National Shiba-Inu Meet-up: Survey says...

Well, I'm not really sure what the survey says. :-) Other than people seem to really want to do this and price for a hotel isn't the biggest factor.

A few factors that do stand-out:

1) For those who cannot fly with their Shiba, driving means we should really aim for the "middle" of the US.
2) Time of year is important: cooler weather is preferred, but too early in the spring or too late in fall will prohibit drivers from the West coast and the North from being able to make it due to storms and snow.

Click photos for the full results and image. 

Memorial Day was preferred, though Labor Day also had a strong showing.

There were additional write-ins for the Northeast and other locations. However, back to the drive-time for folks, the middle-America areas seem best. Texas, Kansas City, Omaha and St. Louis were the strongest showers. New Orleans came up a few times but having recently visited NO, I didn't get a dog-friendly vibe from it. Cost would also be a factor there.

One of the write-ins mentioned that St. Louis isn't an easy city to navigate, but Omaha is - however, if we factor in dog-friendly factor, St. Louis still seems like a winner.

I love that 20.8% said cost didn't matter. :-) However, looks like we need to stay under $100 a night for budget which rules out the bigger cities (like New Orleans) and probably even Austin, TX which was listed as a write-in.

One of the write-ins that didn't fit on the screen mentioned swimming wasn't a priority since these are SHIBAS ... who typically hate water. ;-) However, beaches and lakes seem like a good idea since most Shibas love to dig in sand and / or chase ducks. What we humans like is irrelevant if you ask the Shibas. (ha). However, dog-friendly restaurants, parks and fenced-in off-leash parks seem to be big hits. Contests and prizes are also a stand-out!

So, where does this leave us? With 49 respondents (it is 50 if you can me) I'm not sure we have a clear winner. If you factor in driving challenges and time-of-year, Memorial Day weekend wins (hopefully the weather won't be too hot by then) and St. Louis or Northern Texas win.

Personally, budget will be a factor and time to plan, but I think Demon Dog and family could make this. If anyone knows just how dog-friendly St. Louis REALLY is, that would be helpful for planning. Oklahoma, Nebraska and Northern Texas still seem to be in the running if we can find good dog-friendly sites there (again, looking for input).

Chime in! Let's see if we can pull this off.

-- Posted by Zuko's event planner

Leash Monster: Update - the proper way to meet and greet

Last week in Leash Monster training, we continued to practice the "leave it" idea. As you dog sees or approaches another dog, you do a "leave it" and then turn the dog around and walk backwards.

It sorta works with Zuko. I think Shibas are related to that little girl in the Exorcist though - Zuko can swivel his head around to a shocking angle and STILL be walking towards me while giving the evil eye to the dog behind him. Impressive, but not helping the situation.

What's that over there? Can I obsess on it? Is it a dog? Please let it be a dog!

Our trainers from Dog Evolve swear by the Gentle Leader head collar. They claim there are pressure points on the back of the head where the leader sits that help calm a dog. Jokingly, they refer to it as "doggie Prozac". And clearly, some of the dogs in class really, really need this. One woman has a herding dog mix who she says is a spaz. I've never seen it - because she's had the Gentle Leader on the dog in every class and he is super mellow. However, I struggle with this - I don't want to use something artificial to force behavior in Zuko. Nor do I want to put him into a zen-trance. I love my happy, energetic dog. I just don't want him lunging at other dogs and being a leash monster. Every other dog in class is using the Gentle Leader now except us. The trainers asked and I said I'd rather not - and the one trainer supported this. She said the only dog she has ever had a complete freak-out-melt-down when having a Gentle Leader on was.... wait for it... yeah, a Shiba Inu (surprise!).

What I have done is switch back to the front-clip Easy Walker harness instead of a collar. I'm guessing dragging him away and him making choking sounds as it happens is not reinforcing the message that leaving dogs alone is a GOOD and HAPPY thing. Of course, this puts us back where we were months ago - we think he was clipped by a harness buckle as a puppy and he flinches everything one of those snap close behind his head. We tried reconditioning him out of it, but he's like a cat - he will never, ever, ever forget it.

So - back to the lesson last week on proper greeting. In my last post I talked about Mr. Rudeness and his face-sniffing issues. In class, we focused on first approaching a dog and doing the "leave it" and turn and walk backward before anyone got snarly. Next, we would pass each other - quickly - the whole time talking to your dog and dangling a treat in front of them. In this exercise, the dogs are next to each other so when they are looking at you and that tasty treat in your hand, they are ignoring the other dog.

The next step is to just stop as they reach nose-to-butt position.  The dogs are facing opposite directions and positioned in the right place to turn their head, sniff butts and be polite. Even the slightest turn of the head to proper sniffing position is immediately marked and rewarded and you continue walking forward.

Whew! Easy enough in class - the dogs are all getting to know each other and everything is calm. At the end of the class they brought in a good sized female lab - a new dog!! This was the test... and everyone passed except for the one dog who barks so much at other dogs she has to be isolated during class or she will not stop. (This dog's trainer is the one who actually needs the training - he's very timid with her).

I am personally relieved I do not need to lead by example to show Zuko the proper way to meet and greet another dog. ;-) We've been working on doing the "leave it" and then "go say hi" and stopping where he can be set up to properly greet. Of course, this morning we met a Shiba mix who he knows and we passed each other, stopped, and they BOTH immediately turned all the way around so they could face-sniff. No monster-badness happened, but I was still left standing there rolling my eyes and shaking my head. Shibas. 

-- Posted by Zuko's bewildered mom

P.S. - If you haven't heard, the Twitter Shibas are considering a National Shiba Inu Meet-up next year! If you could / would attend, please complete this survey before Oct 30th!

If you could do a National Shiba meet-up, where would you go?

@WalkingYuki @LeahShiba @_tar0_ and I started a Twitter thread on the dream of a National Shiba Inu Meet-up. Where would we meet? When?

Ideas so far:
St. Louis http://www.explorestlouis.com/pets/index.asp
Needs to be over 3-day weekend
Dog-friendly city and hotel or B&B

For those of us on the West coast, St. Louis shows about 30+ hours of driving but my mom sayz she has always wanted to do the "Route 66" drive so it is possible. From NYC it is about 15 hours.

Other locations "mid-country":
Amarillo, TX
Wichita, Kansas
Omaha, Nebraska

So what do ya'll think?