Bathing our big dogs during the rainy days

We currently have three big dogs after our golden Mocha passed away almost two years ago and another a few months back. Two were Mocha's pups - Hiccup and Snowy. Snowy (born 2020) is a year older than Hiccup (born 2021). With the recent rainy days, we welcomed the break in the wet weather and took advantage by doing the laundry and also bathing our dogs.

Hiccup taking his bath quite seriously. He doesn't struggle and just stands as we shampoo, rinse and dry him. 

Hiccup is usually very malikot but when you give him a bath, he is relaxed. Still, we usually use a leash because if he thinks he's done, he will run away and then roll over the floor or the garden.

Snowy doesn't require a leash as he is usually chill before, during and after his bath. He will patiently stand while being toweled to dry.

After being towel-dried, we usually let our dogs enjoy the sun before letting them back in the house. 

 

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Showering the dog

We're still pretty much in the dry season and the last few weeks have been quite hot. We shouldn't forget that our pets also need some cooling. In this case, that might be in the form of a quick shower. Our Shira, a 4-year old Golden Retriever, loves her quick showers in addition to her regular long ones where she gets shampooed and massaged and groomed/combed.

More water please!

The singkit look when you think your human is about to spray your face with water.

More about our pets in future posts!

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More pets at home

Our daughter is currently into hamsters thanks to a gift of a pair from one of her uncles. The two hamsters though quickly multiplied as the female apparently was already pregnant when we got them. So we ended up getting additional cages to separate the males and females and prevent them from breeding.

I got her this nice set-up from a shop in Tiendesitas. I reminded her though vs. breeding more hamsters.

Here is a top view of the cage and tubes.

Another view of the hamster home we got from Tiendesitas.

Here's our daughter's favorite hamster that she named Caloy after the Filipino Olympian.

We now have several hamster homes as we decided to split them up so as to prevent the hamsters from breeding and multiplying. 

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On stray dogs in the neighborhood

There are many stray dogs in our village right now. Many are dogs left by construction workers who raised them from puppies when their projects were starting and then left the dogs when the projects were completed. Other dogs are actually attributable to informal settlers in the periphery of the village (gillage - "sa gilid ng village") who typically leave their dogs to mate and multiply. There are also dogs that are let out by their owners to do their stuff (defecate and urinate) so they don't have to clean up after their so-called pets. All these dogs just roam the village and cause trouble in the form of poop on the roads, sidewalks and gardens, and spilled garbage from bins they manage to topple.

Strays at one village corner

More strays

 

While there has been initiatives to drive them away or even capture them (c/o the barangay and the city), these appear to be unsuccessful as the same dogs are still very much around. While it may be humane to feed them, that means tolerating their presence and nuisance in the neighborhood. What can be done to address this concern without hurting these dogs?

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Farewell furry friend - Mocha, 2014-2024

We are saddened by the sudden passing of our beloved dog Mocha. We loved to call her Mokey and she responds to both names, wagging her tail wildly as she approached us. We always joked remembering how she and the wife immediately bonded when we picked her up from a backyard kennel.

Mocha liked to cuddle up close to us and appreciated a good scratch or rub.

This is her bored look. This is also her tired look (e.g., after a long walk). And also her exasperated look (i.e., when we're not giving her attention).

 

Mocha always sleeps like this anywhere she is at our home. They say it shows that she knows she is in a safe place and trusts those around her. She is survived by three of her children who remain with us. All three are mixed and fathered by Boots during the pandemic. We had Boots and the 2 other male dogs 'fixed' after that.

This is Mocha with her 'partner' Boots, a maltipoo given to us by a good friend. These two were partners in crime, so to speak. Boots misses Mocha and seems to be looking for her. I imagine he probably thinks she's at the vet or somewhere and will be returning home soon.

Mocha during her younger days.

Mocha and our daughter practically grew up together. They played together, walked together and goofed around together. Mocha survived a tumor that we had surgically removed almost a year ago. We had thought that she would live longer than our former lab Troy but it was not to be. Though we weren't able to bring her to the vet (who were also surprised by her sudden passing) after her demise, we suspected that perhaps she had a heart attack or a stroke. There were no signs that she would pass last Monday. I was sorry that I was not able to walk with her one last time or give her the scratches and massages that she liked so much. She will definitely be remembered.

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Lazy Sundays

Sundays are supposed to be rest days. Or perhaps we also regard these as family days. I think my sentiments are best expressed by our She-ra.

I prefer Sundays at home, listening to music, watching something like a good series, reading a nice book or comics, catching up on my hobbies, or maybe doing some writing not related to work. Sundays aren't supposed to be work days or spent working.

Wouldn't we like to be just sleeping or relaxing on a Sunday?

Happy Sunday!

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Another golden puppy

We have a new dog in our home. Her name was Sierra but our daughter renamed her She-ra (no intention to have the name after the cartoon character), which sounds the same but easier to pronounce.

Whether on the floor or on the couch, one of her preferred positions is lying on her back.

If someone's beside her, she will lie on her side facing that person (in this photo, that's me).

She seems to be the cuddling kind

She's basically like a baby or a toddler who does nothing except eat, play and sleep. We're house-training her so she may stay inside our home. Not surprisingly, she's easier to train especially as she appears to take the cue of the other dogs allowed in our house. She-ra's our second golden retriever. Mocha is the older one at more than 8 years old. Mokey as we fondly call her quickly took She-ra in as if the latter was her own. We like to think the older one talks to the pup and is 'teaching' her about the ways of their kind. :)

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On grooming our dogs

The pandemic and the frequent lockdowns have reduced our trips to the vet. They do message us for our scheduled vaccinations and we often have 2 or 3 dogs go there at the same time to lessen the frequency of visits. All our dogs practically stay within our property and rarely mingle with others so the vet says we can wait to schedule their visits for our convenience and safety (health-wise). Our dog Boots, however, urgently needed to be groomed. He had not had his fur cut in a long while though we tried to trim it to avoid the tangles and matting. We even used the oils we got for conditioning their skin and fur. At one point though, it was unmanageable and we didn't want to risk injuring our maltipoo mix.

Here's Boots wearing his new Hawaiian themed shirt after we had him groomed at the vet.

The summer cut was necessary because the fur was already unmanageable due to multiple matting.

We think he likes the Hawaiian shirt. He has another costume that he likes that we got for him earlier - a Captain America shirt. He liked that one and even responded to Captain America when we jokingly called him that.

 

We thought that Boots felt cold because of all the fur that was removed. He wears his Captain America costume under the Hawaiian shirt. Here he is all curled up while sleeping on his favorite part of the sofa. He has his own bed but when we're seated while watching TV, he likes to be near us. After the usual petting and scratching, he leaves us and retires here. He eventually finds his was to his sofa bed (its a kiddie thing we got from Mandaue Foam) during the night as we find him there in the mornings.

Boots seem to be depressed after every grooming. He is very clingy these days but less so when he grows back his fur. Our retriever seems to understand and they usually sleep together at night near Boots' dog bed.

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Gone to the dogs

We love dogs and especially our dogs at home. Each has his or her unique 'personality'. Here are a few recent photos of our dogs.

An afternoon walk with our daughter pairing with our maltese-poodle mix and I with our Golden Retriever

Hiccup is 3/4 Golden Retriever, which would explain his size and fur. He is also very smart, which is probably among the things he got from his mother. He grew very quickly during this pandemic (born during the first lockdown last year) and fortunately he was quick to learn and remember how to take walks outdoors without mixing it up with other dogs especially the strays in our neighborhood.

These two are practically inseparable and are usually affectionate with each other. I guess this is the dog version of spooning?

More on our dogs in future posts!

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Mocha and Boots

Two of our dogs, Mocha and Boots, have been getting a lot of indoor time these days. Mocha or Mokey, as we also fondly call her, is our 7 year-old golden retriever and Boots is our 6 year-old maltipoo. Mocha likes to have her rubs and massages and eventually slumps to take her naps. Boots is even more 'malambing' as he is a classic lap dog. He's content resting on your lap as you work or watch TV. When we're busy with something that requires us to stand or move about, he'll retire under one of the sofas to also take his naps. Of course, one of the benefits of being indoors is they get to ask (not really beg) for snacks. We oblige but are careful not to spoil these two.

These two are the only ones allowed inside the house for long periods of time. They are both house trained and will let you know if they need to answer the call of nature.

Boots will just stare at you as you eat. Mokey will usually just lie down at your feet. If she's really hungry, she will sit up and reach out with her paw to let you know she wants something to eat.

Boots can be sneaky at night and will try to hide where he peed if he couldn't hold it until the morning for someone to let him out. And so we decided to have him stay out at nights. Mocha is the more disciplined one and like our former dog Troy will hold out until the morning. And so we make an effort to make sure she's peed and pooped before she's let it for the night. We had been caring for Mokey as we noticed she lost a lot of weight after nursing her latest litter of puppies (most of whom we re-homed with relatives and friends). She's well now and it shows in her eyes, nose and fur (just some of the things you watch out for that indicate your dog may have a health issue).

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Our first dog

I was looking at the memories part of Facebook last weekend and one photo stood out among others. This was a photo of our first dog, Troy. Troy was a Labrador Retriever who lived to 11 human years. That's about 72 in dog years for a dog his size. I've written about him in the past but I won't tire reminiscing about this friend of ours who brought us joy before our daughter arrived.

Troy loved the feel of the grass and the ground. We imagined he was so happy after we transferred to our current home. The previous one was a townhouse and though he was able to go out regularly, we though it wasn't enough for him.

We got our Golden Retriever Mocha just before Troy passed away so they sort of mingled for a few months. We liked to think that Troy talked to Mocha a lot and passed on some dog wisdom and knowledge to her. Mocha was present when Troy was finally put to sleep after a long bout with cancer. I recall our vet was also very sad when they came to our home to administer the injections. After all, they cared for him since he was a puppy so they, too, had a relationship with Troy for over a decade.

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Dog treat

Our golden retriever Mocha's getting a bit more attention these days after she gave birth last year and had to nurse her puppies. We haven't allowed her as much as we could into the house and she lost a lot of weight after giving birth. Since then, she's regained her weight and restored the sheen on her fur. I now more regularly take her for walks and groom her. Of course, we have our cuddling and scratching time, which I think is mutually beneficial (i.e., science has found this activity to be stress-reducing).

Mocha or Mokey as we fondly call her munching on a bone after her bath

I got this 'bone' from True Value and it lasts longer than the denta sticks she usually chomps in a minute.

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Do dogs go to heaven?

There have been some heated and also humorous discussions about whether dogs go to heaven. You can easily google this and you will get articles about Pope Francis saying something to the effect that Heaven's gates are open to all of God's creatures. There are also many images including cartoons and photos (many likely photo-shopped) of bulletins outside churches in what appears to be a heated exchange about dogs going to heaven with references to the bible and Christian doctrine. I saw this cartoon that I thought perfectly captures my sentiments about dogs going to heaven.

Today is the birthday of our Labrador Retriever Troy who would have been 12 years old (84 in dog years). Here's another photo of him in our room in our former home.

Troy at my bedside in our old home - he loved to sit beside the aircon before eventually lying down just beneath my side of the bed. We thought at times during hot summer nights that he was gesturing for us to turn on the airconditioning.

I certainly would believe that dogs go to Heaven and our Troy who passed away in 2014 would be very qualified. I imagine that he is already there and enjoying himself while also watching over us. 

Rest in peace Troy. You earned it and deserve to be happy forever.

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Memories of Troy

It's been a year since our beloved Labrador Retriever Troy passed away. He was a loving creature who always expressed his appreciation and love in many ways including giving us licks in the face or just being there when we come home tired from work. He was a happy dog.

Troy loved bananas

He also loved the outdoors

I just wanted to remember Troy as he deserved to be remembered. All the happy memories with Troy will not be forgotten and we have many tales to tell our little Ally about the big black dog that roamed our home with our other dog Barbie. :)

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Happy birthday Troy!

It's our Troy's birthday today. He would have been 11 years old (77 in dog years) today instead he is spending eternity in dog heaven. Do dogs go to heaven? We believe so with this gentle, kind creature we called friend and family.

Happy birthday Troy! We know you're having a blast with Our Creator in heaven!

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More firsts and restoring hope in time for the new year

I wrote about a lot of firsts happening in the past year. I forgot to write about a few experiences including one that had me writing successive posts in tribute to a friend lost. It was indeed an eventful year and I just wanted to recap a few other firsts and then some other experiences last 2014.

A few months after moving to our new home, our beloved Labrador Retriever Troy was diagnosed with cancer. We had to monitor his condition and for two and a half months we had our weekly visits to the vet for his blood work and medication. We ruled out going to a high end clinic and relied on our vet and the UP Vet Hospital to administer the tests and medication. Troy was ruled out of a certain viral infection but was positive for another that probably affected his immune system and weakened him a lot. We spent a lot of sleepless nights before he given steroids and pain killers to ease his condition. He passed away last August as we said tearful goodbyes before he was put to sleep by his vets who were also teary eyed during the procedure. Prior to his passing and to ease the pain of the loss we had adopted a puppy, a Golden Retriever whom we named Mocha but also call Mokey. She is now almost full-grown but still very much a puppy at heart.

Our Mocha enjoying the morning sun

We had to attend to several government transactions last year including those that required us going to city hall to have our homes appraised for real estate taxes. I say "homes" because I was referring to both our old and new houses. The Clairvoyant had attended to the payments for 2014 and those were made at the temporary site at the provincial capitol. The payments for 2015 had to be made at the newly renovated Antipolo City Hall and we did it in mid December to avail of the incentive of a 20% discount on property taxes for people paying before 2015. It was a bit chaotic when we arrived (a lot of other people were thinking about the same incentive and flocked to city hall) but things eventually calmed down and with a system in place it was smooth sailing for our payment.

Earlier in December, I had to book an appointment with the Department of Foreign Affairs to renew my passport. Fortunately, their system was one of the more efficient ones in government and their satellite offices allowed people to go to a more convenient venue for consular services. It was my first time to renew my passport in one of these satellite offices and it took me under 3 hours including and mostly due to the long queues because of additional people who came in after missing their appointments the previous 2 days because of foul weather (There was a typhoon early in  the week and government offices were closed.). The DFA did their part in releasing my passport a week before Christmas (I paid extra for the rush.) but it was the courier service who failed to deliver my passport before the Christmas break. Tracking my passport online, I was angry about the report that the package could not be delivered because of "incorrect address" and "no one in office." These were flimsy excuses for a major courier company especially after they sent me messages on two occasions asking for directions to my office, which I promptly replied to and with details. I ended up getting my passport after Christmas and just before the New Year break. 

We always hear and read about horror stories involving services rendered by government and private entities. There are just too many and these happen to often to a lot of people despite the availability of tools such as IT to make things more efficient. The Clairvoyant had the misfortune of experiencing one of the still inefficient transactions - getting a clearance from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). A lot of people have to go through this as a requirement for job applications, visa applications and other matters requiring the NBI Clearance. Yet, despite their efforts for electronic transactions, their system still falls short of the efficiency required for such an important requirement for employment, travel and other matters. Clearly, they need to double their efforts as the procedure and the queues for NBI Clearance has become a poster image for government inefficiency notwithstanding the kilometer-long queues for the EDSA-MRT.

We look forward to a lot of things, mostly improvements to basic services that government and private entities owe to people. We do pay for these with our taxes and the fees that we agreed to based on services they have promised to deliver. More often these are expensive fees and thus we expect to get the most out of the hard-earned cash that we turn over as payment to these services. That is only right and fair and what many of us have seen as being delivered with efficiency in other countries. Having lived in Japan and Singapore, we have seen how services can be rendered efficiently and effectively and how such delivery enhances the quality of life in those countries. We are hopeful that we can get that high quality of services from bot government and private companies who are in-charge of utilities and other services.

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Troy: 2004 - 2014

We lost our Troy today. After battling what was suspected to be bone marrow cancer, he finally succumbed after his deteriorating condition forced us to finally let him sleep. He was very dear to us, always providing comfort and laughter every time we were at home. He was a house dog or "dorg" as we referred to him - a play on dog and dork. His favorites were pandesal and bananas though he also liked whatever bread or fruit you gave him. He knew where the pandesal or bread was and would usually take our hands to lead us to the table or the refrigerator and waited for us to reach for the food before he let go of our hands.

He loved to go on walks or runs, being my jogging mate during his younger days when we still resided in a nice village along Marcos Highway. He was always a puppy even in his advanced years. He always snuggled up to us and seemed to know when we were happy, excited, tired or sad, even angry. He had this knack for matching our moods and knowing what to do around us. We liked to call him doctor dog whenever we didn't feel well and he stayed at our side even just to provide company. He would sneak into our bedroom and lie down to sleep beside our bed. Sometimes, he snored so loud that we couldn't help but laugh or giggle. He enjoyed life and he shared his life with us. He had a full life - 10 years and 7 months in human years roughly translate to about 74 dog years. And so it is only right that we give him a fitting farewell...

Troy as we want to remember him - a shiny, happy dorgy!

Farewell Troy! Thank you for all the happiness you shared with us. You will be missed! We know that you are now in dog heaven with Our Creator!

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Guide dog

I've been wanting to upload and post this video on the net for some time now but always tend to forget where I saved the video. It features our two dogs, Troy (a dark chocolate Labrador Retriever) and Barbi (a mainly white Terrier mixed breed). This video was taken a few weeks after we took Barbi in from my in-laws. She was adopted after the Clairvoyant took pity on her for being bullied by her father's four Doberman dogs. The dog just had too many close calls with the Dobies that we decided to take her home where our "first-born" Troy wanted for a playmate. At this time, Barbi was still a little hostile and in survival mode considering her "upbringing" in an environment where the Doberman reigned supreme.

Troy was very helpful in making Barbi feel at home, being already trained (in a way) and familiar with our system. The video shows Troy attempting to guide Barbi by pulling on her leash. This was a routine for Troy when we take him out for walks and it seemed to us that he was demonstrating this to Barbi at the time. They look happy enough as their wagging tails indicate. 

There is another video (a longer one) somewhere that I hope to post soon enough.

"Toilet" training

I woke up from a power-nap this afternoon to hear our black Lab Troy asking to be let out. It turns out that our helper was walking the other dog, a mixed breed named Barbie, and left Troy at home. His turn for his walk would come after Manang returned with Barbie. The "walk," of course meant that aside from the obvious exercise the dogs would be getting from strolling along the linear park along the creek-side at our subdivision, they would be able to poop somewhere at any of the vacant, open lots in the area.

We've trained our dogs for this so that they don't poop or pee inside our house. During rainy days, they have also learned to do their thing in our garage when it is not practical to take them to their usual spots. The usual routine is either or both dogs pointing or scratching the door for them to be let out. When they notice no one's paying attention, they will bark and run in circles. To confirm their intent, one may ask them "out? out?" and they will bark and run in circles in reply. Then you know they want to relieve themselves.

They also know about schedules. They know when it is feeding time in the morning and in the afternoon. And they know that after their afternoon meal comes their time for a walk. Barbie is usually the tricky one as she is usually afraid of anything that resembles explosions or loud noises like thunder or fireworks. Thus, she will refuse to walk and even scamper back home (often pulling at her leash) when thunder cracks even in the distance. Troy doesn't mind any of those distractions. He is fearless, or so it seems. He is only distracted by the other dogs barking at him as he walks to and from the park and passes along several houses with dogs. Troy usually whimpers but it is a friendly whimper as he is a very kind and friendly dog. To those not knowledgeable about dogs, the sight of a 40kg dark chocolate dog seems to invite terror. They do not and cannot immediately recognize the kind features of the dog's face and the mild demeanor that is the trademark of Labs like Troy. Yet our Troy is always at a playful mood, which allows us to determine if he is sick or feeling unwell. And we always start like heck from the house to the park as he thinks it is a game where we run to the park. But always, after doing his thing, he would be more relaxed and he will revert to walking mode. He is easily convinced to jog/run if his handler wishes to do so for exercise or perhaps to rush back home as rain starts to fall.

I write about this as I've noticed a lot of dog owners/handlers in our village walking their pets and allowing the latter to poop just anywhere. This was noticeable to me because when we first moved in to our home, there were few if any poop on the roads. Most pet-owners were responsible enough to take the dogs out to the vacant lots or properly dispose poop according to guidelines circulated by the village association. But with a lot of new homeowners in the village, I guess the association should again distribute guidelines for pet-pooping considering the implications to cleanliness in our area. Despite us living in a middle class neighborhood and the fact that many dogs being walked have breeding (Spitzes, German Shepherds and the popular Huskies among them), a lot of owners really don't know how to handle animals including how to train them to poop at designated places. It is not enough that you take the dog out to do his/her thing. If one allows the dog to poop anywhere, then the owner should be prepared to pick up the poop to dispose of this properly. This is something that I've seen while in Japan and the US that should also be practiced here. It is, after all, in everyone's interest that we be responsible for our pets.

Master sense

As I arrived from the grocery last weekend, our neighbor pointed out that our dogs started barking way before my car pulled into the driveway. I replied that the dogs had the knack for sensing our impending arrival as if they could smell our scent a mile away. This has been validated by our help and my father who at times had to dog-sit for us. The dogs become alerted and bark a certain way and the next thing is our arrival.

Particularly sensitive is our terrier mix Barbie who is always the firs to sense us and starts barking to alert our Lab Troy. Troy would have the big voice that would usually catch the attention of any human. His bark though worse than his bite (Labs being mild-mannered), it always seems that the bark comes from a vicious animal given that he does bark with a loud, whole voice that masks the gentle beast that he really is.

I believe it is one of their ways of recognizing us and welcoming us every time we arrive home. It is something one would look forward to every single day. It is also perhaps something that gives us a feeling of relief after a hard day's work. To me, it is a way to de-stress after a toxic day.