Tip of the day When head itches, get human slave to scratch head for great relief ;P
Warning There is a possible risk that human slave may think a shower is necessary for Donna. – –
Author: weliveinaflat Page 26 of 41
Quite some time back, after I taught Donna the high-five, I started to teach Donna to wave left and wave right.
But I stopped working on that after a while, so she lost the memory for that I think. At least, in this video, it’s either she can’t differentiate left or right anymore so she tries both. Or she’s just too excited to focus. To give her credit, at least one of those paws would be the right one, right? Haha.
How she was Waving Left and Right weekend before last
I can’t tell left or right, human! So I’ll just wave both… sure to get it right, right?????
In any case, she wasn’t in the right frame of mind anyway being too excited and probably close to frustration, so we stopped after this video clip that night. No point pushing it and setting her up for a sense of failure, right?
That video above was from the weekend before the last. Subsequently, we have worked on waving on and off.
This is the result after two weeks. Both videos taken today, during short 1-2 minute sessions that’s maybe an hour or two apart.
Note: In both these videos below, Donna is taking commands at about a metre away from me, so that I can fit as much of her on the camera as possible. One man show here and no tripod! :P Sorry! Anyway, she does much better when she sits right by me. She is responding to my hand gestures more than my words actually. One metre away is a new distance , which is interesting because the hand commands seem to be less clear to her. So her response to the left and right are even more muddled than if she were nearer.
How Donna did her Wave Left, Wave Right trick today – session 1
Subtitles don’t synch very well, apologies! But I find it cute when she nom nom nom and continue to stare at you with those eyes that scream – treat, treat!
Since it’s during the daytime, she is sleepier. She typically can sleep the afternoon away. :P But she starts the session with a smile so I think she is anticipating it.
I was throwing the treats for her to catch to make it more exciting for her because I know waving is not her favourite thing compared to other actions that she can do better.
It’s not the first time I notice her shuffling her two paws a lot before lifting one. I’m not sure if:
(1) it’s a habit she has just developed
(2) the floor is slippery so she needs to right herself for balance before lifting a paw
(3) she is hedging while trying to decide which paw to raise :P
Hopefully as she gets better at waving, this shuffling will decrease.
How Donna did her Wave Left, Wave Right trick today – session 2
Not so patient or just bored with wave left, wave right?
Waving is not her favourite thing yet because she needs to decide which paw is left and which is right, so I think that really works her brains! :P She is visibly less patient for this session compared to the previous, I think.
Two things we’ll continue to work on for wave left, wave right:
1) Having the confidence to raise the correct paw to the correct cue
– Right now we can still see her getting it right sometimes, but at other times still unsure. So she tests by lifting one paw then the other, so she may observe which turns out to be the correct one in the end, for which she gets a click and treat.
– In her case, it is important for me not to say “no” or make other sounds or actions that she may perceive as negative. This is because Donna is a really cautious, safety-first type of dog. By this I mean, she’ll rather not try at all than get it wrong. So these sort of reactions from me will impede her progress.
2) Rising the paw higher to imitate a wave
– A few months back when I first tried to teach her to wave, I tried to extend the association of wave to high five so that she may wave high. But somehow, she still ended up with a slight lift of her paw and wriggling it (pictured below 1st picture left).
– So in these videos, she is already waving higher than she used to. But I hope she can lift her paws higher still so it will look like a real wave eventually. :D
A few months back, when I was teaching Donna to wave in response to the cue “Who is a good dog?”
Does your dog know Wave left, wave right? Any tips to share? :)
The space between pet dog and stray cat. Sepia tinted.
The month of May came and went. I was away for a week and finally felt I have caught up with things. And then I realised the recap for last month is late. :P
So anyway, a total of 23 posts were published in May.
Here’s a rundown of the top 10 posts in May that got the most views from you:
- Nail Cutting and Chicken – Pet diary
- Adoptable dogs in Singapore Ikea store – Singapore
- Cafe for dogs: III Cafe, Singapore – Singapore
- Top 10 Online Pet Shops in Singapore – Singapore
- Pose, Stay, Say cheese – Pet diary
- Donna finds shelter from Thunder Phobia – Pet diary
- Dogs on Things in Pet Photography – Pet Photography
- Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge Week 12 – Mix It Up – Pet Photography
- Ian Dunbar – Dog-friendly training – Pet diary
- Where goes tuesdayChallenge? – Pet Photography
Topics pertaining to Singapore do particularly well.
General topics to do with Donna and dogs show more variable views probably because it depends on how interesting the particular topics are to you the reader. In fact, Donna at 1:00pm got the most comments and was the second most liked post by WordPress users, but isn’t even in the top 10 list.
Photography topics may look less popular compared to the others, but longer term, people with specialised interests do find their way to these pages. So in all, I think there is still a good mix here.
As Snappy H’appy wrapped up, I also started to serialise more. I don’t think it was particularly planned, sometimes I just got an idea in my head and I just plunge into it.
Here are the series that started in May and are on-going:
Cafe reviews (Monthly)
Shopping (Monthly)
1 day 1 World (Weekly)
- Donna at 12:00pm – Rain
- Donna at 1:00pm – Lounging > Most comments; 2nd most liked
- Donna at 2:00pm – Nail cutting and chicken > most viewed; most liked
- Human at 3:00pm – This dog patrols Yeliou Geo-Park
- Human at 4:00pm – Macarons for human, what about dog?
- Donna at 5:00pm – Donna visits My Waterway @ Ponggol
- Donna at 6:00pm – This cat has got OCD!
- Donna at 7:00m – Donna on the rock
Considering the Singapore-specific articles are getting more views, this is definitely something I will continue.
The 1 day 1 world series also made me capture candid moments that I probably would have missed, if I wasn’t doing this project started by NWFrameofMind. And it ended up quite popular in terms of views and interaction with you.
So if you are considering a photo project like this, I’ll say “Go for it!” ;)
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Here are the series that started in June and are on-going:
Dogspotting in Taiwan (Weekly)
- This Goldie mans a restaurant in Ximending, Taipei
- This dog patrols Yeliou Geo-Park
- These dogs own the streets at Pingxi
- Documentary about Taiwan stray dogs: Twelve nights – in a high-kill shelter
- This dog models at Shilin Night Market
Themes in Pet Photography (Weekly)
- 10 creative doggy #interactivegrams
- 7 ways to take a landscape photo with dog
- 9 quirky dogs catching things
All these series will go on for some weeks yet.
I hope you enjoy them or find them fun, interesting or helpful in some way. Thanks! :)
Most liked dog photo on our Instagram account in the month of May, 2014.
I will sleep wherever I want.
Perhaps because Pingxi appears to be an easy-going small town/village kind of place, the dogs seem to have a free run of the area. At least some of them appear to be pets with collars on their necks.
This dog was sleeping undisturbed by the many humans who walked by to take pictures on the rope bridge.
Maybe he’s the bridge toll keeper asleep on duty?
The bridge leads to the residential, sleepier side of Pingxi.
You’d think with his kind of lackadaisical attitude to life, Pingxi must be real quiet and idyllic like so.
Pingxi is special for its unique architecture and design, as its market area, Pingxi Old Street (平溪老街), is built into a hill with a train track going overhead right through the middle with shops around selling local food and gifts. – Guide to Taipei
Years ago, we came to Pingxi and it was quiet. Nothing much was opened and there weren’t any tourists. Could be because it was winter. We mailed a few wooden postcards home, took a few pictures and left.
Today, a different sight greeted us. The sky lantern trade was alive and booming, despite it being the wrong season.
Every year around Chinese New Year (usually in Jan/Feb) the Sky Lantern Festival (平溪天燈節) draws massive crowds of people together in Pingxi to release their Chinese Lanterns together in a sign of celebration of the new year.
Frames with the paper lanterns pegged to them lined the tracks as tourists write their wishes with black ink. It’s a fun activity for the family or friends traveling in a group. The sky lantern shops lined both sides of the track.
Different colours of the lantern denote different types of wishes. These ladies want to be married soon.
The whole process is very systematic. The shop workers will take your picture with each side of the lantern before they instruct you to raise the lantern for a final picture before releasing.
And lift off!
With our sky lantern floating merrily off by it’s lonesome, we decided to walk about this old town.
This is what the hanging flower looks like from below. :P
Hah! Dog spotted!
What you looking at? Quit following me.
These human pupparazzos…. arf!
Two more I can discern by their tails. Hmmm….
And this handsome chap. Guess what he is on the look out for?
Hey stranger, you need to pay if you want to eat in our territory!
I tried but I don’t think the tall beast is gonna listen to you, bro.
My persistence will win in the end!!
Brings to mind the behaviour of those unruly deer at Nara Park. The tall beast walked here and there and couldn’t shake them off. He only escaped when he finished his food and dump the leftovers and packaging into the trash.
All these happening, while our lantern hangs in the sky.
How to Get There?:
By Train: From Taipei Main Station, take a northbound train (except Keelung-bound trains) towards Ruifang Station. Transfer to the Pingxi Line (平溪線) and purchase a One Day Ticket for the Pingxi Line, NT$52. The line is pretty scenic and you can get off any the stops to explore. Details. Train map.
More about
– Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival in 2014
– What not to wear to release a sky lantern
– Environmentalists say number of lanterns should be limited at Pingxi
– Other attractions along the Pingxi line
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1 Day 1 World Project: Donna at 5:00pm – 6:00pm (last week)
… on the way to Ponggol Waterway with her new doggles! ;)
We actually did not cover much territory at the waterway at Ponggol. This missy here spent too much time stopping to inspect every single grass patch.
Since I’m currently publishing a blog series on Dogspotting in Taiwan, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at landscape photography that involve dogs!
Unfamiliar dog playing by himself at a rocky beach in Yeliou Geo-park, Taiwan.
A close up of the dog would not show you as well what the area looked like. When taking pictures of animals that stray into the landscape, timing is key. They can move fast so once they’re off somewhere else, the opportunity is lost. Much sure you pack that zoom lens in the bag!
Landscape photography with dog
You’d have to be envious of the people at Tales from the Backroad. Being a travelling family, they would have plenty of opportunities to capture all sorts of different landscapes in photos. But just because you’re a pet human stuck in the city with an apartment dog, doesn’t mean you can’t be a tourist in the city.
Travelling means seeing new places. Urban change and renewal takes place at a very fast speed in cities, so there’ll always be new ways of looking at a place you’ve been before.
In this post, let’s take a look at some of the ways of incorporating our pets or strays you find along the way into a landscape photo. Obviously different from pet portraits, for a dog photo to classify as a landscape, the photo needs to show where the dog is and may not necessarily focus on the dog.
But I always like to see people and animals in landscapes, mainly because it makes the landscape more interesting to be able to see how the creatures of that area interact with the landscape. After all, a sound is not a sound if no one is there to hear it, right?
So whether you’re a tourist in your own town or travelling outside of your hometown/country, hop on for the ride ;)
1) The I-was-here photo, because I was here.
The most simple photo that most people take of themselves when they’ve been somewhere is obviously the I was here photo. Stand in front of the signboard of the place or next to the landmark of that place and get a friend/relative to take the snap.
This is not a good example because of the unwanted man’s head behind the sign, but you get what I am talking about signboards denoting the place. ;) Do you see Donna?
Beginner dogs
For beginner dogs, just get dog to sit and stay in front of or to the side of the sign. If the dog has a difficulty staying, you may want to be in the same photo with your dog.
Up the challenge
To make it more challenging for Fido, find a spot for the dog to climb onto that would make the photo look interesting in terms of composition. Get the dog to pose while staying!
Make it rewarding
Remember to treat so dog feels happy helping you with your photo next time around. ;)
2) Go wide, show the sights!
But a signboard, besides telling you the name of the place, typically does not tell you much. When we travel, I love to visit landscapes that are different from home. People back home wouldn’t be able to visualise these strange landscapes, so going for a wide shot helps to establish what exactly the place we were visiting looks like!
Pull back from the rocky background and this is what that part of Yeliou looks like from afar with the dog crossing the landscape. There is a wide sandy beach behind the dog not seen in the first photo right at the start of the post! And the stratified rock layers and sea were also not obvious.
Going wide and going low to show the height of the trees towering over the grand staircase at Ang Mo Kio Town Garden West. Is this staircase missing some stone lions? How about a Donna instead? :P This staircase leads up to a plaza on a hillock with a 360 view of the surroundings.
Beginner dogs
For beginner dogs, just get dog to sit and stay on the lead in front in the foreground, with the scenery in the background. Here are two nice examples of wide shots with the dog in the foreground close to the owner – hellopepi at Marina Barrage and hellopepi at the beach
Up the challenge
To make it more challenging for Fido, find a spot for the dog to be at, that would draw the viewers’ eyes to what you think is the most interesting feature of the landscape. Get the dog to pose while staying! Here’s a good example, Niner at the beach.
Make it rewarding
Remember to treat so dog feels happy helping you with your photo next time around. ;)
3) Have an eye for detail? Isolate it.
Details give nuances to the place you are visiting. After establishing what the area looks like in general, details give flavour to the place. It gives the viewer of the image an idea of how the locals use or interact with the place.
A particular tree that stands out from the surrounding messy foliage makes an interesting spot for a photo with the dog. It also helps show what the greenery in the area looks like.
Makes me wonder if this tree is popular with local landscape designers. I see it around pretty often ;)
Another interesting way of isolating details – Niner and the stone lions
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4) Get cosy, come closer.
Another way of isolating details and making it interesting is to go close. This enables the viewer to examine any patterns or designs that only show up when you look closer at specific objects in the landscape.
What has Donna discovered? This is pretty abstract.
What do you think this object along the tracks at Ponggol Waterway is?
The flaking paint hints that this bicycle rack is pretty well used by local cyclists. There didn’t use to be much of a cycling culture in Singapore, but it does seem to be becoming more trendy.
Taking a close look at the texture of the concrete slabs and the ferns between the crevices on the steps of recycle hill, Bishan Park.
Beginner dogs
Having the dog on the lead helps you not worry about having the dog walk away while you fiddle with the camera. Also a great excuse to show off beautiful leads.
Up the challenge
Find interesting features of the landscape that you can make abstract while having Fido in the photo at the same time!
Make it rewarding
Remember to treat so dog feels happy helping you with your photo next time around. ;)
5) Be different. Go off the beaten track.
Even if we’ve gone around the block so many times on our usual dog walking routes, there might just be a next corner that we’ve not explored yet.
An insta-friend was surprised to hear that this shot was taken at Bishan Park. It’s there in one corner of the park, just not that obvious to people who mostly follow the main tracks to the dog run. :P
The same concept can be applied to landscape photos during our travels. Following everyone to the same vantage point and you may pretty much end up with the same pictures.
Now what if we let Donna follow her nose, would she lead us to some place interesting I wonder… ;)
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6) Keep it candid for those dog moments.
Not every photo needs to be staged or posed. Sometimes, photos are fun when we see humans and dogs enjoying the environment.
Inspector Grass going at her favourite hobby at Ang Mo Kio Garden West, with the sun low in the sky casting long shadows. Here’s a cool example – Some dogs checking out a flooded dog park. Sunrise and sunsets, of course do make good photos if you are there at the right time to catch the light and the colours. Here’s some good examples, Niner at sunrise and Torrey at sunset.
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7) Now where did that dog go?
At the start of the article, I mentioned that sometimes, it is not necessary for the dog to be the focal point of the photo. The Find Momo series of photos by Andrew Knapp illustrates this point very well. And if you find landscape photos boring, Momo might just spice it up for you!
Each photo is a landscape in which Momo the Border Collie is hidden with some part of him still visible in the photo. Followers of Andrew Knapp’s Instagram account find it fun to hunt for Momo in these pictures.
Taking a leaf from Andrew Knapp, can you find Donna?
Where is Donna? Can you see her?
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So there you have it. Seven ways I think you can take a photo of the landscape you are exploring with your dog.
Do you have your own tips and tricks to share? Comment below please and let me know!
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My papa laughs at me sometimes.
He says I walk real funny.
My tummy goes boing, boing, left and right.
And left and right and left and right..
You know what, just stop. Stop looking at the way I walk.
My papa wonders why I always get tear stains.
Big girls don’t cry… big girls don’t cry…
These are eye boogers. Repeat after me.
Boogers!!
OK, that is just weird.
I love you anyway, Papa.
I will walk with you,
in your working man pants anywhere.
Just stop looking at my tummy.
1 Day 1 World Project: The human at 4:00pm – 5:00pm (last week)
Patisserie La Douceur, Taipei
I’m hijacking the saturdayTraining post for another lifestyle post because I’m playing catchup with the 1 day 1 World Project. And because these photos look good in sepia. :P
So anyway, I took a photo of these macarons from Patisserie La Douceur before they ended up in my tummy. Yum. I think the flavours were Coffee, Chocolate, Pistachio and some Orange Flower-watchamacalit. Needless to say, the Coffee one is the best. *thumbsup*
Some photos from the night we went to Patisserie La Douceur.
Now I love macarons. And those macarons got me thinking – are there macarons for dogs at all? I know there are pupcakes, but macarons???
Bubba Rose Biscuit Company, New Jersey
Now apparently that wasn’t an original thought because, guess what, this couple have ran a dog bakery in Boonton, N.J. for more than 7 years. And their shop Bubba Rose Biscuit Company sells dog treats and biscuits, including macaroons for dogs.
Source NBCNews.com
OK fine, so those macaroons look more like Oreo cookies than macarons. :P
The hunt continues and wallah!!
Wonderpaw, Melbourne
From Melbourne, Australia, the Wonderpaw Pup Patisserie Shop sells doggie macarons that look like the real thing.
Pup Macarons™ in a pretty package, what’s there not to like?
The best-selling flavours appear to be Peanut Butter Praline and Honey Lavender. You’d think a human would know those flavours, but Wonderpaw says that while their Pup Macarons™ are ‘made with human-grade organic ingredients, they may taste a little funny to the human palate, as they’re filled with pup flavours‘.
Like human macarons, Wonderpaw macarons come in a variety of bright colours. I was curious about how they create the colours in the macarons, and it appears that the colouring is derived from organic fruit and vegetables only.
I don’t think we have macarons for dogs in Singapore, do we?
So I guess Donna will just have to wait for yours truly to master the art of macaron-making … which I’ll say is not likely. Never made a single macaron in my life and I have no idea how one derives colouring from organic fruit and vegetables in the first place! :P
Note: As the macaron is a sweet treat, Wonderpaw recommends at most 1-2 pup macarons per day only. I actually think it depends on the size of dog too. I wouldn’t feed a chihuahua a whole macaron. It’s the kind of sinful pleasure you feed your dog on special days only, I think ;P Just like I won’t eat ice cream or potato chips everyday myself. ;)
Where to find
Patisserie La Douceur
– website
Shop address:
品悦糖 – 法式甜品专卖
台北市大安區金華街223號1樓
No. 223 JinHua St., Da’An District, Taipei City
call: (02)3322-2833
1PM – 9PM; fri/sat until 10PM
Other reviews – ladyironchef, hkepicurious, hungry in taipei, citynotes (cn)
Bubba Rose Biscuit Company
– Macaroons product page here
Bakery address:
236 Myrtle Ave., Boonton, NJ 07005
call: 862-209-4677
mon. – sat. 10am – 7pm, closed sundays
Wonderpaw
– Wonderpaw facebook
For 24 weeks, weliveinaflat will post photos taken for a specific hour in that week.
We will cover 24 hours in 24 weeks. (I’ve no idea how we will do the sleeping hours, lol!)
More about the 1 Day 1 World Project here.
A behind-the-scenes look at Donna’s behaviour during our photoshoot with food
You may have realised that most of my photos are candid shots from our day-to-day lives. It helps to capture those moments and diary our life with Donna, so there’s absolutely nothing wrong with such shots.
And I actually don’t like to spend time staging for pictures. I’m just plain lazy.
But it was one of those days, when I had a little bit of energy to do something different for once. So I decided to try to stage a picture of Donna launching up the table with her front paws, grinning at some treats.
The treats were plain boiled protein, nothing fancy. The fancy part involved having Donna stand on her two feet with her fore paws on the table supporting her vertical pose. And hopefully, I would be able to capture her grinning at the yummy treats.
The result was more outtakes than anything remotely useful.
Trial shots. Lots blurry shots because of bad indoor lighting. Decided the background over here is ugly.
Of course, Donna was tempted by the fresh cooked food. But it’s easy enough to distract her from the styled food by rewarding her with the rest of the cooked food that was not being photographed.
She does know the “Leave it” command, but it was just funny looking at her struggling that I just let her mess up the display after a while :P
So the whole time, she was like a jack rabbit, hopping up and down the table with her front paws. She can’t hold the position very long, so she kept dropping and popping up again.
All that action made it very exciting for her so even though she usually doesn’t like the camera, she actually had quite a bit of fun with this shoot.
Moved treats to the other side of the table next to the wall so I get a clean background.
Made sure there is space for Donna to hop around between the table and the wall.
And you know what, all that jumping is quite a workout for her!
Donna preferred the bigger space on the ugly side though. So she kept hopping up, dropping down, running to the other side and hopping up again. Almost like a those games where a head pops out of the hole and you’re supposed to hammer it back down again. :P
She was a very happy dog that day because she had a lot of extra fresh cooked protein in her system during and after the shoot. And all for having a great time because hopping around rather than sleeping made it an exciting afternoon for her. ;)
The shot of the day: 
And also the only shot that was close to what I wanted. Have to say the image quality is poor because of poor lighting indoors, which meant I had to over-process. Not a good thing, but I’ll live. ;)
