Masafumi Gotoh's INU COMMUNICATION - Lady is perfection

---

The dog we'll be featuring this time is a minature dachschund named Lady. She's a young female dog only half a year old, and her owner is HARUNA, the vocalist and guitarist of the rock band SCANDAL.

HARUNA-san and Lady arrived a few minutes later.

Lady was a very calm dog. She wasn't scared nor did she get riled up as she sat next to me, and it felt like she was leisurely emitting indescribably happy vibes from her entire body.

I felt like my spirit was being hydrated in an instant. The manuscript this time was so cute that I thought it was enough to just write "cute" with the fattest font.

I heard that HARUNA had previously not liked dogs that much.

Her grandmother who lived with her loved dogs and had a Shih Tzu and a pomeranian. However, it seems that the spoiled dogs grew up having haughty personalities and had even bitten her. I've been bitten by a Mame Shiba Inu before, so she sympathized with me.

Still, HARUNA-san suddenly wanted to get a miniature dachschund and came across Lady by chance at a pet shop she stopped by. She had no choice but to take her home with her. It's like a story out of a drama.

Since SCANDAL is a band that tours overseas as well, there are lengthy periods when she's away from home. Who takes care of her dog during those times? When I wasn't sure if she could answer such frank questions, I was surprised that the editorial staff was asking questions like, "Do you live alone?", or, "Would you have someone take care of her?"

When you write the word "Pia" (ぴあ), the hiragana gives off a pop-like feeling. When you read it aloud, you get the impression of a soft, harmless small animal calling out. It feels as if you would inadvertently talk about your personal matters, but they are part of the mass media. You could even sell the information by adding something like a P-code.

I thought it was terrible.

The conversation ended as I felt overwhelmed and worried about all forms of private matters would be laid bare in this dog serialization series. I felt like she'd say something like, "I leave her at a pet hotel." For other questions, I felt as though I'd hear extreme things like, "It's impossible now for me to deal with people more high maintenance than Lady."

But when you have a dog as cute as this, would you even want to leave it and go on a lengthy tour? I don't even like dogs that much, but I think it might be tough for me as well.

Rock band tours are tough. If you have any worries about your dog, your mental state will undoubtably be all messed up.

Firstly, you probably don't want to go on tour while being separated from your dog.

However, you must play concerts in various places in order to make a living, and to promote your albums.

You leave the house feeling down, your spirit starts slipping downward as you reach the nearest station, and by the time you get on the Yamanote Line in the morning with a guitar case on your back, your spirit hangs down from the hem of your pants to the ground. You get stepped on by the passengers on the packed train, and as you get off at Shinagawa Station you change to the Keikyu Line while having to listen to tongue clicking close to your ears. By the time you arrive at Haneda Airport, your spirit will be far from billowing udon and will be more like shredded cloth. You're in despair before boarding the plane feeling like that, you throw your guitar at the airport staff, head back home via taxi, hug your dog, and cry loudly. Only then can your mind and body be restored. From that point on you live not as a musician but as a dog owner. You'll have trouble eating, but that can't be helped. Indeed.

Wouldn't you retire?

I thought that was a sad thing.

HARUNA-san is not a mentally weak owner like me, so she should be able to leave Lady at a proper place; entertain audiences around the world; have celebrations; and so on, as well as moderately taking care of her body and completing concert tours. Then, she'll return home and embrace Lady, which should revitalize her dried out spirit while on tour.

I thought that was a wonderful thing.

I too kind of want a dog now. However, just like I failed a simulation, it would be impossible for me, who takes sloppy care of themselves physically and mentally year-round, to do.

The road to getting along with dogs is steep.