Brie

Paula and Daniel had baguettes with Brie cheese for breakfast today. After breakfast, Paula gave some Brie to us dogs. It was really tasty. Cheese is always tasty, but there are degrees in the tastiness. Brie is one of the best types of cheese I have had. It is really creamy. Meat aside, I think cheese is one of the tastiest things to eat.

There Will Perhaps Be No Puppies

Paula and Daniel have started to suspect that Mum is not expecting puppies. She shows some signs, such as swollen nipples, but it is possible to show these signs without having puppies in the tummy. The signs and her behaviour is not that which Paula and Daniel would expect if Mum would really be expecting puppies.

Mum says the disadvantage with not getting puppies is that she will not get as much food and candy to eat, even though she claims she deserves just as much candy as if she would have had puppies. Mum surely loves candy. I realise getting more candy is a real advantage with getting puppies, this is why I would want to have puppies in the future.

Play Night

I play with April tonight and have no time to write a long blog post. Stay tuned, more will come.

No Pancakes

According to Swedish tradition, Thursday is a day for pancakes. Nevertheless, we seldom have pancakes on Thursdays, because Paula is not fond of it. She let us dogs taste the meat that she and Daniel had for dinner today. Pancakes are tasty, but as a carnivore I like meat better. I was quite satisfied with today's dinner.

Visitors

We had visitors today, a young couple interested in buying a Shiba Inu pup. They had been here once before this autumn, meeting me and Daniel, so I recognised them as the nice people they are. Paula and Daniel sat for over an hour talking about Shiba Inus with them. This is good, it proves they are serious in their interest. They make a good choice with the Shiba Inu, an even better choice with our kennel. Mum is supposed to get another litter soon, one pup from that litter may very well move to this couple. I believe that pup will get a nice home.

Dad got a postcard today from Daniel's mum, who has been on the Canary Islands. Daniel's mum wrote that the Canary Islands are the dog islands. As far as I can understand, the word "canary" comes from the latin word "canis", meaning dog. My Mum said this is self evident, considering the small birds called canary birds - these come from the Canary Islands, but the name must also imply the birds are supposed to be dogs' birds, thus free for us to prey on.

Christmas playtime.

Neither Dan or Paula forgot us dogs at Christmas. We got a l0t of new toys. I took the time to "collect" both April and Primus toys too. Paula says that I stole them but I was just borrowing them.

Christmas Day

Mum is always annoyed over the Swedish Christmas celebration, since the main part of it takes place on Christmas Eve. We were so busy, I had no chance to write in my blog.

Daniel took us out on the ordinary morning walk, then we all went to bed again. We did not wake up until eleven o'clock, one hour before we were due to arrive at Paula's parents' house. We made it there virtually on time, but it was close. The afternoon was fun. Then Paula and Daniel were invited to Paula's aunt, but all of us dogs stayed at home to celebrate a quiet Christmas Eve on our own. Paula and Daniel did not arrive back home until late, we greeted them and had some more fun before going to bed at one in the night.

This morning, we did not wake up until eleven o'clock, once again. Christmas Day has been calmer and we have played with the new toys we got for Christmas. Life feels good today, I bet it is that Christmas spirit people talk about.

Hi-jacked!

This is outrageous! April, whom I thought was my dear friend, hi-jacked my blog and wrote in it herself. I barked at her that she cannot do this. Not only did she steal my blog, she failed to state that I helped Paula making meatballs. If she wants to blog, she can always start her own blog. It would, of course, take long before her blog would have the same positive name that my blog has received, but I have worked long and hard to achieve this.

I guess I will change my password. Then April's blog entry may stay on my blog, since I am so kind to my fellow dogs, especially the young and inexperienced ones.

Meatballs

Note that, today, this blog has been hi-jacked by Hailey's friend April. Since I lived the first seven months of my life in the USA, where English is the majority language, I consider myself more able to write a blog in English than Hailey is. I grew up as an English speaking dog. Hailey is good at English, I have to give her that. Her Mother Sunni, who is from my American kennel, has taught her well. However, Hailey writes in British English, I favor the simpler and more beautiful American English. This must be a mistake in Sunni's teachings.

Paula is making meatballs today. I have been told this is a Swedish specialty that they always have for Christmas. Paula let us taste and it was really good. Sunni says she miss the Christmas turkey, but since I never celebrated Christmas in the USA, I don't have any relation to turkeys associated with Christmas. If Christmas is much about good food like meatballs and turkey, I don't feel afraid of it anymore. Now I'm looking forward to Christmas.

Cleaning

We are cleaning the entire house for Christmas today. April and I made the bed and there were also other things all of us dogs did. Cleaning is not fun, but the result is nice. With my own efforts, I also help the others to get the energy to clean up more. I also picked up an indoors toy who had ended up outdoors, this little stuffed heffalump was wet and dirty and looked more sad than he usually does. Daniel put him in the bin for dirty laundry.

We thought Daniel would not be home tonight. He told us yesterday he would go out with some of his colleagues, because it was the last day at work for one of them. However, he did not go, he told us they did not have any night out. Many of Daniel's colleagues have relatives in other parts of the country. If most of them left town early in the day to celebrate Christmas elsewhere, it makes some sense the rest of them did not think it was worth it to do anything, even though they made up plans yesterday. I think it is good they did not have any night out, I like it better when Daniel is at home. I told him so - to comfort him, since he seemed a bit disappointed.

Cake, Chocolate, and Ginger Bread

Daniel celebrated that he will soon quit his job to start on another. He bought cake to his colleagues at work. Some of the left over cake he brought home and he and Paula had some. The cake looked very tasty and Paula gave some to each of us dogs. It definitely was tasty, I would have wanted to have more.

Some of Daniel's colleagues gave him some small presents as well. One of the things he got was chocolate. Dad is fond of chocolate, regardless of the fact that it is poisonous for dogs. He stole a piece of chocolate from Paula and ate it quickly. You cannot blame Dad, Paula ought to have looked after her piece of chocolate better. Dad did not mind, of course, and one piece of chocolate is not that bad for him. Even though Paula is the human I know who is closest to being infallible, even she can do wrong on rare occasions. I love her all the same and I do not blame her. After all, she is only human (this is a saying humans use themselves when explaining faults, I interprete it as being as fallible as a human as opposed to a Shiba Inu).

Mum and I went with Paula to Paula's parents later in the evening. Mia and Kesshi was also there, which added to the fun. We made ginger bread for the Christmas holidays. Gingerbread is a must at Christmas, I hope to get a lot. I think I deserve a lot, considering everything I did when we baked them.

The First Snow

The first snow in our town finally fell yesterday. It was about time, it is supposed to be snow on the ground at Christmas Eve. There were only a thin layer of snow, less than one centimetre thick. It felt like a good start, even though it was not thick enough to play in. The bad thing was that it all melted away in the evening. There has been no snow today, even though the temperature has been cold enough. I wish the snow will come soon.

Sometimes, I Don't Know What To Write

The headline says it all. I have been thinking about what to write in my blog most of the evening, but I cannot seem to think of anything. You have to get back again tomorrow, if you wish to read some of my intelligent thoughts. Now it is time to go to bed.

April Is a Bit Worried

April and I have become great friends. I have taught April a lot about Sweden, Swedish culture and language. She has told me some things about America. As we are approaching Christmas, she is a bit concerned, since she has never experienced Christmas before. She wonders whether there is anything about Christmas that hurts. She is so cute, my new little sister, asking questions like that. I have told her that there is, of course, nothing to worry about. I was around last Christmas, so I know. It feels good to be able to calm younger dogs down with my greater experience of life.

Christmas Shopping

Paula and Daniel left us dogs alone at home today, to go Christmas shopping. An important part of modern Christmas is giving each other Christmas gifts, so humans have to go buy them. It is not very fun to stay at home without either of our humans, but we hope we will get a lot of dog candy as Christmas gifts. I hope I get the most dog candy, but I believe we will get equal shares. Given that we will probably get dog candy for Christmas, it is quite all right to stay home alone.

The Middle of December

It is the middle of the Christmas month. Christmas is supposed to be snowy, but we have not seen any snow yet. It is above freezing, even though it has been windy the last couple of days. I look forward to Christmas, but somehow, it was even more exciting last year. By then, I was so young I had only heard of Christmas. Now I know what it is about. The disadvantage of growing older is that you have already seen all the annual events of the year. Maybe Christmas is much different this year than the last, but above all, I hope it will be fun.

Just Another Day

Sometimes, there is so much happening I have no time to write in my blog. That was the case last weekend, when we were at the dog show in Stockholm. Other days, nothing in particular is happening, which means I have trouble making up anything to write in my blog. It is a day of the latter kind today, just like it was yesterday. Daniel was at a Christmas party with his job yesterday evening, but there were no dogs allowed, so I had a dull evening at home. I sure hope tomorrow will be more exciting than yesterday was and today is.

I Did Not Get To Go To Kesshi

Paula went to her sister Mia and my friend Kesshi tonight, but she did not bring me. She brought April instead. I cannot help but being a bit jealous. Why would this newly arrived little pup get to see my friend, when I may not? Life is unfair sometimes. I only wish it was unfair in my favour a bit more often.

After a Busy Weekend

Paula and her sister, Mum, and I went to Stockholm this weekend. It was time for the annual Stockholm dog show arranged by the central organisation of the Swedish Kennel Club. It was an Irish judge who judged the Shiba Inus. This made me somewhat hopeful, because there was another irish judge who made me Best in Show-pup in May. Neither Mum nor I was very successful, however. My brother Jiro was also on the show, he was not succeful at all. I was disappointed, but you cannot hope too much just because the judge is from a certain country.

April got to go to Daniel's work again today. She liked it better this time and there were two of Daniel's colleagues who came in and said hi to her, making her feel welcome. Her opinon of Daniel's work is better now.

April Went to Daniel's Job

April got to go to Daniel's job today. She was there for less than an hour, perhaps fortunately, because she did not like it and does not want to go back there. She also told me there were none of Daniel's nice co-workers visiting her in Daniel's room at the office. I ensured her that Daniel's co-workers are nice, but she said she is of the opposite opinion until proven otherwise. How anyone can prove otherwise if she does not go back there, she could not say.

Well, April is still a pup and a recent immigrant, not nearly as experienced as I am. I have to give her that she has the experience of having been abroad, born abroad as she is, but in this matter I believe I know best. I know Daniel has got nice co-workers. We will have to see if Daniel brings April to his work again soon.

Paula Is Out Again

Paula left us again this evening. This time it is only for a short time, she is working tonight. She told Daniel she was not really up for working, but she earns money doing it. Money is good, money is the thing humans trade for dog food, candy, and all the other, less important things. It is, therefore, rather good that Paula is working, even though we miss her.

Dad is acting a bit weird. I do not know why. It is not because Paula is gone, because he was acting this way much earlier today. As soon as we are let out in the garden, he runs to the gate and wants to run away. Paula says that maybe there is a bitch in heat somewhere in the neighbourhood. I do not react to any such smell. I guess Dad, as a male dog, has a better nose for sensing such a thing.

Returning to Normal

Life is returning to normal after Paula's journey. I am getting to know April more and more. She is a nice girl. It feels good not to be the youngest Shiba Inu.

Paula Is Back, With a New Friend

A lot of things have happened the last days. I had no strength to write anything in my blog, after a terrifying adventure that ended well. Dad ran away and we were out looking for us for more than two hours in the afternoon and early evening. Daniel called the police, who had received a tip that Dad was back in the park in our old neighbourhood. We took the car and went there too look for him. Paula's parents helped, her dad on bicycle and her mum by car. It was Paula's mum who finally found Dad, as he was on his way back home. We believe Dad was looking for Paula, who had certainly been gone long enough, but he did not want to say anything himself.

Paula came back yesterday. We were all very happy to see her. She brought another Shiba Inu, a female who is a bit younger than I am. This Shiba Inu's name is April. She will become a part of our family, but I cannot tell you so much about her yet, since I am just beginning to get to know her. She seems to be a nice fellow, but then again, which Shiba Inu is not?

It is a more normal day today, when Paula is back home. The only thing out of the ordinary was a great rainfall. It was not nice to get out in the pouring rain, but once you are wet, it is not so bad.

I Am Not Sure What To Do

A little while ago, I changed into the Beta Blogger for my blog. This is a new version of Blogger. As such, it is naturally supposed to be better. I have not discovered a single new, better feature in the new version. The only new thing I have discovered is that I now has to log in with an e-mail address along with my password, instead of a user name and my password. This annoys me, because I have not chosen to change user name, and the e-mail address is longer and due to its @ a bit more difficult to type.

I have another web page where I could start to publish my blog posts instead. I may do that in some days, but I have to figure out how to get the same links there that I have on my Blogger page. Stay tuned for more information. - Another disadvantage with Beta Blogger is that I now have to type the links manually. There used to be a convenient button on the screen to press, then you just added the link. It is a good thing Daniel knows a little about HTML, he helped me a bit here.

Over all, I am satisfied with Blogger, but I do not understand why it should be changed without any obvious improvements.

Pasta

Paula and Daniel use to call us Shiba Inus a number of different things besides our normal names. Some nicknames have a theme, so that each of us has a nickname of the same sort. My favourite theme is the pasta theme. Pasta is food, and food is always good.

These are our pasta nicknames:

Mum Sunni, from lasagne: La Sunni
Aunt Linni, from tortelini: Tortelinni
Dad Kuro, from macaroni: Makuroni
Our friend (but Dad's rival) Kesshi, from spaghetti: Spakesshi
Myself, as Hailey, from tagliatelle: Tagliahailey

This week, we have been thinking about what pasta nickname the new Shiba Inu in our family, April, will get. It has to be derived from a fairly common pasta. Maybe farfalle could be Faprille, but I am not sure this is really good. If any of my readers has a good idea, please let me know by writing a comment to this blog post. I promise to forward any suggestions to the others in my family, we will take every suggestion into consideration.