Looking at the title, what are the things that u think i'd hate most?
The picking of shit?
The sweat and time spent?
The fact that im not paid?
Or the bruises and wounds inflicted?
"what do u exactly hate?"
Pic credited to hongwee
None of the above.
I hate the part when we had to bid goodbye to the dogs, especially those that we have developed feelings for and been with us for quite sometime.
When meimei, yenyen and nicole were said to go for fostering/home stay, my heart sank.
And this session, the greatest and saddest news i received was that Tui have a very high chance of being adopted by an indian family.
Tui, seeing yenyen outside wants to go out too..
Even Nicole felt left out when the others were outside, she keep pacing up and down.
You know, even thou there are sooooo many dogs in the shelter, he is,
and will always be my number1 boyfriend there.
The bond that we've built together, like when i call out to him, he will come over and snuggle beside me, the time when i can just go back to shelter during holidays and just sit in the kennel beside him, stroking his fat body, the times when i taught him how to sit and paw, the time when he allow me to give him belly rub even thou he had nv lie on his back before (as far as I have been there), and the trust i had in him when i put my face right infront of his and he will not hurt me...
I dont know if how many of you had found the special one in the kennel, some may have 2 or 3 favourites, some have none. And even thou logically, I should be the happiest person because he had found a good home, and that he does not have to slp on the cold concrete floor anymore, there will always be a selfish part of me hoping that he will remained 'mine'.
There are so many more occassions which I want to spend with him :(( but all these will not happen if the adoption is successful.
Sighh. ya, so this is the part which i hate most about volunteering. U love them so much, but u cant have them all by yourself and let them stay by urside. Worse is, the chances of seeing them ever again is very very slim:( you dunno what kind of life they will lead in the future, and you wonder if they will remember you.. Sighh..
Crap. enuf of emo-ness.
I guess volunteering here also teaches me to be strong emotionally, and that I should see things from a different angle. Well, Im still learning.
Some pic to lighten the atmosphere here:
A uber cute pic taken by hongwee, Look at fatty yenyen, she seldom does that...
And when she does, its sooo cute.. I bet she cant even see the dogs opposite.
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Last Sat:
We had our first ever proper dog training lesson conducted by Paris lynne's dog trainer- Fred.
A reward-based trainer whom focuses on positive training methods.
He heard about Guinness's case and was interested to share/teach us some pointers.
Thank was very nice of him. Everyone was excited about the training session and the theme for the day was BLUE.
And we look like smurfs.
It started at 830am and i think everyone is zombiefied.
Spot me :P
Can I pass off as yuanzhi's class mate?
Professional photographer bert took the pics from different angles sia..
The whole session was rather interesting and time past very fast without us realising. He started out asking who are the fans of Cesar, and everyone raised up our hands. LOL.
As Fred said, we might have heard of some of the theories, and if we havent, its up to us if we want to accept and believe in it or not. And also alot of classical conditioning, operant conditioning....
When I was there, my brain keep working non-stop while he talks, I was imagining how I can apply the theories to our situation, and also reflecting on the things that I have done, and shouldnt do. Woah, it sure kills more brain cells than me attending school lessons.
Some things that are worth thinking and reflecting:
Dogs learnt through association
With regards to the saying "Dogs dont live in the past, they live in the present and future".
Fred had his arguments to it - Dogs DO live in the past, because its their past that makes them who they are now, E.g. If they were abused previously, they became weary and fearful of humans. Same goes for the problem of food aggression as the dog may had a tough time fighting for food with the rest of the pack before it was rescued. Minghui and I had came up with the interpretation of the sentence:
*Quoted from Minghui one hor* ahem,
Animals dont live in the past, they dont live in the future too.
Dont live in future = They dont plan what to eat tommorow, go where and chill or play what kind of games.
Dont live in past = they wont think "i used to be cute and chubby last time, now im lanky and my coats look terrible" or "last time my owner used to buy me XXX treats, I wished that i have owners like that now"
The dogs have their past, and their past brings them to the present, but they dont go back and reminiscence about it.
And my point of view? - Dogs do remember their past e.g. abused cases etc, but we humans need to step up, look forward so as to brin them out of the current situation and stop dwelling on their past. If we cant move on and keep pitying them, finding excuses for all their aggression problems etc, they can never move on.
Being a packleader, those who are Cesar's fan will be familiar until rot of this pack leader theory. I have been trained to think in that way too. Some points that Fred brought up is that sometimes, we cannot always think in the perspective of a pack leader. E.g. When we go for a walk, should we let the dogs pee and smell as and when they like? I used to think: Im the pack leader so if I say no, you cannot smell, thus i will pull the dog away. But should that really be the way? They rarely get to come out for walk, so perhaps we can loosen up our rules and let them smell the grass? Not excessively thou, if not we will never reach our destination.
Another thing that enlightened me, and might enlighten you too:
Did your dog ever fail you when you command it to do certain tricks? E.g. You have taught it how to paw and sit, and you try it from a distance say, across the room and the dog refuse to do it. Then, you get fustrated thinking that: "Wah lao,I taught you so many times already! Why I infront of you, you do, den across the room you never do."
You know why? Because the dog learn by forming picture. So when you taught it to paw, it listened to the command and capture the picture of you infront, so if one part of it is missing, most likely it wont follow the command. Which equates to the fact that,the dog DID NOT LEARN to sit and paw when you are across the room. So, before you blame your dog for being stupid or disobedient, think twice.
Does your dog barks at people who walk past your corridoor? Sometimes the humans might unknowingly be the cause of the problem. E.g. The first time this new neighbour walk past your door and saw your dog, he look down (direct eye contact to a unfamiliar dog is a form of challenge and threaten) and think "what a cute dog" without any expression. The dog? Wth, is this guy trying to challenge me? 2nd time he walk past, and he look again, the dog? Wtf this guy really want to challenge me !, 3rd time? The dog buay lun already, so it growl or give a quick bark. The guy will cua tio and faster walk away. The guy just want to go home!!
4th time? The dog learnt that by barking, it can chase its "enemy" away, so everytime the guy walk past, it barks. The more/faster the guy moves out of its sight, the more he is encouraging that behavior.
Lastly, he taught us the method for pack walk, we dont pop nor thug the leash when the dog pulls, instead, we will just remain rooted to the same spot, once the dog gave in and comes closer, then we proceed. This is the same theory minghui taught when we are at the pool. It is applicable during swimming lessons as the distance is very short, we can practice it one by one, but its hard for packwalk. By the time everyone finish practicing it, it will be 2-3 pm... Lol. Needa modify that.
Richard, aka merman, why your hair so cute one! HAHAHAHA
Many theories and methods are applicable case to case basis so we gotta play by ears.
Only a few dogs went out for walk. We were walking to Halus halfway and then U-turned back to Pet Movers.
Marvin's current fav, fat jack. "Jack or Giant, lets just settle for Jack"
yen, u really need to slim down in order to get adopted into HDB
Bah geh aka Kaeyan's first time out with us!
Chilled there like a normal day and yea. Ended quite early.
My lovely smurfs
Mudd says: Hi Five!
The care free live they get to enjoy once or twice a week, how long more can this go on?
Jac with my Bf
A super nice shot takem by me. Jac and Tui and his 小鸡鸡。
Toto, special guest of the day. The Demo Dog.
Guinness acting sweet..
huiyi why are u crying.. dont so sad, i know its sad that they are gonna get adopted.. haha
Look at tui's face, as if he is gonna snap on peanut any time to fight for the food.
"go away before i erupt"
Our shit god
Yuanzhi xiaomeimei playing with toto
Realising our dreams..
Eh No! MINGHUI DID SOMETHING DAMN EVIL.
While Charis was bringing my bf and gang out for the potential adopters to view, and i was emo-ing focusing on them, she stand behind me and say: No reaction leh..
I was thinking: huh? no reaction? U mean i nv react to charis?
Den she took out her golden weapon again and swipe against my neck!!!Q$Q#$%#%%&%^&%^*
This picture, you dont see it like very normal. its actually very funny.
Look at her eyes: like zoning out in deep thoughts, with a little bit of hatred.
Her arms in a weird, manly position
and HER HANDS...MUST BE PLAYING WITH RANDOM GRASS...
Tsk.
No prize for guessing what she used.
PEACOCK FEATHERS FOR GODSAKE.
BLOODYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY DISGUSTING!!
Although i was 10-15 seconds late, I screamed and ran around like a ah siao! It left me with phobia and ZERO trust with her standing beside me, even when we are walking back, the minute she put her hands near her pouch, i'd twitch and look at her with suspicion.
Minghui, i hate you. You look super happy and satisfied when u saw my reaction.
You go eat shit. Haha, one day i will take my revenge!!!
The behind really nth much to write liao, so dont blame me for ending adruptly.
My fingers are cramping soon.
Merman and Mermaid...
Dreams do come through..(photoshop credit to weijie)
Good night!
