Monday, November 17, 2008
Today's monday, the 17th December, a date so familiar to me as it has been marked on all my calanders. 17th December, the first day of my attachment in Temasek Internship program posted to the K9kulture in Bukit Timah. It was with much anticipation, excitement, but also with lacklustreness, and unwilingness. To quote from the Temsek Student Leadership Congress, this is really going to be a step out of the comfort zone kind of experience. Not that I've not worked before, the one-month experience in Cocoa Tree which exposed me to all kinds of people, both local and foreign, is a good one to name. But this time round, the location is not only far, but also hard to access. And what's more is that it's my first time working with animals. Despite it being my favourite class of animals, the canine family, it was still filled with much worries, and to some extent fear.
I left my house at 615 today (by the way, work started at only 830 today), and decided to take a stroll to the interchange. It's always good to do some exercise in the morning. Then I took a train, all the way until Newton, and changed to bus 66. I did not know where to get down, and it was only today that I know that Old Holland Road is actually in Bukit Timah. On the journey, I was busy messaging Rong Qi to find out my coordinates, until I lost count of the bus stops. By the time I got down, I think I've already gone past several of the bus stops already. So I took out that map thing, which I hope is not too outdated, and I located Swiss Club Link, which according to the K9kulture website, was where the place is located. And I walked along it, went into the Turf City and realised it can't be that far in. So I decided to turn out and move into the Swiss Club Road, but to no avail in any case. Fortunately, Rong Qi found the place before me, and she told me it's located at the Turf Club Road instead, and with that I finally found that place. Praise the Lord!
I gave Mr Josiah a call, and we got admitted to this place called the centre, and we met this caucasian girl whom I just realised we didn't know her name. Michelle tended to us next, and we went into the cage with the small dogs. There's about over 10 of them and they were so cute. At first they were quite uncomfortable with our presence, but slowly settled down, and soon we were able to stroke and play with them. I only managed to remember a few names- Sparky, Bubble Storm, Pearl, Bubble, Milo, Maggie, Satchy, Ruben, Frosty (Husky) etc. Hm, not bad I've picked up quite a few names. There was this instance when the big dogs were let out to go for a walk, and one giant, the size of a lion, came charging at the exit behind me, and for a moment I was stunned, only to see it ran past beside me! What an experience, when a mob of giants ran at you. There were also dogs, which are height to my shoulder level, one of which was the scottish terrier. The handler said that that species would be banned next year, because it's dangerous. Then both the big and small dogs were let out into the open for some play time, and I stroked many more dogs. ^^
Then two of the other trainers decided to let us pick 2 small dogs each to go for a walk. I picked the terrier brothers, storm and bubble, which look something like this:
lake land terrier
Rong qi picked two other dogs- pearl, the bull terrier, and another terrier of which I forgot the name. Then the instructors brought several other dogs, of which I could only remember 2 beagles. It was my first time walking dogs, 2 at first, and eventually 4. Quite a good experience.
After lunch, we went to the office side to do admin work. Did not have much to do today, and I'm expecting tomorrow when Mr Josiah comes, it will definitely be a very busy day. Wa! =( I must admit at some point of times, I was quite afraid of the bull terrier for their lock. Scared! But on the other hand, there was once when me and Rong Qi was in the enclosed with a full-grown scottish terrier (my shoulder height when standing on all fours). Wa! Big dog, but he was fun.
Heard a joke today about this petrol, when Kai brought the scottish terrier and the german shepherd out for a walk (both full grown), and the stupid Ruben (german shepherd) went to stare at Simba (scottish terrier), and started growling. And that was a warning for a fight. Luckily, it didn't happen because he nudged them off with his knee. Else, wa! Definitely very bad.
Today's skills learnt: soft teeth (grab firmly the back of the dogs for disciplinery act). Nudge the dog off when they try to hump(ride on) the other (show of dominance in canine world). When the dogs started staring eye to eye with one another and started growling, walk between them and shift their sight away. Precaution: Do not drag back one (canine language: first to back off loses)! Do not carry a dog in the enclosed with the presence of other dogs (dog's heirachy: height=dominance).
After that, I decided to take bus 66 to bedok interchange, since it's a direct bus. But that turned out to be a really bad option because it seemed to take forever to reach my destination, and I got so frustrated that I alight halfway and boarded another bus to go home. Tomorrow shall be better, I hope.
Labels: first day
Posted by Judah at 11/17/2008 05:31:00 AM