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.

Dogs Left to Die

Every summer, we hear these horrible stories about dogs who are left in hot cars to die. The humans responsible for such neglect are terrible wrongdoers. I would never have guessed, though, to hear that dogs in a police car would die from such neglect. Nevertheless, it has now happened to a German Shepherd pup and a working Belgian Malinois in the United Kingdom. An investigation has been started. I do hope the human who was responsible for this act will be severely reprimanded and never again allowed to work with dogs. Words are not enough to describe the sadness I feel for these deceased dogs, a pup and a grown up dog who has given so much service to humans.

Remember never to leave dogs in the car on a sunny day!

Football World Cup

Today is the first day of the FIFA Women's World Cup in football. The men had their world cup last summer. I have no problem accepting that the women and the men compete in different world cups. This is just like dogs competing in dog shows: the males compete against other males and the females against other females.

There is one huge difference, though. In dog shows, the best male and the best female faces each other in a final competition, that of the Best of Breed. (The Best in Group and Best in Show finals are actually unofficial, as I suppose most of my readers already know.) There is nothing like that in football.

I would want to see a game played after the Women's World Cup between the winners there and the winners in the male World Cup of last year. This would prove interesting. I have been told the male footballers are so much better than the females, that the outcome would be obvious before the game. However, the women footballers are also said to become increasingly better. If they can never face the men, how can we know how much better the men are, and how do we know when the future women equals the men? (Some would say never, but I am not sure of that.) I hope there will be a game like this in the future.

Minced Meat

My pups have started to eat other food than the milk I provide. This is good, it is an adaption to their life without milk, which will come in some weeks. They like the minced meat that Paula and Daniel have given to them. So far, they do not eat much. This is also good, because it means that I get to eat what is left. I remember that Mum did the same when I was the same age and was given minced meat with my brothers. Now I get the same benefit she got back then. There are definitely fringe benefits with having a litter of pups.

Midsummer

It is the middle of the summer, just after the summer solstice, and this is an important holiday in Sweden. We have celebrated most of it rather quietly at home, which suits me as I have small pups to take care of. They do not know of any season but summer yet, so they do not understand what the celebration is all about, but they will learn, eventually. I know they are intelligent and keen to learn new things. This is good. Next year, my pups will surely celebrate midsummer and enjoy it very much with their new families. I can also participate in the partying. This makes me feel good.

Climbing

The pups have started to climb over the edge of the litter box. They want to explore the world and they do not want to soil the blankets in the litter box where we sleep. This is as good proof as any that they are Shiba Inus. We have it in ourselves to be curious and eager to learn, and to become housebroken very fast.

The male, who is the biggest of the pups, was the first one and is the best on climbing, no surprise given his size. He got his call name today: Zeus, after the head god of ancient Greek mythology. This suits him, I believe.

The older girl will be called Fumi, the younger Anzu. These are also fine names.

Visitors

Paula's parents stopped by in the evening and paid me and my pups a visit. They are very nice people. I guess the pups thought so too. The pups fell asleep during the visit, though. This is how being a pup is, you have to sleep a lot and you can become tired quickly. It is a good thing they sleep well whenever they do sleep.

Outdoors

My youngest pups have been outdoors today, for the very first time. They are a little more than three weeks, and since it is summer, it is about time. It was a rather warm summer day. They were cuddling together on the lawn, not very fond of the experience. I believe they cannot yet fully grasp how big and beautiful the outdoors is. I know I have trouble understanding the vastness of it myself, when I think about it. It is therefore no wonder the pups cannot yet begin to understand it. They will get some hold of it, eventually. I am looking forward to better opportunities to show them the outdoors when they are a little older.

Mia

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Paula's sister Mia came by to visit us tonight. She will spend the night here. This is great, I really like Mia. So far, however, I believe she has spent too much time with my younger siblings. This is probably just because they look so cute as pups. I do believe time spent with me is more rewarding in the long run, since I am able to interact with humans on a more mature level. On the other hand, Mia will not sleep in the puppy room, but in the living room. I believe this give us opportunities to spend quality time with each other.

A Picture of Me and My Pups

The Last Samurai

Hello, Karstuhl here!

We watched a great movie tonight: The Last Samurai. It is an American movie, but most of the story takes place in 19th century Japan. As a Shiba Inu, I am always interested in Japan, the land of my ancestors. I may not know much about Japan of that time, but it seemed to me that the movie gave a fairly accurate account of what Japan was like in those days, as a background to the fictious story. Mum, Granny, and other older Shiba Inus have told me there are movies which give an even better account of 19th century Japan. Most of these are Japanese, of course. You cannot expect an American movie to be the best at depicting Japan, but it is good. This is worth some praise.

Japanese Olympic Bid?

The Japanese City Hiroshima has withdrawn its bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games. One of the reasons is that it is still paying off the debt from hosting the 1994 Asian Games. I think this is sad. I would like to see Olympic Games in Japan, home of the Shiba Inu, in my lifetime. Being born in 2005, I guess the 2020 Olympic Games will be the last I can see. However, there may still be a chance, since Tokyo has announced that it considers a candidacy for the 2020 Olympic Games. Tokyo has hosted the games before, but that is not necessarily a disadvantage. London will soon host the games for the third time. I do hope Tokyo gets the games.

Registration

We have arranged for the registration of my last litter with the Swedish Kennel Club. One does not want the pups to be unregistered. It is like they do not exist. An unregistered pup will not be aknowledged as a pure bred dog and will never be able to compete at dog shows. I would never want to deny my pups the pleasure of going in to the show ring.

Lunar Eclipse

There is a total lunar eclipse this evening. It will be visible from Sweden from about 22.13 in the evening, when the Moon has risen above the Swedish horizon. When I am writing this, it is less than an hour until that time. Unfortunately, the whole sky is overcast. Thick rainclouds will certainly obscure our view of this scene.

Of course, any friend of mine who wants to se a Lunar Eclips is always welcome to see me, since this is my name in the pedigree.

Growth

Politicians often talk about growth and how important it is for the whole society. They are often unable to produce growth, though. I am not. Everything that my three pups eat and drink is my milk, and they are growing rapidly. They are fifteen days old now, and have more than tripled their birth weights. I suppose that the only things politicians can make that grow this fast is inflation and debt.

Names

We have decided upon what official names the pups of this F-litter will have. The theme is Formula 1 tracks. The male will be called Aangenaam Silverstone (silver as in the white ura jiro, as well), and the females, in order of age, will be called Aangenaam Suzuka and Aangenaam Valencia, respectively.

There are many Formula 1 tracks around the world, which made it a bit difficult to decide. We have now settled on these three names. We are quite satisfied with them.

The pups have also opened up their eyes now. They begin to explore the world around them, a world which, to them, is no bigger than the litter box. They will soon discover more.

Future Family

One of my daughters of the current litter will move to a family who lives here in our home town. They stopped by to visit us today. The family consists of a mother, a father, and a rather young son. They are very nice humans and I believe my daughter will have a happy life with them. This feels good.

Dangerous Meatballs

For the second time in a little while, products from the Swedish food manufacturer Värmlandschark has been withdrawn from stores. These products are manufactured between the 7th and the 10th of June. One of the products is meatballs. The manufacturer has found unhealthy amounts of listeria bacteria in the products. It is bad that bacteria are in the meatballs, but good that the manufacturer reacts to it.

In the Swedish news, it is reported that these bacteria may be dangerous for humans with a weak immune system, elderly, and pregnant women. I lack information of whether the bacteria are dangerous to dogs as well. This is not good journalism. As a precaution, I would recommend everyone not to feed the meatballs to their dogs either.

Mood Sensitive Ears

Human inventiveness never cease to amaze me. A Japanese company has invented mood sensitive fluffy feline ears to put on the head of humans. These ears will move according to the mood and mind set of the wearer. A sensor measuring the brainwaves of the wearer controls the movement of the ears.

I guess there would be some demand for ears like this. Dogs already have natural ears to show our mood, and they help us interact with one another. Humans, so far, have not had these. Ears like this will thus help humans get something they must envy us dogs for. I congratulate them for the opportunity.

The Pups

The male, the larger female, the smaller female.

Thunder

We had a huge thunderstorm this evening. It defys description. Next to the storm, the Swedish goal festivity, 5-0, was just a light breeze. Both were exciting to watch, though.

New Champ

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Paula and April are back from Cheestonia today. April won Best of Breed, the Cheestonian Winner title of 2011, and became Cheestonian Show Champion. Congratulations are due for April!

I envy April. I would also like to be a Cheestonian Champion. Cheese is great, being a Cheestonian Champion must also be great. April did not bring any cheese home, though. I guess she must have eaten it all herself on the way home.

A Crazy Idea

Hello, Polly here!

We discussed a crazy idea today. What if Daniel would rather want to have a Spaniel than a Shiba Inu, because Spaniel rhymes with Daniel? It is so weird, we just laughed at the idea. So did Daniel, when he heard about it.

Coming Back

The pups of my last litter are doing very well. All three of them are growing steadily. I can now leave them for short periods of time. This means that Polly, of my previous litter, will no longer have to fill in for me all the time. She has done a nice job with the blog in the last couple of days, but I generally prefer to write the blog entries myself.

There are some different personalities of the pups of my last litter that I can sense already. It is just subtle differences in the way they act, not clear enough to fully describe. It will be interesting to follow their development over the coming weeks to see just what personalities the small ones will develop. I will keep updates of the development here in my blog, of course, so stay tuned.

Hair Thieves

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Humans are strange in a lot of ways, but especially when it comes to hair. They cannot accept the natural length of their hair. I suppose this is mainly because human hair does not grow to a certain length and then fall of, but - like Poodle coat - just grows and grows. Humans are also rather unique among land living mammals in that they do not have hair everywhere on their body. All of this must make for a strange relationship to hair. Shiba Inus, like most dogs, just shed our coats a few times a year, and that is that. Humans cut their hair, shave some of it off, or even add more hair with hair extensions. The recent hair extension fashion in the USA has led to a new form of thievery: people who steal hair extensions. Due to the high demand, hair extensions are expensive, so the thievery can be lucrative business.

If humans would not have such a strange view on the subject of hair, hair extensions would be worth almost nothing and you would not have this form of criminal behaviour. It is not like humans need the hair for human shows to prove their conformity to a breed standard. Even if they had these shows, and tried this with extensions, they would be disqualified for cheating. This is why I cannot understand the use of human hair extensions. I guess the humans who do use them can justify it, though, which is all that is needed, of course.

Cheestonia

Hello, Polly here!

Paula and April went to a dog show this long weekend in a country on the Eastern side of the Baltic Sea. From what I have heard, this country is worth a visit. It is called Cheestonia, thus it should be filled with cheese (in Swedish: Ostland, filled with "ost", in Cheestonian: Juusti, filled with "juust"). Cheese is always tasty and good. I hope Paula and April bring some cheese back with them.

False Marketing

Hello, Karstuhl here!

It has come to my attention that our local supermarket sells a German sausage called Bärchenwurst, by the company Reinert. The name means Small Bear Sausage. Apparently, the sausage is made out in such a fashion that slices of it looks like teddy bears.

I have always been interested in trying out new kinds of food. Bear meat is something I have never eaten. If we would have easy access to a bear sausage at our local supermarket, I would ask Paula and Daniel to buy some so we could try it out. However, I started out by doing some research. It turns out that the Bärchenwurst consists of 65 % pork and 15 % turkey, the rest is water, milk, spices, and artificial ingredients.

I do not like this. The main ingredient of sausages is always supposed to be meat. If you market a sausage under a name that in part means bear, but the sausage does not contain bear meat, I believe this is false marketing. Under these circumstances, I would use my consumer power and not buy this fake sausage. I hope you do the same!