Early Night

We take an early night tonight. We did not get much sleep during our wonderful weekend on Gotland, especially Daniel did not. He also caught a cold on the night between Sunday and Monday, but managed to drive home to Örebro where we arrived at 1.15 in the night. We did not have an early night yesterday either. Today, though, we will. This will hopefully make all of us in a better mood.

I am glad dogs cannot be infected by the viruses that cause human colds. If we would, I guess most of the four legged members of our household would be coughing and sneezing now. Paula has been infected, but we have not. On the other hand, there are diseases that dogs get which humans do not, so I guess it evens out.

Visby

Hello, Polly here!


I was best pup of the breed at both shows we went to this weekend, just outside of Visby. I was the only pup competing, but that is no guarantee for being best pup. You have to be good enough to get an Honourary Prize first, which shows there are hopes that you will grow up to be an excellent representative of your breed.


Visby is a nice city. We lived in the old part of the city, within the city walls. This meant we were allowed to drive our car up to a parking lot next to the hotel, whereas motor vehicles are normally prohibited from getting inside the city walls in the summer months. I was amazed at how narrow the streets were, making Daniel drive very slowly. Mummy explained to me many of the narrowest streets were in fact alleys, though there is no determined definition on what is a street and what is an alley. I learned that in the old days, when the old city was built, there were no cars. There were carts, but these were few and not meant to go into all the alleys. Prohibiting motor vehicles from the old city is thus just a way to make the streets and alleys be used in the way they were originally built for. This was fascinating to learn.


I hope we will go back to Visby next year. They are supposed to arrange a show at the same weekend next year.

The Show

We came back home to Örebro really late last night, after a successful show. I was Best of Breed Saturday, beating my dear husband Kuro-chan. On Sunday, he beat me in the Best of Breed competition. Our daughter Polly was best pup both days. Mum became Best Veteran. These are the most important competitions, since the breed competitions are the official ones.

Preparing for the Next Show

We are going to two more shows this weekend, on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. The shows are on Saturday and Sunday, one show each of these days. It takes a while to go to Gotland. We will go by ferry tomorrow and stay the night until Saturday. There are two shows on Gotland, which makes it worth the long trip. I hope we will be successful, too. Any show is fun to be at, but of course, it is better if you are successful as well. With two shows, you have two chances the same weekend, which is great. I am looking forward to this trip.

Picture of Winners

This is me to the right in Norrköping, when I had just won Best of Breed. My handler was Sofie Lönn, while Paula was the handler for Kuro-chan, left, who became Best of Opposite Sex. Judge was Mr Dimitris Antonopoulos from Greece. The nice photography is courtesy of photographer Sandra Älverud Sjöström of Kennel Spisi's.

Cleaning the House

We made a great effort, all of us, this evening, cleaning the house. Not that it was hideous before, but extensive cleaning has to be made once in a while. I am tired from all of the work put down in cleaning, so this is all I will write tonight.

Birthday

This is Paula's birthday, and we celebrated her accordingly. She got some flowers and she got a Simpson Supajet dog fan. Dog fans are specially adapted to dry dog coats after a bath. This fan is rumoured to be great. I had my doubts about chipping in to buying it, but after reading about it, I believe it is good. I just hope not to have to take baths more often than before when this fan is in the house, even though it will shorten the time to get dry after the bath.

Since it was Paula's birthday, we had extra treats with our food. Getting extra treats is my favourite part of celebrating birthdays.

Celebrating Paula

It is Paula's birthday tomorrow. She and Daniel went to her parents this evening to celebrate it, though. Most of us dogs stayed at home to watch the house. We will celebrate the birthday on the registered date, tomorrow, instead. You might think this must be better, but two facts say it is equally well celebrating the birthday tonight. One is that it was tonight that all of Paula's human family could make it, since it is Sunday. The other is that Paula was adopted and her registered birthday has since been changed, because it was found out that the birthday that was first registered when Paula came to Sweden was probably not correct. It is thus far from impossible that her birthday is not the 23rd of August but another date, so celebrating the birthday today might be as correct as celebrating it tomorrow. Well, regardless of whether the 23rd is Paula's true birthday or not, it is her official birthday. There are others who are also celebrated on an official birthday regardless of what is presumed or known to be the true birthday, such as Jesus Christ and Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom. This is not a bad company to be associated with.

Good Results

At the dog show in Norrköping today, my family made quite a success. Mum became Best Veteran and was one of the eight last in the veterans' final. My daughter Polly was best puppy, at her very first show. Polly's father Kuro-chan became Best of Opposite Sex. I managed to become Best of Breed myself, but I am most proud of Polly, who really did well at just six months of age. She has not trained much, but the way she moves in the show ring indicates she has got talent. Below is a picture of Polly from the show.

Show Tomorrow!

I am eagerly waiting for tomorrow. There is a dog show that we will go to, and for the first time this year, I will be shown! I love to show off at dog shows.

Paula always says that my eagerness to be shown is visible in the ring by my showmanship, and that this have contributed to my success in shows. This is probably true. If you would chose between two dogs who were equally excellent according to the breed standard, but one looked happier and had more star quality than the other, would you not chose the former?

My dear daughter will also be shown tomorrow, for the very first time. She wrote about this in yesterday's blog post. I wish her good luck!

Birthday

Hello, Karstuhl (a.k.a. Polly) here again!

It is exactly six months ago today that I was born. We have celebrated me a little, though not as much as I would have wanted. I have been around long enough to witness annual birthdays, and they are celebrated much more than my half year day. This surprised me a little, since there are so many in this house who are interested in dog shows, and when I turn six month, I can start participate in the shows in puppy class.

This weekend, I will make my debut in the dog show ring. Mummy has told me it is quite fun going in the ring. I was a spectator last weekend and tried a show ring when there was no competition going on. Still, I believe this is not really like actually participating in the show. There will be many dogs there, but this is of no concern for me, I can handle that. I sure hope I will make my parents and grandparents proud by getting a good result. Reports will come in this blog.

Daniel's Blog and Politics

Daniel has started a blog. He is a politician in his spare time and writes in Swedish mainly regarding the campaign before the general election in Sweden on the 19th of September this year. It is barely more than a month to the election and the main campaigns have started. Paula is also a member and a candidate for the same political party as Daniel, though she is not quite as active in the campaign as he is. While Daniel is a candidate for the city council of Örebro and the national parliament, Paula is a candidate for the regional assembly responsible for health care and hospitals in Örebro county.

I hope both Paula and Daniel do well in the election. Not that I care or know much about politics, but because I know and love them. I am certain both Paula and Daniel would do very well on whatever political positions they may get after the election.

A Call from a Friend

A friend of ours, who have a pup from us, called today and talked to Paula. He was thankful for the concern that Paula and Daniel have showed him, after he was diagnosed with cancer. Paula and Daniel visited him and his family the other day, having some coffee and cake. Our friend told Paula a lot of his friends have not been heard from since they learned he has cancer. This made him all the more thankful for the concern that Paula and Daniel have showed.

I do not understand why people would not show their concern, but keeping away, when a friend gets cancer. Cancer is not contageous. Paula said some people are scared of cancer and do not want to be reminded of it by meeting anyone whom they know have got cancer. This may be an explanation, but I do not understand it. If you love somebody, it is when that somebody is in distress that I would like to show my love the most. On the other hand, I am a dog. I cannot understand all the feelings of humans, just like I would not expect humans to understand all of my feelings. Dogs have a different take on love than humans have. I guess I might just have to accept that I do not quite understand.

Weather Forecast

In the weather forecast of the news paper today, it said there was a high probability of rain. The morning went by without rain, and the afternoon went by without rain. I started to think the meteorologists had made a wrong forecast again. Mind you, I am aware it cannot be easy to make weather forecasts, the weather is often notoriously unpredictable. Scientists even describe the weather of Earth's atmosphere as chaotic. Therefore, my belief that the meteorologists were wrong again is not to be interpreted as me believing they are bad at their work. They are much better at predicting the weather than anybody else I know. When the evening came, though, so did the rain. The meterologists were right today, kudos to them. I am glad I was indoors when the rain started to fall, and I was glad the forecast was right. The more often the forecast is right, the more I feel I can trust it.

Short Visit

Mia stopped by early in the evening. It is always nice to see her, too bad she did not stay for long tonight. Life gets a little more fun on an ordinary Monday, if you suddenly get an unexpected visitor like this. We did have a nice Monday evening anyway. Sometimes, especially if you get a hint of something unexpected and fun, a nice ordinary evening just seems more bland than usual. Well, we will perhaps have a more special Tuesday.

New Species

Hi, Karstuhl here again!

I am still a pup and I expect that I do not know everyting about the world around me. It dawned on me today, that there may very well be big animals such as mammals not yet known to any dog or human. In the Amazonas, there is a newly discovered species of monkey. If this species is newly discovered, how many more species of large animals may still be undiscovered?

An odd thing is that this monkey has a bright red beard. This might be fun to know for the red Shiba Inus here at home, but since I am a black and tan, I do not care as much as they do. I hope the next newly discovered large animal is black and tan, that would be fun.

Dust

Paula and Daniel spent part of the day cleaning the house again. It is amazing how much dust will gather in a few days, and incomprehensible why it does. Part of the dust is blown dog coat, but what about the rest? I think dust is just another proof that the world we live in is not perfect.

Caring for Paula

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Mummy is busy today caring for Paula after her surgery. It is important to care for Paula, caring for our humans is one of the things we do as dogs of the household. As a pup, I am not expected to do quite as much as the grown up dogs, this is why I write the blog entry for today instead of Mummy.

Paula is feeling better and better, but she is still tired and can feel pain from where she was cut. This is nothing strange, but just what would be expected, Mummy says. I have never before been close to someone who has undergone surgery just recently, but I have every reason to believe in what Mummy says. I feel sorry for Paula for the pain she has, but I am still glad, because she says the surgery went well and she is recovering just like she should be.

Coming Home

Paula has been away for a couple of days. She was in Stockholm for a surgery, and everything worked out according to plan. Daniel, Auntie Linni, Dad, Karstuhl, and I went to give her a ride home today. Normally, Paula is the nurse at our place, but when she is tired after the surgery, I fill in and take care of her. She will recover entirely and is already feeling better than she was when we fetched her. There is nothing more that needs to be said.

By the way, Daniel finished mowing the lawn this afternoon, just before heavy rain started to fall.

Mowing the Lawn

Daniel mowed the lawn in the dog yard today. It was not a day too soon. Some of the grass had grown so high the straws bent under our breasts when we, the Shiba Inus, walked across it. Not only is this uncomfortable and makes it harder to know where you put your paws, it is also easier for ticks to reach the coat and crawl onto you. I really dislike ticks. It is good to lower the risk of them getting at me, but I guess we can never get rid of them completely. If there is any species I would like to become extinct (apart from bacteria and viruses that gives you horrible diseases), it is ticks.

Unfortunately, the whole lawn could not be mowed today, since Daniel ran out of petrol. There will be time to buy a new lawn mower eventually, then Daniel will look into cheaper and more environmentally friendly alternatives to petrol. Our lawn is too big for a lawn mower powered by electricity through a cord, but there may be other options. It is of no immediate consequence, though. Daniel bought more petrol this evening, so he might mow the rest of the lawn tomorrow.

Good News for American Wolves

A federal judge in the USA has ruled in favour of wolves being an endangered species in the whole Union.

Wolves have been nearly extinct in the USA, but they have come back over the last decades thanks to rules saying they are endangered and thus making it illegal for humans to hunt them. Encouraged by the growing number of wolves, law makers had decided to allow for wolf hunts in two states, while protecting them in a third. A federal judge has now ruled that the law did not permit this, if a species is protected in one state, it is to be protected in other states as well. Wolves are thus yet again put on the list of endangered species in the states of Idaho and Montana, just as they have been in the state of Wyoming.

Despite the ruling, the state of Idaho has declared it will seak federal approval for wolf hunts. Ranchers are in favour of these hunts, because they are affraid the wolves will threaten their livestock. I sure hope there will be no wolf hunts. Hunting wolves are barbaric, since it is not done for the meat or any other parts of the prey, but simply out of jealousy for the prime hunting skills of the wolves as the wolves can compete with humans over killing the livestock that humans consider their own.

I say that if you want to protect your livestock from wolves, go get some big herding dogs instead, dogs who protect the livestock from the wolves, like they do in southern Europe. This way, wolves, livestock, dogs, and humans can coexist.

Dull Sunday

It has been a dull Sunday with grey weather. Paula has been at work, and life is never as fun without her.

In Colombia, the South American country where Paula was born, a new president has been sworn in today. It is Juan Manuel Santos, who succeeded Alvaro Uribe from the same political party. Under Uribe, Colombia has made progress in its fight against crime and terrorists like the FARC guerilla. I hope Santos will keep up the good work.

Drug Enforcement Dogs

We watched a TV documentary tonight about border patrols and drug enforcement in the USA. Among the drug enforcement officers, a dog played a crucial role of finding hidden drugs in a seized car. This is but one example out of very many on how dogs help humans. I do not think I have to say more.

The Bomb

Sixtyfive years ago today, the first atomic bomb in a war was dropped over Hiroshima in Japan. A lot of humans were killed. I have not found any statistics, but there were probably an amount of Shiba Inus also killed. Three days later, another atomic bomb was dropped over Nagasaki. There have never been any more atomic bombings in wars on Earth. The devastation of the bombs dropped were huge and horrible.

While I do not like that the bombs were used on Japan, nor that they were used at all, the atomic bomb still meant something good. They meant that there never was a war between the super powers the USA and the Soviet Union. For centuries, some humans had dreamt of creating the weapon that was so horrible that it made an end to wars. The atomic bomb did not quite achieve that, but it did stop a Third World War. This is good. On the other hand, one would still have wished that this would have been achieved without the casualties and devastation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. One could argue that those sacrifices were necessary in order for some people to realize the horror of the bomb, which could mean that all of these humans and dogs did not die in vain, but were they necessary, really? It is hard to tell. No matter how you look at it, what happened sixtyfive years ago was a tragedy.

Beef

Hello, Karstuhl here!

I got hold of a little piece of beef in the kitchen today. I pulled, just a little, and it turned out to be a big piece that fell down on the floor for me to eat. There was nothing anybody could do to stop me. Everybody else were upset, though. Paula and Daniel were upset that I managed to pull the beef down and that I ate it all, the other dogs were upset because they did not get any beef. Well, it just turned out I was the lucky one here.

Both Paula and Daniel refused to give me any more treats tonight.

Pork Ear

Hi, Karstuhl here!

We did not get our ordinary food today, but a smoked pork ear each. It was the first time for me, but hopefully not the last. I knew pork meat was good, but I could not have guessed that smoked pork ear would be this tasty. I loved the texture too, which is really something for the teeth to work with.

Mum told me humans never eat pork ears. At first I wondered why, but then I came to think of their small teeth and weak jaws. I believe humans just cannot eat pork ears. Mum said she had the same suspicion. Whatever the reason is humans do not eat pork ears, it is a good reason, because it leaves more pork ears for us dogs. I hope we get pork ear again soon.

In Heat

I have just stopped being in heat, when my young daughter Karstuhl starts for the very first time. She is early, but so was I. She is too young to have pups of her own yet, so was I, but I did not have any at that age and neither will she. There are ways to stop those things from happening. I know from personal experience that both Paula and Daniel are good at this. I do think Karstuhl will not be disappointed if nothing happens this time, as she still barely knows what is going on and what to do about it. This is good, considering she is still just a pup. Furthermore, I am not yet prepared to be a grandmother of pups of Karstuhl. I plan to be a grandmother of her pups eventually, but that this will happen a couple of years into the future. I am confident this plan will work out.

High Jump

Hi, Karstuhl here again!

The European Championships in athletics ended yesterday. Swedish sports journalists are happy about a Swedish silver medal in the ladies' high jump. I am a little curious at how humans think. If I would be able to jump that high, humans would be afraid I would jump fences and go places where I was not allowed. When a lady does it in a competition, everybody cheers.

Mummy says this is just the way life is. Humans generally treat dogs very well, but different from how they treat other humans. I guess it is not strange, either. Different dog breeds are treated differently, because we have different characteristics from birth. Humans have even more different characteristics than that. It is also up to humans how they treat other humans, while it is up to dogs how we treat other dogs. Nevertheless, I have not come to terms with this just yet. I guess there is still a lot to learn about humans for a pup like me.

Humans Who Are Not Housebroken

Humans sometimes say it is hard to make a pup housebroken. Well, this might at least be the case with dogs of other breeds than the Shiba Inu, we are housebroken at an early age. Whatever dog breed we are talking about, it should be noted that some humans should look to themselves before making statements like this. There are humans who are not housebroken, despite being adults. In Finland's capital Helsinki, they have even had to redesign the lifts in the underground ("metro", as they call it), so that human urine is taken care of automatically. It is prohibited to urinate in public spaces in Finland, just like in any other civilized country, but some humans do it anyway. They are obviously not housebroken. It may be that the people who do this have had too much alcohol, but this is no excuse. It is disgusting and I hope they feel deeply ashamed of themselves. An adult dog would never do that.