Superstitious Behaviour

Tonight is yet another night when people are firing crackers. They scare some dogs. The original purpose was to scare demons etc, keeping them away. Modern science say demons do not exist, and most people do not believe in demons.  suppose many people who fire crackers also do not believe in demons. I guess they must be very afraid of us dogs, then, wanting to keep us on a distance. Either that, or they are just stupid.

Cookies for the Visitors

Hello, Karstuhl here!

We had visitors today, a human family who will be the family of one of the pups who live with us at present. They were really friendly and nice people. Sometimes, I would like to be treated a little more like humans, though, because they had cookies to eat. It is not that I am envious, but cookies are always a treat.

Best of Breed

My dear daughter Anzu became best of breed at a dog show today. She also won CC. This was at a dog show in Norway. Anzu is the one who has moved to Dad's country of birth, Norway, so this was her home turf. Anzu is not yet one year old, still she beat every other Shiba in the show. This is great!

A Puppy and a Cactus

A lone puppy has been found in the USA, covered with spines from a cactus. He has now been freed from the spines and lives in a shelter, but is up for adoption. It seems the bad luck of the cactus encounter has turned, and he needs some more luck now. Whether he had humans already who could claim him, or he will be adopted by new humans, I wish him the best of luck.

Guide Dog Day

Today is the International Guide Dog Day. Guide dogs are important for many humans with disabilities. Another good thing about them is that they give humans, as a whole, a more positive view on dogs. I do not think that we should have to have ambassadors like this in order to be liked, but we do have to, and we have them, and this is good. Cheers for all the guide dogs out there!

Rascals

Hello, Karstuhl here!

April's pups, Peanut and Botan, are small rascals with tonnes of energy. All they do, it seems, are running around disturbing everything in their path, except for when they suddenly fall asleep. Mommy says that I was just as bad when I was their age, but I do not believe I was. Peanut and Botan must be much worse. I would tell them off more often, if I was their mother. Perhaps it is just as well I am not, I would have a lot to do if I was.

New Blog Layout

My blog provider has updated the way in which I, as a blog writer, can see what I write and what tools are available for me. It does not look like I am used to, but I guess I will get used to it, eventually. It does not seem to be worse than the last one, once I am used to it, I might think it is much better. We will have to see.

World Book Day

Apparently, it is the World Book Day today. The book, as such, is being celebrated. I have considered writing a book. However, I believe that the length of books does not fit my writing skill. Writing blog entries fits me much better. Perhaps I could one day publish my blog as a book. It might be fun, but I am not so sure I would get many readers. The amount of readers is of lesser concern when writing a blog with a free blog provider, as I do. I mainly write because I like to, myself. I do hope my readers enjoy reading my blog, but I would write it anyway.

Bad Things About Summer

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Summer is coming closer. Some bad things are coming with summer. I had the first tick of the season removed today. Ticks do not deserve to live, they do not fulfill any good purpose whatsoever, that I can think of. I wish there was a form of pollution that killed all the ticks, but left the rest of nature as it is. I guess that is hoping for too much.

New Guest Writer

I have invited another member of our pack who will, from time to time, be a guest writer in my blog. My daughter Polly writes entries rather often. The new writer is April's daughter Peanut, still just five weeks old. She wrote her first entry the day before yesterday.

Polly agreed with me that it would be nice to invite Peanut to write the odd blog entry. Not that I need Polly's agreement, this blog is mine alone, to do with what I please, but it is good to know that Polly agree with me anyway.

Peanut is a red Shiba, unlike Polly and I, who are black and tan. I do not believe this makes any difference, it is just a fun piece of trivia, given that most Shibas around the world are red.

RIP

Gullie Nelvin

11 April 1920 - 25 March 2012

Paula's grandmother

Lover of Shiba pups

Our friend

Laid to rest today.

First Try

Hello, this is Peanut!

I am the new girl in the house, discovering the world with my brother Botan. We will be five weeks tomorrow. I was offered to be a guest star in Auntie Hailey's blog. This is my first try at a blog entry. We will see if there will be more.

Vom

Hello, Karstuhl here!

I note that I am not the youngest, cutest around anymore. There are pups in the house. The older litter got to eat Vom, a very tasty meat dog food. None of the rest of us got to taste any, except for April, who is the mother of that litter. It makes me feel a bit jealous that I am not the preferred youngster for treats like Vom. Sure, I am grown up and strong enough not to need it, but that is a little beside the point in my mind. I would like to be the preferred one. Then again, so does Granny!

World's Tallest Free Standing Tower

The BBC reports from the World's tallest free standing tower, earthquake safe. It is built in the centre of Tokyo, where else? The Japanese never let you down, they are always making everything spectacular. I am so proud over my Japanese heritage.

Chicken Burgers

We tried something new today: hamburgers made of minced chicken meat. It was quite good. We have already decided that we will have this meal more times.

Dog Friendly Restaurants

In Finland, you can visit restaurants, even if you are a dog. Since the start of this year, the law gives the restaurant owners the right to decide their own policy on allowing dogs. I believe this is just as it should be. Many humans want to bring their dogs to restaurants, and why should they not be allowed to do so, if the restaurant owner believes this is all right? If there are other humans who are allergic or affraid of dogs, there are other restaurants to visit.

Funeral

Paula and Daniel visited my sister Suri today. The reason was sad: one of Suri's humans passed away some time ago and her funeral was today. We feel so sorry for Suri and her other human.

Bad Behaviour

A toy poodle was attacked last Sunday at Riseberga not far from us. The attackers were two large brown dogs running freely. The toy poodle got lose and fled into the woods, while the brown dogs' owner appeared. He promised to wait until the toy poodle was found again, to see whether she was hurt, but when the toy poodle's humans had found her and came back, he was gone.

Humans have a large responisibility for the damages caused by their dogs. This human, who disappeared, made two large faults. He let the dogs run freely, while they showed they could not be trusted with that freedom, and he disappeared without standing the consequences. This is bad behaviour. I am really sorry for the toy poodle who was attacked. Things like this give bad publicity to all dogs.

In the Barn

We have a barn next to our house, where we store things that we seldom use and often have no place for indoors. Daniel went out there to find his dress coat this evening, and Polly and I accompanied him. I thought it was best that he would have our help finding the dress coat. He has talked for weeks about going out to the barn to find it, but has never done it, so I figured he was very uncertain as to where it really was. Then, lo and behold, he went straight to one of the boxes in the barn, opened it, and stretched down, producing first the dress coat and then the matching trousers. We did not have to stay in the barn for long, so there was little time sniffing around for more exciting things. There may be time for that another rainy day.

More Pups

Once again, there are the tiny voices of newly born pups in our house. It is Kiku who have had pups yesterday night. As far as I can understand, she had two red and two black and tan pups, one each of each sex. Four pups is quite a large litter for a Shiba Inu. I have never had more than three. I do not believe, though, in the rumour that her black and tan pups are better looking than any of mine has ever been. It just has to be the other way around.

Veterans

The British Government kills dogs who have served with the Armed Forces. They claim it is too hard to make them pets, or that they are too old anyway.

I am so sad to read about this. It is horrible! Dogs who have served for their government, and this is the thanks that they get? What if the same would be done with human veterans? Nobody would accept that, would they?

Wolves' Return to Washington

Today, I read this interesting article about wolves in North America. The main story is about a group of wolves who wandered south from British Columbia, Canada, recolonising Washington State in the USA. This was the first time in seventy years that wolves settled in my Mum's home state in America. No human reintroduced them there, they did this themselves. The article will also tell you a lot about how wolves live and how they communicate with each other. We are a well developed species.

Visitor

Paula's sister Mia is here this evening. She will stay the night. This is fun, I like Mia.

Easter

Hello, Karstuhl here!

It is Easter, which is the time of the year when Swedes buy and consume the most candy. I like that. I hope we have a huge Easter celebration, that is, with a lot of candy.

This is not to say that I do not care about the serious religious aspect of Easter. On the contrary, the message of Easter Day, when Christ defeated death, is well worth celebrating. It is just that I believe that a lot of candy is just the right way to celebrate Easter.

Typhoon

We have had a couple of cold days and nights in Sweden, with temperatures well below the freezing point. It has been sunny and beautiful days, though. When compared to others, we should not complain. Japan has been hit by a typhoon, resulting in four dead humans and several others injured.

As usual, there are no reports on what has happened to any dogs. I do hope all dogs have made it, not least all of our Shiba Inu relatives who live in Japan. It must be tough getting your normal dog walks when a typhoon is controlling the weather.

Pig's Ears

We watched this cooking show on TV, where they cooked pig's ears. Paula said it was disgusting to cook these as food for humans. I agree, such fine cuisine should only be given to dogs.

April's Fool

My dear daughter Polly was a little angry with me for writing about her younger sister Anzu's name day yesterday. This was until she realized it was an April's fool joke, at which time she got even angrier. It did not last, though. After a while, she actually thought it was rather funny. This is good, than I have made something right. You know, they do not have name days in Japan. Name Days is a Christian tradition.

Name Days

There is a widespread tradition throughout many parts of the world to celebrate name days. Originally, name days were days celebrating saints of various names on certain dates. This also meant that humans - and dogs - who held these names could be celebrated on the name days. In recent year, the trend towards a more secular society have stripped name days of most of its Christian meaning, but they are still commemorated.

It has annoyed me for a long time that most of the dogs of our family have given names that do not correspond to any name day in the Swedish calendar. However, there are Japanese name days too, which suits Shiba Inus and any dog with a Japanese given name. My daughter Anzu's given name is of Japanese origin, meaning apricot. I have learned today that Anzu has her name day today, on the 1st of April, by the Japanese calendar! Congratulations, dear Anzu!