Disappointed Again

The weekend is here tomorrow, and since it is summer, there is a dog show. paula will go there with some dogs, while Daniel stays at home with the rest of us. I will not get to go this time either. I am really disappointed.

Birthdays!

Mum is celebrating her 14th birthday today. This is an awesome age. We celebrate with her.

My pups of the Aangenaam F litter celebrate their second birthday today. These are my daughters Anzu and Fumi and my son Zeus. I salute them as well.

Birthdays are great. I cannot think of any reason to celebrate that is a bad reason, but birthdays are really good reasons.

Lethal Beaver

You may think you know what animals are dangerous to humans, but did you know beavers should be on that list? A man in Belarus has recently died from the wounds a beaver inflicted upon him. The beaver population of Belarus is growing and they are said to be a growing threat to humans, as they come closer to human settlements.

Perhaps they could use some more wolves, making the number of beavers smaller?

Cake

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Daniel had a piece of birthday cake left this evening. I was lucky enough to get to help him finish it. Cake is always tasty. Not meat tasty, but still very tasty. It made this evening better than average.

80-year-old Human Climbs Mount Everest

Age is no limit in the Japanese society. Old people are revered, and Japanese people often get old - just like the Japanese dog breed Shiba Inu, that I am of.

One Japanese man, Yuichiro Miura, has just recently climbed to the top of the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest, at age 80. It makes him the oldest human ever to climb this mountain top. This is the third time he reached the summit. Who said you would have to take it easy at an old age?

There is a Nepalese man who is 81 years old, and who held the last record after climbing this mountain top at the age of 76. He now plans to climb it again. Well, if he makes it, who knows for how long he will keep the record again?

Another Victory Yesterday

Without repeating what I wrote yesterday about dog show victories, I have to tell you that Kenny also was victorious. Kenny is the father of two of my litters, among our common pups are Karstuhl and Anzu. He resides in Spain now, and at a dog show there yesterday, he won his final Spanish CAC, becoming Spanish Champion, and was also Best of Breed. It is hard to become a Spanish Champion, there are higher requirements than for many other champion titles. This also makes this a greater accomplishment than most champion titles. Karstuhl and I sends our congratulations to Kenny.

Success for Anzu!

My dear daughter Anzu, who lives in Norway, was successful at a dog show today. The show was held in Bergen, where there is a large Shiba population - Anzu is one of many. She won CAC and Best of Breed. That's my girl!

It shall also be noted that Tarou won a CAC and CACIB at the show where he, Gunde, and Kicki was with Paula and Daniel here in Sweden. Kicki then won the same and BOB, while Tarou won BOS.

Anzu's victory may be the most important for our kennel today, because she has our kennel prefix Aangenaam in her name.

Feeling Grumpy

Early morning tomorrow. Some of us are going to a dog show. I love dog shows, but I will not be allowed to go. Small wonder, then, that I am feeling grumpy this evening.

Birthday

We are celebrating Daniel on his birthday today. He got money for a new lawn mower, a new suit, shirt, and tie. All of it got his huge approval.  He also gave us some extra treat, which got our approval.

Paula worked late tonight, so we will celebrate more tomorrow.

Happy birthday, Daniel!

Logging in

Sometimes, I have problem logging in to my blog. The Blogger page, where I have my blog, claims that I would already be logged in under a different identity. i have now discovered why. When Daniel logs in to his Youtube account, he gets logged in to Blogger as well, despite not having a Blogger account with the same user identity. I do not know why this is, but we can do something about it. I have, thus, now told Daniel always to log out from Youtube, when he has been using that site. I hope he will follow my advice, it would make my life a little easier.

Tigers Lack Genetic Diversity

The wild tigers of India lack genetic diversity. They are also divided into small populations isolated in different part of the huge country. This poses a huge risk for the long time survival of the species.

I believe dog breeders could help. Many experienced dog breeders have made tremendous efforts to preserve and bring small dog breeds back to viable populations. The experience and knowledge of these dog breeders should be able to help not only the tiger, but many endangered species. I hope biologists realise this.

Macaronies

I had had food, but when Paula offered me some macaronies, who am I to turn them down? That would be rude, wouldn't it? Consequently, I had some macaronies as a later supper tonight.macaronies are tasty. If there would also have been meatballs, it would have been perfect, but I have no reason to complain.

Gold!

Yes! Sweden won the gold in the ice hockey world championship.

One has to congratulate the Swiss as well. Given the normal status of the Swiss national team, it is a greater effort of them to win silver than it is of the Swedes to win gold.

The USA Won Bronze

Mum is happier today. The USA, her home country, beat Finland and won bronze in the ice hockey world championship. Congratulations, Mum!

The game was tied after full time, and it went on to be determined on penalties. Thus, Finland did not do a bad game, but either of the team has to win. This time it was the USA that was a little better in the penalty shootout.

Now we hope that Sweden will beat Switzerland and win gold. If this happens, it will be the first time since 1986 that a country hosting the championship also wins the whole tournament.

Mum Was Disappointed

Mum was disappointed yesterday.

We were up late to watch the Eurovision Song Contest, and it was not over until midnight. This is why I had no time to write any blog entry yesterday.

Mum was disappointed for two reasons.

First, her home country America lost to Switzerland in one of the semi final games of the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. Sweden won the other earlier yesterday, and we had all hoped for a decisive gold medal game between Sweden and the USA. This will not happen. The USA have to fight Finland to get bronze.

Second, Mum's official name, beside her many dog show titles and kennel prefix, is Total Eclips of the HRT. This name is from a hit song by British singer Bonnie Tyler. In the Eurovision Song Contest yesterday, Bonnie Tyler sang for the UK, and Mum was naturally hoping that the woman behind her own name would win the competition. However, Bonnie Tyler did not do very well, despite having a great song. She ended up far away from victory. I guess Paula was right, saying that Bonnie Tyler's song was not modern enough. The contestants are surely mostly competing about the votes of young people, so the song needs to feel modern.

We hope for American bronze and Swedish gold today.

Barbecue

We took the grill out of the winter storage today and had a barbecue. Mia and her boyfriend Stefan came by and it was a noce evening. I got two pieced of chicken filet. More evenings could be like this.

Semi Finals

It could not have been a better result in the quarter finals of the Ice Hockey World Championship. Mum's home country America beat Russia 8-3. Switzerland continued its winning streak by beating the Czechs. Our neighbour Finland beat Slovakia. Then, in the last quarter final, Sweden beat Canada.

The USA will play Switzerland in one of the semi finals. This is good, because it means that either of these countries will be in the final. For as long as the current format of the tournament has been played, with a true final game, neither the USA, nor Switzerland, has reached that game. The USA last won a bronze in the 2004 championship, and before that in 1996, while Switzerland has not won any medal since 1953, when they won bronze.

Most of us hope that Sweden will win the gold, but Mum has her hope up for America. That would also be nice. America has not won the World Championship since 1960, when it was the same tournament as the Olympics, and has not won the separate World Championship since 1933. By comparison, there was a short time since Sweden's latest gold in 2006 or time without a gold between 1962 and 1987.

Go, Sweden!

No Competitions Today

The first semi final in the European Song Contest was yesterday, the second is tomorrow. The final is Saturday.

The groups in the Ice Hockey World Championship were finished yesterday, the quarter finals are played tomorrow.

There are never dog shows in the middle of the week, neither Formula 1 races.

All in all, among all of the competitions going on, nothing really happened today, that I am aware of. Some days seems a little more dull than others. This was one of them. It will be better tomorrow.

Best Best in Show?

Hello, Peanut here!

As has previously been reported in this blog, Gunde became Best in Show this weekend.

I asked my mother which was best: Gunde's BIS at a specialty, where there are judges specialised in the breed, but not many other breeds to compete against in the finals; or Haileys BIS at an international all breed show, but in puppy class? If I would have asked Hailey, she would have held her title in higher regard, of course. Gunde would have said his title was the best. This is just like my mother said that no matter what, her own World Winner title was better than either BIS.

Well, my mother could not give me a straight answer. She mentioned all of the pros and cons that I told you above, but when I pushed her, she said a title for an adult dog must be a little better.

I wonder if I get away with writing this in Hailey's blog.

Unfit for Survival?

There are species of animals that are very endangered, so much so that they are really on the edge of becoming extinct. One such species is the sweet water fish Mangarahara cichlid from a river in Madagascar. It is believed to be extinct in the wild, due to dams constructed by humans, making their natural habitats dry. Three fishes are known to be alive, all of them males. Female fishes of this species are therefore sought after. The hope is that some private fish collectors have at least one female, which might be the basis of reconstructing the species.

There are, however, dangers. The last known female to be alive was put together with the male living in a zoo in Germany, but instead of mating with her, he killed her. I figure this may show that not all species are fit for survival. Sure, it might have been this particular male that was mentally ill, but if one of only a handful of individuals remaining of a species is crazy, how can you reconstruct the species without keeping that mental illness in the genetic lines?

I say this fish species looks unfit for survival, so maybe it should not survive. I hope I am wrong, though. It would be a happier ending of the story, if the species is reconstructed.

Norwegian Specialty

Paula is with some of us dogs in Norway, for the Norwegian Akita Inu specialty dog show. Unfortunately, I did not get to come this time.

Today, our friends won a lot. Gunde (a.k.a. Kokuhou, who was father of my latest litter) won Best of Breed and then also Best in Show against dogs of other Japanese spitz breeds. Gunde also won a Norwegian CAC and thus became Norwegian Champion. On top of this, April's son Javier won Best of opposite Sex Puppy.

From home in Sweden, we send our greetings and congratulate our friends. I would have wanted to be there myself. Some say, however, you cannot go to every show there is. I would want to disagree. It is so much fun to go into the show ring, not only when you win.

Alleged Attack

In news from California, four animals claimed by some to have been Pit Bull Terriers, have been said to be responsible for the attack upon and death of a 63 old lady who was out jogging in Los Angeles County. The animals were not in the company of any human, and the last one to leave the woman is said to have run of into the desert. The woman died from her wounds on her way to hospital.

There is nothing in the news article saying what caused the fight between the animals and the woman. Nobody can say for sure that the animals were Pit Bull Terriers, or even dogs, since they are all gone. What we have are the stories by witnesses, such as a police deputy that was on the site, firing at the last animal to leave the place of the fight. No witness can say that the animals had collars or humans around.

Dogs do not normally attack humans. Indeed, I would say there is a higher probability for a human of being viciously attacked by another human than by a dog. Dogs who have humans around are brought up to trust and love humans.

Remember, everybody must be considered innocent until proven guilty. We do not even have proof the woman was attacked by dogs. If she was, there is still nothing in this story saying why she might have been attacked. I would not rule out the possibility that she was violent first, whereupon the animals acted in self defence. The woman's death will be investigated by the coroner, it will be interesting to hear what the result of that investigation might be.

Dog Age Calculation

A human scientist has made investigations into the aging of dogs. This is really interesting.

The common knowledge is that one dog year is equivalent to seven human years. While this is actually a rather good rule of thumb, it is not completely true. The ageing differs between different breeds, and as no other known animal differ so much in sizes as dogs do, this calls for different calculations for different breeds.

I will not waste my time repeating what this scientist has come up with, but recommend that you read this article about the findings.

There is but one thing I do not believe in this article. It says that dogs have been around humans for 15,000 years. As far as I have read many times before, the correct age for the dog-human bond is actually about 40,000 years. We dogs are an inseparable part of civilisation.

Raising Glasses

Today was anorher spring holiday. Thus, Daniel did not go to work, despite it being Thursday. The thing that is celebrated is the ascension of Christ into Heaven. I guess a good thing to do for this celebration was to raise the glasses up in the air, like humans often do when fhey have alcoholic beverages to celebrate. A toast for Christ!

Sweden v. Norway

The annual ice hockey world championship is on. Tonight, Sweden played Norway. Generally, Sweden has a much better national ice hockey team than Norway, thus, it was no surprise that the Swedes played much better than the Norwegians. I am quite pleased with the result: 5-1 in Sweden's favour. My late Dad, who was born in Norway, always hoped that Norway would win in sports. He would not have been happy. As I am born and raised in Sweden, Swedwn is always my facourite. I hope Sweden will go on to win the gold.

Birthday

Today was Daniel's mother's birthday. They live in different cities, but talked over the phone for more than an hour this evening. I like that. One should be nice to one's mother. I am, and my daughter Karstuhl is.

Food

Sometimes, I wish life would be a little more exciting, so supper time would not necessarily be the best time of the day. On the other hand, food is a great thing. Does life really have to be better than a nice meal? I really do not think so.

Mia

Paula and Daniel went to Stockholm today, to visit Daniel's family. In the meantime, Paula's sister, our dear friend Mia, came by and took us out for a while in the middle of the day. It was nice seeing her, as it always is. We also made a new friend, Mia's friend Johan. He was a great guy. I hope to see both of them again soon.

35 or 5

One human year is roughly equivalent to seven dog years. This means that dogs are only really concerned with human birthdays, if they turn a year which can be evenly divided by seven. Today, Mia turned 35, or five dog years. This is worth celebrating. Happy birthday, Mia!

Bumble Bee

We had an unwelcomed guest in our house tonight: a bumble bee. I do not like flying insects, especially not when they can sting you. I tried to warn Paula and Daniel, but they just told me to go back to sleep. If you want a watch dog, what good am I, if you do not act when I try to wake you up and warn you for a potential danger. A sting of a bumble bee is definitely no small thing.

In the morning, Daniel saw the bumble bee, as it tried to fly out of the house through a closed window. Insects do not see glass and do not learn from their mistakes when they bounce off the glass time and time again. They are stupid animals. This is, of course, one of the reasons I do not trust them.

Daniel opened the window and let the bumble bee out. So far so good, though I would rather have seen it punished for disturbing our sleep. On the other hand, a stupid animal like a bumble bee would not learn anything from such a punishment, so maybe just letting it out was just the best thing to do. It is not necessary to kill it, if you can let it out easily.

1st of May

Yesterday was a holiday in Sweden. I am not sure why it is. Nevertheless, the leftish political parties usually use the day to demonstrate. I do not care much. Red for me, is the colour of red Shiba Inus, or the colour of the sun in the flag of Japan.