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.