Vet check-up

We took both dogs to the vet yesterday.

Eva for her deworming tablet and Mika for his leg.

We had been wondering when Mika would put his leg down, if he'd ever.

It tTurns out that there might be some sort of discomfort in his foot because when the vet pressed on his paw, he gave a loud yelp. 

He's going to have another x-ray next week to take another look.

Guess who's monthly-anniversary it was on Monday?

Wordless Wednesday #22

Float Coat saves the day!

After much advice on getting a float coat for the dogs, we finally found one online!

And it's true. It really helps the dogs by making them more stable in the water, and they still move their legs, which is good.

With Mika, I finally can give my arms a rest. They have been hurting, along with my back, because I had to hold Mika up in the water everyday. 

Now, with the float coat, I can just use a leash! 

Mika's leg has improved tremendously after the daily swim. Even in the water, you can see it kicking and extending more than it was previously.

Whenever Mika has his swims, Eva is insanely jealous. Wherever she is in the house, she always knows when Mika is swimming and she'll bark non-stop!

We only let her swim on weekends because sheltie fur takes much longer to dry up!!

Here she is enjoying her swim with her float coat. Doesn't she look like a lifeguard?

Sleepy Saturday

Guess what I did today?

Dear Sara

Dear Sara,

Thank you so much for giving me those lovely toys, I love them so much I never know which one to start playing with!

 Which one???

The green ball is a globe and Mummy told me where you're from, then I realised how far away you were but I always thought you lived next door; the pinky is just the right size for my teeny weeny mouth and the white softy squeaky ball is so comfy I can hug it too.

I forgot to mention the yummiest gingerbreadman biscuits. I shouldn't have shown any interest in them when my mummy opened the package because now she knows what my real weakness lies!!! She said she will only give them to me if I cooperate with her during some special 'training sessions', SIGH!!!

Dear Sara, you're so clever because you knew what I like the most. 

I love them SO much!!!

Your secret admirer,

Eva

Tricky t-day

I have been working on SHY with Eva girl since long time ago but we didn't make any progress until lately.

It's not good yet but I think she's getting there!

Wordless Wednesday #21

Therapy Tuesday

We've been doing our homemade hydrotherapy for Mika and Eva since we bought the water tank.

For Mika, he has one more thing he hates in life...
He doesn't like grass, never likes to play in the garden or even stays a bit longer on the grass. Reason is unknown.
When his skin was attacked by yeast problem, two medical shampooing which lasts for 1 1/2 hours really puts him off.
The swim is added in his blacklist now : (

Our little Eva?
She's having fun since day one!!!








 

How we dealt with the hoover

Many sheltie owners will know and have experienced your sheltie going crazy when they don't like any particular noise or movement. 

Well, here we are trying to tell Eva that the hoover is actually a very boring thing, and nothing to be interested in or worried about. I used a lot of treats here!!!

First Day : -

Here is our step by step training:

1) Walk around the hoover (when it is off) with a leash and treats telling Eva that there is nothing to worry about.

2) Move the hoover (when it is still off) around and get her to down stay and leave it. 

3) Now switch the hoover on. She got really excited at first, but calmed down when I got her to follow me around for treats while she ignored the hoover.

4) With the hoover on, move it! That is still the hardest part and still requires a lot of training, work and patience. When I move the hoover, she will go to it, and try to bite it, but when I call her, she comes for her treat. At the end of first day session, you could see that she got a bit bored with the game at the end and ignored the hoover a bit. 

For the first day practice, I think I shouldn't have kept on calling her especially when she didn't walk towards the hoover. I think I was too worried so I kept on calling her thinking that I could distract her from approaching the hoover.

Second Day :-

I can see a slight changes in Eva's reactions towards the hoover. She still jumped when the hoover was switched on but calmed down soon.

Third Day : -

We're getting there, aren't we!!!

Fourth Day : -

I'm quite happy with today's work. Eva didn't jump or bark at the hoover when it was switched on, although she was still a bit playful, I think she's doing a good job : )

So far I still can't make Eva sit still and watch or do nothing when I'm using the hoover. I'd tried to use 'leave it' and 'stay' command but they didn't last!

Any ideas???

A new swimming tank

Yesterday, we took Mika to the vet for a check-up. He was fine, but his leg muscle was so flabby because he doesn't ever use it. The vet told us to get him swimming and find access to a swimming pool. In Malaysia, it is not as easy as it sounds. We don't own one, going to a waterfall takes a lot of trekking before getting there, and well, it's just almost impossible to find a dog friendly swimming pool. I have been doing some training with Mika when I make him use his leg and click and treat, but I doubt a 5 minute session is going to improve him any more.

Therefore, we found a water tank. Those that you keep to store water in. 

Mika has had his go today and we hope to get him in there twice a day if the weather is good. 

Eva might have once every two days of water therapy. 

I hope that both their legs get better with all the paddling, because they are using their hind legs. 

At first, Mika was pretty terrified but once he realised that he wasn't going to drown, he got much more comfortable with it.

Lucky for him, he has very short hair so he can dry very easily! 

Wordless Wednesday #20 (What a tiring but happy week)

Our 200th post today!

A day at the park

What can be more fun than going off-leash at the park (and doing some training)?

Playing with my beloved daddy : )

After playing, we came to some serious work...

Here I am doing my sit-stay

And my down-stay

In fact, I'm having a rest here!!!

I did give the humans a fright when I suddenly ran off and chased a car. Luckily, then found me back, unharmed.

Found a secret garden!

Here I am, asking my new buddy, Lian what I have to do to get my food.

You won't believe how wonderful she is!
She is my new angel :) A wonderful food dispenser!

Lian has been really wonderful teaching my humans how to train me.

Unfortunately, this will be the last time I'll be seeing her for a while (until she comes back to visit, hopefully with one of her shelties!).

Don't you think...

  Life is ...So WONDERFUL!!!

A visit from a very special friend...

Some of you may know Lian, a blogging friend I met when I was in the UK.

She does agility with her really wonderful, beautiful shelties and they have done so well in their trials this year.

Well, Lian came to Malaysia to visit her mom who has been quite poorly recently.

She also came to visit Eva and Mika, whom, by the end of the visit were worshipping her already! Now I know how she can build up such strong bonds with her dogs!

First of all, who doesn't love a person who buys you treats and stuffs them in your mouth! 

Eva also got this big round baby ball which, if you squeeze, will cry like a baby :)

This harness is meant to be for Mika because we want him not to strain other parts of his body while we walk him outside, and not to pull.

It isn't exactly a no-pull harness but it is very comfortable and is made of fleece.

Here is Eva modelling for it.

The lucky girl even got a really beautiful pink and white soft leash that can also be used for tug!

Lian really knows how to spoil our dogs, doesn't she?

Lian also helped us with other problems, like how to solve our truly horrible recall, Eva chasing at cars, etc.

Eva is now learning 'shy' too!

10 days later...

It's been 10 days since Mika's FHO surgery and I thought I'd keep you updated on his news.

As all of you know, only on the first two days after surgery he was quite weak. After that, he has increasingly become more and more active (i.e. digging), although he still lets Eva do the watchdog duty :)

I had hoped to snap picture one him one day when he had his attention on the neighbour's cat and he actually put his foot down (instead of always carrying it around)!!

Some of you may know or remember that Mika has something called dry eye disease. 

He's always had gross mucus coming out of his eye all the time because his eye was always too dry.

For 2 years, we have been to 2 vets who had prescribed some drops for him to clear it. Unfortunately, none of them had worked and the mucus kept coming. We thought this would be a lifelong thing until.....

He had his car accident!

We took him to the nearest vet by our house and guess what? The vet helped cure his eye too!

He said that due to the eye not producing enough tears, it invited bacteria in, and therefore caused the infection (and mucus).

After having some magic eye drops and creams, the mucus has rapidly disappeared!! Although there is already permanent blackening on his cornea, his eye is now clear!! It is a great relief to all of us too.

Wordless Wednesday #19 (A Guard Dog's Duty)

PREZZIES!!!

The mailman with a big truck came and I got this big box which is from our sheltie and kitty friend, Dakota, Cody and their momma, Caren.

Eva tried her best to find out what it was inside,
she's the inspector of the house now!

Sniff harder. Nope, I can't figure out what it is in there.

Must force open it now!!!

Oh dear, see what we've got ...

They're gorgeous!
Are they all for me, mom?

But I like this too!!!

What do you think of this?

Oh dear Caren, Dakota and Cody,

we love them very much ! 

While we are getting wonderful prezzies from our friend Caren sent to Malaysia, Rosie also received a parcel from another blogger friend Kathi in England.
Kathi is a rottweiler lover..... so guess what she sent to our Rosie?

The total Roettweiler Magazine!
It's basically the biggest rottie magazine around and Rosie got TWO ISSUES!

She was super excited when she saw them and these magazines are going to take her ages to read properly because they are just so thick and they are filled to the brim with rottie pictures (whick of course, just makes her extra happy!)

Many thanks to you, Kathi

You gave Rosie a very happy day!