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Max and the Search for an Inu Shirt

It was the day before Father’s Day. In anticipation of the celebration, Max and I were productively engaged in the traditional activities of quaffing malt beverages, chomping jerky treats and telling snorf, snorf jokes when the Alpha Japanese Female interrupted and screamed like a harridan that wistfully mentioned that she wished she had a new inu shirt.

As a fearful loving spouse, I immediately recognized that my beer and Max’s treats would be in jeopardy were we to ignore the AJF’s tyrannical demand deceptively casual request.

Furball and I leaped into action. Well, that may be an exaggeration. Neither of us is much into leaping but we did lower the footrest on the LazyBoy and reach for the laptop.

Let’s start with the basics: “inu” is the Japanese word for dog. The word can be written using kanji (a Chinese character) or in hiragana which is one of the phonetic, cursive forms of the written language.

inu 4

Kanji character for “inu” (dog) on left; the hiragana version is on the right. Max says dogs don’t care which one you use. This concludes today’s Japanese language class.

An inu shirt, as mandated suggested by the AJF,  is a tee shirt with a very clever image that incorporates the Japanese hiragana characters for inu with a stylized drawing of a pupper. Makes sense, no?

This design is a great favorite of the AJF; it lets her get all ethnic while walking Max around the neighborhood. Since Max actually understands commands in Japanese as well as English, he is happy with the arrangement.

Let your English Sheepdog wear his Union Jack, let your Poodle wear stinky cheese haute couture, let your Shih Tzu wear dim sum, let your Australian Shepard wear the carcasses of drop bears and other deadly creatures found Down Under. The AJF is turning up, she’s turning down, she’s turning Japanese, I really think so.

The cute tees are made in Hawaii by a small business named idkwhat2wear. This company has a knack for capturing the sentiments, language and attitude of local, as opposed to tourist, Hawaii. Visit their website and see for yourself; consider it an insider secret from me to you. But, I digress.

idkwhat2wear

Typical idkwhat2wear tee shirt humor. Pilfered image from their website but, what the hay, it’s free advertising.

Back to the inu shirt. These are hard to come by. In the past we’d simply mosey up Manoa Valley to one of Max’s favorite stores: Hawaii Doggie Bakery. Not so easy to do when one lives in Rancho Cucamonga, eh?

Max wasn’t worried at all because he knows the folks at HDB are delightful (and tolerant of marauding Maltese) and already have a thriving business shipping their goodies from Hawaii to less fortunate global locations, basically everywhere else on Earth..

Inu Shirt

Our fates are dependent on these boss ladies producing an inu shirt, the one with the red arrow. The cat ears may be unforgivable. Image shamelessly poached from Hawaii Doggie Bakery.

We started at the website but, alas, there was no sign of an inu shirt, so we emailed and were advised they were currently out of stock. But the HDB ladies (it’s a women-owned business) remembered our furry little Malt and promised to alert us when the inu shirts were again available.

Inu 2

Close up of the inu shirt. (The pixel shortage is all my fault.) Image pirated without mercy from HDB site.

Not incidentally, Max reminds me that large bags of poi cookies are also available for order and we could bundle and save shipping costs. Just sayin’, Dad.

So, now the pressure is on. If we can produce the new inu shirt for the AJF we are golden and The Malt and I can continue our lives as carefree rapscallions. Should we fail, our beer and jerky may well be at jeopardy.

I will update faithfully. I am going to tell the Hawaii Doggie Bakery folks about this post to place unbearable pressure on them encourage them to produce the goods. Maybe they will comment on this story. Maybe they will simply remove Max and me from the mailing list.

Chick & Poi

Image stolen without remorse from HDB’s website.

One or both of the regular readers of this silly dog blog may recall a December 2014 post about poi dogs that extolled the sheer wonderfulness of Hawaii Doggie Bakery’s dog cookies made of chicken and poi.

Here’s a link to that story. Full disclosure, I have no connection with either of the businesses named in this story except as a customer but if you’re looking for fun stuff, unusual gifts and tasty dog treats, you may want to check them out.

Max heartily concurs.

Categories: The Dog From Rancho Cucaracha

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26 replies ›

  1. They have cat T-shirts and more designs on the way–this place is alright!! No pressure, but how are things looking? You have just gotta get those treats for little Max. Chop, chop Tom!

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  2. I get the feeling you were unmercifully censored by someone. It appears waiting on the inu shirt is teaching you patience but teaching Max nothing, while he sits in poi poot clouds.

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    • Keeping the AJF happy is beyond important…it’s a matter of survival. Both Max and I would starve without her because our culinary skills are pretty much limited to beer and barbecue. I’ll bet that Ms. Clowie would enjoy a poi cookie treat. There are few Great Pyrenees in Hawaii (for all the obvious reasons) so if you order, send along a photo and I’m sure they’ll post her picture on the wall of fame inside the shop.

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  5. Thank goodness that that website was not in `smellivision`or the pooches would have had me making out an order fit to bankrupt us. Looks a super place….
    I could not find a way to contact them or I would have started hassling them to get those t shirts (and treats) ready as soon as possible – the thought of you being deprived of malt beverages is too serious a matter to ignore.

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    • Well, at least all agree that I am not the one in charge or even second in command. Bottom line: nobody messes with the AJF. As we all know, when Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.

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  7. Bwahaha…I’m guessing the request (and this post) came after a healthy consumption of malted beverages? I poked around the website and loved the “idk I DOnot Know” version. Very clever. Hope your Father’s Day was grand, with loads of quaffed liquids and the tasty consumption of charred foodables (aka BBQ). As for the doggie bakery, I think I’ll leave the poi to others’ discernment but will check it out. As a vegetarian, that stuff is too bland for my palate, though Elsa would likely enjoy some. She’s like the Life cereal kid, Mickie and will eat anything whether it’s edible or not. 🙂 Ear scratches and belly rubs for our favorite malted pup.

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    • Don’t forget, Monika, those dog cookies are a chicken and poi mix and I have to say I have never seen them rejected, even by the pickiest of pooches! They smell great, too, so much so that it’s tempting to take a bite but they are dog cookies hence designed for stronger teeth and jaws. Next time I get a batch I’ll send over a cookie for you to taste test with Samster and Elsa.

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      • Chicken AND poi.?? Um…I think as a long time vegetarian, I’d eat beef first though I’m sure the mutts would differ. That said, I snooped around their website. Those girls are beyond adorable. Their video is pretty funny. Loved the Mahalo dog bones. 😇

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  8. blockquote, div.yahoo_quoted { margin-left: 0 !important; border-left:1px #715FFA solid !important; padding-left:1ex !important; background-color:white !important; } Hi Max; Buddy the Maltese checking in from Connecticut.  Thank you 😊 for the suggestion about the treats, they sound delicious! My mom gets me the organic treats and I only get a couple a day.  It’s called doggie weight management for seniors. I also loved the shirt you gave your dad for Father’s Day.  We made my dad a home made card and we stamped the back of card a dog 🐶 mart card, the best card on the street.Take care for now,Buddy the Maltese dog 🐶 

    Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

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    • Hi Audrey and Buddy! The concept of “weight management for seniors” wold be unpopular in our household for dogs and people, too. In fact, how dare you mention weight control on this blog – that is a forbidden topic. Just kiddin’, no I’m not. Hope things way over in Connecticut are going well for you guys. I need to check in and find out what you’re working on in the the crochet studio!

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  9. Tom, you might be surprised to find a little black dog with a few dabs of white parked at your front door to sample some of those treats. Indeed, Max could be very popular with the local dogs if he could be induced to share.
    Unfortunately, there’s no hope of importing these into Australia. Our customs are very strict as Johnny Depp found out.
    I’m going to check out the t-shirts. I love the inu shirt and I’ve never seen anything like it.
    Meanwhile, it’s freezing here. Mind you, that’s anything below 16 degrees.
    Hope you’re having a great weekend.
    Best wishes,
    Ro and Lady.

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