Murdoch Dog Wash

Just came back from the vet school annual dog wash event. It turned out to be much more fun that i thought! I'm so glad that I had gone for it, though I can't claim any credit for it cuz if brian hasn't decided to sign up at the last minute I might not have taken the initiative to participate in it. All's well that ends well, met quite a couple of people from my year there too.

Dog washing is a fun but dirty activity. By the end of the allocated 2 hours, I was walking around arkwardly in totally soaked wet track pants ( oh how i hate that sensation of wet cloth against the skin ) with dog hair plastered onto my skin. I think i must have looked real messed up! At the end of it we were given a free lunch - bbq hot dog in a bun - their standard so-called australian bbq fare ( they should try OUR singaporean bbq food... what's the point of bbq if it's only to cook the hot dogs to put in a bun? ) but anyway, I spilled ketchup all over myself, and boy did i really look bedraggled then.

I finally got to see what a labradoodle looks like in real life today. It just looks like a humongous white dog with slightly curly long hair all over. got to say that I really like their temperament. Or perhaps I just got to meet this particularly nice one which licked me while i was trying to restrain it to be washed. but they're larger than I thought they would, that's for sure. No wonder the breed is getting more popular here. Before I came to Australia I haven't heard of it ever before. Singaporeans just want to keep the same ole breeds, but perhaps it's just due to the fact that the pet shops sell the same kind of dogs all the time. Golden retrievers are just hot favourites anywhere, but I don't like the fact that they can easily get obese if they're not well exercised, something which I'm sure will happen very frequently if kept in singapore. Speaking of obesity in dogs, I don't like the mentality of owners who feel that a fat dog is better than a skinny one. Sounds familiar? You get to hear that from some parents as well, who feel obliged to fatten up their kids as much as possible. Dogs are like children in that sense I suppose. You can't spoil them by letting them have everything they want. What I think is, if you can't be firm with a dog, you probably won't be very firm with your kid either. And when the dog/kid does not turn out well, it's the owner/parent's fault ( who will sometimes shirk responsibility or the blame of course ). Right now at home in Singapore, I have recently changed my dog Hawky's diet to that of home-cooked food ( with the right proportions of nutrition i hope... I have read quite a few books to be sure) and laid off the use the canned foods by commercialised brands, in the attempt to resolve his skin problem. Thank heavens it worked within a couple of months, and Hawky is now a much healthier, more active, but skinnier dog. However, I have heard that apparently my relatives have commented on his loss of weight and their views tend towards the critical, disapproving end. It kinda upsets me a little that they are imposing their beliefs on MY dog... and that most people just simply accept what appears to be the "norm" without questioning. Following the crowd doesn't always mean that you're in the right, is it? what about the saying " majority rules" ? why is the concept of right or wrong determined by something as silly as numbers or quantity?