Hello, Konnichiwa, Guten Tag!
My name is Kita and I'm a Japanese Shiba Inu. I actually do come from Japan too - I was born in Ibaraki and my 'mum', 'dad' and 'sister' chose to bring me home with them to Tokyo. I love them and they love me, we're very happy.
The breeder who looked after me gave me a special certificate called a pedigree and on it I've got a really fancy name - "Maihime go Chikuseifusou", meaning Dancing Princess of Chikusei (or something like that, my Japanese is a bit rusty now). But the family call me Kita which is Japanese for north. The strange thing is that here in Germany Kita means kindergarten! And lots of people think I'm an Akita which is just silly. Even more people think I'm a fox and my 'mum' quite often gets asked why she's taking a fox for a walk. As if!
I think you've already heard quite a bit about me already but I wanted to have my own couple of pages to tell you about some adventures I had last year.
It was a pretty crazy and scary year, really. In March we had that awful, huge Tohoku Earthquake in Japan. 'Mum' has written lots about that here, so I won't tell you about that except that I was really scared but felt very safe with my family and 'mum' looked after us all very well.
Then we all moved to Berlin. I had to go on an aeroplane all by myself. It was awful, even though I had that fluffy, sharp thing called Raymi Cat nearby, he was in a separate crate and I couldn't get to him. Besides, he just slept the whole time.
I was so happy to eventually discover I hadn't been abandoned by my family and even happier to discover the enormous garden outside the house. It took me quite a long time to settle down. But I do like it here and the ground doesn't shake any more. And there are squirrels! One day I'll catch one. One day...
Then we all went on this really long car journey. Really long. Like forever! It was OK though because I could sit next to my 'sister' who cuddled me lots and let me lick her toes, which I find calming.
We stopped lots of times but nothing much exciting happened until we stopped at something called a hotel. The family took me for a walk and I spotted something that kicked my instincts into life. They had long ears and white fluffy tails and needed to be chased. A lot. Which is really hard when I'm attached to a lead. Apparently they are called rabbits and this was the very first time I'd seen any.
Finally we got the the end of the journey and I was overjoyed to meet someone I already knew and adored - 'Nana'. She loves me and gives me lots of tickles and cuddles. I'm always very gentle with her.
I needed a long rest to get over the journey.
But they kept on insisting on taking me out for walks. They wanted me to poo. But I'm not going to poo in just any old place! I have standards, you know. I can't poo near my den. And I must poo on dried leaves. Not that I'm fussy or anything. I am a Shiba Inu. And it's what I've always done.
As there were no dried leaves anywhere I did not poo.
For three days.
It wasn't great, and 'mum' got so worried I had to do a little one in the garden just to stop her fussing.
Then things got fun!
I got put in a tree. Do I look happy? No. Being up a tree was fine. It's 'dad' saying "stay" that I'm miffed about. As if I'd do anything I'm told. I'm not an ordinary dog, you know. I only do what I want, when I want.
The walks were great. All sorts of new sights, sounds and smells.
But there was an awful lot of water around. I do not like water.
But I gave in eventually as I'd do anything for my 'sister', even get my feet wet. I am not impressed. But she is pleased with me and that makes it worthwhile. Almost.
I'll tell you some more about my holiday in the UK in the next post.