Doggy Style

It's getting cold, people.

I am not one who approves of dogs in clothes, usually. I used to think it was unbearably twee and coddling and the dogs always seemed embarrassed. I once saw a poodle in Kamakura wearing mini Chuck Taylors.

Jenny Jenny

But people, it is COLD. And we had all these donated dog clothes. And the dogs are sleeping outside. Granted, in an insulated kennel, with dog houses, and blankets, but still. An extra layer can't hurt, right?

Sam and Choco, looking especially handsome

So from this week it's been dog fashion time.

Don't they look handsome? I think Chibi looks like a retiree going on a cruise. Fitting, since she's kind of geriatric at 9 years old, doesn't really want to leave her room to go on walks. But from now she's LIVING IT UP.

Chibi, on her way to the Bahamas.

King ate the first shirt I put on him. I guess he didn't like it. But this one looks stylish on him too.

King will eat your shirt.

I think Kenny looks like an English professor in his sweater.

Where did I put my pipe?

Chiro's shirt was donated by some people in Thailand. It says "Gambatte Japan,  from the people of Thailand".

Thanks this week go to people who sent clothes, including "the people of Thailand" and Leonora&Ian, and Jackie, who sent me a donation. Thank you so much!

They call him King

King, looking more like a scruffy pirate.

This is King, a short time after he came to Lohas. He had been on his own for four months, his owners evacuated, with almost no human contact. A neighbor finally called us. When I went to pick him up, he barked fiercely. He was skinny with patches of fur missing and red, irritated skin.

After coming to Inawashiro, he quickly warmed up to us. He ate ravenously, and would bark steadily if left alone. He craved human companionship, and was known for his tendency to stand up on hind legs with front legs extended forward like arms, begging for attention.

We treated him for fleas and ticks, got him vaccinated, and neutered, and soon his hair started growing back in, his coat thickening, and his ribs receding under a layer of proper nutrition.

A few months later.

Here he is in September. King is really an alpha guy. He walks proudly, head and tail in the air, dragging his handler if you let him. He's a big baby when it comes to vaccines but a tough guy when it comes to foxes and other dogs challenging his authority. When he took his surgery vacation weekend at my house, he luxuriated at being indoors and being the sole canine focus of attention. I think he would thrive in foster care.


I'd like to dedicate King's story to Rosanna, who sent me a donation. Thank you very much.

satooya news

Hey y'all.

Stellaluna in the pantry, by my mom.

I'm still in Fukushima, surrounded by fur babies.

fur babies, by Anna Vieste

These are some puppies we recently picked up, at about four weeks old. It's really dangerous to pick them up because everyone who does wants to take one home. They are delicious.

yummy puppy diego, by anna vieste

And, AND, the chickens got adopted! All eighty of them! They went to a little natural (pesticide free, they grow a lot of their own crops) bakery down in Okayama called Hototogisu. I love that name. It means cuckoo.

The chickens are now being put to work as free range layers at a little bakery down south.

They've had the eggs tested (again) and they have been deemed fit for consumption. All that trucking in of food and water over the months seems to have been a good thing.

Speaking of adoption, my dad came out to volunteer three times, and he couldn't resist taking home a couple of the kitties. Stellaluna, pictured in the pantry above, was so named because of her huge ears in proportion to her head, making her look like a bat. She was the runt of the litter, a spunky, tiny little thing who we didn't think would make it, but who climbed up the bars of the cage and cried in such a big voice we imagined her saying STELLLLLA! like Stanley in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Along with Stella came her sister, who my mom named Chibitora.

Chibitora is super cuddly.

Long ago, we had a pair of sister cats, one a tuxedo, and one a brown tabby called Tiger. Tigger ran away within the first year or so, but Tuxy stayed with us her whole life. These two new little girls resemble Tux and Tig so closely that my mom named Chibi in Tiger's honor and muses about reincarnation (生まれ変わり, umarekawari). Chibi is a snugglebug.

There are still so many cats out in the zone, and some dogs too. Today I got a call from someone who wants us to pick up five koi, about a meter long apiece. That's fifteen feet of carp, people! Anybody got space in their pond?

The animals in this post are dedicated to Dharma and Carrie, who sent me a donation and hosted me for dinner in October, and JB, who kicked my ass into posting again. Thanks dolls.