Tuesday, the 9th of January 2007

Manuel at day-care as usual. He has been somewhat worried. There is a bitch in heat at the day-care and probably yet another one close to home. He was not really into eating, and every spot on the grass had to be examined.

He is now 65 centimeters of hight, and his weight is 32,4 kilos. So now he has passed the "lower limit" of what hight a male akita should have. He is not puppy anomore, but junior (according to show-regulations that is... Our lad is getting bigger and bigger./Mikael

Thursday the 11th of January 2007

A day off from the day-care. Charlotte was working from home so Manuel could sleep in. By lunch they went to Tygelsjö and walked by the sea, even though it was raining cats and dogs and the wind was hard. No other humans or dogs where in sight, so Manuel could run loose in the rain, sand, dirt and sea. According to Charlotte he looked very satisfied (and dirty) after the discharge.  She on the other hand was not quite that satisfied, all wet and cold. All in the wish of makin Manuel happy. Then she went back home working and he had to take it easy - booooring. /Mikael

Friday, the 10th of January 2007

He still takes it easy with the food. When I picked him up today he was being very alert. When I wanted him to jump into the car, he put his paw on top of my right arm several times. I let him go, and he trotted singleminded towards a house opposite the day-care. I suspected he needed to "go", and yes so was the case. There is no doubt regarding his signals, and yet he has not used them in purpose of cheating us - but I guess that day will come, soon. Tomorrow we will go to Hässleholm and check out a car that we intend to buy to Manuel. That is a Volvo (talking about getting all the "grown-up stuff". /Mikael

Saturday, the 13th of January 2007

In the morning we started our journey towards Hässleholm for testing a new car. Manuel probably thought he was to pay a visit to that "dog with the looong hair, that does not want to play", since the road is nearly the same. But that was not the case this time. After the test-drive (and ordering of a Volvo V50 Diesel) we drove to Hässleholm city for something to eat. We visited Sophia and her Sixten (Chihuahua). Sixten is a tough guy that actually gets to use his legs (compared to many other dogs of his breed). We decided we should go to Hovdala with the dogs. 

Sixten is tough, but Manuel is still 15 times bigger and can easily hurt Sixten eaven if only playing, so we did not let them really play. We went for a walk together instead. It had been raining and there was water everywhere. Manuel liked that...and Sixten seemed to enjoy it too. When we left Sophia in Hässleholm Sixten was sleeping in her lap. /Mikael

Sunday, the 14th of January 2007

Today it was full storm. I cancelled the date me and Manuel was supposed to have with Ingela and Golda. It did not feel safte driving to the woods in this weather. Mikael took the car and went away for some shopping so me and Manuel went to the park. Oooo yes it was windy, and more than that. Manuel was excited. Everything was interesting, poles, birds, dogs, and people. So it was a long walk of "no", "good", "no", "stop" , "good". Finally I told him to sit close to the pond and let him "suffer" training "not to chase the birds". Ooo he felt so sorry for himself....

In the evening Ingela and Golda came to visit us. Golda thinks Manuel is a huge child, and tells him off if he gets too much. Manuel know that, so he stops one meter from Golda, but you can see how "hard" it is for him. His body started to twitch and turn but he still didn't move forward...it looks very funny. After a while Golda was thirsty, but she did not want to drink from Manuel's waterbowl so I had to give her a bowl of her own in another room. That I think is very very smart of her. That is the way you avoid trouble.

Golda did not even take treats in the kitchen. So Ingela started to play with her and Manuel started to bounce up and down on the same spot. He wanted to take part, but knew he shouldn't. Good boy. Mutual respect...that is. It will be very interesting to follow this relationship as time goes by. /Charlotte