Welcome back R

R (our dog) spent the last week at the grandparent's. They ADORE her. I think they might be obsessed. She is only a little dog, but as a Jack Russel Terrier, she needs a lot of exercise or else she gets p*ssed off and starts to rip apart her bed, toys etc. The Grandparents are very good at taking her out for walks - they have a schedule for it (rolls eyes):

6am - walk to do No1
10am - walk to do No1&No2
1pm - walk to do No1
4pm - walk to do No1
7pm - walk after dinner to do No1&No2
10pm - last walk of the day, No1

We are not so rigid - actually, sometimes she is lucky if she gets out once a day for a walk around the corner and back!! J always says "welcome back to hell" whenever we pick her up to come home after staying at the grandparents.

Before K was born, I used to take R out on 2 or 3 walks a day. Of course, now it being winter, I have to drag myself out, but still try to get out for at least one long walk (30mins-1hour) a day, depending on how K is, if she goes to sleep, we stay out longer!! But I admit that I do give her a lot less attention now.

Anyway, R is back, and asleep at the moment. She is nearly 2years old, and getting much better behaved the last few months. Today I thought I would share a list of her tricks. I have even included the way the grandparent's say some of them (hehe):

* sit down (shit dan)
* lie-down (rye dan)
* roll-over (leg over)
* shake hands (o-te)

* finish
* let go
* chu-goshi, said with very stern voice, like 桜塚やっくん（the comedian who dresses up as a hig school girl） when he says ”注目!”; R sits up on her hind legs
* hoshi-hito...hai! "who want's it?"; R puts her paws up and begs

You may notice one important command missing? "Come" is not in her reportoir, try as we might, she just doesn't seem to want to play that game. We'll keep trying though!

BTW, the photo is of R last year, when we went to see the Kawazu-sakura cherry blossoms down in Kawazu, Izu Penninsula, about 3-4hours south of Tokyo. They bloom early, usually about Feb each year.