Four Firsts!
What a special day!
Due to the dumpling festival coming up, we ended up having to get out of the house early as mum-in-law was going to take the whole day to wrap and cook the dumplings. If we didn't get out, the house would have been too much of a furnace for us all, especially for Tristan.
So thanks to the dumpling festival, we all ended up at Sentosa's Tanjong beach! The first people we bumped into were a couple of border collies, Millie and Mollie! Thanks to Ann Shun, we are now able to get a view into what other BC owners get up to!
Next, we ventured to the end of Tanjong beach, and there we met up with Oscar & wife (wish I remembered her name!) together with their Golden Retriever Toby! There were quite a few other dogs at the beach, including a 5 yr old Terrier (I think) by the name of Ling Ling. Both C and I were totally unprepared for the beach, and didn't have our swimmers, so we couldn't entice Tristan enough to get into the water! So with the encouragement of Oscar and wife, they offered to take Tristan into the water for a good experence! Oscar carried Tristan about 5 meters beyond the beach, and let Tristan go! Tristan struggled at first, but very naturally and very quickly swam back to shore! After another 5 minutes on the beach resting from his first ever swim, Tristan was actually curious enough to get into the water himself for the 2nd time!!
So, first 1st of the day - swimming in the open water at the beach!
We ended up spending almost 2 hours at the beach, with Tristan playing with all the other dogs! Tristan didn't look like he had enough, but we thought that we had better stop him as he would have another session this evening observing the dogs at the agility class at Lucas' class.
However, before we left the beach, we had another pleasant surprise! Tristan pooed on the grass!
2nd 1st of the day - pooing outside the house on the grass!
3rd 1st of the day - showering at the outdoor shower!
Yes, we showered Tristan at the outdoor shower. Though we didn't bring any shampoo, it was quite an experience getting all the sand off him. It was also quite a challenge showering him when we got home since we really wanted to get all the sand and grime off him.
Tristan was relatively exhausted by the time we finished feeding him, so he fell into his slumber.
Next outing - observation of Agility class at Uncle Bong's field. EnRoute there, we had to detour to Downtown East for Shane Alexandre (Sharon Perez and Alex's kid) first year birthday. However, as the place there was so crowded, C and Tristan had to stay in the car to wait for me.
Anyways, at Uncle Bong's field. After observing Bailey and the other dogs do some of their agility tricks, Tristan decided to venture through one of the tunnles himself!
Fourth 1st of the day - Tristan goes through tunnel!
After he went through once, we did it again, and again, and again. C and I were really delighted, and Lucas also said that this is really good. Tristan is really getting to like the agility toys on the field. The moment we took him off leash, he was just running around the obstacle course at full speed, and getting into the way of Bailey and the other dogs more than once.
We think that he really really had quite a full day today, and so did C and I.
C just told me to register here on this blog, that she is really happy today, that Tristan got to meet and play with all the other older dogs today instead of puppies, and that at home this evening, he didn't initiate puppy play with us. Tristan is growing up!
She had also observed that it is very interesting how we do not see other people bring their puppies out. It is probably for this reason that Tristan "Heavenly King" gets all the attention of everybody when he gets out there. He is so much the star attraction at almost all the places where there is a gathering of dogs! C has also been mentioning that it is actually from the ages of 8 weeks to 12 weeks where puppies have the greatest potential to learn and to remember things. We could so evidently see it today - Tristan was fearless in doing so many new things - swimming, running through the long long tunnel. The training that C has been giving him on a daily basis, he is now already rather well conditioned to all the basic obdience commands. Tristan is indeed learning FAST!
So for all those puppy owners out there, yes, its true that the vets tell you not to bring your puppies out until the 3rd vaccination. However, the time between the 8th and 12th weeks of their growth are also very critical weeks for you to bring your puppy out there to experience as many things as possible, such that by the 12th week, he would have done things like car rides, to the beach, to the mall, and in general, meet many other people and many other dogs. Yes, there are some risks to bringing your puppy out early after the 2nd vaccination, but as Lucas our trainer says, Singapore is a relatively clean environment. We are so happy that we have been bringing Tristan out the last 2 weeks.
C and I are also experiencing one of the most fulfilling times and loving time of our marriage, experiencing life and life abundant! We believe deeply that this is what Jesus has brought us here on earth to do, and for this and all the experiences we are going through the past few months, Thank You Lord!!!!
I'm also so glad I skipped my cycling session today! God has indeed showed me a greater blessing!