RIP

Dad has left us today for the afterlife. Finally, his cancer defeated his toughness.

We miss you, but we will meet again.

Slow Sunday

Sundays are days of rest. We really lived by this rule today.

We got up early and everybody got outside for a while. Then Paula got home, having worked night, and she and Daniel went to bed to rest for a while. After that, we all slept until noon. All of us dogs and Daniel had slept during the night, but it has been a busy week and we all needed the extra sleep. It was a great way to spend this Sunday.

In the afternoon, Dad got to go with Paula and Daniel to Paula's sister Mia. The rest of us stayed at home, watching the house. Thus, the afternoon was not so much devoted to rest, but after this morning, it was quite all right anyway.

A Saturday Journey

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Paula, Daniel, Granddad, Grandaunt Linni, and I made a daytrip to another Shiba Inu breeder today. It was an adventure.

I was told there were pups there, only a couple of weeks old. Though eager to meet the pups, I was not allowed inside the room where they were. It might be that I am considered too young, so I would have bad influence on the pups. For my part, I cannot imagine my influence being anything but good. Be that as it may, it was not my choice to make. I enjoyed the roadtrip and seeing new sights anyway.

Fox Up High

A fox was found living on the 72nd floor of an 80 floor skyscraper in the United Kingdom. He was captured, went through a health check, and then released on ground level.

How the fox found his way up in the building is unclear, but it certainly helped that the building is still not completed. He probably walked up the central stairwell, then survived by eating scraps of food left by the builders.

I am glad this story had a happy end.

One Dog Policy

In the People's Republic of China, they have a one child only policy for human families. Now the big Chinese city Shanghai have enacted a policy that is even more hideous: a one dog only policy. Dogs like to have other dogs around, they generally fare better if there is at least one other dog in the family. With a one dog only policy, many dogs will be lonely and more sad than they would have to be.

In the new rules, there are also rules against unlicenced dogs. I have nothing against this. Any serious human living with dogs have the dogs licenced. This is important for the government and their work against animal abuse. The positive effects of measurements against unlicenced dogs does not, however, make the one dog only policy any better. I guess such a policy is only possible in a dictatorship like China.

Alcohol

Humans drink this thing called alcohol beverages. Studies show that a moderate consumption of alcohol is healthier than not drinking alcohol at all, if all things are considered. I know Paula and especially Daniel like alcohol beverages and do drink in moderation, but I have never felt any urge to try. I do not think I will change my mind because of this study. Scientists behind the studies did say that there is no reason to start drinking alcohol if you do not drink any. The same beneficial results for your health can be achieved by a healthy diet and excercise, both of which I get on a daily basis. Well, it is good to know my humans have a healthy consumption of alcohol.

A Sad Movie

We saw a very sad movie on TV tonight, the American remake Hachiko - A Dog's Story of the Japanese Hachiko monogatari. It is about a dog whose human dies, but the dog keeps waiting for his human to return home on the train throughout his life. These movies are based on a true story in Japan in the 1920's and 1930's. I feel so sorry for the dog Hachiko. This is a fate I would not wish for any dog to have.

Monkeys Show Self-Doubt

A recent study by American scientists show that monkeys can display self-doubt in the same way as humans. These monkeys seemed to know when they were not sure they would make a correct choice. The test showed these results with Old World monkeys, but not with New World monkeys, who are more distantly related to humans. The scientists state that expressing self-doubt is proof of self awareness.

I cannot say for sure, because I have no scientific study to back me up, but I believe dogs can display self-doubt too. I think I know when I am not sure I will make the right choice, which I sometimes do when I am given commands by Paula or Daniel. Perhaps there will be future studies on this as well.

BIG 4

My dear son Nemo was Best of Breed and 4th Best in Group at a dog show here in Örebro today. It was an unofficial show, but an all breed show with many contestants and heavy competition, nevertheless. It is also worth mentioning that Nemo is just one year old, much younger than most grown up contestants at any dog show. I am so proud of Nemo!

Birthday

Today is the birthday of my last litter, my daughter Polly and my son Nemo. This is worth celebrating.

I offered Polly a chance to write today's blog entry, as she sometimes does, but she was too busy celebrating, she said. Of course, as a dog, you have to celebrate much more on your birthdays than humans do. Each human year is equivalent to seven dog years, which means that we dogs have to celebrate seven times as much each birthday than humans do. Thus, I fully understand why Polly is too busy celebrating to write in this blog.

We have been promised salmon for dinner tonight. This is great and fits a birthday.

Engaged

Eleven years ago today, Paula and Daniel got engaged. We have celebrated them. They are important for all of us. If Paula and Daniel had not been a couple, neither would Mum and Dad, so I would not have been, and I and Kuro-chan would not have been a couple and Karstuhl would not have been. We are lucky they found each other.

Saved by the Dogs

It has happened again: dogs have saved the lives of humans. This is not unusual, but it deserves widespread attention, nevertheless.

In this case, the dogs of a family in Sibbo, Finland, woke the humans of their family at 3 o'clock in the morning, when the house had caught fire. The male human of the family managed to put the fire out before the fire fighters even got to the house.

I hope the dogs get some extra treats tonight.

Public Safety Is a Government Responsibility

A newly issued Swedish Government enquiry proposes that the Government would no longer be responsible for the economic damage done by dangerous contagious animal diseases. Instead, the animal owners would be responsible. They would have to get private insurance if they would want to protect themselves against the economic risks of this responsibility.

I believe this is not right. A contagious disease is a risk for the whole society. Government intervention is often needed, because the Government is the only one who can force people to do this or that, or not to do this or that. It may be necessary to use force to defend society from contagious diseases, and Government is the only one who may use force. This is a matter of defending the whole society, just like the police defends us from criminals and the military defends us from foreign threats. This defence is necessary for all tax payers, thus, all tax payers should contribute and the Government should pay.

Of course, in the case where an animal owner is reckless, and this recklessness contributes to spreading the disease, the animal owner should be liable. This is another matter altogether. Animal owners are often unable to stop the spreading of the disease themselves. It is not a coincidence that these diseases are called contageous.

The main issue here is that defending society from contagious diseases is one of the main responisbilities of the Government, therefore, the main economic responsibility should belong to the Government.

Gate

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Daniel got mad with me this afternoon for chewing at a gate sealing off part of the kitchen. All he had to do to stop me was to open the gate. Fortunately, I got this message through to him rather quickly. It is not my intention to destroy things, but sometimes, I have to do disruptive things like this to make myself clear to my humans. They are not as good as the other dogs at interpreting my more subtle signals. Humans do have a well developed language, and like the fact that we dogs learn it, but they are actually worse at interpreting us than we are at interpreting them. We love them dearly, nevertheless.

The Hunt Is Over

The licenced wolf hunt in Sweden is over - this year. Of the twenty wolves that the government had allowed hunters to shoot, nineteen were shot and killed. The quota in Västmanland County was one wolf, but the hunters there never managed to kill any wolf. They were close a couple of days ago, but the wolf they were closing in on went over the border to Örebro County, where the quota was filled already. This was fortunate, it is almost as if that wolf knew of the border and the safety on the far side of it. I am glad less than the overall quota were killed.

Valentine's Day

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Today is Valentine's day. As far as I have understood, this is a day when loving couples are supposed to express their love for each other in a more romantic and fantastic way than they usually do. Granddad has expressed his love for Grandmom. I love my grand parents!

Now the Third

Japan is now the third largest economy in the world. The biggest economy is still the USA, but China has surpassed Japan as the second largest economy.

This does not say much, though. Japan has the world's tenth largest population, with about 127 million humans. Meanwhile, China has the largest population on Earth, about 1 341 million humans. Thus, China has a population that is more than ten times bigger than that of Japan. It is actually more noteworthy that China has not surpassed Japan much earlier, given these population figures. Each Chinese citizen still just has about a tenth per capita as large economy as each Japanese.

The main reason that Japan's economy is so much bigger per capita is, of course, the communistic dictatorship of China, whereas the Chinese economic growth over the last years is due to the capitalism that is still allowed in the nominal communistic country. China can come back when its economic size relative to Japan reflects its population's size. At that time, this might be something to discuss.

Meat Sauce

We got meat sauce in our food both yesterday and today. It gives the food an edge it usually does not have. I do like our normal food, but variety is always nice. Variety with meat that is nicely seasoned is even better.

Democratic Failure

Humans have this thing called democracy, in which everybody in a certain town, county or nation gets to vote on people, who will then rule until the next election. Democracy is not fool proof, though. In our home city of Örebro, there were cheating in the last election to the city council. There will now be a new election in the part of the city where the voting fraud took place.

Mum says it would be easier for humans to do as dogs do: let the alpha female rule. This is easy for her to say, who is the alpha female of our pack. I am not sure humans could be ruled that way. Over the years, humans have done away with many absolute monarchies, which may be the closest human equivalent to the dog alpha female form of government; it is only that absolute monarchs were seldom as benign rulers as dog alpha females usually are. We have to remember that humans are different from dogs and sometimes not as smart as we are. Well, this new election does not affect us dogs directly, anyway, so we do not have to be too concerned.

Will There Be War?

Talks have collapsed between Japan's neighbours North and South Korea. We just have to hope this will not result in war. The dictatorship North Korea is a much poorer country than democratic South Korea, but invests much in its military. Still, the North Koreans starve and are dependent on foreign aid. It might be that the North Korean regime sees war as a last resort to gain further advantages, if they believe they could win. I guess all they want is some kind of casus belli that would not cause people in general to blame the war on them. Hopefully, they will never get such a chance.

Moving?

Paula and Daniel has been away looking at a house that is for sale. There is talk about moving away from this house, if we find something better. This might be in many years, but it might also be very soon. I am excited at the idea of finding new hunting grounds. So is Polly, who has lived in this house all her life.

Mum, on the other hand, is not happy about the idea. She says she has moved enough in her life. I can understand her, she grew up in Washington in the Pacific region of the USA, then moved to Texas in the south of the USA, then back to Washington, then she moved to Sweden to live with Paula and Daniel. We have also moved once since she came here. She has had enough, she says.

Well, as much as I can understand Mum's view, I do not agree with it. It is important to consider that if we are to move, we have to find something better than the house and the lot we have now. This would not be easy, but it is certainly be possible. If we do, I think we should move. This may be far into the future, though.

Chocolate

A new scientific study will be good news for all chocolate lovers: chocolate contains more healthy plant compounds, as a percentage if the weight, than many fruit juices. Both dark chocolate and cocoa has more antioxidant activity than fruit. It is a small wonder, then, that the Indians of Central America considered cocoa a divine thing, a gift from the gods. It is just too bad that chocolate is still considered poisonous for us dogs. I, too, want to have a really healthy snack now and then.

Poodle Specialty

Paula went away alone to a dog show today. She went to a Poodle specialty in Eskilstuna with a friend of hers from our town. It is understandable that she did not bring any of us Shiba Inus to a Poodle specialty, but I thought she would bring our Toy Poodle Laila. I am not sure why she did not. Laila did not seem to mind, though. I would have been very disappointed if I would have been left at home, if Paula would have gone to a Shiba Inu specialty, but that is just me. I know there are dogs who do not like dog shows. I do not understand them, but I let them keep their opinion if they want to.

Stupid Humans

In the Swedish capital Stockholm, there are a few popular restaurants and pubs at Stureplan which get a lot of revenue, even though they have high prices, unfriendly waiters, and bad service over all. People go there, nevertheless. A new study has shown that customers go there anyway searching for self confirmation and sexual attraction. Many VIP customers also like to go there despite all the bad service and high prices, because they know other customers are treated even worse by the waiters. Somehow, this gives them satisfaction. I cannot understand this behaviour, neither can any of my dog friends. Why not go to a friendlier place with lower prices? Would this not be even better for the self esteem? Many humans are stupid.

Satellite Navigation Tragedy

In England, a four year old human girl died in a car accident last September. This is, in it self, not an odd tragedy. It has now been made public that the cause of the accident was that the girl's parents, who sat in the front of the car, trusted their satellite navigation unit too much. When the unit told them to turn right - thus crossing the line of the opposite traffic, since they drive on the left side of the roads in England - they did so, even though road signs said right turns where not allowed there. In the investigation, both parents said they did not see any road signs, though they are there. Their car was hit in the side, just at the rear side door where the girl was sitting.

It was too bad the parents trusted their satellite navigation unit too much. I am very sad for the girl. Luckily, though, no dogs were hurt.

Gorgonzola

Hello, Karstuhl here!

I discovered a Gorgonzola cheese on a shelf in the kitchen. It had been put there, out on the edge, near enough for me to grab it. The plastic wrapping had not been torned, but I have terrific teeth for purposes like this. As I have learned before, Gorgonzola is a very tasty cheese. I have never had such a large piece of Gorgonzola to eat before, though. Daniel found out when I was licking up the last remains from the wrapping. He was very disappointed, and so was Paula when he told her. I am not to blame, though. If a tasty piece of food lies within reach of any dog, unattended by any human, that piece of food is fair game. This is the law. It actually is: Swedish law states that damage done by a dog is the dog's human's fault. My humans are Paula and Daniel, so they are to blame, not me. I was not the one who laid the cheese within my reach and left. This is not to say I never obey Paula or Daniel; on the contrary, I very often do. When they are not around, it is a different story.

Couples Divided

In the recent licenced wolf hunt in Sweden, at least nine wolf couples has been divided because one of them has been killed. This is a great tragedy! I could not imagine how sad I would be, if my husband Kuro-chan would be taken away from me. There must be some change here, licenced hunts for wolves should not go on!

Police Dogs

We watched an interesting documentary on Swedish television today. The show is called Veckans brott (Crime of the Week) and the main feature is a discussion on a controversial crime committed anywhere in Sweden. Today, though, the second part of the programme was the best, because it was about police dogs. There are police dogs who run after criminals, but most important are the police dogs who use their magnificent noses to find illegal substances, bombs et cetera. If I was not a show dog and a mother, I would have wanted to be a police dog, using my nose to uncover crimes. I believe I would have been rather good at it, because I am good at finding treats with my nose.