No More Japanese Whale Hunts

Japan will stop hunting whales in the waters off Antarctica. The country will obey a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), delivered today. The decision followed a suit by Australia, challenging the claim by Japan that the hunts were just for scientific purposes. It has been shown that Australia was right, Japan was wrong.

Well, even though I love Japan as a kind of second homeland, as the homeland of my dog breed, I would never defend anything Japan does. If the hunting of whales affects endangered species, which is apparently does, the judgment of the ICJ was correct. Hunting is good, in it self, but if hunting is making certain species of animals endangered, that kind of hunting is bad. We have to preserve species for the future.

Poodle News

Paula and Daniel subscribe to the Poodle News magazine from the Swedish Poodle Club. This is a thicker, more glamourus magazine than the magazine of the Swedish Shiba Club, Shiba-no-kai. I am a little jealous. On the other hand, the magazine of the Shiba Club has its focus on the best, most glamourus of dog breeds there is. This tilts the balance in favour of the Shiba Club's magazine, nevertheless, doesn't it?

Knighthoods

Australia has reintroduced the possibility for its citizens to become knights, in the British fashion, putting a Sir or a Dame before the first name of the knight. I think this is a good idea. Dogs have the opportunity to get a lot of titles to put in front of our names, showing that we are show champions or champions of other dog competitions, et cetera. It is only fair that humans would also have the opportunity to put additional titles to their names. Titles are cool.

Weekend Away

Paula has gone away for the weekend. She did not bring any of us dogs. The advantage of that is, I do not need to feel jealous that another dog gets to go to a dog show. I love going to dog shows, but Paula's trip this weekend was not headed for a show. While I cannot think of any better reason to go away for a weekend than to go to a dog show, there are other reasons to go. Meanwhile, all of us dogs are helping Daniel watching the house.

A Castle

Örebro Castle, a big building in the centre of our city dating back to the 14th century, is now available for rent. If anybody want office space here, you can rent it. I am not interested myself. There are to few good places to take walks around the castle. There is a little park by the castle and another small one on the north side of the river, bit it is not much compared to the surroundings where we live. Some people are bound to be interested, though. The castle is a fine building.

Another Snowfall

Hello, Orange here!

I cannot make any sense of this thing called spring. It is supposed to be ever warmer, and the winter with snow is supposed to be but a memory. Still, although we have had fine spring days, these has been intersected by days when it seems like it is still winter. This morning, snow fell again. Granted, it was temperatures well above the freezing point later in the day, so most of it melted again, but it still did not feel like spring. On the other hand, I am barely a year old, and with such limited experience of springs, who am I to question the wheather? It is, nevertheless, a fascinating world we live in.

The Pup

Hello, Orange here!

There have been talk about Polly's pup. With this pup, I am not the youngest dog around. Pup Soya is just five weeks old. I have had the opportunity to meet her now, through a fence. She is a nice acquaintance, but she is really small. Was I this small, when I was her age? Well, I guess I was. It os fascinating!

Feeling Sick

Paula is feeling a bit sick today. I wish I could help her more. Dogs are good at helping their humans feeling better, but our love and care only goes to a certain point. Beyond that, even our powers are too small. This was, obviously, such a moment for Paula. Well, she would probably feel even worse without us. We do help as much as we can.

Outdoors

Hello, Karstuhl here!

My little pup Soya has been outdoors many times today. More and more, she wants to do her stuff outside. She is a true Shiba! As you may know, Shiba pups are normally housebroken when delivered at the age of eight weeks. This is something we take pride in. Cleanliness is civilisation.

Snow Again

Hello, Orange here!

We got snow again yesterday. It was still laying on the ground today. Still, it is not a thick enough layer of snow to be fun to play in. I think I like the real winter or a warm spring day better. Eventually, summer will come, I have been told, and then there wil be another winter. The snow that fell now just feels out of place.

Evening Snack

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Soya and I got some sour milk as an evening snack. Soya enjoys the taste of it. She is still inexperienced, though, and put a front paw in the milk. Then she backed away, putting some white paw prints on the floor, before Daniel helped her cleaning the paw. She sure is cute. I got the most of the evening snack.

Spotting Owls

I went with Daniel and Fuji on an evening walk tonight, when we met a couple of women who knew Paula since childhood. They told us they had been neighbours of Paula. It is not common meeting people on our road, especially not people wothout dogs out for a walk. These two women had stopped and gotten out of their car, however, to spot an owl that we could hear. I cannot see the fascination in just spotting birds. Birds may be prey, or in the case of owls, potentially evil puppy snatchers, but other than that, I do not care for birds. We all have different interests in life, however. It was nice meeting these friends of Paula.

Deworming Soya

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Paula dewormed Soya this morning. Understandably, Soya did not like it. It certainly is not tasty, but it is necessary. I was there, making sure everything went well. It did.

Quick Progress

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Soya has learned how to climb out if the litter box. This is quick progress, I believe. She is my girl! She has also learned how to climb back into the litter box. This is also great. I had more to keep an eye on with my former litter, with two pups, but it is not easy looking after Soya either. I like it, however. It is fun to hang out with Soya.

Soya Wants to Climb Out

Hello, Karstuhl here!

It is nice having a pup. Soya is getting a personality now and it is nice to be with her. She is not yet four weeks, but she has started to discover the world outside of the litterbox. Today, she stood by the edge of the litterbox whining, wanting to climb out, but not yet big and strong enough to do so. I did not help her. It is actually not in her interest to help her get out, no matter how much she is whining. Still, it shows that she is curious about life and not content with what she has, if she sees other things. This is good. You should never just be content with what you have. My daughter Soya will do very fine in life, I am sure.

Daylight in the Mornings

It is daylight now, when we take our morning walks. I like that. It is not that I have trouble seeing in the dark, but it is easier when it is brighter, and it is a sure sign spring is here and the warm summer is coming.

It will be darker again, when humans go through this unnecessary thing of turning their clocks for daylight savings time. I guess you save daylight in the morning to use it in the evening. I cannot see the point. Humans are strange, sometimes.

Are Poisonous Snakes More Important Than Dogs?

According to a judgment by the Court of Appeals of Western Sweden (Hovrätten för Västra Sverige) on the 11 March 2014 (case number B 4635-13), a veterinarian has been sentenced to fines. His crime was that he had captured three adders, with the purpose of making new antidote to use on dogs bitten by adders.

The veterinarian held the adders in captivity for a month before letting them go again, also releasing the small adders that had been born in captivity. His purpose, thus, was that of a scientist and a veterinarian, wanting to save dogs. Capturing adders, however, are not allowed under Swedish law. It is a crime against the laws protecting certain species of animals.

In my mind, the lives, health and safety of dogs must be considered much more important than a temporary limit of the freedom of a couple of adders. The adders where not held in captivity for a long time and were returned to their natural habitat. No harm was done to them.

Dogs are part of human civilisation and veterinaran care of them is a vital interest of society. From a strictly legal point of view, I guess the sentence against the veterinarian was correct. However, I believe the law must be changed. Veterinarians must be able to work for the benefit of domestic animals in the way that this veterinarian tried to do.

Recession? I Hope Not

Exports have leveled off lately, says the Bank of Japan. It is not the Swedish exports I am talking about now, but the exports of Japan. I have never been to Japan, but as a dog of a Japanese breed, I feel that Japan is, sort of, my second home country anyway. This makes me concerned, when I read about the Japanese economy and that it is not doing very well. At least, I hope there will not be a recession. Japan has the third largest economy of the world, and it would make the whole world better, if the economy of Japan would become better. I hope it will be.

Meat

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Daniel came in to me and Soya with some minced meat today. It turned out not everything was for me, some of it was meant for Soya. I envy her, for trying meat for the very first time. She did like it, but did not eat very much. I got the major part of the meat. It was good. Life is good, when you have a pup.

Keyboard

When writing on an Ipad, the keyboard is in the screen. This is a little difficult to use for me, with my paws. Ordinary keyboards are easier, there I can use my claws, if I feel the need. The screen keyboard does not react to the touch of a claw, though. Well, I am lucky I am a rather small dog, with small paws. It can be done.

Unable To Plan Ahead

We all always get to go out late at night. Then again, sometimes, some of us will still want to go out at a later hour to do their stuff. I never need to, I can plan ahead. Tonight, again, one of the other dogs disturbed all of the rest of us, asking to go out. It is rather inconsiderate, not to foresee the needs of the night and doing something about it before it becomes urgent. Well, it is still very rare that we are disturbed in this way, which is good.

Qualification Round Without Dogs

The Swedish qualification to the Eurovision Song Contest is finished as of tonight. Sandra Nielsen won with a slow song that I cannot remember. I guess most Swedes wanted it to win, but the international jury groups was more into Ace Wilder, who ended second. I did not vote. I will never vote, unless there is a good song about a dog or dogs. I wonder why noone ever writes such a song. There are so many songs about love, but not about the love of a dog. Well, miracles may happen another year.

Nice Friday Night

I got to go with Paula and Daniel to Paula's parents tonight. I always enjoy such visits. It is different from my everyday life, yet common enough to be familiar. I love Paula's parents. Another thing that I love, is good meat, and I got some of the same kind of meat that the humans had for dinner. This was great. All in all, a great evening. If the rest of the weekend is this nice, there will not be a thing to complain about.

Technical Problems

There was something wromg with the Internet connection, I could not load the page to write in my blog. Now I can, but it is late and I feel tired. Karstuhl's pup is doing fine, Karstuhl has told me. This is the main focus right now, so when the pup is all right, everything feels fine. You do not care much about Internet connections not working properly, when the pup os doing all right.

Cutting Claws

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Paula and Daniel cut the claws of my daughter Soya tonight. At first, I was not worried at all. I trust my humans. Then Soya started to scream, and she did not stop. I figured they had cut one claw to short, so it hurt and bled, and became worried. However, everything was all right, once Soya came back down to me. Soya was not hurt at all. I was actually a bit embarrased on her behalf, pups her age normally do not scream this much just for having their claws cut. Well, I am a mother, and it is my duty to look after my pup. I love her, regardless of her unnecessary screams.

Crimea

There is almost a war starting in southeastern Europe, on the Crimean peninsula in the Black Sea. Whenever there is a war among humans, dogs tend to fare bad. For all the dogs in Crimea, I hope for a peaceful solution to this crisis.

Grandpup

Humans say they have a grandchild, if they have a child who gets a child of its own. Dogs get pups, not children. Thus, the pup that my daughter Karstuhl has got now, must be my grandpup. So far, I have not met her. It is the habit of dogs that the mother is alone with her pups for the first weeks, and the pup is just two weeks today. I am looking forward to seeing my grandpup. Eventually, I will.

Any Ideas for a Blog Post?

I know I have some readers, when I write this blog. My blog service provider have statistics showing this. Once in a while, I am not so sure what to write about in this blog. I would therefore like to invite my readers to suggest topics for blog posts. You may do this by commenting on this post. It moght be that I do not do anything about every idea right away, but I will be grateful for all ideas I can get. What do you say, do you have any ideas?

Early Spring

It is the first day in March, but it feels more like April. We have an early spring this year. There have been many days with temperatures above the freezing point lately, and just a little snow is left in small piles here and there. It is damp and muddy outdoors. I think I would prefer a little more true winter. The weather is not ours to decide upon, however. Perhaps this is a good thing, it gives us something to talk about and complain about, while we know noone is to be blamed. Thus, nobody can take offence, when we whine. This may feel relieving once in a while.