It's been over 2 years since we first started this blog, with all the questions from people whom we have met both online and in real life, i'm sure that many are curious the progress of Amber Toy Poodle, how we started, the problems we faced and also our future plans.
Amber
Amber will be 4 years old this year, she had brought us so much joy and happiness that we would sometimes forget that time is passing very quickly, the once baby Amber is now a full grown adult.
It's hard to imagine a house without a pet, when we go overseas and have to put Amber with her caretaker the day before departure, we would return home and find the place soulless, even at times preparing Amber's food, forgetting that she isn't with us. We love her like our family and some people do not understand our intention, they do not understand that love doesn't equals to hugging and kissing a dog, but it doesn't matter as long as we know what we are doing, and thankfully Amber is one of the happiest dog we have seen out there due to proper upbringing!
Blog
When we first started this blog, it was meant to log down Amber's life and progress, we did not expect nor wished to attract viewers, we were pretty new with social media in some ways, all we thought of was to simply jog down an open diary about our experience with Amber and dogs. As time goes, we received enquiries asking about Amber, this was also the time when we received questions about dogs behavior and health, so we decided to create posts focusing more on Amber's training, hoping that people can pick up some tips.
Facebook and YouTube
With a blog, we also wanted to try out another platform, which was Facebook! Honestly we did not know how to use Facebook properly as we are not even active on our personal account, it was a new experience for us. Through Facebook we met more 'casual dog owners', most were just looking forward to see photos of Amber. As our Facebook page started to develop with more photos, more people got curious and some even requested us to upload videos, which eventually led to YouTube.
YouTube was yet another challenge for us, we slowly picked up some knowledge about the platform as well as learned some basic video editing, have to say it was a pretty fun experience! YouTube gave us a chance to show people Amber's progress through first person perspective, all her behaviors and improvements are shown from time to time.
Obedience training
Shortly, we received requests from fans to provide trainings for their dogs, they had feedback that our videos and online tutorials are not helping them, they wanted physical demonstrations and explanations. We thought for awhile before deciding to provide the first ever Obedience training for a stranger - I do train dogs in the past but it was only for friends and family, not knowing what's ahead we simply went with our intuition.
After a couple of months holding Obedience Training, we started to meet more different owners, this was when we noticed that a lot of times the problem didn't lie with the dog, but with the owners. Many do not understand their dogs, they don't know what the dogs are thinking and trying to say, thus some started to assume while others resorted to "miracle help", which in the end caused their dogs to misbehave even more, not only did the owners suffer, their dogs suffered too, when we met these dogs for the first time, they were extremely sad, frustrated and confused. We revamped our modules, brainstorming sessions were held every month to find ways to improve, we knew that there was a need to focus on owners, from there on we started to see drastic improvements in them, other than people who were lazy and skipped training sessions constantly, we are proud to say that we have had 100% success in all training, all dogs showed improvements when their owners were willing to change.
Staycation
Shortly, owners who had trained with us wanted to place their dogs with us while they were away, we treated them as friends, their dogs as ours, most didn't ask much about their furkids even during long vacations, they were assured. Photography of dogs during their stay started when more owners outside of our circle approached us through referrals/blog, some were skeptical but we persevered, shortly videos were also introduced. People won't be able to imagine how much we had went through, nobody would've wanted to do what we did if they could see our daily activities, we did not do that to attract people, we simply felt that all dogs should be treated like how we treat Amber, they should all follow her daily routine without fail. Our programs are designed based on over 16 years of experience with animals, some knowledge were from books, some from the pioneers I met along my life, and a big portion of it from personal encounters, studies and experimentations, with this experience the way we think is different from most, hence our programs are also different, we could even say that our service (considering the daily programs) is the first in Singapore, if not the world. Nowadays we do see similar services appearing due to our videos and blogs, this is a good thing, it serves as a good example for others to follow, a good pioneer if we may say so. We aim to bring pet service in Singapore to a whole new level regardless of the hates from money minded businesses.
Intensive training
Intensive Training was created for busy owners or dogs that are proven to be extremely hard to train, they were probably so used to the bad habits that inexperienced owners simply could not control them, though of course hands on training for owners would be necessary after Intensive training had ended. This program was not to be associated with Cesar's rehabilitation program, we do received a lot of queries about this, whereby problematic dogs are equipped with shock collars (reports from fans) and mixed with a large number of dogs together, our Intensive Training program was designed to limit to a small number of dogs, to let them forget about their past and treat us as their owners, and Amber as one of their sibling, no matter if it is aggression, separation anxiety or housebreaking, we would not forget the number one need in a dog, Happiness. If happiness is not there, dogs will just become like robots, similarly to what we have seen in 'Obedience' competitions, whereby they are bred over and over again to have the best traits, to make them win awards so that their school can be famous, it's just not right if you think from the point of the dogs. When I was a kid, I asked myself, if they are so good, they could just pick any random breed and become a champion, why are pedigree border collies, golden retriever, german shepherds & shelties so common in these competitions? To us, certification, pedigrees and winning isn't important for dogs, happiness is not about winning, winning is for people, happiness in dogs to us equals to Rules, Exercises & Commands, in order to fulfill these 3 golden rules, it requires the most cherished thing from us humans, Time and Passion.
Online shop
Last year, our online shop - Petit Pooch was launched to provide owners with premium pet products, we review products and hunt for suppliers, not the other way round which is to promote all products that the supplier carries, once again this was designed in concern for the dogs in mind. If you had read our blog before our Online shop was created, you might notice that a lot of products had already been recommended before we even started to carry them, this is again something different from any pet stores you find out there, we do not and will never recommend products that do not benefit dogs. We spend time to review as well as well as explain to people how certain products work, their plus and minus points, this ensures that owners know what they are getting and if it would benefit their dogs.
In closing
I remembered once when we consulted a close friend, I told him what we were planning to do, in return he gave his opinions in a straightforward way, he said that what we are doing is just making our lives hard, the amount of work simply isn't worth it for the small amount of money. Honestly we already knew what we were going for and these 2 years of hard work paid off, we are happier with our lives because we work with dogs, they make us happy and in return we try to give them a better life.
It's not easy considering the fact that our posts are always honest and straight to the point, so much that some would find ways to keep us from doing so, either due to different opinions, jealousy or even worrying others will know what they do isn't right, that being said, we still want to ensure readers that if we can work together and stay close, no one will be able to stop what we are doing to fight for the rights of dogs. Dogs no matter how hard their cases are can be resolved with the right mindset and methods, they cannot talk and express their feelings in words, we are here to speak for them, to tell owners what their dogs need and what they can do to give them a better life.
Amber
Amber will be 4 years old this year, she had brought us so much joy and happiness that we would sometimes forget that time is passing very quickly, the once baby Amber is now a full grown adult.
It's hard to imagine a house without a pet, when we go overseas and have to put Amber with her caretaker the day before departure, we would return home and find the place soulless, even at times preparing Amber's food, forgetting that she isn't with us. We love her like our family and some people do not understand our intention, they do not understand that love doesn't equals to hugging and kissing a dog, but it doesn't matter as long as we know what we are doing, and thankfully Amber is one of the happiest dog we have seen out there due to proper upbringing!
Blog
When we first started this blog, it was meant to log down Amber's life and progress, we did not expect nor wished to attract viewers, we were pretty new with social media in some ways, all we thought of was to simply jog down an open diary about our experience with Amber and dogs. As time goes, we received enquiries asking about Amber, this was also the time when we received questions about dogs behavior and health, so we decided to create posts focusing more on Amber's training, hoping that people can pick up some tips.
Facebook and YouTube
With a blog, we also wanted to try out another platform, which was Facebook! Honestly we did not know how to use Facebook properly as we are not even active on our personal account, it was a new experience for us. Through Facebook we met more 'casual dog owners', most were just looking forward to see photos of Amber. As our Facebook page started to develop with more photos, more people got curious and some even requested us to upload videos, which eventually led to YouTube.
YouTube was yet another challenge for us, we slowly picked up some knowledge about the platform as well as learned some basic video editing, have to say it was a pretty fun experience! YouTube gave us a chance to show people Amber's progress through first person perspective, all her behaviors and improvements are shown from time to time.
Obedience training
Shortly, we received requests from fans to provide trainings for their dogs, they had feedback that our videos and online tutorials are not helping them, they wanted physical demonstrations and explanations. We thought for awhile before deciding to provide the first ever Obedience training for a stranger - I do train dogs in the past but it was only for friends and family, not knowing what's ahead we simply went with our intuition.
After a couple of months holding Obedience Training, we started to meet more different owners, this was when we noticed that a lot of times the problem didn't lie with the dog, but with the owners. Many do not understand their dogs, they don't know what the dogs are thinking and trying to say, thus some started to assume while others resorted to "miracle help", which in the end caused their dogs to misbehave even more, not only did the owners suffer, their dogs suffered too, when we met these dogs for the first time, they were extremely sad, frustrated and confused. We revamped our modules, brainstorming sessions were held every month to find ways to improve, we knew that there was a need to focus on owners, from there on we started to see drastic improvements in them, other than people who were lazy and skipped training sessions constantly, we are proud to say that we have had 100% success in all training, all dogs showed improvements when their owners were willing to change.
Staycation
Shortly, owners who had trained with us wanted to place their dogs with us while they were away, we treated them as friends, their dogs as ours, most didn't ask much about their furkids even during long vacations, they were assured. Photography of dogs during their stay started when more owners outside of our circle approached us through referrals/blog, some were skeptical but we persevered, shortly videos were also introduced. People won't be able to imagine how much we had went through, nobody would've wanted to do what we did if they could see our daily activities, we did not do that to attract people, we simply felt that all dogs should be treated like how we treat Amber, they should all follow her daily routine without fail. Our programs are designed based on over 16 years of experience with animals, some knowledge were from books, some from the pioneers I met along my life, and a big portion of it from personal encounters, studies and experimentations, with this experience the way we think is different from most, hence our programs are also different, we could even say that our service (considering the daily programs) is the first in Singapore, if not the world. Nowadays we do see similar services appearing due to our videos and blogs, this is a good thing, it serves as a good example for others to follow, a good pioneer if we may say so. We aim to bring pet service in Singapore to a whole new level regardless of the hates from money minded businesses.
Intensive training
Intensive Training was created for busy owners or dogs that are proven to be extremely hard to train, they were probably so used to the bad habits that inexperienced owners simply could not control them, though of course hands on training for owners would be necessary after Intensive training had ended. This program was not to be associated with Cesar's rehabilitation program, we do received a lot of queries about this, whereby problematic dogs are equipped with shock collars (reports from fans) and mixed with a large number of dogs together, our Intensive Training program was designed to limit to a small number of dogs, to let them forget about their past and treat us as their owners, and Amber as one of their sibling, no matter if it is aggression, separation anxiety or housebreaking, we would not forget the number one need in a dog, Happiness. If happiness is not there, dogs will just become like robots, similarly to what we have seen in 'Obedience' competitions, whereby they are bred over and over again to have the best traits, to make them win awards so that their school can be famous, it's just not right if you think from the point of the dogs. When I was a kid, I asked myself, if they are so good, they could just pick any random breed and become a champion, why are pedigree border collies, golden retriever, german shepherds & shelties so common in these competitions? To us, certification, pedigrees and winning isn't important for dogs, happiness is not about winning, winning is for people, happiness in dogs to us equals to Rules, Exercises & Commands, in order to fulfill these 3 golden rules, it requires the most cherished thing from us humans, Time and Passion.
Online shop
Last year, our online shop - Petit Pooch was launched to provide owners with premium pet products, we review products and hunt for suppliers, not the other way round which is to promote all products that the supplier carries, once again this was designed in concern for the dogs in mind. If you had read our blog before our Online shop was created, you might notice that a lot of products had already been recommended before we even started to carry them, this is again something different from any pet stores you find out there, we do not and will never recommend products that do not benefit dogs. We spend time to review as well as well as explain to people how certain products work, their plus and minus points, this ensures that owners know what they are getting and if it would benefit their dogs.
In closing
I remembered once when we consulted a close friend, I told him what we were planning to do, in return he gave his opinions in a straightforward way, he said that what we are doing is just making our lives hard, the amount of work simply isn't worth it for the small amount of money. Honestly we already knew what we were going for and these 2 years of hard work paid off, we are happier with our lives because we work with dogs, they make us happy and in return we try to give them a better life.
It's not easy considering the fact that our posts are always honest and straight to the point, so much that some would find ways to keep us from doing so, either due to different opinions, jealousy or even worrying others will know what they do isn't right, that being said, we still want to ensure readers that if we can work together and stay close, no one will be able to stop what we are doing to fight for the rights of dogs. Dogs no matter how hard their cases are can be resolved with the right mindset and methods, they cannot talk and express their feelings in words, we are here to speak for them, to tell owners what their dogs need and what they can do to give them a better life.
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