Angel the Corgi has been adopted!

Angel who I mentioned recently, has been adopted! I wonder which kind human took her in. Bless his/her soul.

Barf

No, I'm not referring to BARF meals but rather that I vomited this morning. I was sitting down calmly after godpa got out of bed, then I started to retch and out came some clear yellow liquid that was slightly foamy. Godpa was cool with it coz he read that it's quite normal for dogs to vomit bile. It could be due to some new foods that I tried, perhaps the tomato or capsicum. Anyway we went for our usual walk and my pee and poop were normal. Once home I was excitedly anticipating my meal wagging my tail furiously as usual.

2 months!

Oh ya, it's been 2 months since godpa adopted me, how time flies. I think I ate the most variety of food ever while at godpa's home. Here's the food list of meats, fruits, etc, that I like to eat:

• Beef: cubes and minced
• Pork: lean meat, bony meat
• Chicken: wings
• Duck: wings
• Fruits: Apple, jambu air, pear, papaya (the small Philippines variety), pineapple
• Vegetables: broccoli, carrots, cherry tomato, cucumber, japanese cucumber, green capsicum
• Cooked Thai fragrant rice
• Bread

Godpa only gives me rice once in a while, and bread was sneaked into my diet by godpa's dad while he was on vacation. Godpa says bread is not very good for me coz he saw me poop it out undigested.

Guess my emotions

What are you doing godpa?

Neutral me.

Har har har, very funny!

Girls just wanna have fun!

Dog emotions

Godpa found this book "For the Love of a Dog" by Patricia McConnell, which he finds a good read. Patricia McConnell is a Ph.D certified applied animal behaviorist and professor of zoology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and she writes to teach people that dogs can be better understood through objective observation of what we reveal on our face and body.

• http://www.amazon.com/Love-Dog-Understanding-Emotion-Friend/dp/0345477146
• http://www.stevedalepetworld.com/content/view/212/71/

I guess it also appeals to godpa because of his similar work with the human species. Godpa will be honing his observation skills on me soon. I'm not worried coz us dogs don't ever lie :) I'm glad godpa is taking extra effort to understand me better rather than sending me for training.

The 12 dogs

I love Snoopy the beagle and his owner Charlie Brown :)

Snoopy is an extroverted beagle with a Walter Mitty complex. He is a virtuoso at every endeavor- at least in his daydreams atop his doghouse. He regards his master, Charlie Brown, as "that round-headed kid" who brings him his supper dish. He is fearless though prudently cautious about "the cat next door." He never speaks- that would be one human trait too many- but he manages to convey everything necessary in facial expressions and thought balloons. A one-man show with superior intelligence and vivid imagination, he has created such multiple personalities as: Joe Cool, World War I Flying Ace, Literary Ace, Flashbeagle, Vulture, Foreign Legionnaire, etc.

Training to be ...

"Training to be soldiers, to fight for our land, once in our life ...". Godpa thinks of sending me for obedience training. I don't think I'll like it with all the commands and drill. Mixing with other "recruits" is not my idea of fun too. I like things as they are, carefree and don't have to work very hard to be loved and fed. Godpa assures me he will be looking around seriously before investing those few hundred dollars. So far he's viewed 2 classes and they look very similar in their approach using collar corrections generously. Both class sizes were quite big at 10 pairs of dogs and humans so it seemed rather haphazard when the dogs started walking the humans *oops* I meant humans walking the dogs.

Godpa's still reading books on dogs, and he discovered the library at Hougang Mall has a large collection of doggy books! He recently bought ear cleaning solution to clear my ears which Uncle Leon says is making me smell like a dog. Godpa's considering to get me groomed too coz I'm starting to look pretty unkempt. At the same time, he's curious to see how I look in long fur so he may wait longer.

Survival - Corgi

I just read about a Corgi girl put up for adoption on Bear's blog, her name is Angel. She's still an 8 month old pup and already has to suffer the loss of her right hind leg. Such a brave girl. Her leg got infected while in a pet farm. I wonder if I came from a pet farm too. Fortunately godpa adopted me so I hope she finds a nice family too.

Godpa's home

I was alone at home when the front door opened, and someone familiar stood looking at me. I hesitated a while some distance away. The figure lugged a luggage and some bags. It was godpa! I went forward and welcomed him. As usual godpa played it cool and unpacked some stuff before petting me and allowing me to kiss him.

Godpa says he went to visit many old temples in Siem Reap, Cambodia, some over a millennium old! It was the famous Angkor region where the Angkor Wat could be found. He says the people there keep dogs who can be seen everywhere roaming the villages and city area. The guesthouse where he stayed had a nice black corgi like dog. He says the people aren't very well off but dogs seem to be well cared for, they sure sound like very nice people.

Khmer human food there was very close to Chinese, a bit more salty and some dishes had lots of coconut, like the national dish, Amok. As for doggies, godpa didn't see what they were fed but he believes it should be table scraps. Hmm, spicy table scraps might be yummy :P

Bon Voyage! 一路顺风

Godpa came home earlier today to pack for his vacation in Siem Reap. He planned to bathe me but his dad beat him to it. He did get to comb and blow me dry though. Godpa's gonna be away till 20 May so no blog updates from me as my paws can't type on the keyboard.

Godpa's gonna miss me a lot so he's been cuddling me more often. He even jogged with me this morning coz he knows no dogrun for me this weekend. And tonight he's gonna give me some rice again to make sure my tummy remains stable. He's even put my photo as handphone wallpaper, so sweet. Godpa has been with me everyday since adoption so this will be the first time we are apart for so long. I told him I'll be a good girl and will welcome him back home with a big lick.

Dance Dance Dogvolution

Oh my crazy chicken bones! I wanna dance like Gin. Hey I can already walk on hind legs and dance with godpa holding my dainty paws! Woof!

Unplugged

Godpa's so relieved that I had a nice poop this morning! No more liquid stuff and no more straining. He collected it with kitchen towel so he could inspect it for blood, and none was found. He could spot some broccoli that was partially digested though, and he's hoping to do something about the veg preparation after his vacation. There wasn't any particular hard stuff in the poop so godpa thinks my problem could be due to colitis from bacteria of the spoilt veg.

I could sense godpa's lightness as he walked me this morning, we went for a longer walk around the estate coz he will miss me when he's away. I've become better at walks, I do get excited when seeing some people and dogs but no more agitated barking. The only thing I really get bothered by is the cleaner uncle who wields a big broom made from coconut palm fronds. Godpa makes sure he walks me past him when we see him so as to desensitize me. Godpa has grown thick face enough to just smile and give an amused look at the cleaner uncle.

Heavy heart

Godpa's heart sank when his dad told him my poop had some blood this afternoon. He assured godpa that it was just a little bit. Godpa had experienced 2 pet deaths in the past, the first was his first pet chinchilla, a baby boy, who died after diarrhea, constipation, and finally complications from a rectal prolapse. It was a long painful process for the boy and he finally passed away while in surgery. The second death was also a chinchilla boy, an older one, whom godpa found dead one day after work. It was very sudden, and the poor boy died lying on his side with some fluid oozing from his mouth, it was likely due to heat stroke. I'm godpa's first dog so he's rather anxious about my health and happiness.

Godpa quickly called the vet and they checked how long I had constipated and whether I vomited. I didn't vomit at all and am still my usual active self. The vet assistant advised godpa to put a teaspoon of cooking oil in my meal. Godpa gave me an extra meal tonight. He added in rice to have more bulk to move my bowels, along with cooked broccoli and pork. He can only hope that I'll pass some motion tomorrow and clear any blockage. If nothing comes out, he's planned to take urgent leave to bring me to Dr. Tan. Poor godpa, he's going for a vacation this Thursday morning and that makes him more stressed about leaving me.

Upset tummy

Sigh, past few days I've been pooping in godpa's bedroom early in the morning. I usually try to warn him by waking him up. It's been soft poop so godpa thinks it could be the vegetable that might have turned bad. He had already discarded it and now just hoping things clear up soon and I can control myself better. This morning around 4.30am I got so anxious over thunder and lightning that I jumped up on the bed to wake godpa. He just told me "Off!" and pushed me aside so as not to get me too dependent on him. Turns out I also pooped :P

Godpa has been experimenting to change his leash handling style. He's just letting me lead the way and not surprisingly I hardly bark now. I get anxious sometimes but the barking's stopped for now. Both of us are happier :)

Godpa weighed me a few days ago, guess what, I increased from 3.18kg to 3.5kg since adoption! Don't worry I'm still looking trim and fit :)

A funny thing happened today

Godpa's dad walked me this evening and godpa secretly followed to observe how I behaved. I think he was surprised that I did not pull throughout the walk, and did not bark at the usual houses with dogs. Godpa is scratching his head wondering why I make it difficult for him. I'm not sure either, maybe it's because his dad shouts at me to behave and raises his arm in a threatening manner. Both godpa and Uncle Leon are seriously reflecting on unconscious behaviours while walking me.Maybe I'm just like a mogwai, mostly cute and affectionate and sometimes turning into a nasty gremlin :)

Me shy?

Gosh, Uncle Leon told godpa that the mini schnauzer we kept meeting isn't Jamie. I knew it wasn't him coz I could smell him out but I didn't want to embarrass godpa :) Anyway last Sunday, we went to Bishan park dog run earlier than usual so we could have more time and also meet more doggies. It was unusual for godpa coz I'm now more shy around dogs and prefer to stick by his side. He kept moving around to encourage me to mix around but I'm no social butterfly. When friendly dogs come look for me and sniff me out I just sit down and ignore them. If anyone gets too close I'll give warning growls but rarely snap at them.

On leash, I'm still quite unpredictable. The Gentle Leader makes walks a little more pleasant for godpa as I no longer pull. But it doesn't stop me from getting excited and barking away at some dogs and some people. Uncle Leon says I should enroll in some obedience class after godpa comes back from his holiday in Cambodia. I'll miss godpa when he's away...

May Day run

Today we went to the Pet Movers dog run (PMDR) at Pasir Ris. I met many small dogs there in the smaller run area, then we went out to the larger area to meet big dogs. I was shy today and didn't dart around like I used to. Godpa and Uncle Leon didn't make me run coz yesterday afternoon I had a good jog just outside of godpa's place. We met Jamie again while in the shop, and godpa finally found the Gentle Leader that fit me nicely. The shop people were good enough to let me try it on. He'll watch the instruction video first. Hopefully it'll help me walk on leash nicely in future.

After the dog run, we headed to East Coast park around Macdonald area hoping to get lunch. Sad to say we could not find an establishment that was dog friendly, we even got "chased" out of a HK style cafe that had outdoor seating. In the end, good old Airport Road hawker centre was alot more accomodating as they had outdoor seating with large umbrella shade. Back home now for a good afternoon nap...