Little (Fox) Dog in a Big City

Zuko grew up in San Francisco, so it's not like the sights and sounds are new to him. However, we don't take him up there often these days and we hardly ever take him to the jam-packed Union Square area. However, Easter weekend we had a big gala event just off Union Square and Little Dog came with us.

Fancy collar for a fancy event

We stayed at the Kensington Park Hotel which is super dog friendly. For $25 you can bring your pup with you and no other real costs or considerations are needed. Our event was in the hotel, so it was easy for us to check in on him during the night. He was able to get some samples of our surf and turf dinner (he loved the turf, the surf not so much) and at midnight he made his entrance into the gala. I didn't realize how loud it still was until I walked in and little dog freaked. It was a polite freaking out, but he hid behind my legs and under the table. His tail uncurled. It's gotta be hard to be so damn cute - everyone wanted to pet him - they formed a cluster around him! Ironically enough, for someone who was freaked out he still managed to eat cheese without hesitation, even going so far as to steal a bite out of my hand when I wasn't looking. ;-) Finally, his hudad took him for a quick walk to calm his nerves and the Prince crashed out.

"I approve of these linens."

The Prince.

The next morning Zuko woke me up far earlier than I wanted and we took off for a walk around Union Square. Sunday mornings are probably the only time the square isn't crazy busy so we were able to get some photos of Zuko enjoying the scenary. He chased some pigeons and peed on many, many plants. When we got back to the hotel, he even got a sample of my breakfast: some smoked salmon and a tidbit of bacon.

"This artwork bores me."

"Heart"

Spoiled Dog.

-- Posted by Zuko's humom

Zuko vs. Cows

This past weekend we went on an epic hike out in the East Bay. Sunol Regional Wilderness is HUGE with stunning views and amazing hikes and very dog-friendly. It is also very hilly, hence the "epic" part of it. It was steep uphill, back down, back up, back down. After 2.5 hours the whole pack was beat.

Epic Views...and Epic climbs

Happy Zuko!

Still, little dude had a great time splashing through mud, climbing extra hills just for the sheer fun of it and was admired by many other hikers (and only asked once if he was a fox). Then he saw the cows.

"What the bark? What iz that??"

Zuko has never been that close to a cow before - and he was fascinated. There babies with the herd and while these were all females, there was one big black cow that looked like she would be happy to step on a little dog if he came any closer. Which he did. He'd inch forward little by little...until the big cow took a step toward him and he RAN the other way.

"Why u coming at me? - RUN!!"

Immediately after, as if to show who is REALLY the boss, he peed all over grass tufts in their field and then peed on a barbed wire fence. Take that!

"I WIN!"

-- Posted by Prince Zuko's humom

Happy Shibamas!

Happy Shibamas to all my furiends out there! I iz looking forward to shredding open my gifts in a few days and eating noms like turkey and cheeze.

"I can haz gifts now?"

This year the 2011 International Secret Shiba went big with 50 Shibas sending gifts far and wide! As part of the deal, my humom promised to donate $3 for every gift delivered on time. The chosen charity wuz NY Shiba Rescue to help cover costs for the "NJ 22" - the 22 Shibas rescued in New Jersey. (Shio's new sisfur, Emi, is one of them!).

Congrats #Twibas! Enjoy your gifties and know you helped a few Shibas too!

-- Posted by Prince Zuko

Zuko vs. Banana Slug

Apparently slugs are beneath the notice of a Shiba Inu.

Oh my gosh! A huge Banana Slug!

Zuko: "huh?" 

Zuko! That slug is gonna getcha! 

I tried to get Zuko to look at it, sniff it. Nothing. He sat and watched the woods for more dangerous things. After the slug's antennae touched Zuko's foot, the slug retreated a bit. Zuko was still looking around at the woods and looking at me like I was an idiot.  

The he stood up and before I could stop him, he stepped on the slug's head. THEN he noticed it for a second and trotted away.

"There are more dangerous things for me to hunt out here. Slugs are not important. Now where did that squirrel go?"

-- Posted by Zuko's mom. I regret that a slug was harmed in the making of this blog post.

I haz Zuko-cam!

Broadcasting will be on / off for a few days but humom is testing stuff for her company, Veetle. And now I haz a live Zuko-cam!



If the video no work for you, try installing the plug-in from here: http://veetle.com/index.php/download

-- Posted by Prince Zuko. Where is my Emmy Award for Best Performance of Power-Napping?

Ghosts of Halloween Past and Present

One of the reasons I adore Zuko's doggie daycare: they take time with all the dogs and do fun things. Like dress them up for Halloween and take pictures. Zuko has been going there for three years, so we have three years of Shiba Humiliation. 

Year 1 (Zuko is just one year old): Johnny Rotten. Seems appropriate..

Year 2: It's as if they knew we call him "Demon Dog"

Year 3: Our little boy is all grown up and has to work a 9-5 job in a tie just to earn his kibble. 

-- Happy Halloween!

Happy Three Years to Zuko

Our little monster is three years old today. The time has really gone by fast - Zuko's hudad and I spent yesterday morning trying to figure out how it could have happened so quickly!

Zuko - five weeks old

Three years ago we were first time dog owners. Our vet mentioned that a Shiba Inu is not a "beginner dog" (for the record, he actually loves Shibas, just knows them very well).

Now, he's a huge part of our life. Every day he makes us smile. He makes us get outside of ourselves and he in return shares plenty of Shiba fur with us. ;-)

To make his birthday even more awesome - it is one day before our wedding anniversary. He was clearly meant to be part of our family. 

Prince Zuko - 3 years old and at Yosemite

We LOVE YOU Prince Zuko! (And yes, when you get back from your walk, I will have some cheese ready for you). 

Love - "Your Hoomans".

Shio the Rock Star

My Twiba friend, Shio, is like a total rock-star. He's been a guest star in Shibal Inu comics lately and has been known to stage a lay-down / sit-in protest wif firefighters. He also totally rocked out at Sephora one day. (Humom says this iz still the funniest video she's ever seen).

So - imagine my surprise when he wanted to interview ME for his blog! Like, wow!

You can get the full story here. Enjoy!

Exciting Day at the Beach

Zuko loves the beach. I love the beach because he can run and be a little monster off-leash (a.k.a. a Shibasquatch) and he gets very, very tired. Depending on the day, we may go to Ocean beach in San Francisco or stay a little more south and go to the Ft. Funston dog beach. Ft. Funston requires that I am in a mood for a work-out - the sand stairs back to the parking lot are a killer.

View about 1/4 the way down the sand stairs. Notice how tiny the beach looks?

Normally the beach has a fair number of dogs running around, but on this day we arrived and there was no one on the beach. Except....the wildlife.

Zuko likes to chase the seagulls (he believes them to be pterodactyls) and they always fly away from him. This time though, there was something new:

Will you be my friend?

I was pretty amazed - Zuko approached the Cormorant very carefully and was allowed to sniff its tail feathers. Not kidding. I didn't get a photo of him that close because I was busy hurrying over to shoo him away so he didn't get his eyes pecked out. The bird did not like me and would disappear into the water as I got closer. Zuko nearly braved a few big waves to follow his new friend into the ocean and thankfully thought better of it. 

We moved on and suddenly Zuko turned around and ran back. The Cormorant was back on the sand again. (Insert visions of a Shiba being attached by a bird with a hooked beak). The bird again tolerated Zuko but left when I got closer. Zuko got more sniffs in and really seemed to think this bird was going to play with him. 

We can play now?

FINALLY I get him to move on down the beach. He chased some seagulls and ran around, peed on everything and wore himself out. We headed back to the sand stairs and Zuko ran up on a crab in the surf. The crab, on its back, was waving legs and claws everywhere and Zuko rushed right up to it. Thankfully I was close and got him away from it but I was now having visions of Zuko lifting his head with a Shiba Scream and a crab dangling from his nose. 

What's that over there? More dangerous stuff? I'm on it!!

We move on...oh geez, there is the Cormorant again! Shit ... I managed to get a leash on Zuko and once I did he spotted ANOTHER crab flailing around in the surf and charged for it. This time I managed to get a photo: 

Will YOU play with me??

By this point my nerves were done and I still had to face the sand stairs. Awesome. Even Zuko was dragging a bit on the way back up the stairs. Ha!

Tired pup

-- Posted by Prince Zuko's frazzled mom 

I iz #Shibaquatch

Breaking news! I, Prince Zuko, iz the mysterious Shibasquatch that haz been seen on the beaches of San Francisco this summer!






Want more proof?

Here is my hudad trying to catch me when I iz off-leash. I am too fast for him tho.




And what iz this? I come running back to my humom! (She had turkey pepperoni - seriously, that stuff is GOOD).




-- Posted by Prince Zuko, #Shibasquatch

Wedding Bells

Zuko attended his first wedding today! Our friends had an outdoor wedding and being proud parents of two chihuahuas, of course they made it a dog-friendly event. 

Bluebell and Cinnamon's pawrents got married today! 

Zuko was brushed and spritzed and put on his best attire for the event. 

Prince Zuko

Another wedding guest - she barked at Zuko, he snarled

Hoping for cheeze

Zuko was much admired - the bride had many Japanese friends and family attending and for once, just about everyone knew he is a Shiba Inu. 

Cinnamon and Bluebell arrived late, dressed in pink tutus. Bluebell and Zuko sniffed, but the other chihuahuas were either terrified of him or barked at him. The little lady in the photos above tried very hard to impress Zuko that she was badass! Later, she did sniff him and let him get close to her. For about three seconds. ;-)

I was a proud mommy - he did well, didn't pee on anything he shouldn't have, didn't try to snack on the little dogs and even let some people pet him. 

-- Posted by Prince Zuko's mom

Flashback - Zuko as a wee pup

Five weeks old and already showing attitude 

Sleepy. Hard work charming me to pick him!

First weekend home. Fearless. 

Loofa dog is bigger than Zuko pup.

--- Posted by Prince Zuko's mommy

Breaking news - Shibasquatch again spotted

San Francisco CA - Breaking news! An off-leash Shiba Inu was spotted today on the beaches of Ft. Funston. This phenomen, knows as a "Shibasquatch" is very rare. Our ace reporter and photographer was on site and captured the following images of this rare event. WE BELIEVE!

Is that a Shibasquatch? 

How far will he run without a leash to contain him?

We managed to catch the Shibasquatch investigating his surroundings. Shhh....don't scare him!

Close encounter of the Shibasquatch kind!!

--- Posted by Prince Zuko's Ace Reporter ;-)

I iz Fierce

I finally killed it. The big duck squeaky toy.

Nom nom nom

Anything good left in there?

The aftermath

-- Posted by Fierce Hunter Prince Zuko. Don't mess wif me!

Pack Hike - Sweeney Ridge

My humom dragged the whole pack out for a hike this past Sunday. It was LONG - like, over five whole miles. It was uphill the first half. Being awesome, I led the pack and on the way back I dragged them back to the car.

This hike is cool tho cuz not only iz it dog-friendly, but it has so much plant variety. There are scrubby bushes to pee on, wildflowers to sniff (and pee on), some redwoods and eucalyptus trees and then the ruins of an old Nike missile site. At the top of the ridge, on a clear day, you can see the Pacific Ocean to one side and the SF Bay on the other.

View from the top - Pacific Ocean

Me and hudad

Climbing that hill wuz tuff work!

Everything looks better with a Shiba tail in it, right?

Tuff dog in the missile site ruins

What? How much longer till we get back to the car???

-- Posted by Prince Zuko the awesome

Shibapalooza: Even more photos!

Prince Zuko here...by pupular demand, I'm posting more photos of Shibapalooza. Some of these mom pulled off the group meet-up site and isn't always sure who posted them. She thinks @walkingyuki mom and @_tar0_ hudad might have posted some of them!

If you want to see lots of photos, visit Taro's website. His hoomans weren't busy controlling a 30 pound snarling ball of fur (hey! typist, no editorial comments!!) and were able to take photos.

Me doing a perfect down - stay cuz mom had noms in her hand

My brofur Taro!

Brofur and sisfur: Rinji and Mika

Mika and ?

Taro - looking cute and doing tricks for noms!

Queen Tokyo

Mika, sisfur to Rinji

Backyard at the howse in HB. Good zoomies area.

ZOOMIES!

Hiding and snacking on grass in yard. All the Twibas enjoyed this spot and the fresh greens.

Brofurs

Mom getting snuggles from Rinji. Sort of. 

Gift bags of nommy noms from Tokyo!

More zoomies in the yard. I so fast the camera couldn't catch me!

Please feed me. 

Taro's hudad is strong and can actually pick me up. Now give me noms. 

-- Prince Zuko!

PS: My typist needs to do something like a Flikr or Picasa. Any good suggestions which way to go? She needs a better place to put pictures of all my awesomeness.