Dog cafe @ Serangoon - Sun Ray Cafe

We went to check out Sun Ray Cafe which is located at Serangoon, past Nexx shopping mall, among all the bungalows. Finding a place to park is a hassle.

They have 2 units, one for pets and the other no pets allowed. The pets section seems crowded but the non-pets section was empty, probably just that night that we visited, not sure about the rest of their operating days.

There was quite a number of dogs inside. The moment we entered the cafe, something doesn't seems right. Their entrance is made of sliding glass doors which has no baby gates or something like a double entry, we have to make sure other dogs doesn't run out when we were entering while squeezing through the pack of dogs that came to welcome YuDan and us.

Service was quite bad as it took 20 minutes for us to place our orders, they have only 1 service staff handling the area of 6 tables including us. The rest of the staffs are at the non-pet section stationing at the coffee counter, kitchen, food runner etc. As the service is slow, leaks are not attended too.

Our food came and to our surprise, the dish looks presentable, akin to semi fine dining. I like the lamb that I ordered. :)

Then, while having our dinner, my worry when we first entered the cafe actually happened. One table was leaving and did not close the sliding door. Resulted in two other dogs running out of the cafe, luckily their owners have good agility and reacted fast enough to hold their dogs back.

Price is on the higher side. $90+ for 2 pax of dinner set and YuDan's food ($6).

We left Sun Ray Cafe and headed to Paw Pet-radise as there wasn't much space for dogs to play around.

Dog cafe @ Balestier - Paw Pet-radise

Our aim is to find a place which we feel most comfortable with and also an ideal play place for YuDan. We will be going cafés to cafés just to recce and check things out. 

We have been patronizing one in Balestier for a couple of times, 4 times now in a month. Although the interior wasn't  heavily spent on, it does feel warming and a good place to chill in. You will be greeted by lots of dogs when you enter. We were amazed. The number of dogs are more than humans! They have a few resident furkids in the premises. A good place for YuDan to socialize...

BUT...

YuDan is so afraid all the time and stick to us wherever we go or stayed beneath our chairs to take cover. The dogs there are too friendly and wanted to play with YuDan. They were huge for him too! A few golden retrievers, huskies, schnauzers etc. We will have to walk away from the table to the center of the room where the rest of the dogs are and he will have to follow us there for shielding. That's where he is open to the rest of dogs instead of hiding under chairs. 

Overall price is more or less same as Doggystyle Cafe or maybe slightly lower. YuDan's Shepard pie.

Nice community and good number of dogs every time we went. Guess they have their pool of regulars who stay nearby that goes almost everyday. 

Service is not bad. They are prompt with leaks that the dogs did indoor. 

They just need to answer their mobile phone if they put it as their contact ways when people call to check on their operating hours or any other queries.

Other that that, it would be the place that we will be visiting weekly or biweekly for now till we find a place which is worth going to compared to this place.

Nex shopping mall @ Serangoon - Doggie Playground / Doggystyle Cafe

Paid a visit to Nex shopping mall at Serangoon, the only shopping mall that allows dogs in its premises but only through certain paths and lifts up to the open air dog playground. Brought YuDan there to try the obstacles.

We were there during late evening on the weekday therefore there wasn't any dogs around which is quite good, good way to introduce YuDan to the place and obstacles instead of being swarmed by dogs. 

Yudan's afraid of the tunnel and failed to jump over the raised bars on the ground but went over the inclined ramp a few times.

After which,we went to the doggy cafe right beside the playground. We were the only customers in there and also the first time YuDan having cooked food. Meatballs!!!

Price is a bit higher than expected comparing the quality served. I meant the human food.

Overall, nothing particular about the cafe. Maybe I'm wrong due to the late evening and also on a weekday.

Hort park / Labrador park

My wife have been searching for new places for YuDan and she came across the Hort Park. 

We have never went there before therefore we are also quite excited to explore the place. 

To our surprise, the place is neat and clean. A great place to take your dog for a walk there. It's a tag small though, finished slow walking the park in 20-30mins. 

If you want to take a longer walk with your dog, the route links to another park which we didn't explore. The map seems too large on the board and we are afraid that the return trip back to the car park will be too tiring if we were to venture further. 

We saw a playground there and wanted to let YuDan experience the feel of sand. Entirely new to him, he went around sniffing the the sand. With a moisted nose, the sand was all around his nose and muffler. Not sure if he eaten the sand, have to let him experience the sand more so we can bring him to Sentosa in the future. 

Pirate at the playground. 

When we are about to leave Hort park, we decided to visit Labrador park which is also nearby, a 5-10mins drive and it's along the south coast of Singapore. The place is a lot much bigger, walking the whole park might take hours I think so we only explored a segment of the map. 

We saw many people fishing there when it's not allowed to. Might be dangerous for pets if their fishing hooks dropped on the ground and they did not pick it up. 

Walking further along the coast line, the breeze is very cooling and the sunset along the horizon is magnificent when you sit on the bench and watch the sunset. Saw a few other dogs too. Over all not a bad place to go with your dog. Just need to be careful with what's on the ground. 

Dogs meet up session

Had a dogs meet up session last Sunday.

YuDan have another new friend! Skippy!

Skippy is a Jack Russell, 11 years old. Very muscular still!

Wife says that YuDan showed Skippy and Dasher around the house, into each room, toilet and kitchen which is quite cute.

I got home late therefore my wife have been hosting her friends and the dogs. Before I got home, my wife texted my mobile to hurry me. Skippy and Dasher have been fighting over YuDan. Skippy wanted YuDan's attention but YuDan did not reciprocate. Dasher barks Skippy to protect YuDan and they started to bark, chase and slight fight while YuDan sat one corner watching the whole drama.

Seems like Dasher weigh YuDan heavily huh? Best friend? Haha.

When I got home, I was welcomed by the three dogs. A pleasant sight to wish for everyday.

To my noticed, Skippy nails were very long and his owner wanted me to cut for him but I guess better not as I'm not a professional groomer nor I'm Skippy's owner to know his temperament, don't want to get bitten by Skippy. :)

Skippy was also whining non-stop when I came home, as if he was talking or singing to YuDan but he was ignored. Wife says he has been whining the whole time. Owner says he likes to talk to people hehe.

Slowly reintroduce the dogs again and they began playing a bit. Gave them treats for good behaviour.

No whining, no barks.

Trick before treats! =]

Rolling for Dasher.
Throw and catch the treats for Skippy.
Holding/balancing treats on nose for YuDan.

And they left home barking at each other along the corridor while waiting for the lift down. :x

Change of food / Arrival of items

I have changed YuDan's food gradually since last week since his food was running low, from Addiction Salmon Bleu to TimberWolf Ocean Blue which is much more premium when it comes to ingredients as well as pricing.

At first, I wanted to get Timberwolf Wilderness for YuDan which consist of Elk (young kangaroo) & lamb instead of Salmon again but there was no stock with the supplier. I hope he will finish the new packet of  Ocean Blue. I can feel that he's getting sick of salmon! Haha!

Anyway, some information that I read and learn about food ingredients which I'm glad to share with everyone.

Do take note of their first five ingredients and the first will be the main ingredient. Any ingredients that mentioned meal (salmon meal, chicken meal etc) consist of any part of the animal. Example, chicken meal means everything from the chicken including liver, intestines, heart etc. Moreover, I read that only chicken meal consist of even their heads, legs, claws etc. Whereas the rest are just internal organs.

Next, a much better kibble will have their first ingredient as a food, not as a meal.
Lamb = lamb, not lamb meal
Salmon = salmon, not salmon meal
etc

First 5 ingredients

Addiction Salmon Bleu for puppies : Salmon Meal, Potatoes, Chicken Fat (Free from Chicken Protein and naturally preserved with Mixed Tocopherols - a source of Vitamin E), Whole Smoked Salmon, Dried Blueberries...

Timberwolf Ocean Blue : Herring, Ocean Fish Meal, Salmon, Herring meal, Russet Potatoes...

I didn't read up much about food in the past for the start as my main objective is to seek for no grains, no soy, no wheat, no artificial preservation and no food coloring. That made me settled down on Addiction.

Right now, I'm contented with my choice as Timberwolf Ocean Blue consisted of 4 fishes as their first 5 ingredients compared to just 1 salmon meal by Addiction Salmon Bleu. Furthermore, Timberwolf have herbs in their kibbles which is so fragrant! I was surprised when I opened up the pack.

It is very hard to make a decision from all the brands out there in the market. Got to read up more for the interest of your pouch.

Family's Effort / Online Shopping / Grooming

First, I need to touch on family members effort which is the hardest to put them to execution when having a puppy.

Our parents are chinese educated (difficulty with the pronunciation when saying out the commands in english) with traditional/old fashioned mindset and their perception of dog differs from us.

1) Dogs doesn't need to train. Last time we also never train our dogs.
2) They will survive or think of way to survive cause they are smart
3) Why can't do this? Why can't do that? 
4) You have to do what my dad (which is my grandpa) did, it works!
5) Etc etc...

I have tried to explain to them the rational behind my actions, why and what I needed to do as well as them to follow the same, at least the basics. It's very tiring on me to retrain YuDan again and again as they will bombard YuDan with random commands of their own even with a list prepared for them, long sentences which confused him and lastly creating then allowing him his bad behavior which makes me the devil when it comes to disciplining. Whenever YuDan did wrong, he will run to my wife for shielding, she's his angel too...

Well, I guess it can't be helped. To me, it seems that their actions are more like strangers who saw a cute puppy and ran up to pet on the puppy, not considering what behaviors/habits/fears will be caused upon the puppy. The only option for me is to constantly reminding them of their actions.

Therefore, family's effort is important. It is crucial that every member in the family is on the same understanding that it is important to synchronize the training method taught to the puppy in order not to confuse them.

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Ever since we got back from Hong Kong, I have plans to change YuDan's pee tray location to the toilet in order to toilet-train him instead of doing in the living room and also too dependent, looking out for pee tray (that's his target) if he have the urge to release his bowels when we left him with our parents.

Just 3 days ago, I did the shifting, right to the toilet instead of slowly moving the pee tray into the toilet. I'm mentally prepared to do lots of cleaning up in the process before he get used to poo in the toilet. It took 2 days for him to do it correctly but with the pee tray inside the toilet. Eventually, I will have to remove the pee tray to see if he really knows he has to poo in the toilet.

Removed the play pen cause YuDan doesn't use it other than drinking from the clamped water bottle on the grills.

Did some online purchases.

1) Nail clipper cum grinder
2) Shaver
3) 3 clothes
4) 3 sets of shoes
5) 2 sets of water dispenser to be place at our parents' houses
6) Taller food bowl
7) Bed
8) 2 carrier bags

Will take quite awhile for all of them to reach, some flew by air and some by sea due to the freight charges according to weight.

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Yudan went for his second grooming! He's much better compared to the first time during grooming but he whined non-stop the moment he was put into the cage when an owner came in with two golden retrievers wanting to just trim their nails and paw furs. Got happy and run around the groomers after the golden retrievers left. What a naughty boy. HAH!

Got him a new toy from iKea