For the love of a dog

In the midst of tragic news of hurricanes, floods, tainted milk and collapse of giant financial institutions, it is heartening to read some good news. The Star, a local Malaysian paper, published this article "Meet spunky Snoopy, the handicapped dog in a wheelchair" yesterday on the third page (I suppose the editors thought we all needed to be cheered up).

Snoopy, a terrier mix was injured in an accident when he was a puppy and was brought to a vet. He was still able to walk but had a stiff hind leg. Snoopy stayed at the vet clinic for 4 years before Marjan Sipsma adopted him. Marjan, a dog lover has four other dogs.

Spinal complications later resulted in Snoopy being unable to walk. Marjan was determined to give Snoopy a chance to live life fully. She ordered a squad car wheelchair (RM1500, approximately USD500) and shoes (RM150, approximately USD50) from America for Snoopy . The plucky dog is now able to walk with aid of the wheelchair, thanks to his human who loved him unconditionally. In fact, he even charged at another dog who started charging at Snoopy and his siblings. (read about this amusing tale in the article). Marjan said "I don’t quite know how dogs think, but to Snoopy, I think he believes he’s still alpha male. I don’t think he knows he’s paralysed,”

What an encouraging story. A little dog who overcomes his limitations, with help from his human who refused to give up!

I Love Your Blog

It really is awards season! 2 in a row. My biggest human fan, Uncle Bok Jae, who has a soft spot for dogs, has told me that He Loves My Blog! Isn't he a sweetie? I love his blog too (and I'm not saying it just because he has given me this award). He always has a nugget of wisdom, (he has many, many years of human experience), a word of encouragement and heartfelt sharing on his blog called Listening, Learning Living.

Naturally,every award has its rules:

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The rules of the award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.

2. Link the person you received your award from.

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

4. Put links of those blogs on yours.

5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you have nominated.

Previous awardees: Mabelle, Prily, Ate Norma, I Love Philippines Too, Shenga, Nova, WebbieStuffs, Nancy, Webloglearner, Pinay Wahm, and My So Called Life, Let's Spice Things Up, Beauty and Shop, Idealpinkrose, allin, kimchiland, Korean Food, The Paper Vision, Embrace Simplicity, Me and Mine, A Window To Our World, A Grateful Heart, Can of Thoughts, A Mother's Stuff, http://housewifeatwork.blogspot.com/, MommyAllehs Up-Close and Personal, Glossa~licious, The Spirit of Blogging, Help my novel save the world..., A Great Pleasure, Listening, Learning, Living, Brittany E; ECL; Emmaalvarez; Kess; Clonic; Rainbow; Azly Rahman; Wahseh; Wokkingmom; Tricia's Musings; The Insane Writer.

ADD YOUR LINKS HERE.
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Whose blogs do I love?

1. Amber Mae and her talented sisters, Chloe and Faith


2. Key West Collies


3. Happy


4. Cocoa & Barley


5. George


6. Jazz & Dixie


7. Pacco

Its Awards Season

My dear friend, Uncle Bok Jae has given me another award. I am honoured that he thinks I'm a "Kick Ass Blogger". I've had such an awesome time since I started blogging on 27 March 08. Now, 71 posts later, I've made so many new on-line friends from all over the world. Isn't blogging amazing?

The award rules are simple:

Choose 5 bloggers that you feel are "Kick Ass Bloggers"
Let 'em know in your post or via email, twitter or blog comments that they've received an award Share the love and link back to both the person who awarded you and back to http://www.mammadawg.com/

I want to pass this award to my fellow "Kick Ass Bloggers"...

• Oorvi
• Thor
• Maggie & Mitch
• Mr T-Bone Beasley
• Biggie-Z

Congratulations!

Kitty on our roof...

Our back alley is littered with stray cats, literally! They love to walk on the ledge of our back garden walls and occasionally, even dare to spend the night in our back garden! Grr...Don't they know there is a dog in this house??? Despite my loud bark warnings, they continue to taunt me from the their place on the ledge. I get so upset!

Last Sunday, one kitty found its way up to the airwell on our roof. The silly thing couldn't get out. It was bad enough when they were loitering in the back garden wall, now, a cat is in my house? That's it! I've had enough. Time to call in for reinforcement! I would have loved to call my neighbourhood doggie pals but mum vetoed that suggestion as all it would have done was cause a din. Instead, she called the fire department! And to add salt to the injury, she wouldn't allow me stay at home whilst the kitty removal took place! I was banished to Aunty C's home next door. My hurt feelings were soothed a little by the treats that Aunty C gave me...only a little. I was still upset that I couldn't be there to tell the kitty off and show it "who's the boss!".

I had to spend a couple of hours at Aunty C's home. Mum had to clean the floor with disinfectant as the frightened kitty left a trail of poo during the rescue (Mum was not happy!). Then she called the pest control to fumigate the roof against fleas and ticks. One of our neighbour's home was infested with fleas when a cat gave birth to kittens on their roof (why are cats so fascinated with roofs?), so mum didn't want to take the risk. More than half a day was wasted dealing with the kitty problem. Another problem we have with stray cats is the prolific multiplication of these cats who rummage through rubbish bins, cause a mess and poo indiscriminately in other people's houses! Now you know why I'm upset!

P.S. If you want to read mum's account of the story, read her blog.

How to say "Thank you". The tally is now 21!

Hi everyone,

Thanks for sharing how to say "Thank You" in other languages. The tally is now 21!

You may have noticed the captions under my awards section. The beautiful aspect about living in a multi-cultural society is that a lot of Malaysians are multi-lingual. My humans can speak English (international language), Bahasa Malaysia (national language) and Cantonese (Chinese dialect - mother tongue). They also picked up some basic Thai language when they lived in Bangkok. I only speak doggie and sign language, but my humans understand what my barks, whines, facial expressions and gestures mean.

Well, in case you're wondering what some of the words in the captions mean, I thought I'll give you some quick lessons on how to say "Thank You" in...

From Kess' Mama:
1) Bahasa Malaysia - Terima Kasih
2) Mandarin - Sieh Sieh
3) Cantonese - Toh Che
4) Thai - Kop Khun Kah (if you're a female) and Kop Khun Kap (if you're a male)
From Oorvi:
5) Urdu - Shukriya
6) Hindi -Dhanyawad
From Georgeous George Headley:
7) Italian - Grazie
8) Greek - Efkhareesto
From Thor:
9) Brazilian - Obrigada (if you're a girl) and Obrigado (if you're a boy)
From Sweet Jasmine:
10) Hokkien (another Chinese dialect) - Kam Siah Lu
From Amber Mae & River:
11) German - Danke
From Key West Collies:
12)Korean (Hangul) - Kamsahapnida
13) Hungarian (Magyar) - Köszönöm
14) Czech - Dĕkuju
From Maggie and Mitch:
15) French - Merci
From River:
16) Russian - Spasibo
From Lorenza:
17) Spanish - Gracias
From Happy & LS:
18) Japanese - Domo Arigato
19) Doggie - Wet licks (All dogs can relate to that!)
From Booker:
20) Northern England - Ta (Kess: Mum remembers this short form for "Thanks" fondly from her university days in Australia as the Aussies use this too.)
From CC:
21) Maori (New Zealand) - Tēnā rāwā atu koe

The dreaded visit...with a happy ending!

"Kess, it's time to go for a car ride" mum said one sunny Saturday afternoon. My ears perked up. My tail did a boogie woo "left-to-right-and-back-again" wag. I rushed to grab my leash from the top of the shoe cabinet. Car rides are on my list of favourite "To Dos"! Little did I know...

It was actually the car ride to X@#*! (This is a child-friendly blog after all). We were going to the VET! Aargh...It's every doggie's nightmare (I know coz I've read your blogs). Apparently, it was time for my annual check-up and vaccination, which is actually top of my"Don't Do" list, but do my humans take that into account? No, of course not! They say it's for my own good. Huh? How does having a vet prod my anatonomy, peer into my ears and mouth, put me on a weighing scale (I don't need a vet telling me I'm fat!) and stick a needle on my butt helpful?

But, no amount of pleading eyes and whining could change their minds. They say that the vet needs to examine me to make sure I'm in good health. In fact, after my last check up, the vet recommended that I take glucosamine because of my weak hind leg (my humans reckon it's from all the climbing and jumping off fences when I pretended to be Houdini, the famous escape artist...If you're new to my blog, read about my escapades and adventures).

Well, I wasn't about to cooperate with the vet. Plus I really detest the slippery metal table they put me on!. So I struggle to get off...

After a long while, I got tired and succumbed to the vet's stethoscope. Kess - 0, Vet -1.

Check out the size of the needle! And I got jabbed twice - once for the core vaccination and once for heartworm. Kess - 0; Vet - 2.Heartworm disease, which is carried by mosquitoes can cause serious harm to the heart, lungs and other vital organs of dogs. If untreated, heartworm disease can result in death. Read more about it on American Veterinary Medical Association's ("AVMA") and American Heartworm Society's websites. Pretty serious! However, I much preferred when my humans fed me the Heartgard tablets every month. But since mum and dad suffer from bouts of forgetfulness, they opted for the annual injection to minimise the risk. The AVMA website also has a section of vaccination, if you're interested to read up about it.

After the trauma of the slippery table and needles, mum gave me some treats to make up for my suffering! Sigh...bribery works all the time with me. Finally, dad lifts me off the table and I could just kiss the floor! Suddenly, a strange dog comes bounding into the examination room through the back door. Now mind you, I was already traumatised at this point, so I wasn't my usual friendly, docile self. I growled at this strange canine and my humans had to quickly remove the newcomer before things got ugly.

I was more than happy to say goodbye to the vet and left the room before my humans changed their minds and decided to have a 2nd session with the vet. Out at the waiting room, I saw the new dog again. By now, I was back to my normal self. After taking turns butt-sniffing, I became pals with QQ, a beautiful retriever. Unlike me, QQ was very excited to see the vet (so much so she couldn't wait for her turn and sneaked into the examination room before her turn!)

Anyway, both QQ's and my humans were glad that we became friends.
So, there was a happy ending after all! I gained a new friend.

Better late than never...

Cocoa gave me this award last month (Thanks Cocoa!). But, with all the excitement of the New York trip, I haven't had the chance to put this up. So, this is a month late, but better late than never.

Here are the rules to this award:

1) Add the logo of the award to your blog

2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you

3) Nominate 7 other blogs

4) Add links to those blogs on your blog

5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs

As most of you already have this award (this is what happens when I procrastinate...), I'm going to nominate:

1. Dory

2. Gus

3. Fei

4. Ben Ben

5. The Stoutino Inn & Foster Kennel