The Feat of the Year

The Swedish Kennel Club has named the German Shepherd Otiz winner of the dog feat of the year. Otiz allerted his family at night that there was a fire. Thus, he rescued a lot of cows and calves. Allof these animals survived and the family business could go on. 

While nobody wants a fire to get out of paw, if it ever did at our place, I hope I would have the sense to wake up my family. This is not to win a prize, rather to save lives and property. Still, it would not be a bad thing to win a prize for it. 

Floods in Spain

Floods have caused many deaths and a lot of destruction in Spain. 

We are sorry to hear about this. We hope dogs have made it and have not lost their humans. 

There have certainly been floods before, but in modern times, we hear about them more often than people did years ago. We wonder if there are more or less floods now than before. 

Winter Tyres

We got the winter tyres put on the car today. It may be temperatures below zero this weekend, so it is about time.

I don’t mind going by car, but it is better when the car feels safe. When we have cold months like in the Swedish winters, it is good to have winter tyres. 

Japanese Election

The Japanese Prime Minister lost the election yesterday. His ruling Liberal Democrat Party is still the largest, but hasn’t got a majority. The opposition is divided. It remains to be seen what will happen. 

Hailey and Polly, who had this blog before me, knew much more about Japan than I do. As Shibas, of a Japanese breed, their interest came naturally. They would surely have more to say about the election. I just mention it, in their honour. 

Rain and Leaves

Daniel had planned to use the lawn mower to mulch fallen leaves in the garden. Rain stopped him from doing this. He said he needed the leaves to be dry. 

It is interesting that the things that leave the branches of the trees in the autumn are called leaves. This is probably just a coincidence, but an interesting one. 

Wrong Blog

Daniel has a blog in Swedish, where he writes mainly political thoughts. He just happened to write a blog entry in this blog, in Swedish, about politics. I erased that blog entry. 

Last Day of Daylight Saving Time

Humans have watches and clocks to keep track of the time. Since they are almost always busy with this and that, this is understandable. I cannot for the life of me understand, however, why they change the time by one hour each spring and each autumn. Tonight, they will do it again. I hope some humans like this, my humans do not. 

Not Connected

Daniel was on line up until the moment I borrowed his tablet to write the daily blog post. Just at that moment, the program objected and I got the error message the device was not connected to the net. It is strange how things like this can happen so suddenly. It only lasted for a little while, but it was enough for me to change the idea I was going to write about. Connections should be safer, I think. 

Julmust

We had the first julmust for the season. Julmust is the Christmas pop of preference for most Swedes. It is sold from October, because people love it so much. We enjoyed it, too, today. 

Some people say other brands of pop is the prefered pop for Christmas in other countries. As Swedes, we cannot understand this. How could any drink be better than julmust for Christmas? We prefer julmust. 

Just a Few Issues

Daniel is a member of the City Council. They had a meeting today. It is possible to follow the meeting on line. For some reasons, they had so long debates that they did not have time to finish more than a few issues. There were some of the other members of the council who just wanted to get up and talk over and over, even though they did not add much to the debate. There is a freedom to speak in the council, of course, but it seems like some of the members could be better at seeing when they have much to add or not. We do not envy Daniel for sitting through these meetings. It seems like he thinks they are more interesting than we do. 

Minimum Age

Paula and Daniel discussed the rules for dogs to become Show Champion today. It was not a lengthy debate. They just discussed what the minimum age to become a Show Champion. This is easy to see, if you just look it up in the Rules for Dog Shows and Championships. The dog needs to be two years old in order to become a Champion. Reading the rules is a good thing. 

Meatballs

Paula and Daniel cooked meatballs for dinner today. Some of the meatballs found their ways to us dogs. Meatballs are great food. These meatballs were better than most, because they were home made and Paula had seasoned them well. I wish we could have meatballs more often. 

Another Step

You may wonder how it went for Paula, when she made her first trainee day to become a ring steward. She did very well and was approved.

It was a Dachshund specialty. Dachshunds have complicated rules with working classes and special rules on how to become a champion. When Paula has managed to do this, the rest of the trainee days must be easier. It is good to start with the worst kind of show.

In a few weeks, Paula is on it again. We believe she will make it. 

Preparing

Paula has spent the evening preparing for a dog show tomorrow. She will take her next step towards being a ring steward, at a dachshund show near our town. We have helped her review the rules. She will make it, we are sure.

Pancakes

It is Thursday, which is Pancake Day in Sweden. We do not get pancakes every Thursday, unfortunately. Daniel says one of the reasons is that pancakes are mostly lunch food and we seldom eat lunch together. This Thursday, we got pancakes for dinner. All of us dogs got a lot of it. Pepe and I really enjoyed it, while Morran was less fond of it. Even she agreed it was a treat, however. Thursdays can be very good. 

Origins of Columbus

Christopher Columbus was the man who led the first Spanish expedition to the lands now known as the Americas. There has always been disputes of his origin, as this is not quite known and people of many places want his fame to spill off on them. New DNA studies have now shown that he was of Spanish and Jewish origin. 

While this is interesting, we would also like to know if Columbus had any dogs, and if he had any, of what breeds these dogs were. This would tell us a lot about him, we believe. 

Frost and Fire

We had frost outdoors this morning. Daniel lit a fire in the fire place in the living room.

It is nice to have a fire to add to the indoor heat, when it is colder than usual outdoors.

I believe I have written about this before, but dogs are well off, having humans to control fire for us. 

Shrimp Sandwich

It was the Shrimp Sandwich Day today. Paula, Daniel, Totte, and the three of us dogs shared a shrimp sandwich.

Shrimps are tasty. I wish we could get shrimps more often. Totte, Morran, and Pepe agreed with me. Daniel was more undecided, however. I guess we will have to see if our wish makes him change his mind further on. 

Coming Home

Daniel was away this weekend. He came home this afternoon. This is great, because Paula has been rather boring all weekend. She has not been feeling well, so she has an excuse, but it is still better when Daniel is also at home. We hope next weekend will be better. 

Dog Without Family

The South east of the USA has been struck by a tornado. This is common in the autumn. Some humans have died. We are especially sorry to hear about the dog Benji, who survived, while his humans died. We hope he will get a new family soon. 

Rain in the Morning

It rained in the morning. This meant we just went out in the garden for a while, but there was no need for a morning walk. It is good that the weather may play a role in decisions like this one on the morning walk.

Funny Claims About Weather

With the recent hurricane that has struck Florida, there have been people who have suggested the hurricane was created by humans who manipulated the weather. This must have started as a joke, but apparently, some people believe in it. Humans are good at many things, but they cannot control the weather. We had a good time talking about this joke here at home. 

Sushi

Daniel got home late tonight, after a business trip. However, he came home with sushi. 

Sushi is good food. Morran got more sushi than Pepe or I. She said this is because sushi is from Japan, her breed is from Germany, Japanese civil law is based on the German Bürgerliche Gesetzbuch, thus, Japan would be nothing without Germany, and she represents Germany, which means she has a certain right to eat sushi. Neither Paula, nor I or Pepe understood this line of reasoning. Daniel said he understood, but I am not sure he really did. Nevertheless, Morran got quite a lot of sushi. I wish I would have gotten more. 

Cheek to Cheek

There are instances when humans dance cheek to cheek. Dogs very rarely dance at all. A few dogs dance in the freestyle sport, but this is rare. We can, however, lie cheek to cheek with a human. Paula and I lied cheek to cheek tonight. We both enjoyed this. Life is being close to your family. 

Perhaps a Little Milder

It was not quite as cold this morning, as most mornings last week. It is the name day of Birgitta and Britta, which is the origin of the Swedish word brittsommar. This means a warmer period in the middle of autumn, around this day. The phenomenon is called Indian summer in English. Even though the morning temperature was a little higher than last week, I would not say this phenomenon has come this year. It does not come every year. We just have to accept that we are steadily going towards winter. 

The Telephone Came Back

Paula found her missing mobile telephone. It was lying in the bedroom, about where she thought she had lost it. 

It is good that the telephone is back. Paula gets happier, and by consequence, so do we. 

Appart from this, we had a good day today, taking it easy. 

Lost Telephone

Paula has missplaced her telephone somewhere at home. She has not been able to find it, and has been whining about it. We do believe she could have tried harder to look for it. Then she would surely have found it and we would all have been happier. 

It is a sad thing mobile telephones do not have any particular smell. We dogs could have found Paula’s telephone by searching forint with our noses, if it had. 

Frost

We had a little frost on the ground this morning. It was slightly colder than the freezing point for water.

It is autumn, so this is not surprising. Winter will come this season too, regardless of how badly we would want it not to come. In a way, this is reasuring, at least. Some things are what they always use to be.

German National Holiday

It is the 3 October and Morran is celebrating the national holiday of Germany, home country of her breed. It was on the 3 October many years ago that East Germany merged into West Germany to form modern day Germany. 

We celebrate with Morran, of course. Every reason to celebrate is a good reason.

Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit! 

Morning Walk in the Dark

It is getting darker every morning and evening. This morning was the first this season when Daniel used his reflective vest on the morning walk. This was because it was still dark outside at the start of the walk. Daylight arrived during the walk, but it was still safer to wear that vest from the start. We have lights inside, anyway. Lights are good. 

A Just Fight

When I got mad at Pepe today, Paula and Daniel would not accept it, and took me away from him. They did not see how Pepe provoked me. It was a just fight on my part. This does not matter, if your humans do not see anything but your response to the provocation. I wish I could convince them I was right all along.

Nevertheless, Pepe and I are friends again. We usually are. This is good.