Christmas fun with pets. Bob meets santa.

Every year Bob and I visit Santa. 

We chose our outfits.

Made new friends.

Played in the snow

And thoroughly tired ourselves out.

Pushkins has her share of Christmas fun also.

Just because the kids have left home doesn't mean I still can't take part in all the Christmas Activities.

I don't want my experience of Dubai enhanced.

 I don’t want my experience of Dubai enhanced.

 

It's been almost 4 years since we moved to Dubai and so much has changed. New roads, buildings, a canal, investment. Everything to encourage new people to move here, preparation for 2020, new airport, new tallest building in the world under construction. You can see the changes over on #mysundayphoto tag.

Talking to other people who have been living here much longer than I have, they say similar ‘Dubai is growing’ but the response to it from the expats and locals I’ve met is ‘we don’t like it’

I feel the same way, when we first moved here, prices for tourist attractions were considerably lower, life was a lot cheaper and more simple. Now there are very few places offering resident discount or preferences. We can no longer take our dog to the beach, out into the desert, our nearest park was been reduced by 50% due to the new water canal and the facilities inside have gone down hill. Other parks charges high entrance fees and are over crowded on weekends and in the evenings.

What’s annoying me the most however is the reduction of access to public beaches. We lived 1km from the nearest beach, currently NOT on the tour bus route and apart from 1 café, showers and toilets and a life guard tower. The beaches either side of us now have food shacks, allow jet skiing and kite surfing, have umbrellas and chairs for hire and hold regular events.

The free beach, already slightly reduced in size and a new harbour wall is being built.

With the creation of the new canal and land being built to accommodate hotels, malls, restaurants etc, it won’t be long before our local beach is full on weekends as local residents get edged of their bit of beach and then due to the numbers using the beach, there will be more facilities and amenities, trouble parking, crowded beaches and tour buses stopping.

All this of course is great for tourism and the economy, but it’s not great for us locals, the people who get edged out for the tourists on the weekends and evenings. More and more rules are put in place and sanctioned. I can’t cycle along the beachfront or walk my dog. I can chose to drive out into the desert to cycle on the established cycle track now complete with restaurants and visitors who aren’t visiting for recreational purposes. More people come out to the lakes with the introduction of new facilities, but then there is more mess, more traffic and weekend events. 

But to encourage more visitors out the lakes they are now being stocked with birds and wildlife, which means dogs are now banned from the area and we’re being forced to spend money on entrance fees into private owned dog exercise companies, that already exist, and I use, but when the demand outstrips the space, that will be limited also. Dog friendly public spaces are limited, there are a handful of cafes that allow you to sit outide with your dog, more and more of the developers are banning dogs from areas such as Dubai Marina, forcing people to either give up their dog or move to more expensive areas.

I’m sure I’d have similar experiences living in other cities around the world. I no longer have kids at home, so I’m not interested in child friendly play areas, of which there seems to be plenty of in Dubai. Dubai seems to invest substantiality into families, education, child discounts, which is good for encouraging new families to move here, but for those of us here without kids, or whose children have grown up, all that leaves us with is nail bars, gyms, sports clubs and brunches.

None of which I’m particularly interested in. What I’d like to see is more public open spaces, a park I can take my dog to. More cycle tracks in the city and being allowed to take my bike on the metro so I can reach the quieter areas of Dubai to explore, away from the none stop tourism I get caught up in daily.

Have you noticed changes around the area you live in? 

Exercising a dog in Dubai in summer.

Between the end of November and the end of April, we walk outside, twice a day. In December, January and February, I walk Bob whenever the mood takes me or him and sometimes we'll have a 3rd walk in the middle of the day for something to do.

In March and April we walk according to the temperature, so usually within a couple of hours of sunrise and after sunset.

We're in June now. The sun rises at 5.30am and sets around 6.45pm. Before we set off on our morning walks, I check the ground temperature. In the same way you'd check a babies bottle isn't too hot before you give it to them. If I can't walk without burning my bare feet, then Bob can't walk either. 

Between June-October, walks will reduce to almost none as the humidity levels rise, even walking after sunset, it's still too hot for Bob to be exercising in temperatures of 45c. I started to reduce the length of the walks and cut them down to once a day. 

Bob has been enjoying a super long lead to go for walks around our neighbourhood. We do occasionally get tangled in a tree and there is some grass we can walk on, but most of it is sand, which gets as hot as the pavements.

I also take Bob to a dog park once a week. There's an outdoor area with a pool, where I let him run off some energy when we arrive and he'll take himself off for a dip in the pool.

  The indoor play area is air conditioned, with an indoor pool also.

We have our own pool at home, with solid walls which I use to bathe Bob in. I'd like to get a bigger one for us both to use, but the garden is too small.

I'm in the UK now till the end of August. Bob will be spending most of the time in kennels. It's a large indoor play space, where he can mix with other dogs, get regular exercise as well as a comfy bed and food. He actually loves going to Doggie Day Care and is a regular visitor at Paw Parking. 

Spa day for Dogs in Dubai with Paw Parking.

This is Bob. #BobTheDog. He is almost 8 and lives in Dubai with his two humans Suzanne and Peter and his not so friendly cat, Pushkins.

Both Bob and Pushkins are from South Africa and travelled to Dubai with us when we made the move here in December 2014.

Bob was rescued from the SPCA and has lived with us since May 2012.

Bob has adapted well to life in Dubai, sadly there is no where for him to run free other than in doggy day care, which we visit at least once a week. There are many indoor facilities in Dubai and a couple with outdoor space and swimming pools. Bob does however enjoy his twice daily walks as it's winter here, but when it gets too hot, we'll be spending more time in doggy day care.

When Peter and I travel aboard Bob doesn't mind his time away from us, however when I'm at home he follows me from room to room.

We moved house in December and until last month our garden was just a sand pit, making it difficult to bath Bob and he was getting rather smelly, so I've been taking him along to Paw Parking, where he can play with other dogs and have his much needed bath and get his nails clipped.

Here's Bob enjoying one of his baths, a rub down and a pedicure.

I'm not affiliated in anyway with Paw Parking, I'm just impressed with their facilities, staff, friendliness, prices, range of events and interaction on social media. I'm also very pleased that they are opening boarding facilities for cats from the beginning of March.

3 reasons why you should foster a dog

There were a few tears a few weeks ago, in fact there were quite a lot of tears.

Rory went on trial in her potential forever home and I was sad to say goodbye, I was sad at home for the rest of the evening especially when her new family kept sending me photo's to show me how well she was settling.

Sadly 6 days later the call came to collect Rory, due to a variety of reasons it just didn't work out.

Rory had the potential to be a foster fail, when you fall in love with a dog and just decide to keep them as part of your family. Rory can't stay with us and will be returned to over full kennels on Sunday.

Rory is only the 3rd dog I've fostered and the agreement with DAWS is that I only have the dogs for short periods of time and I do all I can to help them find their forever home, socialising them with my dog Bob, giving them experience of being around a cat and focusing on toilet and crate training, walking on a lead and learning simple commands such as sit, stay and down.

My only qualification in dog training is having my own rescue dog who was badly treated and mistrusting of humans when we adopted him in South Africa, 4 years ago and trial and error.

Bonnie was an expensive dog to foster after she chewed through my laptop cable as was her brother Clyde chewed our furniture. Both Bonnie and Clyde needed a lot of work around toilet habits and there was quite a lot of unpleasant clearing up to do. Rory destroyed my favourite flip flops and would chance her luck running off with cushions, she was also car sick on longer journeys, but it was worth clearing up the mess in the car seeing how happy she was to walk in the desert and splash in the lakes with Bob.

Bonnie (top) Clyde (below)

All 3 dogs have had me awake at night for the first few nights, barking or not settling and there have been a few food related fights with Bob which have been quite frightening. But all 3 dogs, calmed, settled, learnt to pee and poop outside.

So far it just sounds like a lot of hard work and expense, but as a family there have definatley been great benefits for us all.

1. I've met more people, made friends, gained great satisfaction from seeing the first two dogs going off with their forever humans, there has been great satisfaction through basic training and seeing how quickly these dogs have learnt, there has been lots of love, cuddles and endless kisses. Although I've had to ask my husband to add the word dog to the end of his sentence when we've been in the garden and he's yelled 'stop licking me' I've no idea what our neighbours thought was going on.
2. My husband and I have both gone out for walks with the dogs in the evening, rather than taking it in turns to go on our own with Bob. Our cat has become far more tolerant and is less jumpy around new dogs, but the greatest benefit has been to Bob.
3. Bob, despite his age of 7, is very energetic, he is also very social and is extremely well behaved. I can honestly say in the 4 years he's lived with us, we've never had any problems, but he does have two areas of behaviour that fostering has helped sort out. It's not just the foster dogs that have benefitted from staying with, but our own dog also.

Walking on lead
Bob pulls none stop when walking on a lead, we've tried a harness, choke chain, normal collar and have settled with a martingale collar. Bob has really slowed down walking now and no longer pulls after the first few minutes, unless of course he sees a stray cat.

Eating
Bob doesn't eat his food, he inhales it, he never chews anything and eats it within a few seconds, we've tried special dishes etc and nothing worked. He has been eating much better since Rory has been around, chewing every few mouthfuls and no longer trying to knock the bowl out my hand as I place it on the floor.


Meet Rory.

Urgent Foster home needed for Rory. She is 18 months old, an English Staffordshire Terrier, she must stay somewhere with a garden and with someone who is at home all day and is prepared to use the crate for night times and when left alone.

Rory is energetic, she likes to chew but with supervision and discipline she will drop items and is easily redirected to a ball or a suitable toy.

She gets on well with other dogs, untested with cats, but has been known to jump garden walls to chase after them.

You'll need a lot of patience and time, but within a week of doing the above she was happy to just follow me round the house and garden.

If no home can be found for her, she will end up back in kennels, there is little space available and funds are not available to support her.

Please get in touch with DAWS - Molosser & Bull Breed Rescue UAE or comment below if you are able to help in anyway whatsoever.

How much does it cost to adopt a dog in Dubai?

Different rescue organisations charge different amounts, but that will all depend on the good will of the vets that they use and how much of a discount they get. Adoption fees range between AED 1500-2500.

I've heard many people say they're doing the rescuers a favour by taking the dog off their hands and don't see why they should have to pay an adoption fee. I'm sure a lot of people think that fee goes into the pocket of the rescuer, but more often than not, it is the rescuer digging deep into their pockets, after the adoption fee is made to pay the vet bill for all other costs involved.

When a dog is surrendered or more often the case, dumped or found wandering the streets, the dog will be taken to the vets, where a full health check is carried out, it will be dewormed and given up to date, relevant injections. This alone can cost AED 1000, and can be several thousand if the dog is injured or unwell.

The next step is to get the dog spayed or neutered, most 'dumped' dogs usually aren't spayed or neutered. The cost for a medium size dog is in the region of AED 1150. The dog then needs to be microchipped, around AED 200.

Once the dog has been through, and during, the above process, the dog will require somewhere to live. Kennelling ranges from AED 60-80 per night at a minimum cost, so unless the dog can be adopted straight away and a foster family isn't available the costs add up rapidly.

Another argument heard from people wanting to adopt a dog are 'you chose to rescue it' and they often don't see why they're being asked to pay kennelling costs. But as you can see from above, kennelling is usually funded by the rescuer, either personally or through donations.

These costs vary greatly and are just an approximation, breed, size and health of dog need to be taken into account, but you do get an awful lot of dog and peace of mind for your money.

A puppy bought through a pet shop or imported from abroad will cost around AED 4000 upwards, and there is no guarantee that they are in good health and the owner will still have to bare the costs for spaying or neutering and injections.

There are 1000's of dogs in Dubai that need homes, not many pure breeds are available, but there are a lot of puppies and young dogs that come up for adoption weekly.

By adopting, not only do you get a loving, healthy companion and friend, you provide a much needed home for a desperate dog and help the rescuers continue their good work.

Dogs for adoption in Dubai with Animal Tales

Late last year I made an appeal in a face book group for donations of old bedding and material so I could make up some dog beds for various animal organisations in Dubai. I'd fostered a couple of dogs for a short period, successfully helping them get their forever homes through some basic house training and social media. But it wasn't something Peter was keen on doing on a regular basis and it was upsetting the cat, introducing new dogs into the family. Bob certainly wasn't put out and seemed to enjoy having them around. So 2017 is going to be a year of supporting the various organisations through social media, walking and socialising foster dogs and collecting and donating items for the organisations to use such as bedding and food.

My mum was visiting and finding the weather too hot she helped run up several dog beds, which have been donated to Dog Walk, Doggies Palace and My Second Home, companies who work with rescue organisations.

I've made a couple of visits to Doggies Palace to walk Pheonix who was rescued back in June but is sadly living in kennels. Bob and Phoenix had a chance to meet in a supervised environment, both on their leads to see how they got on, to see if Pheonix can be integrated into a family with other dogs or whether he must be the only dog.

We left a couple of presents for Pheonix and will be visiting him some more this month.

I haven't been back to see Phoenix yet, as I've been helping out with Rory, she was found a couple of weeks ago, no microchip and around 18 months of age. I can't foster, but I can have her home in the afternoons so she can have some time out of her cage and socialise. She walks well on a lead and travels ok in a car as long as she is secured safely.

Rory would make a lovely addition to any home, with or without other dogs.

 We had a visitor over Christmas the New Year. Jelly and her owners arrived in Dubai in October. They spent the holidays with family, so we offered Jelly a place to stay rather than her go into kennels. 

 After our visit to meet Santa we also attended a carol concert for humans and hounds at My 2nd Home. We've also lined up quite a few other playdates at various locations and I'm looking forward to friday meet ups with Jelly and her owners.

 Bob and Jelly got on very well together and Jelly is certainly missed already. I'm sure Bob is perfectly fine, as is Jelly now they are apart, but having 2 dogs was really nice and they played together none stop as well as constantly looking at me like this, every time I entered the kitchen.

I also took Bob to soft play and there have been trips out into the desert.

There are also a lot of stray cats in our neighbourhood, this one turned up a few weeks ago, I've been feeding her/him, but can't get close enough to check for a microchip.