I love Nina Ottosson!

(Drafted this post during her LS period last year. But no treats = no toys = no photos. Hence the delay.)

Nina Ottosson (which, by the way, is her real name) is a range of interactive toys. She believes that dogs require both mental and physical activity and has therefore developed these dog activity toys to stimulate the dog mentally. To be honest, I think I'm also having loads of fun and mental stimulation just by watching silly girl play!

01 / Dog Brick Plastic (Can't remember how much.)

My first Nina toy! It's very common and popular, and probably the easiest to get here in Singapore.

It's a level 2/3 on the website but personally I think it's a level 1. Silly girl got it so fast! =P The first few times I did it without the white blocks, then with the blocks but had food under them so silly girl would take them off. Within 10 times I was using the center blocks without any food underneath. She knew she had to get rid of the center ones before the sides would slide open. I had thought this could occupy her for a longer period. =\

I think it's a good beginner toy to start the dog on IQ toys.  

02 / Dog Tornado Plastic (~SGD 36.70)

Rated a level 2. It has a similar concept with the dog brick, but also slightly different. Same same but different. Hehe. Instead of sliding the covers open, silly girl now has to rotate the levels to reveal the treat. You can start without any white blocks but I used all 3 of them the very first time. I thought it would occupy her longer this way. Unfortunately, she was only stumped for a while, before she figured it out and began removing the blocks directly. *sigh* Oh and it was a little smaller than what I had expected, so bigger dogs may have a bit of problem. =X

03 / Dog Casino Plastic (~SGD 60.60)

I was anticipating this the most! It's a level 3 and I feel it's much harder than the rest because instead of simply pushing the white blocks away, silly girl has to pluck out the pins before the drawers would slide open. I had hoped it would provide her a higher level of mental stimulation, and it does!

It's probably a level 10 for her lmao. She's still can't remove the pins by herself but she can handle the drawers! Guess she needs to use more brain. Lol.

04 / Dog Treat Maze (free)

I won this one from a UK-based competition so I was pretty surprised and pleased they actually mailed it over! It works in a similar way as her Kong wobbler, just that there's a maze inside instead (that is, if you know how the Kong wobbler works), so it's slightly harder.

That's all! Silly girl goes mad when I take out any of these toys. Though I think she relates it to food instead of fun. One more thing I love about these toys are that they're easily washable. I think they have the wooden version but I wonder if it can tahan repeated washes. Hmmmm.

I really wish Nina Ottosson toys are more affordable and accessible. I bought mine from Amazon and it broke my wallet pretty badly, even though it's still about 10-20 bucks cheaper each than if I got it locally.

P/s. She also has the Kong wobbler and Kyjen kibble drop. Her toys are more expensive than mine. *sigh*

P/p/s. She's actually pretty scaredy cat and easily spooked. But when it comes to food, she drops all her defences. No matter how weird the thing feeding her is. Quite scary if some asshole decides to poison her. Tsk.

Day trip to JB!

Okay this sounds like a really fun road trip but actually, we just crossed the causeway for shopping. Lol! SSD goes over quite frequently but it was more or less a first for me. (I know I suaku but I wasn't really keen on public transport. I still ain't keen.)

So the day started with a 1 hour plus queue at Kranji mrt. It was horrendous. The crowd at the Singapore customs was just as bad, but thankfully there were lots of counters so we crossed quite fast. The Malaysian customs was quite bad too. Everything was manual and there were lesser counters open. Quite pissed I would say. #igotnopatience.

Headed straight for KSL City. Cab fare was just RM5! Main purpose was lunch at the famous Soon Soon Heng Bak Kut Teh opposite, as recommended by SSD. No pictures cos I was super duper hot and sweaty and hungry, and we had to share a table. =( 

The food was...... okay lor. Lol. We ordered the usual BKT (it was unfortunately the herbal type, not the peppery type I like), topped with additional button and enoki mushrooms, beancurd skin, and fish maw. Also got a bowl of salted veggies and fried you tiao. Bill came up to RM41. To be honest, I probably wouldn't come all the way to KSL just for the BKT. (P/s. Chopped chilli was the usual big tasteless chillies instead of padi. #petpeeve.)

Walked around KSL City. It was just like any other mall in Singapore, just a lot more carts selling handphone cases and cables. Quite...boring. =X

Cabbed back to City Square. This time we had to bargain for RM10 fare. Still cheap, but double our initial one. #nothappy. Browsed CS first and then the newly-opened Komtar Mall (with Angry Birds themepark). Quite boring too! The Angry Birds is just a larger (and more expensive) playground for kids. Not all shops were open at Komtar, and the floors shook. =X

Had dessert at Hui Lau Shan.

RM12 for this small bowl. And much too sweet. Definitely overrated. Tried HLS once in Hong Kong many years ago and never had it again. Now I know why.

Settled for early dinner at Arashi Shabu Shabu. Other than the RM5 dish of pickles which I never should have eaten, it was my best meal of the day. We got the seafood (RM29.90) and seafood/meat (RM32.90) sets, which came with rice. And topped up RM2 each for tomyum and herbal soup bases. Ordered additional cheese fish balls (RM4.90) too.

My herbal soup was absolutely yummy! The dang gui taste was pretty strong. I super likes! To be honest, the ingredients were mostly veggies and not exactly very filling (or worth it). But seriously, the herbal soup made up for it. And the cheese fish balls! Filled with yummy mozzarella (I think) cheese which melted when cooked. Careful when biting into it or it'll squirt all out! XD

There's 10% service charge and 6% gov tax, so total bill came up to RM90. Not as cheap as we initially thought, but...... the herbal soup makes up for it! Lmao.

And my loots! Okay lah I admit, my main purpose was just to get the contact lens solution. RM35 for a pack (3 bottles). That's barely SGD5 per bottle! Would have gotten more if they weren't so heavy. Or if we drove. =( Oh and my Westlife final tour DVD. Quite surprised I actually found it there. Don't really like the "西城男孩" though.

Overall, I'm definitely not keen to cross the causeway again! Lol. 

Fun at East Coast Park

It's been ages since I last bought the silly girl out (besides going to the vet). So 2 weeks ago, I decided to bring her to East Coast Park! And a grooming session after that, so I was all prepared to get her wet and dirty. 

East Coast Park

Look at that face! She must have known we're not going to the vet. XD

We wanted to go to Tanjong Beach at Sentosa actually. But SSD complained it was too far, so we had to settle for ECP. Didn't dare to let her off leash so I suppose she couldn't have a lot of fun running around. Still, it's her second time on grass (sorry I have tick-phobia) so I guess that's a compromise? Lol.

Brought her down to the beach and tried to lead her into the water. She wanted to follow me but was freaked out by the waves. So sad. I'm hoping she can one day learn to play and enjoy herself in water but judging by the frequency I can bring her out, I guess I can only hope for it. *sigh*

We rented a double bike too! It was surprisingly affordable at $15 for 2 hours. Got an additional big basket ($2) for the silly girl. It fit quite snugly but it was tilted at an angle so she was clinging on for dear life in an awkward position. Looked pretty uncomfortable I must say. She's probably traumatized for life lol. No more cycling then!

Her face when we stopped for a rest.

Not very pleased eh? =X Here we are waiting for SSD to return the bike. It was so cooling and comfortable with the sea breeze; she almost fell asleep. ^^ (You can see she only got her paws wet lmao.)

Grooming @ Furbabies

Dropped her off for a basic grooming and milk spa session at Furbabies! One, because it was nearby. Two, because it was more affordable. And three, because I wanted to see Max the standard poodle! =D Still as cute as ever.

Went off to Nex for dinner and went back to pick her up. Only took about an hour! Nice. And she smelt absolutely wonderful. I don't know what magic Laureen used, but it's been 2 weeks and her fur is still as lovely. Still smells so nice too! Almost didn't feel like bathing her. =X

Hopefully we'll get another outing and/or spa session before CNY. *cross paws*

Dinner at Watami's + Popo's first swimming session

開工大吉! I seem to have that all the time LOL. Nevertheless, we went for a expensive hearty dinner to 'celebrate' my first day of work. Ended up at Watami and we got the special set for 2 ($59). Came with 2 drinks too!

Love the sashimi, salad and nabe. Fries were okay. Soba was mehh. Total bill came up to $70+. @_@ Extravagant, but I guess it's okay once in a while. =\

And last Saturday I brought popo for swimming at Pets Arena! They charge by the hour, which honestly I find it's super expensive because popo barely swam 10 minutes. She got no stamina lah! Quite sad. =(

Photo courtesy of Pets Arena

At first we wore the little life jacket for her but she was struggling hard in the water. After we removed it, she started swimming! I was quite apprehensive about it initially but it was such a delight to see her swimming so cutely behind me! So natural for a first-timer! I kept squealing and laughing! XD I have a little video on my instagram as well as the full 5+ min video of her first swim. Ahhh I feel like a proud mother. LOL.

Did teeth scaling for her as well cos the vet didn't do a good job the other time. Broke die me. T_T

bruised.

having not truly exercised for the past almost 10 years (!!), i've recently been torturing my poor body with mentally-challenging horse-riding and physically-challenging muay thai lessons. #servemeright

if you've been following me, i'm up to my fifth lesson in horse riding. 2 more to go! we got a super strict instructor last week. there were a lot of mounting and dismounting involved, which i probably failed big time. didn't help that i had a feisty horse haha. we also practised the rising trot again, with no hands this time. it was actually surprisingly easy once you got the rhythm. next week is probably gonna be nightmare, since we're gonna have to start, walk, trot, rise, steer, and stop all by ourselves. oh wells.

i'm also up to my second muay thai lesson. many people seem to be surprised that i'm taking this. i really look so gentle meh? -__- anyway, we mainly learnt the different positions last week and did padwork this week. which i actually super enjoyed. especially the kicking! it felt good to be able to unleash the strength. i doubt i'll enjoy slower sports like yoga very much now lmao.

the killer part is actually the warm up session, which gave me like, 5 days of sore painful calf muscles last week. i could hardly walk! we added half a round of jogging this week, so i'm pretty fearful what i'm gonna wake up with tomorrow lol. 

another downside is the equipment. we got 'cheated' as we were not informed that we had to buy our own skipping rope, gloves and shin guards. i already got the rope (for a freaking 15 bucks!) but still debating whether to go ahead with the rest or not. pretty reluctant to spend another 60 bucks especially now that i have no input. T_T 

but these lessons made me realize how much my body had deteriorated since the NPCC PT days. 10 years ago omg! i really really need more exercise. 'nuff said. =|

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