Leap Day

Spring

The snow that fell yesterday melted away again during the night. We have spring again. We will have to see if it lasts.

It has been a disappointing winter, insofar as we have had very little snow. You have seldom been able to play around in snow, it has never been deep enough. On the other hand, we have had some really cold days. Cold days without snow is supposed to be very bad for ticks, and anything that is bad for ticks is good for dogs. I like this. We will have to see if there are fewer ticks than usually. I really hope so.

Winter

Snow is falling again. It is still February, so nobody should be surprised. February is a winter month. Still, there was hope for an early spring this past weekend. We might have to wait another month for springtime. You never can trust the weather.

Visiting Others

Paula and Daniel do not seem to get enough of Shiba pups. I can understand them. However, going away to friends to pet their pups, like they did today, feels like overdoing it. April is expecting pups right now, while I will get another litter later. Polly will also get pups, eventually. Thus, they will get pups to pet here at home. With a little patience, they do not need to pet other pups.

Better

We had a very pleasant evening tonight. Paula's sister Mia paid us a visit, which is always nice. The last of the four qualifying rounds to the Swedish Song Contest was on TV, and the songs were much better than last Saturday. We were not quite pleased with the results, even though it was fun to see that Lisa Miskovsky won a place in the final round. I have liked her ever since she had a music video with wolves in it.

Swedish Succession

The Swedish Crown Princess Victoria gave birth to her first offspring today (a child, as a pup is usually called if human). She only had one (which is, by far, the most common size of human litters), a daughter. This little girl will, eventually, become reigning queen of Sweden. I would like to forward my congratulations. Giving birth is a great thing. Thus, the Swedish succession is secured for yet another generation.

Late Morning

Hello, Karstuhl here!

I did not get along on the morning walk this morning. I usually do, but I heard it was raining this morning, so I abstained. It was nice to sleep until later in the morning under these circumstances. Rain is not my favourite weather.

Carneval

The festivities this day, 40 days before Easter, is called Carneval in many parts of the world. This is a rather silly name for a party, because it describes that the food is predominantly meat. Carne is the same word as in carnivor, for meat eater. The name is silly, because you eat meat at any party that is worth throwing, so mentioning the meat is unnecessary. Just say party!

Slippery Road

We had mild weather this weekend, but the snow that melted then turned into ice today, when the cold came back. It was really slippery. Poor Paula fell on the ice. We took good care of her, though.

Two Years

It has been two years since I gave birth to my second litter, out of which my dear daughter Polly still lives with us. She is so cute, as you can see from this picture of her and Paula today. Happy birthday, Polly and Nemo!

At Home

We stay at home this weekend. Paula likes it, saying that it is more restful for her not to travel to a dog show. I dislike it. It was my turn to go to a dog show, but then our participation was cancelled. I love to go to dog shows, but was robbed of it. This does not feel fair. I hope I will be compensated later this season.

Envy

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Envy is a vice. I am envious sometimes, but I am not proud of it.

This evening, Grand Auntie Linni got to help Daniel with the dirty dishes all by herself in the kitchen. I was standing just on the threshold, but in the livingroom, and was not allowed into the kitchen. Meanwhile, Linni took care of the last pieces of a great smelling potato gratin. Under these circumstances, can I help I got envious of her?

Peanut Butter

Paula had bought peanut butter today. It is far from every day we have peanut butter at home. Calvin loved it. He said peanut butter is American, therefore, it has to be good. While Mum, who is also from the USA, agreed with him in principle, I could not. I did agree after tasting it, though. Peanut butter is good.

Valentine's Day

Hello, Karstuhl here!

This is St. Valentine's day, a special day for the celebration of love. This is an odd idea to me. I believe love to be present every day. Believe me, I am a dog, dogs are the experts of love. Since love is all around, why should we not hold love equally high every day? It is not that I am against celebrations, on the contrary, I love any excuse for some candy and tasty food, but dogs celebrate love every day.

More Shows

Paula is back home from the show last weekend. She started to book new shows right away. That is how I like it! I really hope it is time for me to come along now. It has been too long since I had the chance to show the world what a Shiba is supposed to look like in the show ring.

Strange Comment

I got this strange comment on my blog today, from somebody who asked me for how long I have been blogging. Hey, you can see that in the margin of my blog! I took the comment away as spam. Perhaps I was wrong in doing so, but another thing that made me do this was that the comment came with a link to an advert for winter boots. I do not want that kind of adverts on my blog. Dogs do not use winter boots, nor shoes of any kind. Well, it gave me something to write about today, at least.

Anzu!

My dear daughter Anzu, who lives in Dad's home country Norway, succeeded on a dog show today. At the show in Ølen, Norway, she became Best of Opposite Sex Pup among the Shibas. This is a good start of a promising career as a show dog. I hope she will always enjoy dog shows just as much as I have ever did.

Oh, Polly

Sometimes, I get the feeling I am not the best of mothers. I have tried to raise my dear daughter Polly to love dog shows just as much as I do. Nevertheless, she wrote this blog post yesterday about how much she enjoyed staying at home when Paula went away for the weekend to go to a dog show. Where did I go wrong? I would really have wanted to go to the dog show this weekend.

Feels Good to Be Home

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Paula left for the weekend, going to a dog show. Mommy always believes it would be more fun to go on the tour, whenever there is a dog show coming up. I am not that fond of shows. I like them, but I do not love them.

We saw this odd movie on one of the film channels, Up in the Air. It was about a man travelling all across America in his work, and loving it. He did not want any family or the like, but his life was rather hollow.

It feels good to be home.

Black and White

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Some humans say black is the colour of sadness and mourning. Being mostly black myself, I cannot believe that. I take comfort in the Eastern notion that white is the colour of mourning. Thus, only my ura jiro pattern is of a sad colour.

Railway Station

Daniel was in Stockholm today. Paula went to the railway station to pick him up, then they bought some food on the way home. I wanted to come, but was not chosen. I would always like to be chosen. There are many dogs in our pack, which is often fun, but it makes me just one out of many. Sometimes, it would feel better to be more unique.

Open Refridgerator

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Once in a while, Paula or Daniel lets the door to the refridgerator stay open. This is hard for us dogs to smell and see. There are so many tasty things there, but we know we are not allowed to take anything ourselves. I wish I had a little refridgerator myself, that I could open and pick things from whenever I wanted to. Of course, the very best thing would be if that refridgerator would resupply itself, but I know it would not do that. Life could be so much better with a little magic.

Congratulations

Today, we congratulate a human who has a lot of dogs, mostly Welsh Corgi Pembrokes. Besides taking care of her dogs, she is also Head of State of sixteen countries, including Australia, where Auntie Linni's father was born. I am talking about, of course, Queen Elizabeth II. She has been Queen for sixty years today. This is fantastic. Her dogs must be proud.

Second Round

Today is the second round of the election in Finland, where they are electing President. Mum wonders why they have to have two rounds, instead of chosing electors who can make an informed choice of there would be a tie from the beginning. I wonder why they have to have any election at all. Many countries do without, like Sweden and Japan. We have hereditary monarchs instead. A hereditary monarchy gives much more stability to a country. Look at Japan, where the same line of Emperors have ruled for millenia. Look at the United Kingdom, whose Queen have ruled for sixty years tomorrow. The United Kingdom is the country where modern dog breeding and dog shows were invented, so they must be clever there. I believe Finland would also be better of with a monarch.

Beautiful Weather

It was a beautiful day today. The Sun was shining from a blue sky, sunlight reflecting in the snow. Too bad it was cold outside. Then again, beautiful winter days are normally very cold. This is just one of all the things in life when one great thing is accompanied by one not so great. I enjoyed this Saturday anyway.

Tragic Irony

At least 37 humans have been killed at a peace meeting in South Sudan. The aim of the meeting was to end recent violence, officials said. How ironic to be shot dead at a peace meeting. I hope no dogs were killed, hurt, or left without their humans.

A Date of Importance

This day one thousand and fifty years ago, Otto I became the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. By that time, the Empire of Japan had, of course, existed for many centuries. The Holy Roman Empire played an important part in European history, but ceased to exist in 1806. The Empire of Japan still exists.

Of course, the Japanese have always had Shibas to aide them.

Longing for a Pup Cannot Be Wrong

In one of Sweden's largest tabloid papers, the politician in charge of health care in Stockholm County (with about 2 million inhabitants) Filippa Reinfeldt is critizised because she expresses her interest in getting a puppy dog. I do not agree with this critizism, not at all. Longing for a pup can never be wrong.