Small Pigs

Today, I've read about what is probably the smallest breed of pig there is. It is only about 25 cm tall and weighs no more than 9 kg, so it is smaller than a Shiba Inu. It is a rare breed, so I guess you can rarely get meat from it. It would be interesting to see how small the bacon from these pigs would be, though, and to taste it.

Saving Mums

The Swedish Red Cross has a campaign in favour of mums suffering from armed conflicts throughout the world. I love my mum and I am a mum myself, so I have all the reason to feel for this cause. I could do what bloggers are asked to do on the page I link to: add a widget to my blog to collect money to this cause. However, as much as I feel for mums around the world, this cause is aimed at human mums. I will gladly link to the cause, but for me to add a widget and collect money myself, it would take a similar campaign in favour of canine mums, or canines in general. We are all closest to our own speices, aren't we? For me, causes in favour of humans are important, but not as important as causes in favour of dogs. If you, as my reader, is a human and has a blog, do not hesitate to add that widget to your blog. I will wait until there may be a similar campaign in favour of dogs.

Rumours

I have heard rumours that Mia and Emil will come by tomorrow and play with me. Well, evil rumours says that they are more intrested in meeting my baby sis Suri along with changing tyres on their car. I don't listen to such crap. I'm Hailey, what more can be intresting?

No Show

Paula and Kenny were supposed to go to a dog show today. However, Kenny is right in the middle of blowing his coat, so he would be nothing to show. It is not that judges judge dogs by their coat alone, but in a competition with another dog in full coat, Kenny would most probably have lost. Thus, Paula and Kenny decided to stay at home. Paula later learned that, while we had a warm and sunny spring day, it was rainy, windy, and cold on the showground. This made Paula even more happy she did not go. I am also happy to have had Paula at home for a longer time today.

Blood Pudding

Daniel had some great food tonight: blood pudding. He also gave a slice each to us dogs. This was great, a fine treat for carnivores like us. I wish we would get blood pudding more often.

Chicken and Rice

We went to Mia and Emil tonight. They all ate chicken and rice. April, Kesshi and myself got some too. I also manage to tell Kesshi off. Im not intrested in him in that way if you reader's know what I mean.

An odd thing happened on the way home. April got to sit in Paula's lap. She beat me to it. Strange. I did not like it at all, which I btw told April when we arrived home.

Flat Tyre

Daniel ran the car over a nail yesterday, getting a punctured tyre. He managed to get the car to a garage where they could mend the tyre, but this morning, the same tyre was flat again. It caused a lot of trouble, not least because it turned out that the car lacked one of its standard tools that you need in order to change tyres. Well, Daniel got hold of that tool from the car dealership where the car was bought last summer - they gave him one for free, which is good service. Then Daniel took the flat tyre to the garage where it was mended yesterday. Apparently, they discovered that the tyre had had two holes in it, but only one had been mended yesterday. Now, the tyre is back on the car, and we just have to hope it does not get flat again.

In general, modern tyres do not get flats often. Nevertheless, it is too bad they do get flats once in a while. You would think modern technology would come up with cheap tyres that never get flat. Maybe this will happen, eventually. After our experiences today, I cannot wait.

Family News

We received pictures of my daughter Meja today. She is turning into a beautiful little sesame lady. The even sesame colour is very rare, but suits this sweet girl just fine. It makes Meja a splendid example of the Shiba Inu breed. We got permit from Meja's humans to use this photography in my blog:



The handsome guy beside Meja is my brother Kiko, with whom Meja lives.

My youngest sister Suri is now registered with the Swedish Kennel Club. Her formal name is Aangenaam Miss Red Velvet Cake. She is also cute.

Disappointment

I did not manage to follow through on my plans to come along to the festivities when Mia's birthday was to be celebrated. April got to go, though. While I do not mind that April had a good time, I do envy her. I am disappointed, mostly on myself, for not succeeding with my plans to come along.

Cruel

Tomorrow Paulas sister Mia is turning 31 years old. Kesshi has arranged for her to have a birthday party. Rumours says that Paula and Daniel will go to that party without me or April. Stupid and unfair! Im thinking of in which way I can make them change their minds...

Mama Mia

We visited Mia, Emil, and Kesshi tonight. When we were there, we saw the musical movie Mama Mia. It was quite good. Besides that, it is always nice to visit nice people and nice dogs.

Mama Mia means "my mum", but can also be a general expression of surprise or the like. My Mum stayed at home, since she has a pup to take care of. She is a good mum, my little sister is lucky to have her.

Last Day of April

Today, a lot of Swedes celebrate spring by bonfires and eat great food. Paula is working at the hospital and gets extra pay because tomorrow is a holiday. The rest of us celebrate at home. We had a great meal, Daniel made pancakes and all of us got to taste a little.

A downside to this day is that some people fire crackers. This is a noise we do not like. It is not that anyone of us are afraid, but we cannot understand the point of making noise like this. A long time ago, crackers were used to scare evil daemons away, but who believe in daemons these days?

Success for Paula

Paula was at the university today to defend her final thesis for the nurse's exam. She was quite nervous in the morning, but all of us tried to cheer her up and said we were certain she would make it. We have all read the thesis, so we know it is good. Now we know she made it. There were just minor things she would adjust, of no importance to the overall document. We have got a better reason than usually to celebrate tonight.

My Little Sister

My little sister turns two weeks tomorrow. She is about to open up her eyes. As you can see, she is very cute - about as cute as my pups.

We have got warm weather, but thankfully, we also have popsicles to cool ourselves with. Popsicles are good.

Latvia Beat Sweden

In Team Sweden's second game of the Ice Hockey World Championships, they played Latvia. Normally, this is an opponent Sweden is supposed to beat easily. However, modern world championships in ice hockey are close, you cannot be sure to win any game. While Sweden beat Austria comfortably in the first game, Latvia won by 3-2 on penalties. Daniel does not like this. He is a patriot and always want Sweden to win. I find it interesting that teams that are normally considered less good can beat one of the top teams like Team Sweden. It would be fun, and a nice boost for the sport, if Latvia could win more games against tougher opponents, preferably scoring a medal. It is not fun if the me dals of the world championship tournaments always go to the same few teams, like they use to. Go Latvia!

A Little Bit of Rain

There has been no rain for many days. It is not that it is very dry on the ground, there was relatively large amounts of snow that melted down and watered the earth, but we do think there is time for rain anyway. We do not want it to be a drought. This afternoon, some rain started to fall, but it ended just as quickly and did not even account for half a millimetre of rain. It would be nice with a heavy rainfall late tonight, when we are all indoors and supposed to sleep. The sound of rain may be comforting late at night when being indoors.

Barbecue

We had a little barbecue tonight, in the lovely, sunny spring weather. Paula put some hamburgers on the grill, and there were enough meat for all of us dogs. It was really tasty. We also got some bread with the meat, not great like the meat, but quite good. I hope there will be many more beautiful days like this throughout the warm part of the year, so we can have more nice meals like this.

The only downside to this great meal was, we had so much meat and bread to eat, that Paula decided there would be no regular dog food today. This was a disappointment. Sure, I rather have meat than dog food, but the best thing would be to have both.

Nice Surprise on the Morning Walk

This morning started just like any morning. Daniel took us out on a morning walk, and we walked the usual way, in the usual pace, with the usual stops and gos. Then, all of a sudden, at the intersection between Bergavägen and Elof Ljunggrens väg, we ran into Paula's parents Gertrud and Nils Olov. This was a nice surprise. They were out on a morning walk, despite not having any dogs; they were not even dog sitters for Kesshi and out walking him. Anyway, we stopped and chatted for a while, and both Nils Olov and Gertrud petted us dogs. It was fun. I wish there would be more nice, sudden surprises like this in life.

Tree Upon Tree

There is a meadow behind our house, and not far away there is a forest. There is not much to see in the forest, though. As Dad puts it: it is just tree upon tree. Sure, the occasional deer live there, but they always run away when we show up. There are a few small cottages there, some of which are used as summer houses and are fairly well kept, others that are always empty and seem to be left to fall apart. Nothing much of interest can be seen by these houses. We know that there have been dogs at one cottage occasionally, but we have never seen these dogs when walking on the small road through the forest. Paula and Daniel do not know any of the humans living there either, in part because the cottages are not very close and in part because they are uninhabited most of the time. In a few years, the meadow may be divided into lots and sold to people who want to build houses on their own. I wonder what will happen to the cottages in the forest at that time.

Japan Joins the Fight

Navies in the world join forces to fight an increasing threat of piracy off the coast of Somalia. Now a bill has passed in the Lower House of the Japanese parliament, which will allow the Japanese navy to take a more active part in the fight. While I do understand the concerns of post World War Two Japanese that this is a step away from the pacifist foreign policy of Japan, I believe it is for a good cause. Pirates are enemies of all humans, thus also of all dogs. Piracy is actually one of very few recognized Crimes Against Humanity, thus punishable by any court of law in any country. Pirates must be fought. I am glad Japan joins the fight, but I wonder when Sweden will.

CSI - The Movie

There may be a film made from the US TV show CSI - Crime Scene Investigation. This has been confirmed by William Petersen, executive producer and former actor in the show, where he played dr Gil Grissom. This is good news for all CSI fans, myself included. The downside is, the fil will probably be shown in cinemas first. They never let dogs in to watch films on cinemas.

It is also revealed that Grissom may return to the show eventually. This is good. We have seen just one episode without him in Sweden, but we already miss him.

Disappointed

I am quite disappointed tonight. Paula and Daniel went to Paula's parents to celebrate her father's birthday; they brought April, but I did not get to go. I hate to be left behind at home. It does not matter that the rest of the dogs were at home as well, hanging out with them is not as fun as going to a birthday party for a person you know and like.

Spring

It is spring time. This may affect hormones in the male dogs in our house more than is comfortable. I may be in heat again, this is quite soon after my puppy litter, but not unreasonably soon. So far, I am not in the mood for the attention the boys give me. When I will get in the mood for it, I will not be able to do anything about it. You are supposed to wait until the second heat after a litter before having any more pups.

Something About Pain

Paula is almost finished with her thesis for her nurse exam. She has written about pain and pain relief. I offered to give her some input, I thought I had something to tell her, not least since both of my pups were born with birch births. She declined the offer, however. When reading the almost finished thesis, I can understand why. Paula did not write on pain and pain relief on dogs, but merely on humans. This makes input on pain of a dog fairly useless. The thesis is a really good one, nevertheless.

1111

This is my 1,111th blog entry. The number 1,111 is not quite a round figure, but it is nice in its own way, since it consists of four 1's.

Sometimes, I find it a bit hard to believe how many blog entries I have written. However, I guess that if your goal is to write an entry a day, even a short one, you will eventually reach a high number of blog entries. I do not quite live up to a daily schedule, but I try, and the result is this many blog entries up to now. It is something I am a little proud of. I hope you like it too, and want to keep reading my blog. I appreciate all of my readers.

Australia

Auntie Linni and I got to go with Paula and Daniel to Kesshi, Mia, and Emil this evening. We watched the feature movie Australia. Linni was pleased to see a movie focusing on the country of birth of her father. We thought it was a sad movie, though - the only dog with a prominent role in the movie was killed. In addition to this, the scene was Australia of the Second World War, thus Australia was attacked by Japanese, who were enemies of all the main characters of the movie. This never feels nice, when you are a Shiba Inu with your roots in Japan.

Licence to Grill

We decided to celebrate the arrival of my sister with a big barbeque. Paula and Daniel invited Mia to join us in the festivities. I helped Daniel, the grill master with the chicken filet. I have to say that he passed his licence to grill superb.

Little Sister

I have gotten a little sister. She came to this world this afternoon, a healthy little sesame pup. I am interested in getting to know her better, when she gets older. When I do, I will write more about her in my blog. Stay tuned!

Castaway Dog Returned Home

A pet Australian Cattle Dog who was washed overboard and believed drowned has been found alive four months later. Washed overboard in harsh weather off the coast of Queensland, she had managed to swim ashore on a remote island. There she survived on the food she could find, probably mainly baby goats. She was recently found on the island by visiting rangers. Now she has returned to her humans. While the rangers had a hard time capturing her, she was quick to adapt to civilisation once she met her own humans and got back home with them.

This is an amazing, true story about the survival skill that domesticated dogs can show. Do not think for a moment that most dogs would not survive in the wild. It is just that life is easier and thus happier in the civilized surroundings of our humans. Most humans feel the same, so who do I have to convince, anyway?

New First Dog

In the United States, the President's wife is usually called First Lady. Consequently, the President's dog is usually called First Dog. There is a new First Dog in the White House now, since President Obama's daughters have got a Portugese Waterdog puppy. It is a male dog who will have the nick-name Bo. I have not yet seen the dog's official name, but I am sure it is to be found somewhere on the Internet. It must be something for this dog's breeders to talk about.

Becoming Housebroken

Shiba Inus have a reputation of becoming housebroken early. Indeed, me and my brothers were housebroken before my brothers left us for their new families at an age of eight weeks, so were my own pups. I have no first hand experience of children, but I always assumed that it would not take that much longer time for humans to become housebroken. A dog's year is about seven human years, so I assumed the ratio would have been about the same (two months - fourteen months). Then I read this article about a human child, housebroken at the "early" age of one-and-a-half years. Well, I guess there are always new things to learn about our world.

Celebrating Easter

We are celebrating Easter today. I am busy eating candy. Stay tuned for longer blog entries in the days to come.

Easter

Easter is here. It is a time of candy, but also a time of holiness and thoughts on the good and evil in the world. On Good Friday, Jesus was executed, but on Easter Day, he rose again from the dead. This is a fantastic story. I believe candy is a good thing for the celebrations at Easter. The resurection of Jesus Christ is supposed to have been the most good event ever, while candy is the most good thing you can get to eat. In this way, the great taste of the Easter candy may be a metaphor for the greatness of Christ's victory over death and all the good things that have come out of this. Thus, I suggest we all eat a lot of Easter candy.

Piracy

French forces have freed a couple of French citizens, held hostage by pirates off the coast of Somalia. Two pirates were killed and three captured. One of the hostages were also killed. It bothers me that the French citizens were repeatedly warned of going into the waters off Somalia, because there are pirates there. Why did they go there, despite repeated warnings? They even had a child with them, who made it, fortunately. It did not get a really happy ending either, considering that one of the hostages died.

I believe any country should protect its citizens from enemies of humanity, such as pirates, but to what extent is it reasonable to count upon the military power of your country or its allies? I would never have gone into an area were there were pirates, if I had been warned, especially not together with any of my pups. Occasionally, I have doubts on the intelligence of some humans.

Spring Is Definitely Here

Now we know that spring is finally here. After a couple of sunny days, the sky opened up this afternoon. No snow fell, however. Instead, it rained for a couple of hours. When you get rain instead of snow, you know that spring has definitely arrived.

Why We Scratch Ourselves

American scientists have discovered what it is that make scratching relieve an itch. The research is done on primates, but I believe the same thing goes for dogs and other mammals. This is progress. I am glad humans are so good at discovering things like this, it will make life easier for dogs as well as for humans.

Broken Glass

Our refrigerator is broken. It is not that it cannot keep the food cool, but we have had glass shelves in it, and suddenly this evening, the top glass shelf broke and everything fell down to the bottom of the refrigerator, breaking the other shelves in the process. We had to throw some food away that had been sprayed with glass debris. The worst thing to throw away was a package of meatballs that was almost full, but open, so glass went into it.

We have discussed what to do about this problem. There should be spare parts to buy, but any spare parts has to have the exact measurements of the interior of our refrigerator. I would like to have metal shelves, glass is too fragile. If any of you, my dear readers, have a good idea, please say so!

The Future Is Not a Sleepy Kitten

A headline caught my attention today: "The Future Is a Sleepy Kitten". My first thought was: why not a puppy? Why would a kitten be the future, rather than a puppy? I may be biased, but I am convinced dogs are better than cats, and thus, that puppies are better than kittens. However, when I read the article with the headline, it turned out to be just an article about an April Fool's Day joke. Essentially, it did not have much to do about kittens, nor the future. It was just one of those articles about something less interesting, that you can often find among the more interesting news articles. I am glad it was.

Spring

There has been a couple of warm days in a row, and we all believe spring is here to stay. This is good, I am tired of the cold weather and the dirty, old snow. Now my hopes are for a good summer.

Actions and Consequences

First, let me just say that the news I wrote about yesterday was just my April Fool's Joke of this year.

***

A couple of weeks ago, Sweden played Israel in Davis Cup. The game was played in Malmo, but no audience was allowed, the local politicias forbade it, officially because they were afraid of riots. I believe the real reason was antipathy against Israel, especially after the war between Israel and Hamas earlier this winter.

The decision not to allow any audience has now resulted in a decision by the International Tennis Federation. Malmo will not be allowed to host another Davis Cup game for five years, and the Swedish Tennis Federation will have to pay 15 000 dollars - an ordinary fee for the audiences - and a fine of 25 000 dollars. The total amount roughly equals 330 000 Swedish crowns.

I believe it is fair that the International Tennis Federation receives a monetary compensation. It may refrain others from doing what Malmo's politicians did. In my opinion, I believe the City of Malmo should pay the Swedish Tennis Federation damages to the amount of the fee and the fine, compensating the Tennis Federation for its extra costs. They may not do it voluntarily. I am not a lawyer, but I believe that if the Swedish Tennis Federation would sue the city for damages, the city might be ordered to pay. This would be the just thing, in my mind.

A Space Age Factory

Trees have been cut down in the city owned field behind and beside our house this winter. We have now learned why. The field is to be sold to an industrialist who will build a factory there. The factory will produce certain parts to a European space shuttle that will be built within the next decade. While both Daniel and I find it exciting that a new space shuttle will be constructed and parts of it manufactured in our home city, we are not so happy that the factory will be erected behind our house. I just hope they will not be noisy, because I hate noise and sometimes bark at it, and Paula and Daniel do not like it when I bark.

Sunbathing.

I got this great picture of my daughter Meja together with my brother Kiko. They were sunbathing together when their humans took this picture.

As you all can see, it runs in the family to be top quality shiba inus.

No Animals Would Be Allowed to Live This Crowded

It has been revealed that there are a lot of business going on in Stockholm regarding false addresses for immigrants. In one flat, 44 square metres big, 50 people were said to live. Some people on the responsible authorities have suspected that this has been going on, but have not reacted. I am a bit surprised. If it would dawn on animal protection agencies that dogs or other animals would live as crowded as this, they would react immediately. Why, then, do not the human authorities who are supposed to take care of humans react, when there are suspicions like this? What will happen to these people? Do they have dogs, and if so, what will happen to their dogs? I wish them well, no matter what.

Daylight Savings Time

We had to get up one hour earlier than usual this morning. we always get up early, when Paula work night, so we can greet her properly when she returns home. Since Sweden (like most of Europe) turned to Daylight savings time tonight, we had to get up earlier. The clocks were turned forward one hour. The daylight is thus "saved" on the morning hours, that is, there is less daylight in the morning. Instead, there is an extra hour of light in the evening, so you can save on artificial light in the evening. If you ask me, this is silly, but then again, a human came up with this concept. Dogs are more aligned with nature, we would never think of imposing Daylight savings time on anybody. If we want more hours with natural light, we just get up earlier in the morning - it is as simple as that.

Blowing coat

Paula and Daniel are saying that I have never been so out of coat as I am today. This has a natural explanation since I had puppies earlier this year.

Im longing for my coat to come back. The show season has started and I dont want to miss out on too many shows due to the coat condition.

Is Spring Finally Here?

Snow fell yesterday, about a decimetre thick. Today, a lot of it melted away. Is spring finally here? I would not count on it. We have had a lot of warm days this month, but cold weather and more snow has come in between. Daniel says that winter sometimes continues well into April, and says that when he was younger, there was once a snow storm on the 1st of May. I hope spring is here now, but we just have to wait and see. Weather is always unpredictable. Then again, how fun would it be, if we would always be able to foresee what weather there would be many weeks in advance?

Formula 1

This year's Formula 1 season has started. The first Friday practice was today, the first race is this Sunday. This is Daniel's favourite sport. He is annoyed, though, that the races are not aired on any Swedish TV channel that we have. You have to pay extra for a special sport channel in order to see the races live. I do not understand why? Are there not enough money for the commercials in the ordinary channels? Well, there may be other ways to enjoy the sport, though I cannot think of any now. Perhaps Daniel will purchase that sport channel?

Quiet Day

We had a quiet day today. Nothing much happened. Paula was at home with a cold and rested a lot, so did all the dogs in the house. Sometimes, days like this make you tired. I am not really in the mood to write much in my blog today. Please, come back another day!

City Council

Daniel is not at work today, but at the city council. This council is needed, because there are so many humans in our city, that they have to elect some who decide upon common needs. Dogs do not need a city council. We are also many, but we leave these boring things to our humans. Wolves do not need councils either, they just keep out of each others' businesses. It is, however, in the nature of humans to sit down and talk and talk about things, before anything happens. I am glad I am not a human, so I do not need to participate in talks like this.

The Fiona MacKenzies

Three different singers, all by the name Fiona MacKenzie, all from the same Scottish island, have decided to make a show together. The fact that three different singers have the same name is quite a coincidence and their names brought them together. It must be fun for them.

Whenever I perform for the public, it is in the dog show ring. In the dog show ring, you always have the element of competition against other dogs of your breed. I would not want to perform in a dog show where there would be two other Shiba Inus called Lunar Eclips.

The Fiona MacKenzies, however, perform without any competition among them. I guess this is one advantage of being a singer instead of a show dog - though I would not want to trade occupations, I like dog shows too much.

Snow, Again!

We thought spring was finally here to stay. The weather was beautiful yesterday and this morning, but in the afternoon, snow began to fall. The temperature was above freezing, so the first snow melted as soon as it landed on the ground, but there was so much snow that the ground cooled of and a layer of snow stayed. The new layer of snow is about 2 cm thick. I do believe it will disappear again soon, but the ground will be covered tonight. By the end of next week, spring may finally be here to stay.

A Pink Elephant

Humans sometimes drink stuff with alcohol in it. A lot of alcohol changes your behaviour and perception of the world. There is a widespread joke about people who have had too much alcohol to drink, that they see pink elephants. Imagine my surprise, when I learned that there are elephants who actually are pink. These are albinos, and an elephant with this odd colour was recently caught on camera in northern Botswana. The world is an amazing place, you should never believe you know everything there is to know about it. I am glad to pass this information on, and hope that it was something new for my readers too.

Late Night

This Friday evening, Paula, Daniel and I went over to Mia, Emil, and Kesshi. We were there until quite late, this is why I write this blog entry after midnight. We have an early morning tomorrow, so I'll better go to sleep soon. Stay tuned for more in my blog tomorrow.

More About Music and Politics

I have to write another piece on the Eurovision Song Contest, apart from the one I wrote Wednesday the 11th of March. Israel will be represented by a duo this year, where one singer is an Israeli Jew, the other is an Israeli Arab. They held different opinons on the recent war between Israel and the Hamas controlled Gaza, nevertheless, they are friends. The Arab singer has gotten critique from some extremist Israelis, but will perform the song anyway. I think this is a good thing, a duo that will necessarily be a symbol of fellowship and peace between the Jews and the Arabs of Israel. Their song is nice, though not outstanding.

Chocolate

Daniel had some chocolate for desert tonight. I would also have wanted some, but Paula and Daniel keep telling us dogs that chocolate is not healthy for us. They claim there is some substance in the cocoa which is toxic to dogs. Among ourselves, the four legged members of the household have discussed this and sometimes in the discussions, we touch on the possibility that humans say this about chocolate just because they are so fond of it that they want it all for themselves. The main proof that this is not the case, apart from the obvious fact that our humans usually never lie to us, is that Paula is not very fond of chocolate. There are a lot of things to eat that she likes much better than chocolate, but still let us eat. Over all, I do believe that chocolate is not healthy for dogs. However, it may be fun to discuss the possibility, just like discussions about the possibility of trolls in the woods or flying saucers from outer space.

Proud of Paula

I am proud of Paula today. She had a very difficult exam the other week, and today she got to know she got every question right and scored 32 out of 32 possible points. This is great. I am sure Paula will become an exceptionally great nurse, once she finishes her education. The help I gave her, when she studied for this exam, paid off.

More Wolves

There is an increasing number of wolves in Scandinavia. At least 25 litters of wolf pups were born in 2008, 22 of which were born in Sweden. Estimates show 23-24 packs of wolves and an additional 9-12 pairs of wolves. The progonosis is that there will be a little fewer litters born this year. The big trouble for the Scandianvian wolves is the inbreeding, the whole population is based on four individual wolves who have migrated here since 1983, the latest one last year. About three to five new wolves with fresh blood would be needed over the next five years for the tribe to thrive and get rid of the troubles with inbreeding. At the same time, the wolves do not have humans who help them find good mates, they have to rely on coincidences.

I would not want to meet a wolf in real life. At the same time, I am fascinated by wolves, the wild ancestors of all dogs. Nature would not be the same without them. If there is to be wolves in Scandinavia, I wish for them to get fresh blood and stop the inbreeding, otherwise, they will eventually perish anyway. I just hope that nature finds a way to save the Scandianvian wolves.

Chaos

In New York, an audition for the TV show Top Model ended in chaos. Six people were injuried and three were arrested. It is yet unclear what caused the chaos, but the arrests were on charges of inciting to riot and disorderly conduct. I do not know why anyone would do this. In a way, I see the world of fashion as a human form of dog shows, they are both about what future individuals of each species may look like. However, I cannot believe any dogs would cause riots that would make international headlines when queuing to get in to a dog show. Most dogs are better behaved than to cause anything like that.

Competitions

Paula and Daniel went to the regional kennel club today, among other things in order to get prizes for the successes of their dogs last year. They got one prize for each champion last year, one of whom was me. They also got a prize because April became a World Winner. April went with them and held the Shiba Inu flag up high in a funny little competition about the best dog of the club. She did not win, but said that the Rotweiler who beat her in a quarter final was a really good looking dog. Nevertheless, we all believe it was a good thing to have a Shiba Inu there.

In the evening, we watched the final of the Swedish qualification to the Eurovison Song Contest. Daniel's favourite song won, La Voix, sung by Malena Ernman. We were all rather satisfied with the result, but Paula would rather have wanted Alcazar's song as winner. Well, unfortunately, we cannot all have our favourite as winner. On the other hand, we are happier when things turn out the way we want, if they do not always do that.

Honda Becomes Brawn

It is now official that the Honda Formula 1 team is purchased by team principal Ross Brawn. The team will continue to compete in Formula 1. This is good news, there is absolutely no need for fewer teams on the grid in Formula 1.

It is nice to know that even in the current economic world crisis, Formula 1 will continue with as many teams as before. It is important for the useful technological progress made in Formula 1, that there are many teams competing for the victories. There is also a significant part of entertainment in Formula 1, and entertainment is perhaps more important than ever in economic recessions. It makes us feel happier and may make it easier to get through the hard times.

Top Technology in Everyday Life

Formula 1 is Daniel's favourite sport. It has got a lot to do with top notch technology to make the cars go as fast as possible. However, the research and development that results in fast cars for the race track gives inspiration to a lot more for our everyday lives. This is something that people who think Formula 1 is ridiculous ought to think about once in a while. All of the money invested in the sport is not just wasted on an expensive pass time that consumes petrol. By the way, the first race for the season is due in just two weeks.

Music and Politics

The Caucasian republic of Georgia has decided to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest. They claim that this is due to political pressure from Russia, who will host the contest this year. The song that Georgia would have competed with was called ""We Don't Wanna Put in" and its lyrics was critical to the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

If the story about political pressure from Russia is true, I strongly disapprove of it. Freedom of speech should be honoured, even if the people excercising the right are singing and not talking. The European Song Contest should not be about politics, but about friendly competition. Of course, the Georgian song held a political message, which does not belong in the contest (and is not allowed), but it is much worse that the Russians want to forbid it. I do not think politics belong in a music contest, so maybe it is just as well Georgia does not participate, so I would not have any reason to vote for that song just to support freedom of speech.

Sports and Politics

Sweden has become the centre of attention for a lot of people around the world the last weekend, because of a Davis Cup tennis game. It is not that the game involves world players or is the final game, the thing is that the game was played against Israel in the city of Malmö, where the ruling socialists decided that it had to be played without spectators. The official reason was security concerns, and there were some small anti-Israel demonstrations, but the real reason has to be anti-Israel opinions among the ruling politicians. I believe this is unworthy of the relationship with a democracy like Israel.

Japanese Economy Hit Hard

The Japanese economy has been hit hard by the current hardships in the world economy. Exports have been halved in January and for the first time in thirteen years there has been more import than export. I am concerned about the situation, but I do believe Japan will make it through the crisis. Importing more than you export must not always be a negative thing, either, as long as it is not a situation that goes on for a very long time. A good situation in a country is not just dependent on huge exports, but also from importing the things that you need and want. In a way, huge imports show how strong the Japanese economy is, even in times of falling exports.

Horses Domesticated Earlier Than Thought

British scientists have found that horses may have become domesticated by humans about a thousand years earlier than previous thought. They have found evidence that suggests that horses were used by a culture in what is now northern Kazakhstan about 5,500 years ago.

I believe it is important to note that this does not, in any way, threaten the status that dogs have as the earliest animals living and working alongside humans. Regardless of these new findings on horses, dogs went by the side of humans many thousands of years earlier. Horses have had a great impact on human civilisation, but dogs have been there for a much longer time and have, thus, impacted humans much more. Horses have been used as machines, vehicles and for food, while dogs are helping humans as hunters, herders, watchdogs, etc. Dogs are also something much more important, dogs are friends. However, I guess the odd horse may still feel some sense of pride that horses have a longer heritage in the human/dog civilisation.

News

I have only wonderful reports from my puppies out there in the big world. Bagus & Meja are two happy puppies and they love their families. What more can you wish?

Tonigh I wish Paula good luck. She is going to work night at the orthopedic clinic at the University hospital in our town. Its a new work and she is a bit nervous. Well, I know my Paula and she is a superb person so it will work out just fine.

Meja Is Her Name

We have heard from Kiko's family today, where my daughter now lives. They have finally decided to give my daughter the name Meja (just like the singer). I think this is a good name, better than Miho that they thought of first.

Meja met Kiko for the first time yesterday. Today, they have played with a ball together. The ball went in under a piece of furniture where Kiko could not reach it, but Meja was small enough to get it out. I would guess this did not make Kiko happy.

It makes me feel good that Meja will live with my brother Kiko. He can take part of the responsibility for teaching her how to be a true Shiba Inu, alongside the humans that they now share.

Road Trip

April and I went with Paula and Daniel to deliver my pup to her new humans. We went about half way to Älmhult, where my daughter will live with my brother Kiko and his family. Half way, that is to Brahehus, a nice place by Lake Vättern. The road trip was all right, and it was nice to meet Kiko, if only for a couple of minutes.

In the evening, we got a phonecall from Kiko's family. They have given my daughter the name Miho, which suits her fine. Miho has found her place in the family right away and really likes it there. This makes me feel good.

Paula has bought a new computer, a miniature lap top that we got from the post office after our road trip. It will be easy to bring this computer on future road trips. With this computer, I may have better means to update my blog when we are away for a couple of days. This is a great advantage.

Day at the Office

Daniel took my daughter to his office today. I would have thought that he would bring me as well, since she is so small, but he did not. My pup made a lot of friends at the office, everybody wanted to pet her. This proves that she will be good at her main job description: pet. Some of Daniel's co-workers even photographed her, she said. I am a little envious, I also like to be at the centre of attention once in a while. However, I am glad for my daughter, who had a nice day at the office.

Turmoil

At noon today, my daughter Fuji came back to us. I love her and was happy to see her.

Fuji is still the remarkable pup she has always been. She will go to live with my brother Kiko and his family in Älmhult. This makes me so happy. I believe this was meant to be. All is well that ends well.

Song Contest

We have now been able to see and hear all the 32 songs of the 2009 Swedish qualification to the Eurovision Song Contest. Tonight was the fourth out of four qualification rounds to the final qualification in Stockholm in two weeks. I believe 32 songs are too many, because there are always many songs that are not good. Before my lifetime, the Swedish qualification contest was normally done in one night with just ten entries, perhaps that would be better.

There were a couple of really good songs this time, two of which went straight to the final. The best songs of each qualifying round compete against one other song. It was ironic that Sarah Dawn Finer, who tried once again to sing a power ballad without having the voice necessary for it, went up against professional opera singer Malena Ernman. For those who had not heard it before, it must now have become very clear that while Ms. Finer may have a good singing voice, it is not great.

Daniel said he liked the golden outfit that finalist Agnes Carlsson wore. It certainly stood out in the crowd, but I liked the black dress of finalist Malena Ernman more, it reminded me more of a black and tan coat.

This is the last night with my son Bagus. He will move to Stockholm tomorrow. I am certain he will have a great life there.

Old Friends

An old friend of Paula, Lina, came to visit us around noon today, with her husband and little child. Paula had a great time. It was a long time since they saw each other.

We all have a lot to thank Lina for. It was thanks to Lina's first Shiba Inu Kinya that Paula and Daniel discovered the Shiba Inu breed. I may be the one who has the most to thank for. Without Lina and Kinya, neither Mum or Dad would have come to live with Paula and Daniel and would never have met. Consequently, I would never have been born, neither would my pups.

There are so many small things in life that are necessary for later events to occur the way they do. It is fascinating to think about it, and almost a little scarry to consider that even the smallest thing in the past may have been a necessary factor for yourself to have been born at all.

China and Satutes of Limitations

Two ancient Chinese bronze artefacts, of a rat and a rabbit, are up for sale at Christie's auction house in London. The Chinese government has condemned the sale, stating that the two artefacts were stolen in China in 1860.

I do not like theft. Whenever anyone tries to steal from me, I growl and show I will not accept it. However, these artefacts were stolen almost 150 years ago. After such a long time, most judicial systems say the real owner cannot press charges. There is something called statute of limitations, that precludes judicial action if you have not yet taken action within a certain time. Normally, statutes of limitation gives the owner twenty years to take action. This is a very long time, it is a much longer time than the vast majority of dogs live. Has China taken continuous action against the thieves or subsequent owners, with less than twenty years apart between every action taken? It does not say so in the long article that I have read. If they have not, and I do believe they have not, they are just sore losers for condemning the sale now. Nobody likes a sore loser.

In a case like this, I agree with the representative of Christie's, who said: "We continue to believe that sale by public auction offers the best opportunity for items to be repatriated as a result of worldwide exposure." If the Chinese government wants the artefacts so badly, it can just buy them. If the artefacts would be withdrawn from the auction, no such purchase is possible and the artefacts will definitely not return to China in the foreseeable future.

Fuji Has Moved

My pups were examined by our veterinarian today. They passed with flying colours. An examination like this needs to be done before the pups are given to the care of their new humans.

Later in the day, Fuji's new human came home to us. He has been here before, so we have gotten to know him as a very nice fellow. Fuji sat in his lap and was quite satisfied with him. I am glad, it seems like Fuji will get a great human to share her life with.

Last Night Together

This is the last night together, for me and both of my pups. Fuji, my sweet daughter, will move to her new human tomorrow afternoon. My dear son Bagus will move this Sunday. I love my pups, but as any good mother, I must allow them to leave and make their own lives, find their own purposes in the world. The coming and going of family members is unavoidable, like a law of nature. They will get good lives, of that I am certain, but I will still miss them. Although Fuji and Bagus have caused a lot of work, it is a work full of love and joy.

I meet my brothers once in a while, and I will certainly meet my daughter and my son occasionally as well. Those will be happy days. I will report of them in my blog, of course.

Who Will Buy the Honda Team?

Honda announced in December that it would withdraw from Formula 1. However, they have yet to find a serious buyer for the team. There has been various rumours about different buyers, but Honda CEO Takeo Fukui said today that Honda has yet to see a serious offer. Honda withdraws due to economic reasons in connection to the generally bad condition of the global car market. It honours Honda that they still have the aim to sell the team to a serious buyer. It takes a lot of money to back a Formula 1 team, this is not easily done.

For my part, I find it a bit sad that we lose one of the Japanese teams in Formula 1, and a car manufacturer as well. As a Shiba Inu, I always have hopes for the teams and drivers from the home country of my breed. It is also nice to see that companies that make cars for the ordinary driver also compete in the most advanced motor sport there is. One of these things, and probably both, may be lost for the team when Honda leaves Formula 1.

I wonder what will happen, if Honda does not find any buyer. Will they compete this year, nevertheless?

The Importance of Looking Good

A joint Swedish-Scottish scientific effort has found that looks are important for humans when they are applying for jobs. I would not think this is a surprise. Every human knows that looks are important when you seek a mate to wed and/or have children with. Humans often spend more time awake with people they work with than with their mate, so looks would play a part here as well, I believe.

For me, as a dog, the importance of good looks is nothing strange. Looks are important in the dog show ring and when we get a mate. In the show ring, the greatest importance is not looks, but conformity to the breed standard (which is lucky for dogs of some breeds), but you cannot deny that looks play a part in the judging.

Of course, there are parts of your looks that you are born with. Regardless of that, anyone can have a well groomed coat, well cut claws, and good manners. This is also very important for your looks, and any dog can do something about these things, just like any human can take care of the skin, hair, clothes, and manners.

With my Swedish Champion title, I have got the paperwork to show that I look good. I wonder whether there will ever be the same type of judging of humans? I do not think so, humans are often more sensitive about these things than dogs are. After all, we also have our excellent noses for judging other dogs, so looks are actually less important for us.

Blogging

My pups are more than seven weeks old. By their age, I had already become a daily blogger. I started this blog the day I turned six weeks old. There has been some hardships, such as figuring out what to write some days, but most days it is fun and I like to go back to read my earlier thoughts once in a while. My pups, however, show no interest in writing blogs. Sure, they have read some of my blog posts and surfed on the Internet, but none of them feel the need to express daily thoughts in a blog. I have suggested that a blog of any of them would not have to be daily, it would still give me a nice opportunity to read about the further lifes and times of my pups. They are still not interested. Well, neither is their father, my parents or anybody else in our family, so I guess I am not surprised. It is just that I am a little disappointed. On the other hand, above all, I want my pups to have a great life in a manner that suits them, not in a manner that would happen to suit me, their old mum. I believe they will, too.

Mia Visited Us

Paula's sister Mia visited us tonight. It is always fun to see her, though she left her dog Kesshi at home - which is just as well, since Kesshi and Dad are not friends. We had a nice time with Mia anyway. She babysat my pups for a while, something she did very well. The pups like her, just like the rest of us do. Some people are easy to like.

Long Time Companion Gone

In the entertainment news, we can read that actor Mickey Rourke has lost a friend of seventeen years, a faithful dog who died in his arms. It should be noted that after winning the Golden Globe award, the actor dedicated it to all his dogs, both dead and alive. He said: "Sometimes when a man's alone, all you got is your dogs." This was a very fine quote. There is a special bond between humans and dogs, dogs never abandon their humans. I mourn with Mr. Rourke for the loss of his dog.

7 Weeks

In one week Fuji will move away from home. Luckily she will be living in the same town as I do so I hope to see her soon.

Bagus will stay with us until he is 8 1/2 weeks old. Primus has promised me that he will learn him a lot of good things to know. I don't think Bagus will be dissapointed in his teacher. Primus can be fun and entertaining.

Stepping Down

The Japanese Finance Minister has resigned, after claims that he had had too much alcohol at a recent G7 meeting. It is definitely not proper to have too much alcohol when you are supposed to represent your country at a summit. Stepping down is the least thing the Minister can do. I would, for example, never eat or drink anything that would make me unfit to be shown at a dog show. We all have to consider the way we appear to the public.

A Dog Saved

In Malmo in the south of Sweden, dogs were playing on the ice that lay on the water, until one of the dogs went through the ice and fell into the water. The ice was too thin for any of the humans who were around to get out to save the dog. However, a lifebuoy was thrown out to the dog, and the dog managed to get hold of it and pulled ashore. The dog was very cold when it came up on dry land, there was ice in its tail, but it was saved. I am glad everything went well in the end.

Sunny Day

It was a sunny day today, and for the first time, we took some pictures of the puppies outdoors.



However, I sometimes feel there has been a little too much focus on the pups over the last few weeks. Here is a picture of me, to balance things up.

It Runs in the Family

My brother in law, Taichung Oh So Handsome "Oso" is now an American show champion. Oso beat his father, the famous Ch Tenkai Go Ryuukyuu Uruma, and went BOB yesterday. My former lover and also the father of my beloved pups Calvin (Taichung Classic Design) is a full brother to Oso. This makes Oso my brother in law.

Reports from Daniel and Paula says that Calvin will be shown under 2009. I cannot see why he would not become a champion too, as his brother and myself. Even though I don't love him in that way anymore he is still a part of my pups and a damn good looking shiba.

Arsonist Arrested and Charged

Police in Victoria, Australia, has arrested a man who is charged with arson. He is suspected to be responsible for some of the recent, great fires in Victoria. I am glad the police has managed to get hold of this man. There is another man also searched by the police in connection to another of the fires, I hope they will catch him as well. It would be interesting to know why these arsonist have lit fires, if, indeed, they have any rational explanations for their behaviour.

Some of the fires are still burning, although there is no catastrophic spread of the fires anymore and rain has helped fighting the fires in some places.

Cops

Kesshis "dad" Emil has a favourite show on TV. He has recently been to Phuket, Thailand, for 2 weeks together with Paulas sister Mia whom he lives together with.

I guess Emil felt a bit anxious that he would miss some episodes of Cops while being on vacation. He decided to record 13 episodes of Cops on their digital TV box. He claimes that he wanted to record another TV show instead of Cops but there was a change in the TV programme that made this "mistake". Nobody believes him. And why should we? Cops is a great TV show.

The Puppies Are Now 6 Weeks Old!

The countdown has begun. I have only two weeks left with my pups until they are big enough to move away from home. We took some picture tonight. The first three pictures are on Bagus. He will move to Stockholm and his owner Yvonne. The last remaining three pictures are on Fuji. She will move within the city limits to her owner James. I am so happy for these home I have found for my darling pups. My puppies will thrive in their new homes.

A Must Read

I will not write much today. Instead, I would appreciate if you would read this article instead. It is a great piece on the benefits of dogs.

Tudors

Paula is watching the last episode of the second season of the British TV series Tudors. She is sad that it is the last episode, since she enjoys the show very much. I have not followed every episode, but from what I can tell, it is well written, directed, and produced. I guess it would be a TV series in my taste, had I seen it all.

There are rumours that Tudors is not fully historically correct. I cannot be a judge of that, 16th century England is not my foremost interest. However, it is a TV show primarily made for entertainment, not a documentary. You have to be able to take some liberties with history in order to make entertainment. I believe that a series like this may spark an interest in history and make people read about what really happened. Thus, it is to the benefit of historical awareness in its own way.

Fires

While we have cold winter weather in Sweden, fires are raging in the hot summer of the Australian state of Victoria. Auntie Linni, whose father was from Australia, is especially concerned. The concern is not just due to the fires as such, but also due to the fact that some fires was lit by arsonists. Why would anyone light a fire like this? What is the purpose? We cannot think of any. We are glad to read that the fires are heavily fought, anyway.

Cold Weather

February this year seem to be the coldest month of the year, just like it usually is. We had a major snowfall yesterday, then the night sky was clear and we had about ten degrees below zero this morning. If my pups would have been born in the summer, they could have enjoyed a lot of hours of their lives outdoors already, but it is too cold and snowy for that now. Nevertheless, they enjoy life. We spent many hours in the livingroom today, which gives them another angle of life than just the puppy room. This is good.

Sunday

When I woke up this morning the world outside the window was white. It was snow everywhere. You can't even recognize the garden anymore. I thought it was a bit too much so I decided not to be outside more than absolutely neccessary. The other dogs enjoyed the cold and snow more than me. I'm happy that we are not all the same...

The pups and myself spent the evening in our living room. We watched some TV, played and had a good Sunday. April and Sunni were pretty intrested in the pups but the rest of the gang were not. I told the boys to keep their noses to themselves which they seemed to understand. Good for them!

I also helped Paula to use a chat function on facebook. She talked with our friend Meeri for nearly half an hour. They have some fun stuff and cool on-going plans together. This is good. I like Meeri and Meeri likes me. It's a win win situation.

Dog Genes in Wolves

Scientists have discovered that some wolves in North America has dark coat colour thanks to interbreeding with dogs. It is interesting that, not only do dogs come from the wolves, dogs have since given some genes back to wolves.

The dark coated wolves seem to have an advantage to the more common grey wolves, but the scientists say they do not yet know exactly what that advantage is. I have my own theory on that. It may just be that dark coated wolves are considered more handsome than the grey wolves by many, just like black and tan Shibas are arguably more handsome than red or red sesame Shibas. As long as I do not know of any other theory, I will stick by mine.

A fair trade.

Daniel is more sick than Paula now so I have stepped in to be a nurse for both of them. According to Paula I do a pretty good job and then Paula should now. Soon to be a reg. nurse.

Paula played with my pups and they enjoyed it very much. So did I. It is a lot of work taking care of pups. Since I took care of Paula's bo she took care of mine. It seems like a fair trade of work.

Registered Pups

If you search at http://kennet.skk.se/hunddata/ on "namn" and enter "Aangenaam", you do not only find me and my brothers anymore. My pups are also registered and can be found there. This is cool: we are now two registered generations of Aangenaam Shibas!

Quiet Afternoon

We had a quiet afternoon today, since Paula has come down with a serious sickness. She has had to laid down, not even able to play with my puppies. Once Daniel came home in the evening, the pups got someone to play with except for myself. Well, sometimes, it is nice to have an afternoon that is more quiet than usual. I wish Paula will get well soon.

An Important Bridge May Fall Down

The biggest annual dog show in Sweden is in Älvsjö in Stockholm in December. Last year's World Dog Show was also held there. Next to the show grounds is a pedestrian bridge from the nearby train station. A lot of people and dogs go by this bridge to the show grounds. This bridge is now very close to falling down. Fortunately, it is a while until the next dog show in Älvsjö, so they will have time to repair the bridge, I believe. Meanwhile, noone may pass the bridge and for now, all the train traffic under the bridge is closed. This is not good, because this is the main railway into Stockholm from the south. As long as the bridge is in order until the next dog show, I do not complain, though.

The Coldest Month

February is, statistically, the coldest month of the year. We had a week in January when the temperatures were 20 below zero degrees Celsius, but the rest of January had temperatures on or just a few degrees below zero. This February morning, the temperature outdoors was 8 degress below. It felt really cold after the relatively mild days we got used to throughout most of January.

We had some fun taking photos of the pups before Paula is going off to work night.

Happy moment!

I was truly happy today when Paula told me that she is planning to show me this spring after the puppies have left for their new homes. Everybody who knows me also know how much I enjoy and love beeing in the centre of attention. I love strutting my stuff in the show ring.

The picture above show how energetic I was strutting my stuff when I became champion. It is Paulas friend Sofie who show me.