rotten and both loved every minute of it.

For me, he was the light at the end of a long hard day. On days when I returned home to a dark house with all the occupants fast asleep, he would be the one, struggling to shake the sleep from his eyes to give me a proper welcome.

When the nurse at the vet's office asked if we wanted his ashes, we said no. Chassard's legacy doesn't lie in an ash-filled tin; it lies in our hearts and minds. Every time we see a fat black dog running free or hear a deep booming bark, we will think of him.

He's a hard one to forget, and I don't think we ever will.