The Doghouse

So on Sunday Brian and I built a doghouse for Shugo. Here in Japan there are pretty much NO large doghouses. The one that I saw that might fit was about $200... who wants to pay that! So we figured we would make one ourselves. As you can see neither of us have done much building in our lives, but I like it! It is home made. I figure we could have made it a little wider so it wouldn't look quite so odd and tall, but oh well. Shugo fits in there perfectly, and though he doesn't seem to go in much now... he will when it rains (yes, it is still raining here). The only thing I am going to change is putting a new roof on that will extend out longer over the front and back, that way the ventilation doesn't let rain in... and we'll probably stain it or seal it or something like that so it doesn't rot. Yay! All that for only $100 and the bulk of the cost was the saw we bought which will be used for many future projects :)

I think Shugo loves Brian more

I have no idea how it happened, but it really seems like Shugo loves Brian more. I guess he should cause technically he is Brian's dog, and we all know Sandy loved me more, but that makes sense when she only met Brian in her last few years of life. Anyway, Shugo is a bit popular here with the Japanese people. They all look at him and say... "Ah! Segoy! Oki!" Which basically means wow/awesome and huge! Brian, Shugo and Nichole had a day to themselves cause I had to work so they went to Kamakura and the beach. Brian of course had fun seeing Shugo jump really far. He is a great jumper and can jump pretty darn high.




And yes, this guy liked Shugo so much he was taking a picture of him.

So sweet

Isn't he just so cute! Who needs kids when you have a great dog!
So I was sitting on the computer and Shugo was in the other room. I thought he was just sleeping, but then I heard some weird little noises so when I went around the corner he was in his house shredding his pillow. I guess he got a litttle bored :) Honestly though having it shredded in his house gives him a much fluffier, bigger bed. He really knew what he was doing.

Shugo The Beast!

Shugo is finally here!! Yay! It was quit the trip... full of everything that could go wrong did, but by the time I picked him up at the airport he was feeling a little sick from the flight, but happy to be off the plane. He is SO ENORMOUS! Mom, Dad, you guys are completely crazy for telling me that he had not grown very much. I guess when you see him every day you don't notice, but he is freakin' huge! So let me give the quickest run down possible...

Dad drove Shugo and Nichole to the airport Wednesday morning only to find that there was no room on the plane for him. I called and made sure a million times that the size of his kennel, his weight, and everything would be fine, and they said we were set to go. Apparently they did not look into the size plane cause his kennel would not even fit through the doors. So they told them to drive to San Fransisco to catch the transfer flight and go from there. 

On the way, they had to go by Home Depot to get some bolts cause they said the kennel was not up to their standards (even though I asked about that too). They had all kinds of hassles including having to go back to the airport after leaving to get some paperwork that the lady accidentally hung onto. Racing to San Fran they made it on time for Nichole to miraculously get through security in 45 minutes with a dog on an international flight. All this to get to Japan and have to sit on the plane for one hour while everyone gets checked for Swine flu and then to go through more swine flu checks and then customs, and the dog check... all for her to walk out with a very stinky dog. 

Poor Shugo saw me and didn't even wag his tail. He was feeling pretty sick. He had diarhea on the plane and then once they got him out he threw up in his kennel. Nichole said when she got off the plane and went through customs she didn't know where to get him, but then she saw his kennel with a bunch of Japanese around it with mops. He was pretty stinky I must say, but we got him home, washed his kennel, gave him a bath, and let him relax.

By the time Brian got home he was feeling better and Brian got a much better greeting than I did. We are SO happy to have him with us! THANK YOU dad and Nichole SOOOOO much! I cannot get over his size, and I absolutely love it! My neighbors thought he was pretty cool too. So out of all of that we got some good vouchers cause they knew they screwed up. They gave dad and Nichole a couple of vouchers and they gave me a voucher when I called and chewed them out over the phone. And then Shugo got to fly for free. Yay! 

Brian and Shugo after we gave him a bath. He was happy to relax :)

This was me and Shugo once he was out of his kennel. Even though he smelled of dog barf and diarrhea, I couldn't help but hug him!