Adventures of Gino the Dog

Hello human friends! Another week has passed, and oshkoshbigosh it's March. Cold as it remains, we're seeing tiny little signs of Spring. The sun is sticking around a bit longer, and the vårblommar (spring flowers) are beginning to rear their little heads.  Me. Sniffing vårblommar. Who smells Spring coming? I do, because I have enhanced olfactory glands. This week, we discuss the ridiculous process of shipping a vehicle across the ocean, plus other antics my humans have gotten themselves into. No worries: this post is free of political commentary, so if discussions of partisan jockeying in the Swedish parliament and gun politics have repelled you in recent weeks, you can let your guard down...for now. First, a mystery.  This week, ManHuman took a walk through the older part of Gothenburg, burning time before an appointment to get his official Swedish ID card. By the way, I'm told that waiting to get a Swedish ID card is a bit like waiting in line a...

Hi friends! Another week has passed, and today marks exactly one month since we landed in  Sweden! This week my humans and I took a hike to a gorgeous and craggy park just about one kilometre from the house. The park is filled with trails, small lakes, other dogs, joggers, and a quaint cafe that serves fresh cinnamon buns and waffles.  Me. Conquering my fear of heights. Can you find LadyHuman in this photo? Me. At full throttle.  My humans have visited and lived in various cities around Sweden over the years, and something they've found consistently in neighbourhoods wealthy or poor, central or peripheral, is immediate access to big beautiful clean parks with running trails.  I'm guessing this will be the venue for long dog walks and leisurely human-jogs in the future. In today's Adventures of Gino the Dog, I mock a gun safety scandal that made national headlines in Sweden. This is what counts as a Swedish gun scandal. In the US guns are a ...

Hey friends. Gino here. Y'know, I'm just a half-blind mini-poodle, with everyday mini-poodle struggles. Me. Struggling . SNUGGLING! So, I was reading the Swedish news (as a mini-poodle does) and I came across an article that either illustrates A) the frivolity of political compromise,  B)my complete misunderstanding of Swedish culture and politics, or C) both. Here's the punchline: The committees in the Swedish parliament now have second- and third- vice chair positions to keep everyone happy. Here's my best explanation of the article: The Swedish parliament is full of committees. Each has a  chairperson and a vice chairperson. Typically, the chair position gets assigned to a member of the ruling coalition, and the vice chair position gets assigned to a member of the opposing coalition in parliament. So far, pretty normal. But the recent election was anything but normal. To summarise months of news: The election results were complicated by a far-right par...

Oh my dawg! What a week. In this edition of Adventures of Gino the Dog, I'm ecstatic to report that I took zero actual adventures.  This is a good thing. I actually stayed in the same city and slept in the same apartment for an entire week. And what's even better: the snow has melted and the sun came out a few times, which gives me a chance to show you some of highlights of my very Swedish neighbourhood. //PAUSE: Notice the British spelling of  neighbourhood in that last sentence ?  It's because I'm in Europe now, and my computer autocorrects the American spelling, and I'm too lazy to fix it and I think it's kinda cool. How many British-English words can you find in today's entry? UNPAUSE// . Also in this edition, I report on some very  Swedish novelties : I categorise them into BRA (good), DÅLIGT (bad), and ÄCKLIGT (disgusting). A tour of the neighbourhood: Kvillebäcken.  The humans and I live in a neighbourhood called Kvillebäcken (pronounce...

Hey friends! Another week in Sweden has passed, and my humans and I are finally getting into some routines. In this week's edition of Adventures of Gino the Dog, I share a bit about how all three of us got sick for a day, how I sit and stare into trans-dimensional portals, how my humans and I have been combating the lousy weather, and a few Nordic country stereotypes. First, a quick health update: everyone's fine! BUT, in the last week each of us in the Boyer household spent about 24 hours fighting our respective bugs. I'd like to think of this as jet lag's final hurdle. I suspect my quickie illness had something to do with adjusting to new food. My humans have been tinkering with different food options for me, and one particular can of all-the-organs-pate knocked my little stomach out. Now, I'm one of those eat-anything-anytime-immediately dogs. So my humans were alarmed when, one morning, I refused to eat anything. Even my treats !  Me. Sick for a...

Hi friends! What an exciting week to share. In this edition of the blog you'll learn about my first full week as a dog in Sweden, including navigating the snow, a trip to LadyHuman's parents' home, a trip to the beach, and assorted other very Swedish encounters. SOOO many pictures below.  But first, a game! Can you find me in this picture? Can you find me? Hint, I'm dog-shaped. How about here? Can you find me here? Me. Camouflaged.  A week of more weirdness. We began our week with more weirdness! Just as I was beginning to feel comfortable in my new Gothenburg home, the humans began that familiar process of packing my world and theirs in bags. I'm used to it by now. They placed me in my carrier and began a journey on foot, then a bus, on foot again, and finally a fresh rental car that we'd drive three hours through a minor blizzard, through the gentle landscape of southern Sweden, to the city of Malmö. A scene from our walk to re...