Sunday Special

An exclusive video on the daily lives of the gruesome threesome.

Look at our jumping jellybean!

Enjoy. ;)

A visit from friends

Nothing much about today as Princess Eva's daily life was already published yesterday and we all know that her daily routines are basically play, eat and sleep. It's exactly what Ricky the Sheltie said 'And what a wonderful life it is!!!!'. So, Little Eva did the same things all over again today.

When I went through some of the old pictures (a few days old, I should say), I found some of the pictures of Eva and my friend's children. I'm thinking of sharing this with everyone here.

My friend, Carol who has two adorable teenage children and they are super dog lovers. When her son, Brendon knew that a puppy was born in my garden and I was so worried that I didn't know how to take care of the new born puppy; he immediately comforted me by offering his help. I still remember he said 'Don't worry, Auntie Priscilla, I can keep the puppy and take care of her' to me. He's such a sweet boy.

Since the day he and his sister, Sarah knew about our little Eva, they had been waiting for the right time to come over to visit our little princess Eva and our happy trio. Well, their wish finally came true a few days ago.

Here they are,
those happy faces...

T.G.I.F

Thank god it's Friday coz we can all play!
-introducing a series of pictures of Eva's daily life-

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

The End

Eva & her half brother

Magic came again today which means lots of fun in the garden.

Hi, I'm Magic

Magic who first visited us when he was 2 1/2 months old has grown into a bigger and stronger young guy now . It's really amazing to see how fast a puppy grows. His coat is getting thicker and longer, he's so much taller and he runs so much faster. He's adventurous and he's gentle too. When Magic was here a month ago, our little Eva was still a teeny weeny little girl who didn't really know how to play with him yet. However, it's a different story today. Little Eva played so happily today as she finally had someone who is her age and knows how to play puppy games with her. It's really unlike playing with Mummy Hana or Uncle Mika, well, Grandmama Laura still refuses to play with her.

Picture taken on 31st December, the 1st visit

So the two puppies had a great fun running and chasing, jumping on each other, tail pulling, leg biting and some wrestling. Mummy Hana was always there to keep an eye on them. Mika wanted to join in the games but he stopped as he might think he's their uncle and he had to keep his dignity. Laura? She's a bit lofty today and considered the games too kiddy so she remained in the scene but not involved in in any way!

Eva: Hmmm, a nice bushy tail!

Magic: I've told you that I'm stronger!

Well, the two little happy puppies wouldn't care that much. They just PLAYED until they drained their last bit of energy!!!

So tired now, let's have a rest!

Wordless Wednesday # 4

Gutsy Girl

Our Princess has discovered a new trick today , all by herself and she is very proud of it. It is called 'jump across the drain'.

We have an L-shaped garden which is quite long so we use a fence to divide the garden into half when our princess Eva started to run in the garden. There is a drain in between the garden and our house. The drain is quite wide so little Eva couldn't cross over it (when she was little), besides, she had fallen into it a couple of times so she was quite conscious about the existence of the drain. We thought it was a good idea as sometimes we wanted to keep her in a smaller confined area which was easier for us to keep an eye on her while she could play in it too. The place is actually big enough for her to play 'run & chase' game with her Mummy Hana.

 Anybody here to help?

So many times little Eva saw her Mummy Hana, Grandmama Laura and Uncle Mika just walk across the drain and went to the other side of the garden which is full of plants and other interesting things. You could see from her eyes how much she admired those adults and how eager she was to join them.

 Let me try again! 

 

?!?

Well well well, it all happened suddenly today. Our little gutsy Eva jumped across the 'hurdle' and ran to her dream place. I could see her smiling triumphantly while she was running towards me. I could tell that she was so proud of herself and she was so happy that she did it. Oh yes! she did it. Not only once, but a couple of times today.

 

 1,2,3 - Jump!

 

Although, sometimes, things did not go as planned ...

Oops!

Oh dear, I have to find a new method to keep her safe now. May be we have to put a fence just beside the drain so she can't jump across it anymore.

Ear Bracing

Little Eva is no longer going to be little anymore; she's two months old now and it's time to have ear bracing - 'set' ears. Do I have to set her ears? Will her ears stick out when she's bigger? Will she look not-so-sheltie-like if her ears are not tipped? I know I'll still love her very much whether the ears are tipped or they become big perky ears and I'd been asking myself about it for so many times. However, I do love the expression that the tipped ears give to a sheltie and may be it's because I'm vain too. Anyway, the final decision was we gave the tipped ears a go as long as it was harmless to our precious little Eva.

Before Ear Bracing

A sheltie breeder told us that ear bracing has to be done as soon as the pup touches two months old as the ears take a long time to become the 'required' shape. So, in order to catch the train on time, we ordered the Japanese tape (Yutokuban)  online three weeks ago and it arrived just before Eva came to the age of two months old. Very good timing indeed.

My husband and I had done some research on how to brace the ears before we started doing it. Our Rosie also sent us a video link on how to tape the ears in a proper way too. If not with the help from those online tips and the step-by-steps videos, I don't think we could have managed it at last. Well, I should admit that it wasn't easy at all as we're so inexperienced and clumsy; looking at the alcohol swaps, tapes and scissors in front of us and little Eva was wriggling here and there, we were completely lost for a while. It even took us some time to get the tape done as I didn't know what size was the right size for Eva's ears and I had to cut them into the 'right' size : ). Little Eva was so excited while I was preparing everything right in front of her playpen and she might thought she was going to have some fun with us. Finally I got everything ready and I thought I was ready for it. However, when I looked at her ears, 'How?' was the only words. I just remembered that I had to trim the hair from inside ears, but HOW? With scissors, razor, shaver or anything else? I had no idea, not a clue at all. I'd checked it out online and it seemed nobody mentioned how we should handle the hair of the inside ears before we put the tapes on. They just say 'trim excess hair from inside ears and clean inside ear well with...'. Finally, a pair of scissors  was what I chose (I was told I should use a razor to shave the hair a few hours later after I taped Eva's ears) and trimmed the hair with my greatest care.

Here's the instruction that we found online and it's the same as the instructions which came together with the tape we bought online.

Bracing Ears: Cut piece of tape to needed length. Trim excess hair from inside ears and clean inside ear well with rubbing alcohol to remove dirt and oils. Cut and fold tape as illustrated in Figure 1. Trim tape if needed. Apply tape to inside of ears as shown in Figure 2. Be careful not to catch hairs underneath tape as these can pull and irritate dog.

Tipping Ears: Cut a piece of tape approximately 2" long. Roll tape sticky side out. Place tape on top part of ear (Figure 3) and fold over, pressing tape to bottom part of ear or to ear brace (described above).

When the hair was trimmed, I used alcohol swap to clean the inside ears in order to get rid of the dirt of oil. Well, the final stage was to put the tapes on the ears. What a great relief, the ears were taped at last!

Here's our little Eva's new look. What do you think? Does it look like it has been taped right?

 

 After Ear Bracing

The Rottweiler

Written by Rosie

Little Laura & Little Rosie

Laura at the age of 9

Since Laura first came into our family, and 10 years later, we have never ever regretted getting a rottie. We were extremely lucky to have gotten her with no serious health problems and definitely no bad temperament .. from a pet shop. At that time, none of us knew anything much about dogs and even Rotties. I had been pestering my parents for one since I was 4. And I had to give 10 good reasons in full sentences about why we should have a dog xD So, one day, we went on a surprise outing to pet shops, to look for dogs. After watching 101 Dalmations, I really wanted one. But the ones we saw were so sick and poor in the cages. We went to many but with no luck. Then suddenly I remembered a pet shop I had spotted as we were driving, and I told my parents to go back to check it out - at that time, we had already lost hope, because the only animals I could see from the car were rabbits. Anyway, we still went, and that's where we met the friendliest puppy in the teeniest cage. She was just so happy and excited and kept licking our hands. I think we all immediately fell in love with her, and she was the pup we wanted - none of us even bothered looking at the Yorkie and Golden Retriever in the other cages. ... So that's how Laura came to our family.

Laura & Rosie ready for a picnic

A rest in the shade

At that time, the Rottweiler was just a breed. We knew nothing about its aggressiveness, or how many people it has mauled. But when we knew, it didn't matter. We loved Laura and she loved us. Everybody who came to our house would compliment her, saying she was such a good girl, or that she was the first rottie who let them pet her. What we loved most about her was that, when we were inexperienced, novice dog owners, she didn't give us trouble by going over the limits like Mika did to us. She was always calm, and to be honest, we didn't teach her much, she just kind of knew it all - For example, not jumping on people, peeing on the grass, not running out when the gate is open. Thinking back of it now, she was really the perfect dog. Although now, she's a bit stubborn but it's ok, she should enjoy her old age.

Rosie, Rosie, where are you?

It wasn't until a few years ago when I started really looking up rotties and read about them. And recently, I have been going crazy, looking at all the kennels, learning about the breed standard, and then deciding which parts of the rottie I like, and really ... really ... going crazy. You can ask my mum. Haha. But looking at all those pictures of those beautiful show and working dogs gives me a lot of peace because I know that those are the real dogs. not the snarling, salivating ones you immediately see on Google Images when you type in Rottweiler.

I do believe that rotties who turn out bad may be the cause of bad breeding and bad ownership, making it worst.

And I believe that there are many great pitbulls, dogos, and filas out there who love their family and would do anything for them.

So why blame them too?

Although I have two beautiful shelties at home, and love them both so much, the Rottie would still be my no.1 choice. I agree that they may be harder to take care of and train, but I've always had an obsession for them, and unlike most of my obsessions, it is never going to die away.

Stealthy Saturday

Mika and Eva are starting to be friends!

You all know how both Laura and Mika would run away from Eva when she tried to approach them.

Well, maybe things change, and maybe our little girlie is growing up. Can't believe Mika isn't running away from her this time :) Look at the bold little girl. She really is a little Miss Bossy, isn't she?

And its adorable how Mika and Hana love to play everyday. Mika has never really played properly with Laura because when we got him, Laura was already 8yrs old. But now he has a friend, both around the same age, it's so sweet to see them together.

P.S. There is a huge bald patch on Mika's thigh. Hair started dropping off and we're not sure it's yeast this time. Its a huge pity because he had just fully recovered from his yeast infection and now he has something else. He's going to the vet to have it checked out.

What is Mika?

Written by Rosie
Its always been amazing to me how complicated mix-breed dogs are.
Their roots have always come from pedigree dogs, but after generations of 'mixing', you just don't know what they are 'made of' after a while.
So... what is Mika 'made of'?

The feathering on the belly, on the legs (although at this time, he was suffering from malasezzia so hair was dropping off), and a really really amazing tail... Golden Retriever perhaps?

The amazing tail.

He was indeed a very beautiful boy - this was before the yeast struck him and when he didn't have his Dry Eye Disease/Infection - in which his left eye is constantly producing mucus because it does not produce enough tears.

Close-up on the face.

One ear is up and one ear is down.

Another stack

It's fascinating.

Traits:

Extremely clever

Quite dominant and loves marking although he is neutered

Tries to do things his own way, sneaky

He is our only dog that doesn't look or listen to you when you talk to him - he doesn't have 'the eyes'

Very short attention span

Height 17"

When we got him, he was 8 months old, and being a puppy, was extremely naughty, and would really try our patience, and alpha. And at that time, we were still not really 'with it' in the doggy world. So we didn't know how to really control him.

Now, at 2 and a half years old, he has finally mellowed down, is more mature, but with a lot of consistency and training, he is a much better behaved dog. He knows the limits (hopefully), he's getting there anyway.

Previously, getting him to down was a tough job, and he hated it. He would feel so stressed and stiff. But now, the grooming he gets daily (which he loves) and slowly, he is 'down'ing more often, and even rolling over(voluntarily), which was even out of the question before.

So I guess he's maturing a lot, and he's gone quite a long way, which is good.

He LOVES people.

He is very confident.

Any ideas on what he might be?

(almost) Wordless Wednesday #3

I believe I can fly!!!!!!!!

Eva's first OUTING!

Little Eva had her first visit to my sister's place as I would like to introduce her to new places, people, animals and other new things in a positive and non-threatening way. I thought my sister's house could be an ideal place to start it as there are many people and dogs over there; there are my parents, two little girls and my sister with two Shi Tzus and one mixed breed as well.

Ready, Set, GO!

Loads of yelps were the welcome notes from the two Shi Tzus when we arrived but little Eva wasn't impressed by them at all. She was clinging to me tightly when we entered the house and was unusually quiet for a long time. She looked a bit lost and worried and stayed close with me in the beginning. I think it's because it's the first time she saw so many different people and other doggies around her and on top of that, it was a foreign place to her.

She even hid her head under me while her butt was being sniffed :)) by the doggies, of course.

However, little Eva was finally relaxed after her meal and showed her deep interest in the house. She even marked her territory with TWO PEES! She started to make contact with the dogs and the children, roaming around in the house, checking every corner of the living room and playing happily with my sister too.

Hello, I'm Eva

 

New friends, Brian and Bob

Just a little note here. Bob, the guy on the right was actually Rosie's first ever dog, her 4th birthday present from my sister. However, at that time, I didn't allow dogs in the house and so my sister kept him in her house. Now, 10years later, just look at me, I have two shelties, and both are allowed in the house!

Brian was mistreated badly by his previous owner and so my sister took him in and now he's a very happy dog, although rather skittish at times. 

When we went back to the car, Eva didn't want to come home!

Look at her, trying to escape.

When we reached home, we were given very big welcome-home kisses and sniffs from our beloved 3.

Everybody asked Eva where she had been...

ahh but it's our little secret !!

I think we had a very good day today as my princess Eva is still sleeping soundly next to her mama. She's exhausted!!!

Although I'm not sure you would call that sleeping!