Crackers

It is New Year's Eve, and people have been firing crackers since early this day, more and more the closer we get to midnight. I am not afraid of the cracks, but I dislike them and I loathe the people cracking them, because I know how many dogs are afraid of them. It is a completely useless and unnecessary way of amusing oneself. It costs a lot of money and is over in no time. Furthermore, the historic origin of firing the crackers is that people used them to scare of demons, in the days when people believed in demons. People nowadays should not be that supersticious. They should just stop firing crackers.

Happy new year to everyone out there who are not firing crackers!

New Manned Mission to the Moon

China plans manned missions to the Moon, nearly 40 years after the last time a man walked the surface of that celestial body.

I have mixed feelings about this. While I love the Moon, and always like to learn more about it, I do not like that the Chinese are planning to go there. China is no nice country, and I would not like to see any scientific progress or the PR value of new manned lunar flights go to that country. China is a communistic dictatorship, and in China, they eat dogs. Enough said.

Hopefully, these plans by China will make the USA, Japan, and European countries to take up the challenge of putting men on the Moon again. Perhaps even putting dogs there - and not in the form of food.

The Pillars of the Earth

We have seen a rerun of a great mini series on TV this week: The Pillars of the Earth. It is a story about politics and battles in Medieval England, and the TV production is very well made.

The only bad thing about this series is, there are no dogs in prominent roles. Otherwise, I can highly recommend it.

Hamburgers

Hello, Wärstuhl here!

We got some hamburgers tonight. I like hamburgers. Enough said.

Christmas Is Not Over

My dear daughter Karstuhl asked me if Christmas was over now, when we have had Christmas Day and Boxer Day. I told her it is not. We have got plenty of days left to celebrate Christmas. In Sweden, Christmas is not over until the 20th day, that is the 13th of January. In other countries, they even say Christmas is longer than that. Thus, we can look forward to many more days of good Christmas food and candy.

Agility on TV

We watched some agility on TV. It was not a real competition, merely a side show in a horse show. Nevertheless, one would like it to be good. There was a Poodle who raced first. Of course, our poodle friend Laila hoped the Poodle would win. It was not quick, but managed to take the whole course without any faults. Later dogs were quicker, but had faults. Strangely, though, the faults did not count in the ranking of the dogs. We were upset, especially Laila. What is the point of an agility track, if speed is all that counts?

The Night Before Christmas

Hello, Wärstuhl here!

It is the night before Christmas Eve, and we are busy preparing for the celebrations tomorrow. So busy, in fact, that we did not have the time to write a blog entry for the 23rd of December. This does not matter so much, I believe. We will just have two entries for the 24th instead. Mommy is more disappointed, she always want the blog to be daily. Granny, on the other hand, believes the Christmas preparations are much more important than blogging. This is nothing strange. There is nothing more important to Granny than food and candy, and this is a huge part of Christmas and the Christmas preparations. I do help Granny with the preparations, but have found a little time to write this blog entry, nevertheless.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Almond Paste

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Daniel made Christmas candy from almond paste and raisins this evening. I knew how to make better use of the almond paste, so I helped myself to some when Daniel had gone away from his workplace. It was really tasty! Unfortunately, Daniel soon came back and stopped me from getting any more. I hope there is some for me on Christmas Eve, at least.

Prison

A man in Sweden tortured his puppy dog to death. He has now been sentenced to one year and three months in prison for animal cruelty. While this is supposed to be a record long sentence, I still believe it is way to short. In the news article, it says what he did to the poor puppy, but I cannot bear to write it here.

Daniel says he is puzzled any human could torture a little dog like this man did, and not be sentenced to psychiatric care. Beating and even killing humans may be done by mentally healthy people, Daniel says, but torturing a dog, he does not understand that. I want to agree with Daniel, though I think I am too cynical to believe only the mentally ill humans would do these things. Unfortunately, many humans have a tendency to become beasts.

I hope the murdered dog has found peace in the afterlife.

Christmas Tree

We have a lot of fir trees surrounding our garden. At Christmas, this is not enough. There is a tradition to have a fir tree, a so called Christmas tree, indoors as well. You have to have a special foot for this tree to stand. Daniel has tried to mount our tree in that foot many times this evening, but has not succeeded. The tree is now standing at an angle, leading towards the wall. Daniel is just sighing. I wish I could help, but to screw the tree tight in the foot, I guess you have to have opposable thumbs. This is one thing dogs lack.

Well, maybe it will be better tomorrow, if Daniel is less tired by then.

Christmas Shopping

Hello, Karstuhl here! (A.k.a. Wärstuhl.)

Paula and Daniel went shopping for Christmas gifts again today. They did the same last Friday. I have already done all the Christmas shopping I need. It is much easier being a dog when Christmas is coming - the Christmas shopping you need to do can be counted on the fingers of one paw - that is, none. Nice, is it not?

Snow

We got some snow about a week ago, but it quickly thawed away. Today, we got some more. It is not more than last time, just about a centimetre. I believe this will disappear as well. I do not mind if it does disappear. Snow is nice, but only when it is at least a decimetre or so, thick enough to play in. If it does not even cover the tops of the straws of grass in the lawn, it is not worth much.

Late Night Lunch

Paula is working this weekend. Late tonight, she is preparing lunch. This might seem odd, but it is because she wants lunch for tomorrow at work. I understand this perfectly. Paula is a great cook, and while she is able to buy lunch at work, it cannot be as tasty as her own food. She also says her own lunch is cheaper, though I believe she could sell it for more money than the cost of the food you could buy at her work. I help Paula making the lunch, she says this will make it even better.

Stable Power Plant

The Fukushima nuclear power plant is now stable, according to the Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. This is positive news. I was certain the Japanese would be able to stabilize the situation, but it has gone quicker than I anticipated. Dismantling the reactors is another matter, this may take decades. Eventually, dogs and humans will be able to return to the Fukushima area. No disaster is forever.

Clothes Do Not Heal

Daniel slipped on an icy road today. He landed on his knee, but it does not hurt. However, he ripped up a little hole in his trousers. They do not heal, like dog coat and dog skin would if I would slipp and fall. I am glad I have my coat instead of clothes.

The South Pole

Exactly one hundred years ago today, dogs and humans reached the South Pole for the first time. It was Norwegian dogs who helped the Norwegian human Roald Amundsen and his fellow countrymen to get there. Without the dogs, the expedition would surely have been a failure.

Perfect Lunch Boxes

Japanese always strive towards perfection. Why not watch this piece on Japanese lunch boxes? What is better than to make food perfect?

Saint Lucia

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Today is the day when we celebrate Saint Lucia in Sweden. It is the only saint who really gets celebrated. As far as I have understood, this is because the night of Lucia was the longest of the year during the last century or so with the Julian Calendar. Saint Lucia was a Christian excuse for celebrating midwinter. I do not mind. I do not think god would mind either, given that he created midwinter as well as everything else. Instead, I enjoy the special, yellow lussekatt cakes.

Late Night Snack

Hello, Karstuhl here!

It is late at night, but Paula is about to have a snack of taco shells and cheese. I hope I can get some. I will certainly make my wish become known.

Sad

Eventually, you get to a point where you get sad. We have lost our friend Primus, the Pharao Hound. He was always nice to me. I counted him as a friend, and I miss him. We may meet in the afterlife.

Four Paw Drive

The first snow of the season came tonight. The temperatures have been above the freezing point all day, making the muddy snow watery and very slippery.

This is where dogs have yet another advantage over humans. While dogs and humans walk dry surfaces with equal ease, dogs have far less trouble walking slippery surfaces. We have a lower point of gravity which is always located between the four paws which propells us across the ground. The claws help us get a good grip. Meanwhile, our humans try to balance their high point of gravity on their two long legs, often with shoes that get a bad grip on the ground. This is like comparing a four wheel drive car with spiked tyres to a two wheel motorcycle with summer tyres.

I cannot help but feeling sorry for the humans under these conditions. This does not stop me from walking on in my ordinary pace, however. You always want to get a proper workout on the walks.

Answering the Telephone

Hello, Karstuhl here!

There is always somebody at home at our place. However, when you call us on the telephone, you may not notice. This is because dogs always leave such tasks to their humans. If no human is at home, or just busy doing other chores, they cannot answer. We dogs could answer, but it is beneath us to communicate with nothing but sound. There are so much more things to say through body language and smell. This is why we do not answer the phone; we could, if we would want to.

Christmas Carols

Hello, Karstuhl here!

We are playing Christmas Carols at home these days. It is a terrific way to get into that perfect Christmas mode. The only trouble is that it makes you very hungry for Christmas food, and we have to wait before we get that. Some say it is worth waiting for, but I would rather have it both now and at Christmas.

Congratulations

Paula and April came home from Finland today. April brought a new winner title, she is now FINW -11. I congratulate her warmly to that title. She was Best of Opposite Sex, and has yet to come close to a Best in Show title, like I won when I was as young as a pup. This means that she needs the extra encouragement of my warm congratulations even more.

Another Dog Island

Another Dog Island may be in the making. I am talking about the Canary Islands, of course, whose name means Dog Islands. This Spanish archipelago off the northwestern coast of Africa is full of volcanoes. This year, another volcano has formed and erupts south of the island El Hierro. This might become another Canary Island, or add territory to El Hierro. Either way, the Dog Islands will get more territory.

This is nice. For obvious reasons, I like the name, and I would like to go there sometime. I do not know if you can get a Canary Island championship or if it is Spanish there too. The Islands is a province of its own in Spain, but I do not think it has any special governing status. It would be nice if there was a Dog Islands Dog Championship, or Winner title, though.

Black Wolf

I read this interesting article on wolves in the Yellowstone National Park in the USA. What intrigued me even more, though, was the adjacent picture of two wolves, running while playing with each other. One of the wolves is black. Never before have I seen a picture of a wolf of this beautiful colour. I was uncertain they even existed. Being a black and tan dog myself, this makes me really happy. There probably were black wolves tens of thousands of years ago, before dogs. We may have a really long story, we who are black. It continues now with me, from my Dad and onwards through most of my pups. I like that.

England, France, and Ukraine

Sweden will face tough opponents in the Euro 2012 football championship. The other teams of the group include England, which has been very successful in the qualification round, and France. The easiest opponent may be Ukraine, which, however, has the advantage of playing at home soil. I would like for Sweden to move on from the group, but I am not sure this will happen. In England, they believe they have an easy group. I guess they are right, from their perspective.

Christmas Party

This evening, Daniel is at a Christmas party with his work mates. Meanwhile, we who stay at home have a Christmas party of our own right here. It is a nice and quiet party, there is no need to trash our own home just to have a good time.

Advantages

There are actually advantages of not going to dog shows, no matter how much I like it. This weekend, it is time for April to go to a dog show, whence Daniel bathed her this eveing. It is not fun being bathed, I can gladly do without that. Even though I will be jealous for April on the day of the show, I am not jealous of her tonight. This is of some comfort, at least.

Paying the Bills

It is the end of the month. Our humans are paying all the bills. One of the great advantages of being a dog is that we have humans who pay all of our bills for us. Who did you say was there for whom?

Preparations

Hello, Karstuhl here!

We have started to prepare for Christmas. It is not much, but we do have some Christmas decorations in the house. I would want much more. The older dogs say it is still many days before it is Christmas, but why wait? I do not think I can grow tired of Christmas paraphernalia.

The only bad thing about Christmas is that the colour of Chrismas is red. I would rather see it was black and tan.

First Sunday of Advent

This Sunday is the first Sunday of the new Church year, the first Sunday of Advent, which is the weeks before Christmas. It is a time of great anticipation. While pups and human children might look forward to new toys on Christmas, it is the food that I like best. I hope we get a lot of great food and candy this Christmas.

Something Else

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Mommy wanted to write another piece in the blog about how disappointed she is that Paula has gone to a dog show without her. I beat her to the computer. I have had it with these blog entries. Here goes something else.

We have had a nice, calm Saturday with Daniel. Everything is just fine. The plan is to put up the electric candelabras which Swedes always have in our windows from the first Sunday of Advent and throughout Christmas. It is great to have these lights around during the darkest time of the year. It never gets completely dark with these candle lights. I really like that.

Is the Kimono Dying Out?

Is the traditional Japanese garment kimono dying out? Well, this BBC radio report suggests it is. Young Japanese do not chose kimonos, and there is an interview with a 70 year old kimono maker who has been declared a human national treasure for his work.

Shiba Inus are all national treasures of Japan. Our coats never go out of style. If you do not want to pay the high prices that you have to give for a real kimono, you can always get a Shiba Inu and have a dear friend for life instead.

One Month to Go

It is Christmas Eve within a month. Two days ago, Karstuhl wrote about Christmas decorations here in the blog. I just have to say I do not quite agree with her. I believe we can wait for a little longer before we decorate the house for Christmas. Then again, Karstuhl is still young enough that she gets away with not helping, while I help all that I can. I guess you have a different approach if you participate in decorating the house. We have to give it time to make it great. I believe we can wait until this weekend, when there is more time for this. It is refreshing to have a little difference of opinions once in a while.

Food on TV

Paula likes to watch shows on TV where they cook food. It can be almost anything, from chefs teaching the watchers different recipies to competitions on how to be the best chef. I think watching this is, in some ways, a waste of time. Sure, Paula also cooks a lot of food, but this is not what I am thinking about. I am writing in general terms. If you are interested in food, it is better to cook more food yourself in the kitchen. For the off chance that you cook too much for your own use, the dogs of the household will always be ready to eat it.

Why Wait?

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Paula has started to decorate our house for Christmas. She started to play Christmas songs even earlier. Daniel does not like it, he wants to wait. I support Paula. Christmas is a lovely holiday, just consider all the lovely food and candy. Why wait for it, if we can bring some Christmas feeling as soon as now? I am all for it.

Alliterations

Hello, Harstuhl here!

Almost all alliterations are amuzing, albeit arduous. Blogging being better? No, not necessarily. We wouldn't worship whatever, would we? Any alliterations aren't amuzing. Leaving last line without it.

Silly Rain

Hello, Karstuhl here!

The weather might be good or bad different days. Sometimes, I think the weather is just silly. Today was one of those days. It rained constantly, but just small droplets, few and far in between. I think that if it is going to rain, it is better to have real rain for a short period of time, than this silly almost rainy weather. It is not nice, but still not wet or cold enough to complain about. I do hope the weather gets better, or perhaps worse, tomorrow.

Not Nice

It was not a nice morning today. Paula and Daniel decided to cut my claws. I know this is necessary sometimes, but I do not have to like it because of that. This is when I wish I would have inherited Dad's claws. They were naturally torn to stay on a nice level all the time. Perhaps my claws are stronger, but at least Dad did not have to have his claws cut nearly as often as the rest of us. That must have been nice for him.

New Map

NASA has published a new, improved map of the Moon. Since I always eclipse the Moon (why else would I be called Lunar Eclips?), I feel a little responsibility for teaching others about the Moon. If they cannot see the Moon because of me, I can tell them about the Moon. Otherwise, they can read the article which I have linked to, with its illustration. It is interesting.

Change

Hello, Karstuhl here!

My life seems to go on in the same tracks as always. It occurs to me once in a while that I might want to change careers, perhaps move away from home. Granny moved from the USA to Sweden when she was five years old, that must have been exciting. She did not change careers, however, but continued her career as a show dog and pet. She has done this extremely well. Mommy has had the same career. It seems like I am predetermined to walk in the paw prints of Granny and Mommy. This is definitely not bad, but what if I do not want to? I might want to be something else. It is just that I do not quite know what alternatives I might have. Would it be possible to become candy tester or movie actor? I believe it would be hard, there would be many who would want to do the same. Perhaps I will just stick to what I know and do that very well.

New Pup

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Once again today, I have become sister to a newborn pup. It is a black and tan little girl. Mommy is not quite happy about this, because it is a pup that Daddy had with another bitch. Mommy says this with so much scorn that it is clear she means bitch in the figurative as well as in the litteral sense of the word. I do not care, I am happy. The only downside is that this pup does not live with us, but quite a way away. The chance för me to play with her and teach her fun stuff almost does not exist. We will have to see if we will meet sometime in the not so far future.

Anzu

I wrote about Biki yesterday, April's son who were successful in a show last weekend. My own daughter also participated in that show. She was showed in puppy class and did well compared to relatively much older contestants. I am sure Anzu will become show champion too, in the not too distant future. This is something to look forward to.

Not Bad

April has this weird idea that, just because her son Biki has become Norwegian Show Champion and was BIS-4 yesterday, her offspring is better than mine. Granted, what Biki did was not bad. However, he is the only offspring of April that can ever have a success like that. He is April's only son, and April's only daughter is creme, which is not a recognized coat colour in Shiba Inus. I, on the other hand, have three sons and four daughters, many of whom are promising. The last laugh will be mine.

Father's Day

We celebrate Father's Day in Sweden today. This is my first Father's Day when my father is not present. He left us for the afterlife earlier this year. I miss him more today than I usually do, since I am reminded of him on Father's Day. Still, he is in a better place now, where he is not tormented by the illness that became too much for him in the end.

Polly celebrates her father Kuro chan.

Inspiration

I have heard that Charles M. Schulz, the creator and author of the comic strip Peanuts, had a way of coming around a lack of inspiration. Sometimes, he would just start to draw some of the characters of the comic strip, working out along the way what they were saying and doing. Thus, a joke could be made up.

When I write my blog, I believe that Iuse a similar method sometimes. If I do not have any idea what to write about, I just start to write anything. This often leads to some thought that is worth expressing to the world in the blog. In these circumstances, I often erase the first sentences, even though they led to the idea that I eventually wrote down. This is no loss. There must be hundreds of discarded words for every word that was ever published. I wonder how many peanuts comic strips that was started but never finished or published. There must have been a few.

TGIF

There are those who love abbreviations. On Fridays, some humans like to use the abbreviation TGIF. It means they are thanking God it is Friday, the last day of work before the weekend. I can also say TGIF. This is not because I am not working in the weekends. On the contrary, I am always fulfilling my duties as a pet dog and my job as a show dog is normally executed in the weekends. When I say TGIF, it is because my humans are mostly at home during weekends. I like that better than when they are off to work. This weekend, Paula will work, but Daniel will be at home the whole time. There is cause for me to say TGIF.

Saint Martin

Today is the eve of Saint Martin of Tours. This is celebrated in the south of Sweden with goose for dinner. On one paw, I would like to have some goose meat, because have never tried it but I am sure it tastes good; on the other paw, we live in central Sweden, where there is no tradition of eating goose this evening. We had an ordinary meal, just like any other day. This is not bad. I can try out goose meat any other day of the year.

Referendums

Humans rule their complicated society in quite odd ways. They elect people who will rule for them. Still, when there are difficult questions, these elected rulers may leave the decision to the whole people, nevertheless, through a referendum. Then, the politicians may vote against the will of the people from the referendum. This has happened in the little municipality Sjundeå in Finland, where a referendum was held earlier this autumn on the question of merging with two other municipalities. The people voted no, but the municipality council had the final say and voted yes today.

I do not know if I think referendums are good for democracy or bad. They show that you have elected politicians who are not able to stand up for what they believe is right. You elect politicians, so that you can use your time for other things than the broad questions of society. If the politicians will not do that, you still have to learn enough to make an informed vote in the referendum. Then, the politicians may vote against the result of the referendum, and you gained nothing but more contempt for them.

What other tradesmen let you make the most difficult choices yourself? If you hire a constuction firm to build a house, you do not have to chose the building material. If you bake a cake, you do not have to chose how to harvest the grain, but buy flour in a store. The politicians, however, leave the biggest issues to you - then they may just ignore the result that you and your fellow non-politicians vote for. No, if I would vote for leaders, I would want them to lead. Is it not this they are elected and paid for?

Not Tough Enough

A man has been sentenced to fines by Värmlands tingsrätt (the Court of law of Värmland, the province to the west of us) for animal cruelty. The man's son was attacked by a dog, but witnesses pulled the dog away. Although bitten, the boy siffered no physical injuries. Nevertheless, the man grabbed the dog by the skin, lifted it up, and threw it on the ground. He then proceeded by hitting it many times with his fists.

This action by the man was obviously uncalled for. The dog had already been pulled away. It is a good thing he was prosecuted and found guilty. I just think the sentence was not tough enough. I also hope everything is all right with the dog.

New Trolley

Paula has bought a new trolley for us dogs. We can ride in this trolley when we go to dog shows, from the car into the show ground. It is a large trolley in aluminium, foldable so it can be stored in the car. We let Paula and Daniel put it together for us; then April, Polly, and I tried it out. It felt comfortable. As always, I am looking forward to dog shows of the future. With a new trolley like this, it might be even better.

Visiting Journalist

A journalist visited us today. She is from Japan, but lives in Sweden, and will make an article about us and our breeding for the Japanese dog magazine Wan. This is very exciting. As far as I can understand, this is the first feature of a Swedish Shiba breeder in that magazine. I like that!

I will let you know when I get more information on the published article.

Gustavus Adolphus

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Human languages interests me. There is no doubt it must be frustrating to be a human, with all of these different languages. Dogs understand each other throughout the world. You may say that we have less complicated dialogues, but at least we can make peace with each other wherever any of us come from.

In Sweden today, humans celebrate the memory of King Gustavus Adolphus, who died on the battlefield of Lützen on this day in 1632. Thus, he was fighting a war, a more fierce war than any other animal on Earth has ever fought, still not the fiercest in human history. Dogs could have made peace with each other.

Gustavus Adolphus fought for freedom of religion, you may say. This is also very human. Dogs allow one another to believe whatever we want, humans often do not.

The proper name is also interesting from a language point of view. The King was called Gustaf Adolf in Swedish. Why would you change a proper name just because you use another language? It is as if I would be called Karstuhlia or Karstulko in other languages.

Dad

This Saturday is celebrated as All Saints' Day in Sweden. We commemorate our deceased loved ones this day. Mum, Polly, and I, as well as Auntie Linni, have special causes to commemorate Dad. He passed away early this year, but we will never forget him. Dad was the best male role model anybody could have. He was a great father and friend. We really miss him, but we believe that he is in a better place now.

If we could, we would light a candle for Dad. Paula and Daniel lit a candle for us, commemorating him.

RIP

Our great veterinarian Torleif Lind, who passed away earlier this autumn, was laid to rest today. Paula and Daniel visited the funeral. If dogs would have been welcome, I would have come as well. He did wonders for me, my fellow dogs, and especially my pups.

Å, Ä, Ö

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Why are there no å, ä, and ö in English? We have these letters in Swedish. At least ä and ö also exist in German. They have the sounds for å and ä in English, but I guess they do not have the ö sound, so they might not need that letter. Well, English is a rich language in other ways, so if it is poor in letters, it might have to do.

Snow

Hello, Karstuhl here!

We have not had snow yet. I will write about snow anyway, because I like to play in it and I am longing for it. We are in the last month of autumn, but we have had a couple of relatively warm days. It will probably be a while before we see the first snow of the season. In the meantime, we have to make due with other white, fluffy things. If I would kill a pillow, I would get some fake snow. Daniel and Paula would not like me to do that, though. I guess I will have to wait for the real snow to come.

November

It is now November, the last month of autumn and probably the darkest month of the year. There are less hours of sunlight in December and January, but often snow. The white snow makes it less dark, in the day as well as in the night. It is not that I fear darkness, far from it, but it can make me a little blue sometimes. Dark blue, that is.

Seven Billion Humans

It is estimated that the seven billionth human was born today. Nobody knows exactly what day he or she was actually born, because the population statistics is not certain for all parts of the world. Nevertheless, humans want to have a certain date for an event like this.

The good thing is that the more humans there are, the more dogs there can be. Since some wolves and humans joined forces about 40 000 years ago, whereupon these wolves started to be known as dogs, humans and dogs have walked this world hand in paw. Dogs would be almost as lost without our beloved humans, as humans would be without us dogs. With seven billion humans on this planet, there are also a lot of room for dogs. This is good news for all of us who have had, or are planning to have, pups.

Big Bang Theory

Paula and Daniel agree that the best TV show for the time being is the US comedy show Big Bang Theory. While it is funny, I cannot say it is my favourite. There are no dogs in it.

Long Night

It is going to be a long night, in a way, this night between Saturday and Sunday of this week. We are getting an hour back that the government took from us this spring, changing the time into "daylight savings time" for the summer. Daylight savings time seems at odds with the round the clock society that we have become, and is a widely loathed idea. It is still hard to change it, because it is a standard of the whole of Europe.

Now that we leave daylight savings time behind, our morning walks will be by daylight again for some time. Daylight is no longer saved for later in the day. This is good.

Idol 2011

There is a talent show on Swedish television called Idol 2011. One of the contestants have annoyed us, not just because of her general odd appearance, but more than anything because she has called herself Linni. This is a name that we feel belongs to Auntie Linni, who invented it for herself. Today, however, the Idol contestant Linni was voted out of the show. We are pleased.

International Teddy Bear Day

Today is the international teddy bear day. It is celebrated on the 27th of October because it was the birthday of US President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, whom the teddy bears are named from. Teddy bears are great toys and deserves a day of their own.

Daniel celebrated the day by traditionally wearing his teddy bear tie to work. I like that.

I now notice that I wrote a blog post which looked much the same as this one on this day last year. I guess things like this might happen, when it is an important annual event that needs a comment.

Tilting

Hello, Karstuhl here!

I have heard about some motorcyclists doing a trick: tilting the motorcycle so they go on the back wheel only. It is just that I do not see the tricky bit in this. I often tilt myself, going on my back legs only. Where is the difference? It is not hard for me, so why would it be for them? Is it just that motorcyclist humans do not have the same balance as dogs have? I guess so.

Romania's King

Romania's king Michael I celebrates his 90th birthday today. He has not been able to perform his job as king since 1947, when the communists forced him to abdicate. Today, however, he had been invited to address the Parliament in present day Republic of Romania. He received standing ovations from many members of parliament.

The president of the Republic and a couple of ministers refused to attend. I believe this is very bad manners towards an old man who has a great part in Romania's history, no matter what you think about the idea of restoring the legitimate monarchy.

The United Nations

It is the UN day today. The United Nations are commemorated today all over the world, because its statutes went into force on the 24th of October 1945. It has been celebrated since 1946.

I do not care so much about the UN. While they have a Universal Declaration on Human Rights, they have no similar Universal Declaration on Canine Rights. Dogs - and our wild cousins, wolves - would need one. Dogs have been man's best friend for at least 40 000 years, so I think we deserve a special recognition.

Sunny Sunday

We had a beautiful, sunny autumn day today. Polly and I stayed out for a rather long time.

It is actually quite odd, when you think about it, that there is a day in the week called Sunday, when there is no higher probability for sunny wheather on this day than any other. I guess there is some old reason for this day to be named from the Sun. Mum jokingly says, with reference to her name Sunni, that the day is named for her. I might have believed it when I was a puppy in the litter box, but not now. I just laugh with her.

In Memoriam

We noticed that there was an article in our local newspaper today, commemorating our late veterinarian, whom we miss so much. It was a fine article. We have yet to see any information about memorial service or anything like that, though.

Another Good Dog Deed

Dogs can be good for many things. The other day, a police patrol in our neighbour town Hallsberg apprehended a pair of men just as they were breaking in to a car. One of the men were seized at the spot, while the other fled into a nearby forest. A dog sniffed him out, though, whereupon the police took him in as well. There is not much that fleeing criminals can do against the powers of dog noses.

Tired

It is autumn. The mornings and the evenings are getting darker. The weather turns colder. We still have no snow to play in, and will certainly not have any for many weeks. I feel more tired than I usually do in the summer. It is a good thing a lot of rest is part of the job as a pet dog.

Hugs

If you want hugs, do you go to the one you want to hug you, or do you ask him or her to come and hug you? Of course, if you are sick or very tired, you can ask the other one to come, but otherwise? If I want to cuddle with anybody, I go to that one. Paula and Daniel do the opposite, sometimes. Well, we dogs are intelligent enough to hear when our humans call out for us, while they cannot understand when we want one of them. You have to give them a break.

More Annoying Technology

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Daniel read my blog entry from yesterday, and said there is one thing about modern technology that annoys him very much. It is the function that automatically adds an empty line after a paragraph when you press ENTER on the keyboard. Of course, this function is optional, but Daniel says he is especially annoyed with it anyway for two reasons. The primary reason is that his e-mail program at work sometimes reinstates this function by itself. I can understand why this is annoying. The secondary reason is that he cannot understand who would ever want this function. Sure, you can press ENTER one less time after each paragraph, but then, you are often used to doubleclick on ENTER anyway. I do not really care for this secondary reason. As long as the function is optional, who cares if nobody wants to use it? Oh, well, we all are annoyed with different things in life.

Modern Technology

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Modern technology is a blessing, most ways. Other things about it is a curse. Daniel has a mobile telephone that often beeps when he is close to the computer, because it asks whether to connect to the computer via Bluetooth. Just telling it no will not make it shut up, it just asks again a little later. Daniel does not care enough to make sure it never asks, which annoys me a little. Oh, well, there are no blessings without any disadvantages, I guess.

Computer Turned Off

We have had the computer turned off almost all day. Some of us argued that it was best to keep it off the whole day, as days without any computer access are few and far in between, but still very nice for a change. I said I just had to make a daily blog entry, so I turned the computer on, nevertheless. I will just write this blog entry, then the computer goes off again. If you are also having a computer free day, you do not have to read this today. Good luck with it!

Gone

The summer is gone. We have had temperatures below the freezing point many times this week.

We cleaned the house today. It might be time to clean the garden soon, too, because there are a lot of leaves that has left the tree branches. We wait until all the leaves have left the branches, though.

In the evening, we had meatballs. It suits an autumn evening to have nice, warm meals.

Is Corgi No Word?

Daniel was playing the word game Wordfeud with a Swedish dictionary today. We thought he would score a lot of points by writing "corgi", but the dictionary did not contain this word, so it was not allowed. This is outrageous. Corgi is a fairly common dog breed. We know from previous experience that "tax", the Swedish word for dachshund, is accepted. Why, then, is another breed not accepted? The company behind Wordfeud should amend the dictionary as soon as possible!

Nights Without Paula

Paula is a trained nurse and works at the university hospital in our city. She has a lot of variety in her schedule. Sometimes she works nights, this is one of those nights. Daniel has a job with more ordinary daily hours for work, so he is at home whenever Paula works night. We still miss Paula. Nights are not the same without her. It feels like there are more dangers outside, and there are definitely more cause to watch the house when not both Paula and Daniel are at home. I wish both Paula and Daniel would be home more often. I understand that most of the time that they are away they are working for money to keep up our household. This is a good thing, but I still wish...

Euro 2012

Sweden beat the Netherlands today in the European Championship qualification round. This victory means that Sweden became the best nation of those who came second in their qualification rounds, thereby ensuring that Sweden is qualified to the Championship next summer. We all hoped that Sweden would win, of course. It did not matter much that our kennel name is a word that exist in the language they speak in the Netherlands.

Julmust

Hello, Karstuhl here!

I have tried the first julmust for the season. Julmust does not have any good English word, but it is the traditional Swedish non-alcohol Christmas drink. The julmust that I tried tasted very good. I am looking forward to another and even better treat of Christmas, though: the Swedish Christmas ham. Pork is always nice, and the Christmas ham is the best of pork parts.

Christmas is still far away, but we will get there.

Terrible Mix Up

In Russia, two couple of human parents have found out after twelve years that their daughters were mixed up at the hospital after birth. Name tags of the infants must have been put on the wrong children.

It is a good thing I have always given birth at home. I would hate to have my pups mixed up with those of another bitch.

Home Again

Well, we are at home again. It was not an easy way home, because it was raining all the way. When we stopped along the way, we had to go out in the rain. Now we are at home, and everything is all right. We can take it easy now.

Hotel Lifts

Hello, Karstuhl here!

We are in Norway tonight, for the dog show tomorrow. This is my first time in our western neighbour country. Many things are similar to Sweden. I compare this experience to that of France this summer. In France, humans spoke very differently from what they do in Sweden. Norwegian is comparatively easy to understand.

There is one thing that is strange both here in Norway and in France. At the hotels, there are lifts to go to the upper floors where you live, but no staircases. I rather walk up to my room, instead of waiting until a lift arrives. I do not understand this. You have to use your card key to operate the lifts to go to the hotel room floors, but there could be doors with card key locks in a staircase as well. At the same time, the hotel here in Norway brags about being very environmentally friendly, but you use more electricity going in lifts than walking in a lit staircase, do you not? Could it be that Frenchmen and Norwegians are just generally too lazy to use staircases?

Show!

Yes! We are going to a dog show this weekend - and I will be shown. This is great. Going to dog shows are among the best things there are in life. Going in to the show ring is the very best thing there is.

Of course, having pups, raising them, and watching their development is also a great thing, but it is something different from dog shows altogether. Being a mother is not comparable to being a show dog, it is like comparing apples and oranges.

The show this weekend is in Hamar in Norway. I like going to Norway, the country where Dad was born. It reminds me of him.

Litterature Prize

The Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer got the Nobel Prize in litterature this year. I have never read anything by him. Those who have believe it is the right choice, though. I trust that - not having read him myself, I cannot very well say anything else. It was fun that the prize went to a Swede.

Linni!

Auntie Linni, my all time favourite friend, celebrates her tenth birthday today! It is amazing that she has reached this age. She still has her sense of childish play inside, making her an excellent play pal when she feels like it. She runs around, jumps, and wrestles just like my daughter Polly, just not quite as often as Polly. Sometimes, we just lay around, pondering over life. This can also be great. You sense that Linni has a great deal of wisdom inside of her.

Linni made sure we all got some extra treats in our food. She knows there cannot be a happy day, and no real celebration, without extra tasty food. This is another great side with Linni that I truly appreciate.

Drugs

Hello, Karstuhl here!

We were watching CSI New York tonight, and was a bit upset by a guest star playing a trained nurse. This nurse endorsed the use of drugs, such as cannabis. Paula is a nurse, and she would never ever do such a thing. Drugs are not good for your health. Even worse was that one of the heroes of the TV show was in love with this nurse, and did not say no. Sure, he did not try himself, but to know that you use passively is also bad.

If you want to feel good, why do you not use legal stuff such as candy instead? It is much better.

The Coffee Table

We have a coffee table by the sofas in our living room. You might expect that there would be a coffee table book or two lying around on it - that is big books with glossy, coloured pictures. We never have those there. On the other hand, April use to lie on our coffee table. She started this habit when she was a pup, and does not believe there is anything wrong with it. I am hardly ever on the coffee table myself, I believe that the sofas are far more comfortable. If we would make a coffee table book, though, perhaps it would be about dogs lying on coffee tables?

Tumba

One of the most prominent Swedish ice hockey players of all time has passed away today: Sven Tumba. His active career was way before my time, he died 80 years old. Daniel has told me a little about him, though. He played for the Stockholm team Djurgården, which is Daniel's favourite team, and he played in the Swedish national team for many years and many tournaments. He still holds the record of most goals scored for the Swedish national team. This is amazing, especially since fewer tournaments were played in his days, and there were fewer matches in the tournaments. I guess Sven Tumba deserves the time Swedish mass media devotes to him today.

Apps

In modern mobile phones, there are often this thing called apps. It is an abbreviation of "applications", I believe. The thing about apps is that they make it possible to use the mobile in more ways than would otherwise be possible. A mobile owner can download the apps of her or his choice.

Paula and Daniel have both downloaded a game app called Wordfeud. They play with each other, being rather equal most of the time. Daniel has used a picture of me as his profile picture, although his username derives from Dad's name. Dad was from Norway, and so is the creator of the app Wordfeud, so there is an extra point there.

I might also play Wordfeud, if only I had the time. There are just so many other things to take care of here at our home. Perhaps I change my mind if somebody insists, but I will pass for now.

New Food

Paula has bought new food, and a lot of it. She came home with two sacks, each containing 20 kg food. This is great. These amounts of food will surely last for a while. It is dry food, and we are many who eat of it, so it will not go bad. Dry food is good, it gives you something to chew upon. I would not want to eat porrige or anything like that every day.

Pups in the Future

In the future, there will be pups again. I am just not sure who will have pups the next time. It might be April. It was a while since she had a litter. I have had two litters since she had her first and so far only litter. Well, perhaps I am just a better mother than her.

For the moment, though, I am more focused on upcoming dog shows. We are going to Norway next week for a show.

Japan to the Rescue

Greece is close to financial collapse. It has been for most of this year. Many people talk about bankruptcy for the Greek government.

Now Japan has said it is willing to take part in an international rescue effort for Greece. It is so typical of the friendly and financially strong Japanese to do such a thing.

Sorrow

Our great veterinarian has left us. He passed away suddenly this weekend. We are very sad to hear this news. He was a great man who really knew how to handle dogs with the respect and expertise that we are worth. He took care of all of our needs, except those that required more expensive equipment. We were, for example, x-rayed for our hips on another clinic. Our veterinarian was our favourite, though.

It is not that there are few veterinarians in our home city. We know others who are good, just not as good as our favourite. We will miss him forever.

Cleaning

We cleaned the house today. Not fun, but it has to be done. I would rather have done something else, but it is, at least, nice when it is done.

Moving

We have a wonderful house and garden, especially with our big dog yard. The surroundings are also great, with a rather scarcely used road and forrests, even though we live close to the centre of the city. Paula's sister Mia, on the other hand, has lived in a small flat close to a street in the cidy with a lot of traffic. She does not have a dog (I cannot understand why, but it is a fact), but a dog would not be as fond of such living quarters as we are of ours. Now she has moved, though. She has a new love in her life and has moved in with him in a house with a garden. This is good. As far as I have understood, there is a cat living there as well. April has met the cat, but the cat was not fond of her, but hid away. I guess a cat is better than no pet at all, and a garden is always nice. It definitely seems like a change for the better for Mia. She is worth that, because she is a very nice person.

Speed of Light

An experiment in Switzerland and Italy has showed results that indicates that neutrinos has travelled faster than the speed of light. According to current scientific theories, this would not be possible. The scientists behind the experiment are baffled and interested to know whether others can make the same findings with an equal experiment. If the results turn out to be true, our world view might have to change. What the implications of this is, I do not know. I believe it is too early to tell. In the everyday life, these results surely means nothing. Perhaps they will matter for our great great grandchildren. Until we know more, I just treat this as an interesting but rather pointless piece of news.

My Daughter Anzu

This is a current picture of my dear daughter Anzu, who lives in Bergen, Norway. There is no need to comment how cute she is, is there?

Affirmative Action

Some humans are in favour of affirmative action. This means that, instead of discriminating against minorities or other groups of humans in the same way as usual, you discriminate against those who have mostly been favoured by laws and policies before. In essence, you change one discriminating action into another, going the opposite direction. I do not really see the point. Then again, dogs never discriminate against other dogs because of their breed, sex, or anything else. We take each dog as a dog, that is all.

I cannot see why one discrimination would be better than the other. The best thing must be to see each human as an individual. Dogs do that. We never discriminate against groups of humans. Perhaps the humans in favour of discrimination can learn something from this. After all, if we never discriminate among humans, and we are "man's best friend", is not our non-discrimination policy worth following?

Autumn

The days are getting shorter, colder, and more rainy. Strong winds are blowing. It is autumn, and nature is preparing itself for winter sleep. Despite the fact that September is the month when I celebrate my birthday, I am not particularly fond of it. When snow arrives, it is more fun to be outdoors, instead of the rain and mud of the middle of autumn. Daniel says autumn is his favourite season. He says he is always energized after summer and likes the temperatures and colours of this season. I can agree with him that a sunny day in the fall is beautiful, but in the choice of favourite season, I cannot agree with him. Well, we are all entitled to our own opinions.

Nothing

It is quite funny. Close to us, there is a place called Ingenting. This is Swedish for "nothing". There are also road signs pointing in the direction of Ingenting. I wonder what tourists and other guests in our city think, when they see this. There is a difference between a sign pointing in the direction of "nothing" and in the direction of a place called "Nothing", but this subtle difference is not visible in the road sign. I believe these signs are funny, even though I know of the reason for them.

Grapes

There was some extra food today, except the general dog food. Paula had herself some grapes in the evening, and I was invited to eat some of them. It might seem like grapes would not be anything for me, as a blood thirsty carnivore, but meat is not the only thing I like. Grapes are sweet and people say they are healthy, too. Sure, a bloody steak would be my first choice, but in the absence of that, I do like grapes.

Bad Stomach

The day before yesterday, we got more than just dog food in our bowls. We got meatballs et cetera. Yesterday, some of us were sick. Thus, all we got for food yesterday was regular dog food. All we got for food today was also regular dog food. I love getting extra food, besides dog food, and I never get sick because of it. It feels so unjust that just because some of us get sick, none of us gets extra food. I just do not know how to convince Paula and Daniel to give me extra food, but not those who tend to get sick from it. If you have got any ideas, please write a comment here in my blog.

New Sofas

We received two new sofas for the living room today. They are in black leather and are very comfortable. The old sofas have been moved out into the guest room by the entrance hall.

The sofas are actually used. We have smelled them before, when visiting Paula's sister Mia. Mia is moving in with a man today and had no room for these sofas, whence we got them. This is better than completely new leather sofas, because sofas are more comfortable when people and dogs have been sitting and lying in them for a while. They are softer and better formed then. I like it.

Loss

It was disappointing to know that Japan lost big time against the host country New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup. New Zealand scored 83 points to Japan's 7. This would be embarassing in most cases, but I am given to understand that New Zealand is supposed to be a much better Rugby nation than Japan. Sweden did not even qualify to the World Cup, so Swedes have nothing to say about Japan's result.

Six

I am getting older. It is my sixth birthday today. Now I am half the age of Mum. It does not feel different from yesterday, though.

We celebrated my birthday, among other things with spicy minced meat and cheese in the dog food. This was nice. Otherwise, I appreciated that it was a rather calm day without too much ado about the birthday.

The 13th

It is the 13th today. Not that it matters. It is not Friday the 13th, but a Tuesday. Not that it matters. I am not supersticious.

We have a ladder in the yard. It often stands up against the wall, where the chimney sweeper climbs up to the roof to climb further up to the chimney. He did so today, when he paid us his yearly visit. I often go under this ladder. Not that it matters. I am not supersticious.

I believe superstition is something utterly human. Humans often pride themselves with being the most intelligent and wisest creature on Earth. Still, I do not think there are any dogs who are supersticious, as many humans are. Sure, dogs can be afraid of thunder and other loud noises, but this is something different. We are not afraid something evil might happen to us just because it is a certain date of the month, a certain day of the week, or that the path we are walking are taking us under a ladder. If we are afraid, it is because of real experience or that we really do not understand loud noises and such. How does this count, if you compare our wisdom to that of humans?

Pickled Herring

We got pickled herring with our food today. Pickled herring is a Swedish specialty. It is essentially raw fish from the seas around Sweden, that is preserved through pickling.

To be fair, pickled herring is enjoyed in many other northern European countries. I still believe that the Swedish use of pickled herring surpasses most other uses. In Sweden, you eat pickled herring at all the great holidays, Easter, Midsummer, and Christmas alike, though the other traditional food courses differs from one holiday to the other.

In a way, you can compare pickled herring to the fish in sushi. Both are served raw, and both are delicious. All of us devoured our food today faster than we usually do. I would like to have pickled herring more often.

9/11

Hello, Sunni here!

My daughter Hailey and my granddaughter Polly could not agree on who would write the blog entry for today, and finally they asked me. After all, I remember the event. The attack on New York City and Washington, DC, on the 11th of September, 2001, that is.

It is something I am sad to recall, this attack on my home country. I remember how upset all the humans were, and for good cause. The attack came out of the blue, figuratively as well as literally. Dogs like me were equally upset. I do not think any of us realized the scope of this event at the time, nor did we anticipate what would come next. This attack was the start of the US war on terror. I am not particulary fond of this war, but at least we have got rid of Osama bin Laden now. Hopefully, there will be no more attacks of this kind in our lifetime.

My thoughts go out to all the dogs and humans who died or who lost someone close to them on 9/11. There were not many dogs who died, if I am informed correctly, but I am sure many dogs missed the humans who died. I believe that missing someone dear might be harder than if you are the one who is missed. Rest in peace, all victims.

Blah

Paula and our night guest went away to a dog show early this morning. I did not get to go. Life is dull.

Rugby

I am not that interested, but today is the first day of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. This year, the world cup is hosted by New Zealand. Neither Sweden nor Norway participates. However, the USA and Japan does. I am not sure whether to hope for the home country of the Shiba or Mum's home country, though. It is one of the major sport events of the world. I guess it is more interesting for those who knows the teams and the rules better than I do.

Carnivores

We are carnivores. By we, now, I mean all of us dogs and all the humans in our family. Paula had this weird idea the other day that she would stop eating meat. She would eat sea food, but apart from that, she would be a vegetarian, she said. I told her this goes against everything that I stand for.

The ancestors of us dogs originally teamed up with humans to form better hunting packs. Humans and dogs together are formidable hunters. Hunters eat meat. Meat gives us proteins and feed our brains with the energy that our intelligence requires.

I know neither Paula nor Daniel hunt. Nor do any of us dogs, except for the occasional field mouse that Mum has caught. Still, meat is what brought dogs and humans together. If Paula would not eat meat anylonger, I could not fully respect her as the leader of our pack.

Fortunately, Paula got to her senses. She does eat meat.

Congratulations

Congratulations, and jubilations, for Paula's mother Gertrud today. It is her birthday.

Today is also the 380th anniversary of the Swedish victory at Breitenfeld in the Thirty Years War. Of course, Gertrud is far from that old. If you divide that number by 10, you get closer to her age.

Euro Qualification

The Swedish national football team played San Marino tonight in a qualification game for the UEFA Euro Championships next year. San Marino is one of Europe's smallest countries and has one of the worst records in football. This should have been an easy victory. However, San Marino managed to keep the score even 0-0 well into the second half of the game. We were a little nervous, and it was not without seriousness that we joked about Sweden not winning or even losing the game. It was not until after one of San Marino's players got a red card and Sweden managed to score its first goal that the game really turned Sweden's way. Sweden finally won 5-0. The victory was not as sure as the numbers show, because San Marino's team stopped trying so hard after the first Swedish goals. In the first half, Sweden's team did not play well, but they improved later. It was nice to get a victory, though. Sweden is now one step closer to being qualified to the tournament next summer.

Idol 2011

We are watching the new season of the talent show Idol on Swedish TV. It is fun to watch when the jury puts bad singers down. Daniel usually only watches the first part of each season, because this is the part he enjoys the most. I guess there is a little devil inside of him. On the other hand, he, just like the rest of us, also enjoys the great singers that appear.

This is the eighth season. The show has been aired longer than I have lived. It is amazing that they still find many talents. My favourite tonight was the Russian singer Oleg.

Typhoon

As if it was not enough with the earth quake and tsunami in March, Japan has now been hit by a typhoon. The typhoon called Talas struck the western parts of Japan, first striking the island of Shikoku. There are reports on 19 humans being killed and about 50 missed.

As always, I have not found any reports on how many dogs have been killed or gone missing. I believe this is a grave mistake made by news agencies all around the world. Being a dog myself I am more concerned about my fellow dogs than humans, so I have some understanding of this way of making reports. Nevertheless, dogs are such a vital part of human society that I believe the reports should be about dogs too. I do hope there were not too many dogs killed or missing, and that no dogs where deprived of all of their humans.

Sleep

Hello, Polly here!

Paula worked last night, and will work tonight as well. The great advantage of this is the many hours of sleep we get. First we sleep through the night with Daniel, then we sleep through the day with Paula, and then there is another night when we sleep alongside Daniel. You might think we would get tired of sleeping, but if you get tired, the best cure is to sleep, is it not?

Loss

The Swedish national team in football went to Hungary tonight, but lost to the Hungarian team. Hungary won by 2-1 (1-0). This loss means that it is harder for Sweden to make it to the UEFA European Championship next year. It is still far from impossible. Sweden needs to win against Finland and San Marino, which there are good odds that the team does, and then win the play off among the teams which has come second in their groups. We all hope that Sweden will make it.

No Sushi

I overheard Paula and Daniel talking about having sushi tonight. Unfortunately, they did not, when it was time for their evening meal. Otherwise I would have loved to taste some. On the other hand, I did not have to be disappointed for not getting more, when noone got anything.

Crayfish

Paula went away to a crayfish party with work mates this evening. Crayfish is a Swedish specialty at this time of the year. It is seafood, and I kind of like the meat of crayfish. However, eating them are hard. You have to take away a lot of shells et cetera. Some people even suggest crayfish is the ultimate diet food, because it costs more energy to get hold of the edible parts of the crayfish than the energy you get from them. For us dogs, we had our ordinary food in the evening. I think this was just as well, because I do not like to struggle too much to get hold of the things I can eat.

Yet Another New PM

Japan has a new Prime Minister: Yohishiko Noda. He was minister of finance up until now. This is Japan's sixth Prime Minister in five years! I hope this will bring some more political stability. The humans and dogs of Japan deserves that, especially after all the devastation from the earth quake in March.

It is a good thing Japan has an Emperor who stands for political stability, no matter what.

Cheese Sauce

We got some cheese sauce on our food today. Getting food is usually among the highlights of the day, getting extra sauce is a silver lining on this highlight.

Cheese is a great thing. It is tasty, healthy, and comes in a great many forms and tastes. I like all the cheese that I have tried. It is a small wonder, then, that cheese sauce is also great, with its rich flavour of the cheese which it is made upon. I wish I could have cheese and cheese sauce more often.

Trouble with Blogger

I should not complain, because Blogger is a free service and works perfectly most of the time. I just want to explain that I have not been able to access the Blogger homepage since last Wednesday. This is why I have not made any blog entries since then. I hope you have not lost patience, I will try to keep up my daily blogging from now on, again.

When the Courts See too Mildly on Offences

There was some upsetting news on the radio the other day. A Swedish court of law has sentenced a man to pay fines and have a suspended prison sentence for animal abuse. He had kicked a four month old puppy dog to death. It was not his own dog, thankfully, because a man like that should not have animals. He was also sentenced to pay a little damages to the dog's human.

The sentence was way too mild, in my humble opinion.

The man defended himself by claiming he had had to defend his son, who was scared of the pup. This is no defence. A grown man kicking a pup to death must be unhealthily scared of the pup himself. I cannot believe he even said this. If the son was there to see the man kicking the pup to death, I sincerely hope the Social Services consider whether the man is fit to be a parent. His son may need to be taken care of.

Hearing

Dogs have superiour hearing to humans. Shibas are, among other great things, excellent watch dogs. We notice when somebody is coming and allert our pack. Unfortunately for our humans, they seldom hear what we hear. This means that they are often surprised that we alarm them by barking. Sometimes, they even get a little angry, but I guess this is just because of the frustration they feel for not hearing as much as we do.They are helped by us, and I know our humans are thankful that we are always watching the house, prepared for just about anything. It does not hurt that it is often quite fun to bark, too.

Celebrations

I am busy celebrating Paula's birthday today. Please come back another day for more of my thoughts.

Preparations

We have prepared for birthday celebrations tomorrow. Paula is celebrating her birthday. She deserves all the presents, candy and cake that she can get. We have had a lot of discussions about what to give to Paula, but we have settled on certain solutions now. Everything is prepared for the celebrations tomorrow. This is a public blog, however, and we know that Paula reads it often, so I will not give anything away here. None of us dogs will reveal anything in any other way either. When you are very satisfied with what you are about to give, it is hard not to reveal it, but we do have opportunities to congratulate each other on what we are giving Paula without giving any secrets away beforehand. This is good.

Sushi!

We had sushi for dinner tonight. This is one of my absolute favourite dishes, and the same goes for the rest of us. Paula and Daniel say you can tell we are originally from Japan, just like sushi. It might just be that we have an inherited taste for rice and seafood. This makes sense, because they have eaten a lot this in Japan for many centuries, and the dogs who liked this must have had a higher likelihood of surviving and thriving.

I hope to get sushi again soon. It is my birthday in less than a month, I guess that is a good day to wish for sushi.

Meta Meta Data?

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Sometimes, Mommys blog entries do not revolve around any other subject than writing the blog as such. In modern language, one often says that a text that does not revolve around any other subject than the content as such are meta data. I believe this is borrowed from computer science, where meta data is data about other data, or content about content.

I believe meta texts like these are rather boring to read. It is more fun to read about stuff that has happened, is happening, or might happen, than just to read about the process of writing about such stuff.

On the other hand, when I write about meta data, can this be called meta meta data? If meta data is a boring read, would not meta meta data be an even more boring read? Gosh, if this is the case, I might just have written the most boring entry ever in Mommy's blog. I hope this is not the case.

Further on, if anybody would comment on this meta meta data, would that be meta meta meta data?

Rain

We have had a lot of rain ever since midday today. It is no fun being outside in such a weather. We are lucky we do not have to be outdoors more than absolutely necessary. In Sweden, this kind of weather is called dog weather (hundväder), because only dogs go out in it. Believe me, if we dogs could avoid it, not even we would go outside in this weather. I hope we will have less rain in the weekend.

Future Head of State

The Swedish Crown Princess Victoria is expecting a child in March. There is probably just one child, humans mostly get one child per litter. If we could, we would congratulate the Crown Princess. It is nice that there will be yet another generation that may succeed to the Swedish throne.

Poaching

Poachers probably account for the Swedish wolf population being much smaller than it is. Estimates show that there could have been about a thousand wolves in Sweden in 2009, instead of the population of about 250 individuals who were counted. Still, there are humans in Sweden who want to have legal wolf hunts. They say nuisance wildlife management is needed. I say we would rather need some nuisance humanlife management.

Shaking Dogs

A photography artist in the USA has found an odd way of photographing dogs. She sprays them with a little water to make them shake themselves, then snaps the photography while they are shaking. Some of the photos are outright ugly, others may be cute. I guess her models believe a little water is something they can endure for the sake of art.

End of the Vacation

Both Paula and Daniel started working again today, after a couple of weeks of summer vacation. They both complained hard this morning.

I sometimes wish I had some vacation, too. My work as a pet dog requires me to be on alert around the clock, seven days a week, every week of the year. On the other hand, if going back to work after the vacation is so hard as Paula told me it is this morning, perhaps it is just as well not to have any vacation at all.

Enhanced Pat-Downs, Dog Shows, and Beauty Contests

In the USA, there is an ongoing debate over airport security and the body checks of passengers. Passengers may go though a body scanner, but if they refuse, they may be submitted to an "enhanced pat-down" by security officials. This includes touching intimate body parts on the outside of the clothes.

I can understand the concern. It is not like these pat-downs are very important. Compare it to dog shows, where all of us dogs who are showed are submitted to pat-downs of our whole body by the judge. The main aim of dog shows is an evaluation of the breeding results of the dogs showed. At dog shows, these pat-downs fulfill a goal every time. Compare this to pat-downs at airports for the off chance that you would discover a hi-jacker. I mean, what are the odds that an enhanced pat-down would reveal hidden weapons or other illegal items? Any terrorist with some brains would know of these security measures and use other means to hi-jack airplanes.

Ironicly, in the article that I link to, a former Miss USA is mentioned. She was patted down after refusing a body scan, which left her "furious and distressed". As far as I know, beauty contests of the kind where Misses USA are elected is the closest thing that humans have to dog shows. If beauty contests of this kind would be serious business, the contestants would be patted down by the judge there, just like dogs are in dog shows. Thus, a Miss USA would be used to it. In beauty contests, however, pat-downs never happen. This only tells us what a joke human beauty contests are!

Horrible

Dogs are supposed to be man's best friend, but some people obviously do not agree. In Thailand, the police has made a raid against dog smugglers who were about to ship over a thousand dogs to Vietnam, where they faced the fate of being eaten. Not all dogs survived the horrible ordeal in narrow cages, some were also killed when ditched as the smugglers tried to evade the police. I hope the rescued dogs find good homes. I can hardly believe humans would do this. Who would eat your best friend?

Feeling Sorry for Myself

OK, this weekend our regional kennel club has its annual national (sometimes international, but not this year) dog show in Askersund. Paula is away on a show in the south of Sweden, while Daniel went to the Askersund show to work as a ring steward. Once again, I did not get to go to any show. There is some comfort, though, when I am feeling sorry for myself, and that is that none of the other Shibas went to any show either. As a ring steward, Daniel is precluded from showing dogs at the show where he is working, and Paula went to that other show to help a friend show. Dog shows are not there just for us dogs, they are there for humans as well. May they have a good weekend, despite my absence.

The Wall

It is fifty years ago to the day tomorrow, that East Germany started to build the Berlin Wall. Officially, the East Germans said some workers started to build it on their own initiative. Officially, the East Germans called it the Anti Fascist protection wall. The real reason to build the wall was to keep citizens of East Germany from fleeing to the free world, of which West Berlin was a part. East Germany was a communistic dictatorship, while West Berlin was, in practice, part of the democracy West Germany.

Fortunately, the wall was torn down in 1989. In 1990, Germany was reunited, when the provinces of East Germany became part of what was until then called West Germany. The Berlin Wall was a symbol of the Cold War between the democracies in the West (and Japan) and the communistic dictatorships in the East. Fortunately, the West won, thus, there was no need for the Berlin Wall anymore. There are just a few parts of the wall left, for us to remember.

It is not until the fall of the dictatorships in East Europe that humans and dogs have been able to travel freely across the borders. This is good for all of us, not least the dogs. Dog breeding requires open borders to make use of all the different great dogs there are. Dogs are also taken care of better after the fall of the dictatorships, because when humans get better lives, so do their dogs.

Remember the Wall tomorrow, and be happy it is not there anymore.

Turning off the TV

Daniel started to watch a movie on TV this evening. Daniel turned it off half way, though. He says he does not like movies where the hero is unfaithful, which he was in this movie.

I do not think I have the same morals as Daniel has, I have had different fathers to different puppy litters of mine. I guess it is different with humans than with dogs. Among humans, the fathers always participate in the upbringing from the start to the end, whereas among dogs, they mostly do not. We are different species, I guess that amount to a lot.

Well, I did not enjoy the movie anyway. It had no dogs in any leading roles, nor did I see any dog at all in the movie. I do not have to see dogs in a movie to enjoy it, but it helps. This movie was not very interesting anyway.

Not So Good Candy

Candy is usually very tasty. Sometimes, it is tasty, but not more. Occasionally, though, candy does not taste well at all. Paula had purchased some candy with a cartoon character on the package, it did not taste well. We suppose that the cartoon character was put there just to sell this lousy candy. Beware of this if you see Hello Kitty candy.

The Pups

We have received reports on Anzu, who thrives in Norway. She has already started her training for participation in dog shows and she is a success with people wherever she goes.

Meanwhile, Paula and Daniel met Fumi and her family by chance. Fumi was quite all right and has a great life with her new family.

I am happy for my pups and the lives they have now.

Words

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Words are funny, sometimes. Mommy's blog, which I make entries in, is hosted by Blogger. If the first letter was not there, the name would be Logger. The word logger can stand for many things, not only data logging, which has given rise to the word blog, as in web log. Logger can also mean the same thing as lumberjack, a woodcutter, that is a person who harvest logs. The word lumberjack, however, cannot mean data logging. If you would start a competitor to Blogger with the name Blumberjack, it would not be as clear to everybody as it is with Blogger what Blumberjack would be about. This is a bit sad, because Blumberjack sounds funny.

Early Morning for Nothing

Paula and Daniel got up really early today, earlier than ordinary work days. We had to take the morning walk very early. Then they left with two dogs for a dog show, but I was among those left behind. This always angers me. I am so eager to go to dog shows again, but I cannot do that yet after my last puppy litter. For me, this was a boring day. The heavy rain fitted my mood.

South Sakhalin

Before the Second World War, the southern half of the now Russian island Sakhalin was Japanese, called Karafuto. There were a lot of Japanese who lived there. There were a lot of investments made, and economy thrived. Most of the Japanese were evacuated, however, when the Soviet Union invaded in 1945. The island has since been neglected, not least under the Soviet Union regime. A few Japanese families stayed on Sakhalin, the story of one of them is quite interesting. I agree with the analysis of the journalist writing the story, that if South Sakhalin would have stayed Japanese, the biggest city Yuzhno-Sakhalin could well have been a shining metropolis and the south half of the island criss-crossed by modern railways and roads. It is a pity it did not turn out this way.

Nice Night

My pups of the last litter have all moved to their new homes. I do miss them, but there are advantages not having them around. I can return to my natural place among the other dogs of our family. I can also sleep with the others in the bedroom. Last night, I slept there all night and slept very well. I will meet the pups on and of in days to come, and Paula and Daniel will make sure I get reports on their well being. Now it is time for me to think of my own well being. I am looking forward to this.

Anzu Is in Norway

We have received news that Anzu's flight to her new home in Norway went well. She has already inspected her new home, wagging her tail as she did so. It must be exciting to move to a new place. She will be all right, but I do miss her. I hope to go see her sometime.

Remains of Ancient Dog

Hello, Karstuhl here!

A very well preserved dog skull, 33,000 years old, has been found in the Siberian Altai mountains. It is one of the earliest evidence of a dog - those of us canines who live with humans. Scientists say, however, that it seems like this dog has not left any modern offspring. It seems like an evolutionary dead end. The scientists speculate that this is due to food becoming more scarce, at the same time as they say humans are much better hunters with dogs than without.

Perhaps this skull just belonged to a dog that was not good enough compared to the breed standard of the time, thus not being bred. This would also explain that it has no modern day offspring.

Norwegians

We have had visitors from Norway today, who will stay until tomorrow. Dad would have been very pleased to have heard them speak his native language Norwegian. They are very nice people, and I am glad one of them will be my daughter Anzu's new human. She will get a good life in Norway, in the city of Bergen, where my Dad came from.

A 26 Years Old Dog?

The world's oldest dog is supposed to be 26 years old this year. She is a cross breed of Shiba Inu and Japanese Spitz and claims part of her longevity on her Shiba Inu heritage. Shibas often get very old, though far from this old.

According to my source, this record is accepted by the Guinness Book of World Records. Also according to the source, a dog who is 26 years old is equivalent to a human becoming 116 years old. This made me think. Normally, one dog year equals seven human years. If you multiply 26 with 7, you do not get 116, but 182. 26 x 7 = 182. If you divide 116 with 26, you get something close to 4.461538, but I have never heard anybody say that one dog year would roughly equal four and a half human years.

Is it really possible that a dog can get this old? You would not believe a human could become 182 years old, would you? I allow myself to doubt.

We Do Not Live in Italy

Hello, Karstuhl here!

At the dog shows this weekend, we had some trouble getting hold of number tags for the Saturday show. They had never reached us by mail. We did get new number tags at the show site, but nobody could explain what had happened to the original number tags. Today, the riddle was solved. The number tags arrived by mail, and we could see that the lower line of the address said "Italien". This is Swedish for Italy. The letter had probably travelled all the way to Italy, where the country name had been crossed out, and then been returned to Sweden and finally found its way to us. We do not live in Italy. Our Japanese friends who are part owners of the dogs shown on Saturday do not live in Italy either. We have no idea why the name Italy was put at the end of the address, but it does explain why the letter was late in the mail. It gives us something interesting to talk about, anyway.

Dog for Health

At homes for the elderly humans in Sweden, it has become more and more common to employ dogs in the caretaking of the elderly. The dogs make the elderly very happy and activate them. It makes the need for medication smaller. This only goes to prove, once more, how useful dogs are to humans. I am not surprised.

Ransäter

Hello, Karstuhl here!

This weekend, some of us are at a dog show in Ransäter, Värmland, a Swedish province to the west of our home town. I am not being showed myself, but I got the opportunity to come along anyway. I am coaching the ones who are being showed, a task which is also important. We have had very warm weather at the beautiful show site. It has been a good experience so far.

Some of the family is still at home. We have heard they have a good time as well. I do not regret coming along anyway, even though I am not showed myself.

Rain

It was not supposed to be rain today, but rain it was. Anzu, my dear little pup, wanted to avoid the rain as much as I do when we were out in the afternoon. It definitely looks like she is her mother's daughter. I like that.

Mowed Lawn

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Daniel mowed our lawn today. I wish he would have time to make it more often. The grass grows very quickly at this time of the year, especially in our dog yard. The soil must be very rich there. Nevertheless, when the grass is shorter, there is less risk of getting ticks. Ticks are these unnecessary, bloodsucking creatures that are liked by nobody but themselves. They climb straws of grass and wait there until they can jump onto innocent animals like us dogs. We do have chemicals that scare ticks off, but some of them are not so easily scared. I wish they were.

Reports

We have received reports from the new families of both Fumi and Zeus. Everybody is all right and my pups have adapted well to their new homes. This is good. We could not have found better families for them.

Not Alone, After All

Hello, Anzu here!

As Haileys youngest daughter, on the day I celebrate that I am eight weeks old, I have received the honour of writing a blog entry. My older sister Polly write blog entries in Mommys blog now and then, now it is my turn.

Eight weeks is the age when pups are allowed to leave home and mother and to go live with their own family. My litter brother Zeus and litter sister Fumi left home today to do just that. I wish them good luck and miss them very much. I will not move until the beginning of August. This is not because my new family is less eager to have me, but since I will travel much further. I will go to Bergen, Norway. This is supposed to be a great city, the city where my late grandfather on my mother's side came from.

I have no sister and no brother left here to play with. This is a little dull. Nevertheless, I am not alone. Mommy is here, my older sister Polly is here, Granny Sunni is here, and a couple of other dogs. Life enters a new phase. I am not afraid to see what events this phase will bring.

The Tour

The world's biggest bicycle competition ended today, the Tour de France. Auntie Linni was happy the overall winner was from her father's home country, Australian Cadel Evans.

Also today, Lewis Hamilton won an exciting German Grand Prix in Formula 1. Australian Mark Webber was close to the victory, but did not win. Linni comforted herself with the Australian Tour win.

Pancakes

Hello, Polly here!

Daniel made pancakes this evening. It smelled really good, but we did not get any. The whole purpose of making pancakes was that Paula will go to a dog show tomorrow and has promised a friend to bring Daniel's pancakes. The friend thinks Daniel makes very good pancakes, but so do all of us dogs here at home. It is almost criminal to make pancakes in front of your dogs and then refuse the dogs to have a taste. This is close to cruelty to animals. Daniel is lucky we love him anyway, for many other reasons.

Norway

Today, our thoughts go out to all the dogs and humans in Oslo and Utöya, Norway, where terrorists struck. This feels special for me, since I have got a lot of relatives in Norway on my fathers side. My daughter Anzu will also move to Norway in a little while. Fortunately, she will live in Bergen, a city which was spared today. It will hopefully be spared from future terrorist attacks as well.

Almost needless to say, I think all acts of terrorism are unnecessary and evil.

The Space Shuttle

The last flight of the US space shuttles ended today, when Atlantis landed in Florida. This brings the end of a chapter of human space flight. (Dog space flight is older than human, remember Laika!) The space shuttles have been expensive to run. NASA hopes to save money, which will be invested in more modern space craft that can travel further into space. One of the destinations they hope for is the Moon. I like that. With my name being Lunar Eclips in the pedigree, I do have a special interest in the Moon. I hope humans will go there again rather soon. When the Moon is colonized, dogs will certainly live there too. I wonder when we will se the first dog show on the Moon. If the Moon is the next target for the space craft replacing the space shuttles, retiring them is a good thing.

On TV

Daniel was on TV, the local news for Stockholm, today. We could not see it in our home town, but we did watch it on the Internet. Daniel told us he had said much more than what was aired, but he was not disappointed with what was heard.

Cruelty

I was horrified to read that the charges of cruelty to animals are rapidly rising in Stockholm. The newly formed special branch for animal cruelty with the Stockholm police cannot cope with its work load. On the other hand, it might be that there is no rise in the acts of cruelty to animals, but just an increased number of cases brought to the attention of the police. Indeed, it says in the article I read that one reason for the rise in cases is a greater knowledge of the animal cruelty branch with the public. If the rise in cases is due to a higher percentage of the cases getting the attention of the police, it is good news. I certainly hope this is so.

Seven Weeks Old

My latest litter is now seven weeks old. Time has gone by very quickly.

We took some birthday photographies of the pups this evening. They are big now. Here they are, in order of age: the boy Zeus and the girls Fumi and Anzu.

Gold!

We celebrated until way past midnight, since Japan won the World Cup. Mum, April, and Calvin was disappointed, being born in the USA, they hoped the USA would win. The rest of us hoped for a Japanese victory. We got it. Japan is great!

Exploring the Kitchen

My pups have not been in all of our house. I have lived with them in part of the house, to keep them from the other dogs who might not be careful enough to pups. As the pups are growing older, they are allowed to explore more. We all had the opportunity to be in the kitchen today, as Paula was preparing lunch. The pups enjoyed this. They are always eager to explore new parts of the world. This is good, it shows that they will be prepared to see new places all though their lives.

Fumi's New Home

The pups will move in little more than a week. Fumi will live in our town. Her new family has a house which I have learned today lies rathwr close to Daniel's work. We have met the family, good people. Fumi will have a good life.

Rest

Everybody is home again, which feels very good. We have to rest, though. I did not come along to Paris and the WDS, staying with my pups, but I realize that the drive and the show took its toll.

Japan v. Sweden

Hello, Karstuhl here!

There were semi finals in the FIFA Women's World Cup today. Japan and Sweden played one of the games. I did not know whom to hope for. Mommy, Paula, and Daniel hoped that Sweden would win. Daddy hoped that Japan would win. We live in Sweden and both Mommy and I were born here. However, Daddy was born in Japan and we are of a Japanese dog breed. In the end, I decided to hope for Sweden, but I was not disappointed anyway when Japan won.

Granny did not care. Her main concern was the other semi final, where the USA beat France. Granny was born in the USA and always hopes for her country of birth in sports.

No Place Like Home

Hello, Polly here!

There is no place like home. We are back home after a long drive from Paris. It takes a lot of effort to drive that long, but I managed. After all, most of the roads are motorways, which are rather easy to drive on. The World Dog Show has been a great experience, we are already talking about going to next year's show in Austria. It will certainly be fun, too.

Quake

Hi, Karstuhl here!

There has been another earthquake in the ocean outside of Japan, almost exactly where the big one was in March. We are glad to hear this was not nearly so severe, and the tsunami was just about 20 cm high.

Late Evenings

Hello, Karstuhl here!

The World Show takes a lot of time, and there is also a lot of time spent on preparations in the evenings and mornings. We have had late nights and early mornings all week. This Saturday, I have not been able to write anything in the blog until after midnight. I hope there will be another blog entry this Sunday, except for this, if I find the time on the Sunday eveing.

Granny became Best Veteran among Shibas on the WDS today. This means that she is World Winner '11. This is really good. Although some of the rest of us did well, nothing beats her effort. I got in to the final ring in brace with Daddy, but Granny made it there herself. There was none of us who were placed, though.

Show

Hello, Polly here again!

This was the day that Shiba Inus were first showed at this dog show in Paris. The World Dog Show is running parallel to a French show, and Shibas were shown at this French show today. I got Excellent in quality and came in as third best junior bitch. It could have been better, it always can when you do not win, but I am quite satisfied with this result. There were many competitors in the class and quite a lot of them were nice Shibas. I cannot complain.

Le Tour

Hello, Polly here again!

A bicycle competition has been aired here in France on TV. Granny told me it is the Tour de France, the biggest bicycle competition in the world. Granny used to like it better when her favourite bicycle rider, American (what else when it comes to Granny) Lance Armstrong was competing to win. Granny and I agree that the World Dog Show, which starts tomorrow, is a much more important competition. Nevertheless, it will hardly get the same TV coverage that the Tour de France gets. Many humans have priorities that I, as a dog, do not quite understand.

In Paris

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Now we are in Paris, where we will attend this year's World Dog Show. We travelled down by car yesterday and today. The journey went smoothly most of the time. However, we had to wait for three and a half hours at the site of a terrible car accident on the motorway through Germany.

We would have thought the German police, rescue workers and tow truckers would be organized and effective, but we stood close to the site of the accident and thought the people working there looked terribly unorganized. Maybe this is just because we did not know what they did and have to do, and the time spent without much to do in the car seemed much too long. Most of the irritation has left us now. It will be an interesting story to tell others in due time.

Hamburger

Wow, I got half a hamburger tonight. I did not share it, not even with my pups. It was too precious for me.

The thing is, Paula and Daniel have been very busy most of the afternoon, preparing for a trip to the World Dog Show next week. This year, the show is in Paris, France, and several of the dogs here at our place will go there. I am not going, I am staying with my pups. Late in the evening, Daniel would go to fill up the car with petrol and they decided he would also buy some take away food for a late evening meal. However hungry Paula and Daniel felt, they realized they were not so hungry they could finish a hamburger each. This is why I got half of Paula's hamburger. Rumour has it, Mum and Auntie Linni got a quarter each of Daniel's hamburger. As a mother of tiny pups, who will turn five weeks old this Monday, I did deserve to get the largest piece of hamburger. This was a good call of Paula and Daniel, when they could not eat it up themselves.

Playing in the Yard

Hello, Polly here!

I was playing with my little brother Zeus this afternoon. We had some great fun, both of us.

Visitors

The pups are getting used to meeting new people. Paula's sister brought a couple of friends over today to meet me and the pups. These were very nice and friendly humans. As always, the pups were greatly appreciated. It is a good thing they get along with all of the humans they meet, because they will meet new humans throughout their lives. They are still mine to take care of, but not forever.

Getting to Know the Outdoors

I have been outdoors with the pups a couple of times today. They are getting more and more used to the grass, the sun, and the wind. They have also discovered holes in the ground. We have some small holes, that are big enough for pups to stumble into, but small enough that the pups do not hurt themselves. This is a good way for them to prepare for life.

Polly has helped me keeping an eye on them. She is doing a great job as an older sister. When she was a little to rough on the small ones, I told her off, and she listened to that and learned. She realizes the pups are more fragile than she is. This is good, it all indicates that Polly will once become a good mother herself.

Cute as Can Be

My pups and I spent part of the afternoon out in the yard. It was a nice, sunny afternoon, but with a little wind and not too hot. The pups were in the smaller part of the yard that is fenced in with a one metre high movable fence and is only a couple of square metres big. They were not really fond of being confined to that area. I liked it, though. I did not have to worry where they went. When Polly and Mum came out, they could greet the pups without coming so close that it would be unsettling for me. With Polly and Mum there, it was a family gathering of sorts. Mum enjoyed the chance of meeting my pups close up. She thinks they are very cute. Cute as can be. Mum believes she has a little part of it, and being their grandmother, I guess she is right. Daniel was out in the yard too, sitting in a chair reading. I think we all enjoyed the afternoon.