Thursday, May 31, 2007

Dog Inc. Friends


Jazz and Dixie had a busy day at school today playing with old friends and making new ones.

Silly Pics


Amber tagged us for a silly picture. These were taken a while back at Dog Inc. and I think they fit into the silly category! We are going to tag Fei.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Pawtographs Anyone??































Last Sunday (May27th) we were delighted to see the girls on national TV!! About a month ago a well known animal variety show went to Dog Inc to shoot a piece about dog signs. We were not sure whether Jazz and Dixie would make it onto TV but as it ended up the 10 minute segment featured Jazz and Dixie quite a bit. The piece was about different signs that dogs give each other and was very interesting. Dixie was playing with her Italian Greyhound friend Ana and the two of them were causing quite a stir, racing around like mad! When Jazz had had enough of the shinanigans she chased and mounted Dixie to tell her to calm down and behave herself!! Jazz had established herself as pack leader and when she told Dixie off most other dogs stopped what they were doing a raised a paw so let Jazz know that they understood that she was in charge!! First I knew of Jazz being a leader!! (The little hand pointing down to Jazz denotes her as leader of the pack, Jazz).

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Jumping Jazz & Dixie


At Dog Field yesterday we set up the jumps for Jazz and Dixie. Jazz has done them previously but is only really motivated to do so by food!! Dixie tried for the first time and did well.



Dog Day Out






















Earlier this week we booked a car for Saturday however due to the weather forcast predicting rain all day we cancelled our booking. However on Friday the forcast had changed and was predicting a sunny day so we booked again and yesterday we set off for our favourite dog run with the girls. It was indeed a bright sunny day. We took along their T-shirts that we soaked in water to keep them cool. Jazz and Dixie were so excited to be "free" to ran, play ball and tackle each other. They even did a little bit of jumping!


Friday, May 18, 2007

Dog Inc Birthday


Jazz's Birthday this year fell on a Thursday meaning that she could celebrate with Dixie and all her friends at school. Dixie has made another good friend; an Italian greyhound. We celebrated with Jazz at home after school with cake and champagne (just for the adults). Thank you to everyone you stopped by to say Happy Birthday to Jazz.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Jazz's 4th Birthday!

Jazz celebrated her fourth Birthday today at Dog Inc with friends and at home with mum, dad and little sister Dixie. She shared her birthday cake and presents with Dixie. They both made short work of the yummy little doggie cake, even licking up every last crumb from the floor! I can't believe we have already had Jazz for 3.5 years. The time has really flown.



Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Double Tummy Tag!


We were Tummy Taged by our friends from the AO4 so here are our pics. We tag Nugget, Girasol and Frankie.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Sunday Fleamarket



Every second Sunday in the park there is a fleamarket. It is usually a small market with people from around the area selling toys, books, clothes and other odds an ends. However the weather was great and I guess a lot of people had things to sell so it was quite big this month. One stall that had a swarm of people around it was selling pet stuff, old stock from a pet shop! Well when I finally got near it I managed to pick up a few toys for the girls. Jazz and Dixie like different things to play with and chew. Jazz prefers soft toys with squeakers and white stuffing inside while Dixie prefers something hard such as wooden chew toys. I found the perfect thing for each of them. Jazz was very protective of her new soft squeaky toy while Dixie really sank her teeth into her new chew stick.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Afternoon in the Dog Run with Fei













On the way back from lunch I checked my phone to find that Eve and Fei had called to say that they were in the park so we stopped by the dog run to play with Fei. Jazz and Dixie now both know Fei and count her as one of their friends. Dixie and Fei played around a lot as they are both full of energy. Jazz joined in a few times but preferred to sit by mum and just keep a look out. Our place is right near the dog run so Fei and Eve popped in to say hello to Shin who was busy with his new computer! It down loads and slide shows photos a lot faster than mum's computer. Great for blogging too but I doubt we will get on that computer.

Lunch at a Friend's Place.


We came home after our morning out and had a little rest before setting off again for lunch at a friend's place.
Jazz and Dixie were also invited so I dressed them in their new T-shirts that they received for their Birthdays from Beat and Momo's mama. Before leaving I had been reading AO4's post about the "Bento Box" quilt design their mum had made. You can imagine my surprise when I arrived for lunch to find our host had prepared a lovely home made "bento" for us. Lunch was delicious and Jazz and Dixie were treated to many yummy snacks.

A Morning in the Park with Mum and Dad




The past few days have been very windy and therefore all the pollution has been blown away leaving clear blue skies and a very lovely day today. We both took the girls on their morning walk in the park which ended with a play in the dog run. There were two other beagles there thismorning so we had a mini beagle pack going for a while.

Friday, May 11, 2007

May 5th - Kodomo no Hi (Children's Day)




May 5th was Dixie's 1st Birthday but also Children's Day (previously known as Boys' Day ) here in Japan. It is a national holiday to celebrate the happiness of all children and to express gratitude toward mothers. Families raise carp shaped "Koinobori"flags, one for each boy (or child), and display the traditional Japanese military helmet, Kabuto. It is still very much a celebration for boys but we celebrated with our "children". Dixie is lucky because as long as we are in Japan her birthday will always be a holiday and neither of us will have to work. Jazz's Birthday is coming up next week and she will be at school for her birthday with all her DogInc. friends.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Jazz,Dixie and Fei Play!




Jazz and Dixie were back at Dog INC. today after a week off and were very excited to play with all their friends. Fei was at school today and by the look of these photos, Dixie had a great time playing with her.

Monday, May 07, 2007

Golden Week Adventure - Day 1 - May 2nd


The day of our long awaited Golden Week holiday finally came and we packed our girls into a hire car and started out on our little adventure! The girls travel well in the car in their pet shuttles. Our first stop was at our favourite dog run "Dog Field" which they had completely to themselves! It is a huge space by Japan standards and when released from their leads they really ran rings around each other!
After really tiring the girls out we continued on down to Nagoya where we stayed the night in a downtown business hotel. Surprisingly enough they accepted dogs and even though they had a few rules such as dog and crate weighing 10kgs! and keeping the dogs in their crate at all times we managed to bend them all a little and have an enjoyable evening. The girls and I went in and out of the hotel for toilet breaks undetected as we used the basement/carpark exit. We left today and drove as far as Nagoya so we would be able to make it time for the next days beagle event!