German

We were watching a Swedish film about tourists in the Swiss Alps today. The natives were speaking German. Our Affenpinscher friend Morran says German is the best human language there is. Her breed is from Germany, so I understand she thinks so. 

German is a fine language, closely related to Swedish. I still believe Japanese is the best. Swedish is good, nevertheless. German is not bad, I have to give Morran this. 

Dogs have the same language all over the world. This is even better.

Stopping Adoptions

The Netherlands is stopping all international adoptions until further notice, due to a huge amount of abuses and wrongdoings over the course of many years. One of the countries childrenhave come from, where wrongdoings have happened, is Colombia. Paula and her sister were adopted from Colombia to Sweden. We do not have any evidence of wrongdoings in their case, fortunately, but the news from the Netherlands make you wonder. I hope things like this have not happened in Swedish international adoptions. 

Macaroni

Hello, Gerstuhl here!

We got sausage and a lot of macaroni for food today. This was great. I love it when we get other kinds of food than the usual dog food. It is like this here at the breeders as well as at my own home in Solna. Life is good. 

A Bad Qualification Round

We watched the first Swedish qualification round for the Eurovision Song Contest. There were no good songs among the seven of this qualification round. 

There will be three more qualification rounds in the weeks to come. We hope for some better songs in those rounds.

Will There Be Pups?

My daughter Gerstuhl is in heat. There is now a clear and present chance that she will get pups in a couple of months. This is good, I wish to become a grandmother. It would be nice to get grandpups.

I have had many daughters. None of them has yet to have pups. This makes me sad. Gerstuhl is the youngest and in her most fertile years. This must be it. For the love of my mother Hailey and grandmother Sunni, I wish our line will continue. The hope lives.

In Full Health

Paula has been ill for quite some time. Several weeks, to be honest. She is better now. This evening, she and Daniel took Morran and Piffy and visited her sister and niece and nephew. This shows she is back in full health. 

I am glad that Paula is feeling well again. She says she is not fully recovered, but that her visit this evening will help her recovery. This is great. We shall hope for the best.

Rules for Olympic Spectators

The organisers of the Tokyo Olympic Games have issued rules on how the spectators should act, in order to lower the risk of the spread of covid-19. You will be able to clap your hands, but are discouraged from chanting or singing.

This seems like a good idea. You would want to see spectators, whenyou watch the Games on TV. Rules on their conduct to lower the risk of the spread of the disease is good. We will have to see how well it will work out.

Crisps

We had some crisps late in the evening today. It was great. Crisps are a very nice form of potatoes. I wish we could have crisps more often. 

Cheese

Hello, Gerstuhl here!

Life is good by my breeders. I do miss my own excellent family, but my breeders are great. They have cheese, and distributed cheese among all of the dogs today. Life is good, whenyou get cheese.

Back In Örebro

Hello, Gerstuhl here!

I am backin Örebro, with Mum, my breeders, and the other dogs. This is because I am in heat. Everybody hopes I will get pups. I guess I am with everybody in this instance. Mum says it is nice having pups. She had me, so she must have had a great experience then, at least. 

We will have to see what happens. 

New Telephone

Paula has the same telephone as before, but she is again able to charge it. There was just some dirt in the socket for the charger. 

Daniel, on the other paw, had to buy a new telephone. He has been sitting with it for a long time this afternoon, so I guess he likes it. It is a Sony, so it is from Japan, thus, it must be good. 

Broken Telephones

Daniel’s mobile telephone has been broken for little more than a week. Today, we found out Paula’s mobile telephone did not want to charge. Paula and Daniel will go to a telephone store tomorrow and try to make things better. Daniel may come home with a new telephone. The Internet society is good, but it requires hardware that works.

The King

The King of Sweden celebrates his name day today. This is why it is a flag flying day. The name is Karl, as in Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, and originally for Carl the Great, a.k.a. Charlemagne. 

Real countries have monarchs, as Emperor Charlemagne or Naruhito, or King Carl XVI Gustaf or Queen Elisabeth II. 

Long live King Carl XVI Gustaf!

Sea Food

We had sea food for dinner tonight. Sea food is great. I believe I think so, because I have Japanese origins. They eat a lot of fish and sea foodin Japan, since Japan is located on a couple of islands in the Pacific Ocean. This is a good thing, it is good that land living animals eat sea food, because it shows that land living animals are more evolved and greater than the animalsof the seas. Life with sea food is great.

Council

Daniel is a member of the town council. They had a meeting today, but he was at home. He participated through a video link. 

Apparently, there have been some legal issues on whether the video link systems available are good enough for the decisions taken to be valid. Daniel do not think this will pose a problem for the meeting today. He is a lawyer, so I guess we can trust him in this legal matter.

If the meeting is challenged, the court of law trying the case should, in my humble opinion, consider that it is better for all the dogs whose humans are members of the town council that their humans are at home. 

More Food

Daniel orders most of our dog food on line and it is delivered to our door. Then he buys some frozen food, which is mainly eaten by the smaller dogs. Tonight, he went to buy more frozen food. This was all he did. He often does more, when he goes away, such as buying food to him and Paula, but not tonight. This was odd. I guess the frozen food was so important,it could not wait until he had more errands to make. It honours him that dog food is this important.

Kennel Club

Daniel spent some hours in front of the computer today, despite the fact that it is Sunday and he does not have to work. He used the time for voluntary work for the regional kennel club. This is good, I like time spent on such beneficial work.

Shaved Poodle

Our Poodle friends have this problem that they do not shed their coat. Our humans have to cut or shave it for them. This is one reason I think Poodles would never make it in the wild, however nice dogs they are. 

Paula would shave Momoko today, but decided not to. Then Daniel shaved Momoko instead. Momoko do not like being shaved, but she says the result was nice. She had a little too much coat around her eyes and on her paws, she says. It must be nice to get rid of such obstacles. 

I am glad that I shed coat, and do not have to be shaved. 

Olympic Games Behind Closed Doors?

The 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo was postponed to this hear because of the covid-19 pandemic. It might be that the pandemicis still with us in full force this summer. If so, the Tokyo Olympic Games may be held behind closed doors. 

We would not go to Tokyo to watch the games on site. It must be aired on television just as usual. Still, the TV broadcast will be more dull, if there is no audience around the competitors.

My dear Mommy looked forward to watching the Tokyo Olympic Games, from the home country of our magnificent dog breed. She passed away before the pandemic and did not evenlive to hear of the postponement. I will try to follow the competition in her stead. We will have to see what happens.

Health Check Up

Daniel and I went to the veterinarian today. Paula and Daniel wanted to have a health check up on me, due to my age. I will turn twelve next month, so I guess it was about time. I was never anxious myself, but my humans were. It turned out I went through the check up with flying colours. My joints, my back, my liver, my heart, everything is working great. 

When Daniel and I got home and we told Paula about the result. Paula said it was the best news yet of 2021. I guess she may be right. 

New President

The United States of America, home countryof my grandmother Sunni, has got a new Head of State. The new president is Joseph Biden. My grandmother would have liked this, because her humans would have. Grandmom’s humans are Democrats, just like the new President is.

My mother Hailey always said human countries should be monarchies. Sweden, where we live, is a monarchy. Japan, the origin of the Shiba, is also a monarchy. My grandfather Kuro was from Norway, whichis a monarchy, and his father was from Belgium, which is a monarchy. Modern dog breeding and dog shows have their origin in the UK, which is a monarchy. I guess I am a monarchist as well. Nevertheless, I like the new US President, as my grandmother would have done. 

Video Meetings

Daniel is working a lot from home. Thisis due to the pandemic, when humans are recommended to stay at good distances from one another. Instead, Daniel has meetings through video links. He had severla meetings at work during the day. Then he had a meeting with the board of a club where he is a member in the evening, followed by a meeting with his sisters and his brother. There must have been at least five hours of different video meetings today.

I am glad I donot have to sit through video meetings. There os sound and pictures of the ones you communicate with, but no smell. Dogs communicate mich more with smells than humans do, we would need electronic transfers of smells as well. I guess it will take a long time for humans to develop sich an invention.

Shrimp Bomb

For dinner tonight, Daniel brought home something called ”räkbomb”, which litteraly translates to shrimp bomb in English. It is a variation of the Swedish smörgåstårta, sandwich cake, with a lot of shrimps.

I got a piece of it myself, it tasted fantastic. All days that ends with a good meal are better days than other days. 

Bath

Our Poodle friend Momoko had to take a bath today. She never likes this, but her coat was in dire need of washing. She is satisfied with the result now, however.

This is the problem with Poodle coats. They do not have the natural dirt repellant that Shiba coats have, so they need to be washed more often, even when it is really cold outside. I do not know why Poodle coats are like this, but I have a suspicion that it has to do with the Poodle background of being water retrieving dogs. Do not take my word for it, though, this is just my personal theory. 

Our other Poodle friend Laura will be washed another day.

Boring Day

Lazy days are often great. I normally like taking it easy. There can be too many lazy days, however. This was one of those days, when I would have wanted to do more than just taking it easy. 

Daniel cleaned, washed the dishes, washed clothes. This is good things to do, but nothing that involves us dogs. Paula mostly just rested, blaming that she has had a cold this week. While we can accompany her resting, it is not fun when you feel like doing other things. 

I hope tomorrow will be better.

Cold Winter

We thought it was coldoutside, when we got out this morning. However, it was not until we got back inside, that Daniel read the thermometre and saw it said -16° Celsius. This is cold. 

Later in the day, it was not quite as cold outside, but still -10° C. Shiba coats can handle this, but it is cold. Last year was the warmest ever recorded. If this cold weather holds on, I guess we will not see a new record.

Telephone Rediscovered

Daniel found Paula’s mobile telephone today. It took a few minutes for him to find it. Paula had not looked for it at all, it seems, because the telephone was there under the bed. It lay behind a toy, but could be seen if you looked for it. Paula was very grateful to get it back. 

Back to the Office

Daniel went to the office today. It was the first time since before Christmas. When he has worked after Christmas, hehas worked from home. For us dogs, this is a great advantage of the covid-19 lock down, that our humans are at home much more. Granted, Daniel sits amd works, but he is at home. He wastes less time going to and from the office, as well. Today, we missed him, when he was gone, even thoughhe came back in the early afternoon. Life is seldom better than when everybody is at home.

Lost Mobile Telephone

Paula’s mobile telephone has become too mobile. She lost it a few days ago and it is still lost. Fortunately, she has only been at home, so we know it is at home. 

When the telephone is lost, Paula has borrowed Daniel’s tablet. This means I had to borrow Daniel’s mobile phone to blog on. I prefer the tablet.

Fell Again

Daniel slipped and fell again this morning. He hurt his right wrist. However, he says it will heal soon. We have still to see this, but I hope Daniel is right.

Falling to the Ground

We got mpre snow today. It is still not mich, bit the roads are slippery. On the morning walk, Daniel slipped and fell to the ground. He got up almost as quickly and he was not hurt. Some would say it looked funny, as a slap stick joke. I am just glad I did not have to feel sorry for Daniel for being hurt. 

Over all, it was a nice and calm Sunday.

Icy Roads

Since the snow came, our roads have become slippery. There is ice on them. As dogs, we have a low centre of gravity and four paws,one on each side of this centre. We manage well. Daniel was nearly slipping to the ground a few times today, though. It is good that he has learned to walk on ice since his early childhood in this country. Winters in Sweden are beautiful and nice, but the ice on the roads is a hazard. You have to take the good things with the bad.

Snow

We finally have snow on the ground that stays put. It fell last night and with freezing temperatures all day it has stayed. It is not much, less than a centimetre, but it still makes the world brighter and more wintery. This night, we noticed that there was a little more snow falling from the sky. I wish we will have a reall winter now. The autumn seemed to go on for far too long.

An Argument Over Music

Paula and Daniel do not always agree about what music is good. They agree about a lot of mjsic, but Daniel cannot understand that Paula can like hip hop, and Paula thinks the same about Daniel when he listens to synth music. I do not think music is very important, but I understand my humans do. I cannot take sides, though, because I do not know enough about it. Nevertheless, Paula and Daniel never have anything but a fight with words over their music tastes. This is good.

Electricity

When I borrowed Daniel’s Ipad to write my daily blog post today, the battery was down to 17 %. I had to start by connecting it to a charger.

We live our lives through electronic devices in these days and ages. This is good, and bad. The good thing is that we can accomplish a lotof things through the electronic devices. Blog posts are just one of these things, The bad thingis that we are dependent on electricity. This would be very well, if we could just get electricity in an environmentally friendly way. Daniel says we cannot, because one of the political parties in the coalition that forms the government are more opposed to nuclear power, than they are opposed to getting electricity from sources like coal and oil, that polites much more and makes the climate warmer.

I am not sure I follow Daniel, when he talks about this. All I want is enough electricity to write my blog posts. Be that as it may, while Ihave written this blog post with the charger attached to the Ipad, it is up to 18 %. This is fine. 

Stay tuned for more blog posts.

Cold

Paula has had a cold the last few days. She slept through dinner tonight, despite Daniel’s attempts to wake her up.

We are glad itis just a common cold. There is nothing that suggest it would be covid-19.

Dogs are generally healthier than humans, I believe. We seldom have colds. I think we are more adapted to the cold Nordic climate. This is something that makes me calm.

Back to Work

After two weeks off, Daniel is back to work. This does not mean mich tousin thepandemic. He is working from home, thus, it is almost as if he is free from work. I like it that Daniel is at home. Paula is also at home, I like this as well. There is one good thing with the covid-19 pandemic, itis that dogs get to have their humans at home more often.

A Shiba Who Saved Her Human

You may very well say I cannot be impartial, when I claim the Shibais the best dog breed there is. After all, I am a Shiba myself. There are, however, many examples of Shibas who have done great things. Allof these examples are pieces of evidence that goes to prove my point. Today, I would like to recommend this story about a Shiba in Japan in the 1930’s, who saved her human when caught in avalanches, twice. She was a hero. 

Bad Connection

We usually have good wifi connection in our bedroom. It is two rooms away from the router, but this usually does not matter. Once ina while, however, the wifi connection is bad. We have to wait and wait for pages online to load et cetera. Today is such a day. It is not a huge issue, but we cannot help that we still get annoyed by it. I wish the wifi connection would be good all the time, I just do not know to arrange it. When we get a new router sometime in the future, it may be better; at least I hope so.

Pizza

Paula and Daniel had some pizza for dinner tonight. Paula did not want all of her pizza, so she divided it among us dogs. It was nicely done of her.

A lot of Swedes eat pizza on New Year’s Day. It has almost become a tradition. I like it, since pizza is tasty. 

New Year Celebrations

We celebrated so hard before new year, that I forgot to write in the blog for the last day of the year. Now I have to write this past midnight, early in the morning of the new year. I have to get better at keeping the blog daily this year. Please stay tuned!

Preparations

Paula and Daniel went shopping for the New Year celebrations today. This is important. The celebrations involve a lot of good food. This is good. Good food is great. I am looking forward to the celebrations because of all the good food.

Considering the pandemic in 2020, I am sure 2021 will be a better year. 

Sleepover

Paula, Morran, and Piffy has a sleepover at Paula’s sister, nephew, and niece. Morran and Piffy likes it there, Iguess thisis why they could come.

I would not mind having a sleepover at people I know well, like Paula’s sister and her children. However, there is no place like home. I prefer to stay at home. We have the company of Daniel, just like all those nights when Paula worked the night shift. Life is nice.

Another Rainy Day

It is late in December and a rainy day. We have had a few days with temperatures below the freezing point, but not really any snow. This seems to be a dull winter, without any snow. We will have to see what happens in January. 

Dog in the Football Pitch

A football match in Bolivia was interrupted for three minutes, when a puppy dog invaded the pitch. Watch a cute, short film of the event here.

Dogs can do a lot of things. We are often lucky that we are so adorable, that humans do not mind. A football match is entertainment, this dog added to the entertainment value. 

Second Day of Christmas and a Cracker

It is the second day of Christmas, and we have taken it easy. The days between Christmas Day and New Year are often nice and calm.

In the evening, however, we heard a cracker. Probably the most stupid of traditions is using crackers to make noise around New Year. The background is old superstition that you would scare off evil beings for the new year. Now people just doit to waste money and scare innocent animals. I cannot believe a cracker was fired as early as today. Do people not have better things to do?

Killing a Mouse

I killed a mouse today.

Our cats Malin and Totte kills mice once in a while. I am tired of hearing the praise they get for this, however well deserved, when I can be just as good att killing mice. 

It should not matter that the mouse I killed was a toy mouse. 

Christmas Eve

It is Christmas Eve and the greatest day of celebrations of Christmas in Sweden.

Humans say that dogs should not get traditional Swedish Christmas food, because it is very salty. This is a truth that you may take with a pinch of salt. Daniel did give us some small bits of Christmas ham in our food. It was good and a nice way to celebrate Christmas for us.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Cleaning Before Christmas

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. It is the day when we celebrate Christmas the most in Sweden. We spent this day cleaning and preparing for Christmas. It feels better to celebrate in a clean house. 

I wish all of my readers a very Merry Christmas!

Washing Mashine

The washing mashine is a good invention. With it, Paula and Daniel cleans dog beds, sheets, plush toys, and their clothes. It did not work properly today, however. There seemed to be something clogging the drain. Daniel incåvestigated and cleaned, and think he took care of it. I sure hope he did. It would be bad if we would have to buy a new washing mashine in order to have clean dog beds et cetera.

Overcast

We had some sunshine in the middle of the day. Thenit became overcast and we had rain.

This is typical for the December weather this year. It also means that there was no chance for us to see the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn this evening. Daniel would really have wanted to see it, he said. I am not as disappointed as he is, but it was not fun. We sat indoors watching TV instead.

A Day Off

Today, we have all really taken a day off. I have been able to focus most of the day on my favourite passtime: sleeping.

One of the great things about the holidays is that you can take some time off and really relax. I love this. I wish there were more days like this.

Songs

Paula is playing song upon song from the Internet this evening. She does this once ina while, it makes her happy. Music affects the feelings in this way. I believe humans are more affected than dogs, however. We hear better than them, but smells are even more important to us. I like music, but not just because it makes me happy, more because it makes our humans happy. Happy humans are greater than sad humans, however much you love them anyway.

Cats in Japan?

We watched an interesting documentary on TV tonight about English history. It was followed by a documentary about Japanese people and their love of cats. This puzzled me.

I like cats, not only our own two cats Malin and Totte. Still, dogs are always better.

In Japan, they have the biggest population of the best dog breed in the world, their national treasure, the Shiba. Why would they need to love cats so much that a documentary is made by it? There are Shibas to love.

Rain

It has been a lot of rain this month, overcast almost all the time. Today was another rainy day. It is December, it should be snowing instead. 

Granted, most of the time we do not have snow on the ground throughout most of December. The optimum is still snow before Christmas. It makes it less dark outdoors and gives you a more Christmassy feeling. We will see what happens. 

New Car

Paula’s new car is here. She was in an accident with the car she bought earlier this year. Since that car was so damaged, but relatively new, she got an entirely new car in exchange for it. This new car is here now. It is a beautiful little vehicle.

I wish I will get a chance to go in this car. I never went anywhere in the damaged car.

Not Much Left

There is just half a month left of this year. It is one 24th of the year. It has been a year when the pandemic has been the most important thing. The virus is bad, but vaccines are on its way. We can look forward to a better year in 2021. I believe it will be better. 

Glühwein

Paula and Daniel had some glühwein to drink this evening. They do sometimes, around Christmas time. 

I do not like glühwein. It is warm, sweet, sticky, and generally weird. Taste differs, however. I recognise Paula and Daniel likes glühwein and let them have it.

Lucia

The 13 December is celebrated as a feast for Saint Lucia in Sweden. The main reason is not the saint from Sicily in early times of Christianity, but that this was the winter solstice during the 18th century, when celebrations were first held in parts of western Sweden.

I like the Lucia buns with saffron. Special tasty things to eat are the best things about feast days.

Christmas Greetings

Daniel stayed up until really late this Saturday to write Chrstmas greeting cards. He will put them in the mail and hope they will reach the receivers before Christmas. I hope so too. 

In the Bed

Most of us dogs sleep in the bed with Paula and Daniel. The cats do too, when they are not outdoors hunting throughout some nights. 

There are times when I sleep in the sofa beside the bed, but this is just to get more space. 

Tonight, the Chihuahua pup Piffy is allowed to sleep in the bed for the first time. She really likes it. I can understand her. It is in the nature of dogs to wish to be near the rest of the pack, dogs and humans alike, and cats, when you have got them. I am sure this will go well. 

Welcome to the bed, Piffy!

Nobel Day

It is the anniversary of the passing of the great Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel. He had no children, and gave his fortune to a foundation who give the proceeds out as the Nobel prizes each year. This day is normally the day when the prizes are awarded. This is, however, not the case in this year of the covid-19 pandemic.

Malin the cat says we can all celebrate her name day today, instead. She has a point.

Nice Day

This evening, Paula realised neither she nor Daniel had used any car today. They were both at home all day. I like this. It is unusual that they are both at home all day, especially a weekday. This is the advantage of the pandemic, when Daniel can work from home when Paula is free from work and at home. This is life at its finest.

He Is Gone

Gunde is gone now. I loved him. I wish him all the best and I hope to meet him in the next life.

There are times when I wish no loved ones would never pass away. At the same time, we get pups and grandpups. If no old loved ones would leave, there would be no room for new loved ones. This way, you can have more loved ones throughout your life. Perhaps this is how it is meant to be?

Gunde

My dear old friend, black and tan male Shiba Gunde, is leaving this world for the next one, today.

Since last autumn, Gunde has lived with Sally and her family in Köping. It has been a nice time for him, I have understood. We were happy that he could have this home as his last home.

Gunde is the father of my daughter Soya.

We learned of Gunde’s medical status yesterday, Monday. I was at a lack of words last night, but can write this Tuesday morning. 

Finland

There are Aangenaam dogs living Finland. They can celebrate the national holiday of Finland today. Finland is a nice country, a good friend of Sweden, and where dogs are held in high regard. Long live Finland!

Birthday for Our Cats

We got our cats early this year. They were born one year ago today, as kittens in the same litter.

The cats, black female Malin and striped male Totte, have become good friends of all of us. I really like them, even though they are not dogs. There are differences in how we communicate, but not so large that we cannot get along. 

Paula and Daniel gave our cats their names from childrens’ books characters.

Happy birthday, Malin and Totte!

One Year Has Passed

It is now one year since my dear mother Hailey passed away. We all miss her. It might be that Imiss her the most. After all, she was my mother.

I took over the blog on the same day that Mommy passed away. Hopefully, it makes her proud in her heaven. I do believe I have done her justice, even though I think I am not quite as good as Mommy. With more experience, chances are I will get closer. Let us hope so.

A Little Snow

We had a little snow this evening. There was a thin layer of snow on the ground, when we were outdoors for the last time before sleep. It was nice to see, but not enough to play around in.

The forecast says it will be a few degrees above the freezing point tomorrow. This snow will not last. I will miss it, but hope there will be more snow soon. The white snow makes the dark season brighter. We will have to see if we will get a white Christmas or not.

Countdown or Count Down

We had a debate today on whether you should spell ”count down” or ”countdown”, in the headline of the blog entry for yesterday. I argued that if you are uncertain in English,you should write the two parts of the concept as separate words. Peanut agreed with me. He is from England, so heis good at English. Allof us did not agree, however. English is not always easy.

Count Down to Christmas

Daniel got an Advent Calendar from Paula. It has chocolate and marzipan from Anthon Berg in it. Daniel loves this. Both Paula and Daniel refuse to give us dogs chocolate, they say it is unhealthy for us. Apparently, humans has an enzyme in their body to digest chocolate, which dogs do not have. I am still not quite sure if this is the real reason, or if humans just want to keep all chocolate for themselves. Paula does not really like chocolate, though, so this is a reason the story about the enzyme may be correct. I let it go, there are so many other tasty things, anyway.

Around the Freezing Point

We had temperatures below the freezing point this morning. In the middle of the day,it was above, however. We had some rain. If the temperature would have been a little lower, we would probably have had snow. Perhaps we will get snow later in the week. It is December tomorrow, winter is coming.

Christmas Is Coming

It is the first Sunday in Advent, the four weeks before Christmas.

Paula and Daniel celebrate that this is the day when they became a couple. We all celebrate this, and that Christmas is close.

I love Christmas, because you get so much good food and so many treats. It is a wonderful season. Life is good at Christmas.

Laura Left

Laura left us, when her pups had left. She lives her day to day life with another family in Örebro.

I will miss Laura on our dog walks. Most walks are with Javier and Peanut. When Laura has also joined this walk, it has made for a better balance between bitches and dogs. It is not that I cannot handle Javier and Peanut myself, but it has been a little easier when Laura has been around too. We will have to see when Laura will be back. Chances are there will be another litter from her, them she will be here again. Time will tell.

The Pups Left

The pups have left us today.

Viggo was the first to leave, the second to be born eight weeks ago. He will get a great home with the family of my half sister Meja in Småland.

Kenji left later in the day. He will stay in Örebro with a nice young couple who lives not far from us. We are glad there will be yet another Aangenaam shiba who lives his life in our home town.

Paperwork

Laura’s pups went to the veterinarian for their check up the day before yesterday. The papaerwork could not be finished, however. Daniel went to pock it up today. I think this is the first time paperwork for a puppy check up has not been finished at the visit there. We are still very satisfied with our veterinarian clinic.

The pups passed the check up. This is good, it is yet another litter from our breeding that passes.

I hope the next litter will be grand pups of mine.

Bills

It is the end of the month, and the humans pay their bills.

Daniel always become comcerned, when he is about to pay the bills. He is more relaxed afterwards, even though he is never happy. Paula got around this problem this time, because she asked Daniel to pay her bills as well, from her account, which he did.

I am glad I am a dog and do not have to pay the bills. 

Coming Home

Paula was away last night. It has been a while since. There was a time when Paula often worked at night, but it was a long time since last time. 

Now Paula is back home again. We all enjoy this, not least Paula herself. We all enjoy the nights the most, when everyone in the family is at home. Life is good.

Sun in November

It seems like it is rare, but we had sunny weather today. It was sun in November. 

The sunny weather should have made us happy. Paula did not feel well, however, and this made us sad. You cannot be really happy, when your favourite human does not feel well and feels sad. We hope she will get better tomorrow.

Staying at Home

This was a Sunday when both Paula and Daniel stayed at home the whole day. It is uncommon, but I really like it. Having the whole family at home all day is great. I wish more days would be like today. We just took it easy most of the day, although there was some cleaning going on now and then. 

Tomorrow is Monday. Paula has already talked about going away for some important things she needs to take care of. I guess we need to wait at least until next weekend, until we get a day like this again. It is worth waiting for, though.

Narva

The battleof Narva was fought between Russia and Sweden on this day in the year 1700. It was a great Swedish victory. Unfortunately, the rest of the war against Russia did not turn out equally good. Sweden lost the war and had to give up Estonia and many other provinces to the east and south of the Baltic Sea. This was to the detriment of both Sweden and the inhabitants of those provinces. Sweden had a policy towards the people that was much more free, liberal you could say, than the enemies who seized these territories. Nevertheless, the victory at Narva is worth celebrating.

Birthday Girl

Paula’s niece Nadja turns four years old today. As a human, she is still a young child at this age. 

Paula and Daniel went to celebrate Nadja this evening. I would have wanted to participate, but was busy at home. I congratulate Nadja this way instead. Congratulations, big girl!

Winter Tyres

Daniel bought new winter tyres for the new car today. It is good to have them, and compulsory when winter comes. They were expensive, but I guess this is just fitting for an expensive car. The tyres are important for traffic safety, so you must not buy too cheap tyres. These tyres will sirely protect us for many winters to come. 

Damp and Dirt

It is very damp outside. It is raining on and off, and a lot of the water stays on the ground. It becomes muddy and we get dirt on our paws, then on the floors. I prefer warmer or colder weather.

About Dogs

We watched Vetenskapens värld (The World of Science) on Swedish TV tonight. It was a very interesting episode on what the modern science knows about dogs. 

There were, of course, a few mistakes in the show. For one thing, they brought up that some breeds have health issues, but failed to stress that good breeding programmes within the realms and regulations of national kennel clubs is the best way to diminish these problems. Most of the show was very good and informative, nevertheless. I would recommend that those who did not watch it follow the link and watch it on SVT Play. 

Biathlon

We have watched some biathlon this weekend on TV. It is stillautumn, and mild weather for being November in our town. Still, winter is coming, and the great winter sport competitions with it. We like this. I wish we will get a lot of snow at home, to match the winter sports on TV.

The Pups Are Spoken For

Both of Laura’s pups are spoken for. They will both leave us when they turn eight weeks old.

I was never worried that we would not agree with new families to take care of these pups. We have never had so many people asking for pups before, as we have had this year. One of the families visited uslast weekend, itis the family of my half sister Meja. The other family visited us yesterday evening, they live in our town and seem like great people.

The pups are doing well. They are cute, but it will be a little more calm at home when they have moved. I wish them all the luck.

Broken Bracelet

The youngest Shiba ofour pack, the boy Peanut, has a habit of chewing on things. This is why we suspect that he was the one who chewed appart a bracelet that Paula owned. Paula had got the bracelet from her friend Mikael Nilsson, a nice dog person. Peanut does not admit guilt, however. 

Paula was sad to see the broken bracelet. I was sad to see the sad Paula. I do believe Peanut was also sad to see Paula sad. We will try to cheer her up in other ways. All dogs do have the power to be able to cheer humans up. This is good.

New Bed

The new beds that Paula and Daniel have bought were delivered today. They are really comfortable. I think I will sleep tight all night.

The walk in the forest will also add to my sleep. 

The New BMW

Paula took me and Javier on a ride in the new BMW today. We went up to Blackstahyttan and took a long and relieving walk in the forest. The car was great, but I really liked the walk better.

Recounted Votes

The ballots for the presidential election in the US State of Georgia will be recounted by hand. The Democratic contestant narrowly won the State over the Republican. Regardless of this, the Democrat already has won so many States and their electors, that he will win. Thus, I cannot really see that the reasons for a recount are so great that this needs to be done. It will be better when this election is finally over.

Well Behaved Pups

This evening, I was outdoors with the pups and their mother Laura. 

The pups are well behaved. One of them walked up to me, which is nice. He came too close, however, so I growled a little. As soon as I growled, he backed off. Laura has reared the pups well. 

It is about two weeks and a half before the pups will leave for their new families. We have already agreed with one family that they will come in the morning of the Saturday when the pups turn eight weeks old. This is splendid, good for the family, the pup, and for us. Although the pups are cute and well behaved, it will be more calm here once they have left.

Father’s Day

My father Kuro chan passed away five years ago. I often think about him. I miss him, especially on a day like this, whenit is father’s day in Sweden. 

Daniel’s father passed away last year, so he knows how I feel.

Paula and Daniel went to see Paula’s father this afternoon. Paula is lucky to have his father around.

A New Family for a Pup

We had visitors today. The family where my older half sister Meja lives where here to see the pups. They were nice people and decided upon one of the pups. 

Now it is time to find a home for the other pup. We have had many inquiries, so the trouble is not finding a family, the trouble is picking a family. I am sure Paula and Daniel will make a good job with this. They usually do.

The Pups

The pups were outside with their mother Laura around noon today, at the same time as I was outside. They are very cute, but not quite as cute as the pups I have had. It would be strange if I thought differently, of course.

I did not go close up to the pups. It is better to let them and their mother be. We saw each other, anyway. 

Eggs

Paula and Daniel had eggs, among other ingredients, for dinner. I like eggs, so I kindly asked if I could have a taste. It turned out, I could not. I had to leave the dinner. Itis not that I was hungry, I was just feeling like having a little egg.

No Clear Decision

The American presidential election is not yet finished. Votes are still counted in some States.

As my dear late Mommy would say: why do they not have a monarch instead? It works very well with monarchs in Japan, Sweden, and many other countries. With a monarch, you do not need an election for a president.

Election

 It is election day in the USA, the home country of my maternal grandmother Sunni. Granny’s breeder is interested in politics and has firm opinions. For granny’s and her sake, I hope her candidates will win. I do not just think of the presidential election, which is the focus of international news, but also the elections on State level. We will see what happens, when we wake up tomorrow morning. None of us are so interested that we will stay awake throughout the night to follow everything. Following it will not change a thing. It is better to get a good night’s sleep.

Simple Dish

This evening, Paula and Daniel just cooked some spaghetti and had cheese with it. This is easy, quick, but fills the stomach. It is also quite tasy, for being so easy and cheap. Sometimes, the easy solutions are really good.

Bugs

There are small, black bugs inside our house. They are not more than a few millimetres long, they make no sound, there really are not that many, but they are around. They are bugging me. Paula and Daniel get rid of them, when they find them, but it seems like there is a constant influx of a few more all the time. We wonder where they come from. We hope all of them will soon be gone. Perhaps they will be gone soon. I hope so.