Chaplin?

Nobu has a moustache!

A trip down memory lane

The coming new year belongs to Claire and Nobunaga...but today I catch myself reminiscing about all the great and terrible events of 2011, my fondest and most nostalgic memory being my two months with Sofie, intense, passionate, blazing like a comet across my life, a  love of a lifetime: bonding like soulmates for a brief moment with an eternity in the depth of feeling. These pictures were taken after only a day or so, and already we moved like a team...

The Kiss

Disney Princess: Sleeping Beauty

Granma what big eyes you have...Little red riding hood

Dandelion Dog

Journey's End 

Peace at last!

More Walkies

The dogs are getting a good amount of exercise: after a morning walk with me for an hour or so, toward lunch we went to Kuraki Park in the car: total 7674 steps, or two and a half hours outside, with the dogs cranking up more exercise than me as they wander about on the long lead. I took Nobu this time, and gave him his head, following him around since he's always so obediently following Claire. He made a beeline for some other dogs, a brown kaiken who wasn't really interested, and then stood there sniffing the air while I called Tosh to find out just where he and Claire had disappeared off to. They were down by the lake, so me and Nobu took a shortcut, coming round from the other side of the lake and heading them off. If we get too close the leads get all tangled up and it can get dangerous for the dogs, so we keep our distance, and Nobu made his first sniff foray into woody leaves and bamboo underbrush quite off the beaten path...normally he's quite careful to stay on the path. After circling round through the rushes, we were back with Claire, snapped these pictures and headed home for lunch. It gets cool again after about two, so these are the best times for fun walks and happy smiles.

Walkies

Walked down in the Kamioka direction to a little trimming salon called Peach, which used to be a dog cafe but has moved and no longer runs the cafe, only the grooming business. They had a 3L doggie coat which I wanted to get for Claire, on our morning walks it can get quite chilly and lately she's been waking up later and later to avoid the first chill of the morning. The two dogs work  quite well on the lead together, when we got to the busiest road I kept the leash very short and told them to heel, which they understood quite well, and otherwise when there's no traffic they either gel like in this photo, or are off at tangents, but mainly within the radius of the leash.

 When we get home, Claire always goes through the door first ( a hierarchy reinforcer), and the dogs sit and wait in the entrance while I wipe their feet, again, Claire first. She doesn't need to be restrained, knowing the routine, but Nobu still has to be tied to the door handle or he'd skip the whole wipe your feet process and jump up on inside. Plus he's supposed to wait his turn...he's been with us all of three weeks now, and it's pretty miraculous how he fits in. He's a sweetie.

I was rather upset yesterday, losing Nobu's scarf on our morning walk...I didn't notice until we got home, and then it was breakfast and taking out the trash and i was too tired to go back immediately, but when I walked through the park again in the evening there was no sign. A friend this morning said they saw it near the toilet in the park, but when I went by there again expressly this morning it was not there...Perhaps just as well I'm finishing up Claire's scarf, now I will switch back to making a new one for Nobu! Claire's scarf is three swatches from other projects crocheted together, with the ends knitted up and smocked. The first section is a Scottish thistle sweater i never made, the middle teddy is a Kasumi swatch, and the pink crochet is the arms of another sweather I've made, worn and handed down long ago. Here is our gorgeous girl proudly wearing the new scarf over her Five Drops name tag.

Play School

Nobu seems totally fearful about playing with toys: he used to leave the room, particularly when I toss them into the air for Claire to catch. I'm slowly coaxing him to stick around, to grab and hold by wiggling the toy on the ground, and he can see when Claire goes wild, shaking toys and jumping around. He still thinks it's about two doggie play, and tries to take the toy from her, but she gets angry and lashes out, so he gives up on her, but still hasn't worked out how to make the toy fun by himself or involving a human. I have some rope, and he's beginning to bite ever so tentatively, so I'm hoping in time we can play tug of war with the rope, and there are sticks in the garden, so perhaps he will begin to play fetch with me: right now I just encourage him to hold the stick in his mouth, to begin to enjoy the feel of it. Perhaps Claire will also learn how to play with him, sharing the toy and teasing each other with a doggie tug of war...they have so much to learn from each other :)

Two setters

Today is the last day the town hall is open, so we went to register Nobunaga (previously known as Mallow). The second dog citizen sticker looks great on our gate, sandwiching the sticker from cafe press, and each day he's getting more and more healthy and happy, it's a joy to watch. A gentle giant, he has great restraint, excellent judgement about how to make friends with people and other dogs, is warm, tender, very tactile and loving. Welcome home, samurai lord. 

Meanwhile the next door neighbours called us in to greet Nobu and say hello to their dachshund, who took a great liking to Nobu, and the two enjoyed treats and getting to know each other. Nobu rolled over on the lawn, making friends, while Claire had gone on home with Tosh to enjoy her usual couch potato poses after our short walk in Kuraki park on the way home from the town hall.