Spending Time with the Others

I love Fuji and Bagus, my dear pups, and I spend most of my time with them. Once in a while, though, it gets a bit tiresome not to interact with anybody else. Over the last days, I have therefore started to leave my pups for other reasons than just to go outdoors for a short while. I have spent longer periods of time with the other dogs in the other rooms of our house. This is also good for Fuji and Bagus, they need to learn that I am not always around. After a while, I am eager to go back to my pups again, and I believe I take better care of them when I return than I would have done, had I just stayed by them. The other dogs are now allowed by me to greet the pups. They seem to enjoy it, all of them.

When Words Are Not Enough

Unwanted Attention

In a suburb south of Stockholm, a man had to call the police. The reason was that a male dog had followed him and his bitch - who was in heat - on walks for many days. The dog had even managed to get into the staircase i the block of flats where the man and his bitch lived, sitting outside the door of the flat and scratching the door. The police came and took care of the dog.

I can fully understand how annoying this unwanted attention must have been. Who want this kind of attention from an unknown male, regardless of whether you are in heat or not? Where was this dog's human, who has the responsibility to curb him when his instincts take the better of him? Sometimes, male dogs need to be locked up.

Haven't They Missed One Option?

In the Kingdom of Australia, there is an ongoing debate on the form of Government. Some Australians are in favour of a republic instead of the current monarchy. As far as I can understand, the main reason for favouring a republic in Australia is that they want a Head of State of their own, an Australian, instead of the Queen of England.

I can understand the wish for a Head of State that is your own, but I cannot understand why Australia has to become a republic in order to achieve that goal. Is there no member of the British royal family who happen to live in Australia already, and able to become Queen or King? Perhaps there is some Aboriginal chief who can become Queen or King? A republic simply cannot be the only answer, can it? In a country as big as Australia, there must be some people with big enough imagination to come up with a solution that preserves the monachial form of government even if you would want a domestic Head of State. Personally, I believe status quo would also be nice.

Tintin Movie

In 2010, a Tintin movie by Steven Spielberg will be released. I has now been announced that James Bond actor Daniel Craig will play the villain of the movie, whereas Jamie Bell is the actor who will play Tintin. I still have not found any information on who will play Tintin's dog Snowy. This is an important role, considering the importance of Snowy in all of Tintin's adventures. Except for Tintin himself, Snowy is the only character who appears in all adventures. All dogs who are fans of Tintin's adventures naturally see Snowy as very important. Many humans love dogs, so Snowy has arguably contributed a lot to the popularity of Tintin among humans as well. Yet, there is still no information on whom they will cast in the role as Snowy, a role that must be important in the movie as well. I guess we will just have to wait a while longer.

Sick

I have felt a little sick today. This is not nice. I may have eaten something that was not good. Fortunately, my pups do not seem to be affected at all. Most damaging things do not reach them through the milk they get from me. I will get back in touch tomorrow, I believe I feel better then.

Visitors

The pups and I received visitors today. It was Paula's parents who were here to see and adore my pups (and me). Afterwards, Paula and Daniel sat talking to them out in the livingroom for a very long time. They must have had many important things to talk about, but they could have stayed in the puppy room, keeping me and the pups company. Well, I had a nice time with my pups anyway, as I always have. They are so fun to be with, my little darlings.

The Future and the Past.

My pups are exploring the world. We had a great day together. I tried to snitch their food but Paula and Daniel put an end to that, unfortunatly for me and fortunatly for the pups.

Paulas sister is in Thailand now and how much I would like to go with them I can't. I have my duties at home, as a stay at home mum. Nevertheless, I took the opportunity to tell Paula and Daniel to order some Thai food. We had a great dinner together while my pups were sleeping.

The night ended by the TV as we were watching Schindler's List. The holocaust is a dark piece of the human history. Thus, it is important to show the future generations so this could never ever happen again.

In a odd way, this Saturday started out with the future, my pups. It ended with the past, watching a movie about the World War II.

Carnivores

Since my pups are dogs, there is no doubt they are carnivores. This is good, carnivores are on the top of the food chain.
My pups have started to eat minced meat. They seem to like it too. It makes me feel even more secure that they will grow up to be real and truly carnivores.

Three Weeks

Time flies. It has already been three weeks now, since I gave birth to my darling pups. They thrive and grow, and has started to discover the surroundings in the puppy room. They think the room is huge compared to the puppy box. I can hardly wait to see their reaction to the outdoors. Under a cloudless sky seeing the field behind our yard, you can talk about huge surroundings. The world will be even bigger for them when they start to take walks. It is a new and exciting place for them.

I can remember some of my curiosity, willingness to learn, and naïvete, when I was their age. In some ways, I miss that life, it was more innocent and easy. On the other paw, knowledge and experience is a good thing and I would not want to be without it. I hope I can learn my pups some valuable things before it is time for them to move to their own homes. It just seems like they grow so fast. At their age, they are fast learners, but will I have the time to learn them everything I want to? I hope so, and I believe I can to a large extent. They will also have opportunities to continue to learn things when they have left me. We do spend a lot of time together now. It is a good time in my life.

By the way, I wrote this on our new computer. Paula has installed necessary software into it today. I believe it is a rather nice machine.

Mia Visited Us

Paula's sister Mia visited us tonight. It is always nice to see her, and as long as I have my pups by me, I cannot go to visit her. She got to see and pet my pups, and they rather enjoyed being petted by her, just like they enjoy being petted by Paula or Daniel.

The humans ate hamburgers and chips, and I got some too. From what I understand, the other dogs did not get any extra. While I do feel a bit sorry for them, it is still more important to give extra food to nursing mothers. My sympathy for the others did not stop me from eating all of the extra food that I got.

The New Computer

We got a new computer today, replacing the old one. It was the computer most similar to our old one that they had in the store, that is why we got it. So far, it is not connected to the Internet, so tonight, I still use our old computer to write in my blog. It remains to be seen how good the new computer is. I do agree with Paula, however, that the keys are too white. Any little dirty spot will be seen on the keyboard. Nevertheless, I look forward to trying it out.

New Computer

Our computer broke down in November. We have used an old, spare computer since then. Now, the insurance company has determined that we will get a new computer, equal to the one we lost. Paula and Daniel will buy a new computer, probably as soon as tomorrow. I have ensured them that I am happy with whatever computer they will buy. This shows the importance of insurance. I guess it is almost as important to have an insurance for your computer as it is to have one for your dogs.

More Pictures

Here are some more pictures of my dear pups, these are from today. The first picture is of my son Aangenaam A Hero Comes Home, "Bagus". The second picture is of my daughter Aangenaam Gently As She Goes, "Fuji". Then there is a picture with both of the pups. Paula is the one holding the pups.

They are cute, my pups, aren't they?

My Babies!

Words are unneccessary when you see my babies. They are so cute! I love them.

Life on Mars?

Is there life on Mars? David Bowie asked this in his song by that name in 1973, but the question is much older than that. Well, nowadays, nobody expect to find green men - or green dogs - on the Red Planet, but there may be other forms of life there. NASA has detected large quantities of methane gas on Mars. This may be the result of geological activity, but it may also be the result of activity by some sort of primitive life. It will be interesting to get to know more.

Personally, I would not mind Mars being without life. A lifeless Mars would be open for colonization by dogs and humans without any risk of medical problems when facing Martian life or ethical problems on disturbing these native organisms. On the other hand, if there is life on Mars stopping dogs and humans from living there, there are many other places in the Solar System to colonize. During the second half of the 20th century, Shiba Inus left our native Japan to successfully conquer the Earth. It may be time to conquer more than that at least in a century or two.

Coin to Remember Finland

Two hundred years ago this year, Sweden lost a war and all of the possessions on the eastern part of the Gulf of Bothnia had to be given away to Russia. This later became the modern day independent Finland. To commemorate this event, Bank of Sweden issues a series of 1 crown-coins with a picture of the Gulf of Bothnia on the back. I think it is a bit sad that Finland is not still a part of Sweden - if it was, the Moomin trolls would be known throughout the world to be from Sweden, not from Finland. However, Sweden and Finland are both part of the European Union, and that is certainly as close as the countries will get in the foreseeable future. The two countries have two votes in the EU, as a single country it would only have one, so there are advantages to being more than one. I wonder if I can get hold of one of the commemorative coins.

No Lunar Eclipse There

Recently, it has been discovered that Italian Galileo Galilei was not the first who observed the Moon through a telescope. Englishman Thomas Harriot did it earlier, and has left maps of the Moon of a slightly earlier date that proves this. However, Thomas Harriot was never keen on publishing his findings, as Galileo Galilei was. There was no lunar eclipse in the way of these observations, and centuries until Lunar Eclips - yours truly - would be born. It is interesting to know that more than Galileo Galilei was interested in Luna at such an early time in the history of modern astronomy.

A Big Step

A good thing of being a dog is when your humans scratch your tummy. I love this! I am proud to say that my pups do the same. Today when Paula scratched both Bagus' and Fuji's tummies they became totally relaxed. I followed this step in my pups develop to be real little Shiba Inus with much intrest. I chewed on my bone with bubble gum flavour, meanwhile Paula played with my pups. It was a nice afternoon.

Outrageous!

The price of fresh grounded minced meat is outrageously high right now. It cost between 79-89 SEK/kg.

As a new mum I got some extra minced meat in my daily food. The other dogs were upset, though, the high price of minced meat caused Paula and Daniel not to give them any extra treat.

I feel sad for my family but I can tell them (if they read my blog) that the minced meat was really worth the high price. Still, I believe it should be cheaper.

Wolves of the Arctic

Occasionally while having pups, they are both asleep and I can direct my attention to other things, such as writing my blog. I also ran across this interesting piece about wolves. Since dogs are direct decendants of wolves, I have always been interested in wolves. Not that I wish to meet one myself, wild and strong as they are, but it is fascinating to read about them. I am glad me and my pups have a nice and warm house to live in, though.

Meet Fuji & Bagus!

May I present my darling pups:
Aangenaam Gently As She Goes Fuji on the left and Aangenaam A Hero Comes Home Bagus on the right.

Text taken from our website:
"We searched long and hard for suitable names for these puppies. As this litter is special for us as the second generation of Aangenaam shibas to be born we had to have something striking. The B-litter therefor got their names from the soundtrack from Robert Zemecki's movie Beowulf, one of our favourite movies of all time."

Bulldog Hero

In Michigan in the USA, the Bulldog Napoleon must be the hero of the day. His efforts saved four kittens from drowning. The Bulldog evidently just bolted across a street and jumped into a lake, where he pulled a burlap sack ashore. The sack was filled with six kittens, certainly left to drown, but four of them was saved thanks to Napoleon.

You see, dogs can make heroic acts even for the benefit of cats. It is not true that dogs are always enemies of cats. I hope the four rescued kittens get loving homes to live in for the rest of their lives.

Birthday

My pups turn one week old today. We do not celebrate in any special way. The pups are still too small to celebrate. They have not opened up their eyes yet and only consume milk. Nevertheless, it is a day to note, because further on, we may celebrate their weekly birthdays in some way or the other. I have to figure out how to celebrate in a manner that suits me as well. As the mother of these pups, any food better than usual has to be served to me as well, I believe. There will be more to tell on this subject in the weeks to come.

Euro

More and more European countries adopt the Euro as currency. This new year, Slovakia has adopted it. After the former East Germany, as part of Germany, and Slovenia, it is the third former communist state to adopt the Euro. I wonder if Sweden will adopt it anytime soon?

Paula and Daniel will receive monetary compensation from the humans who will take care of my pups, once they are old enough. This compensation will be paid in Swedish Crowns, not in Euros. These pups will just move to other parts of Sweden, though. There has been talks about future pups of mine moving to Finland, where Euro is used as currency. If this happens, perhaps the compensation for such a pup will come in Euros. It would be easier to have the same currency.

On the other hand, Dad came from Norway, Mum, April, and Calvin from the USA, neither of which uses the Euro. Changing the Swedish currency to Euro could make it easier to trade with Finland, but not really with Norway or the USA. The USA will never swap their Dollar to Euro. Norway is not even a member of the EU and will probably not do it for the foreseeable future. If and when Norway and Denmark changes currencies to Euro, I guess Sweden will as well.

Cold Weather

There has been a couple of cold days now, but it is due to end about Wednesday, the meteorologists say. Daniel has made fires in the stove in our living room. The warmest room in the house, though, has been the puppy room, where I have spent most of the time together with my dear pups. We have an independent heat source for this room, and while Paula and Daniel has saved by keeping the temperature somewhat low in the rest of the house, we have made sure the pups have enough heat to thrive in.

There are heavy snow falls in Germany, France, and the UK today, but not in Sweden. This is good, since Paula is on her way to Copenhagen by car to pick up Kuro II at the airport. We would not want any bad weather to hit her on the way down, nor them on the way back.

Another Dog Blog

Except for my friend Grus, the Welsh Springer Spaniel, I have just added a link to another blog by a dog to the left margin of my blog. This is a blog by male b/t Shiba Inu, whom I have heard a lot about. I have also mentioned him before in my blog. I do not know him yet, but chances are I will get to know him this year. Reading his blog will give me clues in advance about his personality. Just like Dad, he is called Kuro. As Dad is always the first Kuro for me, I call him Kuro II, hence the name of the link.

Strike to Counter Fireworks

The New Year festivities came and went, while I was busy with my newborn pups. I have not had time to check much news. Today, I found an interesting piece from Italy, published late last year.

There are often fireworks at New Year, in Italy just like in Sweden and other countries. Over the last years, there have been more and more fireworks and crackers in Sweden, even days and hours before and after the clock strikes twelve on New Year's night. This annoys humans, but more important is that it scares a lot of dogs and other animals. In our home city it sounds like there is a war going on for hours.

The news from Italy is a method that may counter the excessive use of fireworks. A woman in Naples, Italy, has called for a sex strike against men who use illegal fireworks. A lot of women have pledged to follow her advice. Since humans can have sex all year - not only twice a year when in heat - and men often want to have sex as often as they can all year, this method may very well work. For the sake of dogs scared of cracking noises in Naples, I hope it does. Then it may spread to Sweden as well.

Growing Pups

My pups grow fast. They are almost twice as heavy now as they were when I had just given birth to them. This is good, it proves they are healthy and strong. I am glad they did not weigh this much when I still carried them in my tummy.

If you just read my blog, and wonder why there are no comments to it on the fact that my pups are born, just go to the guestbook at my kennel homepage. There are a lot of people who have written there and congratulated to the pups. Paula, Daniel, and I have also received private e-mails with congratulations. I am greatly thankful for all of these messages.

My Darlings

There is a lot of work being a mother to newborn pups. While they do sleep a lot, you never know when they will wake up and want to get fed. As a mammal, I am there to feed them, of course. I also help them to get waste out in the other end. This is no big deal, the only thing that goes in is very nutritious milk, so there is not much waste going out. The waste there is, is nothing to worry about. I take short walks for my own needs, but once I am done, I am able to get right back to my little darling pups. None of the work I do feels hard, since they are so adorable.

The pups have grown considerably since I gave birth to them. Paula and Daniel have helped me to measure their weight, and we can see that they gain weight at a steady and healthy pace. I feel nervous about the pups at the weighing, because they whine when they are lifted and put on the scale. This is my maternal instinct speaking. I calm down as soon as the pups are back by my side.

Now I have to return to the caretaking. Stay tuned for more news.