Daddy left this squarish thingy lying on the floor. I thought it is my new (FLAT) bed so I had to test it.

Mommy: “Silly boy! That’s just a recycling bag.”

Note by Mommy:  This silly boy had a similar cute mistake back in year 2003 when he was just a 5-mth old pup! Some things just never change eh?

Before:

After:

The weather has been sooo warm recently I’m glad Mommy made a wise choice to have my beautiful silky fur (*thick-skinned eh? ^_^*) trimmed short.  It also made me look very slim, ooh!

Note from Mommy: Oh, I just have to dig out this classic long fur shot of Bowie. We laugh so hard every time we look at this photo! whoahahahaha……….we think he looked like those old wise guru!

Today is my 6th barkday! In terms of hooman’s age, I am about 37 – 40 years old … OMG!

(note: a quick Google search showed that it is not accurate to simply multiply a dog’s age by 7 since dogs reach adulthood within the first couple of years.  Anyway since no one can really verify that, no point worrying about that heh).

Daddy said I’m going to have mid-life crisis soon.  *Very funny Daddy, see my paws are laughing!*

Taa…daa…! My barkday cake that Mommy baked!

It’s an American Carrot Cake. There’s healthy (grated) carrot inside! But there’s also not-so-healthy sugar too so not the whole cake you see is mine. :’(

Mommy: “Bowie, I see you are drooling. You want?”

Noooo! I don’t want such a small one! I want the whole cake! Hmph!

*Should I or should I not take this smaller cake?*

*Think I’d better take it. Better than nothing right?*

Ok Mommy, deal!

My favourite activity on bed besides sleeping is to ROLL!!

Oh yeah…!

Roll till my hair is all messed up…

…then look at Mommy innocently and act cute:

  heeheehee..^_^

Then changed location and rolled somemore!

Oh yeah..! That was shiok! Very shiok!!

It has been an unlucky year 2009 for me thus far! Just 2 months ago I had to endure the pain and ugliness an abscess caused to my cheek (refer here if you didn’t know about it). Now? It’s Hot Spots!!! D@mn! Look what they do to me:

The fur on the affected area (with pus oozing out) has to be shaved off in order to air the sores and also easier to be cleaned and for the topical powder to be administered.  So ugly! 

Now, the picture above did not show my tail.  See what happens to it:

…

…

…

Don’t worry, it’s not hurt/damaged/injured.  Mommy wrapped it with a mesh dressing so that the fur on tail does not get all gooey with the pus as I kept wagging my tail on the shaven area (Mommy: yup! your tail was like a spoilt windscreen wiper … couldn’t stop LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT swiping on the sores!) like this:

Yeaah! New bed! Let me test it out …

hmm….so comfy I’m falling asleep.

Mommy first saw this lovely feeder while browsing at Amazon website.  It dispenses kibbles for me at meal times. But it’s not just a feeder. It’s called MannersMinder Remote Reward Training System (by Premier). As described by Amazon: “If Fido is barking at the door, jumping on house guests, or begging at the table for food far too much, here’s a great way to help him learn to mind his manners. The MannersMinder features a remote -controlled feeding tray that lets you reward Fido with a snack for good behavior without getting out of your lounge chair. By targeting and rewarding desired good behaviors, the system is an invaluable tool in helping redirect a dog’s focus from unwanted behaviors. Highly effective in stopping problem behaviors…”

Mommy said I have all the unwanted behaviours described  and so got it to train me.  The machine can be set to dispense kibbles/treats at fixed or varied intervals and whether to dispense one treat or multiple treats at a time.

Product Features:

• Trains through positive reinforcement
• Instantly links a food reward to desired good behavior
• Extendable target wand can be used with or without the base
• Hand-held remote can operate on 4 separate channels from up to 100 feet away
• Illustrated user guide and training DVD included
• Uses 4 size D batteries (not included)

A video clip of me being fed with it:

Mommy’s testimony:
Lucky thing Bowie is very much motivated by food! However, that is not to say that dogs not so food-motivated cannot be trained with it. You just have to spare more efforts as with any other form of training. I like that a training DVD is also provided besides a printed (calender-like) training manual. The DVD shows both correct and incorrect training methods which are great! I followed the training tips closely and although I have not completed all the stages with Bowie yet, I am happy enough with the results so far.

For example, he barks and jumps at the door whenever someone visits at the door or when the repairman is in the house. With the MannersMinder, his attention is focused on it instead.

You can read more testimonials by other users here.

This story went back to 17 Feb 2009 (Tuesday).  That morning, mommy noticed that my right eye looked smaller than my left.  At first she thought I had an eye infection but upon closer inspection, she saw that I had a bump beneath my right eye on the cheek area.  Worried, she called up the vet to book appointment but the next available slot would be 3 days away!!!  So in the mean time she monitored the bump, at the same time worried whether the bump was caused by tooth infection.  Eye infection was unlikely as my eye looked normal.

By Friday, the bump looked reddish.  When the vet asked whether I had been in a fight, got bitten by a bug or knocked into something, the answers were all negative.  Everything had been very normal until that 17-Feb-morning!  Vet also thought it was not any tooth infection as my teeth were “not too bad” … she had come across dogs with rotten teeth yet no infection so it was highly unlikely that mine was.  She said she could use a needle to prick the bump on the spot to drain the pus if any, but mommy told her that I super scared of pain; the needle prick would probably send me screaming at the top of my lungs!  So the only course of action left was to prescribe some medications and antibiotics for me, see if the swelling would subside or maybe burst? (!!!)  Worst case scenario would be to put me under anaesthetic so that vet could cut up the bump. OMG!

The next day the bump had become softer to the touch (mommy suspected that there might be some liquid/pus inside) and appeared blue-blackish.  Then suddenly in the evening when I was following mommy around, her foot accidently knocked against my bump.  At first she did not realise but I gave a big yelp and scurried away, leaving a trail of blood drops on the floor.  Mommy thought I had diarrhea but immediately realised that my bump had burst!  True enough, the bump was gone but replaced by blood.  She struggled to wipe away the blood on my cheek (and I struggled to turn my head away ).  By then that spot had already got my fur stuck together.  We did not rush to the vet as they were fully booked.  We went the next day instead, to get the wound properly cleaned.

The following day at the vet, it was another saga!  Vet had to trim away the fur on that spot but it was very painful.  Mommy and daddy were told to wait outside while the vet and her assistant struggled to get the cleaning job done.  Later on mommy told me that while they were waiting at the reception, they could hear me screaming and crying and that mommy felt really heart-pain.  After several tormenting minutes, mommy and daddy could go into the room again.  Mommy saw that on the examination table were a few pieces of my poo.  Yep! All that struggling in pain had my poo all forced out! :’(    We left the clinic with saline solution and antiseptic cream for my wound.

The wound looked like this:

All along I could not and had never put on an e-collar.  I disliked having something circling my head and particularly scared of the velcro sound zipping on/off!  So this was how I looked when mommy tried the e-collar on me:

I remained stationary on sitting position (like in the pic), only panting non-stop.  Mommy gave up the idea upon seeing that I was so distraught.  Luckily I was a good boy too.  I did not for once touch or scratch at the wound.  (Mommy: “You lied! You did scratch at it twice last Saturday causing it to bleed a little”.)  

Today after 1.5 weeks, the wound is all dried and closed up.  Daddy says “Bowie so MAN, has a scar!”  Hee…hee…hee…

psst, not only that, I did not bath for 12 days so I smelled very MAN too whoahahaha…. mommy could not tahan and bathed me on the 12th day.  Sigh, all the sufferings not even knowing the cause!

Wonder what are those 2 black rectangles that are sticking on my forehead?  They are my new eyebrows lor!  

Mommy has tried using mini hairclips but they are hard to clip on (ie. I do not co-operate well plus my hair is prolly too thin for the clips to stay well in place).  Recently Mommy got 2 pieces of velcro-like thingy that she uses on her own hair to prevent her fringe from falling.  So she cut off part of them to use on me!  They work slightly better than hairclips but she still finds one or both pieces straying on the floor or wrapped inside blanket (which I rolled in ^_^) heehee…

Ok, so while Mommy tried the velcro thingy on me, Daddy was sleeping.  When he woke up and saw me, he said: “Bowie, now got eyebrows ah?” so the “velcro clips” are now called Bowie’s Eyebrows.

I can sleep ANYwhere:

… with a chair’s leg against my face:

…in the long narrow space behind sofa (refer to My Sanctuary):

… on the sofa against its armrest:

…against the curve of my hooman’s legs:

…against my hooman’s thigh:

…in between my hooman’s legs (v-shaped); OMG! didn’t realise it’s kinda horny looking :

Just wanna show my sleepy face here *GRIN*:

…perhaps this one is the most “normal” looking amongst all?:

…stretching and wriggling out of bed after waking up: