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By Marty, January 19, 2010 1:23 pm

SaTang takes a break while the pups are sleeping. This doesn’t happen very often as there’s always one of them that’s hungry. I snapped this shot on a quiet morning after all the in-laws had gone and it was just me and her and the pups.

Almost all of pups are sacked out near her belly. One traveller is way up by SaTang’s head, curled into the corner. 

Shredded newspaper is nice and warm and easy to clean when the box gets messy – just throw it out and put in new shreds.

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By Marty, January 15, 2010 12:54 pm

We weren’t counting on having pups for another 5-7 days. I counted days, the vet counted days and SaTang was only 56 days into a pregnancy that should normally be 60-63 days. But she started panting and being unable to lay down last night so we put her into the whelping box and sure enough, within an hour puppies were here.

I think it was around 1:30 when the first pup slowly came out. The 2nd was right behind, coming within 30 minutes. A 2nd pair arrived an hour later within minutes of each other. Since the vet told us only 4 pups, we thought she was done. We went to bed at 4am. She seemed fine. And I guess she was. She let loose another pair  sometime before MyeongHee got up at 6:30.  So we have 6 pups. 4 girls, and 2 boys. 3 mostly white, one with a few brown spots and two mostly brown spotty ones.

This morning, I went to the vet here in the neighborhood and he said to feed her beef and seaweed soup about 5-6 times today. Luckily, my mother-in-law is staying here this week and quite able to whip up a little Miyeok guk as it’s called here. She snarfed that up and is now resting comfortably with her 6 pups.

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By Marty, January 8, 2010 1:07 pm

Here’s my dog SaTang. She’s 7 of 9 weeks pregnant. Officially not due for 2 weeks, she looks really uncomfortable.

Compare the pooch in the picture above with the svelt thing on her wedding nightday back  in November of last year to appreciate the difference.

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By Marty, December 13, 2009 11:43 am

Last week my brother-in-law and his wife came over. While they went out to dinner with some friends, we got to babysit their daughter, GaEun.  She’s now 6 months old.  She liked SaTang, who didn’t really return the like, but tolerated it mostly. She tried once or twice to use her teeth to brush off the kid’s grabbing fingers, but didn’t really bite. While MyeongHee, her mother, myself and GaEun played on the floor, DongHyun was content to hid his face behind a pillow on the sofa and watch TV.  It didn’t seem to matter what the dog did, GaEun would squeal with laughter.  Now that SaTang is (we think) pregant, my brother-in-law wants a puppy.  That was a big surprise to his wife. This should turn out well.

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By Marty, November 19, 2009 12:19 pm

OK, SaTang finally got some lessons in animal attraction.  After several days of frustrating her suitor, she finally succumbed to his wiles.

She doesn’t look terribly happy about it, either. Neither was I – she got hooked up just as I was taking her out for the last time before I went to work. I had to wait for things to, shall we say, deflate, before she could extricate herself and I could go to work. Meanwhile, there was lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth. And some of my students in the later classes wandered by and asked why the two dogs were standing butt-to-butt for so long. Try explaining that in Korean.

We’ll see if all their efforts will bear fruit. It’ll be about 5 weeks before even a vet can detect a dog pregnancy, and only 9 weeks to whelp.  If all goes well, we’ll have a littler of pups sometimes in mid to late January 2010.

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By Marty, November 16, 2009 9:54 pm

Where’s a dog supposed to learn thus stuff?

The past couple of times she’s been in heat, I never allowed her to, shall we say, consummate the deal?  There we’re a couple of dogs around, but they had already been cleaved of their  ability to breed. Instinct runs deep and despite their willingness and apparent know-how, their um…fortitude was lacking. So, I let them “play” for a bit and then we’d go inside.

Now that we’re ready for her to make a family, I’m willing to let her mate with a male dog. Two weeks in and we’re not having much luck. The one dog that remains able to do more than fog his figurative glasses seems a little old.  He can’t quite make the connection. SaTang for all her wanton lust just isn’t comfortable with penetration and so jumps away just at the crucial moment. The male dog, frustrated at playing coitus interruptus is unable to do more and simply stands by, panting heavily. SaTang, still playful and wants  more and is willing to take matters into her own hands.  She just doesn’t understand how to make things work.

After several more attempts at trying to force the issue, she gives up. He’s spent. She looks like she’s looking for her next victim.

CAUTION – Don’t Look too close.

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By Marty, November 13, 2009 9:23 am

No, not me, I am married already.  I just want my dog to have babies.

But saying all that in Korean well enough for the vet to understand is difficult. SaTang is almost 3 years old and we haven’t fixed her yet. We have a number of friends who like the dog and would want a pup should she have a litter.  I’d like to keep one, too, but MyeongHee isn’t so sure.  Let her play with a few cute little puppies and she’ll change her mind.

In the meanwhile, SaTang is in heat and it’s time to do the deed. A lot of the dogs around here are pocket dogs – constantly held and not allowed to run free in the park. The dogs that do roam the neighborhood are scruffy mutts that live on the nearby farms. They live on the wrong side of the tracks, according to MH.  So, I ventured to the vet to see if he knows of any un-neutered male dogs in the area.  That was not an easy conversation. I know some Korean, but asking for a date for my dog is not something I studied much on.

He checked SaTang’s privates and then popped the question, in English: “Martin, you want married?” I didn’t try to correct him. I just went with the flow.

MyeongHee thinks he’ll charge bug bucks for a hook-up with one of his other “patients.”  Sounds like a pimp deal to me. I’m not convinced he’d charge too much, but I’d expect a small fee. We’re supposed to call back in a day or two on what he’s found. We’ll see.

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By Marty, September 20, 2009 1:49 pm

Having a dog has changed my social profile in the comunity dramatically. Where once I’d go out only if I needed to buy something, go somewhere or just exercise, I now go out just to be a part of the community. My dog SaTang is housebroken and needs to go outside. I used to think that was a chore, but I look forward to it as people, especially kids, tend to like the dog.

Over the past few months, I’ve snapped lots of pictures with the little ones and SaTang. I thought I’d share them. Sometimes, they like to pet the dog, sometimes they simply like to stare at the foreigner (there aren’t many of us in this neighborhood.)

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By Marty, August 5, 2009 10:36 am

Unless of course you worked on a chicken farm or a chicken processing plant.

Any Guesses before I further describe this?

MyeongHee and I drove up to downtown PoHang yesterday to visit one of her high school friends, SukHee. She runs a chicken restaurant and so while they talked I feasted on a couple of chicken dishes. We had fried wings and fried legs and the man dish was “Dak jjim,” a spicy soy-based sauce of rice noodles, veggies and chicken. I like this dish, although sometimes it can be monstrously hot and spicy.  SukHee toned it down for me and it was just right – not too spicy, not too dull.

I was busy devouring the stuff while they talked and found a rubbery little piece of chicken. Figuring it for your average gristle, I took it out of my mouth. Upon examination, I discovered it to be one of those myths of Korean dining one hears of but rarely sees.

The above little morsel is “? ??” (Dak ddong jib). Literally translated, this is “chicken shit house.” A nicer way to put it is that this is where the shit lives in the chicken.

So, great, I munched on a chicken’s asshole. Not entirely, though, as I said I only ate part of it. But then I found more pieces. Here’s a better view of something I know you’ve never seen in America – a chicken asshole on a spoon.

Mmmm, good! Makes you wanna run right out and get some of your own, doesn’t it? The entire dish wasn’t all asshole – there were plenty of pieces of tender breast and thigh chunks. I just left the assholes aside.

But if you’re the type that really likes this stuff, you can get all the assholes you want. I glanced at the menu board on the wall and saw this lovely dish.

? ? ? ?? - Fried Chicken Assholes

That’s right, folks! For a mere $11 you can get a whole plate of fried chicken assholes.

Since we were visiting MyeongHee’s friend at her restaurant, I didn’t want to insult her by not eating her assholes which she so lovingly prepared for us ahead of time.  (She knew we were coming and, this dish, which takes a long time to prepare, was piping hot and ready for us when we arrived).  I simply gave the assholes to the dog.

SaTang wants more chicken assholes

A dog in a restaurant? No problem in Korea. Although some may object they would only do so among themselves. The Confucian style in Korea is to not cause anyone embarassment or  to “lose face.” In other words, they wouldn’t say shit even if they had a mouth full of it – or of assholes.