Another bed-sharing moment

Although Bido and Woofy look rather worried. I wonder what's up?

I guess Bido thinks he is going to have to suffer a bath while Woofy is just being Woofy when food is not involved...

Another Sai-Lup Video

There you go!

Caption time!

Why don't we all try to caption this??



We were out in the morning and Menina just sat down there on the pavement and watched the world go by.

Or perhaps she was checking the handsome Golden Retriever that had just arrived out. Haha!

Video!

Sai Lup was enjoying himself during dinner... yes he was!

It looks yummy!

This is quite an interesting angle!



But just what is Bido licking his lips at? And just what is Sai-Lup looking at? Both seem quite intent with looking at the things they are looking staring at!

Picky eater

Menina has been a picky eater lately!



The human girl has to sit right next to Menina so that she would eat something, and FINALLY there she had finished her plate of food!

Someone has a new haircut

The other human girl too Bido to work and gave him a haircut.

A shave, really...

Notice his new lion's tail!

However, with this shave, we could see that he has some skin issues and will probably have to get that taken care of soon. Hm...

Book Rec - No Place Like Home

No Place Like Home
Pen Farthing
Amazon Product Link

Book Description

'Nowzad was a gentle giant when it came to taking treats. He never, ever snatched. To me it was just further evidence that, deep inside, there was a great dog struggling to find his way out'

When Pen Farthing brings stray dogs Nowzad and Tali back from his tour of Afghanistan, little does he know what he has begun.

Suddenly he has four dogs to look after - two of whom have never been house-trained. And soon he is inundated with requests from other Marines and soldiers to help bring their rescued dogs home. Whether it's little Helmand, Fubar or Beardog, Pen does his utmost to give these dogs the chance they deserve.

No Place like Home is the true story of one man's courage and persistence as he struggles to give his dogs at home, and those still in Afghanistan, the best possible chance. It will warm - and break - the hearts of dog lovers everywhere.

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I think I finished this in a 48-hour span?

This second book by Pen Farthing comes after One Dog At A Time, and this is about Farthing's life back in England, with the four dogs he has. That, and juggling his time between dog duty, dog training duty, work duty, and his charity duty.

I sympathized with Farthing on all his Nowzad (the dog) woes, but at the same time, and feel like saying "I'm dealing with a similar dog", (despite the fact that my "nightmare" dog is probably half or a third of the size of Nowzad, and is a local dog)... My nightmare dog is an angel most of the times, doesn't snatch food, doesn't fight, but let him see a dog while he is on the leash, or let him see a dog or another person when he is inside the car, then he goes ballistic. But I digress.

However, this time around the book felt a little slow compared to the first book. Perhaps it is because of his relatively "civilian" life in this second book, that it didn't feel as exciting? In the first book, his "missions" at his base were a novelty and thus fun to read about, I guess...

The Kindle formatting looks good as well. I read the first book as a paper book, and the second as a Kindle book, and I'm glad to say that the Kindle format looks good too.

Farthing runs his own charity. Nowzad Dogs.

Good eyesight

This is how our daily walks happen:

• Human girl wakes up at 6.30
• Human girl takes shower and gets changed
• Human girl wakes her Dad up at 7
• Dad gets changed while Human girl gets the leashes on us
• We file out of the building and hop into the car
• The car is a Toyota Echo Verso (Toyota Yaris Verso in some countries), with the back seats stowed away, so it is like a small minivan
• During the 5-minute car ride, we will try to make as much noise as possible, howling at the sight of other dogs, birds, and people that we don't like the look of
• We reach our fields, and we have our walk
• We hop back into the car and make another 5-minute drive home

Sai-Lup is very attentive of his surroundings and has claimed the backboard as his "throne" in the car. He can look out at all directions (almost) and he is king when up there.

Book-rec: One Dog at a Time

One Dog at a Time
Pen Farthing
Amazon Product Link

Book Description

In a remote outpost of Now Zad, in Helmand Province, Pen Farthing and his troup of young Royal Marines survive frequent engagements with the Taliban and forge links with the local community. Pen's tour of duty will change his life forever, but for entirely unexpected reasons ...Appalled by the horrors of a local dog fight, he intervenes to free the victims. One of these dogs finds his way into the Marine compound - and into Pen's heart. Soon other strays are being drawn to the santuary provided by Pen's makeshift pound, including one young mum who crawls under the compound fence carrying her newborn pups to safety. But as his tour of duty draws to an end, Pen cannot leave the dogs of Now Zad to their own fates. he begins hatching plans to help them escape to a better life. This is Pen's gripping account of his time in Now Zad, the friends he made there and the remarkable journey they - and he - undertook. Above all, it is the story of one man's courage and humanity and his fight to make a difference in the most hostile and dangerous environment - one dog at a time.

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This is the last of my dog-books (real physical books) that I bought last year in a sudden dog-frenzy. Finally got around to reading this. This book was a lot easier to read, compared to From Baghdad, With Love. 

I guess these books are pretty standard. Soldier gets posted in the middle of war-torn nowhere. Soldier befriends dog, or dog befriends soldier. Mutual good feelings. Soldier can't think of abandoning dog. 

This is basically the whole premise of this book. Only that, there's more to this basic story. Somehow, various other dogs know of this safe "haven" and try to move into this "Kennel" of sorts in this one base. So much so that, a new mommydog actually squeezed her puppies through the fence into the base.

The book tells of how Farthing spends his days taking care of the dogs, building the runs, serving food (as a stand-in chef), how the base celebrated Christmas... and his attempts at sending the dogs to a rescue in Kandaar so that they can be later be adopted elsewhere.

While the ending is considered "happy", there are some sore spots. I fell in love with Dushka immediately, but her end felt really... unfair. Patches must have been frightened seeing that (we don't know if s/he did though). RPG and AK are two mysteries as well... It is just so sad to hear that not all dogs made it to the rescue.

 Definitely recommended. I liked this book so much that I already bought the second book (Kindle Format)

Farthing now has his own charity. Nowzad Dogs.

Washing day

Yesterday... we got our regular morning walk! Bido made a face though!



And for some reason, the Human girl decided to give us all a bath! Not just that! But, since there are some of us that do not like the blow-dryer... she just kicked us out to the balcony to stay under the sun!



Anyway, while the girl was out she saw a random dog and snapped a pretty artsy photo. We let her post it here too!



So... we'll just be sleeping on...

Dedication

Today it's the kat speaking (the Human Girl)



I was sitting out in a public area today and saw this old lady bringing her dogs out to soak up a bit of sunshine. She was sitting on a bench already before me, when I walked past, saw her and the dogs, went along to Starbucks, got myself a GTL, and went back to that public area... and the old lady was still sitting there with her two dogs. One was sitting under the bench (perhaps it was too hot for that dog?) whereas the other one was soaking up the sun and watching the world go by.

Eventually, the old lady started to unravel the leashes and untie them from the bench. She spent a good 15 minutes doing that. Finally, she untied the dogs, stood up and made her slow way back home.

I, a stranger to the old lady, am of the opinion that she is most probably very old, and that she has her own health problems. She walks with a limp, crooked back. Yet, she still has the dedication to take her dogs out for a bit of a sunbathing. I was deeply touched when I saw this and saw myself thirty, forty, fifty years from now. I will live with dogs, and unless my health disallows it, I will live with dogs.

My one and only concern would be dying at home alone, nobody knowing about it, then the dogs starve... or due to any accident or death that my babies will then suffer.

That old lady has a lot of dedication for her dogs, and I admire her for that.

Atrocity!

The human girl has been busy... that she forgot to post ANYTHING!



What is a dog to do!? I cannot imagine!

That cannot happen again!



However, they did make time to take us out to the hills again. See that! No dog-pooh-ing! I don't really get why they need a sign to say no guns, though. It's weird.



Spot Menina in the window? That's us on the way home :D