Christmas 2007

Harry is very busy at the end of the year. He has to greet friends and wish them happy Christmas and also to visit his doctor at the veterinary office to get the necessary health certificates for his winter vacation. Now everything is done! Today, Harry went to the Christmas market, just for fun. It is not interesting for a dog to look at the shops there. But for Harry, it is exciting to meet happy people with smiling faces. Harry then smiles backs to them by wagging his tail.

Harry's Towel

It is already December. Everybody in the house is very busy. So Harry decided to have a nap while humans are working. A special nap in the sunny side of the Wintergarten. Harry does not have a fancy bed or sleeping basket. Because all he needs is his large striped bath towel. With the towel, Harry can relax and sleep anywhere.

Hot Water Bunny

Harry can hear the footsteps of Winter closer and closer each day. The Wintergarten, where Harry's house is, gets chilly during the night. So Harry's master took out a squeaky toy from Harry's bunny. Then she put a small hot water bottle instead every night. This bunny was a prize in the USDAA Regional Championships. It is not just a bunny, but a handbag which has a zipper on the back. The bottle is an ordinary pet bottle from the Swiss Air's breakfast.

Harry found it so comfortable to lean on the warm bunny. The bunny has been always one of Harry's most favourite toys. Now, with the hot water bottle, he would not let the bunny go. It is Harry's hot water bunny.

Team Sport

	Agility is, in general, an individual sport, but it can be also a team sport. In ASMV: Agility Schweizer Meisterschaft für Vereine (The Swiss National Championship for Team Agility), a team of three or four dogs, representing their club, competes against teams from other clubs. In this event, they can really feel the sense of cooperation.
	Fly, Joya and Harry formed their team in February, practiced together every weekend, passed the Qualifier in July and came in 3rd place in the Final on 27 October. The ASMV is not just a one-day event, but a whole year project! Harry and his master are very grateful for such a special experience. (The photo shows Harry's club members at the ASMV Final.)

Neighbours

	It has been exactly a year since Harry moved to his new house in Switzerland. First he knew nobody in the neighbourhood. Now he knows most dogs, or perhaps all, there.
	Dogs often gather at The Old Wall in the evening. They need no appointments. They just happen to meet. And there is always a friendly person to play with.
	Harry loves to fetch his red ball there. It is even more exciting when his friends chase after the ball together. Harry catches his ball most of the time.
	But he sometimes lets his friends play with the ball. The dogs are very well-trained by their owners, and they know how to play with smaller dogs. Harry is very fortunate to live in this neighbourhood.

Sightsmelling

Harry went to Grindelwald for autumn holiday. His family enjoyed the maginificent view of the Alps. But Harry was always busy looking at the ground and sniffing something interesting. This is fine, though... Because dogs do sightseeing not with their eyes, but with their nose!

Please also have a look at Grindelwald, Switzerland in Harry's World Jouneys.

Chestnuts

While walking along the River Rhein in an early morning, something small and hard fell from the sky and hit Harry's head. Harry got scared as he could not understand what had happened. Soon another one fell and hit his back this time. Then he realised that they were chestnuts! Harry loves to eat chestnuts, but ... They were horse chestnuts, and they are not edible!

Sweet Seduction

Autumn fruits and vegetables are now in the market! They sometimes need to be placed in the Sun for a few days to get sweeter and riper. Harry's master once left some peaches in the balcony. Then the Scary Sparrows quickly came to steal them. So peaches are now lying in the Wintergarten. Harry loves peaches very much. But he knows that he should not touch the peaches. Still he is allowed to smell them. And he will tell his master when they are ready to eat!

Dachshund at the Door

Harry got this dachshund as a prize at a USDAA trial. But he did not like it and never played with it. So his master gave the poor Dachshund a job as Doorman. It perfectly fitted between her bedroom door and the wall. It was an excellent doorbuffer! But only for a short while. Harry suddenly started showing interests in the dachshund, as it unexpectedly got much attention from his master. Soon the dachshund disappeared from the door.

Sailing Weather

After having too much sunshine in Italy, Harry was very happy to go to Finland and enjoy sailing. Finland is supposed to be a lot cooler than Switzerland. But it did not turn out to be so... Apparently, the Sun had followed after Harry from Italy! Harry had a great sailing weather in Finland. On the way back to Switzerland in the airplane, Harry heard that it had been raining very hard in Switzerland and the River Rhein had flooded in Basel while he was away... But he did not have to worry; the Sun followed Harry again, from Finland to Switzerland!

Please also have a look at Finland in the Summer in Harry's World Jouneys.

The Land of the Sun

Harry visited Italy, the Land of the Sun. Italy is situated just next to Switzerland. Still it is much hotter in Italy. Harry could not walk on the streets during the day as they can get as hot as plates just out from an oven. And Harry's master got heat stroke in the European Open Agility. After the competitions, they stayed around the Lake Garda. In the lake, they could forget the intense heat for a while.

Please also have a look at Como and Garda, Italy in Harry's World Jouneys.

Scary Sparrows

	When Harry is looking over the balcony, the scary sparrows are always there. Why are the sparrows scary? Because they never fly up in the sky. Instead, they pretend to jump off from the edge of the balcony, as if they were enjoying bungy jumping in front of Harry. And, as if they are telling Harry, "Hey, you can do it too. It is easy and fun!"
	It is impossible to catch the scary sparrows in the camera. They are so quick to disappear... they must be professionals! But, they always leave a sign of their secret visits: they are stealing the cherries from a cherry tree from our neighbour's backyard, and leaving the seeds on the balcony.

Bakery

On Saturdays, Harry and his master get up early to buy bread and cake for the morning at a bakery. At 6:30AM, there are already quite a few customers. Dogs are not allowed in there as the shop is very small. Sometimes an old lady comes out from the shop and takes the order from Harry's master. But most of the time they are too busy to come out. So Harry has to stay outside while his master is shopping. Here you do not need to worry about Harry being stolen, because people in the que are all watching after Harry. Everybody knows whose dog Harry is! If he stays there politely, he surely gets a great treat!

Cat Mate

Viktor is Harry's best cat mate. Their favourite game is "Fetchball". Fetchball's rule is simple. Harry's master throws a ball, which has a little bell inside. Both Harry and Viktor chase after the ball. Viktor is always the one who reaches the ball first, and rolls the ball with his front paws for a while. After Viktor had enough of rolling the ball, he gives it to Harry. Then Harry brings back the ball to his master. And the same things repeat all over again. Harry wants to play this game for hours, but Viktor sometimes suddenly stops playing and disappears from the room. Viktor is the one who decides when to start playing and when to end.

River Rangers 2

	Harry is still patrolling along the River Rhein every morning. The number of ducklings are now only three. But the survived ducklings have grown as big as their parents. So they should be feeling much safer than before. Today, he found something new. Something very interesting.
	Harry found a family of swans. Father swan, mother swan and a tiny baby swan! Harry was watching them very quietly. But as soon as the father swan noticed Harry's existence, they all became alerted.
	Then it happened very quickly. The baby swan jumped upon his father's back, and they all swam away from the shore. Harry felt sorry to have frightened them. Probably this is the time to stop patrolling for this year.

River Rangers 1

Harry is watching on the River Rhein very seriously. He seems to have found something very interesting.

They are cute little ducklings! There were six ducklings when he saw them for the first time. But on the next day, the lady next door said to Harry that a huge ugly rat caught one of them and ate it up! Harry learned that wild life is never easy... Since then, Harry has visited the ducklings every morning and checked if they are all happily swimming on the River Rhein. Harry will continue this until all the ducklings grow up.

Arbeitstag (Work Day)

	Harry's agility club has an Arbeitstag (work day) every spring. On the Arbeitstag, club memebers clean up the agility equipment, repair if anything is broken, renew the fence of the ground. Harry's master helped clean all the jump bars and weavepoles with a dump cloth. Then she took off old coloured-tapes from the weavepoles and sticked new ones on them.
	Tunnels, A-frames, dogwalks and seesaws are clean with a high-pressure water cleaner. It was fun to watch how a dirty tunnel became clean like a new one. After all this hard work in the morning, everybody enjoyed BBQ while drying the wet equipment in the sun.

The Old Wall

There is an old wall near Harry's house. It was built in the 12th Century. Many tourists come to see the wall from inside the city. But most of them never come to see how it is like outside. There used to be a moat outside the wall. And it gets really wet and muddy in the winter. But in the spring, it turns into a beautiful lawn. Harry loves to chase his ball in evenings there.

The 2nd Rabies Titre

It has been almost 2 years since Harry had the first rabies titre. (The tale of his first tire in New York is here!) The Japanese quarantine law requires a rabies titre every two years while other rabies-free countries like UK require only once. So Harry had the second rabies titre. This time his blood sample was sent to the University of Bern. The result was retuned in two weeks. It said that Harry had a sufficient amount of antibody. And the result was also recorded in his Swiss Pet Passport. After the 180 days of waiting period, Harry can visit Japan any time he wants again.

Back Out

"Out!" means that Harry runs ahead of his master. "Get Out!" means he runs away from his master on the side. Harry already knew these two commands very well in agility training. In Saas-Fee, he started learning a new command "Back Out!", which means he slows down and runs behind his master. This command is extremely important in a snow mountain. If he runs beside the skis, he may get hurt by the sharp edges when turning. It is not easy, but Harry should practice this for his safety. Then he can go cross country skiing with his master.

Please also have a look at Saas Fee, Switzerland in Harry's World Jouneys.

Birthday Flowers

Harry turned 4 years old. Normally white snow celebrates Harry's birthday. But this March was too warm for snow. In stead, colourful flowers came to bless Harry. Yellow daffodils and purple crocuses were everywhere. Harry said to the flowers, "Thank you for coming on time for my birthday!"

The End of the Winter

Harry went to see the Basler Fasnacht (Basel Carnival). The Fasnacht celebrates the end of the winter. The sound of drums and piccolos started echoing in the city at 4AM. The "Waggis", a character with huge fluffy hair, huge red nose and huge teeth, threw fruits, eggs, sweets and flowers from their floats. When Harry went closer to the Waggis to say "Hello", one of them gave Harry a tiny toy chicken instead of an egg. Waggis look a little frightening, but they are really kind.

Please also have a look at Basler Fasnacht in Harry's World Jouneys.

Snow Walker

Harry never stops training even in the cold winter. But he sometimes does not want to lie down and stay on the snow. Remember, Harry is not double-coated like a Samoyedo... So he decided to practice to walk on two feet on a snowy day. He has to be extra-careful not to slip on the icy paveway. Hey, it is not so bad. Harry can keep his front-paws dry and warm!

Avalanche

	Harry thougt the sun was much brighter than usual. He did not realise that it was actually the snow that made everything look brighter until he was taken to the backyard. Harry happily rushed out and started crawling in the snow. Then he started pulling the bamboo branches. But Harry! Be careful!!!
	"Oopsy Daisy!..."

Fireplace

Harry is, unfortunately, not afraid of fire at all. He never had a chance to learn the danger of fire while in New York. He also had so many other important things to learn at that time, such as where to pee, what to chew and when to bark. Now is the good time to learn that fire is too hot to touch. Otherwise he can burn himself at a fireplace by accident. Good news, for now, is that he is not afraid of cold air either, so he naturally keeps some distance from the fireplace.

Recycling

The kitchen was completely filled with wine bottles after the holidays. So Harry and his master decided to take all the bottles away to the recycling post. There were quite a few people at the recycling post in the morning. The interesting thing was that most people there were either "elderly people" or "people with dogs". Both elderly people and people with dogs can take the bottles there on the way for morning walks. Dogs are unexpectedly helping their masters be envrionmentally friendly.

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