Week 4 - Shayna

Shayna grinning mischeviously at the camera. Can you spot her ? : - )

Shayna is 3months old today. We bought her to the vet as she contracted cornea ulcer which we were told by our vet was a common ailment among the shih tzu breed due to the large size of their eyes. This results in a slight discolouration and hazy film in her left eye.

You can see that her left eye is darker as compared to her right eye due to the cornea ulcer.

The cause is unknown but the vet said that it could be caused by her accidentally scratching her eye while she was playing with herself as puppies are quite hyper. Luckily, it is just a small ailment and does not affect her very much. A good sign is that she donesn't try to rub her eyes indicating that it isn't itchy. She's been given some anitibiotics and eye ointment. She's officially 2kg now, 1 kg more than when she was first brought home.

She's been quite naughty this week though, maybe adjusting to being alone at home the whole day until we get back from work. We are trying to stop her from playing with her poo by clearing it immediately and telling her in a firm voice that it is wrong. Hopefully, she will grow out of it. However when she's out, she's on a best behavior and when people say she's so well behaved, we just grin inwardly cos she's a naughty michevious tot at home.

Shayna playing around with plastic bags, one of her favourite passionShayna standing on her hind legs and calling Gayle to share some of the laundry with her.

As she grows, we have been noticing her developing her unique character traits. She's gotten very curious the habit of standing on her hind legs and using her paws to indicate to us what she wants, either for more sayang or trying to get our attention. She seems to have a fetish for laundry and is always around Gayle to observe her doing her laundry.

The laundry supervisor checking that Gayle doesn't slack on her washing.

She also like to come in between the both of us when we are chatting so that she doesn't feel left out. Sometimes it's amazing how human like dogs are in terms of behavior.

Place to buy sunglass

We went to Seng Li Departmental & Optical at #01-36 Queensway Shopping Centre, which many of you might know that it is a good place to look for shades, to look for a new pair of sunglasses for Gayle as her present shades are lightly tinted and does not provide enough UV protection and tinting from the glaring sun these days. We are sure that it is a well known place to get glasses, at least in our opinion. For myself, I have been getting my Ray Ban and Oakley Shades since my school days from there and the prices have been very competitive. Gayle's present Armani shades were also from the same shop.

We were served by Margaret, one of the salesperson who has served us before. One thing we like about this shop is that they are very willing to let you try all kinds of shade to get the right one. It is also easy to banter with her. She also gives her own opinion which well, is up to the customer to accept or reject without the customer feeling pressurised.

We found and tried on a number of shades with a very dark tint from Prada, Esprit, Dior, Oakley and Gayle finally settled on the one that appealed to her and looked best on her. She chose the

Gucci Model 2933 Brown shades which I thought was a classy shade with a retro Gucci look. Base retail price was $370 ,already quite a good base price as compared to the shops in the major shopping belts) but we managed to get a very good discount from Margaret ,about over 30% discount.

We like shops that one can shop at ease in without any coercion to buy or feeling a sense of intimidation and this is one such shop.

Just a little trivia on Shayna

Recently, Tanny , a good friend of ours suggested that we try to align Shayna alongside an object to show her relative size and we thought that was an interesting idea. So here she is measuring beside a 160g can of Pringles potato chips to show a rough gauge of her size.

Week 3 - Shayna

Us with Shayna after her grooming session

Shayna has been with us for 3 weeks now and she's grown in size now, measuring 38cm in body length now. Today, she went for her grooming and the groomers at Macho Pawz, the pet shop downstairs our block were commenting that she's a mischevious girl.

Shayna bringing her own doggy for a walk around our house.

As usual, she was whimpering when we left her at the groomers. She went for full grooming session inclusive of toothbrushing. She's very curious these days and like to stand on her hind legs balancing for a few seconds, to look up at what we are doing when we are up on the sofa or bed. She's also manja as sometimes when Gayle and me are having a conversation for a while and she feels neglected, she will bark at us. Sometimes we indulge her by coming down on the floor and playing with her but sometimes we will tell her off and then she will sit and look at us with very sad looks trying to soften our hearts.

She has also shown her possessiveness over the both of us. When we are at Gayle's parents' place for dinner, we will bring her along with us to let her mingle with Tisha, the family schnauzer. Whenever Tisha wants to come near us, Shayna will rush at her furiously and try to nudge her back even though Shayna is so much smaller than Tisha. She doesn't want us to be near Tisha. She also mark the dining hall at Gayle's parents place as her territory and will rush at Tisha if Tisha approaches the dining area. Very naughty and jealous , isn't she ?

We have cut down her meals to twice a day to fit in with our working hours, one meal in the early morning and one meal when we are back in the evening. We have taught her to sit for her food also(Below).

'Place to change the Mitsubishi 'i' front skinnies'

This posting is for my fellow Mitsubishi 'i' clubbers who may want to know of a cheaper place to change their front skinnies. For those not in the know, the Mitsubishi 'i' has a unique wheel arrangement of wider tyres behind and a real narrow pair in front which I am told is to ensure stability of the car. This wheel arrangment is found too in another car way up the car chain - Ferrari :- ). This requires some effort to source for a tyre size that is quite rare in Singapore.

Having clocked 36 000km for my 1 year 7 months old Mitsubishi 'i' ( no thank to my previous job posting which require alot of driving ) , my front tyres were worn out. I guess skinny tyres tend to wear out faster, what with the breaking force and front loading of front passenger and driver.My rear tyres are still okay despite the weight of the engine in the mid centre off - rear.

Tyre size : 145/65 R 15 fits original stock alloy rims

Anyway, those keen to change their skinnies for their 'i' , you can go to the SPC Car Service Centre at the SPC petrol station located along 157 Upper East Coast Road. I got a pair of Yokohama A Drive 145/65 R15 which is the same size as the original Dunlop sports so no rim change is needed.

Triple Wide Grooves seen above

The A. Drive tyre range is designed for outstanding traction, excellent performance and superior handling for new levels of grip - no matter whether the rain just never seems to stop or the asphalt is cracking in the heat.The A.drive also employs specially configured Triple Wide Straight Grooves (TWSG) that power its excellent water evacuation capabilities. Couple TWSG with its ‘Quiet Running’ tread pattern with Yokohama’s advanced tread compound that is designed to provide drivers with class-leading performance no matter whether road conditions are wet or dry.

Good and prompt service by the guys there. Including wheel balancing,tyre polishing and labour, I was charged $100 a piece. Much cheaper than the prices quoted by Cycle and Carriage at Alexandra and even Motorgard at Tampines.

Week 2 - Shayna

Us and Shayna

Shayna is growing bigger in her 2nd week. She's been improving vastly in her appetite and we have been feeding her beside her dry food from Natural Balance(All life stages), we have added milk and also some wet food from the Addiction brand to add some flavor. She's so eager to eat now that when it comes to her meal time, she will come running to us, asking her to follow her and then she will sit beside the container storing her dry food. Playing with Shayna

Walking around the house

She's getting more confident and now roams at will around the house when we let her out of her cage. Shayna has learned to be more toilet trained , knowing how to walk back to her cage to wee and poo on the newspaper placed there. However, we have been trying to teach her not to play with her wee and poo in the mornings before we wake up to clean and feed her. It could be a sign of anger that we wake up late but we have been talking to her and on occasion, spank her gently to tell her to behave.

Shayna after a bath

Bathing her is one big wet messy affair for the three of us as one of us has to hold her down in the baby tub we bought while the other does the shampooing. We are using Johnson's Baby no tears shampoo which has been in use with Gayle's family dog - Tisha for many years and is a good whitening and conditioning shampoo. Tisha is like a pure white schnauzer now. Anyway back to Shayna, she is really frightened and struggles like mad during bath time. So we have to spend alot of effort to calm her down. At the end of it, all 3 of us are drenched!

Us with Tisha(above). Don't you agree that Tisha looks like a white schnauzer ? She is supposed to be a salt and pepper breed but seems like her Johnson baby shampoo is working wonders!

Shayna bringing Mr Spongebob to her favourite spot to play - in our orange fun room

We bought a new toy for her , we christened it Mr Spongebob which has an internal plastic insert that makes a plasticky, rustling sound that dogs like. Also it has a squeaker at the corner so that a squeaking sound is made. This drives Shayna all excited and she just loves to play with Mr Spongebob. We bought Mr Spongebob to distract Shayna from biting and playing with a Ty beanie dog that I have .

Shayna with our Ty Beanie dog - currently her best friend besides Mr Spongebob.

Shayna looking at Gayle doing the laundry and talking to her

Shayna has acquired a number of habits , such as trying to stand on her hind legs to see what we are doing, following us around the house and sitting there watching us and lying on her back as a sign that she wants to manja and be scratched. She also has discovered a few favourite spots around the house too.

Shayna in one her faourite spots, snucking her head in between the sofa to snooze. Another of her snoozing spot, by our sofa in the orange room on her security blanket