Paw problems

My boy cut his paw pad during his walk last weekend. It's a deep cut in his right hind leg. He seems to be fine - no limping, no whining. Such a trooper.



I was worried that he's in some pain..but NOPE. It's business as usual. This means no slacking on the morning walks, mama! ;)


The wound is being cleaned twice a day. I've tried wrapping it to keep out the dirt. He will patiently leave it on until it get in his way. Today, he wore an old sock but it stayed on for a minute before it fell out.

I need a nifty boot like this...not some make-shift red cloth.


I looked up my lab forum. Apparently, there's not much one can do because the vets does not stitch it even though it's deep (tho' one dog got his wound glued up by the vet). Just need to keep the wound clean and dry....which may be a challenge in rainy weather. Plus, I can't reason with my boy that it's not a good idea to walk with an injured paw.


Photos on 26 June 2010

Sometimes you wonder...

...whether they have dreams when they grow up...maybe, achieve something in life....


Well...since early this year, Mariko has moved from under my study table to the bedroom floor, to the foot of my bed...and have inched herself closer to my pillow. I think she has now reached her sleep goal. o.O

Pink panties for breakfast

So, today I decided to work from home and spend some time with my kids.

I was awaken at 7.45am by the sound of rummaging in the bathroom. I yelled out RIKO and sure enough, she scrambled out of the room. Sure enough, she handpicked my undies by climbing into the bathtub to get to the laundry pile. When I went outside, there was paper strewn all over the garden by the usual suspect, Riko...who decided to check out the rubbish bag by the gate this morning. By now, they were tugging my panties around the garden, chasing each other around the car...and I was fuming mad!

For an hour, I totally ignored them. By now, the stolen item laid surrendered in the garden. Ruki knew he was in deep trouble when I dumped the panties into his bowl. He nudged me every ten minutes to signal for his walk. Each time, he got NAUGHTY BOY...and he went away to his corner to feel sorry (normally, he will nudge incessantly until I got up my chair). The silly girl, on the other hand, probably cannot relate her wrongdoing to her cold shoulder punishment. She went about running oblivious of the trouble she was in.

At around 9am, she ran into the house with upturned ears looking silly. I burst out laughing at her cute face. Usually only one ear get upturned at a time....so she must have been running at top speed to achieve this look. ;)


Poor boy is often sucked into Riko's mischief. So, he got to go for his walk later that morning.


Photos on 25 June 2010

A little Kunta Kinte

Now, Ruki is clearly a show bred Labrador - shorter on leg, has a heavier body, thicker tail and coat than a field bred Lab. Most show bred Labradors have a shorter muzzle and wider head than a field bred Lab.

This is an example the body of a show bred Lab.


Ruki Boy...


Field dogs tend to have a lighter body and longer legs. Their coats aren't as thick and their tails tend to be thinner.

This is an example the body of a field Lab.

Riko Girl


The field bred Labrador's head is generally not as wide as a show bred Lab and the muzzle tends to be longer.


Riko Girl's side profile

And, the different shades of brown in the sunlight...


So, I would say I have a field-bred "American" and show-bred "English" line of Labradors in my family.

Reference to American or English Labradors

Home Alone 2

For the second time this year, the kids are home alone until Friday. I'm trying to take Friday off to study, sort out my taxes (double yucks!)and babysit my kids and maid as she cleans the house.

Meanwhile, I hope the kids get down my car tomorrow because I have a 10 o'clock meeting to attend.

Photo on 27 Dec 2009, my sweet girl was tiny then...

Nightly truce

The kids will fight over every toy they share because the toy in the other's mouth always looks more interesting than theirs. I'm glad they don't fight over meals and managed to agree on who goes out for walk first every morning. A good thing too.. that they agree on their sleeping arrangements. Makes sleeping time...a happy calm ending to the day.





Photos on 16 June 2010

The case of Jack Sprat and his wife

The past couple of days I have been extremely late for work. Getting in at 11 a.m. because of the extra time needed to feed my kids. I have to literally coax, watch and hand feed them because they are either totally disinterested or easily distracted by the slightest thing like a lurking housefly.

As I was watching them today, I had a light bulb moment. They were definitely getting picky with their food. Literally. Now, my boy is picking the real meats from the kibbles in his bowl. My girl is picking the kibbles from the meat from her bowl.

Talk about Jack Sprat could eat no fat and his wife could eat now lean. In my household, it's Ruki who could eat no kibbles, and Riko could eat no meat!

With this new development, Ruki may need to go semi-BARF while Riko on complete new-brand of kibbles diet.

Photo on 14 February 2010 - those were the days when eating used to be focused fun

Hunger strikes!

I never thought there will ever come a day when my labs will prefer to skip a meal than eat their kibbles. It started out with my girl refusing to eat more than a few bites a meal. The vet prescribed her some pain pills and vitamin B 2 weeks ago. She recovered slightly thereafter. The poor girl threw up Sat's dinner and she didn't take a bite the whole of Sunday. She only wanted to take peanut butter and yogurt. She had a depressed look (post pet therapy syndrome) ... so, I don't think she was trying to con me into feeding her junk food.

Then, Ruki started to act up by not eating his food too (maybe, he wanted to get some attention). He would only eat the meat trimmings and leave the entire bowl of kibbles untouched. It has been 2 consecutive days now. He is surviving on 3 small chicken necks for breakfast and 4 pieces of meat handed out after my dinner. Such willpower for my boy!!

Riko, on the other hand, is just eating morsels. At dinner, she has been hand/ forced fed. For 2 days now without fail, she has been sitting beside me around 10pm because she's hungry. She refuses to take her usual kibbles. So, she eat 4 dog biscuits every night now.

I wonder how long is this going to continue. They both look healthy and active otherwise. Maybe they are telling me they are sick of the taste of their kibbles! So, it looks like I have to switch to another dog food brand this weekend.

Meanwhile, I totally caved in and fed the boy 100% real meats for breakfast. Of course, the boy eat it all up in one go. Hmmm... I think I may have just been entrapped!

Photo at breakfast time and they are ignoring the food bowl on 15 June 2010

Super velcro boy

What you didn't know from my day out with Riko yesterday was that my boy frisked us both when we got down the car upon arrival home. I'm quite certain he smelled something "doggy" going on between us that he missed out on.

The next morning, Ruki made sure he was the first to jump up the car (when usually, he will wait for everyone to get in and the car air-con running a few minutes before jumping in). Then, we got to day care, he made sure everyone got down the car before him to ensure no one sneaks out behind his back(normally, he is first out). When I was leaving to run errands at 1pm, he was first to jump in and refused to come out. It was blazing hot. On normal days, he will stand by the front door at daycare peering out with a look that said "come back and pick me up later...it's too hot now" when I motion him to get into the car. But today, he was ready to battle the heat to find out where we went yesterday. During the 20-minute ride, Ruki was at first in the front seat enjoying the cool air-con...then, jumping to the backseat to stick his head out of the window for wind-blown ears...then, back at the front. Four times each way...the kids were switching from front to back o.O

The photo above is of SuperVelcro Boy and VelcroGirl huddled at the back seat refusing to come down the aircon-less dog mobile (switched off as last resort) when I had to go out again at 3pm.

Mariko's day out

Today, Riko made her debut in the pet therapy circuit. It was held at Ecoba in Damansara Perdana, who generously hosted tea for some orphan kids.

The good thing was there was lawn outside the restaurant. Our dogs had to be leashed since there was a Bata shoe sale about 400 meters away... some of our kids may accidentally wonder over to try on shoes. Since the place was not crowded, the atmosphere was calm and the kids were enjoying themselves.

Riko has not seen so many dogs in one place before. So, she was mighty excited to meet all the furkids!



...and human kids...


She had a blast and made momma really proud by being very well-behaved.

Hump Interruptus

I suppose after this photo, this blog will turn PG18.

I can't remember exactly when he started to know about the birds and the bees. All I know is when he started out with his humping pillow, the pillow was way bigger than him. Now, he's bigger than his pillow and not so much fun!

So when he moved on to my 3-seater sofa cushion, I knew he was finally grown up. My cushion had a beige cover and he used to drag it to the garden like some sort of conquest a.k.a giant yellow lab b*tch o.O For my cushion safety, I changed its cover back to burnt orange.

He seems to like some variety too. He never really humped legs until New Year's Day this year. At first, I thought he was intrigued by black leggings because he'll sometimes try to climb onto my yoga legging-ed leg. But lately, I think any guest's leg will do. He's also been trying to get on Riko. My tiny girl thinks he wants to play and lies on her belly immediately.. HAHAHAHA. Nowadays, when he tries to mount on his hump pillow, Riko will comes to the "rescue" to sit on the pillow...ala hump interruptus. As long as he doesn't sit on Riko, all is well.

We have to keep a watchful eye on him since my girl is gonna be all grown up soon. This weekend, we have a pet event and afternoon tea. I'm seriously hoping that he will be at his best behaviour.

BattleSCAR Girl

Like every normal morning, the kids are fooling around before and after their morning walks. This can range from chasing each other around the house, toy tugging/ snatching, wrestling, jumping on the couch and hiding under the couch. The scariest is "prey chasing". This is when Ruki goes chasing Riko as if she was a cat or something. Now, my spunky girl is usually totally fearless...sometimes instigating the chase again after being "attacked". Normally, I will break up the "role play" after a minute or so.

Today, my boy bit her too hard and she came off limping. Poor girl. I checked her fore leg but she didn't make any pain whines. So, I gave her a pill for pain as a precaution. When grand-dad heard what I prescribed, he said how do you expect her to survive in the wild. Reminded me of the time when Ruki was limped for a day at 10 weeks old. It freaked me out enough to drive to his vet at Ikano only to get painkillers from the visit. Nowadays, I'm pretty laid back...pop her a pill and give her full rest.

But still, I worry about Riko because she has mighty long skinny legs..like chopsticks...dog-version of Kate Moss. She loves to run and be chased by her brother.


Photo on 30 May 2010

Pet shop boy

You see, I got my boy from a pet shop. It was one fateful day in 2008 when I decided to go pass the pet store. I wasn't planning to get one until I return from my upcoming long vacation. I guess my boy had other plans for me.

My boy was sharing a show cubicles with his sibling was taking a nap. All I remember was he was looking at me....as if, he picked me from the crowd. Next thing I knew, I asked the handler whether I could hold him. I even asked her to bring out his sleepy sibling to choose the better pup. All the time, I swear my boy was giving me the look - ME! ME! ME!

I think it's true what they say....the dog picks you...not the other way.