Alternative Dog Playpen Designs: Philippine Style

After a thought, I redesigned the original plan I had made with the playpen.. and instead of integrating a doghouse inside the playpen, I opted for a table on top.
(See original design here.)

This is the inspiration for both pieces that can be bought online at cheappetstore.com for US$179.99.

Designing Your Custom Doggie Playpen!

Our terrace which houses my baby pug, Borgy, is currently being fitted with glass windows and screen doors - which incidentally covers the window "grill" where Borgy is leashed to.

So, upon researching other alternative, viable methods on doggy containment, I liked the idea of creating Borgy's very own custom - made playpen (which also relieves neck force on my pug because now he can be "unleashed"! (Pardon the pun!)

Here is a rough draft of my design. I have yet to find a maker who can do this playpen to my satisfaction and budget.. so if you know anyone, please contact me immediately!

Also, your suggestions will be most dearly appreciated! Thanks :D

Download this doggy playpen design here!

I designed this enclosure keeping in mind the hot climate of the Philippines. Unlike other rich puggies, my baby Borgy doesn't have the luxury of having his very own A/C unit (though he has 2 dedicated Electric Fans). I designed the doggie house with a wooden front panel but no side walls so that the air can circulate better but my pug still feels like that space is his own.

For those who would like to make their own custom doggy playpens or houses, please make sure that the doghouse can accomodate your dog standing up and maybe moving in a tight circle. Make sure it isn't too large for him (so that the heat is maintained in cool nights and days), and that it isn't too small that he couldn't move around or stand in it.

I chose to have the Mat inside the doghouse a removable item so that it can be washed and since pugs shed too much hair, it would be easier to clean.

Also, I prefer not to use any plastic because 1.) plastic retains odors more than wood, and 2.) dogs can chew off plastic.

I also don't want to put in any flooring on the whole playpen since I think it would be more difficult to clean it (because again of the excessive shedding) and because the stink of it might stick to my dog.

Remember that this space will be your dog's very own "crib", and like ourselves, we prefer a little bit of this and that. Make sure that your dog will love this space and that he will be very comfortable in it.

Here are other doggie houses and playpens I have seen on the Net that I liked:

A luxurious looking doghouse but it looks strangely open at the back hihihi

This wicker indoor dog house would really look good in a Pottery Barn home :D


A Golden Retriever with a plaid red and white neckerchief would be perfect in this hillbilly-style dog house.
This is just plain sweet for your little pup :D

The Pursuit of Ivy's Happy-ness

The Author with Ivy (On the Left)

Ivy is one of my best friends.. she is the kind of person who not everyone agrees with.. especially girls. I don't know why because Ivy is a fiercely loyal friend. It must be because her personality comes off as particularly strong, and the fact that she lacks any kind of tact (which by the way I find endearing), and maybe because she gets the boys.

Most girls can become so bitchy and envious about this. And a lot of times Ivy has had to defend herself, and I do too though I don't tell her that.

I've known her half her teenage life and most of her adult life, and I've seen her go through break-ups after break-ups.. just the ordinary girl who wants to find love, you know.

And so finally, she did.

The Author with Bruce (Ivy's Boyfriend)

Bruce is not Filipino. I was wary of him when she first told me because I can become quite suspicious of foreigners.

But I was pleasantly surprised to find that Bruce is not the stereotypical British guy. He was funny (a bit cheeky if you ask me hehehe), and extraordinarily open about himself.

I think Ivy is having difficulty with a lot of people trashing her and her relationship with Bruce (that includes immigration hehehe) because most pinoys would think that Ivy is only using Bruce.

Well, Ivy is anything BUT a person who uses other people for personal gain. She can be quite a (stingy!) flirtatious girl and some might say promiscuous.. but I have never known her to be anything but herself.

This is the happiest I've seen of her and I'm more than glad because she deserves it! :D

The gang with Brucey

The Old Farts Chronicles

A Picture Story of a Decade+ Long Friendship







More Picture Coming Up!!!

How To Lose Weight Effectively: Rules for Healthy Dieting

Follow these simple rules and I guarantee you will lose weight!
(Please advise your physician before taking any diet regimen)

1. Know what you are eating!
Knowing the nutritional value of what you eat empowers you to make the choice of what to eat. It takes only like half a minute to find out if what you want to eat is worth it.

Here's a plan and what to look for:

Click and read this article to help you find out HOW MUCH FAT SHOULD YOU EAT in a day.

Better yet, if you want to find out EXACTLY how much calories and fat you should be eating, take this TEST!

Take the HOME BODY FAT TEST!!!

2. Understand Food Labels.

Free
Calorie-free: fewer than 5 calories per serving
Fat Free: less than 0.5g of fat per serving
Trans Fat Free: less than 0.5g of trans fats per serving
Cholesterol Free: less than 2mg per serving and 2g or less saturated fat per serving

Low
Low fat: less than 3 grams of fat per serving
Low Saturated Fat: 1g or less and 15% or less of calories from saturated fat
Low calorie: 40 calories or less per serving
Low Cholesterol: 20mg or less per serving and 2g or less saturated fat per serving


Reduced
Reduced fat: 25% less fat than the same regular brand


Light/Lite
Light: 50% less fat than the same regular product.

Lean
Lean: less than 10 grams of fat and 4.5 grams or less of saturated fat, and less than 95 milligrams of cholesterol per serving
Extra lean: less than 5 grams of fat, less than 2 grams saturated fat, and less than 95 milligrams of cholesterol per serving


3. Use the Eat-Well Plate.

Click the picture above for a larger image!
The Eat Well Plate is designed to guide us how much we should be eating what.
The Eat-Well Plate is from http://www.food.gov.uk.

How I Survived A Stroke: Guide To Prevention

It was morning when it happened.

I was about to go to work and was dressing up when suddenly, my right hand felt numb.

Of course all I thought was it was the normal kind of numbness you feel when you've put too much pressure on your hands for too long.

Boy was I wrong.

I shook my hand for about a minute, and still tried putting on my bra. I couldn't control my fingers because they were shaking so badly.

After a couple of minutes, the numbness in my right hand disappeared.

Then, I thought there was hair in my mouth. But no, it seems the right side of my tongue began being numb too!

Then the right side of my chin became to get numb.

Still, at age 25 you wouldn't think this was stroke right?

WRONG!

My mother felt I should go to the hospital when I tried speaking to her and all I got out was a lot of slurring.

We got to the Medical City (a hospital near us) about 3 hours later (mainly due to the immense traffic jam that morning).

Doctors were astounded at my symptoms.. they wouldn't believe someone as young as I was would be having a stroke.

But I did. And it was fortunate that I got the right treatment in time.

After about a day in the Intensive Care Unit, I regained half the strength of my facial muscles there was still a little bit of slowed speech but after 4 days I recovered completely.

Now, I'm on a blood thinning medication called "Cilostazol" since I got allergic from my prior blood thinner called "Clopidogrel" AND "Lipitor" to lower my cholesterol.

These medicines help me to NOT have stroke again, and will probably be taking blood thinners for a very long time.

WHAT IS STROKE?

According to http://www.stroke.org/, a stroke or "brain attack" occurs when a blood clot blocks an artery (a blood vessel that carries blood from the heart to the body) or a blood vessel (a tube through which the blood moves through the body) breaks, interrupting blood flow to an area of the brain. When either of these things happen, brain cells begin to die and brain damage occurs.
When brain cells die during a stroke, abilities controlled by that area of the brain are lost. These abilities include speech, movement and memory.

In my research, I began to see that Stroke is like having a heart attack in your brain. If the clot occurs in your heart, it's a heart attack. If it's in your brain, it's a stroke.

They called mine "Stroke in the Young".

Contrary to what many believe, stroke is not that rare in people younger than 40 years.

In fact, I found out that my neurosurgeon was also treating a 3 year old who had a stroke.

Stroke Warning Signs:

If you notice one or more of these signs, don't wait.
Stroke is a medical emergency. Get to a hospital right away!



Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg,
especially on one side of the body
Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
Sudden, severe headache with no known cause


Be prepared for an emergency. Keep a list of emergency rescue service numbers next to the telephone and in your pocket, wallet or purse. Find out which area hospitals are primary stroke centers that have 24-hour emergency stroke care. Know (in advance) which hospital or medical facility is nearest your home or office.

Take action in an emergency. Not all the warning signs occur in every stroke. Don't ignore signs of stroke, even if they go away! Check the time. When did the first warning sign or symptom start? You'll be asked this important question later.

If you have one or more stroke symptoms that last more than a few minutes, don't delay!

If you're with someone who may be having stroke symptoms, expect the person to protest —denial is common. Don't take "no" for an answer. Insist on taking prompt action.


ARE YOU AT RISK???

Uncontrollable Risk Factors:

1. Age
2. Gender
3. Race
4. Family History
5. Previous Stroke or TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack)

(By the way, I was excluded from almost all of these criteria.)

Controllable Risk Factors:

1. High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)
2. Atrial Fibrillation or AF (irregular heart beat - can be prevented with proper treatment)
3. High Cholesterol
4. Diabetes
5. Smoking
6. Alcohol Consumption
7. Obesity / Excessive Weight

I never had hypertension, nor AF nor Diabetes nor did I drink. BUT, I was a smoker; I had high cholesterol and I was overweight.

My doctors never did find out why I had a stroke. They tried to minimize the possibility of a recurrence by putting me off Oral Conceptive Pills and smoking with proper healthy diet.

How To: Start Training Your Dog

It's a bitch when, even though you love your dog crazy, he acts in all ways that make you forget how much you love him! SO, I guess you'd want your little doggie to be the angel you know is inside of him? You want him to behave and do all sorts of tricks that are fun for you and your dog and impress your friends. You wouldn't believe it until you tried it but training my pug has been most rewarding for me and my dog with the kind of quality bonding time we get when we are training.

The best training dogmas (NO PUN INTENDED!) I have found (and used effectively) when training my pug - Borgy, is this:

YOU already have the power in your hands to command your dog!

Remember that you (& NOT HIM!) feed him when & how much you want!

Remember that you give or not give him attention when you want to!

Use this power to your advantage to get your dog to do what you want him to do.

Repeat these mantras until you get it fully that this is ALL you need to know to train your dog effectively. This technique is superbly effective that it worked for me within 3 days!!! No Kidding! Frankly, I couldn't give you a better advice on starting to train your dog!

But WAIT! Learn these first (not in order but all are important to learn)!

1. When your dog is acting up, it would be wise to have a "NO" command. In my experience, saying or using the command "NO" doesn't work that well. When for example, my pug keeps jumping up on me (which is a bad habit you wanna break because he will do this behavior to all people he meets and not everyone likes this!), I Shush him. I don't say NO but instead I Shush him. This command lets my dog know that whatever bad behavior he is doing should be stopped because it doesn't please me. When I Shush my pug, he falls silent and resorts to his trained "behaved" position which is in a bowed position or a lying down position.

2. Know that YOUR DOG wants to please you... you only need to show him how! He will do anything and everything he can just so you can give him a treat or a hug. REMEMBER THIS THOROUGHLY... YOUR DOG WANTS TO PLEASE YOU!

3. Use Reward technique when conditioning your dog to tricks AND NEVER EVER HIT YOUR DOG. Rewarding your dog after a good behavior with a small treat is the best conditioning process you should use. Violence will only lead to your dog fearing or worse biting you. Rewarding him with treats lets him know that you love him AND especially the good behavior he is doing.

4. How To Let Your Dog Know That He Is Doing Something Bad AND Should Stop Immediately: When you find your dog unable to contain himself with glee that you've arrived and starts to run around and around, use your NO command. If your dog is still acting crazy, turn your back on him or leave the room. Turning your back lets your dog know that you wouldn't be giving him attention until he is behaved.

5. Do not shout at your dog, it only excites him! Shouting is too much sound for your dog who can hear frequency ranges humans can't so please don't confuse your dog by shouting - especially when you're frustrated. Use a moderate tone but commanding voice that lets your dog know who's really the boss.

6. CONSISTENCY is the fundamental key in training your dog. Your dog can't process all the words you're saying. Remember, even though he looks like your baby, he's still a dog and has a dog brain however intelligent he may seem! When you train your dog, stick to a CONSISTENT command term... like SIT, STAY, BOW, SHAKE or whatever you want.

7. When using commands, it is best that you also use a hand gesture for that command. So, for different commands, you also have different, varying and unique hand gestures to go with that command. Do not use hand gestures that are too similar to each other as this can confuse your dog.

8. And lastly, be patient. You will need this a lot! Your dog has to learn to behave and look for behaviors that please you.

So, you've learned all the little "remember this and that" that you need to arm yourself with the proper knowledge of HOW TO BEGIN TRAINING YOUR DOG.



Here's the Most EFFECTIVE DOG TRAINING METHOD you will ever need!



1. When it's feeding time for your dog, DO NOT GIVE HIM HIS BOWL IF he is too wild and can't control himself. I know it sounds harsh.. but this really works! When he jumps up and down and it's crazy, let him see that you are holding his bowl, then turn away from him! If he is still rowdy, leave the room! (Peek through the curtains or what have you that he has seated himself or behaved a little) Come back and see as you move towards him if he will still act crazy. If he behaves, slowly lower his bowl to the ground. IF he tries to grab it, again take the bowl and move away from him. Do this again and again until your dog realizes that you will not give him food until he behaves.



2. There is no other method! Just the one rule above!!! I promise you this will work! Just follow the above everytime you have to feed him and NEVER GIVE IN. After 3 days of working hard for his food, his behavior will change dramatically guaranteed!





If you find yourself unable to contain your dog with this technique, please tell me and I will help you find a way to START TRAINING YOUR DOG!