How We Spent National Day!

Last week (9 August) was Singapore’s National Day and what was especially different this year was that its SG50! How our family usually spends national day is mostly staying at home and afterwards watching the live telecast of the national day parade (NDP) on tv. But this year we spent it slightly differently!

We headed to Singapore Botanical Gardens in the evening with the intention of just having a nice walk and afterwards heading back home to watch the NDP but we reached pretty late and hence we decided to stay to watch the live telecast of the NDP at Botanical Gardens instead! Before they showed the live show of the NDP, there were some performances which we only managed to watch for a little while before it was time for the NDP show. Thankfully we had the picnic mats in the car and therefore able to join the big sea of red watching the NDP show on screen!

Now lets let the photos do the talking!

An overview of what it was like!

Getting comfy on the mat 😛

All smiles 😀

Our SG50 tattoos!

😀

My failed shot of the airplanes oops 😛

I accompanied the humans while they watched the NDP 😀

The human’s lap is a good chair 😛

I want tweats!!!!!

I dropped my glass slipper and dad is helping me to wear hehehe

We left Botanical Gardens earlier due to a drizzle and decided very impromptu-ly to try to catch the fireworks near Marina Bay and we managed to do so! Even though we only got a glimpse, the fireworks were indeed very spectacular! Pity I didn’t managed to get any shots of them though! Nikie was snoozing while we admired the fireworks 😛 Finally, we headed to East Coast Park for dinner and Nikie was sneaked​ in muahahaha And that was the end of our day! It was kinda nice being with so many others celebrating our nation’s independence just that we could have brought some food for the humans and pooch! Heheh how did you spend national day?

Til’ next time!

Ray Cher and Nikie

Happy Adoption Day/One Year Anniversary!

A year has whisked passed since Nikie came into our humble home and it seriously feels that we only adopted him not long ago hahaha 😛 How time flies! We had a small celebration to celebrate his one year anniversary with us! We adopted him on 18 July 2014 and it so happens that 18 July falls on a Saturday this year. Saturdays are rather busy for us because me and my dad volunteer at Mercylight on Saturday mornings and during the Saturday evenings we would head to our grandma’s place for dinner. Hence we had a really mini celebration for Nikie at home and not to forget, his BFF, food 😛

Before we share what we did on that day, lets take a trip down memory lane!

Getting all comfy 😛

The first few days he was with us! We were preparing for him to go on a walk 🙂

After his first grooming, certainly doesn’t look too impressed 😛

After his sterilization- around Sept’14!

When we got a shirt for him to wear and he hated it oops

Comfy on the sofa again hehe

Upgraded to the human’s bed muahahaha

Checking out the new bed we bought for him from Bangkok last year 😀

Second groom! And yes he looks weird :O

Walkies in the park ^_^

Adventures at Sembawang Park!

New treats for Xmas presents!

Met Coco for the first time!

Exploring at Bukit Batok Nature Park!

At Woodlands Waterfront!

Third grooming!

On our usual walks!

And………

This is Nikie today! xP

He is still on the cone as he is itching and I’m in the progress of finding solutions that work for him.

Okay! Coming back to how we sort of ‘celebrated’ his adoption day/one year anniversary, we went to Little Guilin at Bukit Batok Town Park to have a short walk and afterwards gave him the special adoption day dinner to him!

At Little Guilin!

Special adoption day dinner of homemade veggie beef balls and blueberries! 😀

I also got the set of 4 mini pupcakes from Feedmypaws! They were sort of a mini salmon meat loaf and Nikie loved it!! We sang an adoption day song (yes it was my idea heheh) for him before giving him the yummylicious pupcake to eat!

Aren’t they just so pretty?

*stares intently

OM NOM NOM NOM YUMMEH

We are really glad that Nikie came into our family, he is such a bundle of joy and we can’t imagine life without him now. I still remember vividly the first night when he was at our home he whined so much but I’m glad he settled in and he adapted quickly to our home. He is one with so many quirks and we love him to bits. We hope you are happy with us Nikie! Here’s to many adoption days/anniversaries ahead! ❤

Love,

The Chew Family

The Durian Seed and Me

Well, its the durian season in Singapore and as a family of durian lovers, there’s no question that there would be durians in our home. Nikie as a part of our family, also got to enjoy some of this sweet, strong-smelling fruit. But what was unfortunate this time, he swallowed the durian seed :O

We were enjoying the durians together in the living room when Nikie picked up the durain seed and refused to let go. As you know, he has resource guarding issues and as my mom tried to pry open his mouth to take the seed before we knew it, he had already swallowed it in. >< We panicked and quickly hit the web to search and find for answers regarding “What if my dog swallowed a durian seed?” We chanced upon this article and this article. Hence I quickly boiled some pumpkin and added some ground flax seed to hopefully help Nikie digest/pass out the durian seed. We also gave him some pineapple juice to help aid the stomach in digesting the seed. We weren’t sure if we should bring him to the vet immediately but after reading and asking around, we decided to observe him first as his energy level and appetite was quite okay.

The next few days Nikie started to be slightly less interested in his food; he would still eat it but he was less enthusiastic about his meals. His poop also became a close to black color and I became more anxious and suggested to my family that we bring Nikie to the vet. When the vet knew that four days had passed since he ate the durian seed plus his poop being of a blackish color, she was quite concerned and told us that the seed could have went down to small intestine and there could be a blockage. Worse still, the intestine might have ruptured, causing more complications and possible infections and in the worse scenario, death. If the seed was found in the stomach, the surgery would be of a less risk as well as of less complications.  They had to do a surgery immediately after the blood test to ensure his body was okay to be under General Anesthesia and a X-ray to determine where the seed was.

I literally broke down when we came out from the consultation room as I was so afraid that the worse case might happen and at the same time was so furious that we didn’t bring Nikie to the vet earlier. We waited with bated breath for the X-ray and blood test results to be out. After what seems like eternity, the vet called us in and showed us the blood test results first, all his organs were fine. We were shown the X-ray results as well and we are so ever thankful to God that the seed remained in his stomach even after four days! It was indeed a miracle. The rest of the digestive system seen from the X-ray had stopped functioning as it was the body’s self-defense to not allow the seed to travel further down the intestines. The vet said they would start the surgery soon and we couldn’t stay. And so we went home with a heavy heart and waited for the vet’s call after the surgery.

The vet called and the operation was a success! We were so happy and relived that Nikie was fine. The next few days he had to be hospitalized on IV drip and antibiotics and we visited him daily as well as spoke to the vet and the vet assistant to find out about his recovery. And finally on the third night we could bring him home!

Poor boy at the ward 😦

Finally homed!

He’s recovering well at home now, we just have to restrict his activity and not bathe him for about 2 weeks.

Some advice we have if your pup ever swallows a durian seed: Its very advisable for you to bring your pooch to the vet within 48 hours so that the seed would not enter the intestines and cause further complications. Take note if your pup vomits or has diarrhea/poop is dark in color. Its best to have photos so that you can show your vet.

Post Op Care:

1. Check the wound daily: no pus, the stitches have not fallen apart.

2. Check signs for diarrhea, vomiting, bloat or stomach discomfort.

3. Follow your vet’s advice regarding medicine schedule, diet and activity level.

Note: I’m not a vet and I’m just writing based on my own experience taking care of my dog.

We would like to thank all our instagram friends for all your well wishes and concern for Nikie 🙂 This incident really made us exercise more caution when we are eating foods that has big seeds or foods that are deadly to dogs. It was really a scary lesson for all of us and we really hope such incidents would never happen again.

Til’ next time!

Ray Cher & Nikie

DIY Dog Treats #5; Tuna Veggie Training Treats!

Well we were running low on training treats as we have been using quite alot on our training sessions and since we had another can of tuna in water plus a head of lettuce that my mom brought recently, I decided to make some tuna veggie training treats for Nikie! This is our first time making treats without following a recipe so please forgive us if we are not too good at this!

Ingredients you’ll need:

• 1/2 cup oat flour (can be made by blending oats)
• 1 can tuna in water (I used the Ayam brand; tuna in mineral water)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp ground flax seed
• 1/2 tsp rosemarry
• 1 layer of lettuce
• 3 tsp water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven at 180 degrees celsius.

2. Blend oats in blender/food processor to form oat flour. (Skip this step if you already have oat flour)

3.. Place all the ingredients into your trusty blender/food processor and blend till smooth!

4. Bake for about 40-50 minutes or until throughout cooked. (I wanted it to be more of a brownie consistency instead of a biscuit one so that it would be more ideal for training as it would turn out softer and more moist. I baked for 50min and the treats turned out like biscuits, hence if you also want more of a moist and softer consistency, I think you can bake it for about 30min-40min!

5. Cut the treats up using a knife or pizza cutter into small training squares!

Waiting for the treats…..

Overall Nikie quite enjoyed the tuna treats but I think he still prefers the liver brownies that I made a few weeks beforehand, maybe cause its smellier and more yummy…? Hahaha 😛 If you ever try out this recipe do tell us how it was for your pup in the comments or on our instagram! Also do tell me if you know any good training treat recipes!! Wanna try out new ones for Nikie hehehe 😀

Bye!

Ray Cher & Nikie

We’re going for training yay!

Technically, we’re not ‘going’ for training because we just went for our first lesson last saturday! (27 June 2015) Personally I found the lesson quite good and insightful as I learnt more on the reasons behind Nikie’s undesirable behaviors and I believe slowly slowly we (he and me :-P) will get better! {Warning! Long wordy post :-P}

If you’ve been following us for awhile now, you’ll know Nikie has some issues like resource guarding and he isn’t sociable with other dogs in the sense he will bark and lunge at them whenever we meet dogs on our walks. He also had this habit of just refusing to budge and walk further whenever we walk pass a certain point on our walks no matter how much I tried to encourage him, use treats etc to walk further and that was pretty frustrating for me as his walks were getting shorter and I was afraid he wouldn’t get the sufficient exercise he needs.

When we first got Nikie we didn’t know much about dog training and hence we just followed what his ex-owner told us to do and pretty much what we did was say ‘no’ in a firm voice and sometimes clap (*inserts awkward emoji face) to ‘tell’ him that what he did was wrong. But what I gradually found out was that it somehow didn’t prevent him from doing the same undesirable things again and it sort of didn’t work. Hence I started asking the people that I knew who had dogs how they ‘corrected’ their pooches and I found out they used sounds and that’s when the clapping came in  oops… And regarding his refusing to walk part, I was advised to just force him to continue walking by pulling him and just walking ahead. I was even recommended to get a training collar for him to get him to follow and listen to me. So what I did was used his normal collar to practice at home first, by pulling and dragging him to walk with me and he ended up choking and I was feeling so so bad >< (okay totally not proud of what I’ve done ) My parents saw what I was doing and they questioned what I was doing and it was a very unhappy episode where they felt I was going to injure him while I explained I was trying to ‘train’ him. The feeling of guilt and inflicting pain on him made me never want to use the same method again. Therefore I was left confused and unsure of what to do next and hence we just avoided confronting the issues Nikie had.

Until about the end of last year, Cotton’s owner asked me if I wanted to attending positive training sessions with her as she also felt forcing that positive reinforcement training was a better option but I was hesitant and not sure if I should sign up as my parents weren’t too keen on the idea as well. So I just brushed that idea aside and told her for now we weren’t be signing up. However the coming months proved to be a challenge as more of Nikie’s issues surfaced and I was at a lost of what to do. The way I was coping was very unhealthy as whenever Nikie snapped at us or refused to budged again on our walks, I would get very emotionally affected and in worse cases, cry and be so angry and disappointed with Nikie. From then on the idea of training lessons were always on my mind and I was convinced to never go back to methods I used last time.

But! After months of saving up and persuading my parents, dad was finally open to the idea and so we signed up for behavior modification classes under Kaspup UniFursity. So what exactly is positive dog training?

Positive reinforcement training uses praise and/or treats to reward your dog for doing something you want him to do. Because the reward makes him more likely to repeat the behavior, positive reinforcement is one of your most powerful tools for shaping or changing your dog’s behavior.

– Taken from huamnesociety.org

Instead of punishing a dog, showing dominance, or suppressing a behavior, positive training rewards the dog for learning. Positive trainers teach alternatives to unwanted behaviors.

– From yourdogsfriend.org

So thats about it! hehe I can’t wait to attend more of the lessons and learn of more healthy ways to cope with Nikie’s issues 🙂

Til’then!

Nikie says bye!

Nikie and Ray Cher

Read more on positive training here and here.

Grooming at Margies Pet Salon!

The last grooming at a pet shop in our area didn’t exactly made me comfortable about bringing Nikie there again as there was a scent of some kind of smoke in the pet shop. And after hearing from Nikie’s ex-owner that he was quite happy being groomed at Margies plus the recent sweltering hot weather, we decided to give a shot!

With the help of Google Maps, we managed to locate and reach Margies Pet Salon on time for our appointment (made through phone) for Nikie’s grooming!

On the way!

Stepping into the shop, we could see pet food, pet accessories and even a cat! (who was in a cage for boarding) Shortly after, the lady boss (Margaret) came out of the grooming room to greet Nikie and us. She was quite friendly and informative as we told her the style of cut we wanted for Nikie. She bend down to stroke him but Nikie was too distracted by the cat. xD We also told her that Nikie had itchy skin and she recommended us the sea salt spa for Nikie and to my pleasant surprise, my dad agreed! (If I’m not wrong they are also offering a discounted package for a certain number of full grooming and spas but unfortunately I have forgotten the details! 😦 ) Afterwards she brought Nikie into the grooming area while we waited awhile to see how he was doing before heading back home as we had to wait for two hours. I managed to snap some shots of Nikie being groomed!

Can you spot the nikie?

And as you can see, he isn’t very pleased to be groomed (don’t worry he’s fine 😛 )

So after two hours, we came back to a very neat and nice smelling Nikie who was happy to see us. He was relatively happier compared to after being groomed at another pet shop that was nearby our place too. However the style that she had cut for Nikie wasn’t exactly what we requested for.

The style which we wanted:

*image taken from google.

Nikie came back like this!

But I guess its okay with us since he was quite himself when he was back and not moody or anything so thats good! hehe 😛 We paid $55 (full grooming for small dogs) + $20 for the spa! I guess the spa is cheaper if you top up from the grooming instead of just doing the spa alone, hence you can consider doing that if you ever send your pet for grooming there!

We rate this grooming service: 7.5/10 paw prints!

Margie Pet Grooming Salon

Address: 56 Sembawang Rd, Singapore 779086

Phone:6456 8653

https://www.facebook.com/margiespetgroomingsalon

We’re still looking around for grooming places in the north, so if you know of any good groomers do leave us a comment below!

Til next time!

Ray Cher & Nikie

DIY Dog Treats #4; Tuna Cookies!

Always been wanting to try to make meaty kind of treats for nikie instead of just fruity ones hence when I saw this recipe, I thought I should make this! Haha so here goes!

Recipe adapted from Mama Lisa’s homemade tuna dog treats recipe (view original recipe here)

What you’ll need:

• 1 & 1/2 cup oat flour (made by blending oats or just use the flour of your choice, we used a mixture of oat and rice flour)
• 1 can tuna in water (I used the ayam brand, tuna in mineral water)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp of rosemary leaves (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven at 175 degrees celsius

2. Place the oat flour (blended oats or the flour of your choice), egg, tuna and rosemary in a food processor.

– before blending – (I also added a little bit of eggshell powder but its up to you 🙂 )

3. Blend together. (I was unable to blend all of the ingredients smoothly in the food processor hence I placed the dough into a bowl and mixed everything together.)

4. Roll the dough onto a floured surface to however thickness you would like the dog cookies to be and cut them using cookie cutters.

5. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the cookies have turned golden brown, flipping them at the halfway time.

Done! 😀

Nikie loves these treats! Maybe cos its tuna and the rosemary smell is quite strong too! Have passed Nacho some too and she seem to like it as well! 😀 But do remember to give your dogs these cookies in moderation! I usually give the homemade dog treats a life span of about 2 weeks in an air tight container. 🙂 If you ever try out this recipe, tell me how was it was for your pup in the comments or on our instagram!

Nikie’s instagram: @nikiemaltese

Love & doggy kisses,

Ray Cher and Nikie 🙂

Our Visit to Upper Seletar Reservoir Park!

So…. #throwback to the 2nd day of Chinese New Year when we brought Nikie to Upper Seletar Reservoir Park for a walk and jog! Upper Seletar Reservoir Park is located along Old Upper Thomson Road with an area of 15 hectares and its basically like a stretch of pavement where you can jog/walk and admire the greenery along the reservoir! (Read more here)

The pretty view 🙂

Nikie running off leash on the pavement! 😀

There is also a tower at the start of the pavement and if I’m not wrong, we are able to go up and enjoy a bird’s eye view!

Nikie in front of the tower!

Nikie with the view 😛

Its a pretty nice place to visit, with the view of the reservoir and being close to nature! We jogged and the lazy human (aka me 😛 had some exercise!) We also spotted monkeys, even a wild boar and a turtle laying eggs! Too bad I don’t have any photos with me 😦 But do take note and be careful!

Another nice view I managed to capture!

Thats about it for our visit to Upper Seletar Reservoir Park! The only activities that we could do were jogging, walking and enjoying the view! Heh here’s a pic of happy nikie to end the post! 😛

Love + doggy kisses

Ray Cher & Nikie 🙂

Nikie’s 8th Birthday!

Times flies and soon March of 2015 came, about eight months since we adopted Nikie. At first we thought we would just celebrate his adoption day as we didn’t know his birth date. It never occurred to us that we could find out his birthday from his ex-owner until one day I suggested to dad to ask Nikie’s ex-owner. And we found out that his birthday is on 31st March!

Since it was his birthday, we wanted to bring him out to somewhere he would enjoy going; parks, places where he can be off-leash and have fun running about. Therefore, we decided to head to bishan park! As the humans (Me oops 😛 ) couldn’t wake up earlier, we went to bishan around late morning and Nikie had his fun running about and sniffing in the dog run!

Chiong ah!!

Looking like a bunny here 😀

The only two dogs that nikie met 🙂

I guess because it was a weekday late morning, there were no dogs in the dog run until later part that the two other dogs came in. Nikie had fun and afterwards it started to pour and that ended our adventure to bishan park! 😛

Happy Nikie after having fun in the dog run 😀

Later on, we headed to Sun Petgamart to get some birthday treats!

enjoying the ride 😛

This basket is very comfy human, can I stay in here?

Afterwards we headed home!

Nikie’s bday presents! Left three- given by Nacho’s humans, right three- liver treats bought from sun petgamart, salmon jerky and toy bought from pet expo.

Due to some time constraints, didn’t manage to bake a meaty cake for Nikie on the actual day but I managed to do so the following day and here’s the recipe!

Adapted from Tim and Mary’s Dog Birthday Cake Recipe (view original recipe here)

Ingredients you’ll need:

• 454g minced meat of your choice (I used pork)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup safe veg for dogs of your choice(I used carrots and cabbage due to limited choice at the supermarket)
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• A few potatoes (for frosting)
• 1/2 teaspoon of eggshell powder

Directions (for cake):

1. Preheat oven to 177 degree Celsius.

2. Chop veg into small pieces or use a food processor to ‘chop’ the veggies.

3. Combine all ingredients into a big bowl.

4. Place mixture into a baking pan lined with parchment paper and bake for about 40-50 minutes or till the meat is thoroughly cooked!

Directions (for the frosting):

1. Wash, peel and chop potatoes and boil them till soft.

2. Mash the potatoes to create a frosting texture.

Right- mashed potatoes with strawberry juice. Left- mashed potatoes.

3. (Optional) : Blend strawberries and add into mashed potatoes to achieve light pinkish colour. If you would like to obtain a darker frosting colour, you can consider using other safe fruits or veggies for dogs(either by boiling or blending) to add colour to the mashed potatoes.

4. Frost the cake using a spoon/knife!

After baking

Finished frosting!! And yes human sucks at decorating 😛

Can i have the cake now?

The insides of the cake should look somewhat like this when its done!

I decorated the cake by putting the coloured mashed potatoes into a clear plastic bag and cutting a hole at the corner which gave me sort of a pen to write the words. But I think the hole was too big and I am very bad at decorating/estimating the words lol and hence the above haha! 😛 Unfortunately I didn’t manage to capture a photo of Nikie eating the cake but he enjoyed it alot! You can put the unfinished portions in the fridge and keep it for about 3-5 days.

If you have not enough time to bake a cake, maybe you can choose to make this easy no-bake cake for your pup! I made this for Nikie when we had an advanced birthday celebration for him and me at our relative’s place and he loved it!

No-bake birthday cake directions adapted from Pawsitivity Pets (view original directions here)

Things you’ll need:

• Canned dog food of your choice
• Your pooch’s favorite treats to decorate
• Some kind of mold (eg: a cup)

Stuff needed!

Directions:

Basically all you need to do is to put the canned food into the mold and pat it down, afterwards place it down onto a paper plate and decorate with treats and even maybe a candle!

In the mold!

And tada! Its done! 😀

Waiting to eat his simple cake hehe

And thats it! Its pretty simple but I guess our dogs would like it just the same 🙂 Happy belated birthday Nikie! Our only wish for you is to be happy and healthy! Here’s to many more birthdays to come! Also a huge thank you to Nacho‘s human for the gifts!! Nikie loves it 😀

Til next time!

Ray Cher and Nikie

Pet Expo 2015!

This is our first year to the Pet Expo and I must say it has been quite an interesting experience for us! Basically the Pet Expo in Singapore is a Pet-ducation fair where there are pet-related workshops. talks and competitions. There are also exhibits selling dog/cat food, treats and pets supplies. Some exhibits include B2K Products, Pawfact, Wagging Rights and Addiction Foods. Additionally, there were animal welfare groups present and there was a “Speed Dating” style of adoption drive. Admission was $4 per human (children under 12 years of age are entitled to free admission.) We have been to a similar kind of pet fair at Downtown East organized by PETAS in November 2014 and personally I feel that these pet fairs are great for pet owners to go as you would be able to get some dog/cat food samples to try and see if your dog is suitable with the new food before changing his/her entire diet. Besides that you can also get pet supplies at discounted rates as well as meet other like-minded humans who have pets of their own.

Nikie had a great time trying out some food from Wagging Rights and Pet Cubes as well as sniffing new doggie butts 😛 I was thankful that he wasn’t so reactive to other dogs that we met because as mentioned before, Nikie isn’t a very sociable dog and sometimes he would bark and lunge at the dogs he meets. I guess this is a slight improvement which I’m glad of!

sitting for some primal food xD

enjoying the Pet Cubes food sample 😀

Triplewood Practice was also one of the exhibits present at the Pet Expo and they offered a free bioresonance allergy test on these five items: chicken, sweet potato, cabbage, carrots and flaxseed oil. A bioresonance allergy test is basically a non-invasive way to find out what the pet is allergic to, whether to the environment, food or even household objects such as the floor detergent or even the pet’s bed! (Read more here and here.) Me and mom saw the booth and thought why not? Hence we signed Nikie up and waited for our turn. We found out from the test that Nikie is allergic to chicken (which we have been avoiding since we adopted him) but fine with all the other food items mentioned above. We were pleasantly surprised to to find such a booth present at the Pet Expo and also glad that Nikie could undergo the trial test.

Sitting patiently while the test is being conducted.

Now moving on to the most exciting part………

Our purchases! 😀 heh

Nikie and his mini haul!

are these all mine? 😛

What we got:

• Primal Pet Foods, Absolute Salmon Jerky, Duraplay Bone from B2k Products
• AEE K9+ Probiotic & Prebiotic
• PawFact Chef’s Selection
• Kong Wobbler from Wagging Rights Booth
• Addiction Food Samples
• Canine Caviar Holistic Samples
• Merrick Samples
• Primal Samples
• Fromm Samples
• Nutripe Canned Samples
• SmartHeart Samples

Nikie loves this fish treats! Never seen this brand before but it looks not bad!

I think my most happy purchase would be the Kong Wobbler because I’ve been wanting to get one for Nikie for quite some time now as it can engage him mentally throughout the day. Prior to this, I got the Woofy IQ toy for him but it was of a more challenging level to him and hence I thought the Kong Wobbler would be more ideal.

tired but satisfied after playing with the Woofy IQ toy.

I can do it!!

I want me treats!

And so far its working great for him! 😀 He is quite motivated to play and get the treats out of the wobbler.

This concludes our visit to Pet Expo 2015! Would certainly want to go again next year! 😀

Love,

Nikie and Ray Cher