Zen: Pay It Forward

Hi all!

Few weeks ago, Tibby invited me to play the game called Pay It Forward! and finally mummy passed me this fat package last night. It has got my name on it! In pretty Pink nonetheless!


*sniff* *sniff* *sniff*


I smell Tibby on the envelope! Hmm.. I wonder what's inside..



A boootiful keychain with mummy and my face on it!



A squeaker toy!



And also a bag of treats! Pardon me for the lousy pics, mummy doesn't really have the skill to take good pics (Mummy: and you couldn't wait to play with the new toy!)



A decent picture of me and my gift from Tibby













This beautiful keychain has got my name at the back :)



Thank you, Tibby, for the wonderful gifts! We love them all so much!

Now it's my turn to Pay It Forward!

The exchange focuses on doing an act of kindness without expecting anything in return other than that the recipient will, in their turn, pass the kindness along and 'pay it forward' in their own way.

This is how it works...I am going to send something to the first 3 blog owners who wants to take part. [please leave your email address if I don't all ready have it]. In turn you will then post about this on your blog, link to me, then send something to the first three people who sign up to play along through your blog.

There are no cost restraints, BUT don't go crazy! The little something you send can be something you made, bought, were given or found.No biggie, just a gift that will make the person smile.Maybe something unique from where you live?

And, remember that kindness does not have to involve money; there are untold ways to help others every single day, everywhere you go - just look around.

Please leave me a comment if you want to play! Hurray!

Nat: Nadia / Luna updates

Nadia had gone to her new home for close to 2 months.. Last night I sms-ed her new owner to get some updated pictures of her and today I receive them in my inbox. I also quote from her new owner:

"Nadia is getting naughtier - she wakes up at 5 am in the morning and demands that she be taken for a walk! She is also getting used to apartment living though I can tell that she loves the outdoors. She turns deaf when she sees birds. Once she spots birds, no matter how loud you call her, she doesn't respond.

But she's happy, healthy and very sweet."

Nat: Cow going to new home!

Good news everyone!

Moo Moo has found a loving home! He will be going to his new home this coming weekend.. So happy for him! His new owner is absolutely amazing with dogs, and I trust that he will be able to take very good care of Moo Moo :)

Thank you very much to all of you that are interested in adopting him.. Please don't give up, there are many other dogs out there that are in need of a loving home like yours. :)

Nat: and then the cow moooooooos

Look at his beautiful face! OMG.. If anyone is wondering, he is a French Bulldog. And no, he is not the new addition to our family. He is looking for a good home.

His name is Moo Moo. I guess it's becuase of his colour that resembles a cow. The boy is only 1.5 years old, and is already neutered. He is an affectionate dog and loves to play with toys. If you know anyone that is interested to adopt him, please direct them to this blogpost and leave me a comment with your contact number or e-mail address. Strict screening will be conducted.

Patches: Happy Valentine's Day

Sharing with you our mummy's favourite flower - the Gerbera :) Hope all of you and your pawrents are enjoying this day spent with close family and friends. Feel free to pluck these flowers over to your bloggie, they're all for you to take! And Especially for you, Twinkle!




Happy Valentine's Day to One and to All!~

Patches: so emotional

Zen: Mummy.. would you please stay at home and accompany me today? Pretty please? *flashes pleading eyes*

Patches: Wah liew.. Need to be so emotional meh?^

(^ translated to readable English: Wah.. No need to be so emotional, right?)


EDIT: Valentine's Day is tomorroow! Happy V-Day to you all :) We're celebrating it with our pawrents

Nat: The Honest Scrap Award

Ody & Zaedy had passed on this Honest Scrap award to us! Thank you, Ody & Zaedy! We are so honoured! Okay, so here are the rules:

"When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to said person so everyone knows he or she is real. Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have 7 friends. Show the 7 random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Weblog”. Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon. List at least ten honest things about yourself. Then, pass it on!"

Hmm.. okay, let the bragging starts!
We are so glad that we are actually HONEST in everything we have blogged about.. And we hide nothing, NOTHING at all! Honesty is the best policy, they always say, and we live by this motto that when we blog, we don't alter any informations. Should you find anything no-so-honest about us, feel free to let us know :)

Next: 10 Honest things about yourself
Well since this blog belongs to the girls, I'll just let them list their honest stuff..

Zen
1. I am never pretending to be a pure Mini Schnauzer, though I looked like one. I am proud to be myself!
2. I have 11 nipples! (oops..)
3. My butt recently got nipped by an angry cat! (ouch!)
4. I am a swimmer, only when mummy goes into the pool / sea with me!
5. I am an attention-seeking girl!
6. I may looked big, but I am a small small girl deep within!
7. Again, I may looked big, but i am only 7kg++!
8. My mummy loves me more than anything else in this world and I just knew it!
9. I once chewed off a hole from the wall when I was a puppy!
10. I am eager to please!

Patches
1. My bite is worst than my barks.
2. I can be trusted to walk off leashed
3. I can heel perfectly when on leashed
4. I am very verbal when it comes to food
5. I weigh only about 4kg
6. I sometimes poo out of the tray on purpose when I feel mummy is not paying enough attention to me
7. I dislike sudden movements from strangers
8. I have many nicknames from my mummy, which includes Xiao PP, PatPat, Small Girl and Little Baby (*blushes*)
9. My favourite food is Apple. I go crazy at the sight of apples.
10. Sometimes I'd sneak out and follow behind mummy w/o her realising it


And finally, we'll have to pass on this wonderful award. the 7 lucky peeps are Boo Boo, Bond, Boo Casanova, Yang Yang, Emma & Emmy and Amber, Dawn & Snowy!

Patches: nitey nite

Hi all, anyone missed me?

It's already way passed my bedtime, but mummy had just finished bathe and blowdry my long long fur and still made me pose on the stool..

*yawnzzz* i'm about to doze off soon

Shortly after finished posing, I went to sleep almost immediately

And Zen was comfortably snoozing on her huge pillow


Nitey night, all! Weekend is around the corner, Have a pawsome weekend to all of you!

Zen: The Chocolate Chart

Good Morning!

We just wanted to share a piece of useful information to all of our friends. Auntie B had once showed mummy this Chocolate Chart Interactive that displays how much each type of chocolates could actually harm us canines.. And now we would like to share with you all precious friends out there.

Here's the link to the important Chocolate Chart Interactive: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/10/pets/chocolate-chart-interactive

If you all happened to have eaten any one type of chocolates at all, please get your mummy or daddy to call your Vet and ask for help!

Be sure to bookmark it!

On another note, if anyone of you would like to join us for The PUPPY MILL Link Exchange Project, please don't be shy! Please help spread the words!

Nat: The PUPPY MILL Link Exchange project

A friend of mine had invited us to join this project called The PUPPY MILL Link Exchange Project, where people get together and share their views on this topic and also to raise awareness regarding the appalling treatment that puppy mill dogs receive.

If you have not noticed yet, I have placed a new flash button on the sidebar panel that will bring you to dead_cockroach's Xanga blog post about this topic. Kudos to him for starting this project, I really hope this would create more awareness about puppy mills and how they operate.

Apart from just putting up the flash button in this blog, I am also supposed to do a write-up on my thoughts & opinions about puppy mills. So here goes:

So what's puppy mills, you asked? A simple Google search on these 2 words would give you thousands of results on it. I quote one example from Wikipedia:

"Puppy mills, sometimes known as puppy farms, are large-scale dog breeding facilities that operate under substandard breeding conditions, causing the development of chronic health problems, temperament issues, and hereditary defects in puppies that come from the mills. The high numbers of euthanized animals (4 million dogs per year in U.S.) has led animal rights advocates to oppose the mass breeding of pet animals, a view that the profitable breeding industry opposes."


When you walk pass petshops or farms showcasing those cutesy cutesy little puppies, have you ever wondered where they came from? They looked cute alright, but what about their parents? Are they in good shape as well? Did you know that most puppies won't display their defects, if any at all, until they're much older? Which is why petshops / petfarms they sell puppies at very young age, and as these puppies grew well into 5 or 6 months old, their pricetag is slashed by almost HALF.

Many purchase on impulse, while some others are just looking for an easy way out after being "sick and tired of going through rounds of so-called screenings and interviews just to adopt one dog". I do believe there are some that don't even know that dog shelters do exists. And many people that I know look down on people like me, who adopt dogs from shelters or someone else's home, because they think that people like me are cheapskates who only wants free dogs. I don't get a high out of boosting about how much I paid for purchasing my dogs simply because I know my dogs are priceless eventhough I got them for free (literally).

I shall share with you stories of how my dogs came to me.

Zen was result of an accident; a case of negligent by the 'shelter' owner who was housing a female cocker spaniel and a male mini schnauzer at that point of time. The lady 'claimed' to have not noticed that the female cocker was on heat, thus did not separate these 2 dogs while she was out. And then came the difficult labour 2 months later, where the female cocker couldn't give birth naturally. 'Shelter' lady only realised female cocker was in labour after she returned home from work (which was most probably about a few hours after the initial contraction started). Female cocker was rushed into a vet clinic for a C-section. There were 5 puppies, only 3 survived; the other 2 died of suffocation. I learnt about this 'shelter' from a forum friend of mine who goes by the nickname Dango. So after I gathered all the info, and made my way down to the 'shelter' located in Sembawang. And then it was love at first sight. The lady brought out 2 female puppies that looked almost identical, but my heart was already set on this one:

She was the tiniest of the lot, and the one with the sweetest face I could imagine. Anyway, long story cut short, I paid a deposit to the lady and returned to collect the puppy 2 weeks later. Yes, I paid a sum of money. The amount was supposedly used to cover cost of the c-section incurred to the mother dog. But hey, I adopted a puppy from a 'shelter'! And she is all grown up now, to become the wonderful Zen that I know and love today.

As for Patches, I adopted her in Nov '07 from a family who has another female maltese. The reason that they have to give her up for adoption was because she couldn't get along with the other maltese and they always fight. Patches was also very shy and timid at that point of time, because she seldom leave the house. The previous owner, A, is a single mum with a young boy, and she couldn't spare enough time to train Patches. And Patches was not bought by her or anything.. She was handed over to A by another friend who couldn't cope with a very young puppy. So guys, please be nice to A :) Anyway, I could say that I got Patches for free because I only reimbursed the cost of her sterilisation to A. Even if I got Patches as unsterilised, I'd still send her for the procedure so it doesn't make any difference. One year down the road, Patches had became a much more friendly and outgoing dog. A vast difference from how she used to behave when I just got her. So yeah, I adopted her too.. And I was not even really looking into adopting a 2nd dog urgently. She came to me on the right time :)

Patches' first day at our home

I also want to address the issue on the myths about how adopted dogs are harder to train, and that shelter dogs are problematic dogs. Zen, a shelter dog, is really far from being problematic. I can safely say that she is actually by far alot more obedient than many other dogs I know. Patches, being and adopted dog, is now very much better trained than she used to be. She can be walked off leashed and her recall is good. No more super shy and timid dog, Patches now allows strangers to pet her and she would initiate to go over to sniff them.


Back to the topic, I always believe in this term of 'No Demand, No Supply'. No demand of those cutesy puppies you see in the petshop, therefore no supply from those backyard breeders / puppy mills. Perhaps many had chosen to ignore the fact that they are directly / indirectly supporting these puppy mills buy purchasing a dog from the petshop (no matter how reputable they are). You don't know how these dogs are treated behind closed doors. Next time you walk pass a petshop, think of the puppies' poor parents. Being used as breeding machine, churning out litter after litter, heat after heat. Worst is, parents with bad genes passing down defects to those poor innocent puppies.


Adopt is a better option. Give these animals a chance, they deserves to be loved just like any other dogs too.

Zen: So what's so special..

... about that new machine that mummy had been raving about, you say?

Mummy had went to the market on Sat morning, and came back with many yummies.. She then took out that machine, and start to work for the whole morning and afternoon. We could only stand at the kitchen entrance and sniff while mummy was busy walking here and there; chopping this and mixing that.



If you think thats alot of veggies, well that is only about a quarter of the LOT that mummy bought. We have carrots, Xiao Bai Cai, Kai Lan and brocollis. So in they go into the mighty machine..

And 5 minutes later..

A full load of veggie puree! With no water added! It looked a tad watery, but that's the juice from the veggies itself.

Look at the size of the plate, compare to mummy's palm:

Then goes the eggs with its finely pounded eggshells..

And the chicken wing tips for the calcium..



Chicken wing tips after being processed:

All the ingredients above were then mixed with pork liver and raw beef. They all went into the machine and the outcome is...

Our balanced diet prepared by mummy dearest

We now have 20-over trays of these frozen foodies in our freezer, that could last us for about a month. Initially mummy had wanted the machine (mummy: thats a food processor, dear..) to blend our veggies into pulp because the normal blender takes a loooooong time to do the job and mummy had to keep adding water to it, which makes our veggie pulp very watery and icky.. now she could just dump the veggies into the machine and the outcome is perfect w/o the access water :) Then she got the idea of trying to blend in everything into our meals so that we could have thaw-and-feed easy feeding (resembles to Dr B patties). Of course the whole preparation is time-consuming, but mummy is satisfied that she knows what is being put into the food that we are eating.


Oh, meanwhile mummy also gotten some pork ribs for me from the wet market. It looked like this:



And I wasted no time in getting my tooth to work..

munch munch munch

gotta work those molars to get rid of tartar build-up

Patches is getting same old chicken wings as she has very fine little tooth. Tell me if life is going to get any better than this?

Zen: something's fishy

Hey guys!

A very belated Happy Chinese Niu Year to ya all out there! We had been so busy over at the vacation resort that we didn't have time to blog.

Well, now that our mummy is back in SG she had ferried us back to our home sweet home on early Sunday morning. Mummy had went on a short trip back to her hometown @ Ipoh to visit her parents during the CNY period, and daddy went together with her so there was nobody at home that could handle us 2 rascals. Mummy had us checked in at the boot camp vacation resort for 4 days and 4 nights. Well I did my best over at the vacation resort and the hoomans there just loved me! Little Patches was a little sneakish.. she put on a fake mask and pretended to be angelic! But that's not that bad really, I didn't get bullied by her for 4 days 4 nights. Hiak hiak hiak hiak.. I had a good time there getting to meet new doggie friends of all sizes.


Back at our home sweet home, mummy came home last night with a huge box. We couldn't figure out what it is.. Hmm.. it smells nothing like food and definitely looks nothing like food either. Mummy was so excited over this thing in the box that she spent a good ONE HOUR inspecting it. We sniffed and sniffed and got shooed away by mummy. She told us to wait till weekend to show us what this thing does. Well that thing had better be something useful for us or else I'm gonna sulk for the whole weekend to come.


And oh hey, mummy just called me a while ago to tell me she had gotten some new plastic containers..

!@#$%^&*

What's that supposed to mean? It's not like they're edible to me!