Soaring Profits

Last month, I wrote about Japanese car manufacturer Toyota recalling cars, stating that this was a good thing. Now we can read that Toyota's profits are soaring and reaching new highs. I guess my prediction back then might have been a good one. Toyota fan Kuro-chan is happy to hear this.

Last Time as a Pup

Hello, Karstuhl here!

We were at a dog show in Växjö today. I was shown as a pup for the very last time. I managed to become Best of Breed Pup once again. The rest of "our team" did not do so well. We thought Daddy was the best male, but he did not even win the champion class. My half sister Meja was shown too, but she did not do well either, despite looking good. Well, shows are like that sometimes. We did not stay for the finals, so I skipped the chance to be seen in the finals. On the other hand, how big probability would I have had to make anything more than just a guest appearance? I would probably not have won anything. You will see me in the offical classes next.

Commemorative Moments

This evening, I had the great fortune to get to go with Paula, Daniel, Paula's parents and her sister Mia to graveyards. This weekend is devoted to those who have left us for the afterlife. We had our thoughts on Paula's grandparents.

We also visited the place where Kesshi is laid to rest, and the place where Paula's very first dog, the Samoyed Hakkas, is laid to rest. Hakkas was important for all the coming dogs of Paula and Daniel, because he was the first and started it all. Auntie Linni knew him, but he did not get old and was gone when my Dad and my Mum arrived to Sweden.

It is good to have a special day for everyone to remember those who have left this life. Naturally, I was thinking of Kesshi, but also on Gertrud's father Gunnar, whom I knew and loved.

Too Altruistic

Hi, Karstuhl here!

An elderly couple in Canada won a large sum of money in a lottery. They did not buy anything for themselves, though, but donated almost everything, about 98 % of the money, to different groups in their community. They claim they have already got everything they want themselves. I believe this is stupid. If I won a lot of money, I might donate a small part of it for Shiba Inu rescue organisations, but I would take care of most of the money myself. After all, why bet if you do not look forward to winnings for your own sake? There are always more candy and toys to have, and if you are a human without any dog, there is always dogs to be had. I wish I would have won that money instead, I would have put it to good use!

Second Day of the Course

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Today was the second day that Daniel and I went to the course. We trained getting in contact with each other, and I got a lot of snacks. Some of the exercises were rather tricky, but I got the hang of them quickly. Daniel did not learn as quickly as I did, neither did all of the other humans who were there with dogs. It is clear that the course is aimed at teaching both humans and dogs. This is good, it is good for dogs to have humans who know dogs and how to handle them. The best thing about the course, nevertheless, is the snacks.

Passing a Test

Daniel has passed the theoretical test necessary to become a dog show judge. Now he has to apply for the practical part of the education this spring. We hope he will be accepted, but there are a lot of applicants, so nothing can be taken for granted. It would be nice if Daniel would become a show judge, even though he would never be allowed to judge any of us, since he is our human. It might also make people think higher of our breeding, because if Daniel would be a judge, it would be a sign that he really knows what he is talking about. He is, already, but being a judge might make it more obvious.

Election

We have had our general election in September, but Mum was not very interested. She was more interested in the results of the American Midterm elections yesterday. I can understand that. She was born and raised in the USA and has always retained her affection for her homeland, even though she has lived more than half her life here in Sweden. Mum says it is not that she dislikes her home or her family here, but in her heart, she is always an American.

I know the Democrats lost the majority in the House of Representatives to the Republicans, but kept the majority in the Senate. What I do not know is the relevance of this. Mum says she knows, but she talked more to April about it than to me. This is also understandable. Mum and April are not the very best of friends, but April was also born and raised in the USA and understands American society and politics better than I do.

I have never even visited America. I wish I could go there sometime, time will tell if I do.

In the Ring

Hello, Karstuhl here!


This is a picture of me and Daniel in the show ring last weekend. We are just as synchronised as we look. It is fun running around the showring.

Occupied Territory

Russia occupies four islands that belong to Japan. They have done so ever since the end of World War II. While Japan agrees Russia could conquer the Kuril islands, the four islands between the Kurils and the Japanese island of Hokkaido have always been part of Japan. They are called the Northern Territory. There is no way Japan could agree on the secession of these traditionally Japanese islands. About 17,000 Japanese lived in these islands before the Soviet Union occupied them in 1945.

Today, Russian president Dimitri Medvedev has visited one of these Russian-controlled Japanese islands. Japan has, understandably, responded to this hostile act . The Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan called the visit regrettable. Russia's envoy to Japan was summoned. Russia did not respond in a proper fashion, but called the Japanese reaction "unacceptable". I believe the Japanese reaction was very mild. How many countries would react in such a lenient way to a foreign country occupying part of its territory? Russia should be happy it is dealing with the Japanese, and not with any more hostile people. Control of the Northern Territory should be returned to Japan as soon as possible.

Show

Hello, Polly here!

My brother Nemo and I met again today, at an unofficial show here in our home town. I was Best of Breed Puppy again, while Nemo was Best of Opposite Sex Puppy. The only other Shiba Inu competing was also a black and tan, an adult female who lives in Strängnäs although she is part of the breeding plans of our kennel. Do not ask me how, I have not yet understood, but that is the way it is. She was a nice acquaintance to make. She also became Best of Group - Second. Auntie April also came along to the show, but she was just there as a spectator. All in all, it was a nice day, though it felt long and we were tired when we went home again.

Handler Course

Hello, Karstuhl here again!

It was time for another course today. Daniel is not very experienced as a dog show handler, so he had decided to take a handler course. Since I am the dog he usually shows, I got to accompany him to the course. We both learned some new things, although I agree with Daniel that the course was on a fairly basic level. There was also a lot of spare time here and there, we believe there should have been fewer participants in the course. Nevertheless, the course was not a waste of time.

We also got to meet my brother Nemo and his family, who attended this course as well. Both Nemo and I will be shown at a dog show here in Örebro tomorrow. I hope we will both do well. At former shows, I have always managed to become Best of Breed Pup, but if I would lose to my brother, that would be quite all right.

A Message from the FCI

If you enter the homepage of the FCI, you are greeted by the following superimposed message:

The Fédération Cynologique internationale (FCI) informs all its members and contract parties that it holds no official relations with the Federación Canina Internacional and its members and that it does not recognise this Federación.

I do not know the reason for issuing this statement, but it is obvious that the FCI considers it of great importance. It might be that this other organisation has tried to impose as the FCI. This is serious business. Any dog organisation that takes dogs, dog sports and dog breeding serious is a member of, or affiliated to, the FCI. Other organisations should not try to steal the good name of the FCI. It is as if a competing football organisation to the Féderation Internationale de Football would try to host anything that they called the football world cup, despite not being the FIFA World Cup, this would just be weird. In the world of boxing, there seem to be many competing organisations issuing world champion titles, but this only contributes to the bad standing that boxing has as a sport. I would not want anything like that happen to the world of dogs.

Course

Hi, Polly here!

I go by the name Polly at the course. The first seminar was today, and there will be more seminars on the Thursdays to follow, until January. I am not sure why Paula and Daniel use the name Polly, at home they call me Karstuhl more often than Polly. I listen to both names, but I think Karstuhl is a better name, just because it does not feel as common. Perhaps Paula and Daniel just wanted to use the more common sounding name Polly for me in front of other humans and dogs.

The first seminar was fairly easy. I practised a little with Daniel, and I believe we both learned more about each other.

My brother Nemo was on the course as well. He was a little rude when greeting me at the start of the evening, but then we hit it off again. He was also a good student, second best of us all, next to me, I believe. Together, we held the Shiba Inu banner high.

Sheets

My husband Kuro-chan came to Sweden from our Japanese human friend Toshinori Omura. This Japanese gentleman loves the Shiba Inu breed, but he is a breeder of Poodles himself. Hence, when Paula discovered bed sheets in a Swedish store with Poodle silhouettes all over, she purchased them and send them to Toshinori Omura as a gift. The sheets have now arrived in Japan, and Toshinori Omura is so happy about them that he has published a picture of them in his blog. It is always nice to make a friend happy.

International Teddy Bear Day

Today is the International Teddy Bear Day, which is celebrated on the birthday of US President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, from whom the teddy bear got its name more than a hundred years ago. Daniel celebrated by wearing his tie with teddy bears on it.

Teddy bears are worth celebrating. They are the most iconic of plush animals and they are great toys, for dogs and humans alike. I wish everybody a happy teddy bear day!

Upcoming Course

Hi, Karstuhl here!

I will go on a course the day after tomorrow, and the following Thursdays for a couple of weeks. I do not really know what it means to go on a course. As far as I can understand, you are supposed to learn things, but I do not know what, and I do not know why it would be necessary.

Grand Auntie Linni told me about a course she went to, where there were a lot of unknown humans following her around in the forest when she was supposed to search blood trails. She did not like those unknowns at all, and tried to show them by growling at them to leave her alone. I do not know if my course will be that horrible, but I hope not. We just have to wait and see. Just like Linni, I will not put up with anything; after all, I am a noble Shiba Inu.

Researching That Which Is Already Known

By following human news, I have come to the conclusion that there are quite a few humans making the news who are scientists of one kind or the other. Some of these do interesting stuff, such as mapping dog DNA or developing Lunar landing programmes. Others seem to research that which is already known.

At the University of Padua in Italy, scientists have studied the way dogs recognize human faces. They have concluded that dogs recognize the faces of their own humans and prefer their own humans over unknown humans, as if not every human living with dogs already knew this. The study was defended in part because it was supposed to measure to what extent dogs preferred their own humans, as if this does not vary from dog to dog and from time to time depending on the dog's mood.

I wonder who granted the money to this research project. It cannot have been a human having dogs, because a human with dogs would already know the answers.

Would a dog ever research the extent to which humans recognize dogs and if they prefer their own dogs? No, because we already know they do.

Snow

Hello, Karstuhle von Würst here (a.k.a. Polly)!

I would have wanted to write this blog entry in white letters. It would fit the subject, and it is actually possible to chose white text, but it is not possible to have any other background than white, as far as I know. We have to make due with another colour.

We had some snow the other morning, but it melted away over a few hours. There is more snow falling today. The temperature is above the freezing point for water and, as I have been told, this would normally make the snow go away. Still, more snow is falling all the time.

I can recall that there was snow on the ground the first times that I was outdoors. I played in it together with my brother Nemo, before he moved to his new family at eight weeks of age. Snow is supposed to fall every winter, but those who are older than I am say that it comes very early this autumn and will probably go away soon. I hope not, I like to play in it for a while first. It reminds me of my carefree days as a young pup. Mommy says I am still a carefree pup, but I chose myself when to listen to that, it all depends on when I can benefit from it. Mostly, I believe I am not carefree. The snow is funny, anyway.

The Penguin

Hello, Polly here!

We have a stuffed toy penguin that I like. It has been gone for a while, but when we cleaned the floor of the living room today, we found it under one of the sofas. I started to play with it right away, but only for a while. We were not done with the cleaning, so I put the penguin away. Imagine my surprise, when the next time I saw the penguin, it was in the paws of another of the dogs here. I was really disappointed. Then again, what could I do? I have been told over and over not to start a fight over any toy, because there are so many other toys in our house. Am I growing up and becoming more mature, when I back off like this? Perhaps, but I hope not.

April's Pups

One year ago today, April's pups Sally and Biki were born. They do not live close by, but we think of them and their birthday is as good as any for some celebration.

Staying at Home

I knew something was going to happen next week. Paula and Daniel has made plans, organized clothes and other things and fetched travel bags from the smaller house where we store them. The plan was to travel to the Shiba Inu specialty dog show in Washington State in the USA on the 28th and 29th of October. However, these plans turned out to be flawed. Daniel could not get away from his work and Paula would not go alone.

I guess there are only some who are happy with this. Paula and Daniel had been looking forward to this journey all autumn, if not all year. They are distraught, and I can understand them. Their friends in America are also disappointed, and Mum is disappointed that Paula and Daniel cannot send her greetings to her American breeder in person.

I am rather selfishly happy, though, and so are my fellow dogs of the family who would not have come along on the journey. Not only would it have been yet another dog show that I would not have been invited to, but Daniel and Paula would have been away for many days. This does not mean I do not comfort them. Quite the contrary, I really know the sorrow and disappointment that you can feel, when you must not go to a dog show that you have prepared yourself for. Dogs should always comfort their humans, if said humans are distressed, it is one of our purposes in life and we are, by nature, good at it. All of us dogs have comforted Paula and Daniel. We feel sorry for them.

New Rules

Daniel has received new rules on dog shows. The Swedish Kennel Club has revised its rules in cooperation with the national kennel clubs of the other Nordic countries to get a common standard. There are some changes, even though the basic setup is the same as before. The new rules will take effect on the 10th of January 2011, after the Gothenburg dog show "My Dog".

It will be interesting to compete under the new rules. This is something to look forward to for next year.

The letter that came with the new booklet of rules was dated the 5th of October, but did not arrive until this week. Daniel was a little annoyed it did not. I do not really care, though, the rules came long before they take effect.

Securing Quality

Japanese car manufacturer Toyota, biggest in the world, is recalling 1.53 million vehicles due to brake and fuel pump problems. Toyota has received world wide critizism for their slow handling of a recall of about 8.5 million cars not so long ago. The car manufacturer now stresses that this recall is more proactive and that Toyota is working towards better quality and customer service, and that this recall of vehicles is part of that work.

My hubby Kuro-chan, father of Polly and Nemo, is a great Toyota fan and is not happy about this recall of vehicles. I have tried to persuade him that the recall is actually a good thing, if it is handled in a customer friendly way. A car buyer, just like a puppy buyer, needs to be handled with care. The boyer is your customer for as long as the car - or puppy - is in the possession of the buyer. Good relations to the buyer will often make the buyer come back for more, just like the buyers of my brothers Jiro and Kiko came back to us for more pups. I believe that the majority of Toyota customers see this recall as a good thing, ensuring the safety and quality of the car. It will make them more loyal to the Toyota brand. Kuro-chan is not so sure, but I believe it is so.

Thirty Years

Thirty years ago today, Paula and her sister Mia came to Sweden for the very first time. Their parents fetched them from their country of birth, Colombia. Paula and Daniel spent this evening at her parents' place to celebrate this event.

Since Paula was born in another country, she has a unique sense of understanding for Mum, Dad, and other dogs born in foreign countries. I was born in Sweden and has not been in many other countries. In the future, pups of mine may move to other countries, but I do not think I ever will. I am comfortable where I live, even though it is fun to be other places once in a while. It would, for example, have been nice to join the celebrations at Paula's parents' house this evening. None of us dogs were there, though, we celebrated with Paula earlier today.

The Pond

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Mommy did not write anything in her blog yesterday, and did not feel like writing anything today either. She says she does not have a writer's cramp, but just wishes to take a little time off. Well, this gives me the opportunity to write something instead.

I have sometimes wondered about the little pond outside of our house. It just lies there, outside of the dog yard and next to the path we use to go down to the road. What is the use of a pond? There are no fish living there, so it cannot be used for fishing. I then realized that it is big enough and sometimes deep enough for the gnomes to swim in. I suppose the pond is really a gnome swimming pool. This would be a useful purpose for a pond like this.

Mommy does not believe in the gnomes, so she did not think my theory was plausible. I do not care, it is actually much more fun if Mommy dismisses my ideas, then I can drive her a little bit mad when I keep persisting that this might be true. None of the other dogs have any theory on the pond that is more plausible, at least to my mind. Sure, I have never seen any gnomes swim in the pond, but what other use would there be for the pond? There is none, as far as I know. Thus, my theory is at least as good as anybody else's.

Orbiting the Moon

There are plans for humans to orbit the Moon yet again. This was done for the first time in December 1968 with Apollo 8, but has not been done since December 1972 with Apollo 17.

Long time readers of my blog know that I am interested in lunar exploration, in part because my registered name is Aangenaam Lunar Eclips.

I wonder when the first dog will orbit the Moon, or land on it. When human colonies are built on the Moon, dogs will surely be needed there.

Animal Abuse

Abuse of animals can happen in many ways. In Lidköping in Sweden, a dog was taken into custody by the authorities because her humans had fed her too much. She could not walk more than a metre, then she fell to the ground. Her legs just pointed in any directions. The veterinarian could not see any healthy future for this dog, so she was put to sleep.

I find no words to explain the sadness that I feel for this dog. May she rest in peace.

Working Nights

Paula was supposed to be home many days and nights in a row now, but she decided to take an extra night of work tonight. She told us that a colleague of hers had made a mistake when making her schedule, taking this night, when a family member celebrated his birthday. We do understand why that colleague wanted to have the night off. This means we have to manage without Paula tonight. We are used to it, since Paula is often working nights. There is no question about us managing this, but we do not fancy it.

Anatomy and Judging

Almost everything Daniel is talking about and thinking about is dog anatomy and judging. He is taking a test in these subjects on Saturday, so I can understand that it occupies his mind. It would be annoying if he would be talking this much about any other subject, but these are subjects that appeal to me. The aim for Daniel is to become a dog show judge, and I really hope he makes it. He will never be able to judge any of us, because he is our human and the rules forbids this because there would be a risk that he would not look upon us in an objective way. There are plenty of other Shiba Inus to be judged, though.

Uncle

This evening, I got to come along with Paula and Daniel to Paula's parents, who were visited by Paula's father's brother, that is, Paula's uncle. For my part, I know I have uncles on my Dad's side in Norway and on my Mum's side in America, but I have never met them. This made it a bit more special to meet Paula's uncle. It was a nice evening, the only thing I was a little disappointed with was that I did not get any piece of the apple pie.

About Those Gnomes

After I wrote a blog entry about my doubts that there are gnomes living in our house, my dear daughter Karstuhl has tried to convince me that there actually are gnomes here. Even though Karstuhl has said that she has met some of these gnomes, I have not.

It is not that I have to see or meet anybody in order to believe in her or him. There might be gnomes living otherwhere. If gnomes would be living in our house, or for that matter in any of the other buildings on our land, I do believe I would have smelled, heard, or at least seen traces of them sometimes.

I guess Karstuhl is just pulling my hind leg. She is so adorable that way, exploring and evolving her fantasies. She cannot fool me, though!

This Evening

Paula is working tonight, and left this afternoon before Daniel came home. Her plan was that she and Daniel would meet at her sister Mia's place and have dinner there, before Daniel would come home. This would have been boring for us dogs, more time alone. However, it did not take long before Daniel came home. He told us that when he got to Mia's place, there was nobody at home, and nobody answered when he tried to call Paula and Mia on their mobiles. He then decided to go home and told Paula so in a text message. When he was almost at home, Paula called him, but she understood why he had left. It turned out that Paula and Mia had been away working out, but that Mia's boyfriend was supposed to have been at Mia's place, which he was not. It was thus all a big misunderstanding.

I am really glad for this misunderstanding. There is nothing wrong with being alone at home, but it feels better when at least one of Daniel or Paula is here. Daniel also served us dinner earlier, since he came home earlier.

101010

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Today is a day with a funny date: 10/10/10 or 101010. It is the 10th of October (the tenth month of the year) in the year 2010.

I asked the older and more experienced dogs, like Mommy and Granny, if there were any special celebrations on dates like this. I have never experienced such a date before, but they have. There were 090909 last year, for example. They said, however, that this day was just like any other day. Daniel told me that sometimes, people sent letters on dates like this, because they liked the look of the dated stamp, but since it is Sunday he was not certain a letter or postcard sent today would get that date.

Well, I believe there is no bad cause to celebrate, so I suggested we would celebrate. We could also celebrate next year on the 11th of November and the year after on the 12th of December. The others were not so keen on this idea. They said it was no tradition. I have noticed that older dogs and humans often refer to tradition when they want to do or not to do something. Perhaps I will grow up to be just like them, but today, I thought they were too negative. I got to write a blog post about this, anyway.

Rain

There has been no rain where I have been in Sweden today, but a massive downpour in Japan caused the qualifying for Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix in Formula 1 to be postponed until Sunday morning. This means that the qualifying sessions will take place about 3 o'clock in the morning, Swedish time. As much as I would like to see the qualifying from the Shiba Inu breed home country, I doubt that I can keep myself awake for it. I guess it is better to sleep, but to get up rather early to see the race itself. Daniel will want to see the qualifying as well, but I do not think he is really up to it either. After all, the race is what really counts. I do hope Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi makes a great result.

En Route to a Dog Show

Paula and I travelled to Vallentuna north of Stockholm this afternoon. We will have a sleepover at Sofie from Kennel Enigma, and will go with her and some of her dogs to the dog show in Sundsvall tomorrow. It is fun to meet old friends, both two legged and four legged.

I look forward to the dog show tomorrow with great anticipation. It seems like so long ago, though it was not that many weeks since I made my comeback in the show ring after giving birth to my last litter. I guess this is what it feels like for everybody who cannot do often enough, something that they love to do. It is autumn and the huge amount of dog shows in the summer has vaned, but I hope I will enter the show rings several times before next summer anyway.

Celebrations After the Day

Auntie Linni had her birthday on the 4th of October. However, since Paula has been working night and Daniel has also been rather busy, she postponed her celebration until today. All the family is at home today, celebrating Linni. She is worth all the celebrations she can get.

Protection Outdoors

We listened to a radio sports show tonight, in which they talked about training and running outdoors. One of the issues they talked about was the feeling of security when running. Human females, especially, have this notion that they might be attacked by vicious human males when they are out running in forests or the like. There were tips on how to feel more secure: bringing a woman friend out in the running track, or buying an electric alarm to wear or the like. We were very surprised that they never mentioned the best protection a human can have: a dog. Do I have to explain why a dog would be the best? I do not think so. Thus, it is all the more surprising that dogs were not mentioned in this context. You have to wonder what some humans are thinking about.

Attacked by Lions

Lions are wild animals, used to roam freely in Africa. In Ukraine in Eastern Europe, a lion trainer showed lions in front of curious humans, when two of the lions attacked him. He was severely injuried in his arm and brought to hospital. Unsurprisingly, but sadly, nothing has been said about what will happen to the lions.

I think it is only fair that the lion trainer was attacked and injuried. You are not supposed to hold wild carnivores in captivity. Do not compare lions with dogs. Dogs are carnivores, but we have lived with humans for at least 40,000 years and have built the current, advanced civilisation together with mankind. I hope these lions will be brought back into the wild.

Well Deserved Nobel Prize

Robert Edwards, the human behind In Vitro Fertilization, IVF, or "test tube babies", has been awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for the discovery and development of IVF. With IVF, couples who are not able to procreate in a natural way can still get offspring by their own genes, fertilized outside of their bodies. It is also important to note that IVF can provide valuable insights for the purpose of conserving endangered canids. I include dog breeds with few individuals here, of course.

A Vatican official, Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, who is the Vatican spokesman on bio-ethics, have critizised that the prize was given to the man behind IVF, though he stressed that he made his statement in a personal capacity. He claimed IVF has resulted in many embryos who will never be able to grow and be born, and that most of these embryos will be killed. I believe this is a cost worth paying. Even in nature, many embryos perish before being born. Without IVF, not a single one of these embryos would become humans, dogs, or whatever they have in their genes to become.

When I first heard about IVF, my biggest concern was that it might be used to make less good genes pass on to coming generations. By this, I mean genes that would not be good enough to survive in nature without IVF. As far as I have learned, however, there is no evidence suggesting that individuals born through IVF has genes of lesser quality than others, nor, indeed, that these individuals have less probability than others of procreating in a natural way themselves. Consequently, IVF makes more genes survive to coming generations, genes of a quality that is at least as good as any others. Thus, the overall gene pool is improved, since it is made bigger. This is especially important with endangered species and endangered dog breeds.

As a mother of four, made in the natural way, I have no personal use for IVF. Nevertheless, I am glad it exists. I believe this Nobel Prize was well deserved.

Gnomes

Hello, Karstuhl here!

The othe week, Mummy wrote a blog entry about the gnomes who live, or may not live, above the ceiling in our house. Mummy is not sure she believes in them, even though Paula and Daniel have talked about them on numerous occasions. Today, I told Mummy I had met some of the gnomes. I told her they were very friendly, though a bit curious and had some strange ideas about who really owns our house. Gnomes often become much older than humans - which is nothing strange, it is just like humans become much older than dogs - and they have often lived much longer than the humans in a house. Our house is built ninety years ago, and would you not believe gnomes have lived here most of that time? That is, much longer than Paula, Daniel, and the dogs who moved in here with them before I was born.

Maybe I have a better understanding of all of this than the others, because I have lived in our house all my life. For your part, you may or may not believe it, it is up to you. Mummy is still in doubt.

Anniversary

Sixty years ago to the day today, the comic strip Peanuts was published for the very first time. Peanuts is one of the most widespread comic strips in the world, and for good reason. It is not only that Peanuts was very funny. One of the main characters of Peanuts is the Beagle Snoopy. He was not in the strip from the very beginning, but from early on. Snoopy is a clever dog and the main reason I hold Peanuts in a high regard. There is every reason to note and celebrate the anniversary of Peanuts. Remember this, if you are having a Saturday party today.

Working Nights

Paula is working nights this week. She will continue with night shifts for many weeks. We all miss her when she is gone during the night. It is not fun, and it means all of us dogs have to take a bigger responsibility for watching the house.

This weekend, Daniel will be away. This means that there will be many nights in a row that either of Paula or Daniel is not at home.

Nevertheless, I think we will work this out. We have before. There will be nights in the future when everyone is gathered at home, just as it always would be in an ideal world. On the other hand, in an ideal world there would never be any trouble, and that would be very boring in the long run.

New Things for the Bathroom

New things arrived for our bathroom today. The new bathroom is almost finished, and we received a new water heater and a new sink, among other things. We also received a new door for the bathroom. It is a nice, white door that matches the door across the hall outside of the bathroom and fits the age of our house. We can now definitely see the end of our time without a functioning bathroom. This is great. I believe we will be able to warmly recommend the company that has been responsible for rebuilding the bathroom: Comfort Vatten och Värme i Örebro.

A Little Heroine and the Necessity of Insurance

In the south of Sweden, a Chihuahua heroine is at the animal hospital, recovering from fighting off a dog claimed to be an American Staffordshire who suddenly attacked her Chihuahua friend. If it was not for this heroine, the other Chihuahua would be dead, according to the news reports.

The biggest problem is not the injuries suffered by the Chihuahua, but the huge veterinary bill after more than athree weeks at the hospital. Dog owners in Sweden have strict liability for damages caused by their dogs, but nobody seems to take responsibility for the actions of the attacking dog. The owner of the Chihuahua says to the press that she has not got the money to pay for the veterinary bill.

I am sad to say I am not surprised that no human takes responsibility for the attack. This is exactly what happened to our friend Kesshi, when he had been attacked by a Jack Russel Terrier the other year. The owners of that Terrier refused to take any responsibility and did not even have any money that could have paid for damages, had they lost in court. What makes me surprised, though, is that the owner of the dog says she cannot pay for the veterinary bill. The owner is a breeder, as such she should know the importance of insuring her dogs against any and all bad things that might happen to them. Our humans do.

The primary source of money for paying the hospital bill must be the assets of the dog owner, but if the dog owner lacks the funds necessary, the secondary source would be the dog's own insurance. I would gladly help the little heroine at the animal hospital, if that would involve claiming money from the owner of the attacking dog. I would not, however, help if the help would mean paying for the veterinary bill because the Chihuahua owner did not have her dogs properly insured. If this is the case, I do feel sorry for the injured Chihuahua, but not for her owner.

Popcorn

Paula is poping popcorns late tonight. Daniel said he did not want any, but I do. I also know the rest of us dogs want popcorns. I cannot understand why Daniel does not want popcorns. It is such a tasty snack. There is also a social thing about snacks like popcorn, when you eat them together with family and friends from a common bowl. If you have not tried to share a bowl of popcorns with the dogs and humans of your family, I suggest you try. It is a great evening get together.

Burial

We buried Kesshi today. I participated as a representative of the dogs of our family. As a special honour to Kesshi, we had lemon cupcakes. These were his favourites. I understand that, they are really good. May Kesshi rest in peace!

Anatomy

Daniel is studying anatomy this weekend. This is not all he does. He has seen to it that we got food in our bowls, worked a bit in the garden and watched a bit on the TV. Most of the time, though, he tries to preoccupy himself with a book on dog anatomy. It is great that he want to learn a lot about this. Of course, all of us dogs knows all there is to know already, simply by having a dog's anatomy, but it is nice to know that Daniel tries to learn the same things. The purpose of his studies is to be prepared for a course in anatomy and judging that he will take next weekend. He is aimed at becoming a dog show judge, and this is a first step on the road to be just that. His primary breed to judge will be the Shiba Inu, of course. We all wish him good luck in his efforts.

Updated Result

What I wrote yesterday about the result of the election to the Örebro City council is not true anymore. The County has reexamined some of the votes which were, at first, declared null and void. This means that the seat that seemed to go from one of the parties to the left to one of the parties to the right went back again. Thus, it now seems like we will have a left coalition minority rule for the next four years.

Is this the final result? Will there be a leftish minority rule? I do not know. I might bet on it, but I am not sure.

Election Results

Daniel goes on and on about it, so I might as well write a few lines about the results of the Swedish general election.

In the national parliament, a centre-right four party government coalition stood against a centre-left-far-left-environmentalist three party coalition. The government won more than 49 % of the votes, but was two seats from keeping its majority in the 349 member parliament. The opposition coalition won less votes, and a populistic far-right party won seats for the first time. (You can have doubts about the far-right label, since many of the ideas of that party are rather leftish, Daniel says, but this is beside the point.) The government coalition stays in power, still with more seats than the left coalition, following a tradition of minority governments in Sweden.

In our home city, the result was rather similar, with the exception that the environmentalist party is on the same side as the centre-right parties. The centre-right-environmentalist coalition stays in power, having lost its majority in the city council but still with more seats than the left coalition, and then there are some seats that went to the far-right party. Daniel won a seat with his conservative party of the centre-right kind.

What is similar, both on the national level and on our local level, is that neither the centre-right nor the left coalition will cooperate with the new far-right party. This is the foundation for keeping the power, despite having a minority. Daniel is not very concerned about the state of the national parliament, but a bit more so on the city council. Still, if everyone takes care not to invite the far-right party into any cooperation, this should work out just fine. I just wish I could understand it a little better, human politics can be so complicated.

RIP

Mum's grandmother Jenny has passed away, fifteen years old. She used to be a show dog and a great agility dog, but retired some time ago. Finally, her kidneys stopped functioning properly, and then she did not have much time left on Earth. I never knew my great grandmother, as she lived in America, where I have never been, but Mum has told me about her. Her lines live on in Mum, me, and Polly, and hopefully for generations in eternity, as she surely does herself in Heaven.

Horror Movie

Last week, I wrote about a newborn human boy who was found deserted on an airplane at an airport in Manila, the Philippines. His mother was found a couple of days later. Today, I have an even more horrible story to tell. A man was filmed by a CCTV camera in Dorset, the UK, when walking a limping dog. He then suddenly walked away from the dog, got into the back seat of a car, and the car drove off.

The dog is taken care of by wardens from the borough council, who are now trying to rehouse her. It was found out that her limp was due to seriously overgrown claws that were digging into her pads.

A mother can desert a newborn baby due to temporary insanity after delivering her child. Deserting a dog in the way shown in this film must be premediated. Any human must consider this a much worse offence.

The humans responsible for deserting this dog will be prosecuted. In England, the maximum sentence for causing unnecessary harm to an animal is six months in prison and a £20,000 fine. I believe this is not enough, but that is just me.

Early Humans and Early Dogs

There are new theories on when early humans left Africa for the rest of the world. Findings of ancient stone tools suggest they may have left Africa more than 70,000 years ago, even though DNA researchers say it is more likely the exodus happened about 60,000 years ago.

The scientists who support the earlier times say the DNA results are not quite reliable. The reason would be that the DNA research is made on present day humans without any ancient DNA to compare.

As far as I know, DNA research have also suggested dogs and humans started to live together on Earth about 40,000 years ago. If the DNA research on humans suggest a date which is too late, perhaps the DNA research on dogs do as well. In that case, dogs and humans may have joined forces much earlier than 40,000 years ago. I like to think this is true.

Late Night

We were up until late last night, watching the election results coming in. Suddenly, we were past midnight, and I had not written any daily blog post. I am sorry I did not. The election was kind of exciting, since it was so close. As I have written before, I am not really sure what to think of the different political parties, but I have my hopes for the party that Paula and Daniel are members of - for their sake, if nothing else.

Election Tomorrow

There is a general election every four years in Sweden, determinging which humans will rule human society. Tomorrow, it is time again, for the second time in my life. Only humans who are eighteen years or older are allowed to vote. Dogs are not, not even the odd dog who would live to be eighteen. Humans do not trust us to make informed choices. Perhaps this is true.

If I would be allowed to vote, I would want to vote for the party who offer the best terms for dogs and dog breeders. Daniel says, however, that there is no party which makes terms for dogs a main issue in the election or in their policies at large. I know Daniel and Paula would work for dogs if they were elected, but when they try to teach me about the election, policies of different politicians, and the trade-offs which they say are often needed to get political result, it all seem to be so complicated. It might give me more satisfaction not to vote. Nevertheless, I hope my human readers who can vote for Paula and Daniel will. They would be happy, which would make me happier.

Reshuffling the Cabinet

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan was reelected as party leader the other day, and could thus remain as PM. I believe this is good for the political stability in Japan, which has seen so many different Prime Ministers over the last couple of years. Naoto Kan is now reshuffling his cabinet, giving important posts to new ministers. It might seem like this is political instability, but I say it is not. The main issue for political stability in a country is a monarch, which Japan is fortunate to have, and the second most important thing are prime ministers who have a firm political majority behind them in parliament and their own cabinet. Reshuffling the cabinet is mostly a way to strengthen this political stability.

Meanwhile, back in Sweden, we have a general election the day after tomorrow. Since 2006, we have had the first cabinet supported by a majority in parliament since 1981. In the interest of political stability in Sweden, it would be nice if the present majority coalition would win a majority this Sunday as well. Then we might see a reshuffle in the Swedish cabinet as well, even that in the interest of political stability.

Not a Future Career

Hi, Karstuhl here!

I have been thinking of my future this week. Part of it involves being a pet dog, part of it a show dog, if I tread in the paw prints of my Mummy and Granny. There might be other options, though. I have considered becoming a hairdresser for poodles. My toy poodle friend Laila volunteered as a hair dressing model. She was disappointed with the result, but what would you expect from a first attempt, an attempt that Paula did not allow me to finish? All I had time to do was one of Laila's ears, not the other. Both Laila and Paula are disappointed with me and suggest that I must find another career. With reviews as bad as theirs, I guess I will.

Celebration

I am busy celebrating my birthday today, so there will not be much written in my blog. Greetings and presents are welcome, even if they are late!

Bomb Threat

One of the most famous buildings in the world, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, has been threatened. An anonymous phone caller have said there is a bomb in the tower. All the visitors have been evacuated and police are searching the tower for a bomb. A bomb searching dog is helping the police, of course. Nobody is better at finding bombs than a dog trained for it. This is yet another example of how dogs are invaluable for all society.

Above the Ceiling

The men who are at our house to rebuild our bathroom has come a long way now. Today, they were up in the tiny space between our ceiling and the roof, giving us new water pipes from the kitchen to the bathroom. There were, of course, some odd noise from up there, but they did not find any odd things.

Paula and Daniel have talked about gnomes living in our house, and I have presumed it must be up there, because that is the only space available. I am not sure I believe there really are any gnomes there, because I have never heard, smelled or seen any. It is quite possible this is something Paula and Daniel are just joking about. They can have rather serious voices when joking about things that they both know are not true, sometimes making it a little difficult for the rest of us to know whether it is a joke or not. I guess that if we do have gnomes living on top of our ceiling, they were out today, disturbed as they would otherwise have been by the work being done.

Newborn Human Boy Deserted

Cleaners onboard a Gulf Air aircraft which had landed in Manila, the Philippines, have found a newborn boy in a trash bin in one of the toilets onboard. The boy has been taken to a hospital and is in good health. He is called George Francis, after Gulf Air's airline code GF.

The mother must have managed to give birth to the boy without anybody else onboard taking notice and then sneaked out of the aircraft together with the rest of the passengers. The social services in Manila has started an investigation into the identity of the boy and his mother. I guess the passenger list to the aircraft can come to good use in this investigation.

As a mother of four, I have a hard time understanding how anybody can desert their offspring in this way. There might be some kind of temporary insanity behind the behaviour. When I gave birth to my first litter, where both pups were breech births, I was very tired in the first hour after delivering them. Once I had had this hour to recollect myself, however, I took very well care of my pups. The second birth was easier.

My guess is that this was the first birth of a very young mother, who presumed her family would not accept her having a child, and thus went into panic. I cannot understand, though, how a baby would not be welcome into its family, no matter how unexpectedly it would be born. Being a parent is one of the main purposes of life, and one of the best things in life. I hope this deserted boy will have a happy reunion with his mother, or else that he will be adopted by other humans who will love him.

We Will Never Forget

Inbreeding

Some humans complain over inbreeding in many dog breeds. Dogs are, however, not the only species at risk because of inbreeding. The risk of inbreeding exist in all species who uses sexual reproduction. In the UK, for instance, scientists warn that some bumblebee populations are at risk of extinction because of inbreeding, which is caused by a loss of suitable habitats. Humans are, thus, in part to blame for this. This is sad news. Bumblebees are important for the biodiversity, not only on their own account, but because many plants depend on them for their reproduction.

Dad is not sorry. He hates bumblebees and other small flying things. They are bugging him. He has explained to me that they can be very dangerous, but I am still not as hesitant about meeting them as he is. Well, at least Dad would be happy if there were no more bumblebees around our house.

Illegal Hunt?

The European Union has instigated an investigation into the hunt for wolves in Sweden last winter. There are suspicions that Sweden made the decision on the hunt in breach of the EU rules on habitats of endagered animals. The EU states that the hunt has probably contributed to more inbreeding of the Swedish wolves, that the purpose of the hunt is unclear, and questions the scientific causes for the hunt.

The Swedish government has said that it will bring more wolves to Sweden, in order to minimize the inbreeding. I guess this is a good idea. Dog breeders often bring dogs to their home country from abroad for the same purpose. Nevertheless, I cannot see the need for hunting wolves. There are so few wolves in Sweden anyway. People in the countryside who are afraid of the wolf may get large dogs for the protection of themselves and their livestock instead, this is a method that works in other countries.

Inspiration

It is not always easy having a daily blog. Once in a while, I cannot think of anything to write. This is such an evening. Please come back tomorrow, I will go on a quest for inspiration until then.

Gone Forever

Hello, Karstuhl here again.

Mummy is very sad about the passing away of the old friend of the family, Kesshi. I cannot be as sad. I did not know Kesshi, I just knew of him. I do know Kesshis human Mia, Paula's sister, who was here yesterday. I helped comforting Mia. I also take a little pressure off of Mummy by writing the blog post for today.

As a matter of fact, I have a hard time relating to death as such. I am still just a pup, I have not lived very long, and I have never knew anybody whom I have lost in that way. The grownups say death is final, that you never come back. This sounds strange. They also say everybody will die, eventually. I am still not comfortable with that thought. It is not that I have considered life before me as an eternity, I just had not given life, eternity or death any thought at all before. I guess this will preoccupy my thoughts for a couple of days.

Off to Heaven

Kesshi has left us for the afterlife. Kesshi, Paula's sister Mia's Shiba Inu male.

Mia came by our house afterwards, so we all got the chance to comfort her.

I am sure Kesshi is on his way to a better afterlife, if he has not reached it already. He was such a nice, good hearted fellow. He tricked death two and a half years ago, after suffering a surprise attack by a fierce Jack Russel Terrier, but never got quite well. In afterlife, he must be as strong as he ever were.

Killing a Garden Gnome

There is a commercial currently aired on Swedish TV for a Swedish home decoration store chain that we do not like. This store chain has decided not to sell anything but fabric and other "soft" things, so in the commercial, a garden gnome is thrown out of an airplane together with a lot of fabric, and the gnome is crushed when reaching the ground. We feel sorry for the garden gnome. What has he done to deserve being executed in this horrible way? We do not think it was his fault the store chain felt the need for change. Well, garden gnomes are often ridiculed, perhaps this is what makes them fair game in the minds of a lot of people. I think that is wrong. At the very least, garden gnomes deserves more respect than is shown in this commercial.

Visit

We are not going to any dog show this weekend, but there are other things to do on a weekend that makes for a nice change from the usual routines. I got to go with Paula and Daniel to Paula's parents this afternoon, as the only dog. It is nice to feel special once in a while, and we always have a nice time by Paula's parents. We had a little barbecue and I got to taste the good food. I also got the opportunity to rest in Nils Olov's lap for a long time, which made me feel even more special. I suppose he liked it just as much as I did. All in all, it was a very pleasant visit, even though - or rather just because - there is nothing more interesting to say about it. You do not always have to make things special in order for it to be pleasant.

Qualification

The qualification to the UEFA European Championship in football has started tonight. Sweden played Hungary and won 2-0. The championship is played in the summer of 2012.

I believe it is a good thing for the sport of football that there are other international championships than the World Cup, and that the qualifications to the different championships of the confederations stretch out for years, just like the qualifications to the World Cup does. This makes people keep the interest for national team football, which I believe would disappear if there was just the World Cup played every four years. Especially for dogs, who have lifespans which are more limited than that of humans, a football cup played every four years would really be too far in between.

There are, of course, both humans and dogs who are not interested in football no matter what. Mum is one of them. She did have a tiny bit of interest for the World Cup for as long as her home country USA was playing, but that was it. The European Championship is nothing for her. I hope Sweden does well, nevertheless. Dad hopes Norway does well. The next games are played this Wednesday, we will see what happens then.

Dog Attacked by Lynx

A Swedish newspaper has published a film on its web page with photos from a camera strapped to a dog, just as that dog was attacked by a lynx. The dog was out in a forest in Sweden with his human, hunting for bears. He started to bark when out of sight of his human, then he was attacked. Fortunately, he survived and did not even get wounds serious enough that he had to go to a veterinarian. The lynx just bit him in one leg. The film may be a bit scarry and it is noisy, capturing the barking, but all is well that ends well.

A reporter asks the dog's human by the end of the film if he will hesitate to bring the dog out into the forest again, but the answer is no. I believe this is a correct risk assessment. It is highly unlikely that you are attacked by a lynx. It would be at least as unlikely to be attacked a second time. Hunting dogs love to hunt, that is what they live for; it would probably be more traumatic for this dog never to hunt again than to go out in the forest again where he was attacked by the lynx. I wish him good hunting!

Dog Rescue

We watched a TV documentary this afternoon about dog rescuers in Philadelphia, USA. It is horrible what some humans let their dogs go through. There were some humans who used their dogs for dog fights, that is, they were teaching their dogs to fight other dogs until either of them died. This is not legal, and with good reason. Making dogs fight each other goes against dog nature and is animal cruelty. The greatest tragedy is that even if you rescue these dogs, they have been taught to be aggressive all their lives, which makes it very difficult to rehabilitate them and give them normal lives in the care of loving humans and with normal relations to other dogs.

Perhaps humans who are convicted of arranging dog fights would be sentenced to bare hand fighting for life or death to each other. The humans who would survive, would be put in prison for life. On the other hand, the justice system needs to show that the law is better than the weird morale of these people, and just sentence them to prison. I do believe, however, that they should have prison sentences for life. Humans like that should not be let lose in society.

Early Night

We take an early night tonight. We did not get much sleep during our wonderful weekend on Gotland, especially Daniel did not. He also caught a cold on the night between Sunday and Monday, but managed to drive home to Örebro where we arrived at 1.15 in the night. We did not have an early night yesterday either. Today, though, we will. This will hopefully make all of us in a better mood.

I am glad dogs cannot be infected by the viruses that cause human colds. If we would, I guess most of the four legged members of our household would be coughing and sneezing now. Paula has been infected, but we have not. On the other hand, there are diseases that dogs get which humans do not, so I guess it evens out.

Visby

Hello, Polly here!


I was best pup of the breed at both shows we went to this weekend, just outside of Visby. I was the only pup competing, but that is no guarantee for being best pup. You have to be good enough to get an Honourary Prize first, which shows there are hopes that you will grow up to be an excellent representative of your breed.


Visby is a nice city. We lived in the old part of the city, within the city walls. This meant we were allowed to drive our car up to a parking lot next to the hotel, whereas motor vehicles are normally prohibited from getting inside the city walls in the summer months. I was amazed at how narrow the streets were, making Daniel drive very slowly. Mummy explained to me many of the narrowest streets were in fact alleys, though there is no determined definition on what is a street and what is an alley. I learned that in the old days, when the old city was built, there were no cars. There were carts, but these were few and not meant to go into all the alleys. Prohibiting motor vehicles from the old city is thus just a way to make the streets and alleys be used in the way they were originally built for. This was fascinating to learn.


I hope we will go back to Visby next year. They are supposed to arrange a show at the same weekend next year.

The Show

We came back home to Örebro really late last night, after a successful show. I was Best of Breed Saturday, beating my dear husband Kuro-chan. On Sunday, he beat me in the Best of Breed competition. Our daughter Polly was best pup both days. Mum became Best Veteran. These are the most important competitions, since the breed competitions are the official ones.

Preparing for the Next Show

We are going to two more shows this weekend, on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. The shows are on Saturday and Sunday, one show each of these days. It takes a while to go to Gotland. We will go by ferry tomorrow and stay the night until Saturday. There are two shows on Gotland, which makes it worth the long trip. I hope we will be successful, too. Any show is fun to be at, but of course, it is better if you are successful as well. With two shows, you have two chances the same weekend, which is great. I am looking forward to this trip.

Picture of Winners

This is me to the right in Norrköping, when I had just won Best of Breed. My handler was Sofie Lönn, while Paula was the handler for Kuro-chan, left, who became Best of Opposite Sex. Judge was Mr Dimitris Antonopoulos from Greece. The nice photography is courtesy of photographer Sandra Älverud Sjöström of Kennel Spisi's.

Cleaning the House

We made a great effort, all of us, this evening, cleaning the house. Not that it was hideous before, but extensive cleaning has to be made once in a while. I am tired from all of the work put down in cleaning, so this is all I will write tonight.

Birthday

This is Paula's birthday, and we celebrated her accordingly. She got some flowers and she got a Simpson Supajet dog fan. Dog fans are specially adapted to dry dog coats after a bath. This fan is rumoured to be great. I had my doubts about chipping in to buying it, but after reading about it, I believe it is good. I just hope not to have to take baths more often than before when this fan is in the house, even though it will shorten the time to get dry after the bath.

Since it was Paula's birthday, we had extra treats with our food. Getting extra treats is my favourite part of celebrating birthdays.

Celebrating Paula

It is Paula's birthday tomorrow. She and Daniel went to her parents this evening to celebrate it, though. Most of us dogs stayed at home to watch the house. We will celebrate the birthday on the registered date, tomorrow, instead. You might think this must be better, but two facts say it is equally well celebrating the birthday tonight. One is that it was tonight that all of Paula's human family could make it, since it is Sunday. The other is that Paula was adopted and her registered birthday has since been changed, because it was found out that the birthday that was first registered when Paula came to Sweden was probably not correct. It is thus far from impossible that her birthday is not the 23rd of August but another date, so celebrating the birthday today might be as correct as celebrating it tomorrow. Well, regardless of whether the 23rd is Paula's true birthday or not, it is her official birthday. There are others who are also celebrated on an official birthday regardless of what is presumed or known to be the true birthday, such as Jesus Christ and Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom. This is not a bad company to be associated with.

Good Results

At the dog show in Norrköping today, my family made quite a success. Mum became Best Veteran and was one of the eight last in the veterans' final. My daughter Polly was best puppy, at her very first show. Polly's father Kuro-chan became Best of Opposite Sex. I managed to become Best of Breed myself, but I am most proud of Polly, who really did well at just six months of age. She has not trained much, but the way she moves in the show ring indicates she has got talent. Below is a picture of Polly from the show.

Show Tomorrow!

I am eagerly waiting for tomorrow. There is a dog show that we will go to, and for the first time this year, I will be shown! I love to show off at dog shows.

Paula always says that my eagerness to be shown is visible in the ring by my showmanship, and that this have contributed to my success in shows. This is probably true. If you would chose between two dogs who were equally excellent according to the breed standard, but one looked happier and had more star quality than the other, would you not chose the former?

My dear daughter will also be shown tomorrow, for the very first time. She wrote about this in yesterday's blog post. I wish her good luck!

Birthday

Hello, Karstuhl (a.k.a. Polly) here again!

It is exactly six months ago today that I was born. We have celebrated me a little, though not as much as I would have wanted. I have been around long enough to witness annual birthdays, and they are celebrated much more than my half year day. This surprised me a little, since there are so many in this house who are interested in dog shows, and when I turn six month, I can start participate in the shows in puppy class.

This weekend, I will make my debut in the dog show ring. Mummy has told me it is quite fun going in the ring. I was a spectator last weekend and tried a show ring when there was no competition going on. Still, I believe this is not really like actually participating in the show. There will be many dogs there, but this is of no concern for me, I can handle that. I sure hope I will make my parents and grandparents proud by getting a good result. Reports will come in this blog.

Daniel's Blog and Politics

Daniel has started a blog. He is a politician in his spare time and writes in Swedish mainly regarding the campaign before the general election in Sweden on the 19th of September this year. It is barely more than a month to the election and the main campaigns have started. Paula is also a member and a candidate for the same political party as Daniel, though she is not quite as active in the campaign as he is. While Daniel is a candidate for the city council of Örebro and the national parliament, Paula is a candidate for the regional assembly responsible for health care and hospitals in Örebro county.

I hope both Paula and Daniel do well in the election. Not that I care or know much about politics, but because I know and love them. I am certain both Paula and Daniel would do very well on whatever political positions they may get after the election.

A Call from a Friend

A friend of ours, who have a pup from us, called today and talked to Paula. He was thankful for the concern that Paula and Daniel have showed him, after he was diagnosed with cancer. Paula and Daniel visited him and his family the other day, having some coffee and cake. Our friend told Paula a lot of his friends have not been heard from since they learned he has cancer. This made him all the more thankful for the concern that Paula and Daniel have showed.

I do not understand why people would not show their concern, but keeping away, when a friend gets cancer. Cancer is not contageous. Paula said some people are scared of cancer and do not want to be reminded of it by meeting anyone whom they know have got cancer. This may be an explanation, but I do not understand it. If you love somebody, it is when that somebody is in distress that I would like to show my love the most. On the other hand, I am a dog. I cannot understand all the feelings of humans, just like I would not expect humans to understand all of my feelings. Dogs have a different take on love than humans have. I guess I might just have to accept that I do not quite understand.

Weather Forecast

In the weather forecast of the news paper today, it said there was a high probability of rain. The morning went by without rain, and the afternoon went by without rain. I started to think the meteorologists had made a wrong forecast again. Mind you, I am aware it cannot be easy to make weather forecasts, the weather is often notoriously unpredictable. Scientists even describe the weather of Earth's atmosphere as chaotic. Therefore, my belief that the meteorologists were wrong again is not to be interpreted as me believing they are bad at their work. They are much better at predicting the weather than anybody else I know. When the evening came, though, so did the rain. The meterologists were right today, kudos to them. I am glad I was indoors when the rain started to fall, and I was glad the forecast was right. The more often the forecast is right, the more I feel I can trust it.

Short Visit

Mia stopped by early in the evening. It is always nice to see her, too bad she did not stay for long tonight. Life gets a little more fun on an ordinary Monday, if you suddenly get an unexpected visitor like this. We did have a nice Monday evening anyway. Sometimes, especially if you get a hint of something unexpected and fun, a nice ordinary evening just seems more bland than usual. Well, we will perhaps have a more special Tuesday.

New Species

Hi, Karstuhl here again!

I am still a pup and I expect that I do not know everyting about the world around me. It dawned on me today, that there may very well be big animals such as mammals not yet known to any dog or human. In the Amazonas, there is a newly discovered species of monkey. If this species is newly discovered, how many more species of large animals may still be undiscovered?

An odd thing is that this monkey has a bright red beard. This might be fun to know for the red Shiba Inus here at home, but since I am a black and tan, I do not care as much as they do. I hope the next newly discovered large animal is black and tan, that would be fun.

Dust

Paula and Daniel spent part of the day cleaning the house again. It is amazing how much dust will gather in a few days, and incomprehensible why it does. Part of the dust is blown dog coat, but what about the rest? I think dust is just another proof that the world we live in is not perfect.

Caring for Paula

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Mummy is busy today caring for Paula after her surgery. It is important to care for Paula, caring for our humans is one of the things we do as dogs of the household. As a pup, I am not expected to do quite as much as the grown up dogs, this is why I write the blog entry for today instead of Mummy.

Paula is feeling better and better, but she is still tired and can feel pain from where she was cut. This is nothing strange, but just what would be expected, Mummy says. I have never before been close to someone who has undergone surgery just recently, but I have every reason to believe in what Mummy says. I feel sorry for Paula for the pain she has, but I am still glad, because she says the surgery went well and she is recovering just like she should be.

Coming Home

Paula has been away for a couple of days. She was in Stockholm for a surgery, and everything worked out according to plan. Daniel, Auntie Linni, Dad, Karstuhl, and I went to give her a ride home today. Normally, Paula is the nurse at our place, but when she is tired after the surgery, I fill in and take care of her. She will recover entirely and is already feeling better than she was when we fetched her. There is nothing more that needs to be said.

By the way, Daniel finished mowing the lawn this afternoon, just before heavy rain started to fall.

Mowing the Lawn

Daniel mowed the lawn in the dog yard today. It was not a day too soon. Some of the grass had grown so high the straws bent under our breasts when we, the Shiba Inus, walked across it. Not only is this uncomfortable and makes it harder to know where you put your paws, it is also easier for ticks to reach the coat and crawl onto you. I really dislike ticks. It is good to lower the risk of them getting at me, but I guess we can never get rid of them completely. If there is any species I would like to become extinct (apart from bacteria and viruses that gives you horrible diseases), it is ticks.

Unfortunately, the whole lawn could not be mowed today, since Daniel ran out of petrol. There will be time to buy a new lawn mower eventually, then Daniel will look into cheaper and more environmentally friendly alternatives to petrol. Our lawn is too big for a lawn mower powered by electricity through a cord, but there may be other options. It is of no immediate consequence, though. Daniel bought more petrol this evening, so he might mow the rest of the lawn tomorrow.

Good News for American Wolves

A federal judge in the USA has ruled in favour of wolves being an endangered species in the whole Union.

Wolves have been nearly extinct in the USA, but they have come back over the last decades thanks to rules saying they are endangered and thus making it illegal for humans to hunt them. Encouraged by the growing number of wolves, law makers had decided to allow for wolf hunts in two states, while protecting them in a third. A federal judge has now ruled that the law did not permit this, if a species is protected in one state, it is to be protected in other states as well. Wolves are thus yet again put on the list of endangered species in the states of Idaho and Montana, just as they have been in the state of Wyoming.

Despite the ruling, the state of Idaho has declared it will seak federal approval for wolf hunts. Ranchers are in favour of these hunts, because they are affraid the wolves will threaten their livestock. I sure hope there will be no wolf hunts. Hunting wolves are barbaric, since it is not done for the meat or any other parts of the prey, but simply out of jealousy for the prime hunting skills of the wolves as the wolves can compete with humans over killing the livestock that humans consider their own.

I say that if you want to protect your livestock from wolves, go get some big herding dogs instead, dogs who protect the livestock from the wolves, like they do in southern Europe. This way, wolves, livestock, dogs, and humans can coexist.

Dull Sunday

It has been a dull Sunday with grey weather. Paula has been at work, and life is never as fun without her.

In Colombia, the South American country where Paula was born, a new president has been sworn in today. It is Juan Manuel Santos, who succeeded Alvaro Uribe from the same political party. Under Uribe, Colombia has made progress in its fight against crime and terrorists like the FARC guerilla. I hope Santos will keep up the good work.

Drug Enforcement Dogs

We watched a TV documentary tonight about border patrols and drug enforcement in the USA. Among the drug enforcement officers, a dog played a crucial role of finding hidden drugs in a seized car. This is but one example out of very many on how dogs help humans. I do not think I have to say more.

The Bomb

Sixtyfive years ago today, the first atomic bomb in a war was dropped over Hiroshima in Japan. A lot of humans were killed. I have not found any statistics, but there were probably an amount of Shiba Inus also killed. Three days later, another atomic bomb was dropped over Nagasaki. There have never been any more atomic bombings in wars on Earth. The devastation of the bombs dropped were huge and horrible.

While I do not like that the bombs were used on Japan, nor that they were used at all, the atomic bomb still meant something good. They meant that there never was a war between the super powers the USA and the Soviet Union. For centuries, some humans had dreamt of creating the weapon that was so horrible that it made an end to wars. The atomic bomb did not quite achieve that, but it did stop a Third World War. This is good. On the other hand, one would still have wished that this would have been achieved without the casualties and devastation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. One could argue that those sacrifices were necessary in order for some people to realize the horror of the bomb, which could mean that all of these humans and dogs did not die in vain, but were they necessary, really? It is hard to tell. No matter how you look at it, what happened sixtyfive years ago was a tragedy.

Beef

Hello, Karstuhl here!

I got hold of a little piece of beef in the kitchen today. I pulled, just a little, and it turned out to be a big piece that fell down on the floor for me to eat. There was nothing anybody could do to stop me. Everybody else were upset, though. Paula and Daniel were upset that I managed to pull the beef down and that I ate it all, the other dogs were upset because they did not get any beef. Well, it just turned out I was the lucky one here.

Both Paula and Daniel refused to give me any more treats tonight.

Pork Ear

Hi, Karstuhl here!

We did not get our ordinary food today, but a smoked pork ear each. It was the first time for me, but hopefully not the last. I knew pork meat was good, but I could not have guessed that smoked pork ear would be this tasty. I loved the texture too, which is really something for the teeth to work with.

Mum told me humans never eat pork ears. At first I wondered why, but then I came to think of their small teeth and weak jaws. I believe humans just cannot eat pork ears. Mum said she had the same suspicion. Whatever the reason is humans do not eat pork ears, it is a good reason, because it leaves more pork ears for us dogs. I hope we get pork ear again soon.

In Heat

I have just stopped being in heat, when my young daughter Karstuhl starts for the very first time. She is early, but so was I. She is too young to have pups of her own yet, so was I, but I did not have any at that age and neither will she. There are ways to stop those things from happening. I know from personal experience that both Paula and Daniel are good at this. I do think Karstuhl will not be disappointed if nothing happens this time, as she still barely knows what is going on and what to do about it. This is good, considering she is still just a pup. Furthermore, I am not yet prepared to be a grandmother of pups of Karstuhl. I plan to be a grandmother of her pups eventually, but that this will happen a couple of years into the future. I am confident this plan will work out.

High Jump

Hi, Karstuhl here again!

The European Championships in athletics ended yesterday. Swedish sports journalists are happy about a Swedish silver medal in the ladies' high jump. I am a little curious at how humans think. If I would be able to jump that high, humans would be afraid I would jump fences and go places where I was not allowed. When a lady does it in a competition, everybody cheers.

Mummy says this is just the way life is. Humans generally treat dogs very well, but different from how they treat other humans. I guess it is not strange, either. Different dog breeds are treated differently, because we have different characteristics from birth. Humans have even more different characteristics than that. It is also up to humans how they treat other humans, while it is up to dogs how we treat other dogs. Nevertheless, I have not come to terms with this just yet. I guess there is still a lot to learn about humans for a pup like me.

Humans Who Are Not Housebroken

Humans sometimes say it is hard to make a pup housebroken. Well, this might at least be the case with dogs of other breeds than the Shiba Inu, we are housebroken at an early age. Whatever dog breed we are talking about, it should be noted that some humans should look to themselves before making statements like this. There are humans who are not housebroken, despite being adults. In Finland's capital Helsinki, they have even had to redesign the lifts in the underground ("metro", as they call it), so that human urine is taken care of automatically. It is prohibited to urinate in public spaces in Finland, just like in any other civilized country, but some humans do it anyway. They are obviously not housebroken. It may be that the people who do this have had too much alcohol, but this is no excuse. It is disgusting and I hope they feel deeply ashamed of themselves. An adult dog would never do that.