Weldbank Kennel

Recap of the last three months

2011-04-10T19:34:00.002+09:00

I am returning to this blog since the last post in June last year. During this absence of TEN months, many things to post happened around me. I visited Leeds Dog Show in UK in July during my business trip to Germany and UK. I went to see Montgomery Weekend in Pennsylvania, USA in early October, and wrote an article on the shows in a monthly journal. "Leeds", my Westie, suddenly passed away on October 18th. Piacere completed Japan Kennel Club Championship on my birthday, November 21st. I made business trips to Australia in Septemer, to Korea in October.

These are all in 2010, and three months have already passed this year.

I have been too busy with my work to post on this blog, and too busy in posting on FACEBOOK as well.

So, today, I will try to recap what have been happening around me this year, giving up posting fancy photos and stories of last year's episodes.

First, just after the New Year's holidays, I went to Hawaii ON BUSINESS.I left Tokyo on January 5th, when most of the people were still enjoying the festive mood of the New Year, but I had to do business at a resort area.

It was my first visit to Hawaii, and I saw the headquarters of The Pacific Fleet of US Navy, the pink building up on the hillside, on my way from Honolulu Airport to my hotel.

The white dome beyond the rain tree forest is an X-band radar of US Military. While it was originally located in Alaska, it was moved to Hawaii after North Korea launched Taep'o-dong missile, and is now watching North Korean missiles. Since my business trip this time was related to a military facility company, I actually got very close to the radar, but photographing was prohibited around the area, and I only took photos in this distance.

A sunset on the beach in front of my hotel. I hate to admit it, but yeah, I regreted working in such a circumstances.

Now, I went to China in late January.

At first, I attended an inter-governmental meeting between construction ministries of Japan and China in Shanghai, which has been regularly held and business delegate joined it for the first time.

The lady in red is Deputy Head of a Bureau of Department of Houses, City and Agricultural Villeges.

I heard presentations on "Eco-cities", which are developed in many regions in China.

After the meeting in Shanghai, we moved to Tianjin, and visited the famous "Tianjin Eco City". I saw many construction cranes, which reminded me of Dubai before the global financial crisis.

An official meeting with a high-ranked officer of Tianjin Peoples Municipal Government was held. The officer sits by the Japanese counterpart in the front of the guest room.

After the meeting and the visit to Eco City, I took Beijing-Tianjin High Speed Train to Beijing South Station.

The interior of the high speed train.

Although it was claimed that the high speed train would run at 350 km per hour (219 MPH), the maximum speed I experienced was 327 km per hour (204MPH). The distance between Tianjin and Beijing is only 20-minute train ride, and it is thus presumed that there is no sufficient distance to reach the top speed.

I made a business trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in Februay.

The Twin Tower Building is the icon of Kuala Lumpur.

I had "Bak kuh teh" for breakfast at a casual restaurant 20-minute walk away from the hotel.

"Bak kuh teh" is traditional Malaysian cuisine. Pork back ribs and innards are stewed with TEA, and are splashed onto bowl of steamed rice. Very tasty and healthy!

Putrajaya is a new capital of Malaysia, built south of Kuala Lumpur. Ministry building of interesting design are lined up around man-made lakes. The mosque-like building at the far end of the boulvard in the center of the photo is Prime Minister's Office.

"KL Sentral" is the hub of Kuala Lumpur rail traffics. Railway linking the city to the airport, LRT and monorail come to this station.

The sign board carries Japanese description.

The train is called "LRT" in Malaysia. LRT means Light Rail Transit, and generally designates street cars. This train runs underground AND lifted, and, it is, therefore, hardly called "subway", but I feel like to call it "Metro", and I feel something wrong in calling it "LRT", when I rode it!

The inside of the "LRT" is like this.

Well, on March 3rd, Ryoma, a Scottie boy, which one of my Scottie friends bought in USA and I asked him to co-own, and finally convinced him to give me, came to my house after he completed AKC Championship.

Then some photos of Ryoma (Some of them have already been posted in FACEBOOK.）

At my second house in Yamanashi. Far right is Ryoma.

Same as above, at my second house. Near right on the floor is Ryoma.

Ryoma looks like this.

In front of the gate of my Tokyo house.

Ryoma (left) and Piacere are really good friends (couple?). They often lick around the mouth each other (kissing?), and almost always stay together.

Front: Pieta, back left: Ryoma, and back right: Piacere

Now the latest topic, I made a business trip to Montreux, Switzerland, last week.

On the flight from Narita to Frankfurt, my plane flew over Chuzenji Lake and Mount Nantai.

Swiss Alps are seen from the plane from Frankfurt to Geneva.

Montreux is lake-side resort of Lac Leman, and is famous for the jazz festival. "Lac Leman" derives from the French place name on the other side of the lake, and Swiss people call it "Lake Geneva".
This photo was taken from my hotel before the sunrise.

The same view of the above from the promnade outside of the hotel.

The purpose of this trip was to attend an international meeting. The premise where the meeting was held is called "Montreux Music and Convention Center", and its abbreviation is "2M2C". The halls inside are named "Miles Davis Hall", which nicely reflects jazz festival.

In Switzerland you have to have "Fondue". The pan in the near is for dipping beef into oil, and the pan in back left is for cheese fondue.

After the meeting is over, on the day of homebound flight, I had some leisure time in the morning, and I took a mountain tram up to Rochers-de-Naye at 2042 meter elevation. The elevation of Montreux is surprisingly low, 370 meter above sea level.

A view from Rochers-de-Naye. Lake Geneva can be seen in far right.

Another view from Rochers-de-Naye into the opposite direction of the above. Mountains of Alps can be seen.

The gradient of the mountain train is very steep. You can see how steep the railway is from the inclination of the train window to the horizon.

"Château de Chillon" can be seen from the mountain tram.

Well, well, the dog world of Montreux starts.

A Tibetan Terrier (left) and a Tibetan Spaniel are given a walk on the promnade along the lake.

Some of the poles of street lights have this sign board. You can tie up you dog to this pole, or you can have your dog pas his/her urine at this post?

Moreover...

In front of the dust bins, which are placed every 50 meters along the lakeside promnade and main streets, a pocket is equipped, from which you can pull out plastic bags to discard you dog's waste.

THE plastic bag

OK, thank you for your patience to read this long post. I have fanally caught up to the current topic.

An expedition to Komatsu, & Piacere won

2010-06-06T21:31:00.004+09:00

A week has passed since the dog shows described in today's blog. I made an expedition to two dog shows held in Komatsu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, on May 29th and 30th to show Piacere.

Since I started dog show rally last year, I have shown my Scotties in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Ibaraki and Gunma Prefectures, but has not extended my journey further.

I left my home at about 10:00pm on Friday night and picked up Nakahara-san in Yotsuya, and then drove on Kanetsu, Joshin-etsu and Hokuriku Highway, and arrived at the show site at 5:00am on Saturday. Mr. and Mrs. Itoya, the owner of "Dolce", which won Award Of Merit in this year's Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, kindly assisted us with their tent, table and chairs. I owe my successful expedition very much to their kindness, and I would like to express my heatiest thanks to them.

The shows were Kanazawa Show Dog Club Show on May 29th and Joint Show of Ishikawa Prefecture Clubs on May 30th. Ms. Elaine Young, a world-famous judge and a specialist on Scottie, judged the both shows, which was the main reason of making such a long travel.

Ms. Elaine Young. She is an elegant lady with silver hair. She kept sweetly talking to the dogs during the examination, but she showed sharp eyes when she examined the gait and free stay.

I will show the results first.

The judge for the breed judgement on 30th was Ms. Young and the judge for the group
judgement of 3G (Terrier Group) was Mr. Akira Hayashida. Since Piacere was the only bitch in the championship class of Scotties, she automatically obtained Best Of Breed (BOB), and proceeded to group judgement.

A ceremonial photo with heart-throb Ms. Young. I have come to Komatsu to take this photo...

Piacere made an exploit of obtaining the third position in the group judgement. Since Pieta, Piacere's mother, never got into the third or upper in the group judgement, this was my first experience of being awarded in the group judgement. Pieta obtained Champion Challenge Certificate, and that it is a major certificate. Well done, Piacere!

The ceremonial photo with Judge Hayashida. He told me afterward that he owned a wheaten Scottie.

As I waited for these photos delivered, it took so long time to post this blog.

Now, I will show you more photos of the shows. There should be many photos today.

Photos from Kanazawa Show Dog Club Show on May 29 come first.

Breed judgement by Ms. Young.

Group judgement by Mr. Hayashida.

Piacere was not in the mood from the morning in the Joint Show of Ishikawa Prefecture Clubs on May 30. In the breed judgement in the morning, Piacere might not have waken up enough and was reluctant to walk actively. I needed to pull the lead to make her walk.

Breed judge on May 30 was Mr. Koji Wada. You can see the difference of the angles of the lead compared with the photos of the previous day shown above.

Piacere was also the only one bitch in the championship class of Scottie, and proceeded to the group judgement after obtaining BOB.

The judge for group judgement of 3G (Terrier Group) was Ms. Young.

The group judgement was matched by five terriers. Piacere lost her tension after waiting too long, and was not selected among the top three. This was a very good lesson for me to cosider when I should bring the dog to the ring from the padock.

In this expedition, Piacere experienced for the first time what other terriers of mine have never experienced.

It was...

Staying in a hotel.

I stayed in a hotel, which offered the show site, on May 29 night. I brought a cage into the guest room, and Piacere stayed in the cage while I was out and was sleeping.

When I was in the room, Piacere was given a freedom in the room. Piacere never made
clumsiness in the room, and the expedition ended successfully with MCC.

Among Piacere's comrade Scotties, Masamune took part in both May 29 and 30, Frank was shown in the puppy class on May 29, and Soleil appeared on May 30.

Ishioka Dog Fanciers Club Dog Show

2010-04-17T09:32:00.001+09:00

Ishioka Dog Fanciers Club Dog Show was held last Sunday (April 11th) near National Hitachinaka Seashore Park in Hitachinaka City, and I showed Piacere.

This is the second challenge for Piacere following Japan International Dog Show of the previous weekend.

Four Scotties, two dogs and two bitches, took part in the show. Two dogs and one bitch, Piacere, were from Team Nakahara, and the other bitch was owned by a lady from Mito City.

I handled Soleil, a dog owned by Kato-san, for the first time. Since Soleil seems to become spoiled when he is handled by his owner, this was an experiment to see how he behaves when he is handled by somebody else.

The judge came from Mexico.

Soleil walked powerfully kicking up the dried grass. I had to walk with the lead tightly held.

The other dog was Masamune, owned by Fukuoka-san, another member of Team Nakahara. Masamune completed championship on the previous day in a show held at the same site. Congratulations, Masamune and Fukuoka-san!

Masamune was being handled by a professional handler called Mr. Nakashima.

One can observe from this photo that Masamune shows Scottie's character of "Head Up, Tail Up". The coat is also beautifully groomed, although it is difficult to see in this photo.

The result: Masamune won the breed judging of dogs, and proceeded to the group judging of Group 3 (Terrier Group) in the afternoon.

Now, bitches, Piacere appeared. Although her body has become matured, her skirt has not fully grown, and the lack of coat in front of rear leg can be seen in this photo.

Through the daily training before breakfast, Piacere's gait becomes better and she is now able to stay in front of the judge.

The result: Bell from Mito City won the breed judging of bitches. In this photo, the judge is telling the owner-handler of Bell to be the winner.

Although Piacere withdrew from the show at this point, Masamune, who proceeded to the group judging won the 3rd.

Since the show was held in Hitachinaka City, which is populated by factories and people of my company, Hitachi, one of my past colleagues visited the show with his family members. His wife regularly reads this blog and is quite familiar with my terriers, and it was great fun to tell them about dog shows.

After returning to Tokyo, I reported the result to Mrs. Nakahara, and she found that the dam of Bell was a daughter of Nakahara-san's stud, the late Callaghan, which is a kind of relief for me as Piacere was not defeated by a pet dog.

Japan International Dog Show

2010-04-16T08:59:00.001+09:00

Although I wrote in my previous post that I would post the result of Japan International Dog Show immediately, two weeks have passed. During this period of absense, I made a business trip to Mongolia, which is an excuse of my delay in posting the result.

Japan International Dog Show is an annual dog show run by the headquarters of Japan Kennel Club (JKC), and is the largest dog show in Japan. JKC claims that it is the largest dog show in Asia.

"Team Nakahara" formed by Scottie fanciers, who are being taken care of and educated by Nakahara-san, got together with 6 Scotties.

The first photo shows myself. This was the real debut of Piacere to the dog show.
Piacere was shown in dog shows last year together with Pieta to fulfill the conditions of having more than two bitches for Pieta's Pedigree Award points, and this was to support Pieta with no intention of Piacere's winning. Piacere starts dog show circuit for her career this year.

The judge, Ms. Schwab=Kersch from Luxemburg, is also a Scottie breeder, and she examined Piacere carefully with comforting voices.

This is Hatakeyama-san, handling Becky (dog). While Becky won the regular class, he was defeated by a champion.

Boggy (dog), handled by Emura-san. Although Boggy was defeated by Becky, he won G2 in a recent show.

A wheaten Moco (bitch), handled by Mrs. Tsujimoto. Mr. and Mrs. Tsujimoto run an Italian restaurant, and Mr. Tsujimoto trims their two Scotties in the midnight after the restaurant is closed. I sincerely admire their effort to the dogs.

This shows the final of breed judging of dogs. Hatakeyama-san with Becky is on the right, and the other two dogs are champions. The winner among the three becomes Best Of Breed (BOB) of Scottie dogs.

I have not talked about Piacere, have I?

Piacere was the only one "Young Adult Bitch", and proceeded to breed judging of bitchs, in which she was defeated by Precious (adult class) owned by Mr. and Mrs. Yamagata, who are also members of Team Nakahara.

Precious won BOB of bitch, winning against champions. Well done, Precious!

This shows group judging of Group 3 (Terrier Group) bitches. Precious, representing Scottish Terrier, can be seen in the middle.

Precious was selected one of Excellent, and the photo shown above shows the final judging among the Excellent six.

I feel very much satisfied with the result of Piacere, as Precious, who defeated Piacere, was selected as an excellent.

Getting ready

2010-04-01T20:42:00.002+09:00

FCI Japan International Dog Show, the largest dog show in Japan, is being held in the coming weekend in Tokyo. Piacere is representing my kennel to the show.

As the final preparation to the show, I had Piacere groomed by Nakahara-san last Sunday, March 28.

A photo taken after her grooming.

Six Scotties will take part in the show from the comrade Scottie fanciers, who get together around Mr. and Mrs. Nakahara.

The result shall be posted next weekend. Don't miss it!

A dog show in India

2010-02-07T09:38:00.011+09:00

My recent business trip to India was blessed with a lucky coincidence. On Sunday, January 31st, while I was in New Delhi, I took the advantage of taking a break in the midts of tight business schedule by visiting "New Delhi Kennel Club Championship Show". While my colleague staying there kindly proposed escorting me to tourist spots, I replied that I would rather attend the show than visiting ruins and remains, even if they were among the World Heritages.

I, thus, watched the show for about two and half hours, while I felt sorry for a young Indian lady of my regional company, who accompanied me to guide in the city, for making her very bored.

The show site was a kind of sports ground amid a woody area. It was a outdoor show, but the climate in New Delhi at this time of the year was quite comfortable, and the very day of the show was blessed with gorgious sun shine.

The catalogue is luxurier than I expected with 40 pages without ads. It lists 267 entries to the show.

Unfortunately, there was no Scottish Terrier entry, and only 4 terriers, one for each of Wire and Smooth Fox Terriers and 2 Bull Terriers, were shown.

　　My first impression in the show site was the dominance of large dogs.

The catalogue tells the numbers of entries by breed as follows.
Top: German Shephard Dog (33)
Top tie: Rottweiler (33)
#3: Labrador Retriever (26)
#4: Beagle (20)
#5: Saint Bernard (17)
then, Boxer, Great Dane, Pug follow, each counting 14, follow.

I noticed the difference to the show in Japan as follows.

(1) There was no paddock. Few people groomed and finished up their dogs at the site. They only combed their dog when they bring them into the rings.
(2) Because of the above, there was no diesel enginge generator, and the site was comfortablly quiet only with voices of dogs and people.
(3) There seemed to be no professional handlers, and owner handling seemed dominant.
(4) The clothes of the handlers were fairly casual. There ware even some handlers in T-shirts and blue jeans.

The examination of the small dogs was done on an ordinary table, not on a trimming table. This photo shows the examination of American Cocker Spaniel.

The organization home pavillion also shows the local taste.

　　A couple of glances of the site.

The atmosphere of the show was quite genial and homey with family outings.
Far more elderly people and children were around than in the shows in Japan.

Although I can not judge the qualities of the dogs shown, I felt that their gaits were of somewhat low level, as I saw dogs refusing to walk or wandering.

　　A couple of breeders were showing and selling puppies at a corner of the site, which I have not seen in Japan. The poster of one of them shown above told that one of the dogs they had bred won in JKC Bibai Dog Fanciers Club Show in Japan, which means Indian-bred dogs are running in the Japanese show scenes. I was not able to make it sure as I could not talk with the breeder under the fear that I might have to buy one there as the Indian merchants are famous as alert businesspersons!

Out of the fence of the site, a guy, who seemed not to be certified as a breeder, was selling puppies.

I had a great break and relief during my business trip to the unfamiliar country.

New Year's Greetings

2010-01-01T00:01:00.000+09:00

A Happy New Year!

I wish you all the year 2010 be a happy and prosperous year.

Year 2009 was a fruitful year for me with Pieta winning a championship, viewing a dog show in US, and visiting kennels in UK and US. I expect that this year be another good year for me. Despite dismal social situations, I hope that this year would be full of brighter happenings.

My terriers send you their new year greetings to you.

The first is Leeds, the oldest. While she will become 14 years old in April this year, she shows no signs of wane, and is quite healthy. Although she has lost most of her teeth, she does not suffer cataract, and proudly serves as the leader.

The next is Chilwell, the socond daughter. She celebrates her zodiac year, the Year of Tiger, this year, and becomes 12 years old in October. She maintains her going-my-way attitude as a ranger of the terrier squadron with her lean and agile movements, and

Now then, matermal three generations of three Scotties. From left are Piacere, Pizzicato and Pieta. Piacere starts dog show challenges for real this year. Pieta, who graduated from the show rings, shall be serving as a trial horse of my trimming drills. It would be a race between the improvement of my trimmimng skill and the deterioration of Pieta's coat, and one should see how long Pieta maintains her coat, which had been finished by Nakahara-san for dog shows.

The traditional (?) display of my new year's card.

The card is featured with photos of a dog show held in Yokohama in May, 2009, in which Mr. Peter Green, who is respected as the God of Terriers, judged on his first visit to Japan, and Pieta won the Best of Breed (BOB).

Well, everybody, please visit and enjoy this blog this year as well.

A visit to TAMZIN Kennel

2009-10-19T05:36:00.002+09:00

I went to London on business on October 8. After a business meeting in London on Friday, October 9, I was to fly to Moscow on Sunday, October 11, which allowed me a free day on Saturday, October 10. Although I was invited to play golf by my colleagues working in England, which was also quite attractive, though, I visited a Scottie kennel called "TAMZIN" in Morley, a quiet suburban town out of Leeds, West Yorkshire.

Mr. Nakahara, whom I owe much of my Scottie care, would import good Scotties from this kennel, and all of my Scotties inherit TAMZIN pedigree.

　　

While it is a breeder's kennel, the house does not appears like a kennel but is a lovely 130-years-old stone house, standing beside the entrance of a beautiful park.

Presently, TAMZIN has one dog and two bitches, one of which is a daughter of "Edward", a Crufts Champion.

　　

　　

The top two are the bitches and the bottom is the dog.

European Scotties have very long eyebrows, and appear to me quite different to American Scotties, which I am accustomed to see. Their bodies are also bigger and more dignified than their American peers.

The owners of the kennel, Raymond and Ava Platt, are active judges in Crufts and other European dog shows.

When "Max", the father of Piacere, won Swedish Championship, Ava judged Scottish Terriers in the dog show in Sweden.

I applied for the membership of the Scottish Terrier Club (England), of which Mrs. Platt is board members, and left annual fee for three years with her.

An ad run in the Year Book of the Scottish Terrier Club (England).

Mr. Platt is also an active breeder and judge of rabbits and pigeons, and Ava showed me a beautiful chinchilla in her room. Raymond would judge pigeons on the next day of my visit.

Although it was difficult to stop the pleasant conversation, I had to leave assuring the next meeting either in England or in Japan. Ava kindly gave me a lift to Leeds Station.

Hi, long time no see! I'm Piacere

2009-10-18T05:02:00.001+09:00

Since the last post on the dog show in Gotemba at the end of August, new posts have been absent for almost one and half months. Although there have been topics on terriers during this period, I have been so busy with my business and others as to post articles in this blog.

I now post a couple of articles on recent experiences.

The first one is a dog show. As I mentioned in my last article in August, Pieta was qualified as a champion and I am in process of registration. The registration for a champion can not be completed only by winning four Champion Challenge Certificate, of which one must be a major one, but needs to be certified for being well-trained by a Certified Dog Trainer. The DNA registration, which Pieta has not made, must also be completed, and these require time, effort and expenses.

Piacere, who was born on Christmas Eve last year, reached nine month and one day old on September 25, which qualified her to compete in the regular class of dog shows.

Piacere's debut to regular class was made in "FCI Saitama International Dog Show" on October 4 at footsal courts in Kawagoe Park. In spite of making her debut in a very big show, Piacere walked vividly and pleasantly.

As I was not able to handle her for some reasons, Piacere was handled by on of my
Scottie friends.

Pieta completed

2009-08-31T22:55:00.001+09:00

A dog show was held yesterday, August 30th, at "Dog Run Ashigara COCO" in Gotemba, near Mt. Fuji.

My Scottie friends also took part in the show; Mr. & Mrs. Kato with their "Cockpit" and " Creme", Mr. & Mrs. Fukuoka with their "Masamune", and Ms. Shigure with her "Agatha".

Since Pieta obtained her third Champion Challenge Certificate in May, I brought her to a show in Takasaki in July with the purpose of obtaining the fourth certificate, which is necessary to register her as a champion, but, although she obtained BOB there, a certificate was not issued due to the shortage of the number of attending dogs. So, it was the re-challenge this time.

The judge was Ms. Sandra Mashford from Australia.

The championship match of Scottie bitch was competed by four bitches. A young bitch born in last September, who has already drew attentions among Scottie faniers, was a strong rival, being handled by a professional handler.

After conquering the adult class without difficulty, the breed match was fought by three, a junior, a young adult and adult. Pieta obtained BOB winnig against the strong junior, and won the fourth certificate.

Pieta then proceeded to the group match, in which she has never won.

The round gait of the all participants.

After the round gait, the dogs stayed in line and the judge compared the dogs.

Sandra did not make all the dogs walk but picked up one of two to show their gait, and Pieta was selected to show her gait. At this point, I felt that Pieta would be chosen as one of the three excellent dogs, but it was not.

Pieta, however, has already obtained the fourth certificate, which was the purpose of this show, regardless of the result of the group match. Pieta will now retire and Piacere will start her show career in October or November.

Summer has come

2009-07-26T06:35:00.001+09:00

You may think that the summer has already come, but if you define the end of rainy season as the coming of summer, it is still unclear this year.

Although Meteorological Office announced on July 13th that the rainy season in the Kanto and Koshin Districts was over, this might have been overeager, considering the sticky rainy days during the first half of the last week. The last weekend saw hot clear weather of the summer.

The coming of summer for my family is defined as the beginning of all-day air-conditioning of the rooms, where my dogs are kept.

Leeds is 13 years old. This is equivalent to 70s for human beings. At the changes of seasons, she shows slight disorders like diarrhea and vomit, but she is quite healthy in other time. The hotness, however, would surely put burden on her, and I would like to let her live in comfortable environment.

Chilwell is 11 years old, which is equivalent to early 60s for human. Since Cairn Terrier is the origin of various terriers and is closest to the ancestor breed, she is most healthy among the five terriers. While the room is air-conditioned, she would sit and lie in various places in the room and does not seem to choose cooler places.

Well, when I opened the windows to change air, someone giving a walk to his/her dog came to the road in front of my house. In such cases, my dogs would rush onto the sofa by the window, and call (bark on to) the visiting dog. The "space race" is a fun.

In the case of this photo, Pizzicato and Pieta first realized the intruder, and are gazing outside together.

Then, other dogs noticed the change and got together. At first, Leeds took the left end of the sofa as the best position, right end of the sofa, the best position, had already been occupied by Pizzicato and her daughter. As Leeds was not able to watch the stranger, she tried to move to the right corner, which was intercepted by Piacere. Piacere was not very much interested in the external situation, but rather interested in the excitement of the adults, and trys to participate "joy" in some ways. Chilwell is small and alert enough to stand on the back of the sofa.

A catch up of Piacere is shown here. Since she had her coat trimmed about 10 days ago, her "Scottie" expression has become natural to her. The photos show relatively large head, but this is due to the camera angle. As she is still at the stage of "puppy" in definition, the balance of head and body has getting better. Her large loin seems to promise becoming a good show dog.

The first full-scale trimming of Piacere

2009-07-17T23:00:00.001+09:00

Due to a matter of conveience of the owner, Pieta has passed up the best timing of her trimming for two weeks, and I brought her to Nakahara-san. Although he murmured "At the absolute edge of being beyond care", he finished Pieta very nicely.

Pieta's coat, which was damaged by the childbirth las December, has been entirely replaced, and Nakahara-san praised up the good quality of her coat.

I brought Piacere together to be checked by Nakahara-san, while no reservation for trimming had been made. When I asked him how to deal with Piacere's coat in preparation for dog shows from the fall some weeks ago, Nakahara-san told me to leave is for a while. And when he saw Piacere in rough coat, he said "It is about to have skin disease", and I decided to have Piacere trimmed immediately.

A photo of "BEFORE".

And a photo of "AFTER". Piacere has changed as if she were another dog. Nakahara-san told me that Piacere had been tame without refusing trimming touches.

　　
Piacere has been reborn from an unkept child to a "beautiful girl". Pleas compare with a photo on the right (bottom), which was taken only a week ago.

Catch up with terriers

2009-07-12T23:38:00.000+09:00

Today, I would like to show you my dogs, who spent the last weekend at my second house.

Leeds is watching out at a window, while Piacere wants her to play with her. Leeds really loves watching out, and we can see her in this posture quite often. The pair of a white Westie and a black Scottie is the authentic combination of the whisky and fashion brand, "Black and White", but it is very hard to take photos of this combination. Both in automatic and manual exposures, if you adjust the aperture to the Westie, then the Scottie would be entirely black and you can not see the expression. In the other way round, the Westie becomes too exposed to see the shape of the body.

Well, Piacere has become fairly large. Viewed from directly above, the length of her body is now almost same as her mother's. Piacere is now 10 years old for human being, and we often see 5th-grade school kids who have same body size as adults.

From left, Pizzicato, Pieta and Piacere. This photo reveals that Piacere's head is still smaller than those of her grandma and mother, and that Piacere's expression is still infant.

But, when viewed from a little higher so that we can see their bodies, the position of Piacere's buttock is almost same as those of Pizzicato and Pieta.

Six month old

2009-06-24T22:02:00.001+09:00

Today, June 24th, Piacere celebrated 6-month old. According to the book by Mr. Hayakawa, which I referred to in one of my previous posts, 6-month old of terriers is equivalent to 9 years old of human beings. It corresponds to third or fourth grade of elementary school, but Piacere's behavior still smacks of kindergarden kids. She has had been more
disciplined, though.
Shown here are some photos taken today.

While her whiskers are yet to be recognized, her eyebrow has become fairly Scottie-like.

Her face viewed from front is still infant and looks dumb!

The opposite side of her face to the first photo. This photo shows her eyebrow better.

Piacere lays herself to be petted by her mom, Pieta, while Gramma Leeds and Gramma Pizzicato watch from the background. Pieta, although she would not play with Piacere proactively yet, has become less repellent to her daughter.
Chilwell also has become less irritated by Piacere, and a kind of family mood among all the five terriers has been developed.

Early stage of rainy season -- roses, roses, roses --

2009-06-21T16:24:00.000+09:00

The temperature of Nagasaka Highland, where my second house is located, is low in the early time of the rainy season. Even so, trimming of our terriers can be carried out in the garden being blown by the comfortable highland breeze during the short sunny moments between the rains.

Not too hot, nor too cold, this time of the year may be a suitful season for outdoor trimming along with the seasons of tender green and colored leaves, except for rather high humidity.
In the garden of my second house, roses entertain us with successive flowers of the season. I have 8 rose trees, and when I visited there this weekend, all the roses were blooming.
　　
"Princess of Wales"
In 1997 just before the passing of Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II a rose grower to name a new white rose "Princess of Wales", admiring Princess Diana's activities on British Lung Foundation over ten years, under the condition that a portion of the revenue from the new rose be donated to the Foundation. As this episode happened close to the tragedic death of the Princess Diana, many people would misunderstand that the rose was created after her death as a commemoration.
Although there must have been many flowers blooming before our arrival to the second house, only one greeted us showing faded flowers and fallen petals on the ground.
　　Pink rose, the name of which is not known to me. Until last year, the rose would show more whitish flowers, but this year as it was better fertilized the color of the flowers got much better.
　　I do not know the name of this rose either, or I should say that I do not know the names of all the roses in my garden except for "Princess of Wales", which I bought myself. This rose is one of the oldest in my garden blooming since I built the second house ten years ago. Every year I feel scared if this rose has die down, but it revives like this.
　　This rose also has existed since the building of the second house. As Annabelle has expanded to the original location of this rose and has spoiled the sun shine, I replanted it to the current location, where the rose can enjoy plenty of the touch of the sun.
There are two trailing roses in the garden. This photo shows one of them, which is located in the middle of the garden. The first wooden frame has decayed down and I placed a frame of a rack for flower pots to entwine the rose shoots.
Another trailing rose in front of the wood deck of the house. It blows lovely tiny flowers.
There are two more mini roses in the garden, of which the photos are skipped.
As we visit the second house on the every other week basis, the roses shown above should look ill-treated, but even the neglected roses try hard on their own ability to bloom beautifully.

Jinx

2009-06-20T15:14:00.000+09:00

On Sunday, June 14th, I brought Pieta to JKC-certified Gumma Central Community Dog Club Show held
in Takasaki City. As Pieta has already obtained three Challenge Certificates including a major
certificate, it was a challenge for the fourth card.

The show was held in a sketing rink, and it was Pieta's first experience of indoor show.
It was a fairly big show as a one in non-Metropolitan areas with the total entry of 629 dogs. The
bleed and group judge for Group 3 (Terrier Group) was Mr. Gerald Penta from US.
The entries to female Scottish Terrier to the Championship Show were Pieta and another in the
junior class only, and Challenge Certificate would be given only by being selected as one of
Excellents in the group.
The examination by Mr. Penta was very careful spending much time for each dog, just like Mr. Green,
who judeged a couple of shows in Yokohama in May. This may be a difference to JKC judges.
Despite her first experience of indoor show, Pieta walked cheerfully. When the show is held indoor,
many dogs feel scared and put their tails down between rear legs as the barks and other noise
resonate in the hall. Pieta is most impervious among my terriers, and this very character of her
was helpful in the situation.
After obtaining BOB (Best of Breed) in female Scottie, Pieta proceeded to the group match, in which
she competeted against different breeds of terriers.
The group match started after all the breed matches were over, and it started at 2:00pm. The group
matches were held in two rings, and the Terrier Group was the first group in one of the rings.

The result of the group match was; 1st: West Highland White Terrier, 2nd: Wire Fox Terrier, 3rd:
Bedlington Terrier. Pieta, again, lost her group match. She made four consecutive defeats following
Tokyo North Terrier Group Club Show on April 25, two shows in Yokohama on May 1st and 3rd.
The participating dogs and handlers have to wait for considerably long time between the stage of
the breed match and the beginning of the group match, and Pieta looked tired during the long
waiting time. Pieta walked less cheerfully in the group match, and lost calmness during the
examination as she no longer stayed stand and looked up at me. In fact, we arrived at the site at
6:30am, the show started at 9:00am, the breed match of Scotties started at 11:30am, and the group
match of the terrier group started at 2:30pm.
It seems that Challenge Certificate for Pieta should be won in the breed matches.

Too much caper

2009-06-19T14:39:00.001+09:00

While I have been lazy in updating my blog, Piacere is growing day by day.
Piacere is now left free out of cage while somebody is in the home. Although someone is in the home, it does not necessarily mean that he or she is always watching Piacere. When Piacere was still younger, she was too gay to attack Leeds and Chilwell and adult terriers occasionally got too high to bite Piacere severely, so we were not able to leave Piacere out of the cage unless she is always being watched.
As the time for Piacere playing outside of the cage without being watched becomes longer, her caper escalates.
These are the results.
　　
The left photo shows bundled cables between set top box and LCD TV. Since we move and rotate the TV to watch it from our dining room and from the sofa in the living room, fairly long cables are laid on the floor. When we bought a new LCD TV, I added two HDMI cables which were placed outside of a spiral tube, which had protected existing cables, and the new cables were the victims of Piacere.
The right photo shows a LAN cable for my wife's PC. When she uses her mobile PC, she connect it to the net using a long cable from a corner of the room, and it was destroyed during a short absence.
I, then, had to buy new HDMI cables again, and set a new spiral tube to enclose all the cables.
This photo shows the wiring work in process.
Piacere, the perpetrator of the happenings, looks unhappy as she was scolded.

The homepage has been updated

2009-05-30T21:33:00.002+09:00

I have recently been paying effort so much on to posting my blog that I have become lazy to update the homepage. While the contents of this issue overlap the blog, I will summerize the growth of Piacere, and the continuous challenges to dog shows in April and May.

JSTA Scottie Festival 2009

2009-05-27T05:41:00.001+09:00

My blog has been absent for some time. Two weeks have passed after the "Golden Week" was over, during which I have been fairly busy with dealing with the counter measures of my company against the new flu and with playing golf in the weekends.
"Scottie Festival" of Japan Scottish Terrier Association took place in Tokyo on Sunday, May 24.
Unlike the JKC-certified dog shows, which has highly-charged atmosphere with professional handlers swaggering around, this event is full of fun with Scottie fanciers. The festival consists of open shows in the form of dog show, speed-eating contest, food catch competition, funny performance competition, fashion show, and photo contest.
It is also a good opportunity to meet twin brothers and sisters, parents and grandparents of one's Scottie. Meeting in person with Scotties which are known through blogs is another pleasure.
Pieta met her daughter and Piacere's twin sister, Noel. Surprisingly, Noel shows the "prairie" posture, which Pieta is proud of. Noel's owners told me that Noel started showing this posture only three days after she was brought to their home. Pieta and Noel immediately formed a performance duo and challenged the "funny performance competition" and won it.
This shows the reunion of two generations back from the previous one. Melchior on the right-hand side is watching his twin son and daughter, Pizzicato (center) and Tim (left).
Well, the open show was the high-light of the festival. Piacere challenged female baby class, and the competitors were Nanki, who was born ten days earlier than Piacere sharing the same sire, Max, and Piacere's twin sister, Noel.
Despite the bad condition of the ground, rain-slippery tiles, Piacere walked very well. She, however, has not been trained to stay still during the individual examination by the judge and while waiting in line with competitors, and the winner of this class was Nanki, who has ten days advantage and better trainer, Nakahara-san.
Pieta participate the female adult class, and the participants to this class were six Scotties.
By letting her go around at the beginning of the examination of gait, Pieta held her tail erected from the first step of gait.
Pieta showed nice gait in spite of the weather, and won the class, but lost against the winner of junior class in the winners match. The judge told us that he valued more on the consistent gait in the rain than the appearance in still posture, and the younger competitor walked more livelily than rather elderly Pieta.
The blood relationship of the Scotties, who appeared in this blog is shown below.

This festival has already been reported in the blogs of many Scottie fanciers, in which some photos of Pieta and Piacere are shown.

The season of tender green (3) Accomplishment of the "Golden Week"

2009-05-10T21:34:00.005+09:00

Although the second half of the Golden Week was damned by day-after-day rain, the final day at my second house, May 9, was blessed with lovely sunshine. It would be a great golf day, but it would also be a great day for weeding the garden. As it was an opportunity to recover the maintenance
of the garden, which had been delayed by rain, and I chose the latter after some hesitation.

Weeding the lawn, two sets of photos, "Before and After".
　　
Wild lawn in front of the net for golf practice. This lawn was laid at this time of 2007.

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Goryeo Lawn in the southern adjacent to the lawn shown above, which was laid last year. Weeding the acervate dandelions shall be left for the next visit.
You can find from the photos that plenty of sunshine was pouring when weeding was over.

I would like to introduce a quiet tree among many garden trees to you.

　　
A lilac tree at the southwest corner of the garden and its flowers.
My wife and I left the second house at night and headed for Tokyo. There was no traffic jam on the Chuo Freeway, and the drive was smooth.

When we came to halfway between the second house and Nagasaka Interchange of Chuo Freeway, my car marked 30 thousand kilometers (18,750 miles) of accumulated run. This photo also witnesses that I took this photo after I parked the car with the gear in the parking position. It was 9:27p.m., and outside temperature was 15 degrees centigrade (59 degrees Fahrenheit).
As I bought this car at the end of September, 2006, the average travel distance per month is 940 kilometers (588 miles). My wife and I drive the car fairly much as the Japanese.

The season of tender green (2) Rain, rain, rain...

2009-05-08T21:28:00.000+09:00

During the second half of the Golden Week at my second house, cold rain kept falling, and the wood stove was still needed. The outside temperature in early morning was around 8 degrees centigrade (46 degrees Fahrenheit), and the highest temperature during the day was around 11 or 12 degrees centigrade (51 - 53 degrees Fahrenheit).

Dense fog rose during the morning of May 8th.

Even the garden of my second house was like this. Although it looked fantastic, it was unpleasant wheather for me as I had been expecting to play golf under pleasant highland breeze.

　　
Some scenary of the season at my second house between showers.

Once the fog was cleared and rain stopped falling, Kai-Komagatake Mountain appeared beyond the fresh green forest. The cloud still remained between the mountains and this side of the valey.

Yatsugatake Mountains, which rise in the north of the second house, showed the great body covered with fresh green forest.

Terriers on the highland

2009-05-07T21:26:00.005+09:00

Ms. Hiromi Miyashita, a dog shop owner and a professional trimmer living in Iida City, Nagano Prefecture, regularly comes to my second house in Yamanashi for trimming my Scotties. This time she trimmed only Pizzicato as Pieta is being trimmed by Nakahara-san for dog shows.
Hiromi always accmpanies her dogs, i.e. a female Scottie, Pisala, her daughter Tida, and a Welsh Terrier, Biscuit.
Although this should have been an outdoor trimming under the highland breeze, cold rain started around noon of May 5th, and the trimming was done indoor finally.

Piacere was most interested in Tida, the youngest, and played with her very much. Tida, on the other hand, who had occupied the love of the owner as the youngest puppy, seemed annoyed by the sudden appearance of younger girl.

Hiromi's three dogs are very well disciplined. From left to right; Tida, Biscuit and Pisala.

In contrast, my dogs, Pizzicato in particular, are restless. At the meal time, Pizzicato would jump up to my wife, who is preparing their food, and Pizzicato's jump is quite high.

The dogs of the both owners are familiar one another as they have been together for years, and behave sisterly. Piacere lies on back on the toilet sheet to ask Pisala to play with her, while Tida, nearer left looks back to Piacere as is she is murmuring "It is I that plays with my mom, who, for
God's sake, is that nasty girl who is temptating my mom?" Pieta is trying to cool Tida saying "Well, don't be so nervous, as it happens all the time among kids, and go easy on her as she is my daughter". Biscuit poses to the camera ignoring the happening behind, and Chilwell is gazing at Biscuit with the expression "Who is this affected female?"

Now a great picture of four generations. From left to right; Pisala, the Empress, her daughter, Pizzicato, grand-daughter, Pieta, and a great-grand -daughter, Piacere. It was a hassle to take this photo, as Piacere has not trained to stay yet, and the photo has been picked up from random shots, which digital cameras allow.

After taking the photo of four generation, we can't afford not to take photos of all the terriers. It is also difficult to take photos of dogs of different colors. The faces of the Scotties in original shots are too dark to see their expressions, I have retouched the brightness. The photo, therefore, gives somewhat unnatural impression.

The season of tender green

2009-05-06T08:32:00.006+09:00

It is now the second half of the spring holidays in Japan, the "Golden Week" (GW). GW in the normal calendar started on April 29, the birthday of the last Emperor Hirohito, and will end up on May 6, a substitute holiday as May 3, Constitution Day, fell on Sunday. As I will take May 7th and 8th off the company, my GW is a big one of 12 days. This year has another holiday season in September, as Elderly Day, third monday of September and September 21st this year, and Autumn Equinox, September 23rd, make a series of scattered holidays, which are filled with additional holiday on September 22nd by a new law, which results in 5 holidays in a row. Additionally, my company has decided to add one day off without pay every month under the economic circumstances. This system makes the five-day holidays in September into 6 holidays in a row. Also in July, the normal calendar provides 3 holidays in a row from Saturday, July 18, to July 20, Marine Day, which commemorates the opening of Japan's first modern harbor in Yokohama in 1859. Just before these holidays, July 16 is originally a holiday as the Foundation Day of the company for the people of my company, and the additional day off without pay has been set on Friday, July 17, which generates 5 holidays in a row. Competing against these "new" series of holidays, GW should be far long enough to be "Golden".

Quibbles aside, I arrived at my second house in Yamanashi, near Yatsugatake Mountains last night (May 4th). The second half of GW has been dedicated for gardening and golf.

From this time of the year, weeds start to run out faster and faster. As you can compare this photo with another photo posted on April 5th, many weeds including dandelions, sprout out even in the lawn. Struggle with the weeds continues from now until late October.

On the other hand, however, trees are shining in tender green with young leaves, and spring flowers are blooming. Although the daffodils and hyacinth, which were shown in the post of Apri 5th, have already gone, Christmas Roses, which were also shown in the post, are still in blossom. They seem to fit the climate of the area, and, thus, continue blooming during the summer.

　　
"Terute", flower cherry, shows pretty white flowers, but I'm concerned about the less flowers than last year. [Link to last year's blog in Japanese only]

　　
Annabelles in the foreground of the photo, which delight our eyes every year with their large white flowers, have started putting out new shoots. [Link to a blog post in Japanese to show the annabelle in full blossom]. The trees with white flowers in the backgound of the photo are Hime-ringo (Miniature Apple=Malus baccata var. mandshurica), and a close-up photo of the flower is attached.

The blue flowers in the foreground are grape hyacinth, which were originally planted in a flowerbed but have spreaded all over the garden. The leaves growing in the gap of pavement blocks are sweet violet, which have grown naturally. The yellow carpet in the background is a kind of ground cover, the name of which is not known to me, and the substance of yellow is leaves, not flowers.

I am attaching a series of maps to show the location of my second house for my overseas friends.

Pieta put check to become a champion

2009-05-04T07:36:00.001+09:00

May 3rd, Japan's Constitution Day, the location is Kanto Local Finance Bureau Management Zone, the same place where the dog show on May 1st took place. Another dog show "Kawasaki Companion Dog Club Dog Show" was held.

The site was full of mini-buses, camping caravans, and tents, which have been staying there throughout the three days, and it was impossible to park my car however early I arrive. On the previous day, May 2nd, "Yokohama Dog Fancier Club Dog Show" was held, and although I did not show any of my terriers, two of my frieds, who are also being instructed by Mr. Nakahara, brought their Scotties, one male junior and one female junior, and I was in charge of preparing a tent for the team. Since I left the frame of the tent at the site during the night for keeping the space, I felt easy to come to the site this morning. In spite of my effort to arrive as early as just a few minutes past 5 o'clock, however, with the hope to park my car at a car park adjacent to the show site, the car park was full.
Today, the participants from Team Nakahara was two, Land Rose R JP Masamune and Pieta.
The breed judge for Terrier Group was Mr. Manuel Languel from Mexico.
Although Masamune, who showed up on the ring as a male prior to Pieta's match, showed a very good gait, he lost against the winner of the junior class.
The female matches follow, and it's Pieta's turn. It was suggested that up & down gait from the entrance to the ring be made before the dogs are examined on the table.
Pieta is being examined.
　　The round gait. Pieta's tail is up although it is not sufficiently bent forward.
Pieta won the winner among non-champion bitches, and the champion to compete with was the one who defeated Pieta at Tokyo North Terrier Group Dog Show in Tokyo a week ago. Fortunately enough, Pieta got her revenge on the champion.
My friends, who came to the show to cheer up Pieta and Masamune, congratulated us as a prodigious feat that owner-handled non-champion defeated a champion handled by a professional handler.
Pieta obtained Best of Breed and a Major Champion Challenge Certificate. One certificate is left to obtain before Pieta can be registered as a champion.
Well, the judge for the group match of Terrier Group, which tool place in the afnernoon, was the distinguished Mr. Peter Green from UK, who judged Breed and Group matches on May 1st.
While the BOB of Parson Russell Terrier was being examined, I put Pieta on the table to be examined. At this moment, the leash tangled with the comb, and when Mr. Green turned to Pieta, we were not quite ready, which was fatal.
Mr. Green examined Pieta as carefully as that of two days before. This time again, Pieta's tail bent down when she showed up & down gait, and her tail finally started to erect in the second half of the round gait.
This means that Pieta lost in the group match again, and I strongly felt that I needed to train Pieta to erect her tail from the very beginning of gait.
Pieta, however, obtain an MCC, which was the objective of attending dog shows and the firs half of Japan's holiday season, the "Golden Week", which was full of dog shows is now over.

Pieta's second match of return to dog shows

2009-05-01T20:59:00.001+09:00

Management Zone by Kanto Local Finance Bureau in Honmoku, Yokohama. Although the name is solemn, it is just an empty land in the neighborhood of Ito-Yokado Department Store. When I arrived there at 8:00am, the land was already fully occupied by cars and my car was not allowed to go in. I heard that minicoaches and camper vans started arriving yesterday afternoon. Dabblers who innocently come to the site in the morning of the show day don't seem to be welcome.

Here is "Yokohama Joint Clubs Dog Show". It is a show of all breeds with 451 dogs, which is pale in comparison with last week's show in Toneri Park in Tokyo.

I chose this show as the second show of Pieta's return to the dog shows, as Major Champion Challenge Certificate (MCC) is issued.

The show started at 8:55am, and the match of 3G (Terrier Group) started around 10 o'clock. The judge for 3G is Mr. Peter Green, who was the BIS Judge in 2009 Crufts Dog Show, the judge of the highest level from the home of dog shows, so to speak. It is worthwhile to take part in this show only to be examined by him.

Slightly after 11 o'clock, the match of Scottish Terrier started at last.

Pieta is receiving individual examination by Mr. Green as an entry to the Scottie's female adult class. During the examination, Mr. Green asked how old Pieta was, and I replied "five and half", which was the only conversation I had with him.

Up-and-down walk was shown before the individual examination, and the round walk followed it. Pieta's tail was not erect enough as she was still nervous. I wished this could not cause

A round walk with a competitor. This time, Pieta walked joyfully with her tail up.

And, Pieta won the Best of Breed (BOB). Well-done, Pieta!

Commemorative photos were taken with Peter Green. This photo will be one of my treasure photos.

The group match of 3G (Terrier Group) started in the afternoon. Twelve breeds fought the female group match. To the left from Pieta in the center are Norwich Terrier and Norfolk Terrier, and to the right are Welsh Terrier and West Highland White Terrier, the breed of Leeds.

Pieta is receiving Mr. Green's individual examination for the second time. His examination is carefull and takes fairly long time, as he did during the breed examinations. Pieta, in the breed match, was carefully examined at her teeth, which may resulted in his question on the age.

During the transition from examination on the table to gait, Pieta lowered her tail, and Mr. Green's line of sight would never overlook it. This might have been fatal.

After all the twelve terriers were examined, I waited with Pieta for the selection of seven excellents. Yorkie, which received the examination at the end was first called. Then Welsh Terrier was called, skipping Westie in between. Then, skipping Pieta and a Norwich Terrier, a Norfolk was selected, and seven excellents were selected, among which Pieta was not.

Although Pieta was not able to obtain MCC, which was the objective of coming to this show, I feel satisfactory with Pieta's result. Mr. Green's judgement is convincing.

It was a very hot day, at any rate.

Happy Birthday, Leeds

2009-04-30T20:51:00.002+09:00

Today, April 30, 2009, is Leeds' 13th birthday. Today's post, therefore, is full of photos of Leeds.
　　Two shots of prim Leeds to start with.
According to Mr. Hayakawa, the author of a terrier book relied among Japanese terrier owners, 13 years old of terriers is equivalent to 68 years old of mankind, which would entitle Leeds to receive 20 thousands yen (204 US Dollars) of "Fixed Cash Handout", a part of economic stimulation package of Japanese Government, if Leeds were human. The correspondence between ages of terriers and mankind will be shown later in this post.
Well, Leeds' photos continue.
Leeds looks nicer and cuter when she looks up to something, which interests her. She shows the same delighted expression as she showed during her childhood.
　　Although it is Leeds' birthday today, Piacere can not change her habit of fawning. Leeds is experiencing tougher birthday than last year. Since Piacere has grown, Leeds seems to endure much burden.
While this picture is being taken, Piacere never stops gentle biting to the tail of Leeds.
Now then, the correspondence between terriers and mankind is shown below, based on a book, "Terriers, How to keep them, how to discipline them" published by Seitosha, edited and supervised by Mr. Hayakawa.
In the world of information technology, a "dog year" is seven times faster than human year, but the dog years are faster during the firs one or two years, and after three years old, the dog year passes 4 times faster than human year.
At this moment, Chilwell, ten and half years old, is equivalent to 58 years old of human, Pizzicato, 8 years and 3months old, is 48 and half, Pieta, five and half years, is 38, and Piacere, four months old, is equivalent to 7 years old.

Spoils of the match

2009-04-27T19:43:00.001+09:00

Today's post is the continuation of yesterday's post.
A surprise happened at the end of the show, when the awarding ceremony of BIS took place. A popular actor called Naoki Hosaka appeared and played as a presenter of the trophies. I have been told that he also owns an Airdale Terrier.
A commemorative photo of Piacere's "Reserve Queen" together with Mr. Hosaka and my wife.
The cup, Mr. Hosaka is holding, looks...
　　
This is the rosette that was given along with the cup. Since Pieta won three rosettes two and half years ago, I now have four rosettes at home.
This is the ribbon given to Piacere when she won the female baby class of Scottish Terrier Breed Match.
Pieta, on the other hand, was given this ribbon of "Best of Breed".

Prosperous start

2009-04-26T22:07:00.002+09:00

Tokyo North Terrier Group Club Dog Show, officially approved by Japan Kennel Club (JKC), was held
yesterday, April 25, at Toneri Park in Adachi-ku, Tokyo, and Pieta made her return to dog shows
after an absence of two and half years since JKC Scottish Terrier Club Dog Show in November, 2006, in which Pieta
won the Best in Specialty Show (BISS), and Piacere made her show debut.
Scottie owners, all of whom are good friends and students of Mr. Nakahara, are busy in final
retouch onto their dogs.
The first breed to compete in the first rink was Scottie, and Piacere was the first dog to appear
in the show. Although I resumed that babies would not be able to "stand and stay", Piacere's
comepetitors stood and stayed quite firmly, which annoyed me very much. Piacere, howeve, won the
class match.
The rain, which started falling when we arrive at the site of the show, became good rain when the
show started at 9 o'clock.
As the program proceeded, the match of female adult started. As Pieta came to the show after a long
absence, she was nervous, and her tail tended to fall.
The judge examining Scotties was Mr. Barry Day from UK.
Although the up & down walk was made under the rain shelter, the round wald was under the rain. The gound was full of puddles, and it was hard to walk for short-legged dogs.
Pieta continued winning until she lost against a champion, and won the Best Of Breed.
The breed matches were held before the noon, and the best in show matches started at around one o'clock.
The first match was the male baby class, and the the female baby class. It was Pieta's challenge BIS in the female baby class.
The rightmost dog and the handler is Piacere and myself. The dog immediately left is Norfolk Terrier, and the Jack Russel Terrier.
Although Piacere was selected as one of the top three dogs, she did not win and was certified as "Reserve Queen".
It was a good success for a baby, which has not been trained to "Stand and Stay". The qualification to compete in the baby class is 4months and 1 day, Piecere became four month and a day old, and Piacere wa four month and a day old yesterday,

Piacere of the day, April 16

2009-04-17T05:30:00.000+09:00

Piacere grows day by day.

She now looks like a Scottie after being trimmed last weekend, but I have not been able to take a good photo to show her nice appearance. In this photo, too, Piacere is interested in something on the floor and would not look ahead even if we try to pull up her head by pulling the leash.

Once she is out of the cage, she never stops but runs aournd, and the photos shown are naturally taken in the cage.

The angle of this photo is a little different to those shown before in this blog by showing Piacere with her head lifted. You can see the shape of ears, fairly grown eyebrows and the outer coat of her brisket. The coat of the brisket was electrially shaved last weekend. Although it looked whitish just after shaving, it now looks well-trimmed.

It is not often to see her lying on the back, but she is so charming when she is sleeping like this.

Piacere of the day, April 11

2009-04-12T20:49:00.000+09:00

On this day of April 11, a Scottish Terrier Seminar, presided over by Mr. Nakahara, was held in the seminar room of a specialty shop for dog accesories in Asakusa, Erile. I participated the class with Pieta, Piacere, and my wife.
In the class, I studied the breed standard of Scottish Terrier, which was a subject of the last class, instructions for owner handlers in dog shows, examining the Scottish Terriers, and final retouch of trimming in the show sites.
I visited Mr. Nakahara's home after the class to have Piacere trimmed.
Piacere stares up at Mr. Nakahara with this expression as if to ask "What is happening?"
As described in the post of April 11 of "My Scottie Diary" of Mr. Nakahara's WEB site, Piacere was incredibly gentle while being trimmed, and never refused to be stripped. This is, of course, thanks to the master-hand of Mr. Nakahara.
After being trimmed, Piacere chenged her apperance from a baby to a miniature Scottie.

Piacere of the day, April 10

2009-04-10T05:40:00.000+09:00

Last Saturday, April 4, the right year of Piacere finally stood up, which is a relief for me.
　　　
A recent routine is that Leeds, with her sense of responsibility as the leader, would check Piacere's cage when Piacere is allowed to go out.
Leeds is examining the cage as an "inspector", while Piacere witnesses.

Early spring scenes of the second house

2009-04-05T16:26:00.000+09:00

After a series of posts on Piacere, today's blog deals with our second house in Yamanashi. As I wrote in yesterday's blog, we are in our second house this weekend.
While it has become the height of spring in Tokyo with the cherry flowers in full blossoms, it is still the beginning of the season here, just like the Japanese song "Poem of Early Spring" says: "Is the spring only in calendar entry? How cold the wind still is!". While the spring can be feld in the sun beam, the winds coming over the snow-covered peaks of Yatsugatake Mountains and Southern Japan Alps are still cold.
In our garden, however, you can find lots of signs of spring.
A view of the garden from east to west. Daffodils are blooming in the flowerbed.
A view of the garden from the opposite direction. Near the deck of the house, small daffodils (near) and hyacinth are blooming thanks to the heat stored and radiated by the concrete base of the wooden deck. Christmas roses have started blooming.
The mountains of Southern Japan Alps, which can be seen from our second house, are still covered with snow. The range of peaks seen in the left of the photo are Ho-oh Sanzan (Three Peaks of Phoenix), the white peak at immediate right of the range is Kita-dake Mountain, the second highest moutain in Japan after Mount Fuji, and the peak scarcely showing over the cloud is Kai-Komagatake Mountain.
The easter half of the land in our second house is being constructed as approach shot range of golf, and several different kinds of lawns are cultivated. Through the light brown lawn leaves of winter, new green leaves have started to grow. I am planning to use this area as a "Dog Run" this summer.

Piacere of the day, April 4

2009-04-04T17:18:00.000+09:00

We are now at our second house in Yamanashi, which is the second visit for Piacere. The spring has come even here, at the south skirt of Yatsugatake Mountains at a height of 1,000 meter (3,280 feet) above the sea level, and
As a kind of "fixture" or routine, photos of three generations have been taken. From left: Pieta, the mother; Piacere, the daughter; Pizzicato, the grandmother.
This is the photo of one generation earlier, which was taken on January 1st, 2004. From left: Pieta, the daughter, two and half months old; Pizzicato, the mother; Pisala, the grandmother.
One more photo for good measure. The facial expressions and the lines of sight of the three are a little different to the one shown above.
On Sunday, March 30, I found an intersting scene of Pizzicato and Pieta, sitting on the both armrests of a sofa in our Tokyo home, just like the pair of storn-carved guardian dogs at the entrance of Shito shrines.

Piacere of the day: March 29

2009-03-29T22:26:00.000+09:00

Piacere is thriving so quickly. While her left ear has been firmly erected, her right ear is still bent.
Although it is hard to find in this photo, her eyebrow has started growing in the way that a Scottie should have.
Compare her size against Pizzicato's. Piacere has grown so large after three months. Her head alone is now bigger than the entire body at birth.
Pizzicato, proactively lying on her back, plays with Piacere. It seems that Pizzicato rather enjoys herself than entertaining Piacere.

Model debut of Piacere

2009-03-27T05:08:00.001+09:00

Piacere and her brothers and sisters made their debut as models in the April issue of "Aiken No Tomo" (Dog-lovers' Companion), which came on stores on March 25.
　　　
The six puppies at the bottom right of the upper photo are Piacere and her brothers and sisters, but we can not identify Piacere. The upper three photos of the lower photo also show them, denoted as "40 days old", and the bottom two photos show puppies of Marian, denoted as "50 days old".

Piacere of the day: March 20

2009-03-21T15:58:00.000+09:00

Almost a fortnight has passed since the previous post.
While Piacere's left ear has become erected. When she hold up her face like this photo, her left ear is sufficiently ereceted, but when she looks downward, the tip of the ear hangs.
Piacere seems to understand that those who let her play with are Grandma Pizzicato and Grandma Leeds. When Piacere comes out of the cage, she immediately gets close to Pizzicato like this. Pizzicato, on the other hand, sometimes takes care of Piacere and some other time ignores her. This photo shows an example of the latter case. Piacere tried to draw Pizzicato's attention by lying on back and stretching her fore legs, but Pizzicato stayed unconcerned. After a while, when Piacere's endurance reached the limit, Piacere bit and pulled Pizzicato's beard, and she got yelled seriously. Pizzicato might have been in an evil mood.
Leeds bears off Piacere's persisting spoof. Recently, Piacere has found another joy of climbing onto Leeds' back.
As you can find from the photo, Piacere has grown so large.

Piacere of the day: March 8

2009-03-09T15:39:00.000+09:00

Although a week has passed since the previous post to this blog, Piacere's ears have not been erected sufficiently. Her body is getting larger every day.

During the second half of the previous week, she was shampooed and vaccinated for the second time. She was given a bandanna together with the adults, but it is so large as to looks like an apron.
The best playing pal is Pizzicato. Piacere sometimes fawn on Leeds and Chilwell, but Leeds would gnars botheredly, and Chilwell bawls and drives away Piacere. Piacere continues jumping to them without giving in.

Piacere of the day: February 28

2009-03-01T16:27:00.000+09:00

We went to our second house in Yamanashi, on a highland with the altitude of 1,000m (3,280 feet), after a fairly long absence. It was the first time since mid-December, and this is due to Pieta's delivery of puppies.
As the first vaccination of Piacere had finished, we made a coach-and-five trip.
Piacere livelily runs around in the second house as well. Because she has not yet been vaccinated twice, her area of activities is limited indoor.

The ears are getting erected.
　　　Her grandma, Pizzicato, plays the role of playing mate. Pizzicato should be used to handle a baby as she experienced growing Pieta. Piacere also looks relaxed with Pizzicato.
Ms. M, who came to our second house for trimming of Pizzicato after an absence for a while, said that Pizzicato was good at playing with puppies.
Pieta looks frustrated as she does not know how to handle a puppy, and is unable to play with her daughter.
Piacere never has her tail down, even if she is scolded by Leeds or Chilwell, and shows her strong temperament, which is good for dog shows, but excessiveness may be a fault.

Piacere, two months old

2009-02-25T16:08:00.000+09:00

Piacere has become two months old today, which is equivalent to three years old fot human beings.
Leaving the round baby face behind, she has started showing the signs of a beautiful girl.
　　　　
The conditions for Scottish Terriers to be a beauty, i.e. "Breed Standard", which is used to judge in dog shows are...
Please read the following descriptions referring to the photo above.
First of all, a long head,The length between occiput and stop is the same as the length between stop and the point of nose.Flat forehead.Smooth outline from under the ears to the tip of nose, without pushing out of cheek bones.Tapering from under the eyes to the tip of nose, but not week muzzle.
Some say that, viewing from the front, the entire head looks like a brick.
How do you judge Piacere?

Piacere of the day: February 22

2009-02-23T16:10:00.000+09:00

I have made a challenge to take snapshots of mother and baby, although Piacere is too young to "stay" under the direction of "stay!".
The three generation with her mom and grandma. Both mom and grandma look uncomfortable, and Piacere seems not to have room to look forward as her both sides annoy her.
　　　A snapshot with only mom shows more relaxation on Piacere's expression.

Piacere of the day: February 20

2009-02-21T16:54:00.000+09:00

A proverb says "the more a baby sleeps, the more it grows", puppies sleep very well.
　　Piacere sleeps in the cage comfortably, not only on bed.
When her granma, Pizicato, come close to the cage, Piacere sits up abruptly, and extends her fore leg to call Pizzicato.

Piacere of the day: February 17

2009-02-18T16:47:00.000+09:00

Piacere's ears have started standing.

　　

Piacere of the day: February 16

2009-02-17T16:43:00.000+09:00

We are houted by Piacere, as she grows daily and changes her movement and behavior.
When Piacere is released from the cage, Pizzicato and Pieta follows her. Leeds and Chilwell shows much less interest. Leeds, however, keeps watching for Piacere from a distance and immediately comes close if something unusual happens. This may be caused by Leeds' awareness of being the leader. Chilwell, on the other hand, escapes as Piacere approaches her.
At first, Piacere vigorously fawns on Pizzicato and jumps to Pizzicato's beard, but once she was bitten by Pizzicato, the puppy stopped jumping to Pizzicato. She has started learning.
Piacere is sleeping, laying her head on the edge of the bed.
Sometimes Piacere sleeps on her back.

Piacere makes her debut!

2009-02-12T16:32:00.000+09:00

Sorry to have kept you waiting, this is the debut of the fifth doggy of my family.
After a long and difficult consideration of selecting one female out of the three, I brought back one to our home tonight.
(The white line on her forehead is a trace of chewing gum, and is not a white hair.)
Her registered name is WELDBANK JP DREAMS COME TRUE, and her call name is PIACERE.
PIACERE is an Italian word, meaning "joy" or "pleasure". This name has been selected to follow the stream of names with "pi-" sound at the beginning; i.e. her great grand-mother "Pisala", grandmother "Pizzicato", and her mother "Pieta".
Piacere is meeting her mother at Nakahara-san's home.
Pieta has not been trimmed since a couple of weeks before the birth of the puppies, which resulted in miserable appearance. So, we have had her trimmed by Nakahara-san.
While we had been anxious about the reactions of older dogs of our home, Leeds (Westie, 12 years old) and Chilwell (Cair Terrier, 10 years old) showed little interest in Piacere.

Pieta's puppies Day 27

2009-01-21T16:12:00.000+09:00

Pieta's puppies reached 27th day after birth yesterday (January 19), and we visited Nakahara-san's home to see them. They have grown even larger than before.
　　Left photo shows a representative of the males, and right shows a representative of the female. How cute they are, aren't they?
After showing their lovableness, they have fallen asleep overlapping one another. They have started walking with thier rear legs erected, and their movement is now quite active.

Pieta's puppies

2009-01-09T16:04:00.000+09:00

Last night, Pieta returned home unexpectedly.
While she had been staying at Nakahara-san's home with her puppies, both the mother and the babies had become irritated as Pieta had became unable to give sufficient milk.
　　
The puppies have grown considerably big and stable. Left photo shows three males, and right one shows three females. Although this pair of photos give you the impression that males are larger than females, the reality is that females are a little bigger than the males. It seems to be the same as human being that female babies grow faster than male babies.
We expect that their eyes opne in several days, and that, then, we can bring one of the puppies to be kept with us to our home.
Until then, Pieta has to leave her puppies behind. "Mom's going home earlier, but you grow healthily".