Wednesday November 11 , 2009
Tokyo, Japan and Encino, California
Rainy in Tokyo and Marvelous in Encino
Hello Everyone! I'm Skipper a 15 year old Westie. My mom is Janet who owns this blog. I'm a guest writer cuz I want to tell you about my thoughts on the past 3 years in Tokyo. I am now at my Aunt Amy and Uncle Mike's fabulous house in Encino. I'll be there with my "ehem" little sister Yuki-chan for the rest of the year while my mom travels to Cambodia, Laos and spends December getting ready for the move back to Malibu. Yuki-chan and I will be joining her on January 2.
So where to begin. Well, prior to moving to Tokyo, I had to be "quarantined" at Uncle Michael and Aunt Amy's house for about 2 months cuz of Japan's strict laws on bringing dogs from countries known to have rabies (eg United States). Well, I had so much fun when being "quarantined". I was treated like a prince, made some girlfriends and discovered a new park called "duck park" to hang out. Life was really good during those 2 months.
I then had to catch a plane to Tokyo BY MYSELF. Yes, all by myself. I've never done this before and was very scared but brave dog that I am, I didn't cry and made it from LA to Tokyo. Fortunately, my mom arranged so that I was picked up at Narita airport and transported to my Mom's apartment in the middle of Tokyo in a luxurious van!
I was a bit disoriented when I first arrived and a bit disappointed that I had to go back to apartment living. I did that with my mom when we lived in Manhattan but got kind of used to beach living in Malibu with Mom and resort living in Encino with Uncle Michael and Aunt Amy. But smart dog that I am, I got used to it especially since my Mom made up for it by cooking me organic chicken and lamb for dinner every nite. I got quite used to living in Tokyo and had a great routine going:
Basically, the whole apartment belonged to me so I had a choice of comfy couches to sleep on. My mom did buy me an expensive bed but I didn't like it. I preferred the leather couches. Sleeping was my favorite thing to do in TokyoEvery 4-6 months, my mom took me to Dog Days Salon in Tokyo Midtown to get groomed. It is the most chi-chi salon in Tokyo and many celebrities go there.
I went for walks 3-4 times a day. Because there are cars and lots of cops (we lived next to the US embassy) my mom had me on a leash every time we went for a walk. She did let me off the leash though in the hallway of the building.
We took long, slow, lazy walks in the morning. My walker - Michiko-san- took me on another lazy walk around noon and then my mom took me on short walks in the evening. We always took longer walks on Saturday and Sunday mornings where we went through the Ark Hills Gardens to Izumi Gardens and then through Shiroyama Hills and looped back home. My favorite seasons to walk were spring and fall. I did not like the summer cuz it was so hot and lots of rain. I hate walking in the rain.
Me enjoying my chicken dinner after my evening walk.
My afternoon nap - basking in the sun.
Everything was fine until one day, my mom announces that we have a new addition to the family. What??? She says she adopted another Westie. A Girrrlll Westie!!! According to my Mom, she was rescued from a puppy mill and had been abused. I was very concerned about the situation.
But the day, she arrived, she was very quiet, said hello to me and basically all she did was eat and stay at her place. It was nice because she left me alone. She did create work for Mom at the beginning though because she would have pee-pee accidents. But she quickly got better (thanks to me having a one on one with her).
Moi, looking incredulous when Mom announces a new Westie is joining the family
Yuki-chan, our new family addition. She is from Osaka (she is Japanese) and was rescued from a puppy mill. We think she is between 3-5 years old.
My mom adopted her from ARK (Animal Rescue Kansai) which rescues cats and dogs and finds homes for them.
Here is Yuki-chan after being rescued and getting her first hair cut. She had stains and major ear infections due to neglect. She was living in a cage.
Here is Yuki-chan after spending a month at her foster Mom, Meg's place for a month. Meg took so good care of her and gave her so much love that she looked healthy and beautiful. But most importantly, she began trusting people.
Here she is eating. It's her favorite thing to do.
This is her place and this is where she spent most of her time at the beginning. Then......
What seemed like overnight, Yuki-chan became a rambunctious dog! First she started bothering me to play but after I scolded her a few times, she egged Mom to play. So Mom had to get up about 30 minutes earlier than usual every morning to play fetch with her prior to going to work. And at nite, it never stops. Weekends?? Forget about it! She wants non stop play time! Oy! Hello, I'm retired. So my Mom had to adjust her priorities so that she could have playtime with Yuki-chan to tire her out before bed time. If Mom didn't do that, Yuki-chan would egg me at bed time to play with her!
Yuki-chan playing fetch with Mom in the morning.
Here I am trying to sleep while Yuki-chan is looking for something to do.
She never leaves me alone! She likes to be next to me all the time.
She failed leash training so many times. However, she finally learned the "sit" command. Here she is obeying the "sit" command.
My mom had to spend a lot of time playing with her to get her to this stage so we can all sleep peacefully.
Thanks to my Mom taking over the "playing with Yuki" duty, I've been able to enjoy my favorite passtime - sleeping.
She almost gave my Mom a heart attack once though. While my Mom was taking a relaxing bath after a long week at work, Yuki jumped the coffee table and ate 17 of my pills for my heart problem. I guess I could have barked to alert Mom, but I did not like the pills so was kind of glad she got rid of them for me. She bit open every pouch one by one and ate them while on the coffee table. She had to go to the emergency room to get her stomach pumped. My Mom was not a happy camper!
The "evidence" of Yuki eating the pills.
She also managed to destroy most of my Mom's expensive shoes in one hour.
The shoes she destroyed one morning when my Mom left the closet door open.
But we learned to get used to each other and I actually like her, a lot. Then all of sudden, Mom announces we are going back to the States! She also says we are going back first. Uh oh.. Who is going to take care of us? Well, its Aunt Amy and Uncle Michael! Yeah!! But we first have to get on the plane. This is my 4th time and my second time by myself so I'm not too scared but poor Yuki-chan. It is not only her first plane ride but she will only have me as company! It was sad to leave Tokyo especially my dog walker Michiko-san. I love her to bits and so does Yuki-chan.
Our last day with Michiko-san. She is the best dog walker ever!
Then the day came where we had to leave. Mom looked sad about leaving us and I was a bit sad too but also very excited to go to Aunt Amy and Uncle Michael's place. Yuki-chan sensed something was going on but had no idea.
Mom, are you sure you don't want to come with us?
Yuki-chan hanging in my crate. She didn't want to be alone in her crate but no way was I sharing mine with her on the plane ride! She'll be next to me though and Mom bought her a soft pillow to sleep on.
It was pouring rain when we left, but Kino-san from Worldcare Pet took very good care of us and drove us carefully to Narita. He even made a pit stop for us so we can do our potty before the long flight.
Here is Yuki-chan in the van after Mom said goodbye. At this point she still wasn't sure what was going on.
This is me, putting a brave face but I admit, I was a bit scared.
We got to Narita, hung out the JAL offices and then were the last to board JAL62 to Los Angeles. We both had butterflies in our stomach and I think the take off scared Yuki-chan. But the flight left on time and we arrived on time. The Worldcare Pet people again were waiting for us and made sure we got through immigration as VIPs. About 30 minutes after leaving the airport, we arrived safely at Aunt Amy and Uncle Michael's!
Moi, arriving at Aunt Amy and Uncle Michael's resort
Yuki-chan could not wait to get out of her kennel and started exploring. She immediately bonded with Aunt Amy and Uncle Michael. I hope she doesn't demand all the attention!
My first meal back in California served in my designer bowls that Aunt Amy and Uncle Michael kept for me.
Yuki-chan having her welcome meal in my kennel. She likes my smell (what can I say, the ladies like me) so loves hanging out in my kennel.
Now that we are safe in California, we intend to spend the next 6 weeks or so getting loved by Aunt Amy and Uncle Michael and enjoy the sunshine while waiting for Mom to come pick us up. I've told Yuki-chan that we are so lucky to be able to stay with Aunt Amy and Uncle Michael so we need to try really hard to behave ourselves. Ta-Ta everyone, it is nap time now for me!
Mom, Yuki-chan and me on New Years Day 2009 after we went to say prayers at the local shrine
Janet, please don't think that I am stalking you, but since you mailed Diane Racoky, via the email list, in our building giving out your blog site, I have been following your jaunts around Japan, I hope you don't mind, but they are so inspiring! When I looked today and saw your beautiful Westies and their journey back to the US, I have tears in my eyes. Although Chloe and I only new them for a short while, we will miss them terribly. They are very lucky to have such a loving mummy! If you need any canine company, just come up to 2505. Angela x
Posted by: Angela Ridge | November 13, 2009 at 05:34 AM
Hi Angela, not at all. I'm in Cambodia now, the first day of my 2 week vacation to Cambodia and Laos. And yes, I'll probably need canine company when I get back so I'll take you up on the offer. J
Posted by: Snowlady | November 13, 2009 at 11:50 AM