March Showers Bring March Flowers

The weather has been incredibly fickle lately here in NorCal. This morning it looked sunny at 7am. By 9am it was pouring buckets of rain. Finally, this afternoon the sun came back out and Zuko and I went out for a quick hike.

The huge rainstorms have one upside - everything is blowing and so green it makes your eyes hurt to look at it.

No rain here!

"My Shiba senses smell rain coming. You should really trust me mom"

We made it to the lake and the wind kicked up...and as we started back to the car the rain came down in buckets. Luckily, I'm training for a half marathon so we ran back to the car as much as possible - the path had started to get muddy and slick. By the time we got back to the car, Zuko was muddy from splashing through puddles and I was soaked.

"I'm wet and muddy!!"

I did have time to compose a new Shiba song as we ran:

"Itsy-bitsy Shiba, climbed up the hiking trail.
Down came the rain and washed the Shiba out.
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain.
And the itsy-bitsy Shiba climbed up the trail again."

Rain freckles and a pissed off look. 

-- Posted by Zuko's Soaked Humom

The Return of Shibasquatch

It is an amazing day in the Bay Area and Zuko and I trekked out to the famous dog beach Ft. Funston with two Boston Terriers, Winston and Porco.

Source: Uploaded by user via Tina on Pinterest

Some of you may remember the infamous "runaway" when our little Shibasquatch was last let off leash back in November. Since then his life has been tightly leashed. Always.

But Ft. Funston has huge cliffs that I don't think even Zuko could climb if he tried. And we were with other dogs so..... maybe? He only received half of his breakfast this morning so he'd be hungry and I took with me the secret weapon: cheese.

Once we were down to the beach I left him off leash and he was a good boy. He ran around, farther than I am comfortable with, but he always came back.

Good boy!

Source: Uploaded by user via Tina on Pinterest

- Posted by Zuko's proud mommy.

Holiday Update (Finally) - Part 2

Considering it is almost February, I'd better get the post-holiday blogs finished!

After Part 1 of Zuko's Shibamas Adventures, the fun continued. We headed down to Monterey, CA and stayed at the Portola Hotel and Spa. Right off Fisherman's Wharf, it was a great location for someone with a puppers to walk! Zuko greatly enjoyed walking the pier and obsessively sniffing everything in sight. He also spent time pondering the "noms" hanging out just off the shore and how he might possibly get one without getting wet.

"I know I can take them. If they would just stop hiding in that wet stuff!"

You can see more pictures from Monterey on Flickr here.

After ringing in the New Year quietly sleeping in his big comfy bed, Zuko was whisked off to Woodland, CA for more adventures. This time he was able to meet-up with the adorable @Sachisheeb - she commanded her humans to drive all the way down to meet him! Unfortunately, Zuko reacted the way he usually does with puppies (Sachi is 9 months old) - he growled and then ignored her. :-( The Shiba-people had a good time and I did manage to get a couple of pictures of the Shibas.

Zuko (looking like a hobo and blowing coat) and the very pretty Sachi!

Cute little Sachi!

All in all, it was a good holiday season for the little Demon Dog and a good start to 2012!

-- Posted by Zuko's typist (who is being given a poor performance rating for being behind on his Shiba-bidness)

Holiday Update (Finally) - Part 1

It was a very Shiba holiday season for us!


It kicked off with the International Secret Shiba gift exchange. Zuko sent his chosen gifts to @ShibaInuCharlie early in the month. He was very careful to pick out good Shiba gifts like cheeze and bouncy ball. Zuko also received his gifts from @iamkaiju early and was tormented by them sitting under the tree for days and days. And then something appeared in his stocking...

But still he had to wait. 


The day before Shibamas was a gift unto itself. We had a mini Shiba meet-up in Redwood Shores! @furballMika was there, all the way from SoCal! @aidentheshiba and Suki, Zuko's half sisfur, joined us! Here is a photo of all four of them (finally) sitting together:

You can see the full set of the meet-up here on Flickr. 


Then, it was Shibamas morning! Zuko was very happy with his gifts from his grandma and Kaiju: 

You can see all of the photos of the un-wrapping of gifts here. 
Overall it was a good start to the holidays!

"It's all about the Shiba!"

-- Posted by Prince Zuko's humom 

A New Fearful Behavior from our Tuff Guy

I've been meaning to post this for some time and just haven't had the chance. I'm looking for suggestions and ideas around a new behavior Zuko has been showing.

Obligatory cute photo of Zuko

I don't know what triggered what, so here's the full chain of events:

• Zuko has always been fine with other dogs in his house. Usually we have the first meeting be outside and even if there is an initial growl, things are fine after. He doesn't mind other dogs playing with his toys, sniffing his food bowl, drinking his water - he's a very polite host in general. 
• On a Friday in October he had his teeth cleaned. This involves being "put under" but the vet reported no issues. He was fine that night but only eating soft food.
• The next day he seemed a bit lazy but fine, so our friend came over with his dog "L". Zuko and L had never met and she is a rescue dog with issues of guarding her human. We could not do the intro in the backyard because it was dark and pouring down rain. There was some serious growling and snarling when L came in the door (she was still on leash) and then Zuko spent the rest of the visit trembling behind my legs and L's human's legs. Final note: L peed in the kitchen before she left. 
• A few days later we met a boston terrier at a restaurant we have visited with Zuko many, many times. It has an enclosed patio and we sat in the same spot we always sit. Zuko has meet "P" before and had no issues. This time he freaked out. Snarling at first encounter then he was hiding and trembling behind my legs and trying to escape out the nearby door. Finally I had to put him in the car where he went to sleep.
• About a week later we went to Mendocino with friends and stayed in a rental home. Their dog "T" is also familiar to Zuko - they've met several times in both her house and ours. This rental home was new to both dogs. Zuko started the same behavior - when T would come up to him he would dip his head, look away and move to another area. Part of the issue was T would not leave him be - she was in his face always. When we would put him in the bedroom and shut the door, he would calm down and be fine. This is also the weekend he ran away - details are here. 
• Another week went by and our friend came over with her boston terrier puppy "W" who Zuko also knows -- and he knows this friend very well. She has watched Zuko for us in the past when we traveled. Same behavior - Zuko was trembling and was scratching at his hudad to do something (we don't know what). Except this time W was not even near Zuko. He was off exploring the toy box and left Zuko 100% alone. 

So what do we know for sure? Enclosed spaces are an issue except his daycare - they report no problems there so it may be enclosed spaces with either his humom or hudad. Dog parks seem fine and he was fine on the beach with other dogs until he lost his off-leash privileges (we have not been to the beach since). One other note: all of the other dogs involved in the above incidents are very high energy. 

We have puzzled over this - what was the trigger to cause it to start (if any) and what is the "in the moment" trigger? Is it us? Is it the other dog? How do we get past this? We have a trainer lined up who works at Zuko's daycare but I wanted to reach out to the Shiba community and see if anyone has had a similar experience. Our fear is we try this, try that, try something else and just confuse Zuko even more, so while we know about Thundershirts and the Comfort herbal things, we have not tried them. Any insight is appreciated!

-- Posted by Prince Zuko's Puzzled 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.