Gentle Paws and Friends: One More Time, Furry Day!

What do you get when you have a bundle of leashes and 22 excited dogs?

You get some very busy humans and even busier tails (busy wagging of course).

Meet Mario. Here he is trying to persuade us that it is extremely important that he gets to attend Furry Day.

Here is Dollar. She normally doesn't think too much of walks. But Furry Day always manages to bring a smile to her darling face.

This is Doris. Unlike the pesky kids around her, our beautiful girl sits pretty and waits patiently for us to ready the dogs and open the gates.

And here are the rest of our dogs. We imagine they must be thinking... Those slow humans! Just when are they going to get the show on the road?

Let us out! Let us out!

These bags look innocuous. But they are absolutely essential. The simple truth is... excited dogs poop.

Different groups of dogs had to travel separately because they cannot get along. With the single van that we had, it could have taken up to 6 trips to bring all the dogs to the beach. But because kind volunteers Shawn, Kaizhen and Tina stepped up to the plate and offered their cars for use,it took us only 3 trips.

The man you see in the foreground is Choo, our volunteer and main driver for the day. He single-handedly ferried about two-thirds of the dogs to the beach.

Because we publicised Furry Day more widely this time round, we had the good fortune of having more volunteers on board. In turn, we were able to bring more (a grand total of 22) dogs to the beach. Unlike the previous Furry Day, each volunteer was able to lavish personal attention on a single dog and safely bring that one dog on an exploration of Pasir Ris Park to its heart's content.

They always say that dogs are funny animals. We concur. Here's why...

This is Dexter. He really loves sand.

And when we say really, we really mean really...

When we tried to bury him in sand, he wasn't the slightest bit annoyed. Instead, he seemed to rather enjoy himself in there.

We began to realise just how much he loved the sand when he didn't budge and was content to lap up the water that was served to him... like a little King!

Meet the King's sandy pal, Destine. See how happy he looks in his little burrow.

Here is Daelle, our very curious boy. He didn't take a dip in the sea but oh how he liked bringing things he found up to shore.

First, he brought us his coconut...

And then he showed off his catch - a dead fish. We had to wrestle it from the silly boy.

Dakdakdei tried his paw at swimming...

But he ultimately decided that splashing about was a way better idea.

True to her labrador roots, Doris was at home in the water.

Emily didn't seem to mind the water too much as well.

But no matter how you coaxed and cajoled this stubborn little boy, he refused to even put one paw into the inviting sea.

And then, there's the customary shot of our two golden girls together, looking happy in the other's company. Somehow, they always manage to find each other at some point in the trip.

We managed to bring Bobby along this time. By our estimation, Bobby is ten to eleven years old now. He is rapidly growing skinnier but somehow, his stomach grows bigger and heavier every day. The vet can't put a finger on his ailment.

Bobby trailed behind the rest of the furkids but he plodded on stoically with our volunteer Kaizhen. It seemed like he was determined to enjoy Furry Day as well. We sure hope the outdoors and the fresh air did him some good!

Furry Day was a thirsty affair. We had to make quite a few trips to the tap to refill our water supply.

Very soon, it was time to head back. The furkids showered, had their lunch and then it was time for bed once more.

Here is Dakdaidei, our most active boy curled up and fast asleep.

Here is another exuberant boy looking exhausted.

And here is another...

And so Furry Day of 14th August came to an end. If we haven't already done so, we'd like to extend a great big thank you to each and every volunteer who made his or her way down to lend us a helping hand. We hope you had fun because we sure did!