Sunny & HOT at Tanjong Beach

Tanjong Beach is probably the best beach in Singapore to bring dog to. It is a lot cleaner than the other beaches, and it is fairly picturesque with the artificial island that you can swim to with your dog. Like water sports? There’s equipment that you can rent to paddle with your dog. But Donna is still learning to like the water, so we’re not about to do that yet. :P

Check out our latest shenanigans at Tanjong Beach with our Insta-friends! :P

Donna had a play date with Some White Cookie and a few fur-friends the weekend before last. It was Cookie’s not-birthday gathering. Because it really wasn’t Cookie’s birthday :P but his human E had a procedure scheduled this week, which makes it unlikely for her to bring Cookie out after. Hence the gathering.

Since it was Cookie’s not birthday party, we were told not to bring presents for Cookie. But hey, nobody said no presents for his human, whose birthday was around that week we were meeting as well. :P

Back to the main topic, this post is all about our shenanigans at Tanjong Beach, Sentosa!

 

Dogs at Tanjong Beach

It’s aways fun for Donna to meet @Kanon_boy and it’s amusing to see her making a beeline for him the moment she saw him.

Here are the rest of the dogs who came:

Front, left to right: Kanon Boy and Cudtlez, both Japanese Spitz
Back, left to right: Jacko (golden retriever mix), Donna, Lucky the Yorkie, Cookie (Japanese Spitz)

Synchronised photo-taking is a little bit like trying to hit the jackpot, isn’t it? Even with only three dogs, I didn’t hit the jackpot. HAHA!

 

Donna and Water

And what is a trip to the beach if it does not include frolicking in the water?

Donna isn’t a big fan of water. And since we don’t take her to the pool or the beach that regularly, she has been making small steps towards being comfortable with the water. It probably helped that it was a real hot day that day, so she went into the water by herself :D :P :P

But she still wasn’t a big fan of waves, so she was only in there for a little time before she decided chilling out on the sand is the best.

“It’s really too hot, human!” says Donna. “Spare me please.”

Be very aware of when your dog shows a splayed tongue like Donna above. That’s when the bottom of the tongue gets wider than the top. To me, that’s an indicator that Donna is heating up and trying to lose heat.

Panting is a sign that your dog is excited, hot, or both. But panting is also a warning sign. If your dog is taking a break from exercise and continues to pant heavily, this could be a sign of heatstroke – a medical emergency. Move your dog to a cool spot or indoors immediately. When playing with your dog outside in hot weather, it’s vital to bring along water for her to drink too. – petmd.com, Why dogs pant? 

Keep your dog watered at regular intervals on hot days at the beach to prevent heat stroke. Let them drink what they need. Also institute time-outs between play if you have a very active dog.

Sadly dogs don’t always know what’s best for them and may try to continue exercising or playing until they basically collapse. Early signs you may see indicating trouble is on it’s way include panting and a fast heart rate. If there is any vomiting or diarrhoea it’s definitely time to take action. – Dr Joanna Paul, Creature Clinic, Heatstroke in Pets

I feel much better now, says Donna.

Just sitting is nice too. :) Although it will be prudent to bring a change of shorts next time so I don’t get the car full of sand. :P

I really don’t believe in forcing the dog to swim or throwing him into the water when he already doesn’t like it. Think about it, won’t it just make the dog hate the water more?

So when we do go to the beach, I try to make it fun for her, such as trying to get her to play fetch by the water, or just giving her treats as we stand in the water. The point is for her to associate water with fun rather than something to be endured or feared.

I always like to share this advise that the hunting dogs – 2browndawgs – gave to me when I first blogged about Donna visiting the Sun Petgamart pool. :P

A pool may be more difficult because we usually try to find a banked area of a pond or lake where they can go in slowly and not jump right in. But we try to get them excited and all heated up playing and fetching around the edge of the pond and then toss the toy in the water. Not far just to the edge (hard in a pool if you can find a clean puddle, you could start there). What ever you do, do not toss or otherwise push her in. Even if she jumps in and goes under it might startle her so be prepared. It is not uncommon for it to take many trips before the dog will go all the way in the water (and some is just breeding too). Make sure it is a warm day and the water is warm….most important! Good luck! – original comment here

 

Donna and Friends

This is the second time Donna is meeting Jacko. The first time didn’t go so well because Donna can be overly-friendly sometimes, and she wanted to play immediately even though they’d just met. You can see in this video how she can be rather pushy sometimes, despite Jacko’s signals to her to cool it.

Obviously Jacko had other ideas. So when Donna persistently approached him, despite his evading her, I had to  call her to another part of the dog run to practise her heeling instead.

Nonetheless, Donna was still very much interested in Jacko. So while he was busy enjoying himself playing fetch in the sea this time round, Donna was standing right by the edge of the sand watching :P :P :P … and probably wishing very much that Jacko will play with her instead of playing fetch. HAHAHAHAHA.

It’s not the first time actually. She tries to participate when Lycan and Lexie play fetch too on our pet cruise trip to the Coney Islands. But as usual, she is reduced to running by the shore while Lexie and Lycan swam after their ball. :P :P :P

I’m very thankful that she had the opportunity to see other dogs having fun in the water, and ideally she will get the idea that swimming after the toy is fun after a few more rounds of this :P

The great thing is, even though swimming and rolling in the sand was more attractive to Jacko, he was more open to Donna approaching him this time round. I think so, at least from this video. :D

 

Learning new behaviours at the beach

Dogs learn from each other right? Donna has never made digging a thing to do when she went to the beach before. This time round, we did have a number of diggers in the group, so Donna is making her foray into sand digging … somewhat. HAHAHAHA :P

I thought she looked pretty pleased with herself. :P

The human did a bit of digging in the sand herself to bury some paper fishes.

Each fish carried the name of each of our readers who submitted their dogs for *The Honest Kitchen Beams or Wishes Giveaway by Earnest Mutts.

Much thanks to Lucky the Yorkie’s human’s hand for helping with the draw :P

 

Hot day at the beach!

It was a hot day at the beach! We knew Duffy was at the other end of the beach, and set off to look for them. But I was walking barefoot, and the sand was so scorching hot, I had to turn back!

Boy, was I glad I applied **Musher’s Secret Paw Wax on Donna before we set off for the beach. I was hopping as fast as I could go to get back to my slippers, while she lagged behind dragging her feet. Eventually she settled under the shade of some trees and did not want to follow me at all! *Oops! Definitely the wrong decision to walk barefoot in the sand!

At least, Donna and Cookie were pleased with the not-birthday frozen treat I made for the dogs! :P

Join us next week as I show you how we made these Frosty Paws and other dog ice-cream for the dogs for our hot tropical weather!

Also, what sort of precautions or tips do you recommend for hot summer weather? Your comments most welcome :)

 

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Partner Mentions

The lovely Dr. Jo of creatureclinic.com is kind to lend her time and expertise to answer my questions on detecting heatstroke. :) I also recommend her post – Heartworm Disease in Dogs – so you can protect your dog(s) and other dogs!

Product Mentions

*The Honest Kitchen Beams or Wishes Giveaway is kindly sponsored as part of a care box to Donna by Earnest Mutts Online Store. You can check out Onyx’s review of the Wishes here. And Donna’s review of the Beams here.

** Musher’s Secret Paw Wax is sponsored by Luv-Ya-Pet. Donna is given a monthly supply of Musher’s Secret until year-end. This is a product that I bought for Donna even before Luv-Ya-Pet so very kindly offered to sponsor us. :) So we’re very happy to tell you more about it and Luv-Ya-Pet in the next few weeks :)

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