Anderson 's Site

I find it so difficult to share rehoming dogs. When one dog is trying to find a home and 3-4 rehomers are trying to rehome the same dog. Every rehomers has their own expectations, requirements etc.
It is so difficult to draw a line especially when it comes to dogs that are only landed and condo approved. Here having staying in Serangoon Gardens, I see so many pedigree staying in the garden. I asked myself, would i rehome a dog to these people? Would I consider them if they approached me? I spoke to one neighbor and she told me that she has allergies towards her dog thus a roof over his head is in the garden. She would love to have him into the house but then she would break out in rashes in twenty mins but she LOVES dogs. So the give and take situation would be to let him live outdoors. A roof is better then no roof right? But with the knowledge of this, would you a rehomer feel that THEN she should be deprived of owning a dog if you insist that a dog should be kept indoors?
A shelter like Mutts and Mittens still garners respect from me on their adoption house rules. They want their potential adopter to come down and bond with the potential dog at least a few times before releasing. So that all parties are given time to discuss and plan on owning a dog. The plus point of it for Mutts and Mittens is because they have their own facility thus time is on their hands.
A shelter like Madam Wong on the other hand has limited resources and is dependent on volunteers. So the volunteers all work on their personal agenda. Some come purely for the fun of playing with dogs, some for walking the dogs, some for cleaning the kennel space, some for grooming the dogs and some using the internet to source for funds/donations etc.
I started out by sending food, doing transportation for some of the dogs to vets. It was 6 months ago that that I fostered 2 dogs from there. One I have already rehomed. One still with me by the name of Winter. Winter has one good kidney and another failing one thus I dun reckon she is going to be adopted so easily.
Different expectations are being put across to the fosterers/adopters when it comes to the dogs of Madam Wong. Fosterers are expected to bear the cost of everything from medical to food, grooming to the socialization of the dog itself.  Adopters are expected to give a sum of donation to the shelter of Madam Wong's. The adopters are also expected to foot the bill of the medical care/sterilisation in time to come by. After all their expectations is that you adopt this dog cos you love it to bits and thus everything is above board.
Sadly, the sad truth is all this comes down to one big word - MONEY. So when the expectations is being put across, not all fosterers and adopters feel and think the same. This sometimes shun away fosterers and adopters. In simple context, why would I want to foot close to $500 to adopt a fully grown dog? (vet fees for sterlization, microchipping and vaccination and test for heartworm comes to $350 plus a kind donation of $100-150 to the shelter) You seriously think that you can plea, cajole, cry about one's bleeding heart to have a soul/heart to overlook all this and adopt? Typical people would probably consider topping it up a little more and buy a puppy. 
There are people who on other hand feel that by adopting they are giving a homeless dog a home without forking out a arm and leg for one. SPCA also practices that the adoption fee is set at such an amount to cover the spay cost. To some, they would hope/expect the dog to be free (Who does not love freebies?) So when the 'expectations/proceedures' are being explained out that OH, you need to pay for this and that and I expect the dog to be placed on the highest pedestal in the family, where if your kid was hospitalised, you must come back to walk and feed the dog on time and not be late. And that no amount of compromise is tolerated for the welfare of the dog you know!
Damn, if I were an adopter, I would also be scared/turned off!
There were many dogs that were adopted/fostered out in the earlier stage. Some dogs fostered out has been for at least 4-6 months now. (Winter is also one of them)  So with space available, Madam Wong has started to take in other dogs into her shelter.  Now comes the delimma, when a dog that is fostered or adopted out is being returned, there is insufficient space for it to be returned. There is panic and there is outcry of 'injustice' that the dogs are being returned. Be it returned for personal reasons of no time, not more interested, down grade of house type, inability to care due to financial/personal reasons, the lousy truth is IT IS BEING RETURNED.
Then comes the finger pointing of such and such of not nothing a great job of screening out the potential adopters thus the dog being returned.
Then there is the argument of whether one's rehomer's contact can be trusted and why did the rehomer did not ask for a donation.
Then there is further doubts if the family selected met the qualifier of the other rehomer.

I think I have had it. It is time for me to draw the line and to alienate myself from doing 'co-broke' rehoming. At least agent 'co-broke' to sell houses still earn a commission. Here in the rehoming world, 'co-broke' seems more of troubles and crap. It is definitely better to just revert back to rehoming using one's own ability so that you are not answerable to anyone.

So to Ms A and Ms S, this should mark the end of my rehoming relationship with this unorganized camp.

    


 

Goodbye K****

The mum text me at 12.47pm that he has left this world with dignity and pride at 11.25am.

RIP boy.
Now there is everlasting food and friends to be around you. No more medication! And say Hi to Star for us.

It is painful to see one's loved one suffering in pain and deteriorating. The helplessness of not knowing how to help and how to make it better.

When does one pull the plug? When does one puts up his/hers hand and surrender in defeat?

K****'s mum called me today to inform me of her decision. His health is getting worse. He has started to diarrhea and was advised to bring him down to the clinic. But she has decided that she will give him charcoal pills and monitor. She will also contact her husband to book a ticket back and also plan for the day to let him go.

She called me 2 nights ago to pour out her sorrows. As the conversation went on, she ended up in tears.

It all started when a couple of days earlier, I had called her to ask if she had plans to go back to Hongkong for CNY. I wanted to 'reserve' a place for him to be boarded in my house in case things got a bit overboard during the CNY. I had gotten to know K**** back about 2 years. He was a cavaliar king charles, handsome old man with loads of pride. He loves his walks. He loves food and he loves attention. Whenever I came to fetch him to go back to my house, he would bark in loud barks to welcome me and also show his impatience whenever his human mum and me chatted a bit longer then usual.
He would be angry and show his disappointment whenever I had to shave him down upon his mother's request before going home.
Over the past year, I have seen his health detoriating. There was a time when he had difficulty breathing when he was with me. He even developed bruises for lying on one side of his body for too long when he was just a tad too tired to be walking and mixing with the rest of the pack.
He was after all 12-13 yrs old with heart murmur. A condition that cannot be cured but with medication, it can be maintained. His medication increased as the months went by. His doting mum would prepack all his pills into daily medication boxes with his food and pass him to me when he came. He would snooze the whole day and only wake up wagging to the smell of food. Food never fails to get him up and wagging coupled with a walk for his pee and poo.
2 nights ago she called to pour her sorrows and also decision of her trip to Hongkong. She had not wanted to go as her son was serving NS and would not be able to go back to Hongkong for CNY, K**** was also not in the pinkest of health. His medication was making him pee much more then usual and he was also not being able to control his bladder. He would stand up and just let go instead of waiting for her to bring him down. His peeing habits had also tripled and was constantly soiling himself.
Her husband was extremely upset that she was not willingly to go back to Hongkong to celebrate CNY. I told her, don't worry, just go and celebrate your CNY. K**** will be ok in my house and we are ok to face what inconvenience we will have.
Her husband went on to comment that it is not fair to prolong his life with medication and that medication should be stopped and thus for him to be gone. She was very torn over this remarks and felt really down. She wanted to hear it from another person point of view and perhaps to see if how her husband words was right or was she in the wrong to have dragged his life till now.
My answer back was: He still has not given up the will to live. He still looks at us wagging his tail, he still loves his food and eats with gusto. From my perspective, the medication is letting him live comfortably and not in pain. It is not as if he is lying on the floor in pain, or on some breathing apparatus to assist, so why give up? If the decision is to cut off his medication so that he can go off faster then I would rather she put him down with dignity. She should also be asking herself if the thoughts are coming to her mind cos she can't handle the stress level having to clean after him 10-15 times a day vs the 3 times a days of bring him down for his pee breaks. She should dig into her heart and look for the answer.
Perhaps her husband who has always been overseas does not feel as wholeheartedly about K**** as her. After all, this was the dog that came to her as a puppy but was her soul mate too when her sons grew up.
She also mentioned that she was watching a VCD that her son bought back, 10 promises I made to my dog and ended up crying during the show. She went on to question herself how many of those promises she did not fulfill for K****.
I would have chosen the chicken way out to end this if there was no other better ways. But to pull off the medication to end this would never be in my mind. I have put a dog down as she was suffering but to pull the plug for medication so as to induce him to suffer?

Anyway, I believe K****'s mum must be suffering in pain cos it is even harder to face this alone at this very moment. The impending thoughts and decisions to plan and face while waiting for the family to come back to do the deed.

I respect her decision to do this for we are not in her shoes to experience what she is going thru.

I guess for now, I will just have to wait for her sms to inform me when everything is over.



  


 

Things have not been well for star these 2 days. She started to reject food. Despite me sub cutting her, things are not back to normal.
She turned lethargic. She basically was losing weight, water and slept the whole day.
I turned to Dr Teo for advice. We knew the things were not looking up.
We also knew that sub cutting her to prolong, would not be the ideal way out. The body can just take that much and eventually will shut down.
To say it bluntly, I was looking at a terminally ill dog.

This morning, I sub cut her and she behaved differently. My feeling sank as I remembered the conversation I had with Dr Teo yesterday. I did not expect the near to be this near. I could see that she was not her usual self and that she was in discomfort. She was stumbling around without much of a balance.

Putting up my courage I called Dr Teo again to say, things are not looking well. I think I must come to make a decision today already. I cannot see her like this.
I also called Carol. Her fosterer mum of 2 weeks to inform her that things are not looking good, perhaps you would like to drop by to see her one last time? She heard what I said and broke into choking voice.

As I drove my way to work, several thought ran thru my mind. I thought I would be able to handle the situation but it finally dawn on me that after 5 yrs, 5 yrs of doing re-homing, adoption, I have to reach this juncture. Tears flowed shamelessly.

Linda my maid text me at 4.39pm, Ma'am, Star dying, going to dead. This was her broken english. Carol was still with her thus Carol rushed her to vet, I rushed from work to meet her at the clinic.

She was gasping for air and was clearly behaving in pain. I told Dr Tan to let her go. So for the last time, star had to endure a needle into her shrinking body for the last time.

I guess it was a relief for her. To be finally be free from needles, medication, her mouth sores. Her relief of never ever needing to be used as a breeding machine. Her relief to be able to run thru those clouds and have never ending supply of treats and food.  To be able to see the sunshine and not live in that dark and cramped area infested with ticks.

This morning, I woke up and felt lost for a moment. I actually had sat down to flip thru a copy of newspaper for a good 20 mins. This was not a norm cos in the morning I would be rushing to sub cut her and Winter, but I had one less dog to do. With star it was 700ml, with Winter it was only a mere 100ml. I also started packing up some of the medical stuff that was used daily for star to be kept in storage instead of putting them within reach.

I am getting on slowly but surely. Next week, I will arrange to collect her ashes.

Yup!
The sub cut has helped tremendously.
She is getting her strength and started to have good appetite already!
She has gobbled mutton, kibbles, liver.
Anyway, I told Linda, give her anything she wants!

Thank you all for your prayers!!!

She is rejecting food.
She keeps looking at me when I sub cut her. (I wonder what she is trying to tell me)
She looks like a shrinking dog. Only when I sub cut her, she looks 'bigger'
She bleeds when I sub cut her. (I also feel damn shitty)
Told Linda, give her anything she wants to eat, I don't care if the vet says it is not good for her. Liver, chicken, pork, beef, mutton........ damn......... ANYTHING!
Flushing her mouth too with saline and putting Bongela on her mouth, I hope she feels better.

I feel so demoralised cos I don't see any improvement. Am I too impatient?
Is her system shutting down? Is she feeling pain?

I hug my pets harder when I climb into my bed with them.

I cannot bring myself to write much about this.
I am still debating within myself how I should move on from here.

Close to 5 months ago, I fostered a very sweet gal called Winter. Simply thinking that she will get well from her tick fever and once recovered I can find her a permanent home but I was wrong. Sadly having recovered from tick fever. we then went on to explore other issues with her blood count and after a series of blood test, kidney scan, results shows that she has kidney failure. She has the a set of very nice eyes, twinkling ones with a toothless smile. (She has a lot of missing teeth)
She has to go on sub cut everyday for the rest of her life. Not much thou, a mere 100ml everyday but when I inform any potential adopters about her daily needs, everyone shuns off. There is simply nothing else to worry about actually, she shits well, eats well, of cos her peeing and pooing habits are not something we are proud of as she does it everywhere and anywhere. But it is only 2 times a days, so what is there to complain? Compare that to a unsterilized healthy super marker male dog, I think she is a dog send. The cost of sub cut? a mere 20 bucks will cover it all. But alas, most humans still shun away from considering her.
Her life expectancy is 6 months to 2 years, so I guess if there is no takers, she'll be my unofficial dog. 

My next huge case, Star, a wire hair jrt, very quai, very quiet, so unlike a jrt. Not jumpy, never complaining. Come to think of that, I have also never seen her smile. I took her from a breeding farm and passed her to a fosterer. 2 weeks down the road, she was brought into the vet. very lethagic and dehydrated. We ran thru some blood work and everything was wrong, what was suppose to be low is high, what was suppose to be high is low.
I chose to bring her back into my house and sub cut her. The first 3 days was traumatic for me. I considered myself to be good in sub cutting (all thanks to Winter) but I had issues with Star. She bled, and the blood did not clot well. I could not find loose skin to sub cut. And there were times when I got the line in, the line did not move! I was in dire straits. Imagine I had to sub cut her 800ml!!! Everyday over 24 hours. I went home during lunch to do it. I woke up early to do it. I rushed home to do it. And to evenly paced it out, I had to do the last cut at 12 midnight too. She was one cool gal, each time she saw me, she still welcomed me instead of running away from me.
Things got on a bit better. Another blood work and things did moved better. Finally it was checked that she was suffering from tick fever too. We started a course of antibiotics and also reduced down the sub cutting. She had ulcers in her mouth. It was very painful for her. The vet had also advised me that mouth ulcers are also a on set sign of kidney failure.
We reduced her sub cutting and a week later, things got worse. Today she went for another blood test and things are not looking up. Things are not looking up for her blood work again. Her mouth ulcers are getting worse. I feel like kicking myself. And she is back to sub cutting to 700ml now considering that she lost a kg.
I feel like miserable not knowing what next steps I can take for her. I hope. I hope the next course of daily sub cutting can yield her some more improvements. I don't want to be pushed to do the unthinkable. I don't want wsh to play then hands of God.

Someone please throw me some light. 




 

It's your birthday this coming Monday and your mummy here has not thought of where to bring you. What to do.
This mummy has been bad.

As the chain of events unfolded this past few days, it got me thinking about the lack of attention that I have given you. I am so sorry.

I know how tolerant you have been for the past 3 years to have your personal space 'invaded' by the number of other dogs. And I also know that the numbers have been mounting. But I thank you for your patience. And I also thank my lucky stars to have found you 5 years ago.

Mummy really got to think of where to bring you and your brother and sister to go this weekend.


 

Jackson, who had adopted a CHH from Mutts and Mittens via me called me to tell me that his brother's family was keen in adopting a dog.
Jackson had adopted Slurpie aka Berry 6 months ago.
This is Slurpie's old picture.

http://www.findinglucky.com/?p=136

But now she has blossomed into a beautiful gal. Saw her last weekend and she turn from yellow to white. Put up her weight too. Katherine (shelter's owner) also commented she looks good. Her newer pics will be put up later.

Anyway now back to the Minne's story. I showed them a male shih tzu that was abandoned along pasir ris farmway 3 tied to a tree. They liked him and so we all set a date for me to bring him over to his new house in a week's time thus buying the new adopter time to get ready their house.

The plan was to bring the shih tzu was a verification check up at Animal Doctors (in AMK) and then proceed to bring him to his new home alos located in AMK. With the verification cert and microchip cert, they could also go ahead with applying for his licence once they were firmed with the adoption.

I was at the clinic with Jackson when I was filling up the registration when I told Jackson to call his brother to ask him, what name was he going to call the shih tzu. He replied Minnie. Jackson went huh? er.... huh? Then he passed me the phone to continue talking to his brother. I was speaking in mandarin as both families were chinese speaking people. The brother answered : Ya ya, think already liao, the dog new name is Minnie. (as promounced)
I was like also speechless. Minnie? Minnie a male shih tzu? I just mumbled ok ok. Turn around and commented to Jasckon, er. .. Minnie ... this name, should it not be a gal? He also replied ya hor... ya lor.
Anyway, I went on to pen the name as Mini. After all, Mini this name is not gender defined. I reckon, it was ok what. Mini mah... Sounds like Minnie lor.
Saw the vet, had the certs signed and printed. Procceded to send Mini to his new home.
The brother (Jackson's brother) was not at home but his wife and daughter was waiting anxiously to welcome us. They had bought feeding bowls, meshed out the gates. Dog proofed the house. I let Mini run around and explored the house.
I went on to pass the mother his certs and all. I explained in mandarin that I had called her husband to ask for the dog's name and he had told me Minnie so I spelt it as Mini.
This was when she went onto to exclaim : No. The name is supposed to be Mickey!

Alamak.

2 of the dogs I am currently fostering broke my heart.
They broke something I liked very much.

Sigh, now I have to beg someone to buy it back from Bangkok for me.

It broke once in Dec 2006, when I was fostering a border collie.
Now it has met the end again in July 2009.

I am sad.

:(

The decision to move to a landed property came swift. It was a thought that surfaced and I started driving around the landed areas of North and Eastern of Singapore.
The search either came out too high a rent or if the rent was lower to my budget, the land owners did not allow dogs.
Then by chance I called a friend and found the perfect place. A single storey terrace with 3 bedroom. One wet kitchen and another dry kitchen. The owner was ok with dogs and thus we signed on the dotted line, planning our move on 27th May 2009.
We huffed and puffed and hauled our asses over. Slowly with everything coming into place, we settled in. I must admit, we were shocked at the weather. Having stayed in Pasir ris for the last 10 years with the sea breeze coming and also on the 6th floor, we were drenched at the heat generated from the ground.
Just sitting and not moving a muscle also one could feel the heat. The now I have learnt to appreciate the old flat's proximity of the kitchen. Now whenever I need a drink from the fridge, it is a trek! Alamak, got to go get a second fridge to put in the dry kitchen so that the distance can be cut shorter.
The plus of it thou, is the space! The small garden with the front porch space is a welcome part for the dogs to sun bath, pee/poo when urgent. They still go for their walks but all of them love the bigger space. (I think so lah) They were barking at any one that passed by the house, the garbage man, the postman and also the newspaper men but they have learnt after 4 days, this is a normal way of life thus you should just sit and just watch.
There are also nice neighbours and they are also nasty ones. The nice ones smile and greet you whereas the nasty ones just glance and pretend not to see you. The nasty ones also tend to pick on the maids when they are walking the dogs. Sadly, they accuse the maids of not picking poo and yet they keep quiet when it is owners that are walking the dogs. Linda my maid was accused to tears on a typical morning a week plus ago.
Lesson number one, Do not let the dogs pee outside their house even thou it is public property. People just cannot tolerate the thought of having urine on the public road or even by the small patch of grass planted by the govt.
Lesson number two : When picking up poo, do not discard poo bags into their green dustbins lined outside every private property. This is because, the garbage people do not hoist up the bins into the dumpster truck. They merely grab your trash and fling it into the dumpster truck. Thus by throwing poo bags into their dustbins, poo bags will be stuck at the bottom. = bad.
Throw the poo in PUBLIC NEA provided dustbins located at the parks, bus stop etc.
What a lesson!

What I cannot fanthom is the next thing. People tend to percieve that when a house has many dogs, it is smelly and dirty and also noisy. Cos this morning, I had a visit from certain authorities. First came AVA, he wanted to check on the licencing of all my dogs. He was dying, just dying to catch me with one unlicenced dogs so that he could fine me. So with the fullest co-operation, I listed out all the licence numbers and had to bring out one by one my jrts for showing. He tend continued to query me, why my dogs all different address? So I had to expalin that I had just moved thus, I did not have time to transfer the licence over to landed address. And furthermore I used to stay in a HDB, so all were of different address lah.
After all the inquires, he left me with a form that I had to fill and furnish and re-mail it to them.

Just when I thought it was over, I left for work, my husband called me to tell me NEA is here.
Wah kao! The chap proceeded to tell Alex that got neighbours complain your house smell. This one Alex won the battle by telling the person, why not you smell it for yourself and tell me lah.

I guess this is definately not over. What I am more disturbed is, I may have more dogs on my premises but the sound and enviroment definbaterly beats those one single dog that stays in the garden/front porch that barks whenever we pass by. The owners are usually not around and the poor dog poos and pees in the front porch. Is he not more noisier then mine and also stinkier to the enviroment?
There is also another poor dog that I see being tied in this small backyard. Left in the backyard to guard the backyard dog cos the owner's backyard is facing the public park thus he must be thinking placing a dog there is the best solution. And the poor dog simply just barks at anyone that walks too near to his grass patch of the backyard.

Sigh, just my way of trashing after today's incident.
 


 


 

I was so over the moon when Property Services called me to inform me that my season pass parking has been approved. It was a long wait. All the way from August 08 till March 09. For those many months, I had to either endure coming in to work early before 9am, fight for a free car park space just next to the Shell Petrol kiosk at my work place or pay $6 per day per entry to my work place car park.
Property called and told me the great news! I was screaming with joy. Seriously, literally screaming with joy. It would mean that I need not head into work much earlier then scheduled. Pay $40 per month and I can also park into the many places available.
Well, now, I believe there was a reason for giving me that season pass. It was to trap cats in my compound. It has been a wild week. A crazy week.
Prior to this whole episode, I have never given the cats in my working place a second glance. I have seen posters been up regarding a sterilizing cats and how a program was on regarding the cats issue. It was only thru Michelle's comments about how the cats are digging thru the dustbin for food that caught my attention.
So with a little bit of cajoling, we got a colleague to sponsor us a huge bag of cat food. Michelle started stray feeding the area. Then a bigger issue came out. Property wants to get rid of the cats. Thus we set up a meeting with Property chaps and only one poor miserable man turned up for the meeting vs three ladies.
We spoke and it was agreed upon that we will capture, sterlized and re-locate to another compound of my work place. So off we went to start off the first capture. It was on the 3rd day after meeting that we spotted a trap not belonging to us opened up with a chicken dumstick as bait. We were puzzled. What was property services up too?
We found out later that Property had a change of heart and wanted to get rid of all the cats. They basically wanted to capture and release them outside of the property and hope that we can be cat free. What a dumb idea and wish. What a joke. So stupid that they can think that the company can be cat free.
So began a rat race. A rat race against Property to trap and re-locate. The first trapping yielded 3. Then we went onto another 5, then another 4. It has been a rat race. A tiring rat race against them to trap, sterlized and re-locate.
A friend called me over the weekend and asked me.... Ann, do you stray feed? Cos I got spare dog food to let go. I mysefl was stumped when I took in that question and gave her a reply. : Yes, I do stray feed but I stray feed cats.
Damn, what have I become?
And the final thoughts to this was YES, the season parking did come in handy cos now I can use the van to transport the traps and also trap. :(
 



 
 




 

Time really flies.
Dec month till January has been so busy that I only managed to slow down my engine. Not just my bodily engine, the van's engine too. I have not stuck up the stickers yet. Sigh.............

Agility training is still on for every Saturday for both my furkid. Milo and Blossom. Milo took part in SKC's Agility last weekend. On the whole, he did well. We did not clinch any ribbons or prizes but he did me proud. He showed the audience that FAT DOGS can weave. When he was weaving thru the weave poles, the audience facing the weave poles were laughing. I guess he looked cute and fat cos I heard giggling from the audience. And the rest of the equipments, he did well to my hopes. It was my fault when he over ran one jump and we had to back track.
I am training Blossom too but she is not up to it yet. Her collapsable tunnel is still lousy and she refuses to go cheong into it. During one of my training session, Trainer Dexter was holding onto Blossom at the start of the collapsable tunnel while me and 2 more other clasmates were at the other end, screaming and yelling for her. Yelling at her to come thru the other side but she was too stressed up. While yelling and shouting, MIlo whom i had forgotten to leash up at the side field strode over to my side and went thru the tunnel. He stood midway inside the tunnel and sort of eye balled Blossom in his big brother manner (dog language) OVER HERE LAH! COME THRU HERE LAH!!! and crazy Blossom just flowed gladly along thru the tunnel. What a joke man. We all ended up laughing and praising Milo for being such a good exmaple.

Chinese New Year was dogs galore. I hit the highest number ever and a total of 18 dogs passed the CNY with me. There were regulars and newbies. I must admit I was very stressed on the first night when all 18 dogs was under the same roof. The last 2 dogs came in at 10pm on 24th Jan and all the other dogs were very excited. To settle in their individual sleeping places took me a while. When I was finally done, I wrote in an sms to a friend to inform her : Should I pull such a stunt again and board 18 dogs, please use a wooden spoon to stab me.
Her reply was I will nevr learn my lesson and will probaly try to set a new record next year and take in 27 dogs. In a way, it was a good thing that I was on leave on 3-5 day of CNY thus all hands were on deck to ensure that law and order was kept in place.
The last dogs finally went home on 3rd Feb and everyone (maid, hubby, my own dogs) finally got a break.

Work has slowed down slightly (Only slightly) . On the home front, it was well deserved rest that we all are looking for as boarding will start to be busy again in March. Agility class will resume this weekend.

And of cos, I also need to pay a visit to Ah Fatt of Joyfoot. My feet is not feeling joyous.

I am wondering to myself, why am I blogging at this time of the day?
It has been a while. Last entry was in August. And now it is almost end of November. Today is a moodless day of hoping to get work done but things are not moving in the direction I am hoping for. Courtesy of my colleague AKM and clients from a local bank. So lets forget about work for the moment and savour this time.

These 3 months have been a whirlwind.
Celebrated my furkids birthday 2 by 2. Did loads of boarding. When I say loads, I really mean loads!

As close friends say, it is a bit way over the top and also I have stopped counting how many are there in the humble abode. Situation will probaly remain the same till next Chinese New Year. I was rather surprised of many dog owners travelling overseas despite the recession sinking in but then, it is because, most of them booked their holidays way way back when tickets and promotions were on. Perhaps next year, boarding may slow down a bit but then that is only my guess.

I passed my driving, went onto to get myself a second hand van (1.9L Citroen Berlingo) Did a bit of pet transportation and also a little bit of work duties for certain projects.

What did I learn from driving? I am sick of driving to Sentosa! Going at 3rd or 4th gear throughout the entire journey is killing my legs! Just when I had the impression that Sentosa was a place where I always wondered, who as a Singaporean would go there? I am surprised that they are lots of visitors to Sentosa!  And that island, just sending food and drinks to my surveyors who are on duty, one end of the island to the other is 20km! Who would have guessed!   If not for the work duties to go to Sentosa, I think after 4 weekends of 6 hours of driving up and down the island, I don't think I am going there soon on my own time.

Driving is fun. Cleaning the van is not. There are days when I look at the back of my van and I think.... I got to find time to vacumn and wash the van. The happy stuff? When my dogs or pet transport customers see my van, they are happy. To them, it means going out to cheong!

To the cats...... yucks! I have been transporting cats for sterilisation and back, so I am sure the cats hate my van. The smell of dogs. The smell of close proximity of 2 cats in their individual carriers also turn them off. This is truely a dog van vs a cat van.

I gotten the typical car decals and hung them up. My favourite is a customised car decal of my fat boy with his ass facing out. Telling other drivers if they can see his ass, they are too near. I have yet to put up the paw prints on the van ..... Sigh....... No time.

Adoption scene has it's ups and downs. Most of the dogs I have for adoption has been adopted except for a pair of siblings 1 year old shih tzu cross schnauzers. Fosterer cum rescuer hopes for them to go to a home together thus making it a bit tough for them to be adopted. If they can be adopted separately, I am sure they would be gone in a jiffy. But since they are still stuck, you would know, they are still hoping for a home. TOGETHER.

Another is Dimmy aka Zara. She is a sweet 2.5year old golden retriever with fits. She was fostered out to a marvelleous family 3.5 months ago but unfortunately some problems have cropped up and they had to return to me. Zara is currently residing in Mutts and Mittens and under observation for her condition of fits. Is a human orientated dog. Prefers humans contact then other dogs companionship. She is friendly to all dogs but just wants to rot away on her own instead of running with the pack. Fingers crossed and I hope to find her a home by Chinese New year next year.

The latest of my brood is Blossom. A 3 yr old jrt. Damn hyper, damn crazy but also damn cute. She is currently under going agility and will be embarking on Level 3 next month. And each time I am at class sweating and shouting away, I wonder to myself, ANDERSON What have you gotten yourself into........... Photos of her, I don't have much, maybe I should try and get some of her by this weekend. Till then!

Dear Daddy,
It is our day again on the 24/08/2008

You have aged and so have I.

It must be fate to be adopted by you and to share the same birthdate as you.

Yup! 2 days ago, I recieved a phone call. It went like this :

Hello, is this Anderson? Hi, Is it convienent to talk to you for a short while now? (For a moment I thought, damn, must be some credit card stuff again but normally they don't call me Anderson what)
Yah, this is Anderson... It is an ok time to talk now. What's up?
Oh, ok I got a 4 year old papillion, small size, female. (I was thinking oh shit, want to give up ah... want to rehome ah... want to what? My brain was buzzing on how to start my counselling)
And we are looking for a male to mate with her.....
(huh??!?! Did I hear this wrongly? ) What?!? Mate? Where the shit did this woman get my number?
My tone turned cold. To which I replied, I think you got the wrong number. In the first place, I am a rehomer which I find homes for dogs. And I am very pro sterilisation. I do not encourage breeding. So I think you have the wrong number.

My fault, I put down the phone after muttering that. I regretted not pro-longing the conversation by telling her how dangerours it was to mate. And how her dog as a first time mother at this age. And how there are not enough homes for dogs and how can she cope and ensure good families for the pups she will get.

Damn. Next time, next time when I get another phone call like this.

I have finally attained my beloved driving licence after spending this amount.
EXPENSIVE? yes no doubt but as the tester was telling me, reminding me, this licence is valid till you are 72. So you think it will be easy to attain?

I hereby wish to thank... the following people who have made it possible. Hahahahahaha
Mr Roslan for screaming at me constantly to SLOW DOWN SLOW DOWN....
Mr Rasul for the enjoyable driving lesson and of cos the chit chat session too.
Mr Teu Chua for showing me what Mr Roslan meant by SLOW DOWN! and tuning me to finer points of making sure I check those blind spots.

Mr Lim a private instructor for teaching me to slow down 3 lamp post before and curb my lousy habits of resting my right elbow on the window while driving. And making me drive behind a slow slow car so that I can learn not to be impatient.

Thank you to Vivien, Shanni who keeps telling me to JIA YOU for this mission. For the love of my furkids, I finally conquered my fears and accomplished it after 10 years of procastination.

Thank you all! Now to start van hunting!  And yes, I will attempt to drive to Pet Movers and proof to Deso's dad that it is his driving that is causing his dog to vomit.

hahahahahahahahaha

The resort/in camp training/temp home is closed for painting works between the period of 21st-31st July 2008.

Unless any dog owners out there do not mind their dogs coming to hang out with us, we are ok!

Hi Mummy,
Just to let you know, I am doing well here. In fact, I learn new tricks from Milo and Winky. I learnt to chase birds from the kitchen window.

Those shorties (the jrts) they get sooooooooooo excited by the birds that come by. Actually i don't quite care but how not to show brotherly support right?!?! So i also join in lah. And i think the birds were sort of surprised cos normally they dun see this kinda of size.

We've got a few friends over too so I have gotten a bit more new friends. There is Ah ma. This old lady of 10 years old. A skinny silky terrier. I tell you, she walks like a spring chicken whenever we go for walks.

Then there is Sensual. Sweet shih tzu but sometimes I get a bit pissed with her for sitting too close to Uncle Alex. She think she what! Cute ah! Me more cute leh!

The one I dislike is a chocolate poodle called Twinki. He got this teddy bear look and he sooooooooooo timid! That day he was rude to Aunty Vivien. Aunty Vivien wanted to see Hi to him, he actually stood up lifting himself into a sitting stance with his front paws in the air. As if he thinks he is in the running for CONTENDER PASIR RIS!  Then instead of sticking his paws out to fight, he actually squirted pee. ALAMAK! He is one greedy fellow, chomps down his dinner like there is no tomorrow! (Ops! That sounds a bit like me too!)

Anyway, pppppppsttt, I overhead that Milo is going for hash leh... BUT!  I also heard that Aunty Ann not bringing me! How could it be? First you betrayed me by going for holiday and sucked up to Robin! And now! I smell it that she is going to the hash without me! WHAT INJUSTICE! I must file a complaint! It's just bathing what! Aunty Ann says she cannot bring herself to bath me after the hash! I am like.......... WHAT? I am actually ok with she does not bath me after the hash you know. All that earthly smells. Mummy, could you call her to convince her to bring me? I can don't bath..............................

Case 1
The lost and found husky that I picked up about a month ago actually belongs to a seafood supplier in Farmway 1. I had put up notices and called SPCA and yielded no responses. Someone even wrote to me that this particular husky was spotted coming down a staircase of Blk 573 Pasir ris.
One month had already passed and no sound no picture. I let out the news that she was up for adoption. Just 2 days ago, Carol called me, asking if my husky was stil lup for adoption. I said yes. Apparantly this person Richard wants to adopt a husky. He had lost his husky about a month ago. He tried adopting 2 huskies from Carol but could not cope. Thus having to return them.
I invited him down to come and identify the one I had found if it was his, or rather, if not, then perhaps he would like to consider her instead. His description of her over the phone regarding his lost and my found husky fitted to a T except for one part, he said her eyes was blue.
I said, never mind, you come and see then decide. Turns out, the husky I found belongs to him.
Good ending for me. That is one round.

Case 2
Sometime back, a rotti was spotted along old Tampines Road. The boss of Mutts and Mittens was told about it but as he was away in Thailand, he could not do anything about it. 3 days after returning from the trip. The rotti was still hanging out there along the old Tampines road. Fate has it that Cohen had to bring him back to the shelter.
He was given the name Lukas. Big friendly chap.
Today I arranged for a dog to be sent to Mutts and Mittens as it needed a home and was being evicted out of her holding premises. The co-partner of Mutts and Mittens agreed to take her in on the account that she was old and no one would wanna adopt her anyway. The twist? The person that sent her to Mutts and Mittens reconized Lukas. Apparantly he was the co-owner of Lukas!  He and another fellow colleague had bought Lukas as a pup and kept him at the working place. He left the company and thus Lukas was to be cared for by his colleague.
Well, now that he found out that Lukas was found abandoned along Old Tampines Road, he is obviously very pissed off and is going to confront his friend.
He is hoping to 'redemn' Lukas but I am sure he will have to do a lot of convincing towards Cohen before it can be resolved.