We live in a flat

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A room with books is boring, says Donna the illiterate local mongrel.

That is despite having to spend a significant amount of time holed up in the air-conditioned study to hide from the haze.

So her dear poetic blogger friend Kuruk has strongly urged his human Julianne to give Donna some basic training in her ABCs.

So the lovely Julianne@Through the Peacock’s Eyes* decided to send us a distant correspondence learning kit called the ABC Award. Thank you very much Julianne!

The Awesome Blog Content (ABC) Award was created by http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk on a whim, it seems :P To accept, just post the ABC Award logo and link back to the site and share a word or phrase about yourself for each letter of the alphabet.

If you are new to this blog, each of the words/phrases below will take you to a previous post where these words were used. So, here goes –

A	Already stupid	B	Bones
C	Child-friendly	D	Dobby ears
E	Everyday eat, sleep, play	F	Floor full of hair
G	Green is for envy	H	High-rise dog accident
I	I adopted	J	Jump and lick
K	Kibble	L	Local park
M	Microchipped	N	Nothing in life is free
O	Ordinary mongrel	P	Pedigree dogs exposed
Q	Quiet evening	R	Repetitious photos
S	Scary dog	T	Tug
U	Urban agility challenge	V	Vexed
W	Well-trained versus well-behaved	X	(e)Xuberance
Y	Yawning	Z	ZzZzZzZz

Nominees

A House Full of Dogs
B&W Challenge Host Sonel
Completely Disappear in Thailand

Not so many dog blogs this time, but our cautious little note still applies :P. We nominate because we like these people/dogs and would love to hear more about them. The nomination is without obligation, you are free to decline to receive, repost or nominate other people should you prefer not to. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

By the way, do hop over to send your kind wishes to Ku, who is having his bump biopsied/removed. I’m sure he would appreciate the encouragement. ;)

*As the original award post is not longer available, I have relinked it to Julianne’s main page.

Is the haze bad for my dog?

By weliveinaflat

On June 21, 2013

In Health

I feel like a Doomsday Prepper!

So the officially reported PSI index hovers around 300 and at one point it was 400 today. Hazardous all the way~

Seniors, mums-to-be, children and people with heart or respiratory problems are advised to don the N95 respiratory mask when outside and in general to avoid outdoors. Healthy persons should also be masked if “prolonged and strenuous outdoor activity is unavoidable.”

But what about dogs who need their daily walks? And some dogs are outdoor dogs, what about them?

The Animal Doctors advise:

Keep all pets indoors during the haze and if your rabbits or small pets are kept in balconies, bring them in. They are especially at risk for smoke inhalation due to their small lung capacity. Smoke inhalation can cause chronic pneumonia and can be fatal if the animal is no longer able to compensate. Note any signs of breathing difficulty and bring them to your vet immediately.

And the Mount Pleasant Animal Medical Centre says:

Animals have an increased sensitivity to foreign particles and constant exposure to polluted air may place them in the position to develop respiratory problems.

Pets that are in greater danger include:

pets with heart/lung disease
young pets less than 1 year old
geriatric pets above 6-7 years old
pets with debilitating conditions, e.g. kidney, liver problems
pets with eye conditions

However, the advice they posted on their Facebook pages should probably apply to all pets:

Keep pets indoors where possible
Do short but more frequent toilet breaks instead of long walks
Wipe down face, body and paws thoroughly with damp cloth after walks
Use artificial tears 2-3x daily to flush away possible eye irritants
Turn on air conditioner/fan where possible
Change water bowls often
Monitor for redness in eye, abnormal eye discharge, excessive sneezing or coughing. If observed, seek medical attention
Monitor PSI and PM2.5 levels via the NEA website at http://www.nea.gov.sg/psi/
- PSI
- PM2.5 (PM2.5 concentrations measure smaller particles that can settle in the lungs.)
  - less than 40 = safe (– Donna and I go out for short walks due haze period)
  - more than 40= unsafe – Donna and I go out for loo breaks

In terms of the possible effects of smoke haze on pets:

Irritation of the nose and throat
Increased mucous production
Tendency to cough
Eye irritation, redness and discharge
Lung problems if severe; bronchitis, asthma
Skin irritation; rashes

In general, its good to have your regular vet clinic’s contact number as well as the nearest emergency after-hours vet contact. So if the above effects manifest themselves excessively or your pet is finding it hard to breathe, you’d be able to reach medical attention quickly.

I’ve consolidated the points above from 2 posters. You can view the original information at here and here. And also news references here and here.

And why do I feel like a Doomsday Prepper? I spent a good part of the morning calling and hunting for N95 masks to no avail. They are just not in stock and if they are, there are long queues or sold out the next second. We are not too concerned for ourselves since we are healthy adults but it would be nice to get some for our older parents and grandparents. Of course, getting stubborn parents/grandparents to wear them is another matter!! :P

The fat dog is too chill to be a doomsday prepper! :P

Our dog has curves! Wooo~

By weliveinaflat

On June 20, 2013

In Health

Fat, lazing around pets. The tragedy of pets living in small apartments with busy working humans? A result of over feeding or treating? Perhaps we were guilty of both.
Feeding a pet plenty of food is not kindness to a cat/dog. Check out Paying the Price of a Fat Pet and also Health Risks in Overweight/Obese Dogs to be in the know.

So I wrote that our dog had been consistently gaining weight towards the end of a recent post, until we took steps to cut back on fatty canned food, take her out to more exercise (which our fat dog had no stamina for really…) and get our fat dog on her feet more often at home. Ok, technically she was just overweight, not obese, but she did look like a huge lazy lump pictured above right?

If Donna has a voice: “Oy, who you calling fat!”

Anyway, Donna finally has curves…the right ones. You know, not that curving bulge in her tummy or around her ribs and rump.

If Donna has a voice: “Oy, stop calling me fat! I am warning you.”

Actually you know she doesn’t care. Donna’s true voice:

Gimme food. Food good. I eat more food at the shelter than here. I can even eat all the good stuff in Buddy’s (her cellmate) food and leave him with the leftovers. That old man dog is nice to me, not like you.

You can of course appreciate why Buddy got skinnier as the fat dog got fatter eating two shares of food. Poor buddy. Now where was I?

Oh yes, as I was saying, this not so little girl has some curves going in the right direction now, woohoo~

You can view the bigger chart here, via Fat dog to skinny dog: How we did it.

The last we weighed, Donna was around 15.4-15.6kg. For this weight, the vet had advise that she was still over weight but Donna can stay around this range if she does not gain any more weight. Given the vet’s feedback, Donna is perhaps at 6 according to the chart. Abdominal tuck apparent, discernible waist but my untrained eyes can’t really see her ribs. Heh. :P

Finishing up this post with the continued objectification of my dog to further explore the topic of “Curves” in the weekly photo challenge. :P

The curves of her black and tan coat and her dew claw.

The curves of her short hair as they work their way around the curves of her legs. I particularly like this last one of her legs.

Phoneography Weekly: The light in dining halls

By weliveinaflat

On June 19, 2013

In Photography

Not the smartest advertising around but this will have to do :P Just a quick banner pointing to the Phoneography Monday Challenge since this post below is my late submission for it :P

Chandeliers in Formal Dining Space

Hanging Lights in Casual Dining Space

We were at Tim Palace (pictures #1-#3) for Fathers’ Day lunch.

The colour laser lights dancing on the chandeliers made them flash and sparkle above where we were sitting. It was interesting how different they look closeup from the bottom up (#1-#2) compared to the long shot (#3) of the dining space at the other end of the room from where I was sitting. Over there, the main light source was from the large screen display and the curved floor-to-ceiling windows since it was mid-day. The light and sound crew were setting up for a formal dinner later in the evening. There were security scanners being set up outside, which according to our uncle meant that either or both of the two key figures in our country will be attending the dinner that night.

On a different day, I took a more casual snapshot (from the moving escalator at the basement) of the organic cafe called Real Food where I had lunch. One sees straight lines at first, but notice the curved wash of light from the lamps that mirror the darker curved design in the flooring.

I didn’t plan it but once I had all the pictures in one post, I thought the way the pictures were taken were pretty reflective of the formal and casualness of each of the different dining experience:

	Formal Dining		Casual Dining
>	bottom up	>	top down
>	details	>	general long shot
>	planned shots	>	shot from moving escalator
>	more time to be trigger happy	>	1 hasty shot

Chandeliers in Formal Dining Space
Location: Tim Palace, Toa Payoh Safra Club
Picture #1, #2 – App: Camera+, Ansel filter
Picture #3 – App: Snapseed, Black and White filter, Center focus (vignette)

Hanging Lights in Casual Dining Space
Location: Real Food, Novena Sqaure 2
Picture #4 – App: Snapseed, Black and White filter, Center focus (vignette)

My last entry for Black and White Phoneography Monday explored light reflection, light and shadow in the interior of a mall called iVillage. I seem to like to picture interiors in black and white.

Nature disrupted

By weliveinaflat

On June 18, 2013

In Health

The air quality deteriorated this week as the winds brought in the haze from Indonesia created by forest fires and agricultural practices that include the use of fire to clear land.

Before haze,

After haze, as you can see buildings in the distance are obscured.

Before haze even with the rain, one can see the shadowed hills lying behind the buildings in the distance.

After haze, that rolling relief is obscured.

It’s still not too bad near home although the smoky, burnt smell in the air is palpable. In the city to the south of the island where Mr P works, the visibility was even worse he said. Still a health advisory was issued, and we are to keep indoors. This comes on top of our dengue threat. We are just at the starting of the dengue season.

And since we are a kiasu nation, face-masks and mosquito-repelling plants are apparently snatched up as soon as they hit the shelves.

And all this means, outdoor walks for Donna may have to be shortened depending on the PSI index. Donna’s bored, but at least she gets to enjoy the super rare treat that is air-conditioning.

The neighbourhood street cat? Not so lucky.

Ah this stupid haze, retreat! Retreat!

Actually, he/she was more retreating from a trigger-happy human and her dog. Hah!! I’m sorry for harassing the neighbourhood cat. It was not harmed in anyway, and Donna was walking and stopping with me the whole way and not a threat to the cat either. ;)

You know the Adopt, Don’t Buy slogan? It makes sense if one wants a pet and is not picky about the breed. Save a life from a shelter and they can get more injured/unwanted strays off the street.

Note: The newspaper has copyright over the newspaper. So I’ll be obliged to take it down if requested to.

Mugshots are ugly

By weliveinaflat

On June 17, 2013

In Dog & You

What is an ugly picture?

How about a mug shot? After all mugshots are pictures that possibly personify best what is ugly in human society.

mug shot of a dog

The following is a Versatile Blogger Award response masquerading as a fictitious news article. :P

Singapore – Donna the local mongrel who was previously turned in for investigation by the authorities for the first suspected unlicensed protest to be staged by a dog in this country has fled. It is rumoured that the dog police whispered in embarrassment the statement that Donna the local mongrel, made her escape when wardens let her out in the yard to read her pee-mail. The authorities do not have an answer as to why the local mongrel held in custody should have access to pee-mail or any kind of communications with the dog network. They have refused to comment for this news report.

The following are leaked documents from the authorities with regards to Donna the local mongrel while she was in custody.

When contacted about their missing dog, Mr and Mrs P said that they were very worried about their dog that went missing after she was taken into custody by the dog police.

“Do you know, we just got nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award the second time by House Full of Dogs,” Mrs P said as she wrung her hands, “how do we even receive the award if the main character has gone missing? Donna, if you are out there reading this, please come back!”

Unfortunately, it is this newspaper’s understanding that Donna the local mongrel does not know how to read.

Part of the leaked police documents revealed a list of Donna’s online friends submitted by Mr and Mrs P.

When asked about this list of friends, Mrs P said, “The authorities wanted to know Donna’s activity online and these are some of the web pages that we visited in the last 30 days. We THANK YOU House Full of Dogs for the Versatile Blogger Award nomination and in return, we would like to nominate those bloggers in the list for the same award.”

The list included, in no particular order :

scarlybob’s wordpress blog – they live in a flat too; recent post on spaying
ruby the black labrador – big dog, huge oral fixation, long-suffering human:P
the sundog drift – beautiful photos of the sundogs on land and in water
doodlemum – doodles of the family, sometimes with dog. Too cute!
Positive dog training blog – says heel and loose leash are not the same
the smart dog blog – she trains service dogs, post great posts on training too.
dogshaming.com – always good for a laugh
haiku by ku – a poetic pup
wellmindedword – recently wrote about the thundershirt
adventures at runamuck ranch – advocate for the inflatable e-collar
my dogs are cooler than me – a Cavalier King Charles pup called Pal
high strung dog – looks like Donna but Koda is an Aussie Kelpie
merleytwister – kids, retired greyhound and rescued kitty.
pawsabilities – just posted this great post on moving to a flat with a dog
thedoggerel – recently wrote about dog fights and recall.

[Note: Versatile Blogger Rules:

Add The Versatile Blogger award photo on a blog post
Thank the person who presented you with the award and link back to him or her in your post.
Pass the award along to 15 favorite bloggers. Contact the chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.
Share Seven Things About Yourself:

BUT, weliveinaflat would like to say that there is absolutely NO obligation to receive, repost or follow any of the above rules. We nominate because we enjoyed these blogs but we do not want to inconvenience them in anyway.]

The canine squad is launching a nation-wide search for the missing suspect. They have issued the following 7 key characteristics of Donna the local mongrel. Citizens who should happen to see a dog answering to the following descriptions should alert the local authorities immediately:

Local mongrel with distinct black and tan markings on the face and chest/fore legs.
Height: 60cm
Eyes: Brown but may flash green in the dark
Suspect has been known to wear costume and may be in disguise.
Please be alert for suspicious characters resembling Dobby with floppy ears.
Please be alert for suspicious characters resembling Batman or Joker.
Previous identities assumed – Inspector Grass. Suspect most likely will loiter in grassy fields. Please search grassy areas as top priority.

Authorities advise innocent passerbys to alert using the whistle-blowing number [+65-I-found-a-dog] should they encounter any suspicious four-legged canine answering to the descriptions posted above.

The story above is fictitious and Donna is not lost in anyway.

Image sources, because the following images do not belong to me and I will be obliged to take them down if requested:

– Mugshot background template – http://www.gavtrain.com/?p=2586
– image of Dobby – http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/harry-potter/images/17698382/title/dobby-photo
– image of batman – digitalspy.co.uk
– image of joker – sideshowcollectors.com

Donna and hippo in the living room

By weliveinaflat

On June 16, 2013

In Photography

A black and white of Donna panting slightly from running around after her toys playing fetch and tug.

Rain, rain, go away!

By weliveinaflat

On June 15, 2013

In Behaviour

This year has been a year full of rain. Ever since Donna joined our family, the idea of a perfect, rainy afternoon has been turned over its head. Not one of peace, sitting clean and dry in the room listening to the pitter-patter of raindrops. No. Rainy days are days when the dog turns skittish and I try to pretend there is nothing wrong with the weather and live life as normal.

Here are some of the posts from the last few months.

Mar 29 – This is Donna worried about the thunder and refusing to leave the kitchen.

Apr 27 – The strong wind toppled the plants on our balcony. She was grinning with nervousness.

May 2 – Here am I trying to enjoy a warm coffee and a book on a rainy day while she finds some comfort using the furniture and I as the human shield.

Jun 7 – Across time, she has dealt with the rain and thunder inconsistently, sometimes better, sometimes worse. On good days, I had the leisure to contemplate the rain and the sky from the window. On bad days, I content myself with posting pointless posts on Donna’s tips for rainy days.

And after the rain which kept us in, we go out for our walk and get badgered by ants…

… and other creepy crawlies.

Such is life. It’s different, but still good ;)

Donna does not like wet wipes, no.

By weliveinaflat

On June 15, 2013

In Archive

Welcome to Singapore, a tiny dot in Asia where the denizens (especially the older generation) do not sit on the grass at any time of the day and we walk around at home barefoot.

What does that mean to a dog? We have imaginative standards of hygiene that Donna has, has to put up with. Well, not only me if you count in some friends and family who have given their advice.

Miss G, who used to have a mini schnauzer in the house, told me to ‘wash her paws and rinse her mouth after every walk.’

And our cousin said they wash their dog’s paws after they return from a walk too.

So you see, the OCD does not only apply to me.

Anyway, we’ve been religiously wiping down the dog every time we come back from outside and supposedly, we bathe the dog every week. I said supposedly, because sometimes we do miss a week or two due to illness or weekend family events, etc. Excuses, maybe. So that’s something we’ve still got to work on.

The wiping is essential. Her paws get all covered by layers of dirt and grime and on bad days, you end up wiping leftover bits of diarrhea still stuck to you know where. But lucky those days actually number just one or two days in the last 6 months. :P

We’ve been wiping down the dog with dog wipes from the pet shop, but these are actually pretty expensive, especially when our cousin informed us she made do with discount baby wipes from the neighbourhood discount stores. Either way, I never did like either the dog wipes or baby wipes we’ve bought because of the hideous scent they put on these wipes. Donna definitely agrees with me the way she snorts disgustedly at them.

So today, mundane news to you but happy news for me : P, we found some pretty affordable unscented baby wipes for Donna that are fragrance and paraben free! At S$7 for two 100 sheet packs, these are still expensive compared to the $1+ pack of 80 scented, paraben-filled sheets. But hey, fragrace and paraben-free. That’s the best deal I can find over here right now. I’ll even use that on my child if I have one.

And because we bought so much stuff at the Metro sales at the mall, we qualified for two rounds of sure-win lucky draw. Don’t you like sure-win stuff? Well, not if they are Barney, I love You towels. We need more towels for the dog anyway, but as you can see, Donna sure isn’t a fan of Barney either. :P