Puppies for Sale

This is probably one of the most heart-breaking decisions we've got to make: selling our adorable puppies. :-'(

Our beautiful Peni became a mother on 23 May 2009 when she whelped a litter of 7 healthy German Shepherd puppies - 3 males and 4 females. All 7 were live births.

Unfortunately, Peni was exhausted when the 6th puppy, Tara was delivered and she didn't attend to the newborn quickly enough. As a result, fluids entered her lungs. The hub and I were helplessly inexperienced and weren't able to apply the right procedure/technique to save her. The hub gave her CPR and managed to revive her after 30 minutes. But it was too little, too late. Tara struggled for 2 days before she passed away.

Thankfully, the vet arrived and attended to the last puppy, Savi.

It's been truly an eye-opening 6 weeks for us. Taking care of newborn puppies is a lot of hard work (and money). All blood, sweat and tears. Literally. Especially now that they bite and zoom in for our ankles, shins and toes. Mine have been regularly bitten, scratched and gnawed at by the playful puppies.

Is it hard work caring for 6 lively puppies? You bet.

During their first 2 weeks, the hub was sleeping downstairs in the living room at night to take care of Peni and the pups. We were afraid she might trample on them, so we only brought them out of their "tub" when they needed to be fed. And like human babies, they fed every 3-4 hours directly from their mother. I helped out a few nights when the hub was exhausted and used the chance to catch up on some reading. (That's how I managed to complete reading the Twilight series in a couple of days).

At about 3 weeks, the puppies finally opened their eyes. And this was roughly about the same time they started teething too. Their appetites increased and we had to supplement with Lactol Puppy Milk because Peni was, by then, beginning to tire of feeding them. And their teeth were getting sharp too.

Now that they're 6 weeks they now eating solid food. We feed them with a mixture of dry pellets and meats, and milk, about 3 times a day. Needless to say, these fast-growing puppies are burning large holes in our pockets. The amount of food they consume is frightful. If we didn't own a pet shop and get food/milk at a discounted price, we'd go broke paying through our noses to maintain their daily diet.

The six puppies are a playful lot and when they're not sleeping, they're fighting and barking their heads off. And the only way to quieten them is to give them some food or treats to chew on. The puppies have been vaccinated and registered with Singapore Kennel Club (SKC) so they've all got names now: Jackson, Megan, Mikey, Layla, Whiskey (who's already been sold) and Savi.

Now we've in the process of selling our lovely puppies. Much as we'd love to keep them, we're not allowed to do so as we already own 2 full-grown German Shepherds in our compound. According to the Law, we're permitted up to a maximum of 3 large breed dogs per registered address. Not to mention the fact that it's very expensive and it requires a lot of work maintaining them.

We are, however, very particular about potential and prospective owners and hope that their future masters would love and care for them as much as we do. So if you do know of any family looking for quality, pedigree German Shepherd dogs (their sire is Jack, SKC GSD champion and Peni herself won competitions), do let us know.

Below are links to the photo albums I created on Facebook:

• Peni Whelps!
• Puppies Days 15 to 17
• Puppies Days 29 to 31
• Puppies Days 48 to 50

If only I could keep them all!

Sigh.

Here are selected pictures of the puppies, my personal favourites. Enjoy!

Jackson and Megan, first and second born

Newborn puppies with ribbons for identification

Drinking from mummy

Huddled in their little tub

All 6 lined up in a row

Wei loves Peni (note the weighing scale in the background to weigh them daily)

The kids give Peni some love and encouragement

Their eyes are finally open!

The hub bottle feeds the pups

Feeding Jackson some formula milk

Playing with mum

Wei watches Peni and the pups

A typical - "after milk" scene

Hiding under the chair

Meal time - milk with pellets

The little prisoner

I believe this is Jackson

Chewing and biting

Play time with "uncle" Arif!

of my favourite photos!

The kids watch as the hub paints nail polish as a source of identification

Xian gives Arif a huge pat for being such a good "uncle" to the puppies

Here's Layla chewing on my slipper!

Meal time madness!

The hub with on the puppies - I think it's Whiskey

Chewing up our rubber hose

Looking forlorn out of their "temporary holding area"

This is definitely Whiskey chewing up hub's slipper

It's time for Mikey's weekly bath!

My guess - Jackson and Megan (I could be wrong!) after their bath

New Skin

Here it is.

A new blogskin. Regretfully, I still can't figure out what's wrong with my Hobbit template despite reloading it back up a few thousand times.

Ah well. Perhaps it's just time for a change.

Hooray for Mummy's Milk!

The world's caught up with the Influenza A (H1N1-2009) bug. It's now a global pandemic. Although the virus appears to be relatively harmless, precautionary measures have been put in place to try and prevent its spread in Singapore.

I've been a tad uneasy about being exposed to the virus because we've got 3 young kids and 2 elderly folks at home. So when the numbers hit over 1,000 and a few cases emerged at the workplace, I got a bit worried.

And then I received an email from Mothercare which made me relax a little:

Click here to read the EDM in detail or visit this website for the write-up:

http://breastfeeding.suite101.com/article.cfm/cdc_advises_breastfeeding_during_h1n1_pandemic

Wouldn't it be amazing if the labs discover that breastmilk *is* the cure for H1N1?

I'm glad I'm still breastfeeding!

The Twilight Series

Vampires. Werewolves. Dragons. Witches. Wizards. Elves. Goblins.

Stuff that nightmares are made of - for some folks. After all, one man's meat is another man's poison.

Not for me though. I'm a sucker for fantasy novels an all things mythical. Perhaps not many people know this, but I've always been fascinated by Gothic creatures, inspired largely by exposure to Gothic Literature during my NUS days.

So no one should be remotely surprised that I lapped up Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series which is all about, well, vampires, humans and the wolves.

I completed reading all four books in slightly over a week. That's an average of one in 2 days.

Did I really enjoy reading the series? Well, yes and no.

The novels were obviously written for teenagers - crushes, love, lust, identity crisis, dates, insecurities etc. I honestly wasn't too intrigued by the simple plot, but was curious about when and how the teenage heroine Bella Swan was going to undergo the transformation from weak, puny human to almost-invincible, powerful immortal. And all for the sake of everlasting love. It's another Romeo and Juliet vehicle with a twist.

The Twilight series spawned the movie which catapulted Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward Cullen, the extraordinarily handsome yet tortured vampire, to fame. (I guess having played the young wizard Cedric Diggory in the fourth Harry Potter movie The Goblet of Fire helped in his preparation for the role in another fantasy film). Naturally, the world now is abuzz with hordes of screaming young girls who're smitten with him.

However, the character in the book I enjoy most is that of Jacob Black: the second-finishing best friend who carries a torch for the heroine. Despite being continuously spurned and toyed with emotionally, the wolf-boy is angsty and fiercely loyal to his loved ones. Plus, I'm also a supporter of the under-dog. (No pun intended).

Although the movie adaptation of Twilight wasn't oscar-winning material, I found it a pleasant experience. Here's the Twilight movie trailer:

And here's the sequel, New Moon. The movie will be released in November 2009:

Looks promising. Having read the books, it's always interesting to watch how the script writers tackle the print-to-screen transition.

Maybe it's just me looking at the academic perspective of things. Especially since I've been hearing talk that I'll be teaching Film in the coming semester or the following one.

The Hobbit Template's Wonky!

For some strange and unknown reason, The Hobbit template that I've been using for this blogspot has gone wonky!

Even after reloading the template, the header picture disappeared. I'm no HTML guru and am illiterate in IT-related programming language, so I guess for now my only option is to change this into a classic, simple template.

*Sigh*

I really do love the The Hobbit template - it's in line with my LOTR theme. Will need to spend some time to figure out what went wrong!

Michael Jackson: Gone Too Soon

By now, many people would have know that the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, died yesterday on 25 June 2009.

He suffered a cardiac arrest and paramedics were unsuccessful in their attempts to revive him.

Such a tragic end to the world's greatest performer and entertainer. The iconic superstar garnered numerous awards and many accoladesfor his music and dance. His signature "moon walk" was unique, and his creativity knew no bounds, especially his music videos.

Despite his waining popularity over the last decade and his infamous child sexual abuse scandals, marriages-of-conveniences and general weird behaviour, MJ still has hordes (millions) of die-hard fans.

Here's a song "Gone Too Soon" which he dedicated to Ryan White, a young boy who was infected with AIDS through blood transfusion. In an ironic twist, these very words would echo the thoughts of every faithful MJ follower.

"Gone Too Soon"

Like A Comet
Blazing 'Cross The Evening Sky
Gone Too Soon

Like A Rainbow
Fading In The Twinkling Of An Eye
Gone Too Soon

Shiny And Sparkly
And Splendidly Bright
Here One Day
Gone One Night

Like The Loss Of Sunlight
On A Cloudy Afternoon
Gone Too Soon

Like A Castle
Built Upon A Sandy Beach
Gone Too Soon

Like A Perfect Flower
That Is Just Beyond Your Reach
Gone Too Soon

Born To Amuse, To Inspire, To Delight
Here One Day
Gone One Night

Like A Sunset
Dying With The Rising Of The Moon
Gone Too Soon

Gone Too Soon

MJ, a million thanks for the music and memories.

Resurrection

Resurrection: the act of rising from the dead.

And that's obviously what what I'm trying achieve here.

Over breakfast with Pooh this morning, she commented that my blog's "dead". And I couldn't agree more.

Work's been hectic. I've got 2 classes running events (as part of the subject requirements and assessment) and both have met with hiccups with the clients, event planning, programmes and disputes amongst themselves. Although I'm supposed to deal approach the situations with a "hand-off-let-the-kids-learn-the-hard-way" attitude, it's not in me to just completely let go. After all, I can't watch them fumble and tumble through the entire experience without offering some assistance, can I?

I do empathise with the kids as they need to juggle other subjects while working to plan, organise and run their respective events. it's a steep learning curve and to be fair to many of them who've put in loads of effort, they are doing as well as to be expected of students without the necessary working experience and exposure to the business world.

They all remind me of my own struggles when I first stepped into the corporate world over a decade ago, fresh from studies, brimming with ideas and bursting with boundless energy. And I remember how quickly my flames of enthusiasm were doused after getting hit repeatedly by what I perceived then as inept supervisors who weren't receptive towards new initiatives and resistant towards change.

In fact, it took me a few years to resolve my battles of frustration over these old-fashioned and regimented processes. But it was only when I was provided the opportunity to move up to a management level that I realised my folly in the early years.

Nonetheless, those beginning years were crucial in forming and shaping up my career, and I benefited greatly from all the different supervisors and bosses (the good, bad, ugly) who influenced me in many aspects.

I believe such life experiences can't be sought from textbooks and no amount of academic research can prepare anyone to face the challenges of the working world. I reckon that the most important lessons will come from The School of Hard Knocks.

On the home front, we celebrated many birthdays over the last few months, including the birth of Peni's beautiful puppies. But that's for another entry.

Ah.

I had almost forgotten how I loved writing.

Alas, work cruelly beckons.

I'm alive

I didn't suffer a writer's draught for the past two months. I've just been extremely busy.

Needed to get my priorities straightened out and much as I wanted to blog an entry (I've loads to update), my work and home responsibilities prevented me from doing so.

Just for the record, I still have a backlog of stuff to clear, so this is really just a quick note to signal my blogshpere existence.

Now that it's done, it's back to the grind. :(