Furry Love: The Other End of the Leash

snowbell lives with us now here in manila :)

at 2 months old 

still her fave position

It is nice to have a furry little one that makes us smile everyday with her funny sleeping position, quiet and sweet nature. She didn't whine or cry on her first night and easily adopted to her new environment. I chose her because she is a submissive type, she observes me quietly and I noticed when she was only about a month old that I will not have trouble to give her a potty training. She just know what, where and when to do it naturally. 

Back in Laguna, we don't teach tricks to our dogs but they know how to behave in a pack because they see my father as the pack leader. We let them out of the house off leash to do their thing and they will go back by themselves in a few minutes. Sometimes, they take too long to play and run outside so my father will call and wave at them to go back. It's always funny to see them going back, head down and somewhat looking sorry.

Here's a video of Bok opening our door to go back inside , he just figure it out himself :)

Owning a dog is a responsibility, we must be ready to allot time and effort to fulfill their needs and also to understand what they are trying to communicate to us. To help gain more understanding about our furry companion and to learn how to be a pack leader, M and I started reading books. 

$11 from Amazon (kindle format)

I am finished with this book, "The Other End of the Leash", which is informative in differentiating dogs nature from humans. Only that the author talked a lot about primates and all chapters remind the reader that she has a PHD and  a professional animal behaviorist :/ She tends to repeat and prolong a concept too. So you may want to wait for Amazon to include it in their sale list before your purchase.

On a positive side, I did learn a few things that I am applying now like using our body, not hands to block the dogs when they jump or come to us. When Snowbell want to go up on the bed, I face the other side, turn my back on her and ignore her, she will then go away in a few seconds.  

They can observe slightest change in our action so we need to be consistent and aware of our moves when we are training them ie when training them to sit, be consistent with your hand signals and face expression.
Variation of  our voice also have a relation on what we want our dogs to do. She also explains why dogs "misbehave" if their energy is not directed towards the fulfillment of their dog nature - we must allow them to work (sniff, dig,walk,run) outdoors. Also some photos in the appendix are also helpful for illustrating the concept. 

The author owns 3 dogs that help her in sheep herding. I like it when she share a bit of story about their experiences and training.

We also downloaded other books from Amazon, some are free. Can't wait to read them all.

I am now reading Cesar Millan's book and will share it on my next Furry Love blog post.

This is one of her "what is this human trying to do?" look in addition to tilting her head ;p 

Snowbell , 3 mos. old

Healthy Inspiration: January Healthy Eats

 I'm trying to get back on the groove after the holidays, birthday treats and other celebrations. I felt that Christmas indulges is not over yet until the end of my birth month ;p (plus the tikoy and hopia bec of Chinese New Year)

Some of my meals are still my old favorites and here are some of the photos I managed to take for the past days

Salad lunches

Broccolli

Bokchoy or Pechay sauteed in Olive oil + garlic bits

Boiled bokckoy, carrots and ginger

Black Rice 

Turmeric Lugaw w/ Bokchoy and garlic bits

Snacks

fruit smoothies

It is now a struggle to wake up in the morning as it's super cold! Sometimes I just want to have a hot coffee and a toasted bread. Most of the time I prepare my turmeric lugaw with eggs or chicken. I will also try to prepare healthy soups this coming days of Feb.

Stay healthy!

-=jewel=-

Baby Ianne's Christening

Some photos from my niece's christening :)

ma-mink-mink!

My plate (I'm not that hungry as I ate a lot of tikoy on the way :/)

and OOTD :)

and then on our way home, we passed by Cakeland, we also bought Longganisa (aka Batutay) and ate tupig that we bought earlier on the trip :)

Rediscover: Army Navy, Dunkin, Eng Bee Tin

Tried again Army Navy, there's a branch in Megamall Atrium :)

I thought I haven't tried their chicken burrito (P165), I read again my old post about it here, (natikman ko na pala), chicken is still bland for my taste but the serving size of burrito is big and very filling. Mike's order is Starving Sailor sandwich (P215) - very cheesy and there are lots of huge bell pepper slices 

We went to Dunkin Donut afterwards, I learned that there is now a Red Velvet donuts.

We bought some munchkins together with our favorite Choco Butternut. It has been a year (?) since I last ate this Choco Butternut.  The red velvet taste is somewhat similar to butternut, better I think :) Now I have a new favorite!

On our way home, we passed by Mr. Ube along Ortigas Ext. (which I blogged here) for the tikoy (nakiki-chinese new year lang) and I wanted to try mochipia. It took me a while to realize what it might be. (mochi!)

Anyway we did not go to a place something new but there were something new we discovered ;p

PS: Have you tried the Dunkin's red velvet? or Eng Bee Tin's mochipia? 

Have a great weekend!

Weekend: Family Mart, Highlands, Mr. Parks

Finally visited FamilyMart in Ortigas. This one is in Emerald st, I also saw one along San Miguel ave.

Very few meal choices at that time. We tried this flavorful Oyakodon (P125) and Onigiris (P39 each)

There is also a nearby Highlands coffee where we tried mint iced coffee. We love everything with mint☺

Beside Highlands is Mr. Park's bread shop. Below is a chocolate scone which is a dry and crumbly type of bread and the other one has sweet beans filling. I love their Garlic Stick, (sweet toasted and garlicky). Will go back again for that ☺ 

Have a great week ahead!

-=jewel=-

My 28th Birthday

My 28th (jan8) and his 29th (jan4) bday :)

Last weekend, we had a simple celebration at home where my mom prepared pancit (her specialty), unpictured graham cake and sisig. I also prepared the penne pesto pasta (using fresh basil leaves), salad greens and baked a small chocolate cake :D

It was my first time to cook pesto for them and they liked it. (as expected ;p)

I used a simple recipe for the supposed to be 'cake' - rye flour, eggs, dark chocolate and oil. It did not rise because I did not put baking soda. I melted some dark chocolate truffles for the 'icing'.

We also watched some netflix movies - End of Watch (slow-paced movie) and the Escape from Planet Earth which is a funny animated movie. 

On the day of my birthday, I was treated with cake and pizza by my colleagues.

And then mike surprised me (making up for greeting me late), I thought he was at work all day.

 I came home with some food from Ambers.

Snowbell had a tasty dinner too, she loves the BBQ.

Another treat while having our Ambers dinner was watching Sherlock: The Sign of Three - light, funny and brilliant just like last week's comeback episode, had a good laugh. After 1 year of waiting, they finally released the season 3. 

 I have to remind myself that this is a different (modern) Sherlock adaptation, being the fictional character I respect the most, there are some scenes I don't approve esp. on 'The Empty Hearse'.. But this 2nd episode ended very well and I was really touched, I bet other audience would also say 'awwwww' :)

I love the camera shots in this scene:

via

Very nice that I saw this on my bday ^_^