Judge Pearson's Pants

There was a judge in Washington, DC, Roy Pearson, who left his trousers to a dry cleaner, but never got them back. His pair of trousers were gone and lost forever. Judge Pearson, a lawyer by trade and judge on a federal court, thus filed a suit against the dry cleaner for approximately $ 54 million. This is ridiculous, but nevertheless a true story. Luckily, the dry cleaner won. Judge Pearson is also supposed to pay the court costs. I wonder why a judge would want to make a mockery of his own trade by filing a suit like this? The whole story would never have happened at all, if Mr. Pearson would have done like dogs all over the world do and chosen not to wear pants at all. He is a human, but a human without pants would surely be regarded as a wiser man than a human filing a suit like the one he filed.

Foolish Fashion

Rumour has it, it is fashionable in some big cities in the world to have accessories with communistic slogans. Actress Cameron Diaz had one on her bag when visiting Peru. This was a misstake. The bag had a red communistic star and a slogan of Chinese dictator Mao, and Peru was terrorized by a Maoistic guerilla for many years in the 1980's and -90's. I cannot understand why you would want to wear such a bag in the first place, bringing it to Peru is even more foolish. Some people seem to be foolish.

Rain, Rain, Rain

We are celebrating summer solstice yesterday evening and today, one of the great holidays of Sweden. We would like it to be sunny and warm, but instead, it is rainy and grey. Rain has been falling, on and off, for many days now. The only thing thriving in this weather is the vegetation. The grass is growing longer and longer, since you cannot mow it when it is too damp. Well, we are dry, warm, and comfortable indoors, anyway.

Pride and Prejudice

We saw a movie today on DVD, Pride and Prejudice, based on a novel by the English 19th century authoress Jane Austen. It was an interesting movie. People in the English upper classes were very polite to one another, for good and evil. Sometimes, they were so polite, they could not rightly say what they meant. Nevertheless, politeness is a virtue. The politeness of these people were almost as that of the Japanese nobility and samurajs of the same age. As a dog of a breed famous for its Japanese manners, I rather liked this politeness. The main character, Elizabeth Bennet, finally got the man of her dreams when she realized that he had the finest of manners. I hope I can get the Shiba Inu male of my dreams, too.

The Northwest

Mum sometimes say she is from the Northwest in the USA, but I have challenged her on that statement. She says she knows better than I do, because she is born and raised in America whereas I have never been there. She is correct, at least if you count the 48 States of the Union that lie lumped together in the centre of the North American continent. There are, however, many parts of North America that can be called the Northwest. There is Alaska, which is a State on the very northwestern edge of the continent. There is also a part of Canada called the Northwest Territories, and there was a part of the USA south of the Great Lakes that went by the name Northwest Territory from 1787 to 1803. There is also an American airline called Northwest Airlines, this corporation has its headquarters in Minnesota. Given these facts, I say it is not self evident what part of North America can be called the Northwest. Mum just growls a little about me being a spoiled brat and walks away without answering. Thus, she cannot give me a good enough answer, so I guess I am not completely incorrect.

Mowing the Lawn

The grass is growing fast in the hot and humid summer weather. Daniel has wanted to mow the lawn for a couple of days, but he cannot do it if the grass is to damp from rain. There have been short rain falls in the afternoon both yesterday and today. I don't care much, I run around just as easily in a little higher grass. We will have to see if the lawn is dry enough tomorrow.

Who Don't Want Their Own Dogs?

There are more and more dogs in Sweden, but this has a downside. More and more of the dogs are abandoned, killed, or left to dog shelters. How can humans do that? Don't they know that nobody can love a human more than a dog do? Think about it, a dog loves his or her human more than the human usually loves himself/herself. Why abandon a love like that, just for the short time convenience? It makes me so upset, I am at a loss of words.

An article in Swedish about the phenomenon.

The World's Longest River

It is generally thought that the Nile in Africa, which ends on Egypt's north coast by the Mediterranean Sea, is the longest river in the world. However, scientists in Brazil and Peru now claim to have found a new sorce of the Amazon River in the south of Peru, making the Amazon the longest river. My Pharao Hound friend Primus, whose breed count its origin from ancient Egypt, does not believe in the new findings. Even though they are true, he says, the water of the Amazon river is still not the foundation upon which one of the greatest cultures of history has been built. Well, I say we just have to wait and see whether the claim can be accepted or not.

Formula 1 in India

There seems to be more and more formula 1 races in Asia. The next new Asian race on the schedule will probably be one in India, the first one in 2009. I don't know much about India, but it is a country with a large population and I guess many of them are happy to get a Grand Prix of their own.

This Sunday, the formula 1 drivers will compete in Indianapolis in the USA. Mum claims this is the most important race of the year, since it takes place in her home country. It will be interesting to see who will win, the fight for the world champion title is still wide open.

Banning Baggy Trousers

Sometimes, you get to hear of laws you feel are silly. There is a town in Louisiana, Delcambre, in the southern USA that is going to ban the use of baggy trousers that show off underwear. The showing of underwear will be defined as indecent exposure. It is fortunate for all the dogs of Delcambre that they don't show underwear.

About that Watch

I commented on Prsident Bush's watch yesterday. He has now told the world he took it off himself, so it did not disappear after all. Why he did it still seems to be a riddle. My guess is that he just thought it was uncomfortable. There must be a warm summer in Albania, just as here in Sweden, much farther to the north. I rather go without collar than with one, Daniel sometimes take his watch off in the summer heat. Oh, well, I really think it is a storm in a tea cup.

Watch Theft?

US President George W. Bush is visiting Albania in the south east of Europe. He is rumoured to have lost a wristwatch when greeting people in a crowd. He was first observed with a watch on his wrist, then the watch was suddenly gone. US officials deny that the watch was stolen.

No matter what happened to the watch, I hope Mr. Bush can keep track of the time by other means. I know how important humans think the exact time is, Daniel is constantly keeping track of the time, especially in the morning. Personally, I settle with the built in clock that we dogs have, that simply tells us if it is morning, mid-day, afternoon, evening, or night. Since we are on duty as pet dogs day and night, we don't need anything else. Perhaps Mr. Bush could try to do the same, Mum says that the President of the United States is also on duty day and night.

I Was Left at Home

Paula took April to a dog show today. She did not let me come along. Naturally, this made me angry, so I barked at them when they left. Why could I not come along? We now know that April got a honourary prize and was second in Junior Class. I am pretty sure she would have done better with me around as her coach.

Chikai got four daughters and one son in his first litter, the one I told you about yesterday. This is great. Dad has not had many daughters, but is happy to have a son who has.

Blog Post D - I'm an Aunt!

For those of you who do not read Roman numerals, this is my five hundredth blog post. D is the Roman numeral for 500.

My Dad became a grand father for the first time today, as his son, my half brother, Chikai, became father of two puppy girls. (Jbax Chikai-Yorokobi was the only pup by Dad's second marriage, to Cronhagens Taiyo-Terahime.) This means I'm an aunt. I have been an aunt ever since I was born on Mum's side, since she had had litters before the one with me in it. This is the first time I can call myself aunt to puppies on Dad's side. It is also the first time I am an aunt to pups born in Sweden.

Dad and I plan to celebrate this evening. Mum says she does not care much. I know Mum has never been fond of Dad's marriages to others than her, but I am certain she will feast just as much as the rest of us at the food we are having for the celebration.

Sweden won the Euro 2008 qualification game against Iceland this Wednesday by 5-0. Today the European Football Association decided that the game against Denmark last Saturday would be considered a Swedish victory by 3-0. This result was anticipated, but we can still be happy for it.

Days of National Festivity

Tomorrow is the Swedish National Festivity Day. Today is the Danish Constitution Day, which is their equivalent. I don't know much about Denmark. Mum's been there on a dog show once, but she did not like it very much and did not get a CC. Denmark was of course the opposing team to Sweden in football last Saturday. Anyway, I wish all the Danish humans and dogs a nice Constitution Day. I hope ours will be just as sunny as this day has been.

BBC on the Scandal

You can read here what the British Broadcasting Company say about the Saturday game between Denmark and Sweden. It is interesting to see what people from other countries than Sweden think about it.

What a Scandal!

There was a Euro 2008 qualification game in fotball, Denmark versus Sweden in the Danish capitol Copenhagen tonight. We saw it on TV. The game ended in a scandal, when, at the standings 3-3 towards the end, Sweden got a penalty shot and a Danish fan ran out in the field and hit the referee. The safety could not be upheld, so the referee declared the game finished. Thus, nobody were allowed to see the exciting final minutes of the game. It looks like Sweden will be declared the winner of the game by 3-0, as a penalty against Denmark. Even though it is nice that Sweden wins, it would have been much better to win by 4-3 after scoring at the penalty shot. This was a scandal that must be debated across Europe in the days to come. The Danes must do something about the safety at their football stadium.

Wolves Taking Over

Our wild cousins, the wolves, have taken over the maintenance of elks in a hunting district close to Örebro. The wolves kill so many elks that there are not enough left for the human hunters to kill. The humans will have to look for other food sources, I know they can, too. Way to go, wolves!

The Norwegian Shiba Specialty

Our results from the Norwegian Shiba Specialty the last weekend is now published on our website, just follow the link news 2007-05-29.

Rainy day

Home from vacation. It is raining "cats and dogs". Boring but nice at the same time. We will take it easy a couple of days.

Here is some pictures of me, taken this past weekend when I was at the Norwegian Akita Special in Hunderfossen, Norway. Judge was mr. Per Svarstad from Sweden. Im quite pleased with the result though it was a very stiff competition.

Aangenaam Lunar Eclips: 1 ukl 2 ukkl Ck Not placed in Best female.

My best friend April did even better than me when she was shown at the Norwegian American Akita Specialty the next day, at the same location. Judge was mrs. Britt Nyberg from Norway.

Taichung Spring Affair: 1 jkl 1 jkkl Ck 4th Best Female

Sweet April went all the way to be placed in best Female, winning the junior class. I'm very happy for her and me too of course.

An Apology and About Anonymous Answers

I have reason to make an apology to Anna, the breeder of a dog I commented in my blog on the 21st of April this year. It has since come to my knowledge that Anna was more upset by my comment than I had reason to believe at the time.

I have to admit that sometimes you win at a dog show, sometimes you lose.

It is human for blog writers to make mistakes sometimes, writing more harsh words than he/she intended to.

It is interesting to note that there were so many anonymous comments to the blog entry of the 21st of April. I normally only get one or two comments a week, from my friend Grus and from blog writer Daniel (a.k.a. Daily-Hailey). As many others, I do not think anonymous comments are of much significance, since if you have something to say in a free society you normally state your name. Anna was the only straight forward person who commented with her name. Therefore, I take Anna's comment to heart and sincerely apologise to her. Unfortunately, all of the anonymous comments came after her and made me lose focus. This is why I lost track of the apology that should have been stated right away to Anna.

I have made a decision to close the posibility to comment on Daily-Hailey, because there is no function from my blog host to reject anonymous comments. From now on, I will keep Daily-Hailey as a very non-personal reflection on what is going on in life.

(Daniel Granqvist)

Ja vad skall man säga?

Till alla läsare som svarat anonymt/påstått att jag Paula har skrivit ett 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???

There Will Be an Interruption

We are going to Norway tomorrow and will not be back until Monday. During these days, I will not write anything in my blog. You just have to wait until then to read my comments about Norway and the Norwegian Shiba Inu Specialty. I hope you will make it without my daily blog entries until Monday. Have a nice Pentecost!

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.