Snow!

There is snow on the ground now. Quite a lot of it, actually. We are all happy, except for Daniel, who is annoyed when showeling it away from our driveway. Well, you cannot expect everybody to be fully happy about a thing, can you? Daniel does see advantages with the snow, he says the white snow makes the gloomy winterland brighter, which is good. I like that, too.

Rain, Rain, Rain

The rain is pouring down today. It is getting quite frustrating for us wh want to have snow on the grund in January. Rumour has it, snow will start to fall tomorrow. I believe it when I see it.

Club Meeting

Daniel is a member of the board of the Swedish Spitz Club. This makes us a little prod. However, he sat in a telephone meeting with the board tonight for two and a half hours. This was no fun. It is better when he hangs out with us.

Cardboard and Paper

It can be fun to play with paper and cardboard. Sometimes, Paula and Daniel leave a paper bag with old paper and cardboard in the kitchen, and we get hold of it and play with it. It is fun. I cannot understand why Paula and Daniel are annoyed, when they pick up the pieces that are left. They were the ones who left the paper bag there. Well, I am happy despite the annoyance.

Junior World Championship

Sweden was host for the Junior World Championship in ice hockey, with the finale played today. Sweden played against Finland for the gold medals, but lost in overtime. Even though Sweden played better throughout most of the game, Finland made the ultimate goal. When everything comes around, it is not enough to be best, you win if you score the most goals. This is comparable to when you lose in a dog show to a dog you think is not as good compared to the breed standard as you are yourself. You may be the best, but this is not always enough. On the other hand, the Junior World Championship is comparable to a junior class at a dog show. It is more important that Sweden win in the upcoming Olympic Games and World Championship. We have chances to get revenge.

Rain

It is the begining of January. Our town and countryside is usually covered with snow this time of the year. This is not the case now. We have hardly had temperatures below the freezing point for a month. Today, we had a lot of rain and the lawn is getting muddy. It is no fun. I want it to be winter.

Unlikely Cause of Death

Some mass media has published the improbable story that the disfavoured uncle of the dictator of North Korea would have been trapped in a cage with starved dogs and thus killed by the dogs, who would have eaten him.

I could never believe this, when I heard about it. The overwhelming majority of dogs are not likely to eat humans, no matter how starved they may be. If they do, it is certainly because they have been taught by their humans to do so, which is also unlikely. The story did not come from North Korea, either. The American historian Dr Tim Stanley has also published an article where he dismisses the story as unlikely. I could not put it as well as he did, but I have to agree with him.

I do not believe more than that the uncle of the dictator has been executed, but probably in a way more likely to actually kill him.

Party with Dogs

We saw some kind of reality TV ahow tonight, where some people were at a costume party. The great thing was that their dogs were invited to the party, too. These humans really knew what a natural part of all human life dogs are. I wish this could happen in Sweden some time.

A New Year

Hello, Orange here!

I have just experienced my first new year celebration. It was fun and contained a lot of good food. I was a little annoyed, however, that people were using so many crackers in the middle of the night, it was disturbing. Now there is a new year. I do not feel like anything is different. It feels just like last year. Maybe the changes will come gradually? If this is so, why did we have such a big celebration last night? Oh, well, if there are changes, I guess I will notice it, eventually.

Happy 2014, everybody!

Happy New Year!

We wish all of our readers a happy new, unsuperstitious year. The New year is often celebrated with fireworks and crackers. The origin of this tradition, however, is superstition. People believed they should make noise to scare demons, trolls et cetera off for the new year. Unless you believe in such monsters, skip the crackers and fireworks, and keep the friendly animals like dogs happy. I am not afraid of the noise, but too many dogs are for it to be funny.

Swedish Taxes - No Longer the Highest

Sweden has a history of having the highest taxes in the world, in proportion to the Gross National Product. The tax part used to be over 50 % of the Swedish GNP. Over the last seven years, with a centre-right government, the total taxes have been lowered to about 45 % of the GNP. This have caused Denmark, Belgium, and France to pass Sweden in the league of having the highest taxes. There is, of course, nothing good about having a top position in this league. The aim of politics must be to make the most of the tax money, not to have the highest taxes you can.

Upcoming New Year

Hello, Orange here!

There is something about this "year" concept that I do not understand. I know I am not a year old yet. Javier, who is a little older than me, just turned one year old. Now we all will have a new year in two days. This is what I do not understand. Our own years are those counting from our birthdays, but what is this general year? Why do we get a new one in two days from now? They say it has something to do with the days getting shorter before, and now longer, but this development happened on the 21st, not the 31st. I have to read up on this.

Cloned Dogs

We saw this documentary on TV this afternoon about some American humans who had had dogs, and missed these particular dogs so much, they paid a Korean company great amounts of money to clone the dogs. While I can fully understand the sense of loss, a cloned dog would never be the same. It would not have the knowledge and memory of the deceased dog, just the same genes. It would be easier, cheaper, and more natural just to buy a new dog of the same breed. Then you would not have to compare the two, either. I do wonder about the expectations of one of the humans. He would travel to meet the cloned puppy, and said he was keen on knowing whether the puppy would recognize him. How could it? No memory, not even that of a beloved human, is inscribed in the genes. I suspect this human will be a little disappointed.

Snow for a Little While

Hello, Orange here!

Snow fel for a little while this morning. I was happy for a little while, too. Then the temperature made the snow melt. It was all over by early afternoon. You can never be fully satisfied with the weather, can you?

Christmas Goes On

Hello, Orange here!

Christmas goes on for several days. This was news for me. Pleasant news, though. Christmas is nice. I like the great food and Christmas spirit. As far as I am concerned, it could be Christmas for many, many days. Merry continuing Christmas, everybody!

Slow Day

It is Christmas Day, which is a slow and comfortable day in Sweden. We have the great celebrations on Christmas Eve, and then we rest a bit on Christmas Day. This is cool.

Merry...!

Merry Christmas to all blog readers from Hailey, Karstuhl, Orange, and the other dogs at Kennel Aangenaam!

When You Know You Are Right

Japan has announced it will buy new weapon systems for its military. The country has tense relations to its neighbour China, a dictatorship who claim Japanese islands in the East China Sea. China denounces the Japanese plans, calling it military expansion and "is firmly opposed to" Japan's actions.

Japan is a democracy with a firm belief in the rule of law and human rights. It is threatened by China, a bigger country which is a dictatorship with little, if any, regard for human rights. If China critizises the Japanese plans to strengthen the military, it is a clear sign that Japan is right in doing so. Sometimes, critique is good, because when you get it, you know you are right.

Rain

It is two days before Christmas Eve, and rain is falling this evening. We want it to be snow. At Christmas, you get a better holiday feeling if it is snow. It is also much more fun to play in the snow. Now it is just getting muddy, and our paws get dirty. I'm dreaming 'bout a white Christmas.

Coward

People who cause a traffic accident, but just leave, must be cowards. This happened to a dog mother in Halland in the south of Sweden, who had nine pups, two weeks old. She wanted to go out by herself, but was hit by a car. When found by her humans, she was already dead. If the person who hit her had stopped and taken care of her, she might have lived. Fortunately, the pups have gotten foster mothers, other bitches who can take care of them. I hope they find the driver and prosecute him or her, but I fear they can never do that.