The Terrible Twos

It has been a little over 2 years since I joined this household. I didn't have big plans nor any expectations when my human opened the car door to the garden on the 6th July 2009.

But 2 years on and I've settled into my role in the family: companion, motivator, alert dog, comedian - I'm multi-faceted. =) And with my human having gone away for work again, I've got extra shoes to fill in the family (thankfully, I've got 4 legs, which makes things slightly easier).

I've put together a little video for my 2 year update. Enjoy!

Viddy

My human picked up my license from the council yesterday and it looks like I'm dog #50 to get one in our area!

A new addition to my collar...it is starting to feel like some kind of charm bracelet

My humans think that having 50 embossed on my license is akin 50 Cent wearing a big "50 Cent" necklace around his neck. So say hello to "Lima Puluh Sen" (How we Malaysians call 50 Cents). You can call me Viddy (not to be confused with Fiddy which is what 50 Cent calls himself these days and VD which is an STD...).

Here is picture of Fiddy looking all tough at a concert:

And this is me rocking it at home:

It isn't easy keeping this pose. (One of my numerous yoga poses)

I have also decided that I can just as easily rock the Fiddy and Ali G look. Here is Ali G with his swimming goggles:

And here I am with mine:

It is a tad too big but this is equivalent to men wearing low slung jeans

Looking a bit granny like here. Not very P.I.M.P like...

There you go, my ears just needed to be up to support the goggles

Look out peeps, there is a new dawg in town.

Freaky Friday

Remember that movie Freaky Friday where mother and daughter switched bodies and they have to live in the other person's shoes until something was resolved? I had a near Freaky Friday experience (but I am no LiLo yo!)...well as near an experience as I can get through my human.

It was raining yesterday and like all dogs I get a bit nervous when there are thunders about, so my human camped out in the room downstairs to have a nap with me while it rained in the afternoon. She dreamt that we switched bodies so that I can experience life as a human. Which btw I think is highly over-rated. As a dog I've got 4 humans fussing over me and all I have to do to earn my keep is bark whenever there are strangers about. I get free rein around the house, fed daily and copious amounts of belly rubs throughout the day. A pretty good deal if you ask me! So I think it is my human's subconscious that wants to experience life as a dog. 

Anyhoo, in her dream, after a few hours in my paws, she decided that she wanted to switch back to a human but she couldn't. Any attempts to scream for help came out as whimpers and her only way to communicate with the world was through...(get this)...Facebook message! I guess she must have found my doggie keyboard - the one with the keys widely spaced to accommodate my lack of fingers and size of my paws (I can type 75 words per minute btw).

This whole thing sounds like a nightmare to me. I can't do all the things I enjoy if I am human. For instance, I don't think other humans look fondly at fully grown people who request belly rubs in public, I can't lick smelly feet, smell butts and imagine the looks on people's faces if they see a human scooting on a carpet!

Nope, I wouldn't want to be a human ever. I am very happy being a dog thank you very much!

Dashing Through the Snow...

This is my second Christmas but I didn't get to spend my first Christmas with my human cause she was away. My other humans made up for it last Christmas by treating me extra special. However good that feels, I'm happy that I am able to spend Christmas this year with my WHOLE pack rather than 75% of the pack. Afterall this season is meant to be spent with all your loved ones.

I have a new favourite sleeping spot in the house...it is in the corner of the TV room. Now, I'm normally not allowed in there as my claws do a lot of damage to the wooden floors. But my humans spend quite a bit of time in there and it sucks not being able to lie in there with them. So they laid out a mat for me at the corner so that I can keep an eye on them when they are watching TV (you so can't take your eyes off them, as you never can tell what they will get up to when I'm not watching) without having to walk on the wooden floor. I was quite happy with my mat from Ikea until they brought this back with them one day....

A cow patterned bed! (Note: No cows were injured in the making of this bed)

This is officially my favourite sleeping spot in the house!

I spend time thinking about the future in it... 

It may be a tad small but I like snug places

And it is really comfortable to sleep in

And just when I thought that was it, they gave me a new collar. There wasn't anything really wrong with my old collar, I mean I really liked it. It has this long slack which I use to spend my free time chewing on but for some reason my humans thought that wasn't good for me. So they got me a new quick snap collar which doesn't have any slack! So there goes my portable chew toy...but I think it makes me look kind of smart. While the old red collar makes me more outstanding, this new collar delivers understated cool.

My new quick snap collar that comes with a little bell

Christmas really did come early for me! The rest of the humans from the wider pack are coming over this Saturday and I can't wait to see them!


Here's wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas!

Rudolph wannabe but without the red nose.
My ears do look smaller though!

Where Do Puppies Come From?

There comes a time in every dog's life where the question: "Where do I come from?" is asked. While some dogs may bury their head (as ostriches) do and ignore their origins, I feel that in order to move forward with your life you have to understand where you've come from.

Hiding from your past won't do you any favours

So I have taken the tentative steps to discover where I've come from. I know humans have the whole stork story down to a pat but that's clearly ridiculous. I mean storks don't even have hands, how would they pack the babies into the slings? pffft...

I've heard that dogs/puppies are sold in shops but one look at me and one would know that I'm not classy (read: pure bred) enough to be displayed in a shop window. So I obviously didn't come home in a Selfridges bag (that and I don't think Selfridges sells dogs!). 

You mean this isn't what I came home in?

Nope, given my breed, or rather lack of, I probably arrived home in a nondescript box like the one below:

I tried out one of these boxes on for size to see how comfortable a dog would be in transit. It was what real estate agents would call: a charming studio benefiting from original features with a rustic feel (read: small poky cardboard box).

Property comes with high ceilings...

With room for entertainment (if your guests are tiny)

Skylight offers delightful views of the surroundings

As it turns out I didn't come home in a cardboard box either. Nope, my humans brought me home in a nondescript basket after they picked me up from PAWS. I lived in PAWS for 2 months where I was cared for by staff from PAWS and a group of volunteers. I was a sickly pup when my humans adopted me. I had a dopey ear, slight limp and a very bad cough as is shown in the video below.

While my limp and my cough may be deemed as drawbacks in a place where cute, healthy puppies have the best chance of adoption, the folks at PAWS took excellent care of me. They vaccinated me and made sure that I had a roof over my head and kibbles to eat when nobody wanted me. And a good thing too that they never gave up on me. Otherwise I would never have met my humans who somehow found the dopey ear and slight limp endearing (score!!).


Unfortunately, not all dogs from PAWS make it out to the real world. PAWS are reliant on funds from the public which sadly isn't enough to provide the care needed to all the strays that come through their door each day so some strays have to be put down. And that is the sad reality of great dogs who never had a chance to fulfill their potential.


If you are looking for a new furry family addition, please make PAWS or any of your local animal shelters your first port of call. There are countless dogs and cats out there looking for a family and the way I see it, I've made as much a difference to my humans lives as they have to mine. 

First picture ever taken of me by my human. This was when we were at the "getting to know you" stage in PAWS. I imagine this is what speed-dating feels like.

PAWS Animal Welfare Society
(ROS registration Number: 4040/87)
Pilmoor Estate,
Subang Airport Road,
47200 Subang, Selangor,
Malaysia.
Tel: +60 (0)3 7846 1087
EMail : shelter_manager@paws.org.my
Opening Times:
Monday – Friday: 9.00am – 4.00pm
Saturday – Sunday: 9.00am – 4.00pm
Wednesdays: CLOSED

Maintaining My Figure

During my recent visit to the vet, my humans (who were concerned about the weight I've put on, especially around my chest) asked if my weight gain is within the realms of normality. After checking my teeth...

...and my general health, I'm glad to say that my doctor, Uncle Dom, gave me a clean bill of health and even said that I have the ideal dog body condition as shown in the image below from the Iams website! So, in case you are a bit slow, this means that I have the equivalent of a 36-24-36 body type in a human. I can smell pageants Dog Shows and Blue Ribbons in the horizon!

Obviously maintaining this body is no mean feat and I, like Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow before me, have yoga to thank. I practise yoga multiple times each day. It is all part of my balance lifestyle and I like to think that it is us dogs who gave humans the inspiration for some of the yoga poses. Why else would they name the pose below the Downward Facing Dog?

And this is how it should be done.

And another picture, this time a full body shot so that you can appreciate the intricacies of this pose.

There are a few other poses which haven't made it into the yoga books for humans. Frankly I don't blame you lot, humans can hardly be called graceful creatures and some of these poses might prove to be too difficult for your dangly limbs. I've included a sample of some of the yoga poses I do on a daily basis, to help you attain the figure of your dreams.

 Pose 1: The Head Prop 

Pose 2: Ooh That Feels Good 

Pose 3: Downward Facing Head Prop (a variation of the Head Prop, not for the faint hearted)

It has taken me a year and a half to perfect these poses, so don't feel disheartened if they do not come to you easy. Remember that yoga should be practised as part of a healthy lifestyle which includes a balance diet, proper hydration and a calm mind.

Return of the Cat

When my humans first brought me home, I was given a green cat as a chew toy. That was the first of many chew toys and while bones may come and go, my green cat was my constant companion. So you can imagine my devastation when they threw it out some months ago as it was allegedly going to pieces. (I say allegedly because I don't seem to recall having a problem with it! But I guess my humans found that looking at the insides of the green cat was too much for them. Incidentally, the insides aren't green...go figure!)

My green cat and me during happier times

I never got a soft toy after that. I was deemed to be a big girl and by that extension I should have outgrown my love for soft toys. But there are lonely nights and evenings when I think back of the time I've spent with my green cat fondly.

This is an example of one such time. This is me looking wistfully into the middle distance.

My humans have tried looking for a new green cat for me, but all the pet shops in town don't seem to stock it any longer. One of my humans went to the Hartz website and my green cat seems to have disappeared off their list of toys! I was resigned to never having a green cat replacement until Aunty One found a Red Cat at a pet shop in 1 Utama!

Red Cat is almost like my Green Cat except that it is smaller and I guess if Darth Maul had a cat, it would look like this. They share an uncanny resemblance, colour-wise.

Darth Maul and his pet Red Cat

It was great having a soft toy back in my life again. There are some games that you can play with soft toys where a chew bone just won't cut it. It really did feel like a hole has been filled in my life. That is until Red Cat started making strange noises. It just seem very unnatural (to me anyway) that an inanimate object should make a sound if its head is pressed too hard. Red Cat seems to protest in a squeaking manner whenever my humans or me press on its head a bit too hard. I can't quite shake off the feeling that Red Cat has been possessed by Darth Maul.

My humans seem to think it fun to press on Red Cat's head but it scares me somewhat when it protests loudly by squeaking. So I try to steer clear from Red Cat when I think it is unhappy. The only safe zone to chew on Red Cat is on its tail...it doesn't seem to mind me doing that, so I've been sticking to the safe zone.

Often times I wonder what Green Cat would make of my new relationship with Red Cat. I am sure he would understand and he would want me to be happy with this new toy. And I do wish at times that Red Cat would be more like Green Cat, the strong silent type. All the squeaking makes me a bit wary, it feels as though there is a mouse trapped inside Red Cat. I suppose I really should give Red Cat a chance and aim to start putting together a new set of fun memories with it.

Me and Red Cat relaxing by the dining area

Red Cat needs the protection from my humans. They love pressing on its head, so even while I sleep, I need to have a protective paw over it.

I wonder what Green Cat would say if he can see us now...

I mean, Green Cat would want me to be happy...

Chewing on Red Cat's safe zone

Thank you Aunty One for getting Red Cat for me. I'm sure we will have many happy memories together!