Some Even Smaller

Hello, Peanut here! I have grown accustomed to my little brothers Javier and Jackpot, and their size. Now I have met even smaller pups. Polly got pups about six weeks ago, and they have started to be introduced to the rest of us dogs. They are so small, I am not really allowed to play with them, but very cute. I like them already.

Disturbing the Neighbours

Hello, Karstuhl here! The other night, Daniel was vacuuming really late. This morning, he was vacuuming really early. As is the case with all vacuum cleaners, ours is noisy. I asked Daniel if he was not afraid he would disturb our neighbours. He said he was not, since we live in a detatched house quite a bit away from the nearest neighbours. I then asked, what about the gnomes who live above the ceiling. Daniel was not concerned that he would get complaints from them, though, because they pay no rent to him as owner of the house anyway. This makes sense, I believe, so I said this settled the matter.

Succession

I like it when assets are inherited within the family. It is a natural way of succession, common with dogs and wolves as well as humans. Wolves often inherit their parents' territory, the alpha bitch status being succeeded from mother to daughter. It is the same with dogs who live together. Among humans, ownership of items and land, names, the throne of kingdoms, and also the ownership of companies are inherited by the children of the previous holder. Such will certainly now be the case of the Williams formula 1 team, where team principal and founder Sir Frank Williams has named his daughter Claire Williams deputy team principal and future successor to the position as team principal. The Williams team has a great heritage, I hope it also has a great future.

Easter

It is Easter. This is one of my favourite annual holidays, because it involves eating a lot of Candy. Sure, there is the torment of Jesus, resurection, and saving of mankind, but this does not have so much to Do with dogs. God saves dogs anyway. Candy is, however, always a Good way to commemorate the saving of our humans.

Food for Pups

Hello, Karstuhl here! I still have to help my pups to finish their meals of food. This was especially tasty today, when they got minced meat. I guess this will not last for long, they already eat much better now than when they started to get food a week ago. I have to take advantage of the situation while it lasts. You may believe Shiba mothers are bad mothers, stealing food from their pups. This is far from true. Taking food from my pups will make them learn the valuable lesson that food needs to be protected and eaten fast, lest someone else take it. This is something that will serve them well throughout life.

Paula Is Home!

Paula is home. I cannot write more, have to catch up with her.

Is It True?

The latest news is that Paula will come home permanently tomorrow. We have had long discussions on whether this will turn out to be true. There has been so many bids before on when Paula will come home, that has eventually been proved false. We all hope the news about tomorrow is true, but how can we be sure yet? We will have to see tomorrow.

Concern for Japan

I am deeply concerned, when I read about the Shiba home country Japan these days.

For the eighth month in a row, Japan has a trade deficit. Japan is a country dependent on its exports, more than many other countries, so a trade deficit is worse for Japan than for many other countries.

Then there is the disturbing fact that Japan may very well be the worst developed country in which to become a mother. By this I mean human mother, dog mothers that I know of has a good life. Since Japan is not a good country in which to be a mother and also working, the result is that many Japanese women do not get children, or do get children, but stop working. In the long run, this is bad for the Japanese economy, because educated women do not use their education and because the population will shrink.

I hope things will get better for Japan.

Getting Better

Paula is getting better. Kokuhou and I got to go and see her for dinner tonight at her parents' house. It was a very nice evening. I am just disappointed that it ended so quickly. I want Paula to regain all of her health and move back home soon. It actually seems like she will be able to in just a few days. We just have to hope so. Celebrating Easter would not be the same without Paula, no matter how much Easter candy we would have.

0-0

We were very disappointed with the World Cup qualifyer result last night. Sweden is supposed to have a better national team than Ireland, but did not score a single goal. It is a poor comfort then, that Ireland did not score any goal either. Sweden needs to win these games. Our team did four goals on Germany this autumn, why was it so hard to score any goal on Ireland? The Swedes got to learn how to push and how to make the game their own. It should not be that hard to football professionals.

World Cup Qualifyer

Sweden is playing Ireland in the FIFA football World Cup qualification tonight.

Ireland has had a special place in my heart, ever since an Irish judge gave me my Best in Show Puppy victory at an international dog show. Still, it is definitely not enough tonight. I hope Team Sweden crushes the Irish team.

Cold War

Hello, Peanut here!

We have a long winter this year, or so they tell me, who have been around before. I turned one year old just a couple of days ago, so I would not know.

Daniel told me he remembered many winters when he was younger, in the 1980's, that continued well into the month of April. We are still just in March. I had heard before that there was something called "cold war" during the 1980's, but Daniel explained that this term had nothing to do with the long winters. A cold war is a period of tension between different countries, that still do not turn into a fully fledged war. Thus, we cannot say we have a cold war during this long winter, even though we feel like we are battling the cold weather every day.

Home Again!

Paula came home again this afternoon, and stayed for a bit longer, a couple of hours. It is so nice to see her and she is definitely getting better. It cannot be many days before she can move home again. We are waiting for it, patiently but eagerly.

Japanese Architect Wins Prize

The Japanese architect Toyo Ito has won a prestigious annual prize for architects, the Pritzker Architecture Prize. I do not know much about architecture, but I know Japanese people can be very good at what they do, so I am not surprised. Toyo Ito is the architect behind buildings in many countries of the world, not just in Japan.

Jealous of Linni

Today, we are all a little jealous of Auntie Linni, because she got to go with Daniel to visit Paula. They were at Paula's sister Mia's place this evening, then Paula went back to the hospital.

Paula is making progress. This is good. We wish her quick recovery, but most of all, we wish her full and lasting recovery.

Coming Home

Paula came home today, for the first time in one and a half week. She was just here for about an hour, but we did enjoy that quality time. Now she is back at the human hospital. If I am correctly informed, the veterinarians are not really sure what is wrong with her stomach, that causes her constant pain. (I know humans do not call veterinarians who concentrate in the care of humans veterinarians, but I cannot see the difference between them and other veterinarians, so I call them veterinarians anyway.) Just being able to come home for a little while is a sign of progress, and it meant a lot to all of us dogs. We love Paula dearly, but it is hard to give her all the love that she deserves, when we are not by her side. Hopefully, she will come home in just a few days.

By the way, we did not get up in the middle of the night to watch the Formula 1 qualification, but we did get up early in the morning and watched the race. It was exciting.

New Season

The new Formula 1 season is here, with the Australian Grand Prix. Qualifying was meant to be today, but heavy rain postponed it until Sunday morning, local time. This will be in the middle of the night, European time. We are not sure we will watch it at that time, though we are curious about the new cars, new drivers etc. Perhaps we will sleep through the qualifying and just see the race early tomorrow morning, Swedish time. It will be nice, anyway.

Four Weeks

Hello, Karstuhl here! My pups turned four weeks old today. They celebrated with their first taste of real food, in their case minced meat. They did not eat it all, so I had to step in and finish it. It will not be like this forever, they will soon be true to their Shiba heritage and eat all the minced meat they can get. I enjoy what they leave behind until then.

Pi Day

Today is the unofficial, international Pi day. It is called the Pi day to celebrate the irrational constant that   starts with 3.14 and denotes the relationship between a radius and a circumference of a circle in a level plane. Today is day 14 of the third month of the year, which is suitable for a day celebrating the approximate value 3.14. I do not think I really understand the value of this mathematical constant, not even all adult humans do, but as long as you have something to celebrate, I am happy. Celebrations are always great.

A New Pope, Does He Love Dogs?

The biggest church of the world, the Roman Catholic church with over a billion members, have gotten a new Head today. The Archbishop of Buenos Aires in Argentina, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, has been elected new Pope. He will take the name Francis I as pope.

This is the first pope ever from the Americas, and he is the first person who is a member of the Jesuit Order to become pope.

We have to see what changes may happen in the teachings of the Roman Catholic church because of the new pope. This church is known for being very conservative, so the question might be if there will be any "modernisation" of the teachings.

For my part, I am happy if Francis I is a friend of dogs. It might be that he is a person who loves animals, if you can make out anything from his name as pope. The most known Francis of Catholic history is St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of all animals, who was a great friend of animals. It remains to be seen if this is so.

It Has Been Two Years

It has been two years now, since the large earthquake and tsunami hit north-eastern Japan. More than 18,000  humans died or went missing, and I do not know how many dogs. There are still dogs out there missing their humans. Even though many dogs have gotten new humans to love, you cannot forget humans you have lived with before. The society is slowly returning to normal, but the catastrophe should never be forgotten. Quakes and tsunamis of the size that hit Japan in 2011 have hit the country before and can hit again. Preparations are needed, because you can never know when another quake or tsunami will strike. I sure hope enough people take this responsibility seriously. They are Japanese, so most of them should, but you never know about everyone.

Caring of Sick Children

There is a programme on the radio where humans debate that they sometimes have to be home from work to care for their children. What a luxurious problem. When can anybody do the same with a sick puppy?

Vote for Bonnie Tyler!

We were a little disappointed yesterday, when Yohio did not win the Swedish qualification round for the Eurovision Song Contest.

On the other hand, just before the final Swedish competition started last night, we heard the song which will compete for the United Kingdom this year, sung by Bonnie Tyler, Believe in Me. It is great. This means that while we have no feelings for the song which will represent Sweden, we can go all in to support the UK song.

Bonnie Tyler is, of course, the great singer behind songs like It's a Heartache and the unequalled Total Eclipse of the Heart. Her unique voice is still the same. One of the people talking about her Eurovision song yesterday night said this song was: "of course no Total Eclipse of the Heart, but it is very good". We could not agree more. It is self evident that no song can ever be better than the song which lent its name to my Mum, Ch Taichung Total Eclips of the HRT. Still, it is a great song and when it is time to vote in the Eurovision Song Contest, we know who we will vote for: Bonnie Tyler, Believe in Me.

Bonnie Tyler, we believe in you!

Swedish Song Contest

Today is the final game of the Swedish qualification round to the Eurovision Song Contest later this year.

If I must name a favourite, it would be Yohio, because he knows Japanese. This is, of course, the language of the home country of my dog breed.

On the other hand, I do not think any song is very good. If there would ever be a song about a dog or about the love for a dog, or anything like that, which I could relate to, I believe I would vote for it. Not now. While there are countless human songs about love, most are just about the love between man and woman, even though dogs have lived with, loved, and been loved by, humans for at least 40 000 years. Is there no songwriter who can turn all of this love into a winning song?

Waiting

Hello, Peanut here!

This will be the third night in a row when Paula is not at home. She is at the human hospital.

It is not that Paula is seriously ill, she will get well, it has just taken a few more days than expected. We miss her. The main thing is, however, that she makes a full recovery. We are all thinking about her, wishing her all the best. Meanwhile, we watch the house and take care of things at home.

Needs

Hello, Karstuhl here!

I have my litter box and my pups in our bathroom. It is a good place to be with pups, because the rest of the dogs stay out. It has become clear to me, though, when living in the bathroom, that housebroken humans do not do their needs outside, like dogs do. Instead, they do it in this funny, white chair filled with water. They call it a toilet. When they have done what they needed to do, they press a button on top of the chair and fresh water flushes the wastes away. I think this is a little weird, but that is just me.

Beware of Adopted Stray Dogs

While I have compasion for every dog in the world, it is important that you know what you are doing, when trying to help stray dogs abroad. Adopting them to Sweden may cause the spread of diseases and parasites here, which have never been in Sweden before. It is better to help the stray dogs on site in the foreign countries. If you want to import a dog, import it from a registered breeder with an FCI kennel name, this is much safer.

Mercury Map

A NASA spacecraft has made the first complete map of the planet Mercury. While this is nice, I do not think humans and dogs will ever settle on that planet. If we are to conquer outer space, the Moon is a good start, and then we move outward from the Sun. (I have always had a certain thing for the Moon, since my official name is Lunar Eclips.)

Ivory

Are the Japanese interested in buying ivory? You might think so, when reading that the Internet search engine Google is targeting its Japanese pages with advertisements for ivory. I would have thought most Japanese people would not want to buy things that you can only get from endangered animals, like elephants. Nevertheless, I hope Google withdraws the advertisements. Just like the wolves in Sweden, the elephants of the world deserve to survive. If they will have a chance to do that, you should not buy ivory or anything else made out of elephants. It is uncalled for, especially as wood, plastic, or metal always works just as well, or better.

Warm and Cold

While the weather over the last few days has been warm for the season, making the snow start to melt, Daniel has gotten a cold. He is thus freezing more than when the weather was really cold earlier this winter. Isn't this ironic? I feel sorry for him, though.

The Others

Hello, Karstuhl here!

These days, I spend most of my time with my tiny pups. They are so cute. Once in a while, I go out and meet the other dogs, though. Life goes on in its regular fashion outside the litter box, but there is nothing much to say about it. Anything that happens is of minor consequence, compared to my cute pups. This is as it should be for all puppy mothers, of course, it is just that my pups must be the cutest pups ever, so it is more true than ever now. How lucky I am!

In Two Weeks

In two weeks time, the Formula 1 season will start. Formula 1 is Daniel's favourite sport, so he watches the races whenever he can on TV. This makes for nice times, when we dogs sit with him in the sofa.

There were pre-season testing of the new cars this week, ending today. Mercedes looks good, ahead of Ferrari. As far as I can understand, you cannot put too much faith in these test results. The cars are not finished until the season starts, and there may be upgrades on them as the season goes along. Still, it does give you an indication on where the season may head. It might be a very level playfield this year. I hope so, it makes for interesting races. Not to be rude to the champion of the last three seasons, Sebastian Vettel, but I do hope somebody else will be champion this year. Not that I wish Vettel any really bad luck, such as an accident, but it would be more interesting if the top races would be others than Vettel.

Dog Saving a Human Girl's Life

In Poland, a three-year-old girl's life was saved by a dog. She went missing from her home over night in freezing temperatures. The girl was found, however, having spent the night outdoors but with a dog lying next to her, keeping her warm. One of the fire fighters who found the girl in the morning said the dog kept the girl warm enough to survive.

This is just one out of countless examples of how important dogs are to humans.