Dog Show

Daniel was away on a dog show today, in our home town, where he worked as a ring steward. I like going on shows myself, but this was an unofficial show, so I do not care that my maternity duties kept me from it. Unofficial shows are not a great enough challenge for a girl who have had the successes that I have had in the show rings. I do hope, however, that I will make a grand come back in the show rings later this year. This is something to look forward to.

Fudge

Paula and Daniel decided to have a nice and cozy evening at home. One of the things they did to prepare for this was to buy candy. They bought a piece of vanilla fudge for each of us dogs - except for my pups. Fudge is great, but I believe my pups would also have deserved one piece of fudge each. They do not eat anything but my milk yet, so I would have had to eat the fudge for them, remaking it into their milk. As the good mother I am, I would gladly have done that. Paula and Daniel thought nothing of this plan, however, and denied my pups their equal share of fudge. The evening was nice, but denying my pups fudge was the one thing that tainted it. Well, I guess the pups will enjoy fudge in the future, anyway.

How Similar is a Shiba Inu to a Fox, Really?

Humans often say Shiba Inus looks like foxes. Naturally, they mostly say this when they are thinking of red Shiba Inus, not black and tans like me, Dad, or my current litter. This similarity is not that big, for instance, foxes do not have the beautifully curled tail of a Shiba Inu. Nevertheless, it seems like the similarity may be big enough to be dangerous.

Our friend Kesshi has a son who lives in another part of Sweden, where they had a fox infected with scabies whom they wanted to shoot and kill. Kesshi's son found his way out of his garden and went alone into the woods, where a trap with food had been prepared for the fox. When this innocent and perfectly healthy Shiba Inu spotted the food, he went there to eat, but only to be shot at. He was hit.

I cannot understand how a healthy Shiba Inu can be mistaken for a fox infected by scabies. I hope the shooter appologizes and pays the veterinary bill, it is the least he can do.

Shoveling on the Roof

Due to the heavy snow falls this winter, people have been warned not to keep a lot of snow on their roofs. On our little house and our barn, the roofs are steep enough that there is not so much snow that it poses any danger. The main building is another matter. Daniel has shoveled snow off this roof. The problem is that it sounds terrible. We cannot help but asking him to stop. He did stop after a while, saying he had taken the worst piles of snow off. This is good, it keeps our house safe.

Day Off

Mum business today, stay tuned for a longer blog post tomorrow.

My Pups

I hardly think of anything but my pups these days. I know I will be able to focus on other things soon, but right now, they are so dependent on me. They are also so cute and lovely.

While the girl has been the biggest of the pups from their birth, the boy has caught up somewhat. He has grown more than her since yesterday. This is quite natural - as a boy, he is supposed to end up as bigger than the girl. Adult Shiba Inu males are always bigger than adult females. Of course, the females rule despite our lesser weight, but that is also quite natural.

There are Olympic Winter Games going on in Canada, but I have not followed the games since giving birth to the pups. I guess I will catch up later.

Growth

My pups are growing rapidly, as they tend to do when they are just a few days old. I can see and feel the changes myself, but Paula and Daniel use a scale to measure the weight of the pups. I let them do this, though I do not really like it, because it makes them feel more at ease when they know the pups are growing. Humans are often so dependent on measuring and checking things, things that dogs know just by looking, feeling, hearing, or smelling. We have to let our humans do this, because they do so many things for us. Still, I know my pups are growing and that they are healthy without measurements. This makes me feel good.

What's in a Name?

We are debating what we would like to call my pups. There must be official names to be registered with the Swedish Kennel Club, and there must be names that humans can call out and that dogs can easily understand and separate from names of other dogs.

Shiba Inus have a reputation for chosing their own names. The pups are yet too small to have anything to say for themselves in this matter, still being deaf, but I would like it to be nice names. When they grow older, they may want to change names, but that is a question between each dog and his or her human.

The litter is an E litter, so Paula and Daniel would like to give the two pups official names that reflects the letter E in some way or another. I do not care as much about these names, but I will give Paula and Daniel enough time to agree on great names. I am quite satisfied myself with my official name, that they gave me.

Picture of My Pups

This is my youngest son and daughter, a photography from last night. I am still a little tired and busy taking care of them, so you will have to wait a little longer before I tell you more.

Pups Born

My pups were born today: one dog and one bitch. Both are black and tan, which makes me glad. Now I will go back to them, I will tell you more later. Stay tuned!

Anniversary

Today is the tenth anniversary of the engagement of Paula and Daniel. This is a big event in the lives of all of us, because if it had not been for the combined efforts of Paula and Daniel, we would not be here. Indeed, some of us would probably not even have been born, such as myself. I rather not think about that possibility.

We had a little celebration this evening, with extra nice dinner. There were shrimp added to the dog food, really tasty. Later, there were the pastry of the season, semla. Paula gave me some of her. It was a great evening.

Whom Can You Trust?

A woman in Malmoe in the south of Sweden, who held herself out to the public as a dog watcher, has been caught stealing at the home of one of the watched dogs, while the dog's humans were at work. This is a grave misuse of the trust she had been given. If you entrust your dog to another human being, this has to involve the biggest trust possible. If this woman cannot be trusted into the home of the dog, because she steals there, what has she done to the dog? I feel sorry for the dog, who no doubt trusted her.

Shrove Tuesday

In English speaking countries, this day is called Shrove Tuesday. They eat pancakes there on this day. Pancakes are great, but in Sweden, we eat something even better, we eat a pastry called semla. It is eaten from this day and throughout the fourty days until Easter.

Daniel loves the pastry semla. However, he abandoned the semla he would get on his workplace to be able to work from home in the afternoon, in the company of us dogs. This was a great sacrifice, but we were happy he did this. In the evening, there was time for a semla.

Economic Growth

The Japanese economy grew by 1.1 % in the final quarter of last year. Japan is the worlds second largest economy, and its growth shows that the world is on its way to recovery from the recession of last year.

The third largest economy, mainland China, is growing faster. It seems likely that China will soon pass Japan and become the new second largest economy. This is not strange, given the capitalistic politics of the one-party state that still calls itself a communistic Peoples Republic of China. I just wonder when there will be an upheaval in China - either by going back to the communistic teachings or, perhaps more likely, by establishing a democratic form of government that can make the economy even better.

Road Closed

This winter has had more snow than usual in Sweden. The road between Kiruna in the north of Sweden and Narvik on the Norwegian border is currently closed by Riksgränsen, at the border between Sweden and Norway, due to deep snow. Many years ago, Paula worked in Riksgränsen. It is fortunate she came home from there and did not go back. We would not want her to be trapped in snow, nor all of us, if we would live there too.

Opening Ceremony

Paula and Daniel got up really early this morning, at 3 a.m. This was because the live television coverage of the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games would start at this time in Sweden. We go by Central European time, whereas Vancouver in Canada goes by Pacific Time. Mum said it should not be hard to be awake at this hour for her, because it is the real time zone for Taichung dogs, and she has lived for many years at kennel Taichung in Tenino, WA, USA. Nevertheless, I believe she slept though most of the ceremony, just like the rest of us did. Daniel stayed awake for the longest time, but even he fell asleep by the end of the ceremony. It was some boring show numbers in the middle and towards the end, he said, whereupon Mum said it would have been better if it had been south of the border, in the USA. She is always the American patriot, my Mum.

Tracking Devices for Dogs

A company in a small town just north of our home city in Sweden has received a large order from France on devices for electonically tracking dogs. The company normally manufactures similar devices for wild animals. I am concerned about devices like this. If you would manufacture and sell similar devices for humans, you would be widely critizised for invading privacy. However, similar devices for dogs does not seem to make people cry about invasion of privacy for the dogs. I am concerned about such privacy, however. Are not dogs worthy of our privacy, to some extent? I believe we are.

Unexpected Find

A Swedish police dog who was just out to rest from a car ride suddenly marked a piece of ice for his human companion. The ice contained a small gun. It will be examined to see who owns it. So far, nobody knows where it came from and how it ended up on the side of a country road in Sweden. Somebody may become very lucky that the police dog found the gun, or if it has been used in criminal activities, very unlucky. I hope to get to know more, it sounds like the start of a detective story.

Clouded Leopard

A cat species discovered as late as three years ago, the Sundaland clouded leopard, has been caught on film for the very first time on Borneo in Indonesia. It is a relative of the Asia mainland clouded leopard, but a separate species. It is the largest predator on Borneo, which sounds like a cool thing to be, but it is still regarded as an endangered species. This is not due to commercially used forests, such forests can very well hold and preserve many species if managed in a good way, but there are still few of these cats around. I hope the species will be around for many centuries to come.

Deep Concern

Kuro chan is deeply concerned over the fact that Japanese car manufacturer Toyota has been forced to recall a large number of cars of the Prius model. It is not only that he is a Shiba Inu, and as such of a Japanese breed, but that he was born and raised in Japan. I am also concerned, but not as concerned as Kuro chan. We hope this does not reflect too badly on Toyota's reputation of building cars with very good quality. When you think about it, recalling cars has its positive sides to the manufacturer, it shows the great concern that the manufacturer has of the well being of its customers.

Casualties of War

Two Swedish soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan. Sweden participates with soldiers in the multilateral peace force in Afghanistan, but some Swedes are upset now and want Sweden to withdraw all Swedes immediately. There are naturally some risk to be hurt or killed when you participate in such a force, but it goes with the job. Being there and being part in upholding peace and civilisation against the extreme islamists called the Talebans is a good thing. I believe Sweden should participate, as long as there are Swedes who are willing to go there and participate in the peace force.

Snow on the Roof

With all the snowy days this winter, and with a roof that is far from steep, we have a lot of snow upon it. This may be dangerous, snow is rather heavy and may break the roof, if there is too much of it. Daniel has spent part of the weekend shoveling snow from the roof. I did not like the sound of it, but I do understand the importance of it. I hope our roof will stay intact.

Song Contest

The first round of the Swedish trials for the Eurovision Song Contest was aired on Swedish Television today. Out of the eight songs, not one was really good. Paula believed the two songs that went straight to the finale was the two best songs, so for her sake, I am glad those songs did. We have to hope for better songs in the Saturdays to come.

Runeberg Day

Today they celebrate Runeberg Day in Finland. It is a day commemorating the famous poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg, who wrote some of the most revered poems about Finland and the war in 1808-09, in which Finland was lost from Sweden to Russia. A sad result of the war for Swedes and Finns alike, but the Russian Grand Prinicpality of Finland eventually became the independent country of Finland that exist today. Runeberg also wrote the lyrics to Finland's national anthem.

On Runeberg Day, you are supposed to eat Runeberg cake. This is a small cake with frosting and raspberry jam. I would have liked to taste one, but it does not seem like you can get any in Örebro. Runeberg did write all his works in Swedish, still an official language of Finland but more common back then, but he is regarded as a poet of Finland and I guess this is why we do not celebrate him much in Sweden. We should, though, there are no bad reasons to celebrate and cakes are always a good thing.

The First Week

Paula has made her first week at work. You may find that strange, since it is Thursday today and she is working full time, but since she has some evening hours alongside her day hours, she get an occasional day off here and there. Tomorrow is her first day off. This is good for us dogs, because then she will be at home with us most of the day. While we are perfectly capable of being at home alone, it always feels better when Paula and Daniel, or preferably both, are at home too. Paula will generally not have any weekend hours, so both she and Daniel will often be at home all weekends as well. This feels good.

Even More Snow

They said on the radio this morning, that the more southern parts of Sweden had heavy snow falls, and that we would get a little snow in Örebro later in the day. However, by that time, snow was already falling in our home city. Daniel has been out shoveling snow. He is starting to get really annoyed with all the snow, because he have a hard time finding places to store it all. We have a lot of high piles of snow in the yard. Nevertheless, it is always fun for us dogs to play in newly fallen snow.

Weird Idea for Peace Prize

The Italian edition of Wired Magazine claims to have nominated the Internet for the Nobel Peace Prize. While I can agree that the vast opportunities of communication that the Internet has brought to the world is good for peace, the Internet is an inanimate object. One of the main ideas of the Internet is that nobody and everybody owns it. If the Internet would get the prize, who would get the prize money, and what would be done with them? I believe giving the prize to the Internet simply cannot be done. It is a weird idea. On the other hand, I was not the only one who thought Barack Obama could not get the Peace Prize last year, but he did. If the Peace Prize committee want to take the edge of the ridicule from last year's prize, giving the prize to the Internet would be the perfect choice. I would not vote for it, would I be part of the committee, but I am not.

Work

Paula has started her work today. She will work about half the time from morning until afternoon and half the time from noon until evening. Today she works from noon until evening, and we are at home with Daniel. It will be interesting to hear what Paula has to say about her new work. She was a bit nervous this morning, but I guess that is just what you would have to expect. We are all certain she will do a tremendously fine job.