Welcome Autumn

The leaves have already started to change colour
and some have even fallen off the trees too.
It's just the beginning of Autumn in Calgary,
and already I'm chilled to the bones.
Hey Kunou, whatcha looking at?

Mama is leaving on Sept 30 for Japan.
I'm happy that she'll be reunited with Papa,
but I'm sad that she has to leave me behind.
I know Uncle Andy and Auntie Ang will take good
care of me. Kunou will keep me company during
all my lonely days. Uncle Al and Gramma will come
over and play. So even though I will miss Mama a lot,
she leaves me in very capable hands.

I know I'll be okay when she goes.
I hope she'll be okay too.

Howling in the Night

Kunou has this weird little habit:
he howls in the night during bed time.
The little guy is sleeping, and all of a sudden
he wakes himself up in a loud, eery howl.

It starts off quiet, and begins to build up, until
it reaches a fever pitch. And he goes on for a good
minute, just howling, like a ghost on speed!
I think he's dreaming, or having a nightmare!
It used to freak me out, and I would bark at him
to stop, but now I just sleep through it
because my barking doesn't stop him from howling.

I guess that explains why he's so well
rested during the day, and I am dead tired.

Presents for Moi

Mama is leaving for Japan soon, so she bought me
a gift to remind me of her when she goes.
It's a BULLDOG!! Can you see the resemblance?

I couldn't put it down for the first few days.
I love biting it in the jugular and the crotch.
My favourite is trying to chew its nose off.

It makes for a pretty good pillow too!

Auntie Ang got Kunou a white mouse,
because Kunou thinks he's really a cat.

The mouse looks eerily real, don't it?

On a side note, I wanted to say congrats to Uncle Brian,
who's defending his PhD today. I know he killed it,
so I guess I should call him Dr. Uncle Brian from now on?
What a tongue twister!

Happy Saturday!

We went to the new vets today for a full checkup
and some annual vaccinations. I wasn't so sure about the new vets,
because I'm so used to the old ones, but these guys were great!
Dr. McCurdy at the Harvest Hills Vet Clinic
thought I was a good and cute dog,
I think he's a pretty good doctor.
I got some new hardware to put on my collar
with my rabies shot this year too.
Interestingly, my full physical didn't include a pee or poo sample,
any blood work, or them taking my temperature.
Is that normal here in Calgary?

As a reward for being such good dogs at the vets,
Kunou and I got to run outside!
Look at him trying to keep up with me.
Actually, Kunou can out run me any day.
I'm a bit of a fatty - 24.2 kg to be exact!
And you know, I've actually lost weight
since the beginning of summer too.

I hope you have a great weekend!
Try to relax and take it easy, I will be!!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone! And a short work week too!
Mama and I have been watching a lot of TV these days
in High Def, which if you don't have, you should get!
We love the National Geographic channel, and we
absolutely love The Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan!
He's a really talented and gifted dog psychologist
and he's got great tips on how to deal with behavioral
issues, like aggression (guilty!!).
Check out his blog that I've linked to.

Since tuning into The Dog Whisperer show,
both Kunou and I have been better behaved.
Mama's been working to make us more balanced.
We sometimes forget our lessons,
but I'm sure it will stick in time with more practice.

I think Kunou struggles a little harder than I do
during the lessons. He doesn't always listen...

unless there is a treat involved.

We are going for long walks around the neighbourhood
everyday in the afternoon with Mama. She likes it
when we are tired and sleepy at home.
I agree, a tired dog is a happy dog, calm and submissive!!

Happy Labour Day

Hope you are having a great long weekend
wherever you are! And now that it's September
a lot of changes are happening:
- end of summer and beginning of chilly autumn
- new job for Auntie Ang (congrats!)
- new PhD beginnings for Auntie Trish (good luck!)
- PhD endings for Uncle Brian (good luck!)
- school endings for Auntie CET (good luck!)
- Happy birthdays for end of August and September babies too

and the one that makes me the most sad:
- one more month for me and Momma before she leaves for Japan

I won't lie to you, this is a picture of me and Kunou from
a couple weeks ago. It was nice and warm outside.
It's gotten really cold here in Calgary the last week,
and the high today is 11C. Can you believe that?
I think I saw frost this morning on the grass during my walk.
Brrr........

Happy Days

This morning when Kunou and I woke up we heard
Mama walking around upstairs. I think she was
chatting on MSN with Papa in Japan.
Hi Papa!! I miss you! Hope you are well!

This afternoon, since the weather was so nice,
Mama took Kunou and I out for a long walk.
This time around, I got to share my space with my buddy.

I think Kunou had a pretty good time
walking around outside, sniffing the grass.
Look at him smiling!!

Check it out: that dark blur in the top
right hand corner of the pic is a fly.
Great timing hey? Too bad it's so blurry!

Just to prove that Kunou and I went for a walk together.

There's a house on our route where little kids live.
They have a huge ball, like really HUGE!
I wanted to play too, but Mama wasn't going to let me.
I pulled and pulled and pulled, but it didn't work.
My leash line was getting shorter and shorter and shorter,
because Mama was wrapping it around her hand.

I didn't mean to, but I ended up bruising
Mama's hand from my pulling. I'm sorry Mama!!

On a side note, I'm sending our Canadian Olympic Team
some well deserved love. I've been watching them on TV
and even though we haven't won any medals,
our athletes are trying very hard!
So keep up the good work Canada!

Becoming Beastie Besties

I think it was Kunou's near death experience that has made
him warm up to me much more now. See we are even
hanging out on the same blanket right next to each other!

I might be pushing my luck a little here by trying to
snuggle with Kunou, hence his trying to not-so-
subtley move his head away from mine.
Why are you still so scared of me Little Buddy?

Kunou has his appetite back now!
He gets rice with chicken chunks.
Lucky bum gets his dinner homemade.
I get my dry kibble from a bag.
Boo.

Happy 888 Everyone!!

Holy moly it's been eons since my last post!
I've been enjoying my summer here in Cowtown.
Sunning myself, chasing butterflies, eating grass.
Generally loving life. How about you?

Look at all this room for me to run around and be silly!!
And all for me too, I don't have to share.

That's because Kunou spent the last 3 days in the hospital.
A few months ago, Auntie Ang was making guacamole
and accidentally dropped the avocado pit on the floor.
Kunou, with his ninja-like reflexes was on that pit in a flash,
and he swallowed it whole!!! Well it's been festering
in his belly for all this time now and his stomach finally
wore it down small enough for it to pass into his
small intestine. And then it got stuck there. He was
vomiting and dehydrated. And that was last Saturday.

He had to go to emergency twice because
it was misdiagnosed the first time. Monday was the
second time we took him, his little body was
already in shock and he was vomiting up brown liquid
that smelled like it should be coming out the other end.
We thought he was a goner.
But then he had an ultrasound and surgery last Tuesday.
And today he came home! I'm so happy!!

Here's Kunou with a shaved belly and a nasty incision
from the surgery. The purple bandage was where the IV was.
He's also wearing tea towel socks on his hind legs to
prevent him from scratching the incision.

I'm glad Kunou is better now. I was getting
depressed for a little while and had trouble eating
my food. Today after he came home, I was
so happy I ate ALL of my dinner!!
Indeed today is a lucky day for everyone!
Oh and happy start to the Olympics too!!
Go Canada!

Super Storms!

I always thought the weather in Toronto was a bit crazy:
we used to live downtown and the lightening was so bright,
but the thunder that came after was
even louder than I can imagine!
Calgary has strange weather too.
One minute it will be hot and sunny,
the next minute it's dark and raining
with lightening bolts and thunder!
I'd say the weather in Calgary is a bit bipolar.
We're having a super storm, so the weatherman on the news says.
Mama was trying to capture the lightening on film,
but I don't think her timing was very good.
She did manage to catch a passing airplane though.

In the afternoons I get to play outside,
if it's not raining or hailing. I had never seen hail
before I came to Calgary. It hurts when it falls out of the sky!

Kunou will sit next to me, if and only if, he gets a cookie.
He's kind of sneaky too, when I eat my cookie,
(inevitably some will fall out of my mouth) Kunou is
on my crumbs like a fly on poo. Without fail, Kunou picks
up my leftovers. Seriously, if this is the only way he'll
be my friend, so be it.

My Birthday Weekend!

I'm spending my 6th birthday with family in Calgary!
I can't believe I'm 6 years old already!
I remember when I was just a baby,
I was so small and cuddly, like Kunou-sized!

Even Kunou is happy it's my birthday.
We'll be celebrating his birthday soon,
he's turning 11 years old in August!

I'm really loving Calgary now.
I get to play in the backyard everyday!
And look at the nice carpet I can roll and stretch out on!

And I'm happy to tell you that Kunou isn't AS scared of me now.
Yes he still runs away when I try to bring him toys to play,
but he willingly eats my dinner out of my dish,
drinks water out of my bowl, and he ventures close
to going into my crate. Uncle Andy says Kunou
is really looking for cookie crumbs to eat, and he's not
so much interested in being friends with me.
As long as he doesn't run away, I don't care!!

I'm having a great summer so far!
How is your summer going?

Learning to Settle In

This is my first post from Cowtown!
Uncle Brian and Mr. M. drove Mama and I to the airport.
Uncle Brian stayed with us until Mama had to board her plane.
We miss him so much!

My plane ride here from Toronto was quite uneventful.
There were two other dogs in crates that rode alongside of me
in the cargo, we pretty much slept through the 4 hour flight.
When we got to Calgary, Uncles Allen, Andy and Auntie Ang
picked us up from the airport. They were shocked when
they realized that Mama's luggage was 30lbs overweight!

I've been at Uncle Andy and Auntie Ang's now for almost a week.
This is Kunou, he is "sleeping". I think he's
pretending, so I will leave him alone.
We're going to be best friends,
he just doesn't know it yet.

Every time I bring a toy over to Kunou for us to play,
he runs away and hides under the kitchen table.
He probably think it's cute, because I can't reach him under there.
I am patient, so I wait for him to come out.

I love that Uncle Andy and Auntie Ang have a backyard.
I love going out there to run and sniff the tomato plants.
I know, the tomato plants are poisonous to dogs,
so I don't eat them. Just sniff.
And I like the smell of the compost bin too!

Kunou has a bunch of toys that I have never seen before either.
When no one is looking, I steal them from the toy bin.
Problem is, now they all smell like me,
and Kunou doesn't want to play with them anymore.
Oh well, more for me!!

Bon Voyage!

Today is my last day in Toronto.
Mama is cleaning like a mad woman!
Look how much room there is
in the apartment now, it's nuts!
I haven't seen it like this since we first moved in.
Mama had to get rid of so much stuff!
Thank you to Auntie Trish who took a lot of it.
And the nice cleaning lady, Wendy, she's fabulous!

I've got all I need for the move:
Bear, and kibble.

I'm not sure about the flight though,
I'm a bit scared. Actually I think Mama is
much more scared than me. She's a
big scaredy cat. I know it'll be fine.
I just don't know what to expect.

I just wanted to thank everyone for being so
kind to me. I will miss you all. I really do
hope we can see each other again.
Come and visit me in Calgary, I promise
to show you a good time!!
The next time I post I will be doing so from Calgary.
So stay tuned!!

Just Checking In

My goodness! The last time I posted was almost a month ago...
Much has gone on since my last post:
Mama has finally finished school, yay!
Papa is still in Japan and he's slowly turning into a robot.
I went for a sleepover at Uncle Brian's house over the weekend.
And we are in preparations to move to Calgary.

It's pretty hectic in the apartment,
Mama is putting things into boxes, into the garbage,
and into big bins hoping that Auntie Trish,
Auntie Ada, and Thomas Ojichan will
take them off her hands.

I guess this is what happens
when you live somewhere for a long time,
you just accumulate stuff.
We also have all of Papa's stuff, and all of Obaachan's stuff too.
We have A LOT of stuff. If you live in Toronto and want
free stuff, or cheap stuff, drop me a line and
I'll let you know what we have to get rid of.

It'll be interesting to see what the apartment looks like with
less stuff in here. I wish I could help Mama more, but
she says I just get in the way more than anything.

I haven't really thought about leaving Toronto,
I've been here since I was a baby! I think that I
will miss my friends the most. Especially Uncle Brian,
Auntie Ada, and Thomas Ojichan. They are always so nice to me.
I will be sad I think, but I'll try to keep it together for Mama,
whom I know will be more sad than me to leave her friends.
Good thing we will always keep in touch!
Promise to keep in touch, and I will do the same!

Damn It's Cold

Our building turned the heat off for the season
and the air con is on now. Problem is,
it's friggin cold outside still. So that means it's
friggin cold inside too. Not to mention
there seems to be cold air con air blowing
at maximum outside in the hallways,
which leaks into the apartment from the
vents and under the door.

I guess I'm lucky, I have a permanent fur coat
to keep me warm. Mama is always wearing two
t-shirts, a sweater, sweatpants, socks and slippers,
a toque on her head and a big scarf around her shoulders.
She's even resorted to turning on the oven just
to warm up the apartment. Not very green I must admit.

We could tell the building manager, but he seems like a
bit of an a$$hole. He gives us snarky eyes every time
we see him. Maybe he doesn't like dogs?
Or maybe he's just an a$$hole.
What are your tips for a chilly interior?

Happy Mama's Day

Just a quick shout out to all the Hot Mama's out there!
Happy Mother's Day!
Thank you Mama for taking care of me,
feeding me my medicine everyday,
picking up my poo everyday,
wiping my paws and my bum everyday.
You are the best and I love you for it!

Where's Aiko

This was the disaster zone after Papa left on the weekend.
Can you spot me? I helped Mama decide what to keep,
donate, sell, and throw away.
Problem is, Mama is a packrat (not as bad as Papa)
and she tends to hang on to things that should just
get passed onto to someone else.
But it was good therapy to go through some of this baggage
and get rid of it for good.

Here's the result of our cull.
Not bad eh?
More room for me to run around too!