Great Scientific News

Paula and Daniel are both stressed from having a lot to do at work, Paula also from her studies. The whole world seems stressed, since there is financial unrest and grave economic recession. It was a cold, grey, and rainy day today. In days like this, it feels nice to read great news. There are scientists in the Netherlands who have decoded the DNA sequence of penicillin, the fungus that is the most prominent antibiotics known. This will probably lead to further discoveries in new antibiotics, which is a good thing in the struggles against the bacteria that are resistent to common antibiotics and that can be found more and more often. Antibiotics have saved the lives of many dogs, as well as many humans. The possible development of new and improved antibiotics is a great thing. Can there be better news in a gloomy day like today?

Economic Recession

There is an economic recession throughout the world. In Japan, the new Prime Minister Taro Aso proposes funding and tax cuts to stimulate the economy. In the USA, Congress is voting on a huge package of funding to bail out Wall Street. I do not care very much, as long as I get food in my bowl every day, I believe the economy is strong enough for me.

Finish in Finland

April's finish in Finland was great. She became Best of Breed, but more important, she got a CC. Together with her Swedish Show Championship, this means she is now also a Finish Show Champion. A trip that far cannot have a better result. April and Paula are on their way home, they will come home rather late. When they arrive, we will have the chance to congratulate April and to celebrate.

I am really happy for April's sake. Mum, on the other hand, says April still has another country to become champion in, before she matches Mum. Well, I guess April has an answer to that, Mum has no World Winner title.

European Time in Singapore

Tomorrow will be the first ever Formula 1 race in Singapore in South East Asia. Singapore time is normally way ahead of Europe, so if the race would be driven in the afternoon, as the races normally are, it would be aired early in the morning on European TV. The viewers, such as Daniel, would not like that, thus, neither would the sponsors. The solution is quite simple: the Singapore race will be held in the evening, on a track lit by many giant lamp posts. We watched the qualification this afternoon, Swedish time, and it was a really well lit track. It may be especially interesting to watch this race, since it is the first Formula 1 night race ever. I am sure Daniel will watch it, maybe I will to. I am more interested in getting the result from the dog show where April is shown tomorrow, but watching the race is not bad.

Preparing to Leave Me Behind

Paula will go to a dog show on the Åland islands with April this weekend. They are preparing and packing their bags tonight. I am not invited to come along. True, I am not in the best of coats right now, but I would also like to go to the show. Paula and Daniel know that there is nothing I like better than to go to dog shows, but they say it is not my turn this time.

Well, I hope they have a nice time and that April succeeds, anyway. It may be my turn the next time.

Pics

Sunnis grandchildren

Sunnis great grandchild

I bet my puppies will look just as nice as these kids!

Busy Day

It has been a busy day today, more busy than usual. Unfortunately, I am tired and have to go to bed. You have to come back tomorrow for a longer blog post.

Another School Shooting in Finland

I had promised more pictures of my black and tan relatives today, but news from our neighbour country Finland was too upsetting not to write about. The promised pictures will come, just not today.

About a year ago, there was a gunman shooting a lot of pupils to death at a school in Finland. Today, it is like a rerun of that tragic event. Daniel's sister-in-law Heidi and our Labrador Retriever friend Primus lives in Finland, though luckily at a great distance from the town where this happened. I could not believe it had happened last time. At first, it seems even more unbelievable that this kind of unlikely event would happen again in the same country - but perhaps it has its own kind of sick logic, perhaps the shooter today would never have done this without the previous school shooting.

I hope no dogs were injuried and that any dog owners who may have been hit have friends and family who can take good care of their dogs.

Grandmother Amy

This is my grandmother Amy. She also comes from kennel Taichung. Her name is Taichung Mail Order Bride. People who knows my blood lines and have met Amy says that we are so much alike. I think so too. I hope to have my own red little daughter and see if she looks like me Hailey, mum Sunni, grandmother Amy or even great grandmother Jenny.

Tomorrow I will show my readers a picture of a b/t grandchild and a b/t great grand child of mum Sunni. Stay tuned.

Weekend resume

This Sunday was the first one in a long time with good Autumn weather. I helped Paula out with some garden work after she got home from the hospital where she is employed. Yesterday was a day of rest. Paula was out shopping with her mum and sister. Daniel took good care of us dogs at home. I also helped him out with some legally advice for his job as a laywer.

April will be away next weekend. She and Paula and some of our friends will go to the international show in Eckerö, Finland. Hopefully April could be a Finnish champion before October. Well, we just have to wait and see how it goes next Sunday:o) As usual I feel a bit left over since I enjoy being the centre of attention. Daniel has promised me though to give me some extra special care.

I have no shows planned the next couple of months. Paula has some plans to show me abroad next year. My biggest plan in the nearby future is to have puppies. We have some, in our mind, extra terrific upcoming puppy buyers who eagerly await my puppies. I hope not to let anybody down.

A Hill or a Mountain?

According to new measurements, a peak in Wales that was up until now deemed as a hill, may be reclassified into a mountain. In Britain, anything lower than 2,000 ft. above sea level is a hill, anything higher is a mountain. Recent measurements by a private group of people have showed that the peak may be a little higher than 2,000 ft., instead of a little lower. This is considered a big thing in Wales, where the inhabitants are proud of their rugged terrain. Personally, I would find better things to do than measuring the height of a hill. The interesting thing is, though, that private citizens care so much about this that they do these measurements.

(Correction made after comment.)

A Curious Law

In South Korea, only the visually impaired are allowed to be masseurs. There are, however, many seeing masseurs in the country as well, because the visually impaired ones are far to few to meet the demand. Now, the country's supreme court will determine the constitutionality of the law, considering that it discriminates the seeing masseurs. This is, indeed, curious.

I am glad that we do not have a law like this in Sweden, especially since Paula's father is a masseur and he has no trouble at all with his eye sight. He has a successful business, completely legal, since he does not work in South Korea.

Update on the Apple Pie

We have had apple pie now. Both Daniel and Paula liked it, but said they had tasted better. I cannot say whether this judgment is true, I have not tasted as many apple pies as they have, since I have not lived as many autumns as they. I thought it was a very good pie and ate the little piece of pie that I got with great joy. This was a fine dessert.

Apples

We have got four apple trees in our garden. This year is a great apple year, so we have had a large harvest of apples, more than we can eat. In order to put some more apples to use, and to answer Paula's call for a good dessert, Daniel decided to bake an apple pie this evening. The pie is currently in the oven, where it is supposed to be baked for 40 minutes. We have to be patient for a little while longer. It looks and smells promising.

Daniel used this recipe:

1 kg apples
2 ½ dl flour
150 g butter
4 table spoons water
4 table spoons sugar
1 egg

Oven temperature 225 degrees Celsius, 40 minutes.

He mixed the flour and butter, then mixed the water into this dough. Then he peeled and cut the apples, laying them in layers in a pan with sugar between. The dough was flattened out as a lid on top of the apples, and the egg was whipped and poured out across this lid. Then the pie was put in the oven.

Of course, the actual baking process took longer than reading (or writing) this text. What seems to be the longest time, however, is the time we have to wait for the pie to be done in the oven. I am longing to taste it.

Tough against Dog Droppings

I have always been annoyed with dog owners who do not pick up their dogs' waste. It is not supposed to lay in the street or on well kept lawns. Leaving it affects the public image of all dog owners.

In a town in Israel, the authorities have come up with a new, high tech method to work against the dog waste problem. They set up a DNA database of local dogs, then they will use the data to match the dog droppings to the dog, and thus to the owner. Thus, the owners can be identified and punished. So far, giving DNA samples to the database is voluntary, and dog owners who comply with the rules and pick up the droppings can be rewarded. The authorities are considering making the DNA sampling compulsory.

This is surely an interesting method to catch the bad guys. No blame is to fall on us dogs, it is in the age old separation of duties between dogs and humans that humans pick up the droppings.

My Birthday

I celebrate my third birthday today. It is I, and my two brothers Kiko and Jiro, of course. I have sent greetings to my brothers, congratulating them.

The day was a bit dull at first, both Paula and Daniel were away for a while. When they got home, rather early, we had some fun. Paula gave us some extra good food just to celebrate me. I also got to go with Paula and Daniel to Mia, Emil, and Kesshi in the evening and we had a lot of fun there. All things considered, it was a good birthday.

Champion Class

Today was the first day that our Pharao Hound friend Primus competed in champion class. He became a champion yesterday at the sighthound specialty outside of Helsingborg, and competed at the Southern Scania Kennel Club national show today. It must have been nice to compete in champion class. I know how fun it is to become a champion, since I became one a little over a month ago.

I did not come to the shows this weekend, you cannot always be there. I have had a good weekend at home instead, with Mum, Dad, Auntie Linni, and Daniel. April had to hold the banner high for all of the Shiba Inus of our clan. Reports say she did not, but then again she did not have the support of me and the others who stayed at home.

By the way, there was nothing wrong with the certificate of Blogger today. This feels good.

There Is Something Wrong with the Certificate

I do not know what is wrong, but when I tried to log in last night to write the daily blog entry, my web browser said there was something wrong with the certificate on the page. You are recommended not to use a web page where the safety certificate is not functional or not up to date. It may be expired, in which case the owner of the page has to renew it, i.e. my blog provider Blogger. I believed it would be fixed today, but it is not. I decided to take my chances and write this blog entry anyway. I sure hope nothing bad will happen because of this, and that the problem is fixed soon.

Dog Still Missing

A family in Durham County in England nearly lost a daughter, who was sucked down an open manhole and ended up in a nearby river, and lost their dog who went the same way. They managed to rescue the girl, but the dog is still missing. I first read about this in a Swedish news paper, but in that article, all that was said about the dog was that it had been sucked down along with the girl. There was not a word about what had happened to the dog later. I searched the Internet and found an English news paper that wrote more about the story. This is how I know the dog was not rescued. I sure hope they find the dog alive, and I cannot understand why there was not a word in the Swedish article about the fate of the dog. We are lucky to have the Internet, where we can find more about stories like these.

The Meaning of the Name Shiba Inu

I had a comment to my blog post yesterday that prompts me to write an extra blog post today. (Please do not forget to read the first blog entry.) What is the meaning of the name Shiba Inu?

Well, inu is Japanese for dog. This is the easy part of our breed's name.

The Shiba Inu has not any specific area in Japan where we come from, unlike the other original spitz breeds of Japan. Our origin is the whole of Japan, we have lived throughout the country since times immemorial. Thus, unlike the other breeds, the Shiba Inu cannot have a name from an area in Japan where we come from.

Shiba is the Japanese word for small. This may be the origin of the breed name, given that we are the smallest of the original Japanese breeds. There is, however, another explanation of our breed name. There is a certain kind of brushwood which, when dried, has the same red colour as red Shiba Inus. Red is, by far, the most common colour of Shiba Inus. This brushwood is also called shiba. Whether the dog breed has received its name from the brushwood or not is unclear. In my opinion, it may as well be that the brushwood has received its name from the Shiba Inu.

I believe in the explanation that Shiba Inu means "small dog". We are relatively small in body, if not in mind, and it is a simple and straightforward explanation. The true origin of the name is, however, from times immemorial, just like the breed. This is cool.

Yeah!

Even though April took her title before me I obviously beat her to have it published on the Swedish Kennel Club database. Mum thinks this is a proof for everyone that Im more important than April. I don't disagree with her.

Shiba

If you want to stay correct, it is important to say Shiba Inu about my dog breed. The breed is often just called Shiba. However, there are other things in Japan that are also called Shiba, such as an area in central Tokyo. If you are Japanese, you may even have Shiba as your family name, such as a tourist interviewed in this article about an old silver mine in Japan that is designated as a world heritage. This is why I usually use the full name of my breed.

In other news from Japan, it is noteworthy that there are now as many as six candidates to become Prime Minister in Japan. I wonder how this will end.

Attack on Two Fronts

Paula and Daniel celebrated the anniversary of their wedding today. They had a nice meal at the living room table, wich is rather low. There was a very good sauce with the meal. At the end of the meal, Dad discovered he could reach the sauce from one end of the table, until Daniel moved the sauce away. Then Auntie Linni discovered she could reach the sauce from the other side of the table. Daniel moved the sauce back again, only to notice that Dad could reach it again. Daniel had to lift the sauce away, but he did laugh at the ingenuity of the Shiba Inus.

We fought poverty for dessert. That is, we had some Ben & Jerry ice cream, an ice cream where the manufacturers promises to fight poverty with some of the proceeds of the ice cream. It is very tasty ice cream, so it is a nice way of fighting poverty.

All in all, it was a good celebration.

Birthday

Paula's mother celebrated her birthday today. Paula and Daniel went there to celebrate without any dogs, but we let them bring a present from us. We had bought candy, can any present be better?

In Japan, the competition for the job as Prime Minister gets tougher, as more candidates emerge. One of the candidates may become the first female Japanese PM, but I do not know if she is the best candidate. Among dogs and wolves, it is always the oldest female who rule, but this is not the case among humans. We will have to see what happens.

Late Night

We were at Mia and Kesshi tonight. It was a fun night, though we had three black outs and the DVD player did not work properly. It was so fun, that we were not home until after midnight. This is why this blog entry is dated on Sunday. Now I need to get some beauty sleep.

Rattling Dog

A human in Scotland recently noticed that his Labrador Retriever was rattling. Human and dog had taken walks along a golf course for several months. When the rattling from the dog's stomach started, his human wisely took him to the veterinarian. It turned out, during surgery, that the dog had swallowed thirteen golf balls. Some of these balls had been in the stomach for very long. It must feel nice to get rid of such a burden from the stomach, even though you are fond of golf balls.

Meanwhile, in Japan, Taro Aso has formally announced his bid to succeed Yasuo Fukuda as Prime Minister. Taro Aso is popular, but too conservative according to some in his own party. We will have to see if he becomes PM.

Cops

Some evenings, we watch the American TV show Cops. It is a documentary on police work in different cities in the USA. We are often appaled at how stupid some criminals are. On the other hand, if they were not stupid, I guess they would not have become criminals in the first place. it takes a certain kind of stupidity to commit crimes of the kind shown and getting caught. Earlier today, we also watched a documentary about a man who killed his wife. He was very stupid, trying to fake an alibi, but making numerous mistakes in the process. One part of the fake alibi would be that he would have purchased dinner to both himself and his wife, but the man selling dinner to him remembered, and the receipt from the restaurant proved, that he had bought food for just one person. Later on he returned twice to the remote place where he had buried the dead wife. The only good thing about these crimes is that it makes good TV.

Seafood

Paula and Daniel had spaghetti with crayfish sauce for dinner today. There was a lot left, which they gave us dogs. It was a great meal.

You may consider seafood like crayfish to be somewhat odd for dogs to eat. It is not odd for Shiba Inus, however. In part, this is probably due to our Japanese heritage, seafood of different kinds are very common there. Scientists in Canada have also discovered that fish, especially salmon, is an important part of the animals that wolves eat, as well. Thus, fish is nothing strange for dogs who are proud of their wild ancestry.

Dog Pens Used for Prisoners

Australian soldiers have held four suspected Taleban militants in dog pens for 24 hours. This was a necessary thing to keep the suspects locked in and the Australian soldiers safe, until the suspects could be transferred to another building. Muslims have expressed heavy critizism against this, claiming it was an infringement of human rights. According to Muslim traditions, dogs are viewed as unclean and impure. The Australian military, on the other hand, has claimed that the prisoners were not maltreated and that no breach of human rights occured.

I agree more with the Australians than the Muslims. These prisoners should feel happy about their treatment. In my mind, humans who believe dogs are unclean and impure actually does not deserve to be put in such a fine facility as a dog pen. Dogs are man's best friends, you do not claim your best friends are unclean and impure. It is quite impolite to do so. However, if you let these people into a dog pen, maybe they can start to review their opinions about dogs to the better? I would hope so, but, unfortunately, I do not believe so.

I fear there will always be humans who look down upon us dogs. This is especially sad, because dogs always look up to humans. Occasionally, however, we just do not understand some humans.

Resignation

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has, quite surprisingly, announced that he will resign. The continuing impopularity of his cabinet and party is cited as reasons, along with troubles in dealing with the Upper House of Parliament, where the opposition holds a majority. According to the BBC, Mr Taro Aso is seen as the front runner to succeed Yasuo Fukuda. It will be interesting to see what happens.