Zuko and Shiba World Domination

As the official mascot of a company and a VIP (Very Important Pup), I haz Zuko Cam! Humom says it iz to spy on me, I say it iz to help accomplish #shibaworlddomination. *huff* You can find the live action here when humom remembers to set it up. But wait! If you missed it you can see the replays there too. Like this one of me being pawesome and baking in the sun:

 

 I think we will accomplish our World Takeover soon! If this isn't enough, be sure to go Vote Shiba 2012 on the Squishables contest before May 7th!!

 -- Posted By Prince Zuko

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

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.

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?

Shibasquatch No More: Trust Revoked

Last weekend we headed up to Mendocino County with some friends to a dog-friendly vacation rental on the coast. This should have been the perfect weekend.

Wild Shiba on the rugged coast

The night we drove in it was horrid weather - rain, fog, long winding roads in the dark. Bleh. We finally get to the house and Zuko immediately goes into "weird" mode - he decided he was terrified of the dog he's known all summer. Granted, she was very, very much in his face and would not leave him alone, but normally he'd just snarl at a dog being that rude. This time he decided to be terrified. (More on this new behavior in another post coming soon - looking for advice!).

The next day the weather cleared and we headed to a nice, secluded beach. Since Zuko had been so stressed I decided to let him off leash so he could burn off some energy. He's a confirmed Shibasquatch, so while I was a bit nervous because he was off his game, I knew there was only one way off the beach. It would be fine, right?

And there he goes....

I snapped the above picture just as Zuko made the turn and headed for the path...off the beach. My hubby was up the path before I could even react and had Zuko stopped just above the beach - but not caught. Zuko bolted again and ran up to the road - at which point, any attempt to remain calm on our part ended. 

Zuko "played" in the road, causing us to put ourselves in the middle of the country highway to stop traffic. At one point, I was sure he was gone for good. All the usual tactics failed us - sit, wait, here, touch, throwing treats at him, running away from him ----- nothing worked. At this point we were frantic and we all know that heightened "energy" from humans does not help, but when your little dog is running TOWARD a car like a brainless idiot, calm and zen go right the fuck out the door. 

Finally, we came to another dirt road that met the highway and I shouted at my hubby to try running away (again) and Zuko FINALLY followed him. Relieved he was at least off the highway, we chased the little monster up the hill and into a farmer's courtyard area. Zuko's hudad decided to just sit down in the dirt and see if that calmed Zuko down a bit. And finally, finally, the little jerk came back to me for a treat, did a sit and I tackled him with more force than was probably necessary. 

The Runaway was captured. And we both wanted to hug him and shake him senseless at the same time. I guess that makes us bad people but the sheer terror of nearly losing our little dog messed up our brains too.

"Iz all lies. I was sitting here the whole time being a good dog."

So what happened to make our trusty dog run off? We have some theories about stress and the other dog driving him insane, but I'll save that for another post. Zuko has no idea what he has done, but his status as a Shibasquatch is fully revoked. 

-- Posted by Zuko's mom and the leash that will be attached to him the rest of his life

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!

Secret Shiba - All the cool Twibas are doing it!

Hey! Prince Zuko here. Check out the new Tumblr about the Secret Shiba project. This is how Shibas get extra noms for Shibamas.

Need proof? See what I gotz last year? Cheeze!!

-- Posted by Prince Zuko!

A Puppy in Yosemite

A few weeks ago we took our first ever trip to Yosemite with my parents. It was a short trip and we decided to take Zuko with us so I could snack on his Shiba ears during the car ride.

"Someone please save me"

Lodging in the Yosemite area is fairly limited if you want something without canvas walls, but we did find Tenaya Lodge which was close to the south entrance of the park and is dog-friendly.

Zuko checks out the view, surrounded by his gifts from the Lodge

Yosemite isn't the most dog-friendly park, but compared to other National Parks, it does have some areas you can travel with the pup. It isn't well documented though and can be a bit vague. From the Yosemite site:

"Pets are only allowed in developed areas, on fully paved trails and roads except trails signed as not allowing pets (pets are not allowed off the floor of Yosemite Valley, including the trail to Vernal Fall)...

There are a few additional (very obscure and unsigned) places where pets are allowed: Four Mile fire road in Wawona, on the Carlon Road, and on the Old Big Oak Flat Road between Hodgdon Meadow and Hazel Green Creek."

Clear as a bell, right?

Basically what I figured out was if it is handicap accessible, it is dog-friendly. So Zuko got to see Bridalveil Falls, Lower Yosemite Falls and the top of Glaciar Road. Areas like the Sequoia Grove are 100% off-limits but it appears that if you just slap a service vest on a dog, they will let you pass (I'm talking about you, Italian Grayhound that was clearly not any kind of service dog whatsoever - not even an ESA. ESA dogs do have some training). 

Two great wonders of nature: The Shiba Inu and Half Dome

At the top of Glacier Road, Zuko climbed up on a rock and stared out over the canyon. I swear he was really meditating on the majesty of the view - it was difficult to get him to turn around, even for treats.

"Don't disturb me"

Dining in the area was a bit more difficult - outdoor dining is limited and not really pet-friendly. We did resort to leaving a tired dog in our room while going out to eat (thus violating the pet policy) but he was a good dog and no one caught us. ;-)

The last day we received a surprise and Zuko was granted one of his life-long wishes: SNOW!

"My feet are wet"

He didn't seem to mind it - it wasn't very deep and was more wet than fluffy. I'd still love to see him in snow up to his chest and see if he bounces along or freaks out. 

You can see more of Zuko's adventures in Yosemite here on Flickr. 

-- Posted by Zuko's mom

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".

Belmont Twin Pines: Adventure

Somehow even in a small city park, I can lose the trail. I am not really sure how I do this, but Zuko and I get lost  and / or end off the path when hiking all the time. Luckily the Shiba Inu is a mountain breed originally and Zuko loves climbing hills, rocks and whatever. Usually he's at the top waiting for my on my pathetic two-legs to catch up with his superiorness.

It was raining a bit in the Bay Area today so we went to Twin Pines in Belmont. It is less exposed and more covered, but very small. There is a creek area and this is where I lost the trail.

Let's go! 

We crossed the makeshift bridge and came up the other side - and there was no trail. Oops. We blundered through and found it again. We kept going - and what would be a hike with Zuko without finding some random oddity? We found ruins of a building at the end of the path.

These fall colors help me camouflage, right? Oh - and there are ruins here. 

We did manage to safely find our way back to the car. ;-)  But given our natural "tendencies" when hiking, our upcoming Yosemite trip should be very... um, interesting....

-- Posted by Prince Zuko's "the road less traveled" humom. 

Off-leash Rant: Continued

*sigh*

And again today...we were in a park, I hear someone yelling "Tilly! Get down from there. Tilly! Get over here!". And so on. I'm thinking someone has a very out of control kid. Then I see the first dog up above us on the trail - a big one. (Of course). Then I see another one and a man. I yell up "My dog isn't friendly on-leash". The guy gives me a horrible look and starts to leash up one of the dogs and I hear him say to someone "it's HER dog". Meaning me and Zuko.

By this point the first dog has already gotten very close to us but the path sort of split so you could go around a big rocky section on either side. So we take the other path and as we climb I see a woman...and another dog. Yup. These folks had three big dogs that were off leash and under no voice control whatsoever.  After we passed the couple and got to the trail above them, I hear them start up again "Tilly! Max!" and so on. They had unleashed the two dogs as soon as I passed. The first dog never got leashed, just kept going.

So. These people spent their whole hike yelling at their dogs (to no result) and disturbing the peace of the park and most assuredly not cleaning up any messes their dogs made. This clearly frustrated them, if their body language and facial expressions were any reflection of how their morning had went. And I had to position MY dog as the Bad Dog just to get them to do the right thing.

I. Am. So. Pissed.

-- Posted by Prince Zuko's annoyed mom who promises the next post will be happier with cute pictures of Zuko!

It's Time for Another Rant: Off-leash Dogs

::::Begin Rant:::::

I've blogged a fair bit about Zuko's on-leash growly behavior with some dogs and at Shibapalooza I started to get to the bottom of it (face-sniffing and rudeness). In general on our walks, things have been fine this summer.

Gratuitous cute photo of Zuko

However...

While Zuko is a confirmed Shibasquatch at a lake near our house and at the beach, he is on leash all other times. Recently on a walk back up from the lake, two very large dogs come bounding down the trail. These dogs were big - as in at least 70 pounds each. Zuko was on leash and there were no other humans in sight nor could I hear any walking / talking on the path up ahead.

Of course the dogs run up to Zuko. OF COURSE. I immediately get between him and the dogs, turning my back to them and moving to keep them away from Zuko (and watching Zuko's reaction). The dogs would not leave off and I had to keep this going for a couple of minutes before they lost interest and took off for the last leg of the path to the lake. Please note: still no other humans in sight / sound.

We walk on. A ways up the path I see two guys with leashes draped around the necks. I asked them if they had lost two big black dogs because they were down at the lake. The guys looked at me like I was speaking gibberish, grunted something and continued their conversation and their nice morning stroll to the lake. At the pace they were proceeding, they would arrive at the lake about 7-10 minutes after their dogs.

A lot can happen in ten minutes. I was furious, but I was also clear-headed enough to know that if I confronted them, it would make no difference.

The other recent incident was with a golden retriever. After big adventures on the beach, Zuko and I were coming to the top of the sand stairs. An off-leash golden was standing above us on the stairs in the "I challenge you" stance (as I call it, here it is called the "dominant" posture): tail slightly up, making eye-contact, stiff-legged posture. We had to pass him to get to the parking lot and of course - face sniffing happened. I tried to relax and ease Zuko away but I wasn't fast enough and massive snarling started on both sides and the golden began lunging and barking. I got between them (the owner is meanwhile calling his dog from down the stairs - no effect at all) and I even felt teeth on the back MY leg during all of this. Luckily I was in jeans and it wasn't even enough to leave a mark or bruise -- but the owner is damn lucky there wasn't more to it than that.

Again I stayed between the two and herded Zuko away from the situation. After calling the dog's name (Rusty) about 15 times, the owner got the dog's attention and Rusty took off.

Zuko's Shiba friend Sinjin has had recent issues with random dogs attacking him and drawing blood. I don't really understanding humans NEEDING to allow their dogs off-leash at all times, but if you NEED to allow your dog to run around to fulfill some inner need of your own for freedom, then do it responsively. Make sure your dog responds to your commands. Otherwise, you are a lawsuit waiting to happen. I happen to know a VERY good lawyer - she's a Twiba mom too. :-)

::::End of Rant::::

-- Posted by Zuko's mom

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!