It's a dog's life

A message from Lola

Iz's regular readers may have noticed that Chris contributed the last post, so I thought to myself, he's not the only one with views on our life here in Singapore, so why don't I have a go?  It wasn't hard to persuade Iz (I can wrap her round my little paw) and she very kindly agreed to help me with the typing, so sit back and enjoy this view from the ground - well, a foot or so off the ground if you want to be really picky.

One of the things I love best about Singapore is the smells.  OK, so I know I'm a dog and dogs have a great sense of smell, (which is just as well really, considering our eyesight is crap), but there is so much going on in the olfactory department in Singapore that it's an absolute paradise for us doggies.  There's the other dogs, for a start.  I live in a pretty smart apartment complex and there are lots of us here, although I am the only black and silver mini Schnauzer, as well as being the favourite of all the security guards.  Every time I'm taken out for a pee, I sniff round for one of the other doggies to play with.  I have some special friends, and I'd know their smell a mile away.  There's Benny, the little Maltese and Lucky, who's a lot bigger than I am, and Jasper, who is an absolutely HUGE golden Labrador, who lets me climb all over him while he just stands there - I think he's too old to run away. 

And then there are the food smells, of course.  You've probably heard that the two favourite pastimes of Singaporeans are shopping and eating, and while I can't tell you much about the first, as I've never actually been shopping, I get taken out to Lola friendly restaurants sometimes and even though I don't get to eat there (Iz is very strict about what she calls "people food") I can still enjoy the smells.  My favourite place is an Italian restaurant called La Braceria. It's one of Iz's favourites, and we go there quite often.  I get to sit outside and bark at the cats who live in the area - great fun!  I think Italian is probably my favourite sort of people food, although I am partial to smoked salmon and a bit of duck confit as well. 

Although I'm a ratter by breeding, opportunities here are limited.  I have been challenged to improve on the pathetic performance of President Obama's Portuguese Water Dog Bo, who seems happy to let the White House garden be colonised by publicity seeking rodents (see bottom right of picture on the left).  As any self-respecting mini Schnauzer will tell you, this is not a rat, it's almost certainly a shrew or vole.  I met one in the garden here a couple of days ago.  We looked each other in the eye, touched whiskers for a moment, then turned and went our separate ways.  We Schnauzers have our standards; a rat is one thing, a vole is quite another.