Amber's first trip to East Coast Park

12 May 2012

We decided to bring Amber to the beach! We asked a few people and dogs along, My grandma, sister Joanna, cousin, her boyfriend, my wife and me. I placed Amber in her carrier and we decided to take bus 401 to east coast. Of course we smuggled her up the bus, the carrier looked very much like sports bag and there were no obvious holes to see through, we totally zipped Amber inside and i don't think anyone would notice! Bus 401 takes very long to come and its only for weekends and public holidays. When we got up the bus, i sat near the window and placed the head of Amber towards it so that she can see through the black net. She looked very happy and would sometimes stare at me when i talked to other people.

We finally reached, east coast park looked totally different than when i went about 6-7 years back. They even dug a hole for jet ski-ing.

The hawker was just nearby, we went over at about 4:30pm to eat, saw signs of no dogs allowed which is so annoying! We just put Amber inside her carrier and ignored the stupid sign! (right Amber?) We had some nice meals and then head forward to meet my cousin and her boyfriend, and their dogs too.

We saw their malteses! Mochi(long haired with hair knot) and Pudding(short haired), both were also female. I noticed that Pudding was very quiet, she did not want to get near to people and also other dogs. She was also very calm and did not bark. I needed more time to see Pudding's real character. Mochi on the other hand was very active, but she seems pretty aggressive because she barked at us, though not to a point that will bite but if not taught well she will bite sooner or later. We do not want to advice too much because we know that they are other people's dog and we respect their decisions may it be right or wrong! What we could do was just to give some tips hoping the dogs will be happy and well!

Pudding - 1 year old+(left), Mochi - 8 months old+(right)

Amber's first time meeting Mochi, it was pretty bad. When Amber was let out of the carrier Mochi straight away attempted to attack Amber without warning. I had to be the middle person to stop the fight right away, I pushed Mochi aside because it was her who started the fight, Amber did not do anything but was kind of scared. After breaking the fight, i let Amber near Mochi, she tried smelling Mochi's butt and was attacked again. I then asked for permission to make Mochi more submissive by carrying Mochi and placed her butt on Amber without being able to struggle. She was totally okay with it! But this time Amber did not dare to smell Mochi, so i placed Mochi even closer to Amber and she started smelling. Now its the other way round, i then carry Amber and force Mochi to smell her, she was doing it well too, after that i put them down together and they didn't fight but sort of ignored each other, its better than nothing lol. Letting other dogs smell butt means to be friends.

Now, Pudding was trying to get off the table ASAP, she didn't want to get involved in anything to do with socialization! She was all the way standing at the edge of the table looking to get off. I walked over to Pudding and i did not look at her, standing close to her and ignoring her makes her curious about me and she started to smell and lick my hands willingly. 

But towards Amber and Mochi she just wanted to get away from them. Pudding is a very low energy dog, which is why other dogs would not want to make friends with her and she always look tired and does not want to do anything. This is due to not enough exercise and also not enough of socialization with other dogs. I requested to walk Mochi, Amber and Pudding to see their characters. When i walk Pudding, she did not want to walk, but placed her body flat on the floor and tilt her head far behind saying that she doesn't want to be walked. Her leash was also the retractable kind which i noticed that the owner(cousin's bf) would always put the leash long and wait for Pudding to feel like walking and wait for Pudding to lead him (In this case, Pudding is the leader and she owns her owner). I walked firmly and noticed Pudding was being dragged on the floor. Tried running but she rather be dragged  than walk, it shows that she does not let anyone walk her without her being in front, and also she only walks if she wants to. My sister even asked to stop walking her because she feels that Pudding is suffering, i explained that dogs love to be walked by humans, not other way round, if so they will get very confused and become anti-social. I placed Pudding sideways to show her that she is being controlled. After that Pudding started to walk with a few jerks on the leash, she started walking very nicely beside me. I gave my sister Pudding and she also had no problem walking Pudding after, she even asked how come Pudding can suddenly walk so well, she then understood the importance of dog discipline. After that it was time to walk Amber and Mochi (the 2 that didn't get along).

BEFORE

Pudding hesitant to walk(staying firmly on ground), leash too long is often the problem

AFTER

Sis walking Pudding happily after correction

I walked Mochi on the right, and Amber on the left at first. Mochi was not walking well with short leash too she is too used to walk in front of everyone(leader behaviour). I controlled the leash firmly and within 10 minutes Mochi was happily walking beside and even stopped with me when i stop walking. She is actually very clever and a good dog if taught correctly, she even walked better than Amber. Amber seems pretty fine all the way, she doesn't pull the leash or get aggressive with other dogs. Only thing is that she kept kicking the sand and also trying to eat grass and plants all around! There was once she was chased by Mochi and she kept running but still came back afterwards.

After walking for awhile i  put both of them together on one hand, to see if they will fight, they didn't and continue walking as if nothing happened. Although at first they seem to knock onto each other but as long as i don't panic they will follow my energy, and this is true! They walked really well and seemed so happy, after a long distance walk we then decided to go back to their owners.

Tired dogs are happy dogs, animal lovers can clearly feel the energy and look

We decided to take a rest, letting our doggies to roam around us freely. However, Cousin's bf decided to tie Pudding's leash to a pole. He told us that if Pudding was let to roam freely, she would just wander off slowly and disappear so he preferred to tie her beside him. We had to watch as Pudding stayed in a corner and lived in her own world as usual while Amber and Mochi were having fun.

Amber and Mochi, curious about my shoes, both of them kept playing with them

Next, i saw Mochi starting to walk around us, round and round. We then get to see that Mochi was actually guarding the area, she then barked at a kid and started chasing when the kid ran. I scolded her to go back and she kept quiet for a while before barking at another passerby lady. Cousin's bf then tried to stop Mochi by asking her to come but Mochi didn't listen, sometimes you need to be firm and fierce if the dog is doing something wrong. I then came to understand that the guy found Mochi  cute when she barks at other people and find guarding us is a lovely behaviour. To me a guarding dog is good, but they should only guard when someone is suspicious, not any person or friend who comes near their owner. I decided to show some understanding to what the owner needs, which is perfectly fine with us. 

Mochi falling asleep on a bright sunny day

Pudding started to become anti-social again, laying flat and not playing with Amber and Mochi. I was sad for Pudding because she could have been a very fine and good dog if exercised correctly. I decided to show more interest in Mochi instead because her owner was okay with us teaching her. We do not hit other people's dog, we just teach accordingly using methods that will not do any damage to them, look at Amber and one will understand, she is not hurt nor unhealthy! I walked Amber and Mochi for the second round, people even praised them for being cute walking side by side. While we were buying drinks a group of foreigners came and look at Amber and Mochi! They started to play with Amber and she was overly excited, i then pulled Amber away and Mochi walked up front without asking, Mochi was quite calm dealing with strangers petting her after the walk, they took pictures of Mochi and Amber and then left. We walked to the jetty, placed them both on the bench and they looked really close and happy. 

Dogs are dogs, they are not called human for a reason! Treat them like dogs and they will treat you like human.

We decided to go home since it was dark. Mochi was still on short leash in my cousin's hand and she also walked well, beside the owner or behind means a submissive dog, in front of owner or pulling the leash means dominant/fearful dog. Pudding was on long leash and she didn't walk at some point, she just stayed firm on the ground and when the owner continued walking, he let the leash like 3 metres long and Pudding still wouldn't walk. He had to walk towards Pudding, wait for Pudding to walk then he could move on, Pudding was not an aggressive but a fearful dog. In future if one were to decide to put the dogs off leash, a correctly-trained dog will walk beside the owner, and stop when the owner stops. But a wrongly-trained dog would walk right in front, does not walk if it doesn't feel like or even run off without warning. This is what happened to some lost dogs. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole trip, we learned a lot about other dogs and owners. There are no wrong in however a owner wants their dog to be, its only whether the dog is happy or not! We like to thank everyone who went to the trip. Thanks to my cousin and her boyfriend who is willing to meet us and let us walk their dogs, my sister who is always giving me a helping hand and also my wife who took most of the pictures and carried Amber's bag and the heavy camera LOL!

Do visit our facebook page for more pretty pictures and happy dogs!