We had a blast with a family of our friends for Thanksgiving.... great food, fun movie, late night card games, and a trip to the water park together. The other family has 2 sons who loved my Caitey, so she was really spoiled from getting treats to getting attention.
Because we had to travel to the water park which was outside our area, I had to leave Caitey in a dog kennel overnight. I did not want to do this because I knew I would miss her from head to toe, but I had to do it because our family is scheduled to be on two back to back long trips for the holidays so Caitey would have to get used to staying with others.
To my greatest surprise, she took it every well and had no problem staying outside home at all. As a matter of fact, she seemed really happy to follow the lady working at the kennel and never looked back when she went in -- and that, left my husband and I somewhat sad. "She would still be happy even she got sold" my husband gruntled, and I added "she might even count cash for those who sold her" when I talked like a sour grape.
Needless to say she was all over my mind when I was trying to sleep that night. I missed her so much but I was worried about her even more. Is she doing OK? Hope she is not scared of those bigger dogs... they were barking so loud when we were there. Is she eating well? Did they let her out for her break?
The next morning the dog kennel called me and I almost jumped when their numbers showed up on my phone. Something wrong with Caitey? To my greatest relief, it was a call from them telling me that she was doing great.
When we picked her up the following afternoon, she was very happy (more like wild) to see us... but I think that I was the happier one. People working at the kennel told me that Caitey was really sweet and they all loved her.
Caitey my sweetheart, if only you knew how much mommy has missed you.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
George Winston and Thanksgiving
I first got to know George Winston back in 1991 when I was travelling with a group of my Japanese colleagues to Tian Chi (天池) in Xin Jiang (新疆) China. One of them had his December on a cassette (remember what it looked like?) and I was instantly hooked and became a big fan ever since.
My favorite is Winston's Thanksgiving, which I think has soul cleansing effect on me in this chaotic world.
So much has changed since I first heard his music. I remember getting up at dawn looking at the peaceful crystal clear lake while listening to him playing Pachelbel's Canon in D major with SO much hope for my life... now my 10-year old is playing the same piece on our grand Steinway downstairs, perhaps daydreaming about her future.
It is not an ideal world to live in for many now..... with one ailing economy and two senseless wars, three hundred million Americans are going thru roller coaster time. The "Yes-We-Can" has quickly turned into "We-Can-Only-Wish".
They say one is happier not because he has more, but because he fusses less. In that sense we should all be grateful that we have our loved ones with us, or we have a home to return to, or we have enough to live on, or we still have our health, or we have our dogs who faithfully accompany us rain or shine without a bad mood or a nasty attitude ...... OR, at least we get to have someone like Parot Saline who refuses to sit down after her 15 minutes were over a year ago and insists on entertaining us :-).
Wish all my dear friends a VERY happy, safe and peaceful Thanksgiving. It was great knowing you all and thank you for enriching my life so much.
My favorite is Winston's Thanksgiving, which I think has soul cleansing effect on me in this chaotic world.
So much has changed since I first heard his music. I remember getting up at dawn looking at the peaceful crystal clear lake while listening to him playing Pachelbel's Canon in D major with SO much hope for my life... now my 10-year old is playing the same piece on our grand Steinway downstairs, perhaps daydreaming about her future.
It is not an ideal world to live in for many now..... with one ailing economy and two senseless wars, three hundred million Americans are going thru roller coaster time. The "Yes-We-Can" has quickly turned into "We-Can-Only-Wish".
They say one is happier not because he has more, but because he fusses less. In that sense we should all be grateful that we have our loved ones with us, or we have a home to return to, or we have enough to live on, or we still have our health, or we have our dogs who faithfully accompany us rain or shine without a bad mood or a nasty attitude ...... OR, at least we get to have someone like Parot Saline who refuses to sit down after her 15 minutes were over a year ago and insists on entertaining us :-).
Wish all my dear friends a VERY happy, safe and peaceful Thanksgiving. It was great knowing you all and thank you for enriching my life so much.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Akita and Hachiko
Akita (秋田) is a Japanese breed of guard dog. From what I have heard and read, seems like it has the German Shepherd's type of temperament -- extremely loyal and affectionate to its own family members, but can be very protective and aggressive to strangers and other dogs.
I recently had some major landscaping work done in front of the house, and the owner of the landscaping company is a gentleman who used to own an Akita before that poor dog was killed by a car. The gentleman got touchingly emotional when he talked about his Akita affectionately.
Curious, I did some research on this type of breed. The most interesting and impressive story by Wikipedia is Hachikō (ハチ公), one of the most revered Akitas of all time. He was born in 1923 and was owned by Professor Eizaburo Ueno of Tokyo. Professor Ueno lived near the Shibuya Train Station (渋谷駅) in a suburb of the city and commuted to work every day on the train. Hachikō accompanied his master to and from the station each day.
On May 25, 1925, when the dog was 18 months old, he waited for his master's arrival on the four o'clock train. But he waited in vain; Professor Ueno had suffered a fatal stroke at work. Hachikō continued to wait for his master's return. He traveled to and from the station each day for the next nine years till he died. He allowed the professor's relatives to care for him, but he never gave up the vigil at the station for his master. His vigil became world renowned, and shortly after his death, a bronze statue was erected at the train station in his honor.
A book I read mentions that dogs have exceptional therapeutic effect in helping people feel better during illness, depression or other stressful situations. I have seen some big macho guys on TV breakdown hard when they talked about their beloved dogs that had passed away.
While I try not to think of the unavoidable event of my dog, I know that day will eventually come. Hopefully a lot later than sooner the way we take good care of Caitey, but I know that part of me is irreplaceable and will be lost forever.
The common therapy recommended for people to overcome the grief and loss is to get another dog, and eventually time will heal all wounds. What about dogs? When they lose their masters, how do they get over their sorrow? Like Hachiko, who spent the rest of his life walking back and force to/from the train station hoping for the return of the professor, how did he deal with the hollow in his heart? Can we say dogs are a lot more loyal, dependable and consistent than we humans?
"Hachiko: A Dog's Story" is a drama film based on the true story of the above mentioned faithful Japanese dog Hachikō. The movie will be in theatres in the US on December 18th this year. Whether you are a Richard Gere fan or not, I think you will want to watch this movie.
In case you are interested, you can find here the trailers of the new Hachiko movie's English and Japanese version. and the original Japanese movie "Hachiko Monogatari".
Lastly, may all friendship last forever -- be it between humans or between a human and an animal.
I recently had some major landscaping work done in front of the house, and the owner of the landscaping company is a gentleman who used to own an Akita before that poor dog was killed by a car. The gentleman got touchingly emotional when he talked about his Akita affectionately.
Curious, I did some research on this type of breed. The most interesting and impressive story by Wikipedia is Hachikō (ハチ公), one of the most revered Akitas of all time. He was born in 1923 and was owned by Professor Eizaburo Ueno of Tokyo. Professor Ueno lived near the Shibuya Train Station (渋谷駅) in a suburb of the city and commuted to work every day on the train. Hachikō accompanied his master to and from the station each day.
On May 25, 1925, when the dog was 18 months old, he waited for his master's arrival on the four o'clock train. But he waited in vain; Professor Ueno had suffered a fatal stroke at work. Hachikō continued to wait for his master's return. He traveled to and from the station each day for the next nine years till he died. He allowed the professor's relatives to care for him, but he never gave up the vigil at the station for his master. His vigil became world renowned, and shortly after his death, a bronze statue was erected at the train station in his honor.
A book I read mentions that dogs have exceptional therapeutic effect in helping people feel better during illness, depression or other stressful situations. I have seen some big macho guys on TV breakdown hard when they talked about their beloved dogs that had passed away.
While I try not to think of the unavoidable event of my dog, I know that day will eventually come. Hopefully a lot later than sooner the way we take good care of Caitey, but I know that part of me is irreplaceable and will be lost forever.
The common therapy recommended for people to overcome the grief and loss is to get another dog, and eventually time will heal all wounds. What about dogs? When they lose their masters, how do they get over their sorrow? Like Hachiko, who spent the rest of his life walking back and force to/from the train station hoping for the return of the professor, how did he deal with the hollow in his heart? Can we say dogs are a lot more loyal, dependable and consistent than we humans?
"Hachiko: A Dog's Story" is a drama film based on the true story of the above mentioned faithful Japanese dog Hachikō. The movie will be in theatres in the US on December 18th this year. Whether you are a Richard Gere fan or not, I think you will want to watch this movie.
In case you are interested, you can find here the trailers of the new Hachiko movie's English and Japanese version. and the original Japanese movie "Hachiko Monogatari".
Lastly, may all friendship last forever -- be it between humans or between a human and an animal.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
More updates
It is hard to believe that Caitey will be 5 months just 3 days later. My sweetheart has quadrupled her weight during her less than 3-month of stay with us. She has definitely understood us better being a smart little girl. For instance, if I say "let us go for a walk" she'd run to the door and wait for me there, and if I say "go find Daddy" she'd run to the office or to his bedroom to wake the lazy bone up with her wet kisses.
Of course being a mischievous child she sometimes intentionally ignores us (especially Caitlin, the Shortie), like she gets carried away when she is around other dogs or children. It would make me multiple commands to get her sit or stay down, it can be a little annoying but it is nothing compared with her sweet moments.
Like the other day she had indigestion in her stomach and ran out of the door 3 times... till I had to drag her in every time and became really mad at her in the end. While I was wondering why she was behaving in such a strange manner, Caitey threw up on my floor -- that is when I realized that she had been trying to do it outside so not to soil my floor. How considerate of you Caitey.
She also met another friend of hers in our neighbourhood, Freckles, a cute 5-year old male dog who is a mix of Golden Retriever and Cocker Spaniel. He is a very adventurous dog and said to have roamed around every corner of our town, to the extent that our township's police dept knows him well and sent him back home quite a few times when he was younger, now he has no problem finding his way back home. Freckles' mom says that he is a super sweet dog, but even HE appeared to have an issue with my Caitey -- she might have spooked him a little the way she was overly excited around him.
I thought bigger female dogs have problems with my Caitey due to the same sex, but if a nice male dog acts the same way, hmmm.... then it is definitely Caitey and nobody else.
There goes my hope of Caitey marrying well... oh well, staying happily ever after with mommy then.
Of course being a mischievous child she sometimes intentionally ignores us (especially Caitlin, the Shortie), like she gets carried away when she is around other dogs or children. It would make me multiple commands to get her sit or stay down, it can be a little annoying but it is nothing compared with her sweet moments.
Like the other day she had indigestion in her stomach and ran out of the door 3 times... till I had to drag her in every time and became really mad at her in the end. While I was wondering why she was behaving in such a strange manner, Caitey threw up on my floor -- that is when I realized that she had been trying to do it outside so not to soil my floor. How considerate of you Caitey.
She also met another friend of hers in our neighbourhood, Freckles, a cute 5-year old male dog who is a mix of Golden Retriever and Cocker Spaniel. He is a very adventurous dog and said to have roamed around every corner of our town, to the extent that our township's police dept knows him well and sent him back home quite a few times when he was younger, now he has no problem finding his way back home. Freckles' mom says that he is a super sweet dog, but even HE appeared to have an issue with my Caitey -- she might have spooked him a little the way she was overly excited around him.
I thought bigger female dogs have problems with my Caitey due to the same sex, but if a nice male dog acts the same way, hmmm.... then it is definitely Caitey and nobody else.
There goes my hope of Caitey marrying well... oh well, staying happily ever after with mommy then.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Updates on Caitey
Caitey is now a near 40-lb big beautiful girl with all her golden curly furry hair from head to tail.
She received her puppy training certificate for passing the required commands a week ago, but then you should know that they basically pass every dog that can stick with the program till the end, including my bad girl. She had a great time learning in class along with a few other dogs (mostly labs). We plan to send her back next January for intermediate class in hope that eventually she can go all the way up to finish advanced training to be a therapy dog. Besides driving us crazy, maybe she can do a few good things to people in need.
She has her problems as a puppy of course, the biggest one is jumping on kids when she gets overly excited around them. Caitey is a people dog which genuinely loves humans. That also means that there is NO way that she can protect our house, unless the intruder hates being greeted with two powerful front paws and licked by sloppy wet kisses.
She had a wonderful time roaming around the neighbourhood meeting our neighbours and other dogs on Halloween. I hate to brag (no not really) but it felt wonderful receiving so many heartfelt compliments for her. One interesting thing that we found out was how a few big grown-up dogs got afraid of this (overly) hyped puppy. At first we thought maybe the other dog was just too timid, but as we see more adult dogs backing off from Caitey, we start to think that maybe it was not the other dog -- it is just Caitey.
Lastly, you know you live in the Internet age when:
1. your two human girls started their own blogs on their canine sister at the ages of 9 and 10;
2. three people living under the same roof chat to each other from 3 devices in different rooms, each is struggling to remember what topic she has been on with whom;
3. your child sends you an email asking when you will be on Gmail chat next time;
Wait a minute, what happened to the old fashioned human interactions -- you know the kind that you do with your lips instead of your fingers?
She received her puppy training certificate for passing the required commands a week ago, but then you should know that they basically pass every dog that can stick with the program till the end, including my bad girl. She had a great time learning in class along with a few other dogs (mostly labs). We plan to send her back next January for intermediate class in hope that eventually she can go all the way up to finish advanced training to be a therapy dog. Besides driving us crazy, maybe she can do a few good things to people in need.
She has her problems as a puppy of course, the biggest one is jumping on kids when she gets overly excited around them. Caitey is a people dog which genuinely loves humans. That also means that there is NO way that she can protect our house, unless the intruder hates being greeted with two powerful front paws and licked by sloppy wet kisses.
She had a wonderful time roaming around the neighbourhood meeting our neighbours and other dogs on Halloween. I hate to brag (no not really) but it felt wonderful receiving so many heartfelt compliments for her. One interesting thing that we found out was how a few big grown-up dogs got afraid of this (overly) hyped puppy. At first we thought maybe the other dog was just too timid, but as we see more adult dogs backing off from Caitey, we start to think that maybe it was not the other dog -- it is just Caitey.
Lastly, you know you live in the Internet age when:
1. your two human girls started their own blogs on their canine sister at the ages of 9 and 10;
2. three people living under the same roof chat to each other from 3 devices in different rooms, each is struggling to remember what topic she has been on with whom;
3. your child sends you an email asking when you will be on Gmail chat next time;
Wait a minute, what happened to the old fashioned human interactions -- you know the kind that you do with your lips instead of your fingers?
Thursday, November 5, 2009
An Ugly Mess (by Claire)
“Caitey, what did you do?” I questioned looking at a big lump of poop she had made. Caitey was my Golden Retriever puppy. Her “innocent” eyes just stared at me, she looked exactly like a witch. I called my family over and heard gasps coming from everybody.
“Gross!” My sister exclaimed. We were all pop-eyed. The smell coming from the tan-brown lump of stool was musty and smelled of something rotting. The red-brown floor which used to be glossy now was a private bathroom. My dad quickly ran to the kitchen and got out the cleaning supplies. He first used a bag to clean up the mess. There were little smudges of the poop here and there. The Brazilian Cherry floor looked terrible. Only what my father did next made it look better. He sprayed the disinfecting spray onto the floor and wiped the floor clean. Finally, it looked better. There was always a loophole with Caitey.
“What if she goes again in the house?” My mom questioned. My father’s face lit up. I could almost see the light bulb above his head. He ran to the basement and took out this Chinese gong. It worked perfectly with Caitey. She soon learned to ring it whenever she needed to go.
“Gross!” My sister exclaimed. We were all pop-eyed. The smell coming from the tan-brown lump of stool was musty and smelled of something rotting. The red-brown floor which used to be glossy now was a private bathroom. My dad quickly ran to the kitchen and got out the cleaning supplies. He first used a bag to clean up the mess. There were little smudges of the poop here and there. The Brazilian Cherry floor looked terrible. Only what my father did next made it look better. He sprayed the disinfecting spray onto the floor and wiped the floor clean. Finally, it looked better. There was always a loophole with Caitey.
“What if she goes again in the house?” My mom questioned. My father’s face lit up. I could almost see the light bulb above his head. He ran to the basement and took out this Chinese gong. It worked perfectly with Caitey. She soon learned to ring it whenever she needed to go.
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