Birthday

We celebrated Daniel's birthday today. One of the things Daniel got as birthday presents were chairs and a table for outdoor use. He also got some books he thought were interesting and a lawn mover a couple of days ago. Late at night, Paula gave us dogs cheese doodles to celebrate. Birthdays are fun.

Majestic Visitors

Their Imperial Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan are currently visiting Sweden. They are here to celebrate that it is 300 years ago the world famous Swedish botanist Carl von Linné was born. The Emperor has a special interest in this, since he is also a botanist. It is nice to know that Their Imperial Majesties are interested in Sweden, especially for us Shiba Inus who may be Swedish dogs but are of a Japanese breed. I wish I could go to see the Emperor and Empress, but as I wrote in my blog yesterday, I have other commitments this weekend that I have to prepare for. We all make our own efforts to show the bonds of friendship between Sweden and Japan.

Time to Plan for the Next Trip

We are back home, but are already planning for the next journey. There is another dog show next weekend, the Norwegian Shiba Inu Speciality which takes place in Lillehammer in central Norway. The whole family will come along this time. This requires a lot of planning, to make sure we bring all the essential things, but nothing unnecessary. We will borrow a larger car, but it will still be a little crowded.

There will be a long ride by car to Lillehammer and two show days. I am looking forward to it, in part because it will be my first journey abroad. Both Mum and Dad sometimes say that we are all living abroad, but while Mum is abroad in Norway as well, Dad says he is going home. Dad is, as you may know, from the famous Norwegian Shiba Inu breeder Enerhagen in Bergen. He is looking forward to seeing his breeder with friends, who will also come to Lillehammer. Dad says Norway is the most beautiful land in the world, I am curious to see if that is true. No matter what, I think I will like Norway if there is good food and nice company there. A nice result in the show ring would also be something.

Huh?

I got excellent critique and was second best bitch in the spitz hound specialty dog show today. This is good, I am definitely not dissatisfied with the result. However, the judge was not really good at Shiba Inus, he called me a black sesame, instead of a black and tan. If Paula has paid a lot of money to show me, one could at least expect the judge to know how to separate between the colours of Shiba Inus. This is why we, when reading the critique, sat like question marks: Huh?

More Good News

On the dog show today, I was second best bitch and got another CC. The best bitch was already a champion, that is why I got the CC. The Japanese judge thought the only flaw with me was that my eagle (the white mark on the chest) was not as well defined as he would have wanted.

April won the Junior Class.

Success

I got a CC and a CACIB today and was Best of Opposite Sex, on the first dog show day in Hässleholm. Paula was very happy and said that we could almost go back home immediately, having reached the goal of getting me a CC and a CACIB. April was not shown today.

There is no risk that we will go back home right away. We will stay to the dog show tomorrow, when there is a Japanese judge judging the Shiba Inus. We are very interested in seeing what he will say about April and me. Perhaps we will give up the spitz hound specialty on Sunday, though.

Time Flies

It was not long ago we were on a dog show, but April, Paula, and I are already on our way to another one. There are a lot of them this time of the year, time seems to fly between them. I like that, dog shows are fun. There will be three days of shows this time, I hope I will be very successful on at least one of those days. It is in Hässleholm, were I did great one of the two days last year. I will try something new this weekend and will log on to my blog though I am not at home. Modern technology gives a lot of posibilities, so stay tuned throughout the weekend.

The Euro Zone Will Be Bigger

It seems like Cyprus and Malta will soon join the common currency Euro that is part of the monetary cooperation of the European Union. Sweden has still not joined, which Daniel think is annoying, since we still have to change money when we are going to countries like Finland and Germany. My American Mum, on the other hand, says it would be better if Sweden would exchange its own currency for the really hard currency of the world, the US Dollar. Mum's love of America never fails.

Dandelions

Daniel swears over the large amount of dandelions ("maskros" in Swedish, which litterally translates into "worm rose") in our garden. He uses an iron tool to dig them out, root and all. He says it is a weed that must be exterminated from our land. It takes a lot of time and there seem to grow more and more in our garden each day. Daniel is really mad at them. Neither of the rest of us care much.

Busy Week?

If this week will continue the way it started today, it will feel very busy. Paula went to work at seven in the morning, then Daniel left at 8.30. While Paula came back home in the early afternoon, Daniel stayed at work until almost five o'clock. Paula went back to work tonight, from nine to seven tomorrow morning. By that time, Daniel will always have left home to spend the working day in Stockholm, he will also attend to a meeting in the evening after coming back home to Örebro.

There is a holiday on Thursday, Daniel will stay home from work Thursday and Friday. On the other hand, Paula, I, and some of the other dogs will leave for this year's dog show in Hässleholm. As always, and especially after the last few disappointing results, I try to keep my hopes at a moderate level. On the other hand, I did well last year in Hässleholm, maybe the site brings me some kind of luck. We will have to see by the end of this week.

A Little Disappointed

There are a lot of causes for feeling down right now. Sweden lost the semi finals of the World Championship in ice hockey yesterday and the game for bronze today. Sweden also got such a bad result in the Eurovison Song Contest that we are not directly qualified to the contest next year. April and I had no particular luck at the dog show yesterday. Over all a rather blue weekend. The rainy weather today adds to this feeling, even though Daniel says it is good to get a lot of rain when we have a well of our own. Well, I guess he is right about that. There were also a few golden rays of sunshine coming through an opening in the clouds late in the afternoon.

More News Later

Paula, her sister Mia, April, and I will go to a dog show in Österbybruk tomorrow. We will leave early in the morning and everything will be very exciting. This is one of the most important shows this year, since the dog winning Best of Breed gets the title Swedish Winner '07. There will be news about our results in the show the day after tomorrow. I will not have time to write anything in my blog until then, but stay tuned.

Eurovision Song Contest

We started to see the qualification round to the Eurovision Song Contest this Saturday. The songs were, however, generally so bad that we left to do other things. I hope the quality of the songs on Saturday are better.

Break

Sometimes, I just don't feel like sriting in my blog. Over the last few days, that has been the case. Daniel has not been at home since Monday morning, which made me a bit sad and less inclined to writing in the blog, but he is back now. It is not fun when Daniel or Paula is away, we don't feel really calm. Things are more like they should be now, when Daniel is back. You will have to see if I get back to daily blog entries now, I believe I will.

Yet Another Dog Show

Paula and I went to another dog show today. Unfortunately, I did not get a good result. The judge was very harsh, he did not give many CC's or any good prizes at all, for that matter. I got a first prize in quality and an honourary prize. Well, shows would not be very exciting if you won all the time.

Correction

I forgot to write anything about my dear Pharao Hound friend Primus yesterday, despite the fact that it was his birthday. I am sorry for this, I just took his birthday for granted.

Shiba Park

If I were to visit Tokyo, I would like to visit Shiba Park. Shiba is the Japanese word for small, inu means dog, so Shiba Inu means small dog. In Swedish, the Shiba Inu is commonly known just as a Shiba, but this is obviously wrong. Thus, the Japanese word Shiba in the name Shiba Park does not mean the same as the two words Shiba Inu. Still, it would be fitting for a Shiba Inu to visit a park with that name.

Mia's Birthday

It is Paula's sister Mia's birthday today, but she will celebrate it tomorrow evening. I cannot understand why you would want to postpone your birthday celebration. Perhaps it is just a way of prolonging the celebration, Mia might be celebrating herself or with others today as well. That would be a good idea.

Putting a Room into Order

Our house has two bedrooms, but we only use one of them. The other is called the spare room. Ever since we moved in here in November it has so far been filled with this and that in no particular order. Paula has now vowed to put it in order before the end of this week. The other dogs and I have helped her with this project today and we surprised Daniel with a good result when he came home from work this evening. The room is far from finished, but we are definitely on our way. I bet we will make it.

Expensive Concert

The American singer Barbra Streisand will perform on concerts in Britain this summer. The tickets will cost up to £ 500, about 7000 Swedish Crowns, the cheapest one about 2 000 Crowns. If you want to go, you will also have to pay for the journey there. I would suggest a much cheaper and more interesting entertainment this summer: anyone of all the official Swedish Kennel Club dog shows. I will perform myself on some of them. I hope to see you there!

The End of April

This is the last day of April. Not the last day of the April of our family, just the end of the month that has her name. April will not leave us just because the month with her name is over.

Australia Won in Cricket

So, the Cricket World Cup is finished, and I still am not sure what cricket is about. Australia won for the third time in a row. This means Auntie Linni is glad, since her father is from Australia, but she is another one who does not really know what cricket is about. Well, I guess no one on Earth is meant to know everything, not even a Shiba Inu.

Ice Hockey World Championship

The annual World Ice Hockey Championship has started. Sweden's first game was against Italy, a country not as good as Sweden at the sport. It did not start well, Italy got the first goal. Sweden came back, however, and won by 7-1. The experts say Sweden cannot defend its gold from last year and a game against Italy does not tell you much about the strength of the team. We will have to see what will happen.

Barbecue

We had a barbecue today. Paula bought a grill, and we tried it out at once. The food was marvelous.

April's Birthday

April turns one year old today, my young and a bit inexperienced friend. We celebrated on waffles and had chips (or French fries, as Mum and April says) in our food. It was a great party. We are ending this terrific evening with chewing bones.

Earth Like Planet

European astronomers have found a new planet, revolving a star about 20.5 light years from the Sun and Earth, that is the most similar to Earth yet found. It has about five times the mass of Earth, so it would be difficult for us Earthlings to live there, but its orbit is on such a distance from its star that it can hold liquid water. As far as we know, liquid water is a necessary ingredient for Earth like life. I wonder if there is intelligent life on that planet, life similar in intelligence to dogs and humans. Maybe my great great great great grandpuppies will know.

Is Hell Like This?

I wonder if there is a part of dog Hell that is a pet shop. April and I got to come with Paula and Daniel into a pet shop today. There are toys and candy everywhere. Anywhere you turn to, there are new exciting things to smell, watch and try to chew at. However, you are never allowed to take or even test chew anything. This is a subtle form of torture. It is not really painful, but I imagine that one of the upper levels of dog Hell is like this. Just imagine having all these fun and tasty things around you constantly, but never able to try anything. In this life, we got to leave the pet shop and Paula bought some dog treats to take home, a much longer time there would really, really be frustrating.

Sweetie

We have been worried sick over one of Mum's dear friends from America, Sweetie. Sweetie lives at Taichung, where both Mum and April where born. However, she managed to get ofer the fence to the yard yesterday and ran away. Nobodycould find her for a day and a half. Then, finally, she got back, tired and hungry. She hasn't told her humans where she has been and what she has done. We dogs never do that when we run away, just ask my Dad. Sunni says she is certain Sweetie has had an adventure that she may not want to relive, but will certainly not regret. We are all glad it worked out fine.

Another Dog Show

Till alla läsare som svarat anonymt/påstått att jag Paula har skrivit detta inlägg den 21 april där den hund som vann certet före mina flickor skrevs att ha "ett mer fult huvud" än April:

För det första: Till uppfödaren av den hund/samt ägaren som slog mina: jag ber om ursäkt om kommentaren som blogskribenten skrev sårade. Förlåt! Givetvis var det inte blogskribentens intention! Resten tar jag, Paula, med dig privat och utan mellanled när vi ses nästa gång.

För der andra: Varför gömmer ni er bakom anonyma "nicknames"?

För det tredje: Jag är väldigt förvånad och besviken på er anonyma kommentatorer som inte vågar stå för era åsikter/påståenden. Ni hade kunnat kommentera detta på ett smidigare sätt. Ni har säkerligen sett mig/hejat på mig på ngn utställning efter den 21 april 2007, vad vet jag???

För det fjärde: inlägget får stå kvar som det var skrivet i original exklusive kommentaren i fråga. Den är omformulerad.

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April and I went with Paula to a dog show today. Jiro was there, it is always fun to meet any of my brothers. The Shiba Inu judge was not very good. He did give Jiro CC and made him Best of Opposite Sex, but he put a bitch before April in Junior Class. I think April should have won. In the final competition for best bitch, I was fifth and April fourth. There were many Shiba Inus on the show, this is an acceptable result. It will hopefully be even better next time.

We Stayed at Home on a Birthday

Paula and Daniel went to Paula's parents this evening to celebrate the birthday of Paula's father Nils Olov. They did not bring any dog. I would have liked to be there and celebrate Nils Olov, he is a dear friend of mine. It is not that I dislike staying at home, and Paula and Daniel has the final say. Paula and Daniel gave Nils Olov birthday greetings from me and the other dogs. However, it would have been fun to be there and show my appreciation of Nils Olov in person. On the other hand, I guess I am the only one writing a blog post saying: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NILS OLOV!

Rain

Rain has been falling on and off today. It is the first day with rain in some time. It is not comfortable, especially not when you get inside and have to endure being dried off with a towel. On the other hand, it is good because it fills the reservoirs, not least our own well. We have our own well with private instead of communal water. A well filled well is a good thing to have.

Watching the Grass Grow

The headline of this blog post may make you think this is another dull day in my life. This is not the case. It is not like I am sitting idle while watching the grass grow. However, I can see the progress every day. All the plants in our garden grow. We can see that there are more and more grass in the dog yard, even where we run a lot. Daniel is a bit surprised, he did not think any grass could grow in the places where we run, jump, and turn at high speed the most. Our play does affect the grass, but it is there, growing. Daniel will soon have to buy a lawn mower, which he will have to use in the dog yard as well as on the rest of our estate.

Day by Day

Another day go by, but today, I haven't got anything to say. I cannot think of anything out of the ordinary that has happened today. Some days are like that. These days does not have to be dull, they just are, if you know what I mean. I hope there will be some more exciting events in my life tomorrow, to make my blog a better read.

Killing Spree

At least twenty people have been murdered by a madman shooting around at a university campus in Virginia, USA. This seems insane. From what I have read, there were at least no dogs injuried. I am glad shootings like this are not common even in America, after all, I have a lot of relatives there on Mum's side of the family.

Changing Tyres

We watched the Bahrain formula 1 Grand Prix this afternoon. Felipe Massa won before Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen. Afterwards, Daniel took all of us Shiba Inus in the car to Paula's parents, where Nils Olov helped him change the winter tyres into summer tyres. Since they were two at the job, they were finished rather quickly. It was not at all in the pace of the mechanic's crews in formula 1, though. Well, you cannot ask too much. The formula 1 cars are constructed for quick changes of tyres, there is two men for each tyre and they have electric machines to make it go quicker. On the other hand, a formula 1 car is so small you cannot bring your dog. I would not want to change our car for a formula 1 car.

Thailand

Paula's sister Mia has been on vacation to Thailand, a country halfway around the world and closer to Japan than to Sweden. April and I got to go with Paula and Daniel tonight to visit Mia at her home. Paula and Daniel got presents. I did not, but I thought it was enough to get to see my friend Kesshi. Kesshi did not go to Thailand, he has spent the time at Mia's and Paula's parents, but he was just as glad. He would not like the heat in tropical Thailand anyway, he said. While he felt very good to be home and have Mia at home, he had a good time when she was away too. It is easy to be satisfied with your life, if you are a Shiba Inu.

Cake!

Daniel's co-workers did not eat all of the cake, he brought a lot of it back home. We like Daniel again!

Baking a Cake

Daniel is baking a cake tonight. He is not going to give anything of it to either of us dogs, nor to Paula. This is cruel. The reason is that they have a rule on Daniel's work that someone on the department will always bring a cake on Friday. This Friday, it was Daniel's turn to bake for the others. Daniel should honour the cake rule on his work, of course. However, I think he could have baked another cake for us who stay at home tomorrow while he was at it, at least a little one.

Cricket

There's a World Cup going on in Guyana and the West Indies. They play an English sport called cricket. I have asked Auntie Linni what this sport is about. Her father's home country Australia is the only country represented in our international household that participates in the Cricket World Cup. However, Linni could not explain much. Mum said that cricket had a few similarities with the American sport baseball, but was much more boring. I am not sure I should believe Mum, she often says things are boring just because they are not American. There are no cricket games on TV to watch and learn from. I have not become wiser, but perhaps I will know what cricket is about in the far future. In that case, I may write another blog entry about it.

Killer Tomato?

Dogs are carnivores. We eat meat. However, I have a Pharao Hound friend who got up on his hind paws in the kitchen recently and stole and ate sliced tomato. Maybe he thought it was a tomato from the movie Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! I am not sure whether the killers in the guise of tomatoes in that movie where made of meat, I have never seen it, but living things killing other living things usually are. I would not make any effort to eat tomatoes, nevertheless.

By the way, most of the snow has melted again today.

Snow Again

We thought winter was over. We thought spring was here, with the hope of a warm summer. Then snow fell again today. This evening, the temperature outside is close to the freezing point. I hope it will get warmer again soon, I am tired of winter weather.

Puppy Plans

Since I have healthy hips, I will have puppies in the near future. I have spent this evening discussing names of my future puppies with Paula and Daniel. Paula is very enthusiastic. It feels good that she is, but I prefer to take it a bit slower. Puppy names are important, I want my pups to have names that are just as great as my name is. They will get the same prefix, Aangenaam, of course. We have a lot of ideas for themes of the names of all the puppies in the same litter, but we will not say anything about it until the pups are born. Stay tuned the coming year, and you will get to know.

Hips

It is important to be of good health and have good genes, if you are to get pups in the future. Shiba Inus in Sweden must have their hips examined by x-ray. That was what Jiro and I did last Thursday. We got the results today and we both passed the test. This is great news, not only for us, but also for Mum and Dad who gave us their genes. Dad has had four of his pups examined so far, all of them has passed. That is a great result. Of course, I was never worried myself, I have never felt that my hips would be anything but healthy.

Upcoming Easter

It will be Easter in a few days. I have assured April Easter does not hurt. She said she had not had any thoughts it would, but I reminded her that she asked whether Christmas hurt last December and I just wanted to make sure she did not think the same about Easter. You cannot be too sure about young, inexperienced dogs.

The thing I like the most about Easter is that it is the candy holiday of the year. There is no other time the Swedish people buy and eat so much candy. I wish a happy Easter with a lot of candy for every human and dog out there!

My Joke

I did an April Fool's Day joke in my blog entry yesterday. There are, of course, no wild wombats in Sweden, neither in Brunnsparken in Örebro, nor anywhere else. The wombat is a marsupial from Australia. I would like to see one, though.

A Walk in the Spring Sun and an Odd Sight

April, Paula, Daniel and I went to Paula's grandparents and took a walk in the warm sun of this spring day. Paula's Mother and Aunt were there to. It is always nice to do something different.

After this walk, Paula and Daniel took me and April by the grocery store. While Paula went in to buy groceries, Daniel, April, and I took a short walk through Brunnsparken, a fine park which is not yet so nice as it can be in the summer.

We saw an unusual wild animal in the park, a wombat. This is a little, brown, furry mammal about one metre long. It is always interesting to spot wild animals, especially those that are not common. If you are in the Örebro area, try to get to Brunnsparken in Adolfsberg, you may get to see the wombat.

Strange Saturday

This Saturday has felt a bit odd. Daniel was away all the afternoon, Paula is away the whole evening. It feels almost like a work day. I wish they stay at home more tomorrow.

Work, Work, Work

Today, both Daniel and Paula were away to work for several hours during the day. Paula usually work at night, but they needed people to work in the day today at her workplace. This meant we dogs were alone at home for several hours.

If none of your humans is at home, you have no pet duties to fulfill. However, it is more important to fulfill your watch dog duties. Dogs are always working, one way or the other. We are important to our humans, just like they are important to them. It feels good to be important.

A Trip with Jiro

Paula and I went on a trip by car today. We picked up my brother Jiro and his human Mayvor in Köping on the way and went on to a little place just north of Stockholm. It was a long time ago since I saw Jiro and it was really fun to meet him.

We came home late in the evening, but it was a nice trip.

Lost Game

Sweden played Northern Ireland in the Euro 2008 Qualifications (to the European Championships in football - or soccer, as Americans call it). Sweden is supposed to have a better team, but Northern Ireland has been a surprise before in the qualification group and won tonight. Thus, Northern Ireland took over the lead in the qualification group from Sweden, though they have played one game more than Sweden. Daniel watched the whole game on TV and was disappointed, he said the Swedish team did not play well, especially not the back line. I don't know much about Northern Ireland. I have never met a dog from there and I cannot think of a dog breed with Northern Irish origin. They seem to be good footballers, at least. I hope Sweden will qualify for the Euro 2008 despite this setback.

Missing Paula

Paula went away this morning and will come back late in the evening. She went to Gothenburg with her father to attend to the funeral of an old relative. It is nice to pay respect to the family that way. Daniel has taken a day off from work and has been at home, but I still miss Paula. I love Daniel just as much as Paula, but it feels strange when Daniel is the one who is at home on a work day.

Visiting Japan

From the 25th to the 29th of March, the Swedish King and Queen make an official vsit to the Emperor and Empress of Japan. They are lucky, I wish I would get to meet the Imperial Couple of Japan. I hope there is someone in the Swedish delegation who knows something about the Japanese dog breeds in Sweden. In my mind, this is the most important bilateral interest between Japan and Sweden, though I know not many humans would say the same. Humans have somewhat strange priorities sometimes.

Daylight Savings Time

There is time for this silly thing called daylight savings time again. We lose one hour of official time in the spring and get it back in the autumn, in order to move the hours people are awake backwards and thus get more hours of daylight in the evenings. As I wrote one year ago, this is silly. It is a great deception of the people. What is the difference between getting up one hour earlier by the clock and one hour earlier because you have turned the arms of the clock back one hour?

I guess the people want to be deceived. Just because of this deception, even dogs will be forced to get up one hour earlier Monday morning, to go on morning walks before their humans go to work. What other animals use daylight savings time? None! Humans claim to be the smartest animal on the planet. If this is so, the smartness behind daylight savings time is so beyond my capacities to understand, that I really do not believe there is any smartness behind it at all. Humans are lucky all the dogs on the planet love them so much that they like them despite silly things like getting up one hour earlier all the work days until autumn.

Movie Night

Paula rented three movies, she and Daniel are having a movie night tonight. They gave each of us dogs a chewing bone, thinking that we like to chew bones more than we like to watch movies. They are right. I cannot understand how a movie can be better than a chewing bone.

Snow

There was a centimetre of snow on the ground again this morning. Most of it melted away until the afternoon, though. It is spring most of the time, but sometimes, winter makes a quick guest appearance. If there is going to be snow again, I would like to have more. One centimetre is not enough to play in.

Birthday

First a note to yesterday's blog post. Japan is also the host of the world curling championships this year.

Today is the birthday of Paula's grandfather. He was born in 1918, so he turned 89 today. It is amazing that humans can get so old. Paula and Daniel went to him and celebrated, they also gave him a flower from all of us. May he live even longer!

Competing in Beauty

I have written about last Sunday's dog show three days in a row now. I will not write about it today too. One of my goals with each blog post is to write something different from the previous days, that is why I try to shift focus from my own life, to that of my family and friends, to domestic news, on to international news, and back.

Japan is in focus when it comes to more than one winter sport world championships this year. The Japanese hosted the World Championships in Cross Country Skiing earlier this year, now the World Figure Skating Championships have started in Tokyo. There are differencs i opinions whether figure skating is a sport, since it is a competition in how to skate beautifully. Figure skating is actually more of a beauty contest than dog shows are. (Despite what some people think, dog shows is not about beauty but about results of breeding and also some training of the dogs.) Nevertheless, you have to be skilled and very well trained to participate. It is rather fun to look at on TV, so it is definitely entertainment. The competition part adds to the thrill of the entertainment and makes the participants more eager to perform at their best. I like it.

Equal to Aunt Linni

Due to my victory this weekend, I am equal to Auntie Linni when it comes to dog show victories. Linni has told me she has also become Best of Opposite Sex and received CC and CACIB at an international dog show. This was before she decided to retire from her show career. I am happy to hear this, since I have looked up to Auntie Linni my whole life. She is my idol in a way Mum can never be. Even though Auntie Linni has retired, she says she supports me when I will continue to be shown and work toward becoming a champion. I cannot and will not make her disappointed.

The Day After

The day after a dog show always feels a bit odd. You return to your everyday life, perhaps a victory richer, but in the ordinary duties as a pet the victories do not count for much. I am glad for yesterday's victory and it feels good to be home, but I still long for the next time in the show ring. I hope it will come fast. Stay tuned, and I will tell.

A Sense of Victory

I became best bitch among the Shiba Inus at the dog show today. April came in third among the bitches. A male became best of breed. The important thing was that I got a certificate and a CACIB, my first. These are the first steps towards becoming a dog show champion.

Mum is a champion. Dad aims to become one this year, he does not need much to become one. My brother Jiro already have enough certificates that he need only one more after he turns two years old. I wonder if I can beat Dad and Jiro to it.

The successful day ended in a bit of sadness. Paula picked out two fine trophy cups for me and April and put them in a bag. This bag was stolen when she focused on other things for a little while. Fortunately, there were only the trophies and our copies of the judge's critique from the show. The trophies do not have such a high economic value and we can get copies of the critique from the Kennel Club that organized the show. We still got our badges showing what we won, and the results will be registered with the Swedish Kennel Club. Nevertheless, it is not fun to lose the trophies. I only hope the thief was very disappointed at what he found in the bag.

Grus in the News

Grus, the Welsh Springer Spaniel whom I know from Daniel's former workplace, is in the news paper Nerikes Allehanda today, together with his human Ylva. It is nice to see someone you know in the paper.

Tomorrow is the start of this year's formula 1 season with Australia's Grand Prix in Melbourne. You can see it live on Swedish TV, channel 6, but the race starts at 4 a.m. Central European Time due to the time difference. I will not be home, Paula, April, and I travel to a dog show that is in Malmoe tomorrow. However, I guess Daniel will wake up early to watch the race. Linni may have an extra interest, since her father comes from Australia, but I doubt she will want to get up that early just to see the race. I will sleep to prepare for the dog show.

Going to Kesshi's

Paula went to her sister Mia and my Shiba Inu friend Kesshi this evening. She did not bring any of us dogs, even though I love to see Kesshi. The reason was that she only went there to bring back some things she had borrowed from Mia, which is not a bad reason, but hardly an excuse. I would have wanted to come along anyway. Well, Paula got back home just a little later and we had a pleasant evening. I guess this will be forgotten soon.

Japan and Australia Forms a Pact

Auntie Linni's father is Australian and she is of course, like the rest of us Shiba Inus, of Japanese origin. She was therefore happy to read about the new Australian Japanese Pact and thought I should write something about it. I told her I would. I think it is nice that Japan forms alliances with other countries, it is good for Japan, and what is good for Japan must be good for the national breed Shiba Inu.

Now I have fulfilled my promise to Linni. Follow the link if you want to read more.

By the way, there's some news updates on Aston Martin for those of you who remember my blog post last Saturday.

Kiko's Hips

My brother Kiko has had his hips x-rayed, as any Shiba Inu should. X-ray examination of the hips is an important part of the health programme for the Shiba Inu breed. Kiko's hips turned out to be good. He is the first one in our litter to have his hips examined, but his result is promissing for me and Jiro. We are all happy for Kiko. Paula says a stone of anxiety has fallen from her heart. This was not the case for me. I am happy for the result, but I have always assumed that the three of us will make it.

Tearing Down and Rebuildning

Our house is a bit old and has not got the best of modern comforts. We have discussed that we will have it teared down in a couple of years and build a new house on the same site. Another option would be to build a new house somewhere else on our big lot and save the present house as a guest house. The present house is, however, certainly located on the best site of the lot. We do not have to decide now what to do and the situation is still up for discussion. April is the only one who has made up her mind. She has decided this house must come down and has actually started to tear up the floor in the kitchen.

Paula was furious with April when she caught April tearing up the floor for the first time last week. One would think April would have been taught a lesson, but she started to tear up the floor again today. Needless to say, Paula got furious again.

April has to learn to wait until decisions affecting us all are finally made. I am not opposed to the idea of tearing this house down, but I would never start doing it on my own before the decision to do this was made. April is still young, I am sure she will learn.

Ants

It is early in spring, but we have seen a couple of ants in our house. There has just been a few of them, but they are annoying. They refuse to pay rent and they are not edible. Daniel has put out some insecticide to try to refrain them from coming here anymore. We hope this will be a success.

Alone

Paula and Daniel left all of us dogs alone at home this afternoon. It is nice to be alone once in a while, but I wonder what they do when they go away like that on a Sunday. They brought some new food back home, so some of the time were spent in a store, but they were gone for several hours and it does not take that long to buy groceries. Well, as long as Paula and Daniel do not tell me what they did this afternoon, I will not tell them what I did. This means I will not write anything about my afternoon in my blog, because I know Paula and Daniel read it. All I will say that my afternoon was nice enough. I may tell you more about the day I have tomorrow in my blog post for tomorrow, stay tuned!

Aston Martin to Compete in Formula 1?

With spring approaching, so is the start of Daniel's favourite sport, Formula 1. When the successful Michael Schumacher is no longer competing and the reigning champion Fernando Alonso drives another car than last year, nobody can be sure who is a favourite to win this years championship. This makes it all the more interesting.

There are rumors that possible new owners of the British sports car manufacturer Aston Martin will compete in Forumla 1 in 2008 under the name Aston Martin. Daniel thinks this would be great, since Aston Martin is a classic car with a lot of history in racing. The possible new owner is the company Prodrive, which is already due to compete in Formula 1 next year. Prodrive is, however, not a classic name and most people would probably rather have an Aston Martin than a car called Prodrive in their garage. It would thus benefit Prodrive to use the name Aston Martin for their Formula 1 cars. Let's hope they do.

Spring Is Coming

The snow is melting, birds are singing (and sometimes teasing our hunter instincts with their mere presence), and the dog area of our garden is turning into mud. There are cherry blossoms blooming in Tokyo. Dog show season is getting closer. Next Sunday, we may go to a dog show in Malmö. I like dog shows, that is one reason why I look forward to the warmer part of the year.

Rain

For the second day in a row, there was a heavy rainfall on our morning walk. I and the other dogs do not mind as much as Daniel does, he buttons up his jacket to keep every raindrop out. The disadvantage with not having rainproof clothes like humans, is that you have to get dried after the walk. Daniel dries us off with a towel, especially on our backs and paws. Dad always growls when he is dried off, he really does not like it. However, he knows just as well as the rest of us that he has to sustain it. We all hope it will not rain tomorrow morning.

Am I Too Full of Energy?

I got to go with Paula to Kesshi tonight. It is always fun to go there. What made me a little thoughtful, though, was Paula's comment to Daniel when she told him she would bring me. She said that this would make the evening calmer for Daniel and the rest of the dogs at home. Am I really so full of energy that the home gets significantly calmer when I am not around? If this is so, is it really bad that I am so full of energy? Well, I like to play. If I get some of the other dogs to play with me, it is because they like it as well, even though I might be the one starting it all. I believe Paula's comment was not intended to degrade me, it was probably just said because Daniel was just home from work and may have been tired. I have no hard feelings and I will not change my way of life.

Walking On the Table

On rare occasions, I persuade Paula or Daniel to pick me up in the lap when they sit at our large table in the kitchen. I like this, but I like it better when I use this as a stepping stone to get upon the table. There are all kinds of interesting things on the table, like plants, books, papers, and the odd piece of candy. Unfortunately, neither Daniel nor Paula likes it when I walk around on the table. It does not matter how careful I am, they still lift me off the table almost as soon as I get there. This is a part of my home as well, but I am not allowed to explore it. Life is a bit hard for dogs sometimes.

Cats and Dogs Finding New Homes

There was a premiere for a new Swedish TV show today, a documentary on a cat and dog shelter and how homeless or neglected cats and dogs got taken care of and got new, loving homes. The subject of the show is very important and I had high hopes for it. Unfortunately, though, it was badly directed and produced, and repeated itself in a manner which I have previously only seen on cheap foreign documentaries. In my home, which is fortunately full of love and care, we all agreed that the aim of the show was good, but that it was not produced in a good enough way that we will keep following the series. This is too bad, because if dog lovers like my humans do not want to watch this important show, who will? I can only hope for the best for all of the homeless and neglected dogs out there.

Robbed of Puppies

A family who bred a litter of Yorkshire Terriers got robbed of the pups and pups' mother in their home in the Los Angeles area. I can understand that humans who do not have dogs are desperately trying to get dogs, considering the great rewards of having dogs. This, however, is way out of line. How can they do this? I hope all dogs are soon returned to their humans.

Cursing on TV

Humans use certain words when they are angry, but because these words are used to show anger, some humans get offended by hearing them. You can compare curses with canine growling.

Sometimes, people curse on TV, but in the USA, the broadcasting companies censor the curses out by putting beeping sounds over them on the soundtrack. There is an American TV show where lower class Americans come and fight over lovers et cetera, it is called Jerry Springer after its host. Paula and Daniel watches it occasionally when they have no better things to do. The funny thing is, the dialogue sometimes consist almost entirely of beeps.

I wonder what they would do if a dog came to the show and growled? Would they put beeps over the growling? Dogs watching the show on TV can be offended otherwise. Well, I would rather watch Animal Planet anyway.

The Water Is Back

Daniel turned the water pump off last night. Now, early in the morning as I write this, he has turned the pump on again. There is water in the well again and we have pressure in the water system. We will have to be careful and not use too much water for a while, but the crisis is over. Daniel believe the problem was that the toilet had got stuck flushing, which drained the well many hours later. During the night, water has come back into the well. We are civilized again.

Out of Water

We do not have any tap water in our house this evening. The pressure just disappeared. We have our own well. Daniel looked at the pump, which worked but showed no pressure on the pressure scale. We do not know what the problem is, but have to get a plumber here tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Paula and Daniel have trouble using the bathroom. That is of no concern for the rest of us - as dogs, we just go outside. Sometimes, it is best to keep it simple, like we do.

Spying

Once in a while, I like to spy on wild animals through the living room window. I get up in the sofa and leans my front legs on the back of it, which is just by the window. This is not very sophisticated spying. If you are really determined to spy on others, you can launch spy satellites, like Japan did last Saturday. If I were more determined and more interested, maybe I would get some high tech spying equipment as well. If the wild animals around our house are concerned abot their personal sphere, they should be happy I am not. There is so many other things going on in my life that is more important. Spying is just a minor hobby of mine.

Going to Japan

People go to Japan for all kinds of reasons. The last thing I heard was that people from all over South East Asia and Australia go to Japan to ski downhill. They have the cross country World Championship in Japan now and they have had two Winter Olympic Games, so this is not surprising. From what I can understand, the climate of Japan is rather close to that of Sweden. That would suit me fine, although I do not like to ski, I like to run in snow. Skiing is best on TV. I have actually a better reason to go to see Japan than to ski, since it is the home country of my breed.

This Weekend Was Too Calm

I did not do anything spectacular this weekend. The only thing upsetting I did was not to write in my blog. I could have written a long blog entry yesterday about being angry with Paula. The thing is, she went away to a dog show in Köping without me or any of the other dogs. I would have liked to come along. I always like it on dog shows, with everything that happens, and I had hoped to meet my brother Jiro, who lives in Köping. I am calmer now and have forgiven Paula.

We have gotten some more snow. Daniel is getting tired of shoveling it away. It is supposed to be warmer this week, many days with temperatures above the freezing point. Maybe the new snow will melt away and Daniel will not have to take it away.

Great Food and Great Fun

Today, Paula gave us great food. We got meat sauce and liver paté. It was terrific. The fact that we did not get chicken yesterday is forgiven.

In the evening, April and I rushed around in the yard, chasing one another. It is fun, and you burn a lot of the energy that great food give. Daniel saw us and later told Paula we ran so fast he got tired by merely seeing us. We are much quicker than our humans, this adds to the fun.

Chicken

Paula and Daniel had chicken tonight. They did not give any chicken meat to us dogs, though. We got some rice and sauce in our bowls, but that was as close as we got. This was nice, but not as nice as real chicken meat would have been. Life is hard on pet dogs sometimes.

Meeting Someone Special

Some humans search for a significant other online. It cannot be easy being a human. As a dog, I do not have that problem, my own humans will find me the right one. If you are a human, you may think that you would not want this to happen, that you want to find your soulmate yourself. I am not concerned, this has happened to both Mum and Dad and neither of them mind. On the contrary, when Dad has come home from his journeys of love, he has been in a good mood. It is only Mum who has been a little jealous, but then Mum has had others than Dad as well.

You may respond that as a human, you have no human like dogs have, who can put you up with someone. In that case, I suggest you buy a dog. A lot of humans have met their significant other thanks to their dogs. If I understand correctly, Paula's first dog played a part when she and Daniel became a couple.

Consequently, if you are a dog, trust your human to find someone for you, if you are a human, trust your dog to do the same. Dogs and humans sure do live in symbiosis. Use your time online for something better instead of searching for love. You can, for instance, use it to read more in my blog.

Fast

This is a special Tuesday, it is the beginning of fast. Read about this in my blog entry for the first day of fast last year.

Paula Is At Work Tonight

We, all the dogs, that is, are used to the fact that Daniel is away at work five days a week. Paula works much more irregular, the occassional night here and night there. She worked last night and she works tonight. We have a nice time with Daniel, just as we have with Paula when Daniel is at work, but all of us feel better when everybody is at home.

The good thing when your human works is not only that they earn money to buy dog food and candy, it is also how happy you feel when your human comes home from work. Would it perhaps be boring if Paula and Daniel were always at home? I really think so. Even though I miss Paula when she is away, and Daniel when he is away, it does make the days different from one another. I like that.

A World Championship Is Over

The World Championship in Alpine Skiing, which took place in Sweden, ended today. Sweden ended as the second best nation, after Austria. Austria is often the best nation in Alpine skiing. There is a Swedish Chocolate manufacturer that is a sponsor of the Swedish skiing team, not the Austrian team, yet it says in its TV commercials that it is a sponsor of the best skiing team in the world. Public relations people have a little weird view of the world sometimes.

Worshipping an American

There is a little island in the Pacific Ocean where they worship an American called John Frum. It is unclear who was the real John Frum, but if he was a single person, it is interesting that he is now worshipped as a god and that my Mum's home country of America is worshipped as the country where he and most good things come from. You can read more about this cult at BBC's homepage. I also know of a mythical American. Mum and April know her well, so do Paula and Daniel. It is Mrs. Laura Perkinson, owner of Taichung Shiba kennel and breeder of Mum and April. I would like to meet this American some time, of whom I have heard so much good. I honestly believe I have a greater chance of meeting Laura Perkinson than the worshippers of John Frum has of meeting their god. Future holds the answer.

The West Wing

The last episode of the American TV show The West Wing is aired on Swedish TV tonight. Daniel is sad, he says it is the best TV series ever, and now it is over. Mum is also sad, she has followed it since before she moved from America, where her family liked it too. We can always hope there will be other shows in the future that measure up to the standard of The West Wing. Daniel seriously doubt that, but I do not lose hope. I try to comfort Daniel, at least he usually enjoy reading my blog.

Tracks of Strangers

There are some visible tracks of other animals who have crossed our lot in the snow. We can also feel the smell. When we arrived home after the morning walk today, Dad marked the snow where these tracks were. It make the rest of us feel more comfortable that Dad takes this care of our land. Those trespassers should keep off, but since we are not out patrooling our lot day and night, it is a bit hard to make them. On the other hand, there are other advantages with staying indoors, such as the warmth, candy in the kitchen, and all the toys. As long as those animals do not disturb us more than they do now, we have decided that they will be told of our presence but still to let them be.

Tails

This is my 401st blog post. I can hardly fathom how much I have written in my blog - and it is still fun to write more.

One of the great advantages of being a Shiba Inu, compared to other dog breeds, is our curled tail. We carry it across our backs. We never hit anybody or anything while wagging it. We also do not risk getting our tails caught in doors closing behind us. My Pharaoh Hound friend Primus had the bad luck of making a sudden stop on the front step just outside the front door, when the door was closing behind him. The tip of his long tail was caught between the door and doorframe. He has bled some. I am sorry for him, but not much, since he is over all rather happy anyway and is in no pain. It does not seem like a permanent damage upon his tail.

The main fault was, of course, not him stopping, nor the door being shut, but that he did not have a curled tail that would have been safe upon his back. Dogs without curled tails sometimes do not seem to know where they have their tail, not least when wagging it. Shiba Inus are fortunate enough not to have this problem.

Just a Little Snow

It was snowing on the morning walk. Daniel, who takes care of all the snow in our driveway, was afraid he would have to take a lot of time for such work later in the day. However, he did not have to. There were less than a centimetre of new snow on the ground when the snow stopped falling. I like to play around in the deep snow, but there was already enough snow on the ground for fun play. Thus, both I and Daniel could stay happy.

News from Japan

If you are as interested in Japan as I am, I can recommend the English language page of Kyodo News.

Cool Day

We took a different morning walk today than we usually do and saw new parts of our neighbourhood. That was cool.

From breakfast and into the afternoon, we were parked in front of the TV. This was cool. We saw the competition where Sweden's Patrik Järbyn got a bronze in the alpine world championships. Later, Sweden's Anja Pärson got a gold. These were cool events. Anja Pärson does not live in Sweden, but she competes for Sweden anyway. This may seem strange, but it is because she is a Swedish citizen. She was born and raised in Sweden.

You can compare citizenships for humans to kennel club registrations for dogs; you can live in another country than that where you are registered in the kennel club and the kennel club registration still determines some things of importance for you when it comes to competitions and such. When you have a cool day, you can ponder over interesting things like this.

We Visited Paula's Parents

This evening, April and I got to go with Paula and Daniel to Paula's parents. Mia and Kesshi were also there, as well as Mia's boyfriend Emil. It was fun to meet everybody. The humans had a lot of good food. They did not celebrate anything in particular, but there exist, of course, no bad reason to have a nice dinner. I would have liked to have as much beef as they had, but the evening was nice, nevertheless.

Lack of Inspiration

I have had a lack of inspiration overhe last couple of days. It happens once in a while. Even though I usually find it easy to descide upon what to write about, I do not always do it. Daniel was not at home Thursday and Friday. He often helps me with a little discussion about subjects to write about before I do the actual writing, but since he was away, I had noone to exchange ideas with. The others were not interested. Daniel came back Friday evening, but both he and I forgot about the blog. I will have to make this up to my readers and I promise at least one more blog entry today. There is acually a lot to write about, such as the world championships in alpine skiing here in Sweden and in biathlon in Italy. There has been Swedish gold medals in both championships. I will be back later today.

Cozy By the Fire

It is cold outside this week. I played a lot in the snow yesterday, but when I got in, I realized my paws were cold from the snow. They were so cold it would not be comfortable to write a blog entry. I went in to the living room and laid down close to the open fire and its warmth instead. This was really cozy, so cozy I laid there longer than I had planned. When I wanted to write in my blog, it was already so late that Paula had turned the computer off.

We have a fire on this evening as well. I have, however, learned from my mistake. I make sure I do not get too cold paws and I tell myself to write in my blog before I go lie by the fire.

Dogs are probably one of very few animals who are not afraid of fire. This is because we know our humans take care of the fires. According to some old tales, it was in part the warmth and comfort of fire that drove our wolf ancestors to seek the company of humans. Be that as it may, it is nice to have someone making a warm fire for you.

I wish life would always be as fun as it is when playing in the snow, and always as comfortable as when lying by the fire.

Bears

Last night, I was at my friend Kesshi's home until late. Kesshi is also known by his friends as the Bear, due to his cute looks and humble behaviour. It was fitting, then, that the Chicago Bears played in the Super Bowl XLI from twelve o'clock in the night, Swedish time. We all hoped the Bears would win - except for Dad, who does not like Kesshi - and it started out great with a touchdown almost immediately. Unfortunately, the opposing team, the Indianapolis Colts, turned the game around and finally won. Dad stole another lollipop from Paula this evening, under the pretext that he was celebrating the Bears' loss.

Song Contests

One of the big TV events every spring is the Eurovision Song Contest. The Swedish song competing in the contest is selected from thirtytwo songs over five Saturdays, four semifinals and one final. The first contest was this evening. Daniel and Paula were a little upset over the low standard of the songs. The worst thing was, according to Daniel, that his favourite song did not become one of the four songs that got the chance to win the final round. I do not care. I am not interested, since there are no dogs competing.

Another Lollipop

I got to taste Paula's lollipop tonight. I bit off half of it and ate it. It was good. Lollipops are really sweet and tasty.

There was a show on the TV channel Animal Planet today called Britain's Worst Pet. The dogs in that show were really missbehaving. I am glad Paula and Daniel saw it, it must have given them an even better understanding of how well behaved I and the other dogs in their home are.

Me and My Big Mouth

I am not only expressing myself on this blog. Sometimes, I use my voice as well, talking, barking, or screaming. Paula got so tired of what she thought was my whining today, that she got angry with me. In hindsight, I guess I have only myself to blame, especially since I just went on whining even more for a while. It is OK now, but sometimes, I am just in such a generally bad mood that I cannot think of anything else to do but whining and complaining. I am not like that very often, but I think I can improve and be in a bad mood even more seldom. I hope Paula can forgive me.