A Problem Student - Please Advise

Recently Jazz has started to become more agressive to other dogs and I'm worried about it. At home Jazz is an angel and never gets aggressive with Dixie, the two of them can eat and drink from the same bowl and they always share the couch or a cushion with no fuss. She is never agressive to people either, quite the opposite as she loves people. However at school or at the dog run Jazz takes on a different role that I don't like much. She is bossy and growls or snaps at other dogs that she doesn't know or like. I tried telling her off or walking away from her to let her know that I'm not pleased with her but it doesn't work. Dog Inc doen't accept aggressive dogs and I'm so worried that if she continues on this path she won't be able to go there anymore. Any advice as to how I can handle this problem would be greatly appreciated.

A Good Read, a Good Feed and a Long Walk!

On the train to work these days I have been reading some doggy books to block out the crazy rush hour crush all around me. I can hardly hold the book up in front of me but since I have started reading I am able to put up with the commute. The last three books I read were all about rescue dogs and I had to laugh and cry at all of them. "Barney" and "for Bea" are about stray beagles who found loving homes and "Rescuing Sprite" is about a unique mix rescued from a shelter. In these three books all make mention of how profoundly their dogs had changed their lives and how lucky they were to have them as a friend, a family member and driving force. I couldn't agree more.

As well as reading some good books we have also been eating well! Shin was on another of his cooking sprees this week and made some mouth watering cheese and bacon burgers from scratch including the buns. The one drowning in mayo is Shin's as I am not too fond of Kyupi Mayo. Jazz and Dixie also got to sample them and gave them two paws up.



We had a field trip today at school and I was home an hour earlier so I made use of the extra time and the clear sunny afternoon to take the girls for a 2 hour walk. We stopped in at one of their favourite pet shops to choose some chewing things from the "Oyatsu Kona" (Snack corner). I asked one of the staff members if I could take a photo and he insisted that he take the picture
with me together with Jazz and Dixie. On the way back home we found a sunny spot and had a few snacks on a bench. Jazz and Dixie tend to jump up on benches when we are walking in the hope that we can share a snack together.

A Good Friend and a Good Chew

Last night while out for dinner we came across a sign advertising a cafe and bar by the name of Girasol. We were immediately reminded of our dog blogging friend, Girasol in the US.

Whenever I am out on a walk with Jazz and Dixie in the park they find sticks to chew on. Jazz just chews them up and spits them out but Dixie actually eats them!

Yoyogi Park Dog Run and Tokyo Disneyland

Today we hired a car and headed out to Yoyogi Park Dog Run in the morning with the girls. We went there once last year in Summer and Jazz and Dixie seemed to remember well as they pulled me all the way to the dog run. Once there they ran around chasing each other and met some new friends. I like this dog run better than the one in our park but we need a car to get t here so we can only take advantage of this great dog run once in a while. After a run around we went for a snack at the park kiosk where they also sold a variety of dog snacks. Jazz and Dixie got one of their favourite snacks - dog Chupa Chups. We dropped the girls home and then we set off for Tokyo Disneyland.






I have been in Tokyo for 7 years now and I hadn't been to Tokyo Disneyland much to the surprise of everyone I meet here but today I remedied that! Shin won two day passes at a friend's wedding last year in February and those passes were about to expire so I managed to persuade Shin to go with me to Disneyland just so I could see what it was all about since we already had the tickets! Every kid in my class has been many times and they talk about Disneyland non stop so I thought I had better check it out just once. I'm not really into that sort of thing and big crowds usually, but anyway we stayed about three hours, went on three rides, watched the parade and ate something. It was just too crowded with cues for some rides, a 2 hour wait! I guess I should be used to it, living in Tokyo! One grounding thing was a lot of beautiful ducks sunning themselves on the green, green grass.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to all our friends. After work today we took a long walk over to the "Three Dogs Bakery" to buy Jazz and Dixie some little cakes. Being Valentine's Day they had a special gift box set which included two heart cakes and another little cake. Jazz and Dixie could barely wait to eat them and as you can see I was not quick enough on the camera to snap a picture of the cakes on their plates before they devoured them!! When she had finished Dixie let out her customary burp only louder this time and Jazz proceeded to wash the floor until every last crumb was gone! Hope everyone had a good day.

Karaoke Duet!

It looks like Jazz and Dixie were singing up a storm at school today with their friends!

National Foundation Day

February 11th is National Foundation Day here in Japan and is a national holiday. However not being a Japanese school we don't observe that many of the national holidays so on my way to work this morning I saw people getting ready for the day's celebrations. Many groups of people were preparing their 'Mikoshi' (portable shrines) which they would later carry upon their shoulders as they paraded down the street. I missed the parade itself as I was working but we could certainly hear the banging of drums and clanging of symbols.

We finished work early today so I could take Jazz and Dixie on a nice afternoon walk in the winter sun. We walked over to the 'pony park' and back and ended up in Komazawa dog run were we met three other beagles!

Snow in Tokyo Part 2

It has been quite cold here this past week with a bit of snow thrown in too. It snowed last Sunday, then a little bit on Wednesday and again last night. Quite a bit of snow fell last night between 7pm and 9pm however it rained after that so when we went walking this morning there was only a bit of snow left and the ground was very wet and slushy! The first two photos sum up the difference in the girls' opinions about the snow. In the first picture Jazz is glaring at me and thinking why I'm making her go out in that cold white stuff. In the second picture you can see that Dixie loves the stuff and gets a little crazy bouncing around all over the place. Most of the plum trees in the park are now blooming and make a lovely contrast to the white snow.

Caught in the Act!

Another of Jazz's bad habits is removing the stuffing from her stuffed toys. It doesn't take her long to negotiate a weak spot and then she proceeds to pull out all the stuffing. She doesn't eat it but just enjoys the extraction process!

An Award and a Cat Toy Obession!

We have been given the "E for Excellent" award by both our good friends at AO4 and at The Dogs of Jackman Ave - thanks very much to Zim, Dave, Amber, Stormy,Penny, Lola and Sherman. We think your blogs are excellent too! We wanted to give this to all our blogging friends but found that some already have it so we are passing it on to ten friends who didn't have it when we checked. We want to pass this on to Sparky, Girl Girl,
Eddie,Peaches,Bella&Lady, Pippa, Hammer, River, Opy, Xsara, Girasol, and Ricky and the Babes.




Jazz has an obsession with cat toys - small balls and wind up mice being her favourites! I never leave her with such toys as Im worried she may swallow them. At Pet Love Cafe today she found one of her favourite cat toys and played with it endlessly. Dixie managed to swipe it a few times but Jazz always came up with it in the end! We have snow forcast for tomorrow so I'm off to recharge the camera battery!

Our Warm Winter Coats

A few of our friends have commented on the girls' winter coats which I searched long and hard for here in Japan. Neither Dixie nor Jazz really like to wear clothing but get quite cold on our early morning walks so I was looking for something warm that is easy to put on and take off. We found these coats made by a Japanese pet supplier by the name of Birdie ,that have two easy velcro fastenings, one around the middle and one around the neck. They come in four colours (light purple, orange, light green and yellow), are reversable and they really are warm! With the recent snow and the coldest month (February) upon us there will be lots more use for these coats.

Snow in Tokyo!

What a walk we had this morning! I posted about the snow day yesterday but the snow was still on the ground this morning when we went for our walk. It was about 2 degrees C so we all rugged up against the cold and set out on the hardened snow and ice nearly slipping a few times as Dixie jumped around all over the place like a rabbit and Jazz lagged behind walking as if she were walking on egg shells and all the while I was trying to keep my balance! I had taken the good camera to try and get some nice shots of the girls in the snow but neither one was cooperating and then the battery died allowing me to only take these four shots none of which are nice but you get the picture - it snowed here in Tokyo and that's kind of a big deal as it usually only snows once a year or once every two years like it did on Sunday. Everyone here keeps saying it must be all the more exciting for me as "you don't have snow in Australia do you?" I have to remind people that we do in fact have snow in Oz and several ski resorts!

Setsubun

Today in Japan it is Setsubun (seasonal division), the day before Spring where people celebrate by throwing panfried soybeans out the door or at a family member wearing an 'Oni'(demon) mask in the hope of warding off evil spirits for the coming new year. While throwing the beans one should say "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" which means demon out (of my house) and luck come in. You should then eat one bean for each year of your life, that was a few beans for me!! Jazz and Dixie sampled a few of the soy beans as well.

Well it is supposed to be the day before spring and yesterday while on our walk I took some photos of the plum trees in flower in the park. Imagine our surprize this morning when we woke to find everything white with snow! It snowed all day so we couldn't go for a walk because Jazz refuses to go out in the wet slushy snow! So instead we stayed in a warm apartment and had lots of cuddles! Jazz and Dixie know exactly where the warm spots are!


Snow in the park taken from our apartment window. If the snow is still on the ground on our walk tomorrow morning I will post some more pics.