What I should've done instead.

Might as well right?
Do my confessions now.

I know, I am not supposed to yell at him.
I need to show him that I'm the best thing ever and loves him a lot just so I am more reinforcing than anything.
But, sometimes I just can't help it.
When he bites me, it really really hurts.
He is getting really big, you know, my Rumblyrum.
He thinks he is using the same light strength to bite me, but no! Rumbly dear, you are growing, so are your jaw strength.
I try, really really hard not to get angry, I swear.
When he is gentle I love him to death, actually even when he is not, I still love him to death :(
Why do you think I am bleeding everywhere.

I also know, I am supposed to not give him punishments.
But really, putting him in the room, alone, is just a way of me to calm him down!!
I'm serious, I usually let him out really quick....other than the times when I forget about him....then he sometimes is in the room for a good 30 minutes.
I do not lock him in the closet anymore in a confined space, to restrict him, as a punishment. When I used to, it is at most for like 30 mins at most.
Now after learning from Emily, I felt really bad.
I do not time out him anymore, just calming him down in a room on his own, with toys.
Sometimes, all the people in the surroundings excites him too much and he becomes extra mouthy.
I remove him only so he can calm down, only he might think it's a punishment........

I know, I'm not supposed to focus on one training.
I should train him a variety of things, everyday.
I wanted to, but I didn't have a chew stick!!
I wanted to use a chew stick to train him to drop, and I didn't go to the pet store...yet... because I was... busy... you know.
Anyway, I could have trained him other things you say?
Well, I wanted to focus on the most basic, and most important.
Like being calm and come as call.
I feel like tricks can all come later but some stuff are essentials, you know.
Plus, I moved on and trained him to drop, so it's all forgiven?

Lastly, I know, I need to control his interactions with other dogs and other humans who might not know how to handle a puppy and what he is getting trained for.
Or else, I either let all my training go into the sea of forgiven or I'm giving him bad socializing experiences. So I set him up for failures and now no one will ever like him, not dogs nor human.
This I will work on. No excuses.
I've got an extreme case, trust me. Extreme ways are needed, like extreme amount of love.
This new way of training is really bizarre to a lot of people. No giving him the stare or even punishment in general. So it is a little bit harder.
It's just that I feel bad a lot of times not letting other punishing him because he is hurting them.
I also forget some people just really don't know how to handle dogs, doesn't matter if they own one or not. Some people put their dogs in strollers for god's sake.
I won't be able to explain the concept to everyone so all I can do is keep an eye on my pup.
I'm just glad I have Bimbob here to help me, it's his dog after all.

xoxo
Sherrawks

Holding back from trying to bully, how nice of you.

Rumbly's Training Diary No. 2

I might have gotten a little bit lazier than I was the first day I brought Rumbly home from haircut.

The sessions lessened but I really have a really good excuse... I mean reasons.

Rumblepoo has been doing exceptional on Recall training and his positive whistling interrupter...at home.

Outside the house, where there is distraction, my pup don't give 100 sheets of who I am.

If we are outside, our pup's OS when he sees another human is most probably,

"MY NEW FAV HUMANS!!! BRING ME HOME WITH YOU!!!"

And whatever I say, it's like it flew over his head and never hit him.

Yup, new mum instantly.

So for the past couple of days, we have been trying to proof his training, most importantly Recall and the interrupter. As Emily said, proofing is shooooo important. I mean you really want it to work perfectly every single time, especially on very important commands.

First couple of days, really didn't work. Rumblepoo being Rumblepoo. 

Then, we go back some steps to enhance his experience with being recalled and interrupter. So his muscle memory forever associates us calling him as his favourite food and/or he needs to look at us.

It has been working brilliant!! At least with all our friends. He sometimes will do the I-need-to-go-but-hey quick bite, when we interrupt him, especially with new people, but he is getting there. 

I'm seeing results at least. 

I judge this by how I'm feeling right now, like less angry, so I could be wrong.

It could just be Bimbob is here to help out today and there is enough distractions for him today to bug me less. 

Or it is the end of the day and he is calmly sleeping by my bed, acting cute and all. 

One or the other.

Might not be really him showing results, but you know, one can dreams.

He dream on Bimbob's bed all the time.

Like I said for the past few days, we have been focusing on proofing everything, which Emily did NOT recommend.

Let's be honest, I... didn't listen to everything she said alllllll the time.

While we can talk about what I didn't do and should do some other time, let's focus on the good things now, shall we?

Don't worry, I have excuses... I mean good reasons, for everything.

Today we started new stuff, yay!

We tried the drop it thing, with his new chew stick(?) thing. 

We are suppose to stuff that into the Kong for him to enjoy, which we eventually did.

We tried to train drop it with the stick first.

I have to say, he doesn't really understand it just yet, we are getting there though.

I will need to emphasize, you will absolutely NEED a less desirable chew stick and a highly desirable treat for this.

I tried it with a lower value treat that he will nibble and be satisfy for other cheaper tricks, he sniffed the treat and give me a look, the 

"you must not be serious. I drop that for this?"

look , for like 5 seconds until I gave him his cheese.

Not kidding you at all.

Him sitting far away, so he can see me on the bed. Just the most adorable puppy ever. I'm biased yes.

I had wonder how do you really find out what they like and not, seriously you can just tell. 

I thought I might get it wrong too but apparently, dogs' emotions are really not that hard to guess.

Even the female dogs...

They actually get bored with things they don't really care for that much and just seem hesitant to eat the treat.

But for example, Rumbly's favourite, he never hesitates. No matter how much I've fed him.

Thanks Bimbob for being around these training days.

It really makes everything sooo much easier.

xoxo

Sher

Rumbly's Training Diary 1

This is just so I remember every single detail about Rumbly's training.
Seriously though, this training has been nothing but a learning experience as well as test for patience, for me, for the most of it.

This devil thing, I don't know a better word to describe my baby, and I love him to death. But he is a devil. Don't try to convince me otherwise, it's not... no... like you don't understand.

Anyway,
First things first, patience is like the rule of all rules.
I don't really want my dog to have to go to school. I want to try my best before I tell myself that I should let the professionals do this. So here I am, struggling to get him to, for instance, poop, not on everywhere else but the pee pad. And look! As we speak, he just poop on the carpet!
For the longest time(like whole day yesterday) all I did was think to myself,

"my Rumbly is a dummy"

 or

"okay this is never ever going to work",

I kept going anyway.
Mostly because he has the most adorable, first ever haircut from Barking Babies yesterday and all things could be forgiven. I'm going to guess the puppy god saw my hard work and did some magic on Rumble and magically things are starting to get together.

"Go to your bed" took like a good 500 tries to get him to response but hey! It's seeing results!
Oh and when I say "go to your bed" I really mean "go to your BED". It's bad but sometimes it could be "go in your bed", that's my mistake on a confusing cue to that might have contribute to this taking a little longer.

"Leave it" its doing really well!! Usually if he approaches the treat and I don't get to stop him in time, the treat is bye-bye, sayonara. After a series of different "leave it" training with different distractions, I was able to stop him in time from getting a dropped treat. Trust me, I screamed "whoohoo" inside more than you could imagine. Only if it isn't midnight here.

Recall is doing decent, he is responding wayy better than he used to be. We were at the pet store and there were other of his human best friends, in case you were wondering who isn't his human best friend? I don't know, he likes everyone but me. So his "friends" are playing with him and he gets really rough really easily, so I try to call him before he runs cray and guess what, no response. Today he "found" Tomoka's feet and didn't even care if I ever existed. But later today, he was doing a little better after I upgraded his treat. I know, shallow dog.

Same thing with the positive interrupter. Yesterday, the positive interrupter training was unbearable to mention. Pretty much like nothing happened. Today, after more series of hard, intense training, he is responding to us a lot better. Yes, we upgraded the treat for this.

Things to pay attention to are like, the treat you use in different things.
I realized it matters A LOT, he response so differently! Simply use his favourite treat for the hardest task. Right now, that is pooping for us. sigh.
Look out cause he might really love something, but if he is full, he will lose interest. So make sure you keep track of how long you have been training him for with certain treats.
Obviously, the treats he likes less will last shorter in training than his favourite treat, Rumble gets bored really easily so this was really easy to pick up.
What that was really hard, and still is, is to keep training healthy. I don't wanna over feed him or simply letting him have too much salty food and etc. But with him, I do have to do it for a decent amount of time. So I only use his most crazy favourite treat like pepperoni or cheese if I absolutely have to. I don't have to use so much with his favourite treats (usually the unhealthiest for him) for certain tricks but you know, I always need to watch out. I get carried away and forgot that half bag of wild rabbit treat is gone.

All these are tips and tricks I picked up from the best dog training youtuber - kikopup.

I did doubt her ways, only because her dogs all seems to be pretty smart. Like she has to know how to pick the smartest looking dog, she is a dog trainer. Biased Sher was all like,

"yea, you can't do this Sher."

I gave it a go and I'm hooked. I watch the whole series of puppy training videos in one sitting. Might or might not have held in pee for way too long than I should.

She speaks dog, I swear.

This is one of her like 900000 views video that I should have watched way earlier and I should repeatedly watch 800 more times until I master everything in it.
My Rumble nibs just everything, as long as it is a thing, he will bites it.

Anyway, it is like 4 am in the morning. Good night Rumble, we shall meet again, like tomorrow.

xoxo,
Sherrawks

Hello Rumble Fumble ❤

Don't worry.

Only I can bully you from now on.

(And mostly Bro Mo)

I will love you so so much you won't even believe it. 

Actually, I already do.

 You fell asleep on Uncle Sean's hand.

 Car ride home, with your biggest fan, Auntie Megan.

 Bro Mo's attempt to claim the new bed.

I can't wait to watch you grow up baby.

Xoxo,

Mummy Sher

Hello Bibi's babies!

I thought it's time.
They are simply the definition of cute.
I had to try sooo hard to not fall in love with these naughty heads but I can't help it.
They are such sweetie and just know exactly how to catch my heart.
I've only met them once and I decided that I need to kidnap them home for a day, so that's what I did.

They are big kids now, but I can still carry 3 of them at once.
On the way home though, they did get a little... heavier... I'm not complaining!!
I will never drop my babies.
They attracted some of the stray dogs and I was like NO! probably fiercer than Bibi will be if she was here.
Bibi, my baby and these babies' mummy, is a very protective mum.
So I'm the protective... grandmum?

So I got home and Bibi was really excited to see them.
Of course my smarty girl recognizes her children, she recognizes me after 2 years of not seeing me, so yea, of course she knows who these cuties are.
She checked on them, play with them, make sure they are okay, and got bully by the babies. It was awfully cute watching.
They still try to get milk from her, even though they all have teeth and it really hurts. She hates it. They love trying.

So I try to train them to sit, and training 3 puppies at the same time is simply not the simplest thing.
Luckily, I got the mum by my side supporting and coaching.
They all got so excited, jumping up and down as soon as they see the treat. I'm like "sit sit sit sit" nobody listens but the mum. So I fed the mum only. And in like 5 minutes, suddenly, Toto was sitting, and then Kuda learns to sits too, I didn't need to do anything and I'm like oooh~ mum really helps, she was a really good example!
But yeaaa, Magnum wasn't half as smart, I had to lightly press on his hind legs before he knows like

"ohhhh she wants me sit down!! Why didn't you just say so?!"

He was more like daddy... I don't know who daddy is but if he were to inherited my Bibi's smartness, he would definitely be smart like his brothers and sisters.

Not a problem! We still love you Magnum!  By we, I only mean me, kakak only like Kuda.

 

Yup I'm the smart one.

"I learned how to sit!!"

"Give it to me already!"

I swear he's secretly a little wolf.

That's them wanting treats. Sigh. They are not obedient for no reason.

"Am I finally doing this right?!"

Did I mention how much Magnum love shoes?

Yea he does.

"Just chilin here, acting really well sitting right beside ya."

They want something from me don't they.

Ok, it's just the morning, still early.

Contemplating how to make a mess today.

"Do I have to pretend to be good today again? sigh, it's so hard."

"I think I have an idea!"

We actually gave them to a very close family friend so that is why I have to carry them home.

It was nice and all that they are getting taken care of but I will miss them.

xoxo,

Sher.

Night Market let's go!

I'll first have to admit, I don't really like going to night market.
I think the last one I went to must have been a longgggg time ago, I definitely forgot about all the fun stuff you see and do there.
All I remember is mosquitoes, dirty, muddy grounds and the horrible crowd. I hate very crowded places, gives me a headache.
This time my mum wanted me to go cause she was going to meet up with her friend, so to accompany her, I went anyway and I can't believe how much fun I had!

I can't believe I forgot about all these food they sell here, all these weird little things that you might not be able to find anywhere else.
This is one of the thing we used to always have as a kid, a big part of my childhood savings goes here. I can't tell you what's so good about it now, but it's the best for us since Malaysia is extremely warm.
Back in the days, this little truck will drive around my neighbourhood with a speaker, chanting its name to let us kids know that he's here and we will rush outside to stop him and buy it from him.
Later when I go to high school, this truck would also wait outside the backdoor of my school during after school hours and all these kids will just gather around his truck for a little treat after school.
What this is, is just icey syrup(?). Its not sorbet, not ice cream, definitely not shaved ice. It really is just frozen syrup kind of thing. You drink it with a straw and you will drink up all the syrup until there is only ice left. It costs like RM1 I think, back then at least.

 

Fruits! In Malaysia we always have all these colourful fruits everywhere. Although our vegetables are often not that amazing, our fruits are definitely one of the best. They are also extremely cheap compared to what I can get in Canada, ugh. I think we have papaya, guava, Mr. A's favourite, waxed - apple. Just to show off, I bought quite a bit home and devour them in seconds. They are extremely sweet.

Did I forget to mention about all these weird looking fruits we have here? We have the very well-known, spiky, delicious, amazing King of Fruits, Durian. We also have Mangosteen, a.k.a Queen of Fruits, that looks kind of weird too, purple in colour and if you accidentally got it on your shirt or something, it never comes off. Then we have this, Soursop. In Chinese, it also have Durian in its name for the spiky look but not the smell.
A lot of these are not necessarily local but we still have great access to it and it's not expensive at all!

 
Remind me again, why did I have dinner before I come here?
All these food, man.
Char Kueh Kak. I'm drooling just looking at this.
These are square noodles fried in soy sauce, bean sprout, garlic heaven.
I like it with an egg.

I also found this really cool cake vendor.
I've never seen anyone sell cake like that.
This is just on the street night market and they just look sooo good.
I didn't get to try any but it is one of the most popular stall that night.
Maybe next time.

That's all for my special night market trip.
It was really fun looking like a tourist.
Gotta come back with empty stomach next time!

xoxo,
Sher

How to Live AGAIN in Malaysia

There's thing that I am just not used to anymore.
Cut me some slack, I'm still a real Malaysian, I just haven't been practicing.

First, I kept forgetting that we always drive on the other side, and driver seat is on the right.
I keep trying to get into the driver seat and my mum will look at me like,

"so, you driving hon?"

It's actually pretty dangerous, as I would actually look out on the wrong side when I'm trying to cross the road. Good thing we don't cross the road any way like when we are in Canada, so I'm actually extra careful anyway.
One thing I do remember this time, is how to cross the road. Last trip, which is like 2 years ago, I was freaking out on the street of Taiwan outside my hotel. I felt absolutely defeated, to the street. I lost the ability to cross the Asian street. So I'm real proud that this time, I kept my survival skills.

You also always, and I mean ALWAYS, have to bring napkins or tissue paper of some kind with you wherever you go. They are not free nor are they available everywhere. If you don't have tissue paper with you, more often than normal, you have to ask someone for it. If you live here, you usually remember to bring some with you. Like mum, she always have at least 2 pack with her. Since we are not the most sweat-less people... Whenever it's almost the end of meal time, you see us looking for my mum for tissue paper. It's just how it works.
Sometimes, washroom don't even have toilet paper and you are just stuck there. Trust me, it's not rare at all that washroom here does not provide tissue paper. We don't really trust people here, unfortunately.

"Don't look presentable"

That is what my mum has been telling me these days. We need to not catch any attention whatsoever.
It's not that easy mum, with the genes you gave me, I can't hide these exploding beauty... of yours. *mega hairflip*
We are not in the safest country, not even close to a safer surroundings, so you just always have to be cautious everywhere you go. You absolutely shouldn't look tourist, that's the deal.
You have no idea how many creepy stares I've gotten when I first arrived with my sweater.
It makes you wonder what are they planning in their evil minds.

I guess staying focused and cautious is always very important when you are outside anyway.
In a country that has a pretty high snatching and pick-pocketing rate, precaution has to be taken.
Bags always within sight and never leave you, don't bring important documents with you, don't take drinks from stranger, etc etc.

It might sound scary, but these are just something I noticed that I have to suddenly be really careful about, just to survive and live.

xoxo,
Sher

Things I missed back home.

I literally wrote down a list. Just in case I forget anything. There is going to be way too many and I know it. So for the first time, I prepped pen and notebook in my bag, so I can write things down.
I'm never the kind that likes to record things on my phone if I can write it down, it just feels... more real?


Anyway, I got back to my hometown, Alor Star, at like 8 in the morning, so we went for breakfast at this restaurant that I used to loveee going. It changed so much! The whole restaurant looks different. One thing is the same though, it's semi outdoor and there is no AC.
I'm really glad that it's the morning and it's not burning out yet.

I sat down and ordered the classic breakfast drink for Malaysians, Milo O, how much I miss this!
You are probably thinking,

"milo, you can buy it and make it anywhere."

No, it's not that simple. 

Restaurants always make them in a rush, they never mix them well, and so a big part of the Milo is not melted and stayed at the bottom of your cup. But it's these imperfection that made their way into the holy memoryland and make them so special.

This restaurant, like many other Malaysian kind restaurants, are made up from these individual stalls that sell their own thing. It's almost like a tiny food court. Only these, doesn't follow no rules. They make their food their way, and they all deal with their customers their own way. There is no Health Standard whatsoever, but no one really ever get sick from eating here (maybe a small portion, fine. They just have weak stomach, geez!)

See how they have these colourful plastic basins to wash their equipment and sometimes the food. I don't know about you but a lot of times here, these people are very clean and they simply make the best food. No complains for me! Malaysians do eat everything xD

Did I mentioned how the noodles are less than 5 Ringgit? Exactly.

I never realized how amazing cheap tiny portions could be, I get to try 4 different food in one breakfast!

I also had our infamous Malaysian toast with kaya(egg jam), I can't help but miss it.

Though many are amazing, this is probably one of the best version. I don't know what about it, but it's amazing. It's definitely NOT simply toast, it's THE OldTown Kaya Toast.

Back in my hometown, we also have paddy fields. Beautiful, paddy fields that takes breath away. I never realized that until these days when I don't get to see it that often anymore.

Look at how green they are!

It's so big I can't even see the end of it.

Words can't describe how I feel about this, it is truly something you need to see it with your own eyes.

I never knew, but my country, is quite pretty!

We have amazing view, people, and most importantly, food!

xoxo,

Sher

Lets talk Thai food

My first day back, I'm already thinking about all this food I need to have before I go.

There's so many of them, I don't really know where to start, good thing my uncle already figured it out for me.

Thai food it is.

We went to this amazing, beautiful, award-winning (I know it's award-winning, there's gold plates all over the wall) Thai restaurant that my uncle have heard of since a while ago but never been to. His words were to wait for me to come back and have this special moment with me. How is he not the sweetest?! ♥

We were super late cause of the traffic, and so they already ordered so all I needed to do was to sit down and pig out as soon as I arrived.

It's crazy how long haven't I actually tasted authentic Thai food.  

The mango salad was simply amazing for me, but I guess like my mum said, at this point everything will be crazy awesome to me.

I was like, there you go, THIS is how mango salad is suppose to taste like.

There is many other things that I could talk about, like the huge tiger crab, and the cockle clams cooked in green curry sauce or something.

But this, this is what completes my first day.

Durian ice cream (from REAL durian) with actual durian and sweet sticky rice. 

What is this heaven right here?

Don't judge me, I'm Malaysian, durian is everything.

xoxo, 

Sher

Journey of Thai food to be continued...

Hi home.

So first day back.

First thought:

I'm melting.
No wait, I melted.

How is it even possible to survive this. How did I do this?

My hair is frizzy, I always feel dirty since I'm always sweating.
I don't feel like moving cause I feel like if I move a finger I will start sweating.
This is the part where I definitely don't miss.

Then there is everything else.

I got off the flight, my darling cousin girl, picked me up with my dad.
Oh dear, how much she has grown.
My little girl, how much I miss her.
(I miss my dad too but I just saw him like a month ago so he is less missed =P)

Did I tell you how I came back to a crazy rain?
And no, it didn't cool down nothing.
I'm still melting!!

Not cool, weather, not cool.

Head home, shower and out for dinner.
Our car was way too full so we have my beloved uncle to pick us up, and then we went to pick up my aunt and my little cousin brother.
My darling cousin brother, what a handsome thing.
Also the sweetest thing on earth.
He always remember to give me hugs, unlike the sister, grrr.

Then I saw my bro, sis in law, my godmumsie, and my maid.
I looked so calm too, but secretly I was dancing and hopping around inside. After all, these are the people I miss the most. I want to pack them in my pocket and take them with me if I can.

I'm so tired all I can do is trying to not sleep, but nothing is working. I napped all the way from home to the restaurant.

I'm going to sleep right after this.
Tomorrow is a early flight.

I missed home here, but now I miss home there too.

View from my living room window at 6 in the morning last week.
Helps making me feel better a little bit.

xoxo
Sher

 ps: I love my Classic Walking Fedora hat! and excuse my tired face.