Photos

On a glorious afternoon, Azuki lays down in the park. Looks to us for direction:



Picture from above:


There is Azuki:

Where is Azuki??



Before taking a shower, Matt takes off his undershirt and covers poor defenseless Azuki with it. She was too sleepy to get out, and stayed undercover for about 10 seconds before wiggling out to freedom(and air!) When asked why he likes to amuse himself by messing around with Azuki when she is tired and sleepy, he retorts, "What's the point of having a pup??!!"
Point well taken.

Poop Fest

This was written last week but I didn't get to finish until today:

I haven't slept much for the past two days because Azuki came down with acute diarrhea. It started around 8pm in the evening, and every hour or so after that our poor pup would have to do a little watery business. She was obviously in great discomfort because in between her poop sessions, she would pace around all over the apartment---heading into our bathroom, our closet, the living room, lie down, get up, walk around some more...which meant that her tummy was probably feeling pretty aweful. But all that pooping and pacing around all night also meant that Matt and I did not get any sleep at all. Periodically she would run over to Matt's side of the bed and demand some love from her pa, which Matt, feeling sorry for the pup, would kindly oblige by hanging one arm over the side of the bed, and attempting to pet her while he tries to sleep.

My job was primarily to jump out of the bed every half an hour or so to check to see if she did poop, and to clean up and change out her potty pad if she did. This went on until 5am, when Matt had to get up and go to the airport for a "business trip" to Bermuda. This is going to be a slight digression, but I must exlain why I put business trip in "" parenthesis. It is not because I don't believe that he is really working there, or that traveling to a warm, exotic island that is only two hours away must totally suck because it takes him away from his females. But I know how much it bothers him when I say it like that with any hint that business traveling could be fun. I know for a fact that it is not, because in another life time when I used to be a "career woman" (that should be like """" career woman""") I did quite a bit of traveling myself, and it was probably the worst thing about the job, next to commuting for over an hour in the car to a client site. And the fact that I had to work like, really hard, for a living. To support myself. And do COMPUTER STUFF, that requires me to do more than just surf the web.

Anyhoo, so Matt left for the airport completely exhausted, while I took the pup to the vet promptly in the morning. I was given the lovely job of collecting a sample of her poop, in these glass vails that came with a spoon (does make things easier, let me tell you). Well, the pup didn't poop for the rest of the day, probably because she had absolutely exhausted every smidgen of waste in her intestines, and thus I had to wait for the next morning to do what I had to do. The next morning at 5am, I was again awoken by a pup who was now puking up a storm, her body convulsing as her entire body contracts and regurgitates stomach bile. Good thing that after a few times of doing that she went back to sleep and eventually she was back to her happy little self going through our trash canes, thrashing her toys around, and chasing squirrels outside.

Possibly due to the lack of sleep for two days I caught a cold myself, and spent much of the weekend in bed with congestion and fever. Matt, back from his brief "business trip", was kind enought to make me his special chicken soup (it's really good!) and take care of the pup, taking her to the park twice a day. During this father and pup bonding weekend they even napped together on the couch! I didn't get a picture of this (because I was sleeping and running a fever!) but I could just imagine how cute that must have been--master and dog, enjoying a lazy weekend afternoon siesta. As how life should be.

Happy Mother's Day!

Azuki would like to wish her grandmas (hi mom! hi matt's mom!) a very happy mother's day.

I saw this balloon in the drugstore and of course, I could not resist. This is a pictorial of what happened when I brought it home:

First she was curious, getting closer and checking it out:





Then, she thought that perhaps the ballon could be a playmate, and gets in her playbow position to invite it to play with her, barking at it the whole time:


Since the pup and the balloon were getting along just swell, Matt clips it onto her hoping to get a good photo. Then all of a sudden, it's like oh my gosh, I have a monster on my back! What the heck is it?? Azuki decides maybe the ballon can't be her best buddy after all. See the unsure expression on her face?!:


This is probably the best photo that we have...but Matt had to hold her in place so the pup doesn't run away (I was laughing on the ground because she kept trying to run away from the balloon, which of course, keeps following her because it is clipped onto her collar! Poor thing:)



After that Azuki pretty much decides that she doesn't want to have anything to do with the balloon. Even though we tempted her with a tasty chicken treat, she refuses to even look at it! Apparently they are no longer friends. Friendships between ballons and pups can be so fragile.


So here it is: happy ma's day to all the mothers out there! Hope this day is a happy one for you all.

Some Things Never Change

Whether in Tokyo or New York, Azuki behaves very much the same at home:

Azuki standing on pa's lap, peering at me to see what I am up to. The pup does not like to miss a beat:



Sun-bathing in new york. Thank goodness we will get some sun in our livingroom. Where would the pup sun-bath otherwise!?



Another thing that she did a lot in Tokyo, which she does with even more zest now is barking at the door. We have had the fortune of having corner units for both apartments, which means that although there are many units on the floor, we really only have one next-door neighbor. This is good for us beceause Auzki is highly sensitive to the noise outside the door, whether real or imaginary. She has given herself the role of watch dog, and will bark in that annoying high-pitch yelp that people often negatively associates with small breeds. Well, there is a reason why people stereotype small dogs as yappy---because it's true.

In Tokyo almost all apartments have double doors, which significantly block out the noise. In New York, however, the doors are very very thin, and we can hear everything outside the door. For example, when I pass by our neighbor, I can always hear the kids playing, people speaking, and even my neighbor WASHING THE DISHES. I can hear dishes clonking against each other! Through the flimsy doors!

So it drives Azuki into a frenzy whenever someone comes home, leaves the house, or simply LIVING THEIR LIVES next door. Lucky for us it just happens that our lovely neighbors, a family of 5, have three small, rambunctious children, with very outgoing and social parents who ALWAYS seem to have friends and kids over. People who often drop by as far as I can tell are maids and nannies (probably their own and that of their friends'), other moms and their kids.

We met the kids the other day and the kids were excited but scared to see Azuki. They were like, "hey that's the dog that ALWAYS barks at me when I come home from school! I bark back at her though!"

Great, so now Azuki is known as the yappy little dog on the floor. But it's good thing that when she met them, she was the perfect little dog. She barked when she heard them through the door but as soon as we opened the door, she was calm and passive, laying down like I told her so the skiddish kids can quickly pat her and then run away, then come back, squeal in both fear and delight, and touch her again. The mom complimented how sweet Azuki is, and the kids got to see that the ferocious-sounding little beast is really just a ball of fur whose only defense against intruders would be to lick them to death.

Despite all her flaws, Azuki really is a very good-natured pup. She is wonderful with children, even when aggressive little bully children try to pick her up by her back legs, which she obviously won't like because of her bad leg. She has never shown any displeasure at them harassing her, only occasionally try to hide behind me or look at me with sad eyes. I try to protect her of course, but the tricky thing with kids is that you have to try to be really nice to kids even when they are not nice themselves--it's not like you can be rough with a child to protect your dog, although some parents seem to think it's okay for their kids to be rough to other people's dog. Thank goodness that most children are lovely, and the sight of happy children squealing in delight when she licks their fingers, or when toddlers who can barely slur the words "doooggiiiie" try to smooch her head into their armpits to give her a hug (always unintentionally suffocating the poor pup), is truly heart-warming. Something about children and dogs just go hand-in-hand, don't you think?

Photos of a Crime Scene

Azuki and I went back to the spot where she jumped into the lake the other day, and I took some photos to show you how everything took place:

This is the beautiful and serene lake that Azuki jumped into:


This is the rock that me and Azuki climbed over. Yes, the pup can climb that thing vertically!



Azuki in action--navigating the hilly terrain:


Again, more couples there whispering sweet-nothings in each others' ears. This couple was feeding each other. Can you blame them? This spot is picture perfect:


This was actually the exact spot that Azuki made her leap of faith (I mean, did she even know that she could swim??). It does look kind of tempting, doesn't it:





She sees the lake and wants to go for a swim again. I had to restrain her with one hand while taking a photo with another. No small feat with a very strong pup, I tell ya.


Random turtles sunbathing in a weird pyramid-like form. They scrambled off into the water soon after I took this photo:



Azuki taking a breather on the grass, observing her surroundings:

Sweet Surrender

You tell me how we are not suppose to forgive her for everything at the end of the day, when she has exhausted all her energy and cannot move even on inch. matt flipped her to give her a belly rub and she just stayed there, too tired to turn back over. She napped like that briefly.

So the Dog Knows How to Swim After All

I have posted before how Azuki resents baths, and would shake and squirm to get out of the shower even when we just turn on the water. We always joke about how Azuki is totally lame because standard poodles, her doggie cousins, were originally used in Europe as water hunting dogs to retrieve game in water. Even the ridiculous pom-pom like traditional poodle cut actually has strategic meaning because shaved legs and rear allow them to paddle in water while lots of hair on the rest of their body keep them warm in frigid terrain.

But we always thought that Azuki was an exception to the case, like how she is for many other things---like how dogs are suppose to mellow out once they are older, and how dogs are suppose to be deathly loyal to their owners...blah blah blah.

So imagine my surprise when, as part of our daily morning ritual, Azuki and I came upon a large pond while exploring central park. I have discovered that Azuki is an adept rock climber, often clawing vertically up a rock faster than I can with my long human legs. So we first climbed over some large rocks (which awed some bystanders---no one expects such a little dog to be so athletic--not bad for a handicapped dog, huh?) and there were some dog lovers there so I thought it was safe to let her off leash. After all, the area was enclosed by rocks on one side and water on the other so it's not like she can run into the streets. How much trouble can she get into?

Well, I obviously don't know my dog very well. Or at least I grossly underestimated her ability to look for trouble.

First, my curious little pup went over some rocks to simply look at the water. I was afraid she was going to fall in and drown, so I called her back. Then she went over the some very shallow water, which i thought was fine because she can satisfy her curiousty by just pawing at her own reflection. But before I knew it, she had made LEAPS AND BOUNDS into the pond, and instead of floundering like I feared (my biggest fear being she would start to drown and I would have to jump in there to rescue her), she started dog-paddling like a pro.

My dog. Swimming. In the pond. In central park. While there are clear signs which said "No dogs allowed in water" and innocent CANOERS paddling in their little boats enjoying the serenity of nature.

Luckily, today is a semi-chilly day, and she realized how cold it was and swam back right away. I was mortified, not only because she is now soaking wet and looking like a large jungle rat, but also at our blatant violation of the park rules (although I break park rules regularly by letting her off leash during non-offleash hours, but that's another story). A young couple that had previously been busy whispering sweet nothings in each other's ear now eyed me suspiciously as if I regularly break the rules and let me dog swim in the city park's ponds and hunt ducks.

I quickly put a leash on her but Azuki's excitement was evident. It was like Did you see me swimming mommy?? Can we do it again!? But she was also wet and cold. So we quickly made a retreat from the park, and since she was shivering and so dirty, I decided to drop her off at a doggie grooming salon on the way home to have her PROFESSIONALLY bathed. I don't think I could take off algae very well in our bath tub.

I have to say, I wish Azuki was a mellow, calm, passive dog--but she is not. So instead I love her precisely because she is a little (or a lot) wild, manic, and full of surprises. It was almost as if when she saw the water, those once-dormant ancient doggie instincts kicked into full-drive, and she succumbed to the call of the wild. I certainly don't want her to pull that trick again, but at the same time I am secretly proud. My little 6 poud toy poodle can swim! She is a hunting dog at heart! I always knew she had it in her. And it must have been exhilarating to be in that water, even for a brief few seconds, because it was what she was born to do.


I wishe I had my camera. I took two photos with my camera phone (but don't know how to transfer it to the computer). I vow to take my camera to the park ALL THE TIME now, because you never know what that pup will do.

After Romping in the Park

Azuki keeps me company while I am on the computer by crawling up in a new bed that is way too small for her. She has to keep her head out because her body barely fits in there. She still seems to really like it though.