Before we went to K9,

we met Randy across the road. Born a Kelpie, he was spared the 'sport' of racing, and enjoys his life initiating games of fetch with willing visitors. Boundless energy and super-clean teeth at 10 years of age, he will keep coming to you with his soggy fetch-toy..on and on and on....


Randy, time-out.


Then we met Karl, the Shepherd X. Been returned to the kennels a couple of times, he has the fixated obsession with shadows that has become quite a concern as he had hurt himself on ocassions. Just like the human form of OCD - obsessive compulsive disorder - it develops to the point where the dog could possibly hurt himself, cos he would be biting at shadows and accidentally bite himself, if he was chasing shadows of his own tail.


Here, Karl was fixated on a bright reflection from someone's watch.

Fixated on my shadow.

Fixated on his own shadow.

It can be quite sad to see a fine dog lose his chance of being adopted due to his strange obsession. He would be completely engrossed and not hear when you call. And it has been said that this obsession can be extremely stressful to the dog himself, though it seems that he chooses to be fixated but in fact, it is also out of his control. And it hurts his opportunities for normal socialisation with humans and dogs. It is said to stem from extreme lack of socialisation during puppyhood and a lack of purpose especially for working dogs. Very interesting phenomenon to read up more on.

The kennel is getting help to rehab Karl out of this behaviour and hopes abound for his permanent home to come.

A fine day for a roadtrip

down to Mandurah's K9 Rescue Unit to find out more on what they do.

We arrived too early and strolled around the neighbourhood of boarding kennels which we found out are for racing Greyhounds. Chatted with a friendly lady who has 8 greyhounds on her facility - some for racing and a couple are ready for retirement. Which, in some cases, meant that they are ready to be put to sleep.

I have my own opinions on greyhound racing. In short - an unnecessary 'sport'.

The lady told us that the greyhounds start racing when they are close to 2 years. A typical racing career spans 4 years. So you can expect to have many 'redundant' greyhounds who are 6 years and above, who suddenly become too much for the owner to maintain. And frequently coupled with racing injuries, many of them are put to sleep. Destroyed. Cos they are not able to do anymore, the thing they were bred to do. Run to win.

In a scenario like this, you're much better off born a Kelpie. No one will expect you to race after a fake bunny. And you won't be on the express queue to doggy heaven just cos you've gotten slow or sprained a leg.

I would believe there are good, integrous owners out there who do truly care for their greyhounds and who would keep them as home pets after their career ends. But the known sheer number of greyhounds being put down regularly shows an imbalance. Thousands of greyhounds are euthanised yearly. 1 in 4 may get rehomed. Many others are surrendered to research labs to benefit medical studies. Like Roger here. He is one of many surrendered by his owners and now he is a helpful aide for us to learn about dog anatomy - by palpation (physical examination with hands).

Roger

When you step back and look at this industry of animal sports, nothing in it makes sense to me. It's not about sports. Neither is it about the animals. The humans are in it solely for the money.

Western Australia RSPCA's

Five Freedoms for Animals

The RSPCA believes that all animals have the right to five basic freedoms:

* Freedom from hunger and thirst: by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour
* Freedom from discomfort: by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.
* Freedom from pain injury and disease: by prevention by rapid diagnosis and treatment
* Freedom to express normal behaviour: by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind
* Freedom from fear and distress: by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering.

I believe we have room for great improvements in this call for freedom.

What I'll see...

beneath my little Bailey's lamb skin .... her a.n.a.t.o.m.y.

I've seen them lying alongside the streets,

somewhat hidden from sight if you're not consciously looking for them. Just now, we thought it would be a good time to take them home. So off we went, a short walk from our flat, to this patch of green - to bring some globular ones back!



They are not our regular red juicy watermelons. They are called the Kalahari Tsamma Melon or Wild Melon or Citron Melon. Native to Africa and abundant in the Kalahari desert, the flesh is more whitish-yellowish and dense and taste more green than sweet. Bit like a cold lemony watermelon. If you prefer, you can cook it or use it for facials!



This Melon King looks good!



We'll try cooking some tomorrow and maybe roasting the seeds for a treat!

The very 1st

intrasemester test is over. Veterinary Physiology. The groans that were heard...cos the paper turned out to be more like a Lab Test than a theoretical one on what we've learnt in lectures! More than half the questions were from our lab sessions...oh well, it's over now. Expect the best and move ahead! Anatomy and Biochem in 2 weeks' time.

Interestingly,

big sis, we touched on the Rectus Abdominis in Anatomy this morning, ha! That 6-pack washboard abs many men work so hard for but failed over that extra bottle of beer.

The dog has more compartments running down their RA muscles, so guess they can have 12-pack. But then again, I guess dogs are pretty happy being as they are.

Physio test on Wed! Muscles and nerves....muscles and nerves...muscles and nerves...

Here it comes again...

...brain food.

I never ate as much Nutella as I did in NZ and now downunder. 750g almost done in. But remembering I dug in halfway after C left, that's not too bad. And there always comes that saturation point where you won't even wanna glance at it anymore. When it starts to look suspiciously like Vegemite and you wondered how you spooned in mouthful after mouthful of that goo.

But for now, enjoy it while it lasts. Or my Milk Arrowroot, whichever goes first. Hey they call it 'energy to live & learn', ha!

After that, I should replenish my Vitamin T2.

Tim Tams.

What do you do at 6.50am

in 15 degrees of cool crisp air? Saturday morning market you go!

Fresh seafood, meat, fruits and veg aplenty - 13kg of bananas at just 5 bucks! Hmmm.... smooth move...

The ubiquitous

beach bums downunder...

... life is good.

Hey...Bailey should be here!

A passing shower

and the Honeyeaters are chirping cheerfully! Such a refreshing - not only to the birds.

The raindrops are still falling gently now.

Is it so hard to comprehend

"No aquarium, no tank in a marineland, however spacious it may be,
can begin to duplicate the conditions of the sea - Jacques Cousteau"

that an amazingly great animal like the Whale Shark belongs to the great, vast ocean?

Freedom. Freedom to live, as you are born to live.

"Resorts World at Sentosa wants to import whale sharks for the attraction and entertainment of visitors. Whale sharks are vulnerable to extinction and have never done well in captivity. Whale sharks can grow as large as two city buses, dive up to 980 metres and migrate over 13 thousand kilometres in the wild. No man-made environment, no matter how large, could accomodate their needs. They live up to a hundred years. It is just plain cruel to keep them in glass cages. Whale sharks have never fared well in captivity. Two whale sharks died within five months of each other at the Georgia Aquarium."

http://www.whalesharkpetition.com/

Creatures of the wild. They are not meant for us to keep.

City view

Our 1-week

study break starts tomorrow. It's a break - a break to study, not a break from study! And guess that's what most of us are gonna do - study. Cos after the week, we'll have tests and quizzes to see where we stand in terms of the info-loading.

Memorisation does no good here. The key thing is to truly understand the basis and concepts of how things work and build a firm foundation from day one.

And to always keep in mind - the competition is over. Enjoy the journey of learning.

Charity Dog Wash at our Horse Barn!

The awww...so cute Peppin the Papillon.

Abby the French Bulldog who hates the water, relieved that it's finally a rub-down.

Pepper the German Pointer looking peppy after her bath - just 4 months young, she's gonna be a big girl looking at her paws. :)

Hot Beagle she is - Tobasco is her name. :)

"The unforced rhythms

of Grace".

A verse I am again reminded of this morning.

A reminder to rest. Cos all things are working out for good.

Lup-dup-

swoosh....lup-dup-swoosh....lup-dup-swoosh..... That's how Mr Horsey down at the barn sounds with his heart murmur. A very bad occurence for race horses as they obviously won't bring back the trophy, but as a keep-horse (if there is such a word), they can live pretty normally for many years.

We stetho 4 horses for normal and abnormal heart sounds down at the equine barn, and counted the heartbeat of Stanley the retired greyhound. At 90 beats per minute, Stanley was a tad excited in our company but oh so good on the examination as he willingly lay down on his side as we place the probes on for ECG. He knows exactly what he is there for.

These greyhounds are a blessing to vet students. Given up by their owners from the race tracks, either for being old or slow or injured, many of them have been such wonderful learning tools to give students the valuable hands-on knowledge that's worth tons over a textbook explanation. I have my reservations over the greyhound racing industry, as with the horse racing industry. For now, I am grateful for the value these greyhounds bring and I hope more of them get rehomed or conversely, less are bred for such a sport.

Hmm....but don't ask me about the ECG waves at this point in time - the PQRST, S1234....the systole, diastole, the whole interchange of sodium, potassium, calcium....The cardiovascular mechanics is quite up in the clouds at this moment, but YES, figure it out, I will!

I think millions of

brain cells died over our Anatomy spot test today. Although it is worth just 2.5% of the overall semester score, everyone seemed pretty antsy about it. Maybe cos it's the first spot test and you know how it is with the 'firsts' in all things.

Well, we pored through all photos of our dissection and ran through our specimen - from trunk muscles with names like Latissimus Dorsi, Trapezius, Rhomboid, Cleiodocephalicus, Sternocephalicus to muscles of the shoulder and brachiam (arm) like Supraspinatus, Subscapularis, Deltoides, Brachialis, Teres Major, Long Heads of Triceps .... not to mention the names and functions of all bone parts and nerves and arteries and veins.....

Our group got good marks for presentation, neatness of dissection and explanation of our dissection process and close to full marks for identifying anatomical parts ... to a final score of 17/20. Hmm...20/20 would be so good, ha!

Tomorrow noon, we'll get to troop down to the barn to hear some horses' heartbeats, how cool! Ok, time to regenerate brain cells now ;p ........ zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Was reading by the Esplanade waters

one Sunday morning as C, D and J went for their run. Soon, this pair of Black Swans came along the Swan River, settled down next to me and started their grooming regime which went on for more than 10 minutes. Interesting to watch.