Sweetie Pie

Bird Dawgs

 There's actually a good core exercise called the Bird Dog, available on YouTube for those of us who want to train those lower back muscles...but don't the setters do it much more elegantly...
Photos by Lelantos

Autumn Gingko

Photos by Lelantos

Okamura Tenjin

Praying that the newly abandoned setters this year find a good home, and for the new CACI Gundog Rescue shelter to be a success, a warm and safe haven for these beautiful dogs as they are vetted, trained and rehabilitated.
CACI were renting to house pointers and setters pulled from kill pounds in the Chiba and Ibaragi area, vet them and train them while finding them good foster homes. The old apartment is being torn down as the building was structurally damaged in the big Tohoku earthquake, and so they had to move: no mean feat in the metropolis, finding a place willing to rent to a doggie rescue. 

The miraculous find of a new shelter (had to be in the same Minamigyotoku station area as local volunteers walk the dogs morning and evening) meant that everyone chipped in to renovate and refurbish. Thanks to a huge carpentry effort by CACI volunteers and thanks to donations from people like you, oh gentle reader. 

 I just heard on FB this morning that our prayers are being answered, and some wonderful foster homes have been found to love and care for some recently abandoned setters. There have been so many abandoned recently, the rescue has been overloaded, so the foster parents have stepped up to help save lives straight from the pound. Even with medical issues, these dogs make the most wonderful loving, intelligent and fun companions...Our Claire and Nobunaga are the picture of health, but wee Chiaro di Luna came to us in the worst condition. She is the cutest little button of a girl, so proud and happy to be home, giving us mountains of joy and love for however long she may be with us. Way to go CACI! And of course, if you are thinking of getting a loving doggie companion, adopt and save a life: I guarantee you won't regret it!

Photos by Lelantos

Seen through fresh eyes

A friend came by for the first time to have a cup of tea and meet the dogs, and here are some pictures courtesy of our visitor. It's always fun to have a fresh perspective on the babies, I'm so proud of their transformation from scared, neglected, abandoned babies to proud, glossy, prized pets.

Nobunaga is so gentle nibbling a tidbit from my hand...and Luna has finally learned to sit and wait her turn without jumping in and stealing out of excitement.

Luna is so bony and with her much thinner coat than the other furbabies, she's wearing doggie coats all day to keep warm as winter approaches. Right now I'm in the process of knitting one, spent a whole wasted day searching for my crochet hooks to do some edging and make some flower motifs...by the time I found them (where they should have been in the first place, I had overlooked them in the clutter) it was too late to begin knitting...

And finally some close-ups of Lady Claire, to complete the set...

After meals Nobunaga has taken to licking the bowl so carefully, he moves with it across the kitchen floor... and then Chiaro di Luna dashes up from her cage to finish off the job, sending his doggie mat flying, so the kitchen is a bit of a mess...I do believe friends come to see me and the dogs and not judge the kitchen, so in that spirit, please turn a blind eye.

Photos by DragonSnake

Cops and Robbers

 Claire, wake up, let's play! I'm bored. What shall we play? Bear hugs?

 Okay, let's play...you're on! I say we play cops and robbers! I've got you by the scruff of the neck you villain...

I say, this isn't quite what I had in mind. I'm innocent, I assure you. I didn't do it!

 That's what they all say... I do believe you're resisting arrest! 

Police brutality! I protest!
You have the right to remain silent...

That was a hard day's work protecting the peace....

The Little Prince

“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” 
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

 “I am looking for friends. What does that mean -- tame?"
"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. "It means to establish ties." 
"To establish ties?" 
"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world....” 
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

“People have forgotten this truth," the fox said. "But you mustn’t forget it. You become responsible forever for what you’ve tamed. You’re responsible for your rose.” 

― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

Photos by Lelantos

Mineral Mudpack Pedicure

 Guess which legs belong to which dog...not that hard, they all sploshed　in the terraced fields at Kuraki park while chasing a pigeon and enjoying a long walk.

 As the rain sets in I have been shampooing the dogs after their two hour 8951 steps walk, and now Claire is going wild with joy at all the exercise, clean fur and attention...more pics on that tomorrow

Nobunaga jumped in deepest and waited out the birds the longest, he really got a taste for the hunt towards the end, when I was getting cold and tired and wanted to go home...

The Many Faces of Bliss

And of course Luna's new coat has arrived..3L but a little shorter than I had hoped, so more like a cutie short top than a snuggly winter buttwarmer...but oh so pretty.

Moon Princess in Pink

 These are evening pictures as the dogs relax, satisfied with their evening meal and two good walkies in the autumn sun...I wish I could get back into the knitting mood and make them each a winter coat, or even a new scarf, but failing that I have ordered a new pink coat for Chiaro di Luna: she's so thin and it's getting cold, so she's wearing it during the day and even as pyjamas, so I need a couple spare for the wash cycle. Pics coming soon, I hope, waiting for the delivery van as I type...Claire and Nobunaga look gorgeous without human trappings, and so far are tubsy healthy weight like Mum, so no problems with feeling cold.