Small Steps In the Direction of Equality

Saudi Arabia will, for the very first time, get women members of the consultative council that advises the government on new legislation. In 2014, women will be able to vote for the first time.

These are small steps in the direction towards equality between men and women. This is good, societies where everyone has equal opportunities are often better for all. Even small steps in the direction of equality should be hailed as positive news.

However, I still long for the day when islamic countries, such as Saudi Arabia, will start to treat dogs as humans do where we live. I have come to understand that it is a part of islamic culture to view dogs as unclean, "haram", thus not allowing them indoors as family members and pets. Personally, I believe this is wrong. Dogs have lived very close to humans in many other societies for millenia. When will dogs in Saudi Arabia be treated equal to dogs in our part of the world?

Food, and then No Food

Hello, Peanut here!

We store dry dog food in the entrance hall. Appart from storage for the dog food, shoes and outdoor clothes, this is just a room that we dogs pass through when going in and out of the house. However, I was there with Daniel this evening, when he opened a new bag of food. I tried to help Daniel, but it only resulted in him spilling out a lot of food on the floor. Luckily for him, I was there to clean the floor. Daniel then said I had gotten so much food already, that I did not need any food in my bowl. I think this was unfair! Wasn't this a punishment for helping with the cleaning, or what?

Moving to Mars?

A Netherlands-based non-profit organisation, Mars One, is seeking people who would like to go to the planet Mars and become colonists there. The application period starts early this year, and the earliest journey is set to go ten years from now.

There is one evident catch: you will not be offered a chance to go back to Earth. The idea is to start a human population on Mars.

I can see another possible catch: there is nothing saying you can bring dogs. Wherever cultured humans live, they usually live with dogs. A human colony on Mars should, therefore, have dogs. I hope they will consider this further on.

The Legality of Restraining Air Passengers

I read this interesting article on the legal issues of restraining unruly passengers on airline flights. There are no international rule on the matter, the law of the land in which the airplane is registered will apply. Restraint may only be used if the passenger really is unruly and will not calm down when told to.

This only applies to human passengers. If the passenger is a dog, the general rule is that the dog needs to be restrained in a crate the whole flight. Dogs accept this, we are gentle beings. I do believe, however, that the dogs and many human passengers would be happy to see a dog not restrained, except for take off and landing, during the flight.

Bluefin Tuna

At a Japanese bluefin tuna auction, a new record high price was paid for a bluefish tuna. At the same time, warnings are heard that the bluefish tuna is being overfished and the stock is dwindling.

If the price would continue to be as high as the record price at the auction, maybe the demand will dwindle, thus making the fishing of the fish less profitable? In this way, maybe the stock will grow again? I do not know, but I do wish tasty fish like the bluefish tuna will survive for future generations.

Going Back Home

This was not really my show. I was third best bitch yesterday, and second best bitch today.

Sometimes, they say in Mum's home country America: second place is first loser. I do not really agree. I believe you can be happy for a second place as well, if you have done your best but the winner is good enough to beat you nevertheless. Congratulations to all the winners!

We are on our way home now. The train is due to arrive in Örebro late this evening, but we will be picked up there. I enjoyed going by train a little more when we went here, because it was in the daytime, when I could watch the landscape passing by outside the window. Still, sitting in Paula's lap during the train journey is always nice.

Excellent, but...

My Dog is a big dog show, one of the biggest in Sweden. Today was my first day in the show ring. I did my very best, got Excellent and CAC, but then I was third best bitch. The winner was a great opponent, I have nothing to complain about when I lose to her, but I hope I will do better tomorrow. We will have to see. Stay tuned, and I will keep you updated!

An Important Message

I could have devoted this blog entry to the second day of the dog show My Dog in Gothenburg, but I have still not entered a show ring and I would rather want all of my readers to read this: Rescue, purebred dogs and shelter dogs - the OTHER side of it. It is important to set the record straight, when it comes to dog breeding and rescue dogs.

The First Day in Gothenburg

Group Five did not compete in the show today, so it was just a day for watching other dogs do their rounds in the show rings. Among these were the Poodles.

Paula and I were also reunited with the grey Toy Poodle of our family: Momoko, who have been in Scania to have a litter of pups. She only had one pup, but it was still a litter.

Apart from not going into the showring myself, it was a good day. I am looking forward to Saturday and Sunday, though, when I will show.

Going to Gothenburg

Paula and I went to Gothenburg today. Tomorrow is the start of the first big dog show of the year in Sweden, the "My Dog" show in Gothenburg. I am really looking forward to it.

Since it was only the two of us, we went by train, because then it was cheaper than using the car. It was quite an experience, too. I enjoyed sitting in the lap of Paula, something I could not have done in the car. There were no other dogs in our part of the train, but a cute cat.

Happy New Year

Happy new year!

This Year Is Soon Over

This year is soon over. Once again, I have to say that this blog has not been quite daily this year, despite its name. I always have the goal to blog at least once a day, and if I do not one day, there may be two blog entries another day. Still, there will certainly not be one blog entry for every day this year. There is no use writing a blog entry just for the sake of making the statistics better, I want to have something to say that it at least somewhat interesting. Well, hopefully, the blog will be even better next year. There is always room for improvement. Stay tuned, and you will see.

Digits of the Year

This year is soon over, and we enter the year 2013. This happen to be the first year since 1987 that is written with four different numerical digits. This was very long time ago, especially from a dog perspective, way before even Mum was born. This little piece of trivia actually has no meaning, but as is the case with many trivia, it is rather fun to know.

A Mostly Happy End

Earlier in December, the animal protection authorities raided a small flat in the village Ljusnarsberg north of our home city Örebro. The flat was just 50 square metres, and 27 adult dogs and 15 pups lived there in great misery. They had not been properly taken care of for a long time, and the flat was covered with feces.

It looks like 42 of the dogs will have no trouble getting new, loving homes. However, eight of the adult dogs where in such a bad mental state that they had to be put down.

It is horrible what some dogs have to go through in life. Humans can be so mean. This really shows the need for animal protection agencies. I am thankful that they exist. In my mind, they are one of the essential things in any civilised society. Luckily, in this case, most dogs were saved, even though some were not. It was a mostly happy end to this story.

Uncontroversial Speech Sparks Controversy

My Dad's father was from Belgium, so I have always taken some interest in that country. They have an interesting human population, about half of which speak Dutch, while the other half speak French. Some humans want there to be a conflict between these language groups. The main uniting factor between the two groups of different languages is the King, who stands neutral between them.

In the northern, Dutch speaking part, there is a populistic political party who wants this part to break free from the southern, French speaking part, because they say they would do better economically without the French speakers. In the King's annual Christmas speech this year, the King warned people for populistic political messages and to search for scapegoats in the current bad economy. This made the leader of that populistic political party mad, even though the King did not mention him or his party.

I believe that if you are a populist political leader, you should not be mad about comments against populistic parties. You should, instead, explain why you are right and your opponents are wrong. If you are just gettng mad, it is as if you cannot defend your politics. If you cannot defend your politics, are they any good? I think not.

Thus, the King's speech sparked controversy, but I believe it was uncontroversial. Anyone who speaks out against populism is usually right, and the King of the Belgians was right.

Boxing Day

Hello, Peanut here!

I was curious of the fact that the day after Christmas day is called Boxing day in English. I was promised to write something about this in the blog, but I could never find a conclusive answer as to why the day is called Boxing day. This is why there was no blog entry yesterday, so the fault for that is mine.

There seem to be many competing theories on the origin of the name. Karstuhl even said many of the theories may be correct, but I am not sure if she is pulling my leg or if she really means that.

One theory is that, on Boxing day, you could put gifts to the poor in boxes sitting outside churches. Another theory is that servants used to have the day after Christmas free, to go home to their families, and that they used to get boxes of gifts from their employers to bring home with them. In Britain, tradesmen later used to collect Christmas boxes of money or presents the first weekday after Christmas.

Whatever the origin may be, I think it is easier in Swedish. The name "annandag jul" simply means "Second day of Christmas". You do not have to have a more complicated name than that.

Christmas Is Nice

Hello, Peanut here!

Last week, I wrote in this blog about my concerns for my first Christmas. It turned out I need not have worried. Christmas is a great thing. We got extra ratios of food and we got candy. Everyone was in a friendly Christmas mode. Today is Christmas Day, and Christmas is far from over. There are a lot of good days of Christmas yet to come, this and next week. Still, I look forward to next year's Christmas Eve.

Rudolph and Bullying

Hello, Karstuhl here!

There is one thing I do not understand about the lyrics of the Christmas song Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer: why the bullies changes their minds.

The song is, as most of you certainly know, about the reindeer Rudolph, who is bullied by other reindeer because he has a shiny, red nose. Then Santa Claus comes along and asks Rudolph to guide his sleigh, which results in the bullies turning around and starting to love Rudolph.

As far as I know, bullies do not usually change their minds about their victim because an authority figure comes along and gives the victim an important task. It is more to the contrary: they tend to bully their victim even more, certainly behind the back of the authority figure, now also claiming he is a kiss-up to the authority figure. The authority figure in the song is, of course, Santa.

I can think of two explanations. Either the bullies say they love Rudolph just when Santa is around - or they say they love Rudolph with a great deal of sarcasm. This is, however, nothing that is expressly revealed in the song, so I am still puzzled by the lyrics.

If any of the readers of this blog has a good explanation, please leave a comment!

Christmas Eve

We have had a nice Christmas Eve at home. I hope most dogs around the world has had the same. We can celebrate Christmas with our humans, because we are part of human society. Merry Christmas!

Prepared

All my gifts are bought, wrapped, and ready. The house is cleaned, candy made, and food purchased. There is no more need to stress, now I can look forward to Christmas. I wish you all a very merry Christmas!

The World Will Survive

Humans often think too much. When I write this, I mean that humans often draws too many conclusions of very little evidence. They figure out a lot of thing based on too little facts. A common trait with humans is that they always want to know what the future will look like, and many humans thus take a little evidence and draws a lot of conclusions about the future from that evidence.

Today is the last day of an epoch in the old Maya calendar. This epoch has gone on for many thousands of years. Some humans have understood this to be a prediction of the end of the world. In truth, this epoch is just followed by another, equally long epoch. According to one Maya "ajkij", it is even wrong to say that this long epoch is ending today, the right day is a few years from now.

I wish humans would be a little less concerned about the future, and certainly about the possible future end of the world. They could learn something from us dogs. We live in the present, thus we enjoy each day to its fullest potential. A little planning is good, but it is not wise to be so preoccupied with what might happen tomorrow that you forget to enjoy the good things that happen today.

Christmas Gift

We visited the veterinary hospital today. It was I, Auntie Linni, Paula, and Daniel. Auntie Linni did not like to go there, it reminds her of veterinary care, which she does not fancy. We were not there because anybody of us required any veterinary care, though. The object was to deliver a little gift and a Christmas card from all of us dogs at Kennel Aangenaam to the staff at the hospital. This is just to show our appreciation of all the great care that we and our pups get there. You can hardly be too kind to these people, upon which we rely. We wish they get a merry Christmas and a happy new year, even though we actually hope not to meet them very much.

Cleaning

Auntie Linni and I cleaned the house today. It needs to look Good for Christmas. Paula helped, of course. It is always nice to have a clean house, Do not Think we are of a different opinion because we are dogs. Dogs like it clean. There are instances, however, when our definition of clean is different from that of humans'.

Another Great Japanese-American Has Left Us

My US Champion Mum and other Shiba Inus in the USA are not the only great Japanese-Americans there are. Not everyone are dogs, there are humans as well. One of these left us yesterday: US Senator Daniel Inouye.

Senator Inouye had been a member of Congress since Hawaii was admitted as a State in the Union in 1959, and has served as Senator since 1963. He was a war veteran, decorated with the Medal of Honor, the highest US military medal, since he destroyed a Nazi bunker in Italy during the Second World War, losing an arm in the process.

Our thoughts go to the late Senator's family.

One Week To Go

Hello, Peanut here!

It is now one Week left to something called Christmas Eve. Everybody is looking forward to it. Well, everybody except me. I do not know what to expect, this being my first Christmas. It is supposed to be some kind of party with a lot of food, which sounds promising. There might also be candy and new toys. It is just that there is also talk about giving gifts to the ones you love, but what shall I give them? I have to Think this over, I am all new to this. As long as I am this unsure, I just cannot look forward to Christmas the way the others do. I guess it will be easier in future years, when I have been around for this holiday before.

Abe Won

Shinzo Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party won the general election in Japan today. Congratulations to him!

Mr. Abe has said he will strengthen the Japanese military. This might be necessary to counter China, but he will surely receive critique if he goes through with this. I can see why, in the historic perspective, but I would not agree. The limits on Japan's military were understandable after the Second World War, but now, Japan is a stable democracy close to the communistic dictatorship China which constantly tires to expand its power.

We will see what happens now. I hope that Japan will get more stable politics.

Christmas Greetings

We put our Christmas greeting cards in a mailbox this morning. According to the information from Posten AB (Royal Swedish Mail, ltd), they would reach their destinations in Sweden before Christmas Eve, if mailed no later than the 16th of December.

When the cards where already in the box, though, we realised it is noted on the front of this box that Posten is not servicing this box on Sundays. Daniel said that if they claim you can mail the Christmas cards on the 16th, they have to give this guarantee to all cards mailed before midnight tonight. This would mean that they would deliver all Christmas cards they get when emptying mailboxes tomorrow before Christmas Eve. I and the other dogs remained sceptical. Daniel is a lawyer and knows what guarantees of certain dates normally means by law, but we fear that Posten have their own, special rules on this subject.

Well, if you get a Christmas card from us before Christmas Eve, please let us know!

General Election Today

Today is election day. Not in Sweden, but in the home country of the Shiba breed: Japan. This is important. Japan is a great power and needs to be strong, not just for the Japanese dogs and people, but to counter the growing power of the dictatorship in mainland China.

The main contestants to become prime minister is former PM Shinzo Abe of the LDP and the incumbent Yoshihiko Noda of the DPJ. The polls seem to indicate that the LDP will return to power. Still, it might be that no party gets a majority of its own, so there might still be turmoil in Japanese politics in the years to come.

I will comment more after the election, so stay tuned.

New Show

It is a new dog show this weekend. I am not going, since I was at the vet this week and have a quarantine. It is sad, but true. I feel alright, but you have to obey the rules.

Fights in Parliament

Some say dogs can be overly aggressive towards other dogs. Well, humans can be overly aggressive towards other humans. War aside, there are nowadays democratic forums like parliaments, where political disputes are supposed to be solved through careful examinations, debate and votes. One would think humans who rather fight with words than fists would seek to become members of parliament. Nevertheless, in the parliament of Ukraine, fist fights have recently occurred more than once. It would be comical, if it would not be true. Now it is more like a tragedy. I hope no dogs were hurt in the fights.

Dental Work

I went to the veterinarian today to take care of a broken tooth. It has been broken for a while, but I did not get any time with the veterinarian until today. It is nice finally to have this source of pain taken away. Veterinarians are among the best humans there are, really.

Mum has been without one of her teeth for many years, so perhaps this is the beginning of a family tradition. Of course, my dear daughter Karstuhl hopes it is not so. For her sake, I hope so too.

An Imaginary Friend

You usually hear of children having imaginary friends. However, Swedish health care authorities have used an imaginary friend called Tolvan Tolvansson (directly translated: Twelve Twelveson), with the civic registration number 121212-1212, for research and education purposes. The Swedish civic registration authority, Skatteverket, has just received notice of this imaginary fellow, born on the 12 December '12, and has, therefore, stopped said civic registration number from being awarded to any real boy born tomorrow. Some humans sometimes complain that not all dogs are registered with the authorities. They should not be so soon to judge us dogs, since there are, obviously, problems with the registration of humans as well.

Home Again

There is no place like home. I did not feel well in Finland. I do not believe it was the country as such, I have been there before and felt good. However, I agreed with Paula not to go into the show ring on Sunday. Now we are at home again, and I feel much better.

Gunde became fourth best male on Sunday, winning a reserve CAC.

I guess that if I would have felt better, this would have been a great trip. It had all the ingredients: nice company, dog show, and new, exciting environments. I might go back another day.

Dogs Driving Cars

Hello, Karstuhl here!

This is no joke! A charity in New Zealand are teaching dogs how to drive cars. Follow the link and watch the video sequence! They teach the dogs how to use the gears, brakes, and steering wheel, all in order to prove how intelligent dogs are.

Most humans who live with dogs already know how intelligent we are, but I guess the ability to drive cars is something even most of these humans are impressed by.

I would like to learn how to drive myself. It would be cool to drive around myself. I wonder whether there might be dog driving licences in the future.

First Loser

In America, some people say that second place is "first loser". This means that only first place really counts. at the dog show today, I was third best bitch, while Gunde was second best male. We both received reserve CACIB and Gunde got a reserve CAC. There were many Shibas competing, so we cannot say we are really unhappy about being "second loser" and "first loser". We are good losers. The worst part was that the Shiba who won Best of Breed did not show up in the Group Finale. Both Gunde and I would have participated, had any of us won Best of Breed. Oh, well, I guess in this aspect, at least, we would just have been better winners than the dog who won.

Helsinki

We are in Helsinki this weekend, for a dog show, of course. I am looking forward to going into the show ring again. It is Paula and Daniel, and I, Gunde (a.k.a. Kookie), and Kaiou. We just went for the first walk in Helsinki, and discovered a nice dog supply boutique just around the corner from the SAS Radisson Hotel where we are staying. It is the Koirankauppa on Lönnrot Street 42. The nice young lady in the boutique gave treats to both their four legged and two legged customers. Now we are waiting to get our hotel room. There are computers in the lobby of the hotel that we may use in the meantime. This is great, because it makes it easy for me to keep up with my daily blogging. Stay tuned for more reports from Helsinki!

Veterinary Care for Homeless Dogs

We heard on the radio that veterinarians in Helsingborg offer free veterinary care for dogs who, together with their humans, are homeless. This is really good. The veterinarian who was interviewed said that these dogs were, generally, in good health, which is also good to hear. It is nice to hear positive stories like this on the radio.

Blanket

Hello, Karstuhl here!

It is really cold outside. As Shiba Inus, we can handle it without problem, we start to consider the cold too harsh when it goes below -20 degrees Celsius. We have a Toy Poodle friend, however, called Love chan, who needs to wear a blanket whenever she goes out in this weather. This is mostly because she is so small, she weighs not much more than 2 kg. Love chan is black, and her blanket is bright red. April, who is red herself, says to Love chan that she looks better in the blanket. I pretend to agree, though I am black and tan, because I notice that Love chan is not fond of the blanket. Everyone knows, anyway, that dogs are more beautiful black, don't they?

Rescue Dogs

Rescue dogs from all over the country came to Örebro Airport yesterday to practice rescue operations. A mock earthquake scenario had been built up, and the rescue dogs with handlers had been noticed as late as the day before. It was great of them to show up.

I like rescue dogs. They are such a strong proof of the valuable contributions dogs do to society. Sometimes, I wish I would have been a rescue dog. I believe Shiba Inus would be good at it. On the other hand, practicing rescue operations in the cold winter weather of yesterday would have been a little harsh. Kudos to the dogs who were there!

First Sunday in Advent

Hello, Karstuhl here!

This is the first Sunday in Advent. The countdown to Christmas is starting. We are getting lights in the windows. It is nice. There is also snow on the ground, which adds to the Chrismas feeling. It cannot be much better.

Food in China

There was a documentary on present time China on TV this evening. There are more and more Chinese who are sceptical to the food industry in the country, we learned. I would have understood this, if it was about the horrible practice of making food for humans out of dogs, but it was not. It was just about your ordinary rumours on growth hormones and things like that in ordinary food. I was disappointed. If there is any single practice in China that needs to end as soon as possible, it is using dogs for food. Dogs are such an integrated part of society for most humans, that I would compare eating dogs to cannibalism. It just has to stop.

Food from Happy Animals

It is important that we who are on the top of the food chain, humans and dogs alike, treat our prey with respect. We rule them, we eat them, but the food is better if they are happy while they live.

In Sweden, we have good laws protecting animals. Unfortunately, many big buyers of food, such as cities with their schools, homes for the elderly etcetera, do not demand that their food is produced according to Swedish animal protection laws. This is bad! I believe we should take the cost for better food, and happier animals.

Internet Must Be Free!

Next week, there will be a summit in Dubai on the future of Internet. As a frequent blogger, I am interested of this, and I am concerned about the voices in favour of more regulations on Internet. Some countries, especially those where there is not much democracy, if any, are in favour of harder rules on the net. They want the governments to control what is done online. I do not want this to happen.

Free speech must be preserved online, just like everywhere else. Free speech is the basis of a decent society. Free speech is even more important than democratic elections - though they are also very important. Free speech is a right that belongs to everybody, including minors, foreigners, and dogs, all of whom have no right to vote.

Free speech is a guarantee that neither the government, nor anybody else, is the only one who may say its meaning. I guess this is why free speech is so scary for many dictators. If they are dictators, they deserve it. Use your freedom of speech and speak out in favour of freedom of speech on Internet!

Snow!

Hello, Peanut here! I had heard about it, but hardly seen or felt it. This evening, it came to us. Snow! It is just as fun to play in as thé older dogs had told me.

Winter Is Coming

Paula wished that snow would fall today. It sure would be better than the cold rain and wind, and a couple of degrees above the freezing point. It has felt cold and damp outside today. According to the meteorologists, though, winter temperatures will arrive this week. I would like to have some snow to play in.

Anticlimax

It started out as a great Formula 1 season, with seven different winners in the first seven races. Many contestants were up for the world championship title. Now it ended the same way last year and the year before that did: German driver Sebastian Vettel won in a Red Bull car. It was an exciting last race, and at times, it looked like Fernando Alonso would be able to win in his Ferrari, but he did not. It feels a little dull now, this anticlimax. I hope there will be another driver winning next year.

Veteran Winner

It was great fun to be back in the show ring. I do believe I overdid it, though. Just like actors can overdo their performance on the stage or silver screen, dogs can overdo our performances in the show ring. I did not get a great result. The great result today was Mum's Norwegian Veteran Winner's title. She can now put VNOW'12 next to her VWW '09 and VWW '11 titles. Still, Mum do even fewer appearances in the show rings these days than I do, who are away due to puppy litters. You can really say this was a Special Guest Appearance!

Show

We are going to a dog show tomorrow. I get to go! I am so happy! Now I have to continue all of my preparations.

The Last True Ninja?

Ninjas, the old Japanese stealth warriors, are quite often featured in popular culture. In real life, though, it seems like they will soon cease to exist. A 63 years old Japanese man claims to be the last true ninja, a ninja grand master, but want the knowledge to die with him. He believes there is no room for ninjas in modern society.

I guess this is all right. There are so many better and more peaceful things in Japanese culture that the world can have. If you do want to feel truly Japanese, do not play ninja, buy a Shiba pup instead and become a Shiba owner!

Beer Saving an Airline

The Scandinavian airline SAS has just been saved from bankruptcy. They make cuts in a lot of areas, such as salaries. However, they may have something to learn from Japan. The head of Japan Airlines, Kazuo Inamori, brought beer to his meetings with the employees. This made them open up to him and brought an informal air to the meetings. I doubt that a head of an airline in part owned by the governments of Sweden and Norway would dare to do the same, though. There are so many taboos surrounding beer and other alcoholic beverages in Scandinavia. I would like to see SAS make it, though. It is the best airline for traveling with dogs we know of.

Mac

We have always had computers with Windows as operating system. This is what I am used to. Now, Paula has purchased a Mac instead. I have yet to get used to some of the features, which feel odd to me.       It might be because I am not used to the Mac, that I believe it is not as good as our earlier computers. We will have to see if I change my mind, or if I will usually borrow Daniel's computer with Windows. I may return to this subject in future blog posts, so if you are interested, stay tuned!

"Pennybridge"

Hello, Peanut here! I heard of something called "Pennybridge" today. As I am still a pup, I had not heard of it before. My Mom and the other adults explained the word for me. It is a humourous translation of the name of our home city into English.

The name of our city, Örebro, means Gravel bridge, which derives from the oldest bridge across the Svartå river at a place where there was a lot of gravel. Ör is an old Nordic word for gravel, not commonly used today. This word can also be found in names such as the Swedish town Skanör and the Danish town Helsingör, both of which lie at the Sound, which in Swedish and Danish is called Öresund. Bro is the Swedish word for bridge. The e is perhaps just added for the purpose of pronounciation, but might be due to some kind of old grammar.

Meanwhile, the smallest monetary value in Sweden, so small it is not used in coins any more due to inflation, is called öre. Hundred öre has the amount of one Swedish crown (or krona, as it is called in Swedish). The smallest English coin is the penny, so Öre in Örebro has been swaped for Penny, hence the name Pennybridge.

Mom said she hopes most people know of the humour, that the Pennybridge name is not a real translation. One cannot be sure, though, she said.

I am now considering whether I will henceforth call our home city Gravelbridge. It might be fun.

Historic Poodle

Daniel's great grand parents had a Poodle. He told me so today, and said his father had shown him a photography of this Poodle this weekend. I cannot be disappointed it was not a Shiba, by that time, there were no Shibas in Europe. The first Shibas in Europe arrived here in the 1970's, a long time after that Poodle. I like Poodles, the Poodles I know are great friends, so I guess there could hardly have been a better dog for Daniel's great grandparents in those days.

Back into the USA

Formula 1 is back into the USA, after many years of absence. Mom is not interested, but she knows that Formula 1 is a big sport and says that it is, thus, self evident that it belongs in America as well.

Those of us who are interested enjoyed the race on TV.

Parliament Dissolved, Early Election

The Prime Minister has dissolved parliament and called for an early election next month. The polls are pointing towards a newly elected parliament with no clear winner.

No, I am not writing about Sweden, but about Japan. The PM is Yoshihiko Noda, and it does not look like either his party DPJ or the main opposition party LDP will gain a majority in parliament.

In an international context, the politics of Japan is much more important than that of Sweden. As a Shiba Inu, I am also extra interested in Japan. I hope the newly elected parliament will be able to give Japan a more stable political environment. This would be especially needed with the current bad economy. Nevertheless, I believe the Japanese will work everything out. They always have, before.

On the Sofa

Hello, Karstuhl here! There was nothing good on TV around six o'clock in the evening. This did not bother me, I used the TV sofa for a better purpose: sleeping on it. This was very nice. I can recommend this to anyone who is disappointed with what's on TV.

Ostkaka

Today is the day of the "ostkaka", a Swedish specialty. Directly translated to English, its name would be cheesecake, but it is something completely different from that American cake. Both taste great, but in different ways. We have had the Swedish ostkaka today. I like it a lot.

Somme

We saw this documentary on TV tonight about the battle of Somme during the First World War. It was a battle of huge casualties, and when it was over, no side in the war had gained anything essential. It is horrible that humans have so often used their intelligence and craftmanship to kill each other. The only soothing thing for me was that there were no talks about dogs being killed, even though I am sure a lot of dogs lost their beloved humans among all of those killed in the battle. Fortunately, a war like this seems unlikely in modern day Europe. We have to hope it stays that way.

Cloaking Devices

In science fiction, there has been invisibility. Now progress is made to make invisibility science. Scientists has made a cloaking device that makes a small item invisible to microwaves.

I guess a true cloaking device would be an asset for hunters. Shiba Inus would actually not need them, we are good hunters by nature, but if we had, we could be even better. It would be a little difficult, though, if prey would get cloaking devices. Dogs could always detect the prey with our noses and ears, but we also use our eyes when hunting. I hope prey will never get hold of cloaking devices.

Father's Day

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Today is father's day in Sweden. My father, who used to live with us, is currently residing in Spain, so I cannot celebrate him on site. Mommys father is not alive anymore, so she cannot celebrate him at all. My father may come back to us, her father will not. I still have a little understanding for her loss, now that my father is not living here. I wish my father has a great day in Spain, though.

Goose

Today is Martin's day in the Swedish calendar. It is an important day, because Martin was the name of Martin Luther, who reformed the church in the 16th century and whose teachings has a wide following in Sweden.

My Poodle friend Laila, who has lived in Scania, the southernmost province of Sweden, has taught me that they always eat goose on Martin's day in Scania. This seems interesting. I have never tasted goose, but it would be very interesting to do. I like the taste of the birds that I have eaten, like chicken. There are still species of birds that I have yet to taste, though. Maybe this time next year? I will try to remember to suggest this to Paula and Daniel.

Packing Meat

We have been given a great gift: two plastic bags full of moose meat pieces. Paula's father gave it to us. Daniel spent part of the evening in the kitchen, packing the meat in smaller bags to be able to fit it in the freezer. Even I could see it was too much meat for all of us dogs to eat at once.

I was envious of Mom and Auntie Linni, though. They accompanied Daniel in the kitchen, and whenever a little piece of meat fell on the floor, it was their task to clean the floor. They fulfilled this task very well. I would have done, too.

Dull Names for Newly Discovered Planets?

I read this nice article on the name of the newly discovered planet orbiting Alpha Centauri B. The planet is called Bb, because exoplanets are given designations of small letters attached to the name of the star they orbit.

The author of the article believes this is a dull name. Well, I can see why, but there are even duller names for some celestial bodies important to all of us. Just consider Earth, essentially the same name as earth, the material the ancient humans saw as the main material of the place where we live. Even worse is the name of my favourite celestial body: the Moon. This is the same name as the word moon. True, the word for other moons than the Moon is derived from the proper name of the Moon, but it still feels dull that the Moon is just called the Moon. Sometimes, it is called Luna, but this is out of the ordinary. If compared to the names Earth and Moon, I believe Bb is not dull at all.

Gustavus Adolphus Day

Today is the day when we commemorate the great King Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden. He was killed in battle at Lützen on the 6th of November 1632, fighting for religious freedom.

Gustavus Adolphus is usually commemorated by eating Gustavus Adolphus cakes. We are not allowed to eat these at our home, though, because one of the main things of these cakes are chocolate silhouettes of the King. Humans always claim chocolate contains an ingredient that is poisonous for dogs. Oh, well, I guess we can say the Gustavus Adolphus day is a good day anyway. We did get to taste some meat sauce.

Election Tomorrow

Hello, Karstuhl here!

It is election day in the USA tomorrow. Among other politicians, they are going to chose the person who will be Head of State for the next four years, called President. This is because they have no Emperor (like Japan) or King (like Sweden).

Granny, who was born in the USA and lived there for many years, says she supports the Democrat. This is not just because her breeder supports the Democrat, but also because the Republican has been known for committing animal abuse. The Republican candidate has, reputedly, driven a long way by car with his dog in a crate tied outside of the car, on the roof. You cannot trust such a man with the mightiest job in the world, Granny says. I guess I have to agree. Even Daniel, who normally supports the more conservative candidate, says he does not like the Republican candidate in this election.

Oh well, I think it would be easier if they had an Emperor or a King instead.

Naïvete on the Internet?

A Swedish businessman writes in an article published today, that Swedes in general are naïve on the Internet. We believe that social media on the Internet that seem to be free, really are free. However, he writes, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. Everything we write and put on the Internet are controlled by the sites where we put it, not by ourselves.

I know this is so. I always think before I publish a blog entry. There are a lot of things going on in the lives of me, my family, and friends, that I do not write anything about. I would assume most people are as careful as I am. Perhaps not enough people are, so I think it is good that people are informed. Whether you are careful or not, I guess a warning may be in order. Consider yourself warned by this blog entry, dear Internet user!

I Found this Funny

Hello, Karstuhl here!

The American computer and telephone company Apple has fought a legal battle in Mexico over the last couple of years against Mexican company Ifone, claiming that this name is too similar to the Apple telephone trademark Iphone. Trouble for Apple is, the name Ifone was registered in 2003, four years before any Iphone had been launched on any market! A Mexican court of law has now decided that Apple is forbidden to use the name Iphone in Mexico, since it is too similar to Ifone. Funny, is it not?

Late Night

We had some visitors last night, Paula's parents and sister Mia. We had a very fun time. It was very late before Paula's parents went home, and Mia stayed the night in our guest room. I did not even have the time to write a blog entry before midnight, so there was no blog entry yesterday. Well, we had fun, so I do not mind that much.

A Talking Elephant

Hello, Karstuhl here!

There is an elephant in South Korea who have learned to talk like humans do. He can form five different words in Korean. According to scientists who have studied him, he cannot understand the meaning of these words, though.

I would also like to be able to say a few words, the way humans talk. I am a dog, so I would understand the meaning of the words I would use. Every human who knows dogs, knows that this is true. Some humans say elephants are very intelligent animals, but if they cannot learn the meaning of as few human words as five, how intelligent are they? Dogs must be much more intelligent.

Misspent Aid

Do you think your own country is the worst example there is on misspending tax money, at least among democracies? Do you, perhaps, think the European Union is the worst example? Well, I think there are horrible examples all over the world. In Japan, at least a quarter of the money assigned to cleaning up after the earth quake and tsunami last spring has been spent on completely unrelated things, a government audit has found. Some of the misspending has been done to generally boost the national economy. At the same time, some towns that were hit hard by the disaster has not seen any reconstruction at all.

Misspending government funds is probably something that will always happen. When the funds are meant for aid to the quake and tsunami hit areas, the misspending feels more disturbing than usually. I hope this audit will make things better.

A Reminder of the War

The Sendai Airport in northern Japan was closed down recently, when an undetonated bomb was uncovered during construction work. It was disclosed that the bomb was made in the USA, it is thus a reminder of World War II, when a lot of American bombs where dropped over Japan. The Sendai Airport was a military flight school during the war, so it was a goal for bombers. Apparently, it is still rather common that bombs from the war is discovered in Japan. We just have to hope this bomb will be taken care of and nobody will get hurt.

Breed Watch List

Occassionally, I write about my wild cousins, the wolves. I am concerned about them, because they are an endangered sub-species of my own species. There are also dog breeds who are endangered. In England, the Kennel Club has a watch list on endangered breeds. They are now concerned about the future of the Old English Sheepdog, an iconic, English breed. This is a friendly breed, well mentally equipped for being a pet breed in the modern society - although their size, need for excercise and grooming may talk to their disadvantage. I am a little surprised, though, that this breed is on the watch list. In the best of worlds, no dog breed would be on the watch list, but some deserve it less than others. If a breed has a great mentality for the modern world, it should always have a given place in the modern world. The Old English Sheepdog is such a breed.

Success for Gonsa

My dear son Gonsa, of my latest litter, competed in his first dog show this weekend. He made quite well, getting a honourary prize and was best pup of the breed. This is great! I love dog shows myself, and I am always very happy when pups of mine do well on shows. They are all excellent Shibas, it is just for the show judges to see that.

Winter Is Coming

We have had temperatures below the freezing point this weekend. With the blazing sun shining on the frosty grass and trees, it has been beautiful. This Sunday, we have turned the watches back to standard Central European Time. This means the end of Daylight saving time for this year, which means daylight is not saved for later parts of the day than our morning walks. I like standard time better, when there is more light in the mornings.

Hard Water

Hello, Peanut here!

It was cold outside this morning, and the world was a bit different than usual. There was a puddle beside the path that we were walking, and I thought I would walk into its water, but the water was hard. I walked on top of the water. Then, when I stood there, the hard surface sank a little bit, and cold, liquid water found its way to my paws. This running water was an unpleasant experience, so I jumped away from there. This is the first time I have felt that water was hard. It was an interesting experience. I know I am still a pup, and a lot of things are new to me in this world, but I had not expected to walk on water.

The Serious Situation for the Ethiopian Wolf

The only wolf species in Africa, the Ethiopian wolf, consists of very few animals. They are also separated into distinct groups living separate from each other, making cross breeding between the groups highly unlikely. As all of us know, who are interested in dog breeding, this makes for a high risk of inbreeding, with the future risk of extinction that this brings. A few of the populations have already become extinct in the last hundred years. I am very concerned about these cousins of mine. I do hope the scientists who have mapped the Ethiopian wolves will be able to help them to survive. Some cross breeding between the populations may do a lot for them.

Satsumas and Clementines

Paula asked Daniel to buy some clementines today. He did not find any that he wanted to buy, so he bought some satsumas instead. These fruits are very similar. I am not a connoisseur of fruits, so I cannot really tell them apart. If I have a choice between these two fruits, though, I would chose the satsuma. This is because the satsuma has its origin in the old Satsuma province of Japan, hence its name. The clementine, on the other hand, was discovered as a hybrid between mandarines and bitter oranges by the French priest Clément Rodier in Algeria in the early 1900s. If something has its origin in Japan, I always presume that it is better than other alternatives, just like the Japanese Shiba Inu is the best dog breed there is. I could be mistaken, but on the issue of satsumas versus clementines, I have not yet been proved wrong.

The UN Day

Today is the day when the founding of the United Nations has its annual celebration across the world.

In Sweden, there is a UN cake, that you can buy this day in parts of the country. Part of the profit goes to the UN humanitarian aid programmes. There is no place in Örebro where the cake is sold, but I do not care much. If I would buy a cake where part of the profit went to a "higher" purpose, it would be for canine aid programmes. There are a lot of dogs who are not doing well around the world, I would like to give them some more aid.

Cutting Hair

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Daniel has had his hair cut today. Our Poodle friend Love chan pointed out that the need to cut the hair is something that Poodles and humans have in common. She then claimed that, since most other dog breeds do not have the need to cut their hair, Poodles are closer friends of humans than other dog breeds are. I disagree. I believe this is just a tiny, insignificant detail, that says nothing of the strength of the friendship between humans and different dog breeds. Love chan, however, laughingly stood by her point.

Actually, neither one of us like to rank dog breeds' friendship with humans. This is just friendly, funny nagging. We both know that dogs are humans' best friend, no matter what. This is enough.

Live Telephone Translations

Hello, Karstuhl here!

A Japanese telephone operator has developed a telephone application that is said to be able to translate telephone calls between different languages in real time. At first, there are just translations between a few languages offered, but more will come. There are also other companies who will launch similar services in the near future. The translations will not be perfect, but may help tourists, at least.

For my part, I think this is a rather useless invention, until translations to and from dog language is developed. This would be a treat.

Another Royal Wedding

There has been a royal wedding in Luxembourg. The heir to the Grand Dutchy, Prince Guillaume, has married Countess Stephanie de Lannoy from Belgium. As always, a royal wedding is a happy occasion worthy of attention.

Luxembourg is a Grand Dutchy, which ranks a step lower than a Kingdom. The family on the throne is royalty, nevertheless. As far as I have understood, this is because they are a branch of the old French royal family.

I wish the newlyweds all the luck!

Black and Tan Is Not For Everyone

I got a message from my black Toy Poodle friend Love Chan today. She was at a dog show in the South of Sweden, where she saw this black and tan coloured Poodle. She told methat while she likes me and her other black and tan Shiba friends, she believes in the breed standard for her own breed, that says Poodles must be of one colour only. A black and tan Poodle was nothing she liked seeing, and she was happy this dog did not get any prize at the show. I agree. Black and tan is not suited for everyone.

Cleaning the Floor

Hello, Peanut here!

I helped Daniel clean the floor today. He wiped the floor, and I dug in with my teeth and helped pull back and forth. It was fun, so I understand why Daniel does it now and then. However, I really thought Daniel would be more happy than he was, having my help. Maybe he just wanted to have all the fun himself? That would be a little selfish, I think. As a pup, I have been told I am entitled to play and have fun, but then again, I know there are some fun things I am not allowed to do. I just had not thought cleaning was one of them.

Is there Poison?

A rumour has spread in our home city Örebro, that someone has placed pieces of poisonous meat in a park in the outskirts of the city. Dogs are reputed to have died. However, the police says they have not heard of any complaints and noone has filed any charges. This park, Karlslund, is not close to us; we do not walk there, but many other dogs in our city do.

We have heard an interview on the radio with a human whose dog died about a month ago, and the veterinarian suspected the dog had been poisoned. There were no evidence of this, though, as far as I could tell. Had there been evidence, I would assume this human whose dog had died had contacted the police about it. It is also strange to think someone would actually go through the trouble of distributing poisoned meat in a park where dogs walk.

Even though there are no evidence that dogs have been poisoned, I would still recommend dogs to be more careful than usual for a while, at least in Karlslund. It might just be stories, but why gamble with your life just when the rumours are at what is arguably their peak?

Reply

The secretary of the Swedish Academy answers the speculations that there are leaks from the Academy on the subject of who will be Nobel Prize winner in litterature. He claims the Academy has taken many precations and that they have no indications of leaks. He also says a big bookmaker company says the same. This is good, I like this. When it comes to decisions like this, you have to feel the people making the decisions are truly independent and that there are no leaks. I guess I am convinced now.

Is there a Leak?

There have been speculations about a leak in the Swedish Academy, the body that decides who will win the Nobel Prize in litterature. I do not know whether it is true, but the odds on the eventual winner this year is said to have been very low with bookmakers. This is no good. If the prize is supposed to be a secret until the Academy lets the world know, but there is even a doubt that this is not so, the Academy needs to look carefully into the issue. The Nobel Prize has a very good reputation, but it must not be soiled, not even by doubts.

High Wooden Houses

We live in a wooden house, but it is just one storey tall. Most wooden houses are not much higher, perhaps two or three storeys. In Austria, however, a new wooden house is eight storeys tall, and in London, a nine storey building has been constructed from wood. This is interesting. I think wood is nicer than concrete, stone, or steel, as a building material. If these examples turn into a trend, perhaps the price of wood will rise.

Dinner

The other day, I complained about chef TV shows. There are positive aspects of these shows, though. Today, Paula had invited her parents for dinner, saying she was inspired by these shows. It is always fun seeing Paula's parents. I guess part of this was thanks to thé chef TV shows. Still, my complaints about these shows remain.

Bad Qualifying Result

Sweden played the Faroe Islands in the World Cup qualifications today. It was a much harder game to win than we had expected, even though we know that Team Sweden is bad at playing teams that are supposed to be much inferior to it. Faroe Islands scored the first goal and it was not until the end of the game that Sweden scored the goal that made the team win the game. The result was 2-1. In the long run, this may be a really bad result, despite the victory, because if two teams en up with the same points, the number of goals scored may be decisive. We are disappointed.

Chef TV Competitions

There are a lot of chef shows on TV these days, especially competitions between people who are, or wants to become, chefs. I am quite tired of them.

As a dog, my sense of smell is much more evolved than a human's sense of smell. In chef TV shows, more than any other TV shows, I am always disappointed with the lack of smell TV. I would be able to smell the food they cook and compete with. This would give me a much better chance to evaluate whom to hope for in the competition. The most boring thing with all of these chef competitions is that without being able to taste, or at least smell, the food, how can you ever evaluate the different dishes with which the chefs compete? Without smell TV, all of these chef competitions on TV are a waste of time to watch.

On the other hand, perhaps smell TV on chef competitions would make me too hungry. Nevertheless, I would rather watch wildlife or dog TV programmes.

Washing Toys

Hello, Peanut here!

Yesterday evening, Daniel collected a lot of our toys from the garden. It is often fun to grab a toy and run out in the garden with it, but if you lose focus on the toy, it is easy to leave it outside. When it is outside, it can become dirty from the ground and the rain, so we must not take it inside again. Daniel took the toys inside anyway. I was puzzled at first, until I realised he put the toys in the washing machine. Now the toys are clean again. I guess some of these toys will soon be outside again, dirty.

Debris from the Tsunami

This is amazing: debris washed out into the sea with the tsunami in Japan last spring has started to wash ashore on the west coasts of the USA and Canada. It has travelled  thousands of kilometres in a year and a half. Among the things washed up are huge things like a whole dock from a Japanese port and a container with a motorcycle in it. The motorcycle had a licence plate, which enabled the finders to return it to its Japanese owner.

This is also a visible warning to the people of the North American west coast. A tsunami could hit them too, anytime, anywhere. Mum's breeders live in Washington on the US west coast, but fortunately not so close to the shore that they would be directly affected by a tsunami. It would be a major event in their State, though, if it was hit by a tsunami the size of which hit Japan last spring.

Finding things on the beach from Japan might be interesting. There are easier ways of getting hold of something fabulous from Japan in Washington, though. I would recommend a Shiba Inu from Mum's breeder, Taichung Shibas.

Who Is that Man?

A six year old boy was attacked and bitten by a dog in a park in Gothenburg, Sweden, today. A witness interferred and the dog and the dog's owner disappeared from the place. The boy was taken to a hospital. His wounds are serious, but not fatal, according to the police.

I wish things like this would never happen. It gives dog hating humans a new example to point to and to complain about. Still, I do not think you can avoid it alltogether. Dogs are strong carnivores and may hurt humans, if allowed to. The fault is with the biting dog's human, who allowed this to happen. I hope the police will find him. I also hope the dog will get a new, more caring and loving family, to make sure nothing like this never happens again.

Suzuka

Today, the Formula 1 world championship came to the Suzuka track for the Japanese Grand Prix. My daughter Aangenaam Suzuka is named for this track. It is a nice track, and our Japanese favourite driver, Kamui Kobayashi, made a good result, he came third.

Losing the Heat and Hot Water

A fire is raging in a power station in our home city. This power station normally produces heat and hot water for most people living in the city, but not for us. We live in the outskirts of the city and have our own heat and hot water sources. While most people thus have no heat or hot water, we do. This is good for us. It is cozy having heat indoors. There are advantages with standing beside collective solutions.

11

We celebrated Auntie Linni's eleventh birthday today. This is an awe inspiring age. Her actual birthday was yesterday, but because of jobs and other duties, it suited us all better to celebrate today. The best thing with the celebration was that we got hot dog sausages. Linni got two whole sausages in her food bowl, laid parallel, like the number 11, for her age. This was a nice touch.

Cinnamon Bun Day

Today is the Cinnamon Bun Day in Sweden, where we are supposed to eat a lot of the typically Swedish cinnamon bun. For those who do not know, this bun looks like a tightly curled spitz tail. Shibas are supposed to have losely curled tails and tightly curled tails are sometimes called cinnamon bun tails in Sweden. The Cinnamon Bun Day is not, however, to be seen as a day where Shibas with cinnamon bun tails are supposed to be noted for their tails; on the contrary, they should only be noted for this by judges in dog shows. What is a great cause of action today, though, is giving all the dogs you know cinnamon buns. Most of us like it.

Stop the Smugglers!

The illegal trade of pups continues. Ruthless people smuggle innocent pups across the national borders in small cages and even worse means of transportation, and sell them for a lot of money. Two men have now been found guilty of such smuggling to Sweden. Still, the trade will go on as long as there are people who are willing to buy these poor pups.

I can fully understand the urge to help these pups. In the long run, however, the only way to stop this filthy business is never to buy pups from crooks like these. Pups should come from the loving care of serious dog breeders. It is not as if there is a shortage of pups to buy from serious breeders, or adult dogs who happen to need new homes, so I actually cannot understand the reason for supporting the smugglers. I just wish more people would be aware of this.

This Must Be Investigated

Police officers in Stockholm shot and killed two dogs yesterday. The police and an ambulance had been called to a place where a man needed medical attention. The man's two dogs, however, would not let any other humans close to their master. The dogs have been described as aggressive and were shot and killed to let the ambulance crew help the man. The man is now treated at a hospital.

I do not believe the dogs were overly aggressive. It is in the nature of dogs to protect their human, especially if they recognise that he is injuried. They should not be shot and killed because they do their duty. Without knowing more than what I have read in a short news article, I believe the big trouble here was that none of the humans who had been called to the place understood dogs. The killing of the dogs must be investigated, hopefully resulting in severe criticism against the shooter.

Dogs are an integral part of human society. They have been part of human society for at least 40,000 years. It is vital that all humans have a basic understanding of dog language and dog behaviour to avoid tragedies like this. This is especially important for law enforcement personell, who are authorised to use force in their line of duty.

I feel sorry for the dogs, and I feel sorry for their human. He may have ended up in a hospital and received vital medical care, but what is it worth to him, when his dogs have been killed?

Growing Friendship

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Over the last couple of days, I have spent more time than I usually do with Paula's dad Nils-Olov. We have become better friend thanks to this. I kind of like him, it is hard not to.