Pride

Paula and Daniel went in the Örebro Pride Parade this evening. This is good, it is for a just cause: treating all humans equal. I stayed at home with my pups, though. They are old enough to make it on their own, but they will both move soon and I want the time I have with them. We could see Paula and Daniel in the local TV news. They were seen in the background of many shots of the Parade.

Food

Hello, Peanut here!

I am not so young anymore. I do not get food as often as before. The adult dogs get food once a day, I guess I will eventually end up there too. What annoys me the most, though, is that the small pups Issi and Gonsa get food more often than I do. It is not really unfair, I got food equally often when I was their age. Still, it is no fun watching the small pups eating, when I get nothing.

It is fun playing with the small pups, though.

Cleaning

We cleaned the floors this evening. It is no fun, but necessary sometimes. I guess part of the blame for the need to clean has to fall on my small pups. They are, however, excused because of their age and their cuteness. There are advantages with being a pup.

Portugese Champion

Multi ch. Kokuhou go Ryuukyuu Uruma, father of my latest puppy litter, is living in Spain for a couple of months this summer. He participates in dog shows there and in neighbouring countries, as one would expect from such a fine dog. This has now resulted in another title that he can add to his name and to the pedigree of our pups: Portugese Champion. Congratulations!

Sweden in International News

I am always sad to see when Sweden is depicted in negative ways in international mass media. Today, the BBC writes about the scandalously expensive party that the Swedish police intelligence agency had earlier this year. No fun reading.

Great Tragedy, but then Some Hope

This is a blog post of a sad story about a dog. It has a happy ending, but I still want to warn you for the feelings you get, especially when watching this video.

A dog in Mexico was found in a rubbish bin with his front paws cut off. The humans responsible are probably members of some criminal gang. Now the dog, going by the lovely name Lemon Pie, has a new home in a dog shelter and has custom made prosthetic legs. While I am terribly sorry for his fate, and the state in which he was found, it seems he will now live his life in relative happiness.

There seem to be no limits for human cruelty, but there are also no limits for human goodness.

Sunday Results

Hello, Karstuhl here! I am quite happy with the show results today as well, even though it was not as great as yesterday. I got Excellent, but no CAC. Calvin was BOS. The BOB winner was also a really good bitch.

Neil Armstrong

The first man on the Moon, Neil Armstrong, is dead. He lived a long life, even for a human, but still did not live to see the next manned Moon landing, nor the first dog on the Moon. This is sad. I hope humans and dogs will land on the Moon again soon. RIP Neil Armstrong.

Success

Hello, Karstuhl here! At the dog show in Visby today, I won my first CAC. Calvin was Best of Breed, while I was Best of Opposite Sex. It was a good day for us. Now I want to go to more shows. Lucky Me, then, that there is Another as soon as tomorrow.

Turning Greece Around?

I heard on the radio today, that prices in Greece are being lowered. It is getting cheaper to be a tourist in Greece, which makes the streams of tourists turning back to Greece.

The person talkning about this said this was an "internal devaluation". This means that when Greece has the euro, hence no currency of its own to devaluate, it has to devaluate by other means. A devaluation means goods and service produced in Greece would turn cheaper for people from other countries, but a similar result is achieved by lowering the prices. This may save the Greek economy without it having to leave the common currency.

I guess this was one way in which the common currency was meant to work. I hope it will be a road towards a better economy in Greece.

Celebrating Paula

We celebrated Paula's thirtyfifth birthday today. This is well worth celebrating, because thirtyfive can be evenly divided by seven, so it is easy to compare it to a dog birthday. In dog years, Paula would be five.

Paula actually turns thirtyfive this thursday, but it suited us all better to celebrate today. This is life when everybody has full calendars.

Spotting Spotted Owls

Dogs and our great noses can help humans in many ways. In a scientific project by the University of Washington in the USA, dogs sniffed out pellets from spotted owls. This improved the probability of finding these owls by 30 percent. Need I say more?

Baby Strollers and Fire Security

Humans have a knack for making life difficult for themselves. They do not learn to walk until they are almost a year old, and their parents drive them around in baby strollers until they are good at it.

If you live in a block of flats in Sweden, you are not allowed to store things in the staircase. There are fire security reasons for this. Things may burn, and they may stop people from evacuating the building. When a large owner of blocks of flats in our home town removed a baby stroller from a stair case this week, some people were, nevertheless, outraged. They believe there is a right to store baby strollers anywhere. I believe there is not.

It is much easier being a mother of dog pups. A pup learn to walk when he or she is but weeks old, and a couple of weeks later, there is no question of whether the pup rather walk by itself or is carried.

Athletics Again

The Olympic Games are over, but we listen to live broadcasted athletics on the radio tonight, nevertheless. It is the "DN Galan" in Stockholm, an international athletics competition. According to the radio reporters, it is a good competition. I guess the Olympic Games did not make people tired of sports, perhaps the contrary.

Weirdly, the word athlete has started to mean the same in Swedish as in English over the last couple of years. Traditionally, the word "atlet" in Swedish has meant weight lifter or "strong man", while the English word athlete is translated into "friidrottare". I guess too many Swedes believe that just making the English word sound Swedish is a sound way to translate. I would never think so. Then again, dogs all over the world have a common language, we never have these translation difficulties.

Blogging

Hello, Gonsa here!

I cannot believe my sister Issi beat me to the computer, writing her blog entry before I did. I thought I would be there first, but was not. This was a little annoying. Not quite as annoying as when she lifted her ears before I did, but still.

Blogging seems to be fun, but I am not sure I will start my own blog. Future will tell.

My Entry

Hello, Issi here!

Mommy has given me and my litter brother Gonsa the opportunity to write in her blog. We are about the age she was when starting it. I am not so sure I will be a blogger, though, I cannot think of anything interesting to say in just one blog entry. Well, it was nice to try it, anyhow.

Diplomatic Row

Some Chinese activist went ashore on one of the Japanese Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. When they were arrested by Japanese Coast Guard, China made a diplomatic protest. I understand why. China is a dictatorship and claims these islands. It is in the line of dictatorial regimes to claim other states' territories, because they believe imperialistic policies look good to their own people and takes peoples' interest away from internal affairs. I still think China has no claim to the Senkaku Islands. Why would they? They are a part of the Okinawa prefecture in Japan and this was the first time for many years that any non-Japanese people had ever visited them. There is no basis for the Chinese claim.

You Just Do Not Do That!

A woman in Västerås (a Swedish town about halfway between Stockholm and Örebro) claims to have forgotten her dog in her car all day today. When she came back to the car in the afternoon, the dog was dead. The woman was chocked.

Police have started to look at the case. They say it cannot be a case against the woman for animal cruelty, because that is a crime of premeditation. It can still be a crime against the animal protection laws.

I do not believe this woman just forgot her dog. You just do not do that. I mean, who would forget a family member for a full day? In my mind, this woman should be prosecuted for animal cruelty. The dog must have had a terrible time, before it finally passed away. May it rest in peace!

Strange Priorities

In Sweden, we have got two TV channels that are financed by a tax on TV sets, the so called TV licence. These channels are not allowed to have any commercials, like the other channels have. The other week, they broadcasted one hour of live show with a Swedish singer on prime time. Complaints were filed against broadcasting this, because it was considered a violation of the rules prohibiting commercials. Nevertheless, this show was broadcasted again, as a rerun, early this evening. It is strange that the TV channel decides to rerun a show where there is a pending complaint. Strange priorities, I say.

Cheater

The olympic gold medalist in shot put, Belarussian Nadzeya Ostapchuk, has lost her gold medal. She failed doping tests and has thus been disqualified. The gold has gone to New Zealander Valerie Adams instead.

This is good. Cheating should be punished, in human sports as well as in dog sports. I would not like to lose a dog show to a dog who cheated, neither should a human have to lose to another human who has cheated.