Rats....

when we were in Taipei earlier this year, we bought a battery operated rat at one of the night markets for Slurpie. Didn't they say schnauzers were bred as rat catchers initially? He was amused and really curious when we set it up, he trailed the rat and watched it carefully. Ready to run initially when the rat turned towards him.

the rat cost us less than $5 but it could turn corners and thus it would never get stuck but keep going so long it is not overturned. Slowly Slurpie had enough of this white furry running about and went up to check it out.

he used his paws to tap it and then turned and run. haha it was hilarious. now we on it to teased him occassionally. Quite stimulating for him i think. =)

Daddy's Home

Slurpie always perks his ears up and stop in mid-act and run to the door sniffing at the gap when he hears our car turning into the driveway. Initially i was puzzled but now whenever he does that i know it means Slurp-pa is home.

He would then run out to the lift and wait.....presenting my personal radar:

waiting waiting patiently for he knows daddy will appear soon.

Wipe Your Paws

We walk Slurpie twice a day unless it is raining. And after the walks, the moment he enters the house, he knows he has to "down" and wait till we wipe his paws with a damp cloth. We are considering getting him boots so he can walk when the ground is wet too. Ya he is a dog some would say and its ok for him to get his paws wet. We typically frown on human items on dogs but the boots would be really practical as wet fur means tangles and with his long fur on the legs its really a pain in a @** to comb.

Still looking for a easy to wear pair that is not more expensive than my Heatwave heels!

Slurpie Turns 1

My Christmas Eve Baby - Slurpie is 1!

to celebrate his 1st birthday on 24th Dec 2008 we went to cold storage today and bought a premium slab of beef sirloin. I seared it slightly in olive oil and his sides are boiled sweet potato and veggie (capsicum and broccoli). Look at his wistful face as he awaits the command to start his feast!



And this is him getting all buddy buddy with his ah gu birthday present

Pic of the month - Telok Blangah Waves

I am turning a year old soon!

Doggie Crane

This is our new devise that can pick up objects safely and securely......introducing the doggie crane system:

Fridge Raider

No matter where Slurpie is in the house, underneath the sofa, in the room or out at the balcony and no matter what he is doing, sleeping, chewing his toys or peeing even, he is always by the fridge within seconds when it is opened. He knows his favorite apples are in there! Fridge = Food. His theory is to Sha Chuo Bu Fang Guo I think cos we really do not feed him from the fridge but somehow he notices that his food are stored there maybe!

Stripped!

Overdued pics of how Slurpie looked after the Stripping. The first stripped portions of head and back has already grow out and the fur is very straight and shinny. Nice!

In 2 mths time he should be a handsome boy! Note he was not really affected when we did it as we did it slowly and sometimes he will actually fall asleep.

Play date doggie care

Boxster a 6 mths old salt and pepper belonging to the neighbor came for a play date one Sunday afternoon. He is hyper! The 2 can wrestle non stop, take a 1 min break next to each other or wait while the other take a drink of water and start wrestling again! Well no complains as that gave us the luxury to just relax and watch some TV while they entertained each other =) Wrestling pics are a blur as they were that hyper so could only manage their resting shots.

Schnauzers Gathering at Sentosa again

26th Oct 2008
tanjong beach, sentosa

After 4 mths we are back for the gathering at Sentosa. This time the weather was perfect, cloudy and no rain perhaps because it was also the Barkday Party of the year. Slurpie was surprising well behaved, never barked once. Only time he was notti was when he was distracted by this other schnauzer (male too) and he went off to the beach following him while Slurppa and me panicked and went about searching when i realised my bumble bee was gone!

Still had not downloaded pics from my cam so i stole from Serene's page haha. She has the whole event posted in great details. Go look here >>> Thanks for the great gathering gals! Will upload mine asap.

By the way i was not being cruel and making slurpie wear bumble in the sun but cos he has just been stripped and we did not want the sand and sun to irritate his skin.

Slurpie was so happy

Bumble Bee, Slurpie (aka the hand-stripped Botak) LOL~

Slurpie, digging for gold bars? bones?

End result of the digging~ muahahaha

Ahhhhh~ The sand below is cooler!

Ebi checking Slurpie out

Jester checking the Bee out

Botak Pooch

introducing the skin head poochie

Sit Stay Meal Times

Since day 1 we make Slurpie do sit stay before he gets his meal. The duration gets pregressively longer. This is the time when he is the most focused (on the food!) and you can do whatever you like to him! The man now actually do stripping/grooming for 15-30mins now while Slurpie stares longingly at his meal. Occassionally he lets us knows he has waited to long by whimpering or trying to crawl to the food slowly.....

This is very important as we let him know he only gets to eat when we allow him to (we use release command OK). I have also extended this to play time. When I play fetch with Slurpie I will give the stay command before I throw sometimes and he knows he can only run after the toy after I release him. He thus knows his hierarchy in this pack =) hehe.

Super Model Poochie

You know how MTVs and commercials always have models with hair "flying" behind them. Well I think Slurpie's secret ambition is to be a super model.

we have this small circulator in the living room which was of cos intended for our own purposes. Somehow Slurpie realises how cool it was to lie there and now he is always in our way! Yes he lies so close we get worried that his tongue would be cut by the blades sometimes and worse of all....he blocked out all the wind! Argh....this is myyyyyyyyyyy fan!

Smart ass always goes there after his walk (even if it is not on haha) and in the afternoons when we are home. Now doting daddy actually switches it on for him even when we are not in the living room. hmmph....must i repeat this is my fan? I have more proof of the MTV model wannabe

Guilty as charged.

Maintenance in progress

Hello all

been busy trying to personalise a new template for the blog. find this iphone template too narrow and cramp. the poochie is testing our patience now. at 6.5 mths he is probably going thru the similar period of terrible 2s for kids i think! he has been whining, talking back and demanding!

I think all dog owners can differentiate the different ways your poochie barks, whine, cry etc so trust me when i say he talks back to us! When we get home we always ignore him for at least 5 mins or until he stops trying to jump and sit to wait for us to greet him. If he jumps we give him the knee treatment. So he does try to keep his butt on the ground although we can see its quivering with excitment and if our greeting do not come quick enough by talking to him and giving him some hugs and pets, he will start chiding us with this particular bark that tells us how disappointed he is and that he wants attention now! The same happens when we leash him but do not leave the house immediately or when he sees his food being prepared but not served to him after it is ready. We just ignore him or say quiet sternly. Hopedfully he will pass this phrase soon!

Will update soon when i have more time. Work is too busy now! help.....

meanwhile check out poochie blings here

Slurpie Nursery Class

Slurpie missed out the socialisation aspect till he was about 4.5 months old due to some vaccination and health reasons. As such although we had been successful in training him in the basic commands covered earlier (Sit, Down, Stay) we were contemplating signing up some puppy classes just so he gets to socialise with other puppies/dogs.

tiny slurpie barking at the husky

We realised the very first time we brought him out that he gets intimidated by almost everything that moves and strange noises. We also recognised his fear barking with ears pulled back whenever he meets another dog. The barking no doubt stressed him out since he kept feeling fearful, it also made us stressed as we have to keep trying to calm him down, hold him back as he tries to lunge and apologise to everyone whom he barked at.

We tried to bring him out at every opportunity. Walks around the estate and the neighborhood park, East Coast Park (lots of obstacles: cyclists, runners, screaming children, roller bladers, bbq smells, shrieking teenagers, other dogs phew!), dog runs etc etc. We were trying to get him immuned to all the various strange sights and sounds that he does not experience at home. However we also wanted him to have actual socialisation with other dogs in terms of playing and not just the usual sniff and goodbye 5 mins greetings on such walks.

So we signed him up for a puppy orientation class. $180 for 4 x 1.5hrs lessons with 4 other puppies. The other puppies were younger than Slurpie, mostly about 2mths old and of cos as expected, ours was as usual the most vocal of the lot. He tends to bark as he approaches another pup/dog but once he gets a chance to go nearer and sniff he will stop.....until they run about or jump on him =P

Poor little Slurpie was made to face the wall on the first lesson for about 15mins as he kept barking when he saw 4 other pups and so many people confined in the room. Haha actually it really cracked me up when the Trainer's helper carried him and stood in the corner with him turned so he faces the wall. He seemed so pitiful hearing the other puppies playing but yet unable to see even though he tried to turned his head.

The lessons taught what Slurpie already knew: recall, sit, down and basic grooming. But the trainers told everyone to just let the puppies play even if they are rough or slightly agressive so each will teach the other what is wrong behavior. It was really good cos we saw a more agressive/untrusting pup slowly learning to join in the play, the merry little pup who learned to growl when required to defend herself and of cos our blackie who learned there are other puppies too in this world and how to play with them. None of us owners were overly protective like the people we meet on walks. We kept an eye in case of real danger but generally we realise our pups can all roll and tumble, growl and make up with no love lost. So what we really got for the $180 was a nursery play group for Slurpie and his first graduation photo:

P/S: the trainers were wonderful patient and nice people but the all love and treats method with ignoring bad behaviors approach really did nothing much for Slurpie who already had some bad habits. perhaps if he had gone earlier before 3 mths...but for us we needed another school of thought that would help Slurpie curb his fear barking problem. We are attending one now, 2nd lesson so far....will update progress!

Xiao Mi Feng

cannot resist posting my little bumble bee here

this is messy bee before his grooming. looks like a girl haha with the head gear.








checking out the tree for beehive












he sees the treat there (at the middle of the trunk) but he has not gotten clearance to eat it hehe














see super will power at work here as he goes nearer but waits for my Ok haha hilarious






disclaimer: i do not advocate clothes for dogs in singapore weather so any clothes we buy (too cute to resist!) we only let him wear for photo taking and maybe the first 5mins when we have visitors or when visiting others. this bumble bee only cost me S$9 from Shanghai how to resist! hehe.

MS Gathering at Sentosa

29th June 2008
Sentosa Tanjung Beach
Lots of fun, sand and food!

this has to be the most exciting day in Slurpie's 6 mths on earth! to be surrounded by loads of people (he loves people!) and poochie friends. It was really great as everyone there are dog/MS lovers so everyone was tolerant to any doggy mischief and understands if the poochies were playful.

checking out his new friends
cool mohawk MS

all lined up swimming classes =)apprehensive Slurpieyeah my brave boy can swim!where there is food, slurpie is always there

the organisers are awesome and the event was a success! the result? 2o over tired poochies who had the best time running, swimming, eating and playing. lets organise the next outing NOW!

by the way, pls forgive my greedy chor lor pup who ate the meatballs of your pups hehe. cocodada...paiseh la.

Identity Revealed

When we first got slurpie he had the usual puppy cut. Subsequently we only gave him a 1cm bear cut to retain his puppy fur instead of clipping it all off for a regular schnauzer cut. thus slurpie always look a little afro like and being black, many people could not recognise what breed he is. We often have passer-bys ask "Oh what a cute puppy, what breed is he"

To celebrate his 6th month birthday tomorrow, we finally tried the schnauzer cut and he looks so different!

>> Puppy boy

>> afro pup

yeah tadah the black schnauzer. pardon his legs, i actually washed his feet earlier and they were wet so it looks like it is tapered. it is actually a nice straight cut (funny how i sound like i am talking about jeans...)

the man likes this cut, feels that slurpie's eyes look brighter and more alert now that we can actually see them and that he looks nice and sleek. i kinda miss his afro look though cos it makes him looks so messy and cute like a teddy. As for Slurpie? This is what he thinks:

look ma i can see you now