Day 2 - May 3rd - Lake Biwa Beagle Picnic!

We left Nagoya early and headed down to Lake Biwa where we had once picniced with Jazz when she first met her brother, Beat a few years back.
We arrived around 11am to find many of Jazz's friends and relatives already seeting up camp on the green grass beneath the trees looking out across Lake Biwa. Jazz was very excited to be reunited with Beat and Dixie was happy to meet him for the first time. There were so many other beagle friends for Jazz and Dixie to talk and play with. All in all 19 beagles attended a wonderful picnic in great weather! Well that was until we decided to go for a walk along the lake shore and a big thunder storm moved in! Some of the beagles were scared of the thunder, Jazz was not very impressed with the rain. The storm was short lived and cleared up to fine weather again. After we said our goodbyes we headed off to "Pension Sheep" where a few of us were staying for the night. We had dinner with beagles and friends in a dinning area that was attached to a dog run. After dinner we let Jazz and Dixie have a quick run in the dark in the dog run.

Day 3 - May 4th - Tokushima Dog Run

Dixie woke us all bright and early (5.30am) as she wanted to go back and check out the dog run she and Jazz had discovered last night! They chased each other around for a while and then went in for breakfast after which we all went back to bed!! At 8am breakfast was served in the eating area looking out onto the dog run. It was here that I took a pic of a statement the jist of which I really agree with - " Life with a dog all the time. Our wish." All of my life so far has been shared with dogs and it is my wish that they be with me always.



After breakfast we headed off for Shikoku to meet Shin's brother and girlfriend and their two beagles in a very lush dog run. A trip that should have taken us about 4 hours ended up taking 9!!!! due to some very bad traffic jams! Anyway we finally made it and Jazz and Dixie could meet their new friends Rocky and Bobby. Jazz met Rocky for a few days while we looked after him when he was a puppy but neither had met Bobby. Jazz wasn't too keen on either of the boys but Dixie had great fun chasing and being chased by Bobby. We then headed for Shin's home town where we got the girls settled into their temporary home before going out for dinner.

Day 4 - May 5th - Dixie's 1st Birthday

Today our little Dixie turned 1! We started her day with a nice walk among the rice fields surrounding Grandma's house and then we bundled Jazz, Dixie, Rocky and Bobby into the car and took them to play at Rocky and Bobby's place. We celebrated with champange, a nice lunch that Daddy made and snacks for the puppies. After lunch we took all four beagles to a park that was kinda like a dog run! They had fun chasing each other around like mad.
After the bipeds came back from their dinner out, there was cake for everyone!! Daddy had bought Dixie a wonderful doggy cake from Three Dogs Bakery which was divided up among the four guests!

The next day dad drove us all the way home to Tokyo in the pouring rain! The trip took 12 hours!! But waiting for Dixie when she arrived home was a wonderful present from her friend Fei. Dixie just loved the carob dipped rollovers! Fei told her to share with her big sis but they were just too good! Thanks Fei! Dixie also received a very cute T-shirt from Jazz's brother Beat snd his sister Momo. We will model them in a future post.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

The weather was beautiful on Sunday so mum decided we should go and have lunch in the park. Lots of other people had the same idea! Anyway we found our spot on a park bench and daddy went off the buy our "bento" (Japanese lunchbox). We enjoyed our lunch and then continued on walking around enjoying the great outdoors! Speaking of which, we are off on a five day adventure from tomorrow. We will take lots of pics and have lots of news when we get back.

It's as Easy as A,B,C .....

At school we are doing a unit on pets and seeing as many of the children in my class don't have pets of their own I decided to take Jazz and Dixie to school with me today. Of course it was raining this morning but we finally managed to hail a taxi and head off school. When we arrived I let the girls out in the classroom to have a sniff around before the children arrived. They then waited in the shuttle until everyone had arrived and they could be let out again. Jazz and Dixie were met with mixed reactions from those children who were so excited to see real live dogs in the classroom through to those who were a little on the scared side. We did circle time and sang and danced with Jazz and Dixie then it was time to be introduced and let everyone have a pat of both of the girls. After that Jazz and Dixie delighted the children with their very small repetoire of tricks. Each child who wanted to could command Jazz and Dixie to sit, shake hands, lie down and wait for a little snack. As the children watched their peers more and more children volunteered until every child had had a turn. Being a rainy day we met with two other classes in the big hall in the basemet. It was here that the girls let all of about 30 children walk them around the hall. Parents and teachers all commented how well behaved, patient and calm Jazz and Dixie were and by the end of the morning no one was afraid of them. Jazz has done this kind of thing before so she knew what to expect but it was a first for Dixie. Both girls made me so proud and a lot of pet deprived children so happy.

A Few Good Friends

After 2 and a half days inside due to rain, Jazz and Dixie were so happy to go to Dog Inc. to play with their friends. What a relief they could go to school and use up some of their pent up energy (Dixie especially).
The staff took some really cute pics of the girls with some of their best friends.

Puppy Only Event (Plus Jazz)

Last month we didn't get to attend the Puppy Only Event at DOG INC because of bad weather. Today however was a fine day so we bundled Jazz and Dixie into Jazz's pet shuttle and set off for DOG INC. by bus and train. The girls enjoyed themselves playing with other puppies and getting lots of pats from everyone.

Oh Pig's Ear!

On our afternoon walk today we stopped in at a local pet shop to buy some pigs' ears (Dixie's favourite!!) and white chewy bones (for Jazz). Once at home the girls got stuck into the pigs' ears. It was funny to watch the totally different eating styles of Jazz and Dixie. Jazz gently licked hers first and then proceeded to chew it little by little. Dixie on the other hand began crunching hers immediately, making a mess everywhere.
She had it finished and was trying to steal Jazz's in about ten minutes! And once finished she let out a very loud burp! We are still working on Dixie's table manners!

A Lesson in Waiting

Before Jazz or Dixie get a snack they have to sit, give their paws and lie down. I have recently added "wait" to the string of commands which they are not really pleased about as you can see by the look on their faces here!

An End to the Beautiful Cherry Blossoms!

Yesterday Mum went to a Japanese Calligraphy (Shodo) exhibition. While there she found a postcard of one of the pieces of writing that is very fitting to the end of the cherry blossoms. It roughly translates as:

"Flying flowers. Falling flowers. Stop like notes on a musical score. Sadly Spring is finished"

It is however very hard to read the script and even the people at the exhibition said that's just a guess at the translation. The actual size of the piece was about a meter in height and about a meter and a half long! Apparently it takes years and lots of practice to write like that! Maybe that's what Dixie was practicing last year on the carpet. (Nov 2006 post)

Beagle Bagels

Our Siberian friends over at AO4 recently posted about sleeping positions. They posted some really cute pics of them being "Doggy Doughnuts". Dave even wrote some Haik-woos about this sleeping position. Here are a couple of pics of us sleeping in "Beagle Bagel" position. I think its our most common sleeping position.

Take Some Time To Smell The Roses.....

Daddy bought Mummy these beautiful roses yesterday. We thought we'd take the time to smell them and almost had a taste before Mum put them out of reach!

A Good Dog Day

This morning on our way back from the dog run we met with some doggy friends from the same apartment block as ours. Last week a friend took some photos of Jazz and Dixie in the dog run. She gave us these cute photos today. Thanks.
Being Good Friday I only had a half day and hurried home to take the girls out for a nice long walk. While out I thought I'd email Fei's mum on the off chance that she may be able to meet up with us. Finally we got to meet in person after first meeting through our dogs' blog sites. Well actually it was Jazz and Fei's second meeting because they met at school (Dog Inc.) yesterday! We went to Fei's local park and then to a dog friendly cafe where we ate some yummy cake and chatted over coffee. The girls seemed to get along so we are looking forward to more outings with Fei and Eve. I didn't have my camera with me but if you pop over to Fei'sblog you can see some pics of the girls together.

Pink Snow!

We managed to get out for an afternoon walk between rain showers and found "pink snow" lying on the ground! Mum only had her mobile phone camera but managed to snap a few shots of us on the pink petal carpet. Its such a shame that the cherry blossoms are so short lived.