We live in a flat - Page 33 of 75 - Many Adults, 1 Boy & 1 Dog's Montessori Life in a Singapore flat

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Back up! Cha-cha-cha~

On May 3, 2014

So we didn’t really do very well with the Back up trick in the last post. But we’re slightly better at it this week.

But before I get started on that, I have to say that I recently read on a blog somewhere that groomers, vets, etc have every opportunity to make the grooming, vet experience less scary for the dog but this doesn’t seem to happen that much. Not in action and not in the posters, etc that these establishments have on the wall.

But as people with blogs, we have every opportunity to do that. So yah, here’s a picture of me treating Donna for stepping backwards ;) because rewarding is part of making the training a positive and fun experience for the dog! :D

dog learning to step backwards

That’s bits of cooked chicken she is taken from my hand.

I admit, I didn’t really have photos of me treating her for the previous training posts. In fact, Kyla demanded to see the treat to make sure that Donna is not cheated of it! LOL

We’re still not very good with backing up. And unfortunately, I am right-handed, and that means I favour working with Donna on my right side. The result, of course, is that she is responding to walking backwards on my right side, and has some difficulty doing the same on the left. My fault. But that’s ok, we’ll just continue to work on the left side.

In any case, nowadays we seem to be doing some sort of cha-cha to get her to walk backwards. Observe:

walking backwards (Enhanced) from weliveinaflat on Vimeo.
Don’t you love her wagging tail???
A lot of lip licking anticipating the fresh cooked chicken bits I’m giving her :P
Where’s the Cha-cha music? And why are you in your PJs, human???!!
Video by Mr P on his Samsung Galaxy Note 3.

While she no longer sits as much, she hasn’t really grasped that “Back” = take step(s) backwards. So if I were stationary and then walk back, she may try to turn around and sit and stare at me. So I keep having to step front and step back and somehow she follows my motion. I guess, I’m hoping that when we do that enough times, she’ll start associating “Back” with stepping back and not step forward and step back. Haha. We’ll see how it goes.

I’ve stopped luring her with a treat, unless she doesn’t respond since I don’t really want her to take steps backwards with her nose following the treat. This makes her either turn to the side towards the treat and making a U-turn rather than walking backwards, or walking backwards awkwardly with her nose pointing to the floor. Either way, I’m not sure how she could build the association to the action if she was so overly fixated on the treat all the time. So once, she starts to respond to visual cues, I faded the lure and only show her the treat when she does the action correctly instead. Does that make sense?

So now, we’re basically trying to correct the following:

dog walking backwards on the left too
dog walking backwards in a straight line and not having the butt curving in and tripping the human
dog walking backwards from being stationary, rather than no response
maybe dog dancing to cha-cha music, haha!

So we started on this next trick to build her rear end awareness – Stepping up and Pivoting. Stepping up is not a problem for Donna, she easily got this in one session. But the pivoting is quite impossible at the moment so I guess this dog has absolutely no rear-end awareness, huh? So I’ll just have to keep trying to lure her to pivot. Hah!

dog stepping on box

Friendly Friday – dogs, homes, diet and vets

By weliveinaflat

On May 2, 2014

In Health

via nodogaboutit.wordpress.com who always has funny or cute videos to share on Fridays!

Let’s talk about adoption – a hypothetical exercise
Does what you feed = how much you love your pet?
Most dogs don’t need a fenced yard, not when you have the whole neighbourhood to explore ;)
Do trips to the vet have to be neces-“scary”? – “Reducing fear at the vet office is an opportunity and an obligation”- “Almost all of my exams are on the floor now and we give up to 60 treats in a 15-minute exam” Dr. Marty Becker discusses the importance of reducing fear via @PrescottBreeden

Do dogs choose who they play with?

By weliveinaflat

On May 1, 2014

In Behaviour

Now and then we bring Donna to a dog cafe to give her more chances to socialise with other dogs outside of walks and the dog run.

III cafe

But perhaps on this day, Donna was already tired out from all that excitement at the Pet Expo, so she chose to chill out under our table at III Cafe instead as we had our lunch. (Incidentally, this month’s Pets magazine has a picture of Donna as one of the dogs in the background attending the Pets Expo agility trial lesson!! It’s tiny but we’re there! LOL)

III cafe

At least, that was what I thought at first. But she did seem happy to move around and check out any new dogs that come into the cafe.

III cafe

But pretty soon, she goes back to laying in the middle of the cafe floor like she is the queen of the place.

III cafe

Sure, she takes note of all the activity around, but that’s about it. Seems pretty boring to me :P

One of the cafe patrons was so impressed by her being such a good, fuss-free dog she had to take a picture of her.

III cafe

And still she laid there.

Finally up she goes to check out another dog which turns out unfruitful.

III cafe

She finally turns to check out the little dogs milling around her that she has been ignoring the whole time!! And then turns to me as if to say, “I tried, but they all ignore me!”

III cafe

Seems like same as for humans, it can be hard for dogs to make new friends, huh?

It seems like some people like to congregate around dog cafes with other humans with the same dogs. But for Donna, she doesn’t seem to be particular about just meeting other mongrels.

Rather Donna sometimes seem to be more excited about approaching dog breeds that she had a great time playing with before such as Westies. But more than that, I am starting to think that she has a size preference when it comes to making friends. Donna seems to like to approach dogs that are closer to her size, such as Shiba Inus, Huskies, Golden Retrievers and other mongrels.

Does that make sense? Do your dogs choose who they rather play with? And do you know why?
I would love to hear!

Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge Week 12 – Mix It Up

By weliveinaflat

On May 1, 2014

In Photography

Welcome back to the last week of the Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge, hosted by weliveinaflat and firebonnet. This week’s theme is Mix It Up because in this last week, you will have the liberty to do whatever you like with your photos. The only thing we ask of you is to try to and see if you can use at least two out of the 11 different image edit options that we covered in the last 11 weeks.

This means you still (1) share at least one good photo that you took or edited last week, (2) run it through a photo app on your smartphone or mobile device, apply 2 or more effects on the photo and share with us the result. So if there’s any topics covered in the last few weeks that you would like to explore further, this last week is the week to do it!

And since this is the last week, I thought I go back to looking at photography and building a photo story.

Now in the last few weeks, we have gradually moved from photography to image editing, dabbling with double exposures, adding text effects and also colour splash. We were looking at singular photos. But most times, we like to delve into detail. We like to take multiple pictures and share them.

To present them in a stylistically consistent package to tell a story can be an art. I am of course not a master of that, but the following are some ways, I try to do this.

1. Use photos of similar colour family to make a collection. Notice that these are all photos taken at different times and in different countries and of different subjects. But the colour unites them to tell a story of the colour pink and its appearence in nature.

2. Besides images of similar colour, you can also use the same image editing style for the photos in the same collection. I ended up with a bunch of photos taken in a temple that I wasn’t too pleased with. But layering them using double exposure techniques gave these photos additional complexity and brightened the colour. The layered photos create a visual story of the motifs within the temple that I am pleased with.

4. Or simple use photos taken within the same period of time with the same context. In this set of photos, the light and colours remain consistent since they were taken in the same environment in the short span of time where Donna was fooling on the floor and I was fooling around with stickers in my hand. This means that I have a set of photos that have consistent colour and light levels and that gel together as a group.

4. But that doesn’t automatically mean there can’t be variation in the filters you use on the photos. Below, the set of 4 selfies depict the same dog taken in the same setting, but two photos with a warmer colour temperature and two with a cooler colour temperature and placing them alternately in a square format, I was able to achieve some variation in the colours to create interest but still have enough consistency remaining for the set of four to gel together as a whole rather than look jarring because the colours are different. Repeat elements in the visual, in colour or style to create consistency.

5. Create an action sequence. And help guide the eyes to travel through the photo from top to bottom or left to right, depending on the action.
I chose to use the collage feature in Moldiv to stitch the photos together quickly to create my collection. Other popular collage apps include Diptic (paid). Collage options can also be used in some of the other apps covered before like PicsArt.

Now it’s your turn to share!

You can choose to collage a collection of your photos like what I did above, or you can choose to explore using multiple effects on 1 or more photos out of what we have covered in the last 11 weeks. It’s all up to your creativity and also the photo that you chose to work with.

Create your challenge post from now until Sunday, 11 May end of your day. Post your Photo of the Week and your App-ed version of that photo on your blog.

Pic 1 – Your Photo of the Week can be taken with any equipment – a regular camera, a DSLR, a smartphone, hack even a pin-hole camera if you so choose!

Pic 2 – Pic 2 is optional. The theme this week is to use 2 or more effects on the photo. In all cases, it would be helpful if you can name the app effect used so we can understand what you are doing ; )

Add the challenge badge and link your post to the host and co-host sites. Be nice and visit with some of the other challengers for this week! :) And do remember to leave me your blog post link in the comments below, in case I do not receive the pingback/trackback from your link.

For more information, you can read in detail more about the challenge and the instructions at the About page here. You can also grab the badges here.

Questions? Feel free to pose any questions in the comments below or email me at weliveinaflat@gmail.com. Next up, what happens after you have linked up? Why you start getting your challenger photo grid filled up!

Got Get It!

This week, it’s your turn to share with us an app that you love or use fairly often! Tell us why you like it!

Get Inspired!

And since we’re getting back to the basics, here are some of the type of photography that I like.

Host Challenge Post

Donna and I discovered trees with seeds wrapped in cotton last week. I made a study of the tree and it’s parts from various angles, and also our interaction with it. I decided that the photos should have a blue-green tint in the highlights and an orange tint to deepen the shadows, so as to give the set of 5 photos a consistent colour treatment. However, the first photo does stand out from the rest because of the strong backlight and contrast as well as being the only picture with the vignette applied.

All the bits of cotton on the grass.
Apps used:
1. Snapseed to adjust light values,
2. VSCOcam mellow filter to colour correct,
3. Moldiv to stitch the photos together

Original photos:

Just Moldiv to quickly stitch up the five pictures to show you their original colour. The photos don’t gel as well because of the dark shadow for the parts of the tree taken against the backlight of the sky, versus the other photos that are more evenly exposed. Using the same colour filter across the photos helped to create a more consistent mood across the photos in the 1st set above.

Challenger Photo Grids

Every week, challenger grids get updated with the new photos! At the end, you get to grab your grid off this blog for your own pleasure. :D Meanwhile, you can view one another’s photos on the blogs by clicking on the linked numbered weeks above each challenger’s photo grid. I will try to keep it up to date as quick as I can ;)

Host| weliveinaflat.com
[ photos tagged “snappy happy” ]
weliveinaflat's Snappy H'appy Photo Grid

Host| firebonnet.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
firebonnet snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| Roxy The Traveling Dog
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| completelydisappear.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
completelydisappear snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| Blogagaini
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Blogagaini snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| Zeke’s Adventures
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Zeke's Adventures snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| 1stworlddog.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
1st world dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| Little Dogs Laughed
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Little Dogs Laughed snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| ForestWoodFolkArt.wordpress.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| LivingWithMyAncestors.wordpress.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| sassmuffins.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
sassmuffin snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| Claim your photo grid, join the challenge today!

Next week, we’ll get Snappy H’appy with Creative Mixes for your photos! Thanks for checking out this Photo Challenge and making it all the way to the end of the post! ;)

Cars and Tofu – AE86 Special Shop

By weliveinaflat

On April 30, 2014

In Dog & You

So we were in Kyoto a few months back, and we just happened to be walking around when we saw a sign that was unexpected with letters that were instantly recognisable.

Mr P had to take a photo right here with the car, so you can see his shadow on the floor there, lol.

The AE86 is after all the iconic car that delivers tofu at racing car speed to customers. ( We don’t read Japanese but it was not difficult for us to guess that the Japanese letters on the car probably read “藤原豆腐店” or Fujiwara Tofu Shop. ) And if you’re clueless what I’m talking about, it all happens in this comic. :P You can also find out more about this Kyoto place with the AE86 here.

Speaking of tofu, I was quite amused by the thought of ten courses of Tofu for lunch. Ten! 3150 Japanese yen is roughly USD30 or SGD38.

10 course tofu set lunch

What does Donna say about cars?

dog and subaru car toy

I am a munchkin! – high angle shots

By weliveinaflat

On April 27, 2014

In Photography

high angle shot of dog 1
high angle shot of dog 2
high angle shot of dog 3

High angle shots are typically employed to portray the subject as vulnerable, weak or insignificant in cinema. Literally it achieves the effect of having the viewer of the photo look down on the subject(s).

High angle shots naturally lend themselves to pet photography since our pets are generally way shorter than us. From this angle, pets generally look small and cute because of the bobble head effect.

The dynamic changes and becomes more complex however, with the confident stare if the animal that expects you to do its bidding, her sly peek at you to gauge your reaction when she refuses to do what you asked it to, and her blatant joy looking up at something else besides you. Human, you are just not as interesting as the toy you dangle in front of me.

Here’s a nice sample of high angle shots used in Hitchcock movies and how it diminishes the men in the story.

References

Back up or Walking backwards

By weliveinaflat

On April 26, 2014

In Training

So 1stworlddog learnt to walk backwards sometime back, and we thought we’ll try to learn that too. It was kind of hard trying to lure Donna to take a step back with food. Mel from 1stworlddog suggested that we line up against the wall so that Donna learns to back up along it. That sounded like a great idea since when Donna does back up on occasion, she doesn’t back up in a straight line but curves around instead like in the picture below.

But for a while there, it was a little bit of a struggle to get Donna lined up against the wall to practice walking backwards.

Luckily, we found the positive training blog hop and one of the topics covered was hand targeting or Touching Nose to Hand and that was a handy trick to get Donna to line up against the wall for this exercise.

The next challenge I had was Donna’s habit of just sitting for treats whenever she struggled to figure out what she is supposed to do.

Tilting her head back as if to ask, what are you waiting for human? Treat.

And then she hears Mr P coming home and she rushes off to welcome him home instead.

Obviously not too impressed with learning the new trick huh? :P *rueful*

There must be something I am doing wrong because she is always either stopping and sitting or craning her backwards on one side trying to reach the treat. Having a visual reference and having a good feel of the end goal is always helpful for me, so here are two videos that gave me a better idea of what exactly I should be trying to achieve with Donna when it comes to the Backward Heel.

Two videos for teaching the dog to walk backwards
– http://youtu.be/k4LoPU1g310
– http://youtu.be/XKmy0Q1Otqc

And since 1stWorldDog also been going on about rear-end awareness, this is the next trick we are going to learn – http://youtu.be/xEqQDw8Jo9M

Lone flowerlet of the Ixora

By weliveinaflat

On April 25, 2014

In Dog & You

The result of our evening walk. The dog returned with a flowerlet on top of her head after she inspected the underside of the flowering Ixora bush.

Also called Jungle Gerbera or the Flame of the Woods, Ixora blossoms typically look like big umbrellas of these tiny flowerlets clustered together. The flowers can be red, orange or yellow. Despite the bright colours, the Ixora plant is not toxic to dogs so there was no need to be overly concerned.

I kept looking to see if the flower would drop off her head the rest of the walk. It never did.

It was only when we got back that I realised it was kept stuck to her head because of the sticky sap that has cobwebbed all over the area above her eyes. Right time for a shower, Donna!

References

You are a pain in the nose, human!

By weliveinaflat

On April 24, 2014

In Behaviour

Three facts about your dog’s nose

Dog nose prints are unique like human finger prints!

But unlike human fingerprints, dog nose prints aren’t really used for dog identification as much as the microchip or the dog tag.

Still that hasn’t stopped pet lovers from trying their hand on DIY projects that help them capture this unique part of their fur buddy. There are some webpages that suggest dog nose print projects that can be fun for kids and the dog lover.

But our dog here would likely not take it kindly to have food colouring or china ink painted over her nose and then have a piece of paper pushed into her face to make a unique nose print project.

Nope, those tensed up pinned back ears and that tilt in the head to avoid the human and her camera says it all. You’re being a pain, human!

But even without that wet ink to make a nose print, my dog’s nose is typically wet and cold.

Why do dogs have wet noses and what use do they have?

Because they have wet tongues that lick their noses! Hahaha. Common sense, huh?

Although sometimes, when a dog is not feeling well, he/she may not lick the nose as much so it becomes dry. However, in this Q&A with a Monterey vet, the vet also makes it clear that a dry nose may sometimes be a symptom of illness but that is not always the case.

Brachycephalic breeds with short, high noses like the Pug and the Boston Terrier are also more likely to have dry noses since their noses are set too high and their tongues couldn’t reach them! This also means that such dogs have a higher tendency to suffer from noses that are cracked and dry on top.

Eat your hearts out, snorties! *Now that is just rude, Donna!*

But back to the wet nose, it actually helps the dog to (1) cool down (rather than overheat) and (2) to smell better. No, I don’t mean it makes Donna sweet smelling. (Wouldn’t mind if that were the case.) The wet stuff on the nose is mucus that collects chemicals present in the environment which the dog can lick to aid her in her mission to sniff and process all the different smells she is exposed to on walks, etc.

So yah, high five to the wet nose! *thumbs up*

The nose is to the dog, what eyes are to the human
(but sighthounds need not apply, I think :P)

Speaking of sniffing, there’s no looking down on Brachycephalic breeds even if they have to suffer from their funny faces and shorter noses due to humans breeding them to look cute. According to this dummies article, even flat nose dogs ~~smell better~~ ‘detect scents far better than humans’!

It’s kind of debatable if it’s the human’s loss or gain, I mean, considering I am picking up dog poo everyday… maybe not having such superhuman sense of smell is not a bad thing. :P

So stop with that sticking your nose high in the air, Donna!

And yes, I’ll get out of your face now, poor thing. (She’s persisting sitting there looking grumpy rather than walking away because she wants to eat the forbidden ice cream waffle.)

with 2 Brown Dawgs
and Heart Like a Dog.