Dog & You Archives - Page 3 of 10

Category: Dog & You Page 3 of 10

This Sunday, Dogs of Instagram SG will be throwing our very first Christmas Party at Serangoon Community Club.

The idea of a Christmas Party grew pretty organically. Life at Lycan Lexie first suggested a Christmas Party. The idea was then discussed within our Facebook group, and there was some interest which gave us the encouragement to bring the idea to life.

One person was not enough, so we ended up with Mango the Sheltie, Some White Cookie, Life with Lycan Lexie and We Live In a Flat as the organising committee for the Dogs of Instagram SG Christmas Party.

The Venue

The space!

Dog parties in Singapore are most commonly held at dog cafes. But considering we had over a hundred members over on our Facebook group, we thought we needed a bigger venue that could host more dogs even though we know we couldn’t accommodate all members.

A video posted by weliveinaflat (@weliveinaflat) on Nov 11, 2014 at 2:22am PST

We considered various indoor and outdoor venues and finally decided that Serangoon Community Club will best fit our requirements, both cost and floor space. We wanted a dog-friendly venue where there is ample space for dogs to run, and for owners not have to worry that they and their dogs will run into other dogs every time they turn. This is because we understand that not all dogs can get along so if we want to have a party that brings up to 50 dogs under one roof, we better have the space for it.

The cost

The cost of the Christmas Party is wholly supported by members who purchased tickets to the party. Tickets cost $35 per human and a nominal $5 per dog. Costs of the tickets go to cover the rental fee, cleaning and associated fees of using the venue, including tables and chairs rental. The tickets also cover a buffet lunch for human guests.

Chairs for rent!! Haha!

While a lavish decor will add to the ambience, we would not have the budget for that. That said, we hope that just having dogs together to have fun will make up for the minimalist decor that we would be having :P

We do not profit from the party.

The Sponsors

Why would we need sponsors for a self-funded party?

Share the joy with homeless pups

Well, since we are gathering up to 50 instagrammers with their own following on Instagram. We figured we can use this event to do some good for our favourite shelters.

To that end, we contacted more than 50 pet online stores on my fabulous (lol) list of pet online stores here, dog food distributors as well as other local popular pet businesses on Instagram. To finally end up with eleven sponsors, is a pretty good response rate.

To date, our Christmas Party is expected to benefit the following animal welfare groups:

Hope Dog Rescue will receive 3 bags of 33 pounds food for stray feeding from myfurfriends.com.

Uncle Khoe’s k9 will receive 50 pupcakes for their shelter dogs from feedmypaws.com.

Gentle Paws and Friends will receive food (amount to be determined) from our latest sponsor to come on board LittleCherry.sg.

myfurfriends will also be donating 50 leashes to be shared among shelters.

The benefiting shelters are chosen either by the sponsors themselves or through online voting within our Facebook group.

Goodies for party hounds!

1/ Doggie guests to the party will also get to enjoy treats from not one but two of our Doggie Treat Tables sponsored by Barking Good and The Barkery.

2/ Each doggie guest will also bring home with him/her a goodie bag inclusive of treat samples from Barking Good, The Barkery and Furrific as well as gifts, samples and vouchers from Pawmart, Little Cherry and Wagging Rights.

3/ And there are more than 10 lucky draw prizes of varying value to be won from the following sponsors: The Duf Store, Little Cherry, Wagging Rights, Barking Good, Furrific

The Fun and Games

What is a party without party games?

Recall Runway
The Barkery is kindly sponsoring the goodies needed for the Recall Runway – the game that will put our dogs to the ultimate challenge. Can dog safely return to human via a path booby-trapped with all sorts of tempting treats and toys??

Best Dressed Christmas Pup
And be on the look out and vote for your favourite best dressed dog to the party. Because OhPopDog is giving away three prizes from their collection to three lucky best dressed dogs!

Photobooth by Anna Phan
Remember to take a snapshot at our Photobooth! Photography kindly sponsored by Anna Phan. Photos will be uploaded to our Facebook group. ;)

Showcase

OhPopDog new collection showcase
Be the first to check out Ohpopdog’s new collection right here at the party! Even before their launch at the Public Garden Christmas Markets 13-14 Dec! ;)

Visit to Uncle Khoe’s K9
The dogs at Uncle Khoe’s K9 will be having their Christmas Party in advance on Dec 12. Crystle from feedmypaws.com will be delivering 50 of her yummy pupcakes to Uncle Khoe’s, one on behalf of each of our 50 guests! Check out the photos from our trip there!

See you this Sunday!

Of course, all these would not come to pass if we did not have the 50 guests who paid for the tickets and lent us the strength to approach our sponsors. So a big thank you to you!

We look forward to seeing you this Sunday, and hope you have a great time! :)

Mr Movember

By weliveinaflat

On November 22, 2014

In Dog & You

Warning: This post contains a picture of a flesh wound that you may prefer not to look at.

We have a lot of cats around the neighbourhood, so I actually don’t recognise them. Even though like dogs, I’m sure they have their own unique markings, they all seem pretty generic to me.

When you photograph something, the process may make you look closer at the subject.

Mr Movember

But in the case of Mr Movember here, what caught my eye wasn’t his markings that made him look like he had a moustache.

What caught my eye was this gaping hole on his side as he lay in the sun. Upon spying Donna with me, he moved into the crouch pictured above, seeking to hide his wound on the other side away from Donna.

A wound on the back hind leg of the cat

I don’t know about you, but I’m sure Donna will be on her way to the vet faster than you can say “go” if such a wound ever appeared on her.

Unfortunately for Mr Movember the street cat, I had other human concerns such as I was running late and was hurrying to deposit Donna back home after our walk. So the best I could do was to hastily snap these two photos and hope to find some help for the cat later on.

It would sound simple, but real life never is. A check at the Cat Welfare Society FAQ page informed me this:

We do not run a rescue operation as we are run entirely by volunteers with work commitments. If you drop us an email, we can try to connect you with a caregiver in the area if one is available.

However, sick or injured cats often go into hiding. If these cats are not caught and brought down to the vet by the person who sees the cat, there is a good chance that the cat will be gone by the time caregivers go down. Remember that time is of essence — every minute that is wasted deciding whether to pick up the cat may be the minute that could save that cat’s life.

If you have trouble catching the cat, you can seek help from SPCA at 62875355 or consider contacting a professional cat trapping and transportation service.
– cat welfare society FAQ page

So I gave the SPCA a call and sent them the photos I took. They took a look and advised that I monitor the cat for 2-3 days to see if the wound heals. If it doesn’t heal or if it gets bigger, I should contact them again and they will bring someone down to get it. In the meantime, I should try to feed the cat and gain it’s trust or connect with a stray cat feeder who has been feeding the cat so that SPCA can work with him/her to trap the cat to bring it in for treatment.

Sure, I could do that.

Unfortunately, since that time I sighted the cat, he appeared to have vanished. At least during those time slots through the day when I scoured the area looking for it. A post to the Cat Welfare Society page did not get a response as to whether there might be a stray feeder acquainted with the cat. (Now that I looked their webpage again, I realise I should have emailed them. )

I do regret that I wasn’t able to give him more help. My best hope is that a feeder has already gotten the cat away for treatment, which is why I’m no longer seeing him around the neighbourhood. Or maybe I just have lousy timing, who knows?

11 Singapore Special Mongrels of Instagram

By weliveinaflat

On November 13, 2014

In Dog & You, Photography

collage of mongrel dogs

Mongrel. Mutt. Mixed breed.

Referred to using different names by different cultures, a mongrel is just a dog of mixed or undetermined breeds. Unlike purebred or crossbred dogs, mongrels can often be bred without human intervention or design.

Like mushrooms, mongrel puppies pop out of street dogs that mate. The results can be quite surprising.

Take for instance Donna’s family tree. If there was no record, I wouldn’t have guessed that Donna’s grandmother was a brown dog!

donna mongrel dog's family tree
As far as we can trace, Donna’s family descended from a brown dog three generations back.

Locally, we sometimes call these dogs the Singapore Special and deem them as truly local.

Regardless of what lies in their DNA and how different they look, these dogs seem to have some commonality in terms of the general long muzzles, medium to large sizes and slimmer, short-haired physique. (I’m not an expert so don’t quote me on that HAHA!) But yes, these are very general attributes.

Once you start looking at them as individuals, they start to look like very different mushrooms from one another.

mongrel dog faces and eyes Different faces of the Singapore Special

Certainly Trip the dog (left), Chase (top right) and Donna (bottom right) have differences in just their faces alone and I’m not just talking about their eyes. What other differences can you see?

I have never volunteered at a shelter so my scant knowledge of mongrels come from Donna and also aimlessly liking mongrel photos on Instagram, haha :D and of course, chatting with some of the mongrel owners.

The Singapore special is not just limited to tan, and black and tan dogs. They can be black or pale in colour too like Bosco the Mongrel here with his bushy tail. Donna’s tail is not so fluffy-looking.

My colour, ears and tail may differentiate me from the other mongrels but the awkward pose we display when asleep may be similar.

And just because I thought them to be short haired, it doesn’t exempt them from having fluffy, furry ears should nature design them so. I adore Zuma’s furry ears.

I may seem hairier than the others. That just makes me a furrier and more adorable Singapore Special.

And certainly nothing is stopping Pebble from showing off his tummy that reminds me somewhat of a marble cake!

I don’t know why I look like marble cake but that doesn’t stop me from being comfortable at home.

I did read that these dogs were more commonly brown previously.

The Singapore Special isn’t a breed, but I would say more a look. Short-haired, brown, skinny, medium-to-large-sized, black-muzzled, pointy ears…
– singaporedogs.wordpress.com

Well then, that would make pretty Leah the bona fide Singapore Special, wouldn’t it?

So I am short hair, brown, skinny with pointy ears and black muzzle, does that make me royalty among all the Singapore Specials? :P

The truth is that definition seems to have broadened quite a bit. Floppy eared Skippy would agree :P

Regardless of how these dogs have developed, living with a dog sometimes can make one view life differently.

Like how optimistic these dogs can be, forever giving you eyes and hoping to get something :P

How they make you regret how quickly time passes when they sprang so quickly from puppyhood into full grown adults.

How they remind you that despite what they say about the hybrid vigour of mixed-breeds, sometimes there are exceptions that remind you how short life is.

And how life is a big surprise depending on the mongrel dog you bring home.

In Donna’s case, I spent a significant amount of time managing thunder phobia in a dog that is otherwise perfect. I, of course, never even heard of thunder phobia as a condition before I adopted.

In Dara’s case, this girl has a rather consistent and committed love of rolling around in poo and dead animals. I have read some working dogs do exhibit that sort of behaviour, whether it’s to better camouflage themselves when hunting or chasing prey or making the lifestock they are herding feel safer.

It’s genetics and probably a behaviour that will be hard to remove and so Dara’s human has the unexpected “pleasure” of cleaning a stinky dog more often than you and I.

It is such a pleasure to roll in poo and dead animals, says Dara, an otherwise very good dog at home like Donna! :P

Maya lives in a flat too, I think.

Mongrel. Mutt. Mixed breed.

Regardless of how they look like and how they behave, these are the lucky mongrels of Instagram who have found a home.

A video posted by Trip (@tripthedog) on Jun 6, 2014 at 8:03pm PDT

Many thanks to @tripthedog @boscothemongrel @tshirtdog @pebbletoh @layers_of_leah @skippyandscramble @daradeexplorer @maya_thepup for the use of their photos and stories in this post. :)

Shamelessly copy and pasted the below from Three Legs Good facebook page :P

Three Legs Good is proud to announce our third annual exhibition MONGREL 2014: #mongrelsareawesome from 20-30 Nov 2014, at Objectifs – Centre for Photography and Filmmaking (56A Arab St)

In addition, there will be a video installation of selected Instagram photographs submitted by you during our social media campaign promoting the hashtag #mongrelsareawesome!

Mon- Fri 11am-7pm
Sat-Sun 11am-6pm
Free Admission (sorry, no dogs allowed at venue)

mongrel 2014 mongrels are awesome

We’re going because Donna’s photo is in the video installation I think. Haha!

Dogs of Instagram SG Insta-meet Halloween

By weliveinaflat

On October 30, 2014

In Dog & You

Last Saturday evening, some members of the Dogs of Instagram SG facebook group had an Insta-meet Helloween event at Marina Barrage.

This is the first event for us where:

1) The dogs are encouraged to come in costume

A photo posted by Oreo (@oreowah) on Oct 10, 2014 at 7:52pm PDT

2) We implemented the Ribbon System

Socialisation is an on-going process for every dog. Some of us may be hesitant about bringing our dog because your dog may not be so friendly to other dogs.

Sometimes, it’s just that the dog is shy and needs more space from other dogs. If we always keep our dogs at home, they have less chance to socialise well.

Therefore we are implementing the ribbon system.

– YELLOW – my dog is shy, please approach my dog slowly(ALL dogs will start with default yellow because no dog likes to have strange dogs or humans rush to pet them or interact with them without respecting their space. So please always ask the human before approaching the dog.)

– GREEN – my dog has no incident with other dogs in the last three events

– BLUE – my dog is training in progress, please Do Not Disturb.
(All humans please supervise your dogs when off-leash and on-leash and make sure your dogs DO NOT approach the BLUE dogs at all.)

Blue is not meant to denote aggression. It is what it is a dog that is training in progress. In Donna’s case, she wore the blue ribbon because I was going around handing out ribbons and may not have the time to supervise her.

Because the ribbon system is new to all of us, we probably still need time to develop the habit of checking for the ribbon as our dog ran around. Of course, nobody is perfect so there are times when dog runs around without close supervision.

There were also a couple of incidents of dogs growling and one incident where a scuffle left a dog with a bleeding eyelid. That tells me that we had better prepare to come with a first aid kit for future events.

The Foobler

During the picnic, Debrah from Nekojam.com took the time to show those who were interested the Foobler.

That’s actually a very cool treat dispensing ball that Donna has since been playing with. I really like the timer function which controls the dispensing of the kibble within the ball, that really helps prolong the game time for this toy.

Donna, Mango, Cookie, Cotton and Jacko are 5 of 10 #FooblerAllStars chosen to test out this product that is created from a Kickstarter project.

The Foobler is currently available at SGD$59.90 for pre-order. This discounted price is only valid until the end of the month. Last two days! Usual price SGD$70. More about the Foobler on nekojam.com

donna with the Foobler

The walk

The plan was to take a walk along the Gardens of the Bay East after the picnic.

Most dogs made it across the bridge from the Marina Barrage here, where we took the photo. I think I count 23 dogs in the photo below. Hahaha.

dogs of instagram singapore group photo

That end of the bridge was the brightest spot possible for pictures in the night. The route gets fairly dark after that, with street lamps interspersed at regular intervals.

All the better to enjoy the night view…

marina bay sands view

But what I was surprised to find was… ONE firefly glimmering among the grass. I heard there used to be fireflies in Singapore, but with the built up of urban areas, they disappeared. So I must have been exceedingly lucky to see ONE of these tinkling fairylights :D

Only a handful of dogs made it to the end of the route we were taking. Nice work everyone! Much regrets on the way back the same route since we were dead tired by then. Hahahahaha!

It was still a fruitful outing for Donna who got lots of packets of treats from the kind humans who came with their dogs. Of course, the human confiscated all of them since Donna wasn’t allowed to eat them all in one sitting. Boo!

More photos of the event here.

How do you choose your dog’s Halloween costume?

By weliveinaflat

On October 24, 2014

In Dog & You

According to Dolly the Doxie, who participated in a Pet 360 survey this year (2014) and received the results in an email,

71% of pet owners who buy Halloween costumes for their pet dogs and cats want their pets to look cute.

I don’t know about you, but if Merlin the Corgi dressed realistically as Thor is not cute, I don’t know what is :P

15% want their pets to look funny

Somebody cue that Lion King song please, so British Bulldogs like Zeus can fly…

My superpawer is fighting for justice, treats and now #love. Figured today would be a great day to start practicing how to fly to Florida so I can be with my love…

Gotta give points for the human who lends a hand!

Although Lebowski here doesn’t really seem to see the funny in his get up. :P

I love his happy look here as a sand-witch.

Lebowski SoCal Ridgeback Mix is a lucky mutt who has found the life he always deserved. He was dumped on a farm, rescued, and is a cancer survivor turned therapy dog!

12% said clever

I just love Christina Li’s @pupsnponies Just keep swimming – Underwater – Floundering around series! So creative!

Oh, and 2% want their pets to look scary.

Cosy the Harlequin Great Dane scares her herself even. *Just joking :P*

But you know what, I think they actually left out a category!

Because Indie Daniel sure looks heroic to me.

It’s actually not a word I’ll associate with Cavalier King Charles Spaniels because they are such sweet looking dogs. But somebody’s got to smash the stereotype, I guess. ;)

Thank you so much to these six awesome dogs and their humans who allowed me to share their photos on this post!

So how do you choose your dog’s Halloween costume? Leave me a comment below ;)

Building an all-inclusive insta-dog community

By weliveinaflat

On October 5, 2014

In Dog & You

Note: As of 2015, Somewhitecookie and Weliveinaflat are no longer admins of the Dogs of Instagram Singapore facebook group. :P

I am admin of the Dogs of Instagram Facebook group and the @dogsofinstasg account with the following blogs/IGers – mangothesheltie and somewhitecookie.

When Mango’s human first created our Dogs of Instagram Facebook group. Her idea was that this was a common space for the Singapore Dog Instagram community to have a communal chat group. Conversations were happening all over the place on individual IG accounts and DMs, etc and if we want to go out as a group, it’s just difficult to manage such conversations on IG and/or watsapp. You can read more about her thoughts here.

I was never active on Facebook or in groups, so you can imagine we are all learning along the way.

Our activities so far

To date, Donna has gone to some informal outings organised by individual members of the group, such as:

Cookie’s birthday party

A morning walk along the Green Corridor and

A mid-autumn BBQ party that I co-hosted.

But these are all small, informal outings to celebrate birthdays, recee the trails/route for official events or just inpromptu gatherings to hang out with dogs.

Our first official group event

We finally had our first official group event invitation extended to all over 100 members of the group. The outing was Cycling at Punggol Settlement. Fifteen dogs attended the event and we’re really pleased because less people than that accepted the invite.

Our next official events are the Halloween Picnic and Walk and our Christmas Party. The numbers of people indicating they’ll attend so far are good, but you know, as humans we always hope it’s better.

Group goals and objectives

At the end of the day, our Goal is to provide opportunities for all our dogs to mingle with all breeds of dogs. We are not a breed-specific dog group and we are proud of that.

To support this goal, we have been doing the following:

Organised one event per month so meetups are consistent
Organised a mix of different events to give all dogs equal opportunity to attend.
A new photo contest theme every two weeks to encourage owners to share and learn more about each other’s dogs online, so we have topics to break the ice with when we have face-to-face meetings during events.
Provide a group space online where members are more than welcome to chat and organise their own informal small group outings

While we say we are an all-breed group, sometimes, the photos can be misleading. There will be times where more of a certain type of dog attends an event, and then we may look like a Sheltie dog group or a Japanese Spitz group. We try to be all breed inclusive, but we can only be if owners of different breeds are interested to attend the specific events we organise.

A cycling activity may be more interesting to medium and big dog breeds that have lower risks of hip and elbow dysplasia. Small dog owners may not be interested in the active lifestyles that bigger dog owners prefer. There are a 101 reasons why people attend or do not attend events.

We can provide the opportunities, but dog owners themselves need to want to attend and mingle in order to help make the events a success. I am quiet and introvert by nature, so I guess, we humans can learn a lot from the dogs that aren’t shy. Haha!

So see you at our next event, and help spread the way to your other dog lover insta-friends so we can see more breeds around! ;)

Donna’s Family Tree

By weliveinaflat

On September 18, 2014

In Dog & You

Sep 2014 – The good Janicia of Mango the Sheltie blog recently sent to me some pictures of Donna’s parents that she had taken when she was volunteering with Gentle Paws and Friends. (Gentle Paws is the shelter we adopted Donna from.)

It appears Donna largely takes after her father, appearance-wise where it comes to facial markings.

Donna’s father and mother

donna dog's family tree

No spotty tongues in Donna’s family tree, haha!

Anyway, I guess I’m just so used to Donna’s looks by now that I personally think Denny looks extremely adorable. Her mother, Dior, is actually noticeably larger than Donna in size. So I guess Donna inherited her small size from Denny too.

Denny

It seems most of this family of dogs have been adopted, but Denny is probably still available. So you’re thinking of adopting a dog, you can check out Denny’s profile here.

[Excerpt] I was a puppy from a breeder farm. Don’t give me that puzzled look! I’m not one of those snotty pure bred dogs. I don’t know why I was found there or what evil intentions the breeders had for me.

Florence from Gentle Paws recently sent me a preview of the 2015 calendar they are selling to raise funds for the shelter.

I’m glad Donna’s father, Denny, is one of the dogs featured in the calendar because they sure need lots of help in the adoption raffle.

I heard that people don’t like black dogs much and I’ve been reminded that black dogs stand the least chance of being adopted… I need people to look beyond my black coat to see the true dog that is in me. I was a breeder puppy who was given a second lease of life and I’ve all the love in the world to give… if only you’d let me.
– excerpt from Denny’s profile

It’s actually quite true that black dogs don’t stand out. If you were to ask me, the only dog I remember and can pick out from the crowd at Gentle Paws is Mario the white dog! We wouldn’t have considered Donna at all if Florence had not stopped to speak with us.

Here’s another Gentle Paws black dog from the new calendar.

Dookie

Dooki, like Donna, was born at the shelter, adopted out and subsequently returned back to the shelter again.

I was returned to the shelter as my adopter had sold their flat and would be staying at a relative’s place until their new flat arrives. There was no place for me. I was devastated and cried when the volunteers locked up and left the shelter, leaving me with unfamiliar canine faces.

I was amused by this particular line on Dooki’s profile page that mentions Donna:

Instead of moping around and brooding about the past, I will take it in my stride and get over the heartbreak. If Donna can find her happiness after her long pursuit for a place called home, I’m sure my special family is also somewhere out there.

So anyway, it’s kind of hard to know what dog is available at Gentle Paws and what dog is not, if you are like me. I.e. don’t really stalk anything on facebook. Haha! So the easiest way is to just contact the shelter directly. Make a trip down like we did.

Debbie

Writing this post, I did a bit of digging on Gentle Paw’s blog and guess what I found? I might be wrong, but it seems like Donna’s grandmother on her mother’s side was a brown dog!

donna dog's family tree
Note: Debbie’s picture I lifted off Gentle Paws blog. Doesn’t belong to me.
Dior and Denny’s photos are by Janicia

I found out about that titbit of information from Dior’s profile page here.

I came to the shelter as a little puppy from Debbie’s litter. I was adopted once but returned, which means I am house trained. It took a long time to get used to the shelter after experiencing the warmth of a human home. – excerpt from Dior’s profile

Is it me or is returning the dog to the shelter after adoption starting to sound like a common theme around here? People, consider carefully before you adopt! Don’t adopt to abandon… sheesh…

Anyway, I had always thought Dior and Denny were strays. I’m sure Florence gave me some background when we were there, but the shelter was a pretty overwhelming environment so you will forgive me if I was distracted and didn’t pay attention very well. :P

But now I know that Denny was a puppy in a breeder farm and Dior was quickly taken into a shelter with her mother upon her birth. So the grandmother, Debbie, was a stray, but not Donna’s parents.

I used to be a stray wandering the streets of Woodlands. Little kids used to throw rocks at me. The only reason I followed my rescuer Wee up his van was because I was pregnant at that time. I didn’t like humans but I knew what was best for my puppies was to follow the human who had been feeding us all this while up his van. This is how I found myself at the shelter all the way at the other end of Singapore. Though the humans call me the leader of the pack or an alpha female, I’m scared stiff of thunder storms. The only humans who have managed to touch me have done so during my pregnancy or during ferocious thunder storms.- excerpt from Debbie’s profile page

Guess, thunder phobia is in Donna’s genes. :(

Anyway, it seems Debbie was one of the first dogs taken in by the people from Gentle Paws. Perhaps Gentle Paws hadn’t even existed then? Anyway, you can read more about her story here.

Buy a dog calendar

Updated Sep 2015 – The Gentle Paws ~~2015~~ 2016 Dog Calendar is now available for sale at S$10. How to buy.

In Gentle Paws 2016 calendar, we feature twelve of our more difficult dogs and share the stories of just how far they have come.

We are a small, privately run shelter with limited fund raising options. Our calendar sales is the main source of funds that keeps the shelter operating year on year.

Donna was adopted from Gentle Paws, so happy to help spread the word. Hop over and buy a calendar to support them if you’re so inclined ;)
More about Gentle Paws and Friends on their blog and Facebook.

Come :) Follow weliveinaflat.com on
Instagram @weliveinaflat | Facebook donna.weliveinaflat | Youtube Mutt Vlog by weliveinaflat

My Writing Process has got all to do with photos

By weliveinaflat

On August 14, 2014

In Dog & You

I was invited to join the My Writing Process tour by Linda at 2browndawgs.com

If you’ve not visited 2browndawgs before, I will say go visit.

If you’re interested to learn more about Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, the brown dogs’ lives as working hunt dogs and the training they have to keep to, then you’ll find this blog rewarding.

There’s actually three of them – Storm, Thunder and Freighter – despite the URL XD. There’s lots of outdoorsy photos to inspire you to get out and have some fun. My particular favourites are always those of the brown dogs splashing into ponds and their grumpy faces when they have to have their photos taken. Hah!

Then again, you probably know of them already :D since Linda has been blogging longer than I have! And if you’re here from the Thursday Barks and Bytes blog hop that she hosts, than she’s certainly no stranger. You can read more about the writing process behind the 2browndawgs blog over here.

To be a part of the tour, we just need to answer three questions on our blog, so here goes:

1. What am I working on?

Most of the time I’m either working on this blog or my @weliveinaflat feed on Instagram.

The Instagram dog community
I also contribute to the @dogsofinstasg feed since I am one of the admins for the Dogs of Instagram Singapore facebook group.

We have an ongoing photo challenge that we are running to encourage members to share photos and interact. Pictured right is the latest photo theme we are running.

Work with the group does take up quite a fair amount of time since we’ve also been going to group outings. And we’ve just started planning for group meetups and parties for the upcoming months for Halloween and Christmas.

Looking for Sponsorship
I’ve had some luck finding prize sponsors for the Dogs of Instagram SG photo challenge. I should start to look for my own blog sponsors too. That has been on the backburner for a while. So if you’re reading this, and you represent a specific pet business or brand, PLEASE consider reaching out to me to discuss Blog Sponsorship! Haha! XD

Sponsors: Click here! :P

2. Why do I write what I do

The blog itself focuses on topics surrounding having a mongrel dog as a pet.

When I first started, nobody else that I know of is writing about a mongrel living in a flat
It is unclear to me how many households living in flats have adopted mongrels under the radar. Mongrels do not fall into the list of approved breeds the Housing Development Board allows.

Theoretically speaking, mongrels weighing not more than 15kg can now be adopted as apartment dogs under Project Adore. Dog rescues and shelters have of course been vocal on this topic.

I do not spend my time in animal rescue work. But perhaps blogging how we live with a Singapore Special mongrel in a flat will help build the awareness of how adaptable these types of mongrel dogs can be in small space, high density living.

There is a lack of awareness of what exactly is Positive Training among people I speak with
An adopted dog can come with it’s own set of problems. Specific to Donna’s case, she can be rather sensitive and quick to withdraw in fear. Positive training has helped a lot to build her confidence.

I hope writing on training topics will help the awareness in this area.

It is too easy to rely on dog management techniques from reality TV which may not be the best way to approach a fearful dog.

Sharing good times
The blog and Instagram has also helped us make a lot of new friends.

I used to worry about Donna not having any friends but that is no longer a problem.

I like to diary our outings with Donna’s new friends so that anyone can click back and relive the fun times we had looking at the photos.

3. How does my writing process work?

Live life. Observe. Record.
Research and learn when I have questions.
Repeat all over again.

Pictures illustrate the story more vividly than words
But when it comes to actually sitting down and writing. Having pictures helps a lot to break the monotony and drive the visual narrative. I’ll edit the pictures, sort and organise them in the order I want them to appear for the post and then fill in the text to tell the full story. A good example will be the recent post about the Green Corridor.

Writing in greater depth to achieve better understanding of the topic
But that’s for photo posts. For something more informational like Dental scaling under general anaesthesia, oh no!, it starts with asking questions. What do I not know about dental scaling that I should know in order to make an informed choice? What are the concerns other people have about dental scaling? What are the avenues for dental scaling work? What are the different points of view from pet parents, from vets?

I’m sure dog newbies will have the same questions I had. It just takes time to do the research and have credible information that I feel comfortable with sharing to help whoever wants it to have a reference. I try to, and hope that I did provide a balanced view. And that people get what I’m trying to say because I’ve taken the time to break the content into digestible sections. I proofread over and over again, make sentences short when I can so it is easy to read and understand.

My writing process is not perfect.

I do have the awful habit of trying to scramble at the last minute, and so sometimes, I miss out a post for days that I’m supposed to post. But I do post it eventually :P

The one thing that I truly am sadly lacking in in my writing is humour. I hope I find my funny bone one day. ;)

Now I shall hand you over to the next writer on the blog tour :

Mango the Sheltie
Mango has been sharing a blog with his human, Janicia, for some time and now finally has a blog of his own! Haha! This four-year-old Shetland Sheepdog is a little shy because he has not been well-socialised in his first home. Like Donna, he is adopted the second time as an adult dog. He now lives in a flat not only with humans but also three scary cats! Expect to see lots of yummy photos on his blog! Donna cameos there now and then, lol.