Pinoy Dog-Lover

So, it’s a new year again!

I was supposed to add a photo of the doggies in this post, but they don’t seem to be in the mood for pictorials today. Firecrackers are scaring them! (As early as now, we can already hear some firecrackers and fireworks in the distance).

It’s been a long human tradition to celebrate the coming of New Year with a bang (or rather, loud bangs) — doing so is believed to ward of evil spirits and bad luck. Well, that’s for us humans, but for dogs, it’s an entirely different story. A dog’s hearing is much more sensitive than ours — imagine how loud the firecrackers can get for them.

It might be a good idea to keep the dogs inside the house once the celebrations start, making them feel “safer.” If that’s not possible, cover their house with a cloth or anything that can muffle the noise. Our bigger dogs usually roam the yard, but on New Year’s Eve, my dad always makes it a point to let them in the covered laundry area. We can’t really let them in the other parts of the house, as we already have other dogs in there and doing so might result to a doggy war for territory. Our “inside dogs” don’t really go to the laundry area, so that’s where our bigger dogs go before the loud bangs of New Year’s Eve begin.

It also won’t hurt to give your canine friend a comforting hug to make them feel safer I certainly plan to do that later… All of our doggies will receive a comforting hug tonight!

Happy New Year everyone! And stay safe!!!

Ever since I got back from my trip in Batanes, I’ve been sick on and off lately. My back got wet during the crazy long boat ride when we hopped from one island to another—that’s probably why I got colds after. And because of stress, my long-dormant asthma started acting up again

But thanks to my younger sister Joyce, we were able to continue Shantee’s FURminator regimen. She started Shantee with the FURminator deShedding Dog Treats (separate post on this soon, Shantee simply adores the treats!), and began using the deShedding Shampoo and deShedding Solution in place of her usual Alpo 2-in-1 Shampoo and Conditioner for her weekly baths. (more…)

I was in for a pleasant surprise when I got home from my Batanes trip last Tuesday (well, of course, other than Shantee welcoming me and my husband with lots and lots of dog kisses). The FURminator products have arrived! Yay!

Shantee and I were given a complete FURminator deShedding kit for review: FURminator deShedding Tool, deShedding Shampoo, deShedding Solution, Waterless deShedding Shampoo and Conditioner, and deShedding Dog Treats. (more…)

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure we have all heard of—it has saved countless human lives from cardiac or respiratory arrest. But did you know that pets can be saved through CPR too? The question is, would you know how to administer pet CPR if something happens (God forbid) to your fur-baby that will require you to do so?

I was lucky to stumble upon a forwarded message from the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) mailing list regarding pet CPR and the basic steps on how to administer it. The instructions seemed to have been forwarded from a certain Dr. Andrew Jones’ email message. (more…)

Recently, I signed up on Philippine Animal Welfare Society’s (PAWS) mailing list. I’m planning a personal project with the help of a few dog-loving bloggers that would benefit them (we want to help out in their drive to provide food and shelter for poor animals needing care), so I thought it might be a good idea to stay up-to-date with the group’s latest activities.

My family has been quite busy moving things to our new home (we’re sleeping there soon! Yay!), so unfortunately, I wasn’t able to blog this sooner. I just hope it’s not too late.

A few days ago, I received an email in the mailing list from Nice Rodriguez telling us about Rene Jose’s show which talked about CARA’s catch/spay/release program for cats and dogs. (more…)

Although there are a lot of public service announcements and reminders on TV about the use of fireworks this coming New Year’s Eve, a lot of Filipinos still insist on keeping up with the tradition of welcoming the new year with a bang. Even our family does—at least just this year—since this is going to be the last new year celebration we’ll have in our house. We’re moving, remember?

Fireworks are pretty, and LOUD. And they have to be, since tradition says that the loud noise will scare away evil spirits and bad luck for a prosperous New Year. But the thing is, loud noise not only scare evil spirits and bad luck, but our canine friends as well.

Dogs are a whole lot more sensitive than us humans. A loud bang from a labintador may be tolerable noise for us, but for dogs, that’s like the beginning of World War III. For them, the noise is magnified—you can just imagine how scary it is for our pets come New Year’s Eve. (more…)

I’ll have to admit that I haven’t been blogging much about my dogs lately. Sheero’s been sick, and I just didn’t have the heart to write about them

Marc, my husband, and I normally bring our dogs to Animal House for check-ups and x-rays. My dad prefers the University of the Philippines Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital at Diliman, Quezon City for our dogs, but I guess we usually had somewhere else to go to after every vet visit that we’ve never really brought Sheero there. But last Wednesday and Thursday, we had nothing else to do but bring her. And frankly, we didn’t have much of a budget at the moment, so we really had no choice but to settle for a government-owned vet hospital.

Apparently, we made the right decision. Not only was UP Vet Med cheap (consultation is just Php100, approximately $2), but you’d be able to see that the vets are genuinely concerned about the animals. The fact that Marc and I are avid House MD (an American TV show) fans just adds a bit more fun to the experience—you see, the setting of the medical-inspired show was a teaching hospital as well. Lucky for us (and Sheero) that our vet wasn’t like Dr. House! (more…)

My dogs don’t like taking baths. Or rather, Sheero hates taking baths. Look how pissed she was at me:

Choknat wasn’t too happy about the bath either, but I guess he missed hanging out with me so much that he didn’t seem to mind at all:

Harry… Well, I really wouldn’t know if Harry didn’t like it. He didn’t complain, and he was back to his usual happy self even after the bath:

You can imagine how tiring it can be for me during my pets’ bath time. Luckily, my dad doesn’t require me to give our other 10 dogs baths, or I’d probably drop dead in exhaustion!

I think it wouldn’t come as a surprise if I say that Sheero is a spoiled dog. She’s famous in the Philippine blogosphere for a dog in her own right (well, in my opinion at least!), and anybody who met her has seen how Marc and I pamper her with attention (she was even a bit miffed when the BoB gang ignored her during a podcast session at our house. Anyway, being a “home dog,” Sheero really enjoys taking walks and going out. She’s very sociable, you know.

Sheero night-jogging at the Ateneo de Manila University campus

Except for a recent trip to Marc’s family’s house in Marikina last month, Sheero hadn’t been able to go out much. I’ve been very busy with design work ever since my husband resigned from his call center “day” job. Today was a very rare instance: I was actually awake in the morning. With all the work I needed to do for the day, I decided to take a walk going to a nearby store to get me some liver spread and corned beef before I tackled the pile of work ahead of me.

I took Sheero along. As I have said, it’s been a while since she had a walk (she usually just ran around our garden for exercise). Here are some things I’d like to share with you when walking a spoiled brat of a dog…

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