Claire decided she'd had enough of Mummy sorting out summer and winter clothes...can't you just feel the balmy autumn air calling you, she said...so off we went walkies...
Nothing special in the offing, just our usual local walkies, with variation in direction and time and season...Decided to start out with the homecoming course this time to get a chance at sniffing around freely in a location where I'm normally focused on walking home quickly...
You can just make out the Landmark Tower hazily behind Nobunaga's head...
Mushrooms springing up underfoot...
...and squirrels, pigeons and other exciting animals to be hunted in the branches...
Secret sites where humans pray...and thistles to remind me of my erstwhile home.
Nobu, Claire and Luna are HIDING something...
This is simply not the time to be poking those black long lenses in our face, Mum, they seem to be saying.
They don't want me peeking, not one bit...
It's been pouring with rain all day, so I had to drive wee Cato and his Mummy home after her pregnancy check-up, and still no walkies when I got back early afternoon, although the doggies have been gracious enough to go peewees in the garden. Simply no chance of a decent walk in the offing today (thankfully we topped 10,000 yesterday), so I felt it was time for a life-saver, the chewy workout.
Nobunaga still has half an eye on me to check I'm not going to interfere...
Claire will barely give me a glimpse of hers, let alone show me her face while she eats...
Even Chiaro di Luna is wary of the intrusion, can't a girl eat in peace? Not really fair to insist when they're at the height of enjoyment...a good jawbone workout to massage the brain and make up for a day of lethargy.
Luna always looks her glossy best after a bath. I've been rubbing the dogs with coconut oil loaded with a drop each of lavender and cedar essential oil, and adding brown rice vinegar to their drinking water as a natural flea repellent. The dogs like the mix, and it's no problem if they lick it.
Meanwhile I seek inspiration reading various books, and am as usual inspired by Betty Reardon (2001) "Education for a culture of peace in a gender perspective" UNESCO Publishing.
"Violence...is avoidable and intentional harm inflicted in the pursuit of goals or purposes sought by particular individuals or groups, without regard to the rights or needs of others"...
It seems to me the violence perpetrated on dogs here in Japan, this facile abandoning of pets, comes from an inbred sense of entitlement and human privilege...not just in the moment the pet becomes a nuisance, but right from the moment where having a pet has to be the "my puppy" just for me attitude...
Bobbie Harro (1982) has a very interesting diagram describing the Cycle of Socialization, starting with being "born into world with mechanics in place, No blame, no consciousness, no guilt, no choice, limited/no information, misinformation...resulting in dehumanization... violence... internalization of patterns of power" (Routledge, 1997: Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice...I have the older version, there's a newer book out apparently)
Even when the information about the plight of abandoned dogs, the terrible way the mothers are kept, the shocking number of puppies injured or grown too old to sell and put down is clearly reported, the strength of human entitlement is so deep, people still rush unthinkingly to pet shops for "their special puppy". Animals have even less chance to protect themselves from this kind of violence than humans, who can reach out in language and media...
You're all missing out, says Lady Claire. Just be in the moment and you'll see me in all my glory.
Right now Gundog Rescue CACI has four setters from Fukushima hoping for adoption and a forever home...right now, your very own English setter: go for it!
A lot of people I meet on walks need to be educated in dog behavior, they think their dog is scared when it's showing play behavior, barking and jumping away suddenly. A scared dog will freeze up and growl, or lunge suddenly, ears forward, face hard. Lady Claire used to give other dogs the cold shoulder because she was rather nervous, ignoring and avoiding them, but has never attacked another dog. Originally she would bark and snap quite vocally in a "How dare you, sir! Unhand me" fashion when someone got their nose round her buttocks. Lately with Nobunaga's benign influence, having experienced meet and greets in all kind of situations with dogs big and small, her socialization skills have expanded: she has even got used to butt sniffing, and has also realized with Luna's jostling that a crowd of other dogs milling around and bumping into her is not dangerous or scary.
The only time I've seen Nobunaga bite is the evening he came, when he was scared witless, vomiting and weak from the car ride. We put him in his cage for him to settle while we talked, and he felt so scared, he attacked the cage door and got his incisors caught in the bars so he couldn't close his mouth or move his jaw...quick-thinking parent saved the day, clipping the metal with a metal cutter from the toolbox, so his tooth could slide out and he was free. I spent the night sleeping beside him next to the cage so he didn't feel lonely and scared. He will also actively play bite with me, but has learned to nip gently and it's more boisterous than aggressive:setters have a very gentle, sensitive mouth, since they're supposed to carry game whole for the roast on the table. In that way tug of war and catch the peeping toy from behind my back are not really ideal games to play with a setter, because they're straining the jaw, clamping down, and snapping...I confess I do play those games quite happily with Nobunaga, since he's not working as a bird dog.
And finally Luna, well, from time to time she will snarl and yarl when a dog gets invasive round her little privates, but it's like a toothless half hearted sort of protest, not really scary at all...Fortunately it's enough to get the message across, and she gets on with her ditzy life...I could see she was a little scared of Nobu and Claire in the initial days, but she had her safe place in her cage and she never ever growled or got angry, she's quite a positive wee dog great at coping in an upbeat way. The other day I reached into her mouth to clean out some poops she was eating, and she let me wipe and swipe with my fingers, which is most generous of her, since she's ever so fond of her food...
It seems to me a happy balanced healthy dog who feels safe is not aggressive...when Claire has been attacked (she was once by a horrible shiba trailing a leash running free in the woods) she ran squealing behind me for safety! I never thought I'd be the more courageous of us two facing an unknown dog, but motherhood brings out strengths you never knew you owned, I faced down the dog, body square and leaning forward menacingly, stepped on the leash and got it to back off to its owner who came blithely down the hill...nasty person, letting a vicious dog run free. Poor wee Claire was shivering and whimpering, shocked and frightened, so I cuddled her in my arms and gently checked out her leg and shoulder for bite marks and bruising, and we both calmed down and she decided she was okay and we could go on walking... I gave the owner a piece of my mind, but you could see it was pointless. Meanwhile I cannot thank Dodo sensei, my dog trainer, enough, along with many Ian Dunbar videos and Patricia McConnel's books, including "The other end of the Leash" for teaching me how to watch my dogs and learn about them and what they say, and how to say things clearly for them to understand me and what I want.
"I'm thinking I could have a go walking the dogs too, Granma, what do you think?"
"Well sure, sweetie, I recommend Nobunaga, he loves kids."
"Holding the leash with two hands so it doesn't trail on the ground, right? Playing the slack...piece of cake. Off we go, Nobu!"
"We'll let him think he's in charge, right? Okay, then, I can do that...it's only as far as the corner park, anyway, right, no cats around, huh?"
Cheered on by the setter audience, Cato prepares for the Olympics...
Back at home, busy painting for a wee bit, inbetween feeding the Japanese fire newts, collecting marbles in a wire basket, picking out shiny beads, dunking gundam erasers in the wicker dustbin, hoovering up dog hairs, cleaning Luna's ears and playing a fruit picking color dice game. "I say, any food involved?" asks Luna, hovering around...Never a dull moment.
Back from a lovely long morning walk, autumnal LIcca greets Claire as she lazes on the armchair waiting for breakfast...sorting swatches of garments past, matching up velvet crochet with cotton stranded colorwork, sewing in ends, adding bits and bobs of lace, one more tiny press stud to sew on, another wee length of ribbon to add...phew! Just in time for the dogs' return...
Well done, Mummy. Now then, food please.
...After breakfast things are much more exciting in the garden and Mummy has the washing to hang out, not to mention the hoovering...not to mention blogging the morning away...valiantly ignoring the weeds here...
Had the great fortune to meet a cutie one-year old pittbull, Candy, in the dogrun. Quite unusual to see the breed in Japan, she was such a friendly doggie, and so were her owners. I always enjoy seeing pictures from friends in the US working in pitbull rescue, it felt like I was almost meeting them for real and sharing in the warm loving of these beautiful dogs.
It appears not all dog runs are pitbull friendly, which is a shame. I am against breed specific legislation: it's all about the dog and their owner, not the breed. After horsing around playing with Nobunaga, he got quite hot and gave up...just too late for me to get any decent pictures of their lovely friendly gambolling.
Lady Claire rarely condescends to play, but Chiaro di Luna was quite happy to meet and play with Candy, they got on really well.
Hither and thither, making a great team, they were off exploring odd corners up and down the run.
All in all a lot of fun, making new friends before a setter splash in the sea and home before the rain sets in...smiles of satisfaction all round.
It's been pouring with rain all day, so I had to drive wee Cato and his Mummy home after her pregnancy check-up, and still no walkies when I got back early afternoon, although the doggies have been gracious enough to go peewees in the garden. Simply no chance of a decent walk in the offing today (thankfully we topped 10,000 yesterday), so I felt it was time for a life-saver, the chewy workout.
