Thursday, December 31, 2009

Dog hotels in Penang busier during holiday season

It isn’t just the hotels on the island that are packed for the holidays – even boarding houses for our furry four-legged friends are fully booked.

One of the few pet shops that provide boarding service, Sugar Rae Pet Village in Tanjung Bungah, has been fully occupied for most of the holiday season.

Its owner, who wished to be known only as Aunty Kim, said most of her customers were regulars.

“I have kennels of different sizes and the pets are kept here for a few days to a few months.

Holiday home: Chuah putting a pet dog into a stainless steel cage at her shop in Tanjung Tokong

“The holiday season is always busier as pet owners go on long holidays.

“We are even fully booked for Chinese New Year. We’ll be closed for a week during the time, but owners can pick up their pets,” she said.

Aunty Kim lets out the dogs separately three times a day to run around the compound or swim in the mini pool.

She said some owners did not mind bringing their own cage when all kennels were taken.

Another pet shop owner, Celyn Chuah of Wonderland II in Tanjung Tokong, said her boarding service was mostly booked for the holiday season, too.

“Other than dogs, we take in cats. We have nine kennels and 30 stainless steel cages,” she said.

Chuah said her customers have also started to make bookings for Chinese New Year.

Source:www.thestar.com.my by Winnie Yeoh

Happy New Year!

Cheers!
Dorothy Loong
www.DogMillion.com

Thursday, November 05, 2009

How to stop dog bark immediately

In this guide I'm going to teach you how to stop your dog from barking. There are several reasons why your dog could be barking. The first step you'll need to take is to distinguish the reason for his barking. A dog will bark when he is nervous, excited, bored, territorial, frightened, or if he is of a specific breed. Depending on what the reason is, you should remove temptation or start training him to fix the behavior.

Giving your dog consistent exercise, and training him often are very crucial. Consistent exercise will help use up your dog's energy, which will make training him a much easier. Training will help your dog understand impulse control, which in turn will keep you in control.

For specific situations, such as when they are excited or anxious, you can teach them alternative behaviors. Alternate behaviors would include making him sit, lay down, or go to his bed. Any time they are in a situation where they would bark, have treats on hand and make them do an alternate behavior. This will keep them distracted from what they would be barking at and will replace the barking with a more pleasing behavior. It is important to give positive feedback, especially when they give up what they want to do and listen to you. The barking will eventually be replaced with the alternate behavior you have been teaching him. Teaching your dog an alternate behavior takes time and a lot of persistence, but it's certainly worth the effort in the end.

When dealing with territorial barking it's more challenging, but not impossible to fix. In this case you are going against his natural behavior. A dog’s territory is sacred to them – it's their space and it's their job to protect it! If your dog sees an animal or a person that he doesn't recognize close to his yard, he will automatically see them as an impostor and will bark at them as a way of informing them that this is his territory, and to stay way. In this circumstance, the best way to quiet them is to give them a signal of some sort that tells them that “it's all clear”. You can select any command you desire. By issuing this command you will essentially be telling him that the “intruder” is not an intruder after all, and he can settle down. Before giving the “all clear” command, you want to validate that they saw something that doesn’t look right to them. You can go outside, to the window, front door, or wherever they sensed a disturbance. After you are done checking it out, praise him for doing a great job.Then with absolute confidence in voice and body language, give the “all clear” command and walk away, taking them with you. It's vital that you don't try to physically make him leave – walking away is all you should do. Make sure that you do not look at them if they don't follow you, just continue walking away and call them. This will show them that it really is okay!

For fear barkers you can typically use the same “all clear” command you utilize for territorial barkers. It is crucial that you don't console them by hugging them, petting them, talking to them in a high pitched voice, etc. They want a leader that is in charge when they are scared. He is looking to you for safety. In a soothing but firm voice, give the “all clear” command, while keeping your body language confident.

For some dog breeds barking is in their nature. Terriers and hounds are a wonderful example of dogs that are notorious for being barkers. Again, you are going against nature here! For this kind of dog I recommend having a “quiet” command. To teach them this, it's best to be in a controlled setting, away from too many distractions. Wait until your dog barks and then tell him to be “quiet”. If they stop barking, tell them how good of a dog they are and give them a treat. At times, they will be too caught up in what they are barking at and they won't hear you. If this happens don't repeat yourself or raise your voice. They will just assume you’re joining in. Fill a container full of beans or coins as a substitute. You can then squirt them or shake your noise maker to get their attention. Once they stop and look at you, tell them to be silent.

A good amount of exercise can help when your dog is barking out of boredom.

source:http://mediachannel.org/

Cheers!
Dorothy
www.DogMillion.com



Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Cuttest Dog



A mixed breed named Stephen Colbert El Dos is a semifinalist in a dog competition that turned into a dogfight over the weekend.

The winner of the Cutest Dog Competition walks away with $1 million, and that's a lot of kibble no matter how you wine and dine your pup. Turns out more than 400 votes for one of the dogs in the lead Saturday were taken away when judges decided they appeared to be fraudulent. Four more weeks remain. What next in this drama?

Stephen Colbert El Dos, a Chihuahua and Pomeranian mix, was named after the Comedy Central host, but is unrelated, according to All American Pet Brands, the sponsors of the competitition.

Source: USA Today

Cheers!
Dorothy
www.DogMillion.com



Thursday, August 27, 2009

Kate and Gin the dancing dog- Britains got talent 2008

I wish one day i have a smart dog like this one shown inside the video.
Click and view the video and you will get what i means.



Cheers!
Dorothy
www.DogMillion.com

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

What happen to my body?





























Last year i visited
a Dog Show at Mid Valley and spotted 2 poor dogs, A poodle and a Snauzer.

What do you think happen to them?

If you own a dog, would you do this to them?? Any feedback is welcome!

Cheers!
Dorothy
www.DogMillion.com




Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Dogged by islanders’ cruel action

It’s a doggone pity that what may have been a more humane alternative to stray dog culling backfired when the canines starved to death on two islands, creating waves of anger all over the world.

IT happened about 10 years ago but the dog-shooting event left a scarring memory on teenager Vivien. Only five or six years old then, she witnessed the shooting of stray dogs on her island of Pulau Ketam by a team from the Klang Municipal Council (MPK).

“They shot all the stray dogs on the island, including a young dog that I liked and had been feeding,” she recalls.

In safe hands: So far, animal activists have managed to rescue seven dogs from the uninhabited island of Pulau Tengah.

The experience not only frightened Vivien, as she wants to be known, but also the rest of the islanders who were mostly small scale fishermen and traders then. Pulau Ketam headman Cha Keng Lee too recalls the incident and says that the MPK dog-catching unit visits the island once in two years.

“They do not shoot dogs anymore but we still do not like how they exterminate the dogs. They hang them to death before loading the carcasses into boats to be taken to the mainland,” claims Cha.

As the village headman, he is concerned that such an inhumane action would put off tourists to the island, which is one of Selangor’s tourist attractions.

“That is why we decided to trap the strays on the island and transport them to the nearby islands of Pulau Tengah and Pulau Selat Kering so that they would not have to be killed,” says Cha.

However, he adds, he was not aware that the islands would not have food or water to sustain the canines.

Clarence Chua, spokesman for canine welfare project Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better, scoffs at Cha’s claims, saying it is difficult to believe that Pulau Ketam residents didn’t know about the islands’ physical condition.

“It is ridiculous for someone from the Pulau Ketam fishing and trading community to make such a claim,” says Chua.

Ironically, what the villagers believed was a better solution than MPK’s has blown up in their faces and Pulau Ketam is now regarded with disdain by not only the locals but also the international community.

Media reports about 400 strays trapped and dumped on the uninhabited islands surrounding Pulau Ketam have resulted in an international outcry.

Many of the unfortunate dogs died and those surviving have resorted to eating the carcasses of the ones that had died.

Animal activists have been racing to both islands to rescue the dogs but geographical obstacles such as the mangrove swamp surrounding the location have made the rescue operations difficult.

So far, Furry Friends Farm has managed to rescue five dogs while the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) has rescued two.

The catastrophe which has been extensively covered by the local media had also found its way into ABC News, CNBC, Fox News and newspapers in the United States, Britain and the Philippines.

Local animal welfare activists are also up in arms not only against the folk of Pulau Ketam but also the local authorities.

This is not the first time that the local authorities have come under fire from animal welfare groups for their alleged inhumane methods of handling stray dogs.

In February this year, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) garnered negative publicity when allegations surfaced that its staff were breaking the necks of dogs in their pound before dumping the carcasses in an open grave. Animal activists gathered outside the DBKL pound and held a peaceful vigil in protest. DBKL was also taken to task by animal welfare groups for allegedly feeding stray dogs poisoned chicken meat to cull them.

DBKL denied both allegations even though there was a video footage of the first incident and witnesses’ account for the second.

Bounty hunters

The Selangor Government has also been criticised for allowing local councils to spend hundreds of thousands of ringgit to hire two canine bounty hunting companies to round up stray dogs.

The companies were paid about RM30 per dog caught and it was common to see many of the dogs in the pound wearing collars, indicating that they belonged to someone.

Some of the local councils, such as MPK which does not have pounds to hold caught strays, have also been lambasted for keeping the dogs in lorries for days before they are euthanised.

Independent Pet Rescuers founder Sherrina Krishnan says the money should instead be used to create a humane method of dealing with the stray dog population.

“Why not give the independent animal welfare groups land to collectively build a sanctuary for these dogs and the money could be used to neuter all the rescued dogs as well as to manage the place?” says Sherrina.

James Hogan, vice-chairman of the London-based Mayhew Animal Home and Humane Education Centre, says in an e-mail interview that he was shocked and disturbed by what had transpired in Pulau Ketam.

Sadly, it is one more example of what happens when there is inadequate regulatory framework to govern the way people relate to the animals. He adds that the review of existing animal protection legislation currently being carried by the Malaysian Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) must be accompanied by pro-active enforcement measures.

He says it would be interesting to make statistical comparisons between the way enforcement is effected in England and in Malaysia.

In 2007, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), investigated 137,245 complaints of cruelty, issued thousands of verbal warnings, spent £6mil on prosecutions and secured 2,026 convictions in court hearings for cruelty, he shares.

Hogan adds that convictions resulted in jail sentences, bans from keeping animals, community service orders, conditional discharges and fines ranging from hundreds to thousands of pounds.

“It would be interesting to compare these statistics with the number of court hearings, convictions, bans, fines, etc, that were effected by the DVS during the same period in Malaysia,” he says.

In Malaysia, people are hardly brought to court over animal cruelty cases and those prosecuted are let off with merely a slap on the wrist.

Seeking a lasting solution

Hogan says his organisation regularly plays host to delegations from overseas city governments who want to find a lasting solution to the issue of animal over-population in their city.

“For the record, I have personally made several approaches to the Malaysian High Commission in London, inviting them to send someone to visit us so we could at least have some exploratory discussions about this issue but they have shown no interest in engaging with us,” says Hogan.

Meanwhile, Selangor exco member in charge of local councils Ronnie Liu has called for all independent rescuers and rescue groups to come forward and work with the state government on matters pertaining to animal welfare.

“Please take the initiative to come forward so that all of us can work together with the local councils to bring positive changes to the methods currently in use to counter the problems of strays in the state,” he says.

Liu adds that he is open to suggestions and wants more groups to participate in the rescue of the abandoned dogs.

BY SUJESH PAVITHRAN

Cheers!
Dorothy
www.DogMillion.com

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Funny Dog Video Clips

Have been busy this month, not sure, what to post for this month.

So, i get a video from YouTube to share with you. Enjoy!



Cheers!
Dorothy
www.DogMillion.com

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Scuba Diving Dog!

Hi all dog owners! Can YOUR Dog DO this!



Cheers!
Dorothy
www.DogMillion.com

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Top 2 Reasons Why Your Dog Needs a DNA Breed Test?


There are two common reasons why people should their dogs need a DNA breed test. These reasons have to be completely understood by dog owners before they start any of these dog breed identification process.

1. The ability to identify and record the breed composition

You are annoyed by people asking that common question, “What are they?” DNA collections via cheek swabbing and mailing this sample to lab for DNA breed analysis able to learn more about your dog’s ancestral heritage.

It is easy as this particular breed testing kit comes as a package that contains one K9CheekSwab DNA collection brush, sample submission form, customer reference sheet, DNA sample instructions and pre-paid return mailer.

The sample will be analyzed via advanced SNP-based DNA technology process in MMI Genomics, Inc. (MMIG) in which is a highly experienced laboratory. At the initial process of the sample analysis, your dog’s DNA profile will be obtained and compared it with other purebred dogs’ DNA profile in the database.

The primary breed is identified when your dog’s DNA profile strongly matches the profiles of the purebred dogs in the database and it represents a very large portion of your dog’s breed composition. Therefore, it is displayed in the “primary” results category in the Certificate of DNA Breed Analysis. In this certificate, you will find other related breed information of your dog in “secondary” and “in the mix” category. The results will be completed within 4-6 weeks period of time.

2. Understand predisposed breed health risks and diseases

If you are able to identify your dog’s breed, you can work out a better health and wellness management for your dog. You will be able to deal with your dog misbehaviors and personalities by training and playing with them in the ways that will appeal to their natural talents and temperaments. Hence, you can discuss with your veterinarian to plan a diet and exercise customized to your dog’s needs.

Finding out what breeds are in your dog’s genetic makeup has not only satisfied your curiosity, but given it has given you both invaluable health and behavioral information.

or more information about dog DNA testing as a dog breed identification tool for mixed breed dogs, visit http://dogdnabasics.com

Source:http://getacitydog.com

Cheers!
Dorothy Loong
www.DogMillion.com



Thursday, January 22, 2009

Chinese New Year Dog

Remember to give "Ang Pow" to your Dog for this coming Chinese New Year!



Gong Xi Fa Chai!

Dorothy
www.DogMillion.com