Cooling Off

Azuki is no dumb pup. She always knows where the best place to be is at all times.

In the heat of Tokyo, when we put the air conditioning on in the bedroom, she will automatically go in there and claim her usual spot on the furry mat besides our bed--even when we are still in the livingroom! Usually, she wants to be in whichever room that we are in, but apparently, comfort trumps loyalty in our pup.

Yesterday we got a de-humidifier that can also act as a small unit of portable air conditioner. I put it by me while I am on the computer. After realizing what the machine actually does, she promptly plops herself down right in front of the dehumidifier for a mid-day nap, right in the range where the cool air blows (up and down).

Isn't life so hard for a dog??

Sunbathing

Azuki likes to sunbath. In the midst of winter and early spring, she would especially seek out patches of sun that comes through our window, lying around for hours at a time, soaking in sunshine. These were some of her most adorable moments during those maniac early puppy days, because instead of trying to chew my hands or the leather couch, she was calm and content to just lie around. I took a bunch of pictures one day (I think she was 4 or 5 months old), and they turned out exceptional well since she wasn't ripping around or trying to eat the camera. These pictures above still remain some of the best photos that I have of her.

Now that full on summer has kicked in, she doesn't like the sun much, and instead will choose to nap with her head below the leather couch on the hardwood floor, where it is cool.

Enjoy the photos!

Puppy Kindergarden

Azuki loves her puppy kindergarden. Yes, puppies attend schools too. Azuki's kindergarden is located in the exclusive area of Hiroo, an area of nice houses (actually houses!) where lots of diplomats and expats live (real expats who work for international firms, not Matt who slaves for a Japanese company for below market pay...but does it matter? No, the boy loves his job so who am I to complain?? But I digress). The well-heeled, or rather, well-collared clientele are often dropped off and picked up by the school's private shuttle service, but more than once I have witnessed the pooches being picked up by silver BMWs with dark tinted windows, by men in black who are obviously neither the owners nor federal alien exterminators, but the dogs' DRIVERS. Yes, some dogs in Tokyo get shuttled around by their personal drivers in expensive German imports.

Our pooch is probably downright destitute in comparison with some of the kindergarden's constituents, and it is quite possible that she is the laughing stock of her class because she wears collars from the mass retail pet supply chain rather than small doggie boutiques in Daikayama. However, I am happy to say that their truly compassionate trainers seem to treat Azuki very well, despite the fact that she is probably one of their most, um, active students (meaning: HYPER AS HELL). Azuki absolutely loves it there, because she gets to play rough and tumble with other puppies. This is really evident when we take our lesiurely walk there on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, as soon as she sense that we are approaching her school she starts to pant, pull, and strain her collar in utter anticipation. When we get inside, she makes a beeline for her trainer, leaping in joy and licking her face, AS IF THE TRAINER IS THE ONE who buys her the best food, the yummiest treats, provide her the most comfortable dog beds WHICH VARIES ACCORDING TO SEASON, endless belly rubs and snuggles, 500 squeaky toys which over 200 have been destroyed instantly...I mean HELLO??

Azuki also loves the fact that there are many other puppies there for her to chew on. In the first few sessions her trainers use to write in her memo pad (yes, each "students" gets a memo pad in which they write what you dog did/learned for the day, just like a real kindergarden):

"Azuki played with other puppies A LOT, A LOT. She also ran around A LOT. We worked on sit, stayed, and heeled today. She must be tired from the day so please let her rest when she gets home."

Or,

"Azuki, Co Co, and Mocha became good friends and ran around and engaged in lots of pro-wrestling... We also took a long walk so she should be really tired."

Inevitably, when we get home, Azuki would be running around chasing her toys, gnawing on magazines, flipping in the air...and Matt would always be like, "I thought she was tired??"

Puppy school is suppose to teach her manners, but what she has gained instead is an intensified version of the condition that she was born with--Attention Deficit Disorder. Matt is always asking, "What the heck are they learning at school that we are paying so much for? Why is she still acting all crazy?" And I am always like "We are paying her to GO AWAY for two days out of the week so I can remain SANE. So I can tell myself that everything will be okay because SHE WILL BE GOING TO SCHOOL TOMORROW."

So really, this is for me more than for her. This way, Matt has a semi-sane wife, and I have two days a week to myself where I don't have a dog starring at me, trying to lick the rims of the toilet bowl, while I am on it. Although, at the price that we are paying, it'll probably set us back from buying a house for like, another 10 years.

Above are a few pictures of Azuki and her friends. It was the end of the day, so a lot of puppies have already gone home. It was also hard to take pictures of animals moving at the speed of lightening so the pictures did not really capture the moment. But I have to say, there are very few things in life more precious, besides perhaps the highly coveted Hermes Kelley Bag, than puppies playing together.

Up to No Good

I hesitated to posted the above picture, because who really wants to see my granny cotton underwear?? However, I must prove that the seemingly adorable tote on this blog is really capable of mischief, and one of her favorite pastime these days is to dig through the dirty laundry basket and fish out my underwear. She actually would bypass Matt's boxers and even his funky-smellying socks and head straight for my stuff. Gross, you say? Tell me about it!

As unsavory (and unsanitary) as that sounds, it has proven to be one of Azuki's delicacies, rivaled perhaps only by the oil on her pa's face.

It bothered me greatly that she seemed to enjoy gnawing on them while I am in the shower because of the grossness factor(she likes them fresh, so will literally follow me into the bedroom, wait for me to undress and hop into the shower, AND THEN proceed to get her prize when I am not around to monitor her). But I had a new reason to get angry when i started to find holes in half of my undergarment wardrobe. She was out to destroy them! As you can clearly see, I possess very few nice undergarments and the ones she has destroyed are probably due for an overhaul anyways...but it is still a very irritating and expensive habit which she has developed.

Now I have to close the closet door at all times to limit her access. Out of sight, out of mind.

The first picture is Azuki stealthily climbing into a box of toiletries that we bought in the US and had it shipped to Japan. She had a blast hopping in and out of the box. Very quickly she discovered how tasty the foam cubes inside were, and would proceed to eat them, one by one. I was wondering how that could be edible, and my suspicions rang true. The next morning, she had a bout of diarrea in which the foam came out the other end. She also apparently ate too much grass the previously day, because I also found some grassy puke on the bathroom mat. As you can see, our dog is on a very sensible diet. Ah, the joys of having a hyperactive, underwear-destroying, and grass-eating dog.

And yes, that is a box of tampax tampons in next to Azuki. If you ever tried Japan-made tampons you would have them ship to you too!

Baby Pictures

Taken at merely a few months. She was a little crazed ball of fur. When she wasn't sleeping, peeing, pooping, or eating, she would be terrorizing us. She still does that now except she needs less sleep, which means that she has more time to be up to no good.

Acrobatic Moves

Azuki naps in all sorts of yoga-induced positions which in a human would surely cause spinal cord injuries. This first picture is still relatively normal, as she dozes with her pa with 4 paws up in the air, exposing herself to the camera.

The second picture I took last night. A very tired Azuki fell sideways onto Matt (in his boxers again!) after licking his face, and decided that she just didn't have one more ounce of energy in her to move anymore.

How is that possibly comfortable???

She actually napped like this for about 10 minutes.

Children, don't try this at home!

Playing Dress-up

Before I got the dog I swore that I would not dress my dog like a circus clown. In the outlandish world of Tokyo, people dress funky (or just down-right weird), and so do their dogs. I have seen a pack of dogs in matching outfits and SUNGLASSES as well as shirts, bows, and sometimes even a two-piece (you have to see it to believe it). At dog accessory stores you can buy tiny little closets with miniature hangers just for your pooches. I have no doubt some of these upper-class furry four-legged creatures have better wardrobes than I do.

Before I became a dog owner, I thought that was the most ridiculous thing ever. I was adament that dogs should NOT wear clothes and be treated like accessories. And stop carrying small dogs around in doggie bags--let them walk for god's sakes!

Well, since I have joined the ranks of overly attentive dog owner in Tokyo, I have retracted all the above statements. It started oh-so-innocently with the brown faux suede jacket above. It was dead of winter, and Azuki at 2 and a half months old had caught a terrible cold because we kept toting her around everywhere (even though she was in a bag with a portable heat pad) which gave her bad case of sneezing. When she sneezed, the strength of the snots were so powerful that we could hear from from our bedroom, door closed. I felt like such a terrible mom that we promptly went out and bought her a warm jacket to keep her body warm. Well, she didn't like her jacket too much because it was a bit too hard and unwieldy, and with it on she couldn't seem to grasp her balance, and would wobble a bit and then fall over. She also had a knack of wiggling one front leg out of the sleeve socket, but it would never completely come out, so she would dangle one leg half out of her jacket sleeve and then again procceeded to wobble around, like a three-legged animal.

So then of course, we had to proceed to get her another sweater, of a purple variety, which fit much more comfortable and snug on her little body.

After that it was all downhill from there.

She now has a full bag full of clothes--from T-shirts to tanks to sundresses (yes, doggies wear sundresses too). I got so used to seeing her with clothes on, that without clothes she looked absolutly barbaric to me. In the early chilly spring, when she wasn't be groomed or shampooed, she would ALWAYS be wearing something, even at home.

I finally had to give up putting clothes on her back when summer finally arrived. Making my dog wear an extra layer during Tokyo's hot, humid summers is just cruel and unusal punishment, possibly even rivaling when we make her sit and wait while we say okay before she is allowed to scarf down her food.

I also said I would never carry my dog around in a bag, but then I ended up getting two, one of which is custom-made with Matt's old jeans (supposedly dogs like it because it smells like their owner). In my defense, carrying her around in a bag was the only I was able to socialize her to the outside world during her early months before she had finished her vaccinations. And because she had caught a cold, she was delayed an entire months in getting all her shots done.

Enjoy the above pictures of her when she was merely a few months old!

After and Before

One of my, ah-hem, "readers", emailed me and asked me if we gave her regular baths and haircuts. We certainly do!

Poodles are one of the more high-maintenace breeds out there, because they have "hair" instead of "fur", which means that instead of shedding like most dogs do, they hair just grows and grows like human hair. Azuki's hair grows like a wildfire spreading through a dry forest, so she needs a trim every 4 weeks, not 6-8 weeks as suggested. She also gets a bit stinky after 10 days or so without a good bath, but we usually give her a bath every 2 weeks as recommended by the vet.

Matt is in charge of giving her a bath, because when poodles are wet, they look like LARGE RATS WITH LONG, SKINNY LEGS. Seriously, they are that ugly. The only thing that keeps the toy poodle looking so cuddly and teddy-bear like is their fur. Without it, they are just a bunch of NY subway rats. The first time I gave Azuki a bath I was in shock, in a "oh my gosh my baby is so freakin ugly underneath all that fur" kind of way. After that, Matt took over the job because he didn't mind looking at a trembling alien dog that keeps trying to scramble away.

I have posted pictures above, first one with Azuki after a trim, the second is Azuki in dire need of a trim. She has that wild lion look in the second picture.

Puppy Love

Azuki loves her pa. Every night Matt comes home Azuki goes bizark and gives him a hell of a greeting. He is her biggest and most favorite toy.

Their nightly rituals including Matt acting stupid with the dog, rolling around with her, teaching her Kung Fu moves. It always ends with him laying on the floor and Azuki scrambling all over him, enthusiastically licking the day's sweat and toil from his face. I think she likes the salty flavor of sweat and oil on him, because she acts like it is the most delicious treat she has ever tasted, shoving her long, snake-like tongue up his nostrils until Matt screeches in pain. After she giives him facial cleansing, if she is tired, she will usually settle down and rest next to him. You can almost hear her sigh from a satified exhaustion.

How can this picture not make me get all gooey? There is my husband, a grown man, laying on the ground in his undershirt and boxers, with the pup resting comfortably in his arms.

Best Friends

Azuki likes to play. A lot. She likes to play fetch with her toys, shake the snout out of them, and wrestle her snuggle puppy to the ground. She likes playing with people, especially if you have toys in your hands. However, her favorite thing in the whole wide world is still playing with other puppies.

Azuki is an enthusiastic puppy. "Playing" for Azuki is more like "attacking". She likes to attack her opponents/playmates by jumping on them with her front legs, running into them, biting their ears, their snout, or anything she can get her teeth on. If her playmates are too slow for her or showing any reluctance to play with her, she will bark at them in her playbow position, with her small butt perched high up in the air. When I first saw this, I thought she was an aggressive puppy who wants to eat other puppies for lunch. The one time I watched the puppy play session at her school, she had to be stopped 3 times in the 10 minutes I was there for a brief "cool-down" because she was so crazy! Mind you, she was the ONLY puppy who needed any time-out. I thought for sure that the puppy kindergarden would kick her out in order to protect the safety of their other pupils, but surprisingly, I was told that But she is merely a VERY playful puppies who loves to play.


Azuki will play with pretty much anyone who will play with her. But her BBF before she moved away with her owner was Toffee, an apricot colored toy poodle with a sweet temperament. Toffee is a people dog, prefering the companionship of humans rather than dogs. She also does not have the stamina of a stallion, like Azuki. So understandably, although Azuki LOVES Toffee to a million pieces, Toffee doesn't always return such affections.

When Azuki was only 2-3 months old, Toffee was still bigger than her (two months older), so Toffee was physically able to defend herself as needed. Usually, Toffee would just sit quietly by her humans, LIKE HOW A DOG SHOULD, casting incredulous and sometimes disgusted looks at the ANIMAL ripping around her, hoping Azuki will just GO AWAY ALREADY. But one time, when my friend Vera came over with Toffee to hang out, Toffee decided that she just had enough of her sneak attacks, and decided to even the score. We personally witnessed the sweetest little dog just lose it, POUNDING Azuki to the ground, pinning her down and growling at her like a lion, lifting her paw periodically only to bitch slap Azuki into submission.

Needless to say, both Vera and I were too amused to rescue my down and under pup. Plus, the dog deserved a good beating. She had it coming.

Very soon Azuki would grow at an exponential speed, becoming a gangly but strong teenager, who would out-run, out-wrestle the gentle Toffee in no time. But I will never forget the day that Toffee stood up for herself and showed Azuki who is the boss!

I am posting pictures of Toffee and Azuki having a ball climbing over Vera (when they took a break from fighting). And Azuki's playing with her toy.

Teenage Blues

At 8 months old, Azuki has probably reached the human equivalent of her teenage years. According to experts, this stage in the dog development are the most trying times, because they begin to test owners' authority, express their independence, and become generally major pains in the butt. I have to agree with all of that.

Azuki is not allowed on furniture, because we want her to know that she is a dog and therefore her ranking is below the humans in the household. She has followed this rule very well, and only dares to thump her front legs on the sofa or the bed to get our attention. When she wants a petting or an ear scratch, she will also nudge her furry head into your lap or palm, acting too adorable to resist, and will usually end of getting some enthusiastic "awwww....look how cute she is acting!" from us.

But we knew that even at a very young age she was able to jump onto the couch with relative ease with those long, crab-like legs of hers. First time such suspicion arose was when she was only 5 months old, and we had placed a bowl of food and biscuts on top of her cage for training, which is next to the couch. When we came out of the shower one night, we found Azuki to be acting totally normal, except THE BOWL OF FOOD WAS GONE. I mean, there was not a morsel of evidence left in the bowl--it had been licked clean (this is after dinner, by the way, so she couldn't even have been that hungry) But since we had never seen her do it, and never even seen her get up on the couch before, we couldn't prove it. But it was one of those things, like, who else could have done it?

Then, once while she was in super puppy play mode and ripping around chasing after her toys, she jumped onto the couch out of excitement. I let out a loud noise, clapped my hand, and said OFF!!!! in my most authoritative tone. She looked sincerely surprised and sorry, and hopped off right away. She didn't climb onto the couch again for the next few months.

Until now.

Last night, I went to bed early and Matt stayed up to watch the World Cup on TV. When he went to take a shower, I could hear commotions in the livingroom and MAJOR CHUMPING going on from Azuki--CHUMP CHUMP CHUMP was totally audible even from the bedroom with a closed door. She will chew her rawhides or bones a little bit, but she only reserves that type of chewing intensity for her pig ears or achilles tendon, which she gets a few times a week. But since I had already given her a pig ear that morning, I was confused as to what she was doing.

I came out of the bathroom, and found the pup chewing on, none other than another piece of pig ear.

"Did you give her another pig ear?? She already got one this morning."
"No I didn't! But take a look at this!!!!" Matt said, pointing out the doggie sweater that was laying on the cage but now laying on the couch.

What we pieced together was that Azuki must have hopped onto the couch, then onto the cage, and then digged through her doggie bag where I place her goodies, gotten the pig ear, hopped off and then proceeded to chew LIKE SHE DIDN'T JUST BREAK THE MOST IMPORTANT CANINE/HUMAN RELATIONSHIP RULE IN THE HOUSE.

I must admit we were surprised, but we were also kind of amused, in a "Look how smart our dog is!" kind of way.

Unfortunately, Azuki has learned that it is SO MUCH FUN to climb onto the couch, that it was all she did this morning while I was still in bed. I could hear her taking off across the room, her paws piter-paterring the whole way on the hardwood floor, gathering momentum, and then the loud THUD! when she lands on the couch. I had to resort to removing all objects from on top of her cage so she wouldn't get to them.

I thought this was just going to be a behind our backs kind of thing, but then she pulled the trick in front of me after I got up, in what I assume is probably her attempt to defy authority, challenge my leadership, stating her independence...or, perhaps she just thought it would be REALLY COOL to hop on the couch. Of course, I let out another loud OFF! command, and then took her off the couch. Just to make sure she knows what she did was wrong, I gave her a brief 3 minute time-out in her cage. She didn't protest at all, and when she came out, she acted very submissive, totally calm, laying down and peering up at me, wondering if I was still mad at her.

Above I have provided a picture of the couch and the cage, so you can have an idea of how this happened. See there is not nothing on top of the cage (I used to use it as counter top space to store all her toys, rawhides, and snacks).

I hate teenagers.

Azuki at one month old

We got Azuki online from a reputable breeder outside of Tokyo. I chose her based on pictures provided by the breeder. Toy poodles are so popular in Tokyo that if you didn't put a deposit down on a puppy that you have never met, it means that you would never get a puppy because they all got sold before they reached one month old. It was hard to pick a puppy from pictures since they all looked exactly the same. We decided on Azuki because the puppy that I originally wanted was already sold, and Azuki's litter was born a month later. We picked Azuki because she was the reddest of her litter, and we liked her color. She was a tiny, dark, furry little being. These are the pictures that the breeder sent us. (Okay I can't seem to get the pictures uploaded onto blogger...will try again later!)

Azuki the terrrible

When Azuki first came to us at 8 weeks of age she was so scared that she did not come out of her crate for a day and a half. We were simultaneously worried and relieved--worried that we had gotten a shy dog who would be hard to socialize; but relieved that THANK GOD she likes her crate and we don't have to go through the pain of crate-training her.

Well, two days later, Azuki came out of her crate (after we invited another toy poodle puppy friend, Toffee, to come entice her), and we realized that both of our assumptions were wrong. She is NOT a shy, quiet puppy. She has turned out to be one of the most friendly creatures walking on 4 legs with fur on the face of this earth--to the point that it was hard to walk her for the longest time because she would not stop jumping on people and trying to lick them. She also decided, after coming out of her crate, that the outside world is so much more interesting, and that her mommy and daddy were not monsters afterall. While we heard NOTHING from her crate in the kitchen for the first night, I would endure two weeks of sleep deprivation while she whined, clawed at the cage, and at times threw her body against the door with such ferocity that you would think that our kitchen was inhabited by a wild lion in distress instead of a small furry pup weighing less than 400 grams. She was tiny, so lovable with her Afro hair, which covered her entire head and hiding her eyes.....that is except when she ripped around the room, nipping our feet, chewing our fingers, or trying to bite me in the face. In those excruciating two weeks my days consisted of following Azuki around and cleaning up pee on the carpet every 5 minutes , crate-training her in between and withstanding THAT WHINING, and not able to sleep or do any work BECAUSE OF THAT WHINING AND PEEING. Going to my part-time job was almost a relief because I was away from that beast, although I found myself snapping at my clients and losing patients with my colleagues because I was so sleep-deprived and mentally exhausted.

It was also in those two weeks that I seriously considered returning her to the breeder--not due to any fault of Azuki's--since she is only acting as a puppy does--but because I felt like I was failing so badly in my new responsibility, despite the fact that I had read a million info on the internet about raising a puppy/dog, as well as read two whole books prior to her arrival. I had bought every item which is recommended by dog owners and trainers. I had read about puppy behavior. I just wasn't prepared for the real thing because she was a LIVE CREATURE IN MY HOUSE!

And she was taking over my life. My always patient and responsible husband said to me: "You say that now but just watch, in 3 months you won't be able to even entertain that thought of getting rid of her." I was adament that I would not, and even started to think about all the possible people that might take her into their homes.

Well, at the end I didn't give her up. And yes, my husband was right. Despite the fact that Azuki is still as crazy as ever, and still takes up much too much of our time and finances that we are willing to admit in public, there is no doubt that I REALLY LOVE her. Yes, she digs into the dirty laundry basket every chance she gets and chews up my underwear (gross, I know), and yes, she wakes us up in ungodly hours on weekends (like 8am, which is like totally unacceptable to be woken up on a Saturday) by thumping her forelegs on the side of our bed and licking our toes, demanding to be fed and entertained. And yes, she is scared of the sound of the wind and will bark and then hide in the bathroom for like, an hour--all is forgiven when she is tired from running around and acting crazy, and tilts her furry chin up for us to scratch. Or when she licks our faces and then buries her head under our armpits. Or when she rolls over for us to give her belly scratches and then rolls around on her back in the carpet in sheer ecstacy because she is so happy that we are giving her a tummy rub. Or when she tries to wiggle her way out of her trainer's arms to get to me when I pick her up during her twice a week puppy daycare excursions.

I imagine such contradicting feelings, like thinking she is so cute but so freakin annoying at the same time, that I love her but want to smother her with a pillow, must be an universal puppy owner thing.

Azuki the red toy poodle

Azuki is a red toy poodle born in November 4th, 2005. She is a canine citizen of Japan, where my husband Matt and I currently reside.

Her name is Japanese for red bean, a delicious type of bean that can be made into a sugery paste and then stuffed into bread or other desserts. In my Chinese family, my mother used to make it into a sweet soup and serve it piping hot in the winter. Yum yum. Okay, I digress.
The reason we named our dog after an edible object is not because she is so cute we want to eat her (although strangers besotthed with her have tried), but because her coloring is a deep reddish brown, the color of red bean.


Azuki is a happy, healthy (genki) toy poodle and no, she is no sissy dog. She is a bundle of energy, and has a stamina of a large breed working dog. Her sunny disposition combined with her penchant to get into trouble, eat gross stuff, and roll in other dogs' poop has me wondering if she was not a labordore retriever in her previous life.

She is also not a yappy dog, primarily because she loves people and other canines alike. She only barks at dogs that bark at her, but she always seem a little confused as to why other dogs don't want to play with her. By the same token, she only barks at people if they bark at her.

Oh, except on two separate occasions she displayed fear barking towards white people. WHITE MALES, to be exact. Yes, I realize that means that I have a bigot for a dog, but this is probably my fault for not socializing her enough with people of different races. In my defense, we live in Japan, and she sees mostly Asian people. The only token white friend I had was my friend Jessica before she moved away (Hi Jessica!), and Azuki met her while she was a baby--which would explain why she is totally cool with caucasian women.

Azuki does have her share of irrational fears. Besides loud, sudden noises, she is partcularly afraid of the sound of the wind against the window curtains. And if the wind slams the door shut with a loud SLAM!, it will send her running for cover in the bathroom for half an hour.

Azuki is a poorly behaved pup--she jumps on people, is hyperactive, likes to gnaw people's hands, chews through underwear, retrieves clothes from drawers, tears any type of paper to shreds...the list goes on. This is all despite the very expensive puppy kindergarden that we shell out for her to go to twice a week. She does know basic commands, like sit, down, stay, come....etc. However, she only preforms them when there is a treat involved.

But all in all, despite the maniac behavior she is an utterly lovable dog--to us anyways. That is why I have dedicated this website to her, to share her adorable moments as well as really annoying ones. I mean, what else do I have to write about? She has taken over our lives.