Our four legged fur babies are family, so it is only natural we would want to celebrate their birthdays!
1. Pool Party
If you have a kiddie pool in your backyard, you can turn your dog’s party into a pool one. If you don’t, you can always head to the beach or a dog friendly pool. In our Singapore heat all year round, most of our dogs enjoy cooling off.
Not a birthday party but a beach party all the same!
It’s my birthday and I’ll drink if i want to
2. Dog Cafe Party
When some of our dogs turned ONE, we had a joint birthday party at Paw Pet a few years ago (time flies! Sob). We ordered a big dog boned doggie cake for them to share, and made them party hats.
Happy Birthday doggies!
Meatballs and Cake
3. Cycling Party
Head to East Coast Park and rent some bikes. Dogs love to run and they can run beside you on your bicycle. Or if you’re like us and have your own bikes, you can make a day of it. We ride along the river and then stop for everyone to have drinks to cool off. Check out one of our cycling posts.
From L to R: Olive, Lucy, Kafka, Lulu and Muddy
From L to R: Vivien with Kafka and Lulu, Tanya with Muddy, Sisi with Lucy and Vicky with Olive
4. Pup-cation
If your dog doesn’t enjoy the company of other dogs, you can treat him to a staycation in one of the few pet friendly hotels in Singapore. Which dog won’t enjoy a bask in the tub and spending the day in a lush robe and bedroom slippers. =P
When’s my bath ready?
Finally away from the hustle and bustle of everyday dog life
5. Dog Park
Round up all your dog’s best pals and head to a park where we may or may not let ours off leash. End it off with doggie pupcakes for all! We love Mount Emily Park and Fort Canning Park. Lots of shade and big green spaces.
Having a ball at Mount Emily Park
Fort Canning Park
6. House Party
The Furry Tales do this a lot. We make use of any reason to celebrate with our dogs- dog birthdays, human birthdays, etc. We order cake, make hats and lets the dogs play (supervised). Here’s a peek into one of our house parties.
Pupcakes by Furrific
TFT and pals
7. Stand Up Paddling
SeaBreeze Water Sports at Siloso Beach in Sentosa is dog friendly and rent boards for $35 per hour. Stand Up Paddling is really fun. Even if you can’t stand up, you can sit or kneel and paddle.
L to R: Sisi with Lucy, Vivien with Kafka and Lulu, and Tanya
8. Pet Cruise
If you have a bigger budget and have a whole day to spare, you can organize a pet cruise for birthday pooch and his best pals. Boat owner, Joe, started this boat company in 2012 and is the only pet cruise company in Singapore. His motor catamaran carries a maximum of 10 pax (including dogs – 1 dog counts as 1 pax). A basic cruise lasts 2 hours and costs S$300. To book, please call 96375009 or email: petcruise88@gmail.com
Lucy and Muddy went on a pet cruise with The Wong Dogs
9. Picnic Party
Pack along a picnic for your pooch, bring some party hats and a mat and head to a secluded spot like Singapore’s Little Guilin in Bukit Batok. Hardly anybody is there during the weekday mornings and you can take pictures without having to crop anyone out. The dogs will enjoy the space and water.
Our dogs enjoying their romp
Pampered pooches get a tent
10. Doga Party
If you like Yoga and you have dogs, combine the two and have a Doga party! Head outdoors, bring your mats and stretch together. Here’s the link to some easy dogs poses with your pooch.
Muddy, Olive, Lucy and Kafka doing their best downward dog poses
We recently did up a few toys for Pets Magazine. Here’s a more detailed post with step by step instructions on how we constructed toys for our dogs (and cat) out of scrap materials found at home.
Octopus squeaky tug toy
You’ll need:
Large cloth or fleece
Tennis ball
Ribbon
Felt scraps in black and white
Fabric for the bandana
String (not pictured)
Red cloth for the octopus’s body and christmas cloth for its bandana
Place the ball in the centre of the cloth and wrap it to get a sense of how much cloth you’ll need for the legs. Unwrap and set aside.
That’s how much we’ll need
2. Cut away approximately 5″x 5″ square from each corner of the cloth. This does not have to be perfect.
Cut 6 snips along each edge, leaving fringe that will be the legs of the octopus.
6 strips along each edge
3. Place the ball back in the centre of the cloth and wrap it. Tie it tightly in the neck with some string.
4. To make each leg, braid three fringes together. Tie off the ends with a ribbon.Continue until you have eight legs.
5. Trim the ends of the legs so they’re nice and even.
6. Cut circles from white and black felt for the eyes. Stitch or hot glue it on.
7. Optional: Hem a square of fabric for a bandana.
Our octopus!
Lucy is not very happy she’s been told she can’t play with it
Squid bottle toy
You’ll need:
cloth for the squid
fabric for the “skirt” (optional)
empty mineral water bottle
felt scraps in black and white
Place your bottle and wrap it with your cloth to have a feel of how much cloth you’ll need. Set aside.
Hand stitch three sides of your cloth to “close” it, only leaving one open side to insert your bottle.
Stitching the sides
3. Insert your bottle and tie it tightly at the neck with ribbon. Cut the bottom bit of the cloth into strips. (We made an extra skirt for the squid and tied it to it’s neck but this is optional)
Squid looking cute with skirt and eyes
4. To make each leg, braid 3 fringes together.
5. Cut out circles from black and white felt and hot glue it on. If you have extra fabric, you can make a bandana for it out of a square piece of cloth.
Squid with no mouth
Can I mom? Can I?
None of us have cats, but we know lots of friends who do. These cute mice make fantastic christmas presents and are so easy to make.
Catnip Mouse Cat Toy
You’ll need:
An old sock
yarn
catnip
Scraps of felt in black, white, yellow and red
Sock and catnip
A baby sock might be cuter but none of us have kids so we used an adult’s. Determine the size of the mouse you want and cut off the top bit of the sock.
Cut two semi-circles from the scraps to make ears. Cut smaller semi circles out of felt and stitch it onto the bigger semi circles to make it look nicer.
We stuffed the sock with the scraps that we cut off
3. Stuff the sock with the bits of sock that you cut off. Hide a little bit of catnip in it.
4. Tie the end of the sock with yarn, which will also act as the mouse’s tail.
5. Cut circles from white and black felt, and a triangle from red felt. Stitch it onto the sock for its eyes and mouth.
6. Fold in the back part of the mouse and stitch it so that it looks neat. (This is optional)
7. Thread in some yellow yarn and knot it for the whiskers.
For the Christmas issue of Pets Magazine, The Furry Tales contributed an article on Do-It-Yourself toys for your pooch and kitty. They are earth-friendly, easy to make and fun for the fur kids!
There are plenty of things to buy for dogs in Singapore, but not so much for the dog owners. If you are like us crazy dog ladies, you will probably want to receive/make dog-related gifts too.
Here are a two DIY projects that don’t cost a whole lot and are not super complicated to make (since we made them!).
Doggie Stuffed Toy
What you will need: stuffing, fabric, white paper, goggly eyes (optional), sewing machine (optional)
The Furry Tales and friends made this for Charissa’s birthday (Lady-Mae’s mama) We wanted to make her a giant Lady-Mae she could hug to sleep or display on her couch.
a) We drew out Lady’s shape on a big sheet of paper (her side view).
Paper cut out of Lady-Mae.
b) Then we pinned the two pieces of fabric flat onto the paper outline and cut out the shape. We pinned the two pieces of cloth, aligned back to back (with the ‘front’ side of the cloths facing each other and the ‘back’ sides of the cloth facing outwards).
c) We sewed close most of the cloth, leaving a 1-2cm edge, then removed the pins and turned the animal inside out so the right sides are now on the outside. We then filled the toy with stuffing
Cut the cloth, pin it, sew it, then turn it inside out so the right sides are on the outside.
d) When we had stuffed it to the desired firmness, we sewed the rest of the toy closed. We also sewed on a pair of goggly eyes for fun.
The stuffed Lady-Mae sitting pretty with the rest of the crew!
You can modify this by making it much smaller and turning it into a pin cushion dog for friends who like to sew.
Doggie Treat Jar
What you will need: mason jar or any similar jar, plastic dog figurines, spray paint/acrylic paint, super glue, dog treats
a) Spray paint your dog figurines any color you like. This may take several coats with an hour in between each coat.
b) Spray paint the lid of the jar the same color as the dogs (optional).
c) Super glue the plastic dogs to the lid of the jars. Tie a ribbon (optional) around the jar and fill it with cute doggy bone-shaped treats.
Sitting under the Christmas tree.
Sisi made some treat jars for the other Furry Tales mamas for Christmas. Lucy wasn’t too happy she couldn’t open it.
Lucy with the treat jars.
They make a pretty display – can you spot which dog is Olive, Lulu, Kafka and Muddy??
When you have a dog, especially one that is high energy, you will need to exercise him/her to avoid an uncontrollable, yapping/jumping/hyper atmosphere at home. Unfortunately, most people work full time and may not have time during the weekdays to bring them for long walks. Also, it is now the year-end rainy season (and the recurrent haze pollution) in Singapore, which ruins many of our outdoor activity plans with the dogs. On days like these, there are many inexpensive ways to expend your dog’s energy with mental stimulation and exercises (and keep us sane). Instead of spending money on dog puzzles, which become redundant once your dog has figured it out, there are games you can make yourself. These are fun for your dog, safe, and tire them out when you can’t bring them anywhere. Here are a few we’ve tried. Always make sure you are there to supervise your dog and that the materials used are safe and sturdy. We’ve rated each of these based on difficulty (for the dog) and fun factor, out of 5, based on our dogs’ responses.
1. Muffin Tin Puzzle
Put a treat in each of the muffin tin holes. Then place a tennis ball into each tin. The dog has to try to get the ball out before getting to the treat. It isn’t as simple as it sounds because if the dog simply paws at it, the ball merely spins. Your dog has to realize that it needs to lift the ball out of the tin to get to the treat. Lucy was rather clever and realized that the quickest way to get the treat was to topple the whole tray over so all the balls flipped over to reveal the treats. Olive got to try this game out for the first time this week – it wasn’t too challenging for her, but she had fun solving this in under a minute. Difficulty: ♦ Fun factor: ♥♥♥
2. Kitchen Towel Roll
When you’ve finished using your roll of kitchen towels, keep the cardboard tube. Add a handful of treats inside and fold both ends. Your dog will spend quite a few minutes trying to get the treats out. It can get messy and you may find wet pieces of cardboard scattered all over the floor after they are done. While they figure out how to get the treats out, the tube will probably spend some time rolling around the house. Once they realize they have to use their paws to hold it down and peel open the cardboard with their teeth, it won’t be long before they find their treat. Since it is quite safe, Sisi usually leaves one for Lucy when she’s going out and it keeps her occupied for awhile (Lucy doesn’t eat the cardboard).
Folded ends of the kitchen paper tissue roll
Lucy managed to get it open
Difficulty: ♦♦ Fun factor: ♥♥♥♥
3. Stacking bowls
You can buy little plastic bowls or cups (the ones we use are the childrens bowls from IKEA). Let your dog watch as you fill each bowl with yummy treats. (If your dog isn’t that food motivated or gives up easily, you will have to use a treat of higher value.) Then stack them up like you would when you store them, and then turn them upside down on the floor and let them figure out how to unstack it. Lucy took a while with this one. If your dog is smart, they’ll realize that pushing it against a wall will be the quickest way. Lucy pushed the bowls around with her nose for a long time, and then when it finally reached the wall, she realized she could push and flip the top bowl upwards using her nose. Once she figured that out, the second bowl was easier to conquer. When it gets easy for your dog, you can add more bowls.
Mama, if I do a downward dog, will I get the treat?
HEY! A treat!
Olive tried this with the plastic children’s cups from IKEA. Maybe the cups need to be jammed together tighter to increase the difficulty for her! Difficulty: ♦♦♦ Fun factor: ♥♥♥
4. Guess Which Bowl?
With the same bowls or cups as above, you can line them in a row upside down and hide a treat in one of them and watch as your pooch figures out which one it is in and how to get the treat out. They’ll most likely use their nose to push it around for a while. Then they’ll realize it is easiest to use their paw to push it down on one end so that the bowl or cup flips over.
Is it the pink one mama?
I just don’t know, mama…
It’s the blue one!
Difficulty: ♦♦♦-♦♦♦♦ Fun factor: ♥♥♥
5. Stacking Ring
Sisi bought a stacking ring toy for Lucy from Daiso for $2. It even comes with a little yellow duckie on the top. The aim is for your dog to eventually be able to stack the rings by himself/herself. The toy is propped onto a box so that it’s practically right under Lucy’s chin. If your dog does not know the “take it”, “hold” , and “drop it” cue (where it takes and holds something in it’s mouth,and then drops it on command), then you might want to teach that first. If your dog already knows it, then you can get your dog to take and hold the smallest ring in it’s mouth, then ask him/her to drop it. Because you’d have placed the toy right under its chin, it should drop into place. Mark that behavior and reward with treats. When your dog understands what you want, you can start to introduce a cue like “Ring” so your dog knows that cue means drop the ring onto the cone.
It not be a donut you mean?
Waiting for the “drop it” cue
Difficulty: ♦♦♦♦♦ Fun factor: ♥♥
6. DIY Rope Toys
If your dog is a chewer, you can make your own rope toy from old t-shirts. Get three t-shirts, cut them into strips, knot the top and then start braiding them as you would your hair. When you are nearly to the end, knot it again. If your dog destroys stuff easily, you might have to use stronger fabric like fleece or denim. Difficulty: ♦ Fun factor: ♥♥♥
7. Treats and Cloth in Hol-ee Toys
Stuff a Hol-ee Roller (or similar) ball with strips of cloth and kibble/treats. It can take them quite a while to pull out all the cloth and get all the treats, and is especially fun for dogs that like to pull the stuffing out of soft toys! To up the difficulty level, wrap up the treats inside each strip of cloth and roll it up – they take much longer to get it out.
Ready to find her treats inside!
Difficulty: ♦♦ Fun factor: ♥♥♥♥
8. Find Your Food!
Vicky likes to hide treats or even kibble around the house and command Olive to “Find your food!” At first, she started with simple hiding places – along the wall corners, on top of her cushion, under the table – but as Olive got the hang of it, she was able to hide in more challenging spots, like those which are elevated (bookshelf, on top of crate), behind curtains and under floor rugs.
Easy (clockwise from top left): window sill, on top of cushion, behind cupboard leg, wall corner.
Harder spots (clockwise from top left): on top of crate, under towel, behind curtains on window sill, bookshelf.
Command the dog to stay in the kitchen or another area as you hide treats around, and then let them loose to feast. If your dog doesn’t have a great sense of smell, like Lucy, you may have to look into all the hiding spots at the end of 30 minutes to make sure everything is found. One time, Olive went over to Sisi’s house and straight away discovered hidden treats under the carpet that Lucy had missed! Difficulty: ♦♦-♦♦♦♦ Fun factor: ♥♥♥♥
If you have any other DIY games you have tried, we would love to hear from you!
The Furry Tales 