Spying

Once in a while, I like to spy on wild animals through the living room window. I get up in the sofa and leans my front legs on the back of it, which is just by the window. This is not very sophisticated spying. If you are really determined to spy on others, you can launch spy satellites, like Japan did last Saturday. If I were more determined and more interested, maybe I would get some high tech spying equipment as well. If the wild animals around our house are concerned abot their personal sphere, they should be happy I am not. There is so many other things going on in my life that is more important. Spying is just a minor hobby of mine.

Going to Japan

People go to Japan for all kinds of reasons. The last thing I heard was that people from all over South East Asia and Australia go to Japan to ski downhill. They have the cross country World Championship in Japan now and they have had two Winter Olympic Games, so this is not surprising. From what I can understand, the climate of Japan is rather close to that of Sweden. That would suit me fine, although I do not like to ski, I like to run in snow. Skiing is best on TV. I have actually a better reason to go to see Japan than to ski, since it is the home country of my breed.

This Weekend Was Too Calm

I did not do anything spectacular this weekend. The only thing upsetting I did was not to write in my blog. I could have written a long blog entry yesterday about being angry with Paula. The thing is, she went away to a dog show in Köping without me or any of the other dogs. I would have liked to come along. I always like it on dog shows, with everything that happens, and I had hoped to meet my brother Jiro, who lives in Köping. I am calmer now and have forgiven Paula.

We have gotten some more snow. Daniel is getting tired of shoveling it away. It is supposed to be warmer this week, many days with temperatures above the freezing point. Maybe the new snow will melt away and Daniel will not have to take it away.

Great Food and Great Fun

Today, Paula gave us great food. We got meat sauce and liver paté. It was terrific. The fact that we did not get chicken yesterday is forgiven.

In the evening, April and I rushed around in the yard, chasing one another. It is fun, and you burn a lot of the energy that great food give. Daniel saw us and later told Paula we ran so fast he got tired by merely seeing us. We are much quicker than our humans, this adds to the fun.

Chicken

Paula and Daniel had chicken tonight. They did not give any chicken meat to us dogs, though. We got some rice and sauce in our bowls, but that was as close as we got. This was nice, but not as nice as real chicken meat would have been. Life is hard on pet dogs sometimes.

Meeting Someone Special

Some humans search for a significant other online. It cannot be easy being a human. As a dog, I do not have that problem, my own humans will find me the right one. If you are a human, you may think that you would not want this to happen, that you want to find your soulmate yourself. I am not concerned, this has happened to both Mum and Dad and neither of them mind. On the contrary, when Dad has come home from his journeys of love, he has been in a good mood. It is only Mum who has been a little jealous, but then Mum has had others than Dad as well.

You may respond that as a human, you have no human like dogs have, who can put you up with someone. In that case, I suggest you buy a dog. A lot of humans have met their significant other thanks to their dogs. If I understand correctly, Paula's first dog played a part when she and Daniel became a couple.

Consequently, if you are a dog, trust your human to find someone for you, if you are a human, trust your dog to do the same. Dogs and humans sure do live in symbiosis. Use your time online for something better instead of searching for love. You can, for instance, use it to read more in my blog.

Fast

This is a special Tuesday, it is the beginning of fast. Read about this in my blog entry for the first day of fast last year.

Paula Is At Work Tonight

We, all the dogs, that is, are used to the fact that Daniel is away at work five days a week. Paula works much more irregular, the occassional night here and night there. She worked last night and she works tonight. We have a nice time with Daniel, just as we have with Paula when Daniel is at work, but all of us feel better when everybody is at home.

The good thing when your human works is not only that they earn money to buy dog food and candy, it is also how happy you feel when your human comes home from work. Would it perhaps be boring if Paula and Daniel were always at home? I really think so. Even though I miss Paula when she is away, and Daniel when he is away, it does make the days different from one another. I like that.

A World Championship Is Over

The World Championship in Alpine Skiing, which took place in Sweden, ended today. Sweden ended as the second best nation, after Austria. Austria is often the best nation in Alpine skiing. There is a Swedish Chocolate manufacturer that is a sponsor of the Swedish skiing team, not the Austrian team, yet it says in its TV commercials that it is a sponsor of the best skiing team in the world. Public relations people have a little weird view of the world sometimes.

Worshipping an American

There is a little island in the Pacific Ocean where they worship an American called John Frum. It is unclear who was the real John Frum, but if he was a single person, it is interesting that he is now worshipped as a god and that my Mum's home country of America is worshipped as the country where he and most good things come from. You can read more about this cult at BBC's homepage. I also know of a mythical American. Mum and April know her well, so do Paula and Daniel. It is Mrs. Laura Perkinson, owner of Taichung Shiba kennel and breeder of Mum and April. I would like to meet this American some time, of whom I have heard so much good. I honestly believe I have a greater chance of meeting Laura Perkinson than the worshippers of John Frum has of meeting their god. Future holds the answer.

The West Wing

The last episode of the American TV show The West Wing is aired on Swedish TV tonight. Daniel is sad, he says it is the best TV series ever, and now it is over. Mum is also sad, she has followed it since before she moved from America, where her family liked it too. We can always hope there will be other shows in the future that measure up to the standard of The West Wing. Daniel seriously doubt that, but I do not lose hope. I try to comfort Daniel, at least he usually enjoy reading my blog.

Tracks of Strangers

There are some visible tracks of other animals who have crossed our lot in the snow. We can also feel the smell. When we arrived home after the morning walk today, Dad marked the snow where these tracks were. It make the rest of us feel more comfortable that Dad takes this care of our land. Those trespassers should keep off, but since we are not out patrooling our lot day and night, it is a bit hard to make them. On the other hand, there are other advantages with staying indoors, such as the warmth, candy in the kitchen, and all the toys. As long as those animals do not disturb us more than they do now, we have decided that they will be told of our presence but still to let them be.

Tails

This is my 401st blog post. I can hardly fathom how much I have written in my blog - and it is still fun to write more.

One of the great advantages of being a Shiba Inu, compared to other dog breeds, is our curled tail. We carry it across our backs. We never hit anybody or anything while wagging it. We also do not risk getting our tails caught in doors closing behind us. My Pharaoh Hound friend Primus had the bad luck of making a sudden stop on the front step just outside the front door, when the door was closing behind him. The tip of his long tail was caught between the door and doorframe. He has bled some. I am sorry for him, but not much, since he is over all rather happy anyway and is in no pain. It does not seem like a permanent damage upon his tail.

The main fault was, of course, not him stopping, nor the door being shut, but that he did not have a curled tail that would have been safe upon his back. Dogs without curled tails sometimes do not seem to know where they have their tail, not least when wagging it. Shiba Inus are fortunate enough not to have this problem.

Just a Little Snow

It was snowing on the morning walk. Daniel, who takes care of all the snow in our driveway, was afraid he would have to take a lot of time for such work later in the day. However, he did not have to. There were less than a centimetre of new snow on the ground when the snow stopped falling. I like to play around in the deep snow, but there was already enough snow on the ground for fun play. Thus, both I and Daniel could stay happy.

News from Japan

If you are as interested in Japan as I am, I can recommend the English language page of Kyodo News.

Cool Day

We took a different morning walk today than we usually do and saw new parts of our neighbourhood. That was cool.

From breakfast and into the afternoon, we were parked in front of the TV. This was cool. We saw the competition where Sweden's Patrik Järbyn got a bronze in the alpine world championships. Later, Sweden's Anja Pärson got a gold. These were cool events. Anja Pärson does not live in Sweden, but she competes for Sweden anyway. This may seem strange, but it is because she is a Swedish citizen. She was born and raised in Sweden.

You can compare citizenships for humans to kennel club registrations for dogs; you can live in another country than that where you are registered in the kennel club and the kennel club registration still determines some things of importance for you when it comes to competitions and such. When you have a cool day, you can ponder over interesting things like this.

We Visited Paula's Parents

This evening, April and I got to go with Paula and Daniel to Paula's parents. Mia and Kesshi were also there, as well as Mia's boyfriend Emil. It was fun to meet everybody. The humans had a lot of good food. They did not celebrate anything in particular, but there exist, of course, no bad reason to have a nice dinner. I would have liked to have as much beef as they had, but the evening was nice, nevertheless.

Lack of Inspiration

I have had a lack of inspiration overhe last couple of days. It happens once in a while. Even though I usually find it easy to descide upon what to write about, I do not always do it. Daniel was not at home Thursday and Friday. He often helps me with a little discussion about subjects to write about before I do the actual writing, but since he was away, I had noone to exchange ideas with. The others were not interested. Daniel came back Friday evening, but both he and I forgot about the blog. I will have to make this up to my readers and I promise at least one more blog entry today. There is acually a lot to write about, such as the world championships in alpine skiing here in Sweden and in biathlon in Italy. There has been Swedish gold medals in both championships. I will be back later today.

Cozy By the Fire

It is cold outside this week. I played a lot in the snow yesterday, but when I got in, I realized my paws were cold from the snow. They were so cold it would not be comfortable to write a blog entry. I went in to the living room and laid down close to the open fire and its warmth instead. This was really cozy, so cozy I laid there longer than I had planned. When I wanted to write in my blog, it was already so late that Paula had turned the computer off.

We have a fire on this evening as well. I have, however, learned from my mistake. I make sure I do not get too cold paws and I tell myself to write in my blog before I go lie by the fire.

Dogs are probably one of very few animals who are not afraid of fire. This is because we know our humans take care of the fires. According to some old tales, it was in part the warmth and comfort of fire that drove our wolf ancestors to seek the company of humans. Be that as it may, it is nice to have someone making a warm fire for you.

I wish life would always be as fun as it is when playing in the snow, and always as comfortable as when lying by the fire.

Bears

Last night, I was at my friend Kesshi's home until late. Kesshi is also known by his friends as the Bear, due to his cute looks and humble behaviour. It was fitting, then, that the Chicago Bears played in the Super Bowl XLI from twelve o'clock in the night, Swedish time. We all hoped the Bears would win - except for Dad, who does not like Kesshi - and it started out great with a touchdown almost immediately. Unfortunately, the opposing team, the Indianapolis Colts, turned the game around and finally won. Dad stole another lollipop from Paula this evening, under the pretext that he was celebrating the Bears' loss.

Song Contests

One of the big TV events every spring is the Eurovision Song Contest. The Swedish song competing in the contest is selected from thirtytwo songs over five Saturdays, four semifinals and one final. The first contest was this evening. Daniel and Paula were a little upset over the low standard of the songs. The worst thing was, according to Daniel, that his favourite song did not become one of the four songs that got the chance to win the final round. I do not care. I am not interested, since there are no dogs competing.

Another Lollipop

I got to taste Paula's lollipop tonight. I bit off half of it and ate it. It was good. Lollipops are really sweet and tasty.

There was a show on the TV channel Animal Planet today called Britain's Worst Pet. The dogs in that show were really missbehaving. I am glad Paula and Daniel saw it, it must have given them an even better understanding of how well behaved I and the other dogs in their home are.

Me and My Big Mouth

I am not only expressing myself on this blog. Sometimes, I use my voice as well, talking, barking, or screaming. Paula got so tired of what she thought was my whining today, that she got angry with me. In hindsight, I guess I have only myself to blame, especially since I just went on whining even more for a while. It is OK now, but sometimes, I am just in such a generally bad mood that I cannot think of anything else to do but whining and complaining. I am not like that very often, but I think I can improve and be in a bad mood even more seldom. I hope Paula can forgive me.