STARK is Barking about: Cesar Millan.... who else?!?

Well for all you dog-lurrveerrsss out there in Singapore, the name Cesar Millan should be as familiar as chicken rice, laksa and of course The Barking Ladies. Jokes aside, that is one amazing man whom I believe is really part-dog. For those of you who were lucky enough to catch him live last weekend at MBS as he shared his tips and tricks, I am sure your relationship with your dog will forever be changed. What that man is able to achieve with any dog is truly amazing, especially when he visited the animal shelter and actually got Mango to leave his kennel for the first time in 7 years!!!! I can't imagine what an experience it must have been for Mango, to finally be out and about, taking in new sights, sounds, air and people; that dog's life has been completely transformed.


It is interesting to note that the things Cesar talks about isn't rocket science, it all boils down to behaviours - our behaviour and our dog's behaviour. In everything that he does, it is about staying calm and being assertive (remember the good ol' Pack Leader concept). Sounds simple enough, but is it really that simple? Me thinks not! Let me cite an example: as MAD pointed out, I am the proud co-owner of 2 extremely cute tri-breed dogs who have "benefitted" from my family's in-depth study and careful observation of everything the Dog Whisperer has taught them on his shows, in his interviews and also last weekend. All I can say is.... there is something non-dog about us. I will always remember one of the first lessons learnt from Cesar was to go "Shhh..." when your dog barks in excitement upon seeing you; we tried that on our dogs and it only resulted in them barking more and being more hyper-active than usual. I told my parents that our dogs are gifted in other ways; so let's accept them for who they are and let's not deny them their right to express their delight at seeing us.


However, before I let my negative self get carried away as I am working on staying positive; I wanted a share something meaningful that Cesar said: "World transformation begins with self-transformation". That is something I believe can be applied to everything and anything that we do in life. Which means that we should all take small steps towards what we would like to achieve and the universe will follow. 


On that note, since RAVING posted the photo of her handsome lil pup, I'm going to share my beauties to the world... and the person who can correctly guess all 3 breeds, well.. good for you then!!! :)

RAVING is Barking about: 2 newspaper articles from Straits Times today

Funny that just as MAD was talking about the issues HDB has with dogs, one of these articles had to do with that. 
On the Straits Times today, there were 2 articles.


One was about HDB rules, and how many willing owners, who have a love for big dogs like MAD, cannot own them because of HDB rules. The fear of losing their homes because of their pets, scare these potential owners from adopting and saving a life.
In the same article, there was a point that was raised: Are the HDB rules an unreasonable blanket that disregard the breed and nature of the dog, and focus only on size? Why is size more important than anything else? Shouldn't it be by breed instead? I mean seriously? Golden Retriever vs Chi-huahua? 
If the concern were to be taking into consideration the benefits and welfare of neighbors; as someone's neighbor, would you prefer a good natured, gentle, well-trained dog or a spoilt, noisy, destroyer-of-all-things-reachable dog? The behavior of the dog can be nurtured, and as a neighbor, what would be your preference? I use the terms "well-trained" and "nurtured" for a reason. The question here is: Is it really the size or the breed of the dog that matters, or is it the way that the dog owners are training them that is important? 
I am sure, if MAD were to be given the opportunity to own a Boxer, it will be super well trained. Guess she would just have to not live in an HDB then. 




Second article was a bit more on the lighter side. There is a group out there, started by 3 dog-loving ladies (Oh the coincidence!) called Three Legs Good. 
A group of friends who have taken in dogs who are "imperfect" - most of the dogs they have adopted are 3 legged. 
However, its the reason why the dogs are left 3 legged that is appalling. Both strays and even pedigree dogs, left out to fend for themselves. These dogs eventually get themselves knocked down by cars and had to have one of their limbs amputated. I mean seriously? Seriously? Question I have always asked, HOW can you do this? Would you abandon your family? Your friends? HOW can you do this to Man's Best Friend? It who would never abandon you? 

I think this is one of the reasons we are doing this. 
To learn and educate people about dogs, to understand the different breeds and nature. To help others find the dog that would suit them. 


When I bought my Trevor, I had no idea about breeders and dog mills.  He was in one of those small boxes with bright lights shining on it all day until he was bought. He was a tiny dude when I got him; on hindsight, I doubt he was even 3 months old. I never asked where he was from, or what lineage. I did not even seek to understand what is the nature of a Schnauzer; if he was active, noisy, needed attention. All I had in mind was, I liked Schnauzers because they were cute and they had poise. It never crossed my mind - Dogs don't live like that! 
Thank God he is well trained now and is the least of my problems. It scares me to think what would I be doing, or what I would have done, if things had turned out otherwise.

MAD is Barking about: The Grand Introduction!!

The Barking Ladies are officially out of the kennel and in the house! You must be wondering who these women are, where are they from, what are they barking about and more importantly what is up with the beautifully fugly Shar Pei?!


First things first.. We are from the clean and green and not alway sunny Singapore. We love dogs but to be specific we love dogs from legitimate breeders and Not scumbag puppy mills! Perhaps we were dogs in our past lives and that would explain the inexplicable passion we have to talk about dogs, to reach out to fellow dog lovers and to share the love!


So Are The Barking Ladies dog owners?


Stark has the mother of all mixed breeds.. A 3-in-1 tri-breed concoction that can rival any pure bred with its sleek coat, cute size and adorable face. Raving has a pure bred who is so ridiculously good looking and such a gentleman that even the ugliest pug to the most beautiful cocker spaniel would go STARK RAVING MAD about this stud!


And as for me.....


I'm MAD about big dogs... My stud is a sleek, short coated muscular gun dog...in my head!!! That's right... My dream dog is just a dream for now... Y?? Coz it's my fault that I love big dogs....my fault that I live in a HDB... My fault that there are rules and regulations to adhere to... So is it HDB's fault that there are Huskies, Golden Retrievers, Bull Mastiffs, German Shepherd's etc living in Flats?!?!


Ok rant over...  Here's what you lovely people can expect from this blog:


- Royalty dogs (from legitimate breeders) VS Commoners (Pet farms)
- Pet care (diets to grooming to pet accessories to discounts at pet stores!)
- We'll show you how to get your breed of choice in a hassle free way
- Celebrity dogs and celebrities with dogs both locally and globally
- Craziest fashion trends in the doggy world
- Top offenders of the week (Yes...we are going to patrol the streets and shame all you errant dog owners out there!)


Oh and as for the beautifully fugly Shar Pei...


The Barking Ladies are proud to be Asian and we thought what better dog to represent us than an Asian dog..bred in China all the way back during the Han dynasty thus making it one of the most ancient breeds. The Shar Pei was first bred to be Farm dogs and then evolved to be a hunting dog and eventually a fighting dog (how gangster is that?! It's like rags to riches in the doggy world!!). Like the Shar Pei, one of us has a blue-black tongue...one of us is suspicious of strangers and one of us gets bored from repetition. Collectively, like our wrinkly mascots, The Barking Ladies can be stubborn, strong willed and territorial but be nice to us and we'll be extremely devoted, loyal and affectionate towards you!


So that's the long and short for the existence of this blog...if you think the next post is going to be as long as this one... YOU'RE BARKING MAD!!!!

The Barking Ladies are barking about: Our very 1st post!!

Well this is certainly uber exciting, the inaugural entry of a blog that only took me pretty much the entire night to create. I'm trying to imagine if we left it up to Raving to do it, we might never have even gotten this far. (Okies, I'm just joking Raving..)

For all you dog lovers out there, wherever you are, stay tuned to discover who we are, what we are going to "bark" about and simply bask in the subject of dogs!