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Avec Louie

MEET WILLOW: HER ADOPTION STORY

September 12, 2020The Dog Mom Club


If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you all know and love Willow, our bi-eyed fluff ball of a sheltie.We’ve been wanting to get a dog for the longest time ever and we were extremely lucky to get this gentled natured sheltie in October of last year. After deliberating which breed to get, to adopt or to buy from a breeder, our search landed on this sweet girl… read on to find out more about Willow’s story.

                                            Why we chose a rescue?
Whilst there are benefits to buying a dog from a reputable breeder, I personally was raised with rescued dogs and people around me would adopt dogs from various associations. That’s one of the first reasons before getting our first dog I researched a lot. As we researched about breedings of dogs in Japan it became clear to me that buying was not an option for us. Laws here don’t protect the puppies and their moms enough, allowing breeders to rotate their dogs to produce a lot of puppies. We learned that behind each cute puppy in the pet shops are puppy mills, and even if they are reputable breeders separating puppies at 1-2 month old was very common practice and it was a practice we couldn’t support.

                                           Willow’s Background 
Willow was one of those mama bears, trapped in a cage only to be taken out for breeding. She spent her whole life locked in a cage. When she was rescued her fur was entirely matted and dirty that it had to be all shaven off and she weighted only 6kgs. When she came to us we had to teach her everything from walking to climbing up stairs but we were really lucky that she was a quick learner and her gentle nature, always wanting to please us made her an easy first dog. 

                   

            About Willow’s Shelter: Opponokai & Adoption Process
Adopting dogs in Tokyo proved to be more complicated for us than expected as multiple organizations wouldn’t allow us to adopt due to us being young or being a mixed couple.  We ended up finding out about Opponokai, a rescue association in Aichi-ken focusing on getting dogs out of puppy mills and saving them from euthanization. Most of their dogs are either mama dogs from puppy mills or puppies with some medical or physical disabilities.  Opponokai have a lot of dogs and cats at their shelter and they are all crate trained and are taken out on walks as well as  out in their shelter yard for playtime by rotation. There are a lot of volunteers working there  which means that all dogs are very well socialized with humans and other dogs. Their adoption process also really prepares you well when welcoming your first dog home. Firstly they require you to have one first visit at the shelter, it allows you to meet your dog but also you might vibe with another dog more. Then they will ask you to prepare for your dogs arrival by having a crate, dog bed, dog food etc at home and then come do a thorough house check. Once that is done and you pass through the screenings you can either go pick up your dog yourself or have your dog or cat delivered to your home by a volunteer.

If you choose to adopt a dog in Japan, there are various amazing organizations you can go through but I wanted to share our personal experience here in Tokyo. If you are looking or thinking to adopt here in Jpan I hope this post helped you just a little bit.

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ABOUT ME

Hello and welcome to my blog. My name is Louie and I’m a Muay Thai fighter and content creator living in Tokyo. I guess if I’m to define myself it’ll be as a grandma in the body of a young slightly tomboy girl.  My passion in life are my two dogs, cooking, interior design and nature. I’ve always done things myself and my way and this blog is a platform for me to show you guys how I live and enjoy life. 

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avec_louie

🇫🇷🇯🇵 🇬🇧Tomboy with Grandma taste 🎻 Vintage Curator @junoniavintage and I also fight Muay Thai @tokyomuaythaigirl 🤷🏽‍♀️

LOUIE  | スタイリッシュなワンちゃんライフ 🐶
🇯🇵GoToトラベルで12月に5日間のロードトリップをワンちゃんたちとしました!1日目は千葉県香取市。素敵な江戸時代の建築を保った佐原町。ここはワンちゃんと nipponia_sawara ホテルに泊まりました!

🇬🇧 When we took advantage of GoToTravel and went on a 5 days long road trip with our dogs! First stop: Chiba Katori a hidden little  Edo town. We stayed with our dogs at  nipponia_sawara
🇬🇧 First week of 2021 done ! How are you all 🇬🇧 First week of 2021 done ! How are you all feeling so far ? I had a super foodie start of the year, and off course the year can’t start without a bowl of ozoni ( traditional Japanese new year food). Every household has their own twist to this dish. My family does a very light dashi stock flavoring and we finish off with some Yuzu skin  and Mitsuba leaves . 

🇯🇵 2021 1週目皆さんどうですか?今年のお正月はやっぱりお雑煮でスタート!うちのお雑煮は出汁が薄味でゆずと三つ葉を入れます。。。 皆さんはどんなお雑煮食べますか?

🇫🇷Première semaine de 2021 fini! Comment vous sentez vous ? J’ai commencé l’année avec beaucoup de bonne nourriture et surtout du ozoni, un petit plat traditionnel qu’on mange au nouvel ans au Japon. Chaque famille ont different façon de préparer ce plat, chez nous la soupe est très claire et on rajoute de la peau de Yuzu et un peu d’herbes de Mutsuba
🇬🇧We ended 2020 with a shoot for studio_oden 🇬🇧We ended 2020 with a shoot for studio_oden and it was such a surprise to be on maoizm new year card! 

🇯🇵2020の終わりは studio_oden の撮影で占めました!そして maoizm からの年賀状になりました🥰 

🇫🇷A la fin de l’année 2020 nous avons fait un shooting pour studio_oden qui font des photos en tenue japonaise avec un twist moderne ! Et on a fini par être sur les cartes de nouvel ans de maoizm
Happy Belated New Year to you all... I started th Happy Belated New Year to you all... 
I started the new year slow and quiet and took a little break from social media for a bit... I don’t like the feeling of being dependent on it which is why i decided to take a step back and chill a bit on Instagram this year.
🇬🇧 In japan the decorations come down as soo 🇬🇧 In japan the decorations come down as soon as Christmas is over and we put up all the new year decorations but I’m thinking this year I’ll just do it the European way and keep them up 

🇫🇷 Au Japon ils enlèvent les décorations de noel des que c’est fini et mettent les décorations de nouvel ans mais je pense garder mes décorations jusqu’en janvier comme en Europe

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#noel #joyeuxnoel #noel2020 #espritdenoel #pèrenoël #calendrierdelavent #cadeaudenoel #cadeau #joyeuxnoel2020 #joyeuxnoelatous #noël #deconoël #sapin #sapindenoel #sapindenoël #christmasfood #famille #christmaslover #tree #メリクリ #decorationdenoel #おしゃれ #tenuedujour #クリスマス #コーディネート #コーデ  #christmasornaments #ornaments #ootd
🇬🇧 Do you wait till Boxing Day to open your 🇬🇧 Do you wait till Boxing Day to open your gifts or do you do them on Christmas morning ? We learned that we’re really bad at waiting in recent years 😩

🇫🇷 Quand j’étais jeune on attendais le 26 ( Boxing Day) pour ouvrir les cadeaux. Maintenant on a moins de patience et on arrive même pas à attendre jusqu’au soir du réveillon. 

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#noel #joyeuxnoel #noel2020 #espritdenoel #pèrenoël #calendrierdelavent #cadeaudenoel #cadeau #joyeuxnoel2020 #joyeuxnoelatous #noël #deconoël #sapin #sapindenoel #sapindenoël #christmasfood #famille #christmaslover #tree #メリクリ #decorationdenoel #おしゃれ #tenuedujour #クリスマス #コーディネート #コーデ  #christmasornaments #ornaments #ootd
🇬🇧 Our first Christmas family portrait ! Mer 🇬🇧 Our first Christmas family portrait ! Merry Christmas to you all 🎄 

🇫🇷 Notre premier portrait en famille ! Joyeux Noel a vous tous ! 

🇯🇵初めてのクリスマスの家族写真! 皆さんメリークリスマス

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#noel #joyeuxnoel #noel2020 #espritdenoel #pèrenoël #calendrierdelavent #cadeaudenoel #cadeau #joyeuxnoel2020 #joyeuxnoelatous #noël #deconoël #sapin #sapindenoel #sapindenoël #christmasfood #famille #christmaslover #tree #メリクリ #decorationdenoel #おしゃれ #tenuedujour #クリスマス #コーディネート #コーデ  #christmasornaments #ornaments #ootd
🇬🇧 Started this morning with a long call wit 🇬🇧 Started this morning with a long call with grandpa and got to cooking for Christmas Eve. Even if we can’t be with family this year it reminded me how much we’re grateful that all our family and friends are healthy this year. 

🇫🇷 J’ai commencé la journée avec un long appel avec mon grand-père puis j’ai cuisiné pour le réveillon. Ça m’a rappelé que même si nous ne pouvons  être en famille, tous nos proches sont en bonne santé et c’est le plus important 

🇯🇵今日はおじいちゃんと一緒に長い間電話をしてからクリスマスイブの支度を始めました。今年は家族から離れた一年でちょっと寂しいけどみんな元気だか良かった🥰

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#noel #joyeuxnoel #noel2020 #espritdenoel #pèrenoël #calendrierdelavent #cadeaudenoel #cadeau #joyeuxnoel2020 #joyeuxnoelatous #noël #deconoël #sapin #sapindenoel #sapindenoël #christmasfood #famille #christmaslover #tree #メリクリ #decorationdenoel #おしゃれ #tenuedujour #クリスマス #コーディネート #コーデ  #christmasornaments #ornaments #ootd
🇬🇧 Got dressed up to go last minute holiday 🇬🇧 Got dressed up to go last minute holiday shopping  because we both know I’m in sweats 90% of  this Christmas 

🇫🇷Cette année je suis en jogging 90% du temps donc pour changer  j’ai choisi jolie tenue pour aller faire les courses de Noël

🇯🇵 今年のクリスマスはパジャマしか着てないから おしゃれしてクリスマスショッピング行ってきました

_____________________________________________________________

#noel #joyeuxnoel #noel2020 #espritdenoel #pèrenoël #calendrierdelavent #cadeaudenoel #cadeau #joyeuxnoel2020 #joyeuxnoelatous #noël #deconoël #sapin #sapindenoel #sapindenoël #christmasfood #famille #christmaslover #tree #メリクリ #decorationdenoel #おしゃれ #tenuedujour #クリスマス #コーディネート #コーデ  #christmasornaments #ornaments #ootd
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