Ooooh! That Ruffian!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

More in the next post....

Curiosity snagged the dog

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

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

The carrot and the stick - Part II

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!