Pets
Bryan on the mend.
Bryan is slowly mending. He came home from the hospital on Friday night all lethargic and quiet. Perhaps he was shocked by the huge bill he’d racked up in six days of hospitalisation. He refused to eat his yummy Orijen fish kibble, so I went to the pet store and bought a few cans of Wellness Simple Food Solutions Salmon & Rice to see if he would be enticed by wet food. Sure enough, he wolfed down half a can and begged for more, so we gave him the rest and he perked up considerably after that. The wet food also makes it easier for us to give him his antibiotics, Vit K pills, iron pills and omeprazole pellets – …
Bryan is sick again.
I realise that I didn’t write about Bryan’s previous episode of sickness,but in a nutshell he was diagnosed as having juvenile onset polyarthritis after developing extreme sensitivity all over his body and walking lamely. He was sent home with a course of steroids, which he finished, but the pain and lameness came back. So we took him back to the vet, who prescribed a second round of stronger steroids over a long period. We thought that solved things, until he developed diarrhoea, lethargy, fever and a lack of appetite last weekend. It was the Labour Day holiday and the vet clinics were not open, so we waited till the next day, a Sunday, to take him to a vet near …
Basic obedience examination.
Bryan had his basic obedience exam today. We were the fifth pair to take the test. He did everything more or less correctly, but got dinged on things like hesitating before he did the automatic sit, and not sitting neatly in front of me on the recall. He also got distracted during the down-stay test and lost marks there. He really could have scored a lot higher than he did. He’s shown that he can do everything perfectly; it’s a question of whether he wants to. Here are some photos that K took of him and me during the exam. I’m toying with the idea of moving up to intermediate class after this, but we have a lot on our …
Saturday Morning Snapshot: Urban dog.
Most dogs in Singapore are apartment dogs and only get to enjoy a romp in the park occasionally. Luckily for Bryan, we have a park right next to our house and he gets to visit it pretty often. I took him this morning after going through his obedience routine. He’s always super hyped-up when we walk up the hill, and sometimes forgets his manners, like when I took this photo of him. His basic obedience exam is tomorrow. He will be tested for heeling on- and off-leash, automatic sit, stand for examination, sit-stay, down-stay and recall. Of these, his biggest problem is stand-for-examination, which Patrick says is quite common. He will stand as long as we tickle his belly but …
