Zuko @ Work

Zuko is a great office dog. He's pretty mellow and doesn't jump on anyone and rarely barks. Only if you are really weird is he going to bark at you (yeah - looking at you weird lady who decided to creep up on him). He's gotten better with other dogs while on-leash and we've gotten better and noticing which dogs are going to be an issue in an on-leash meet and greet.

Zuko supervising his hudad at work

Until today, Zuko could go to work with his hudad (human dad). The small dot com company was always super dog-friendly (there is even another Shiba there) but they were bought by a big Silicon Valley company a few years ago. And as with all acquisitions, the mother ship started enforcing their rules, finishing up with enforcing the "no dogs" rule, effective today. 

Luckily for this budding Shiba CEO, my work is still hip and cool (even though we are also in the process of being bought by a ginormous company). Our open office workspace (warehouse) freaks Zuko out and he tends to be a real scaredy-cat. 

"Not hiding under desk, I iz protecting mom!"

And then there is just random weirdness such as this:

"Please explain to me why there is a dinosaur on the wall. Anyone?"

But in general, he is still the perfect office dog. I leave him at my work spot without his leash attached, tell him to "wait" and walk over to the kitchen. He can see me the whole time until I turn into the kitchen to get some coffee or whatever. I come back out and he's still sitting there, at my work spot, watching for me. 

The folks at work love him and everyone wants to pet him - but, being a true Shiba CEO, no one gets that honor. Not even my real CEO - Zuko snubbed him. (If I don't get my bonus, I'll know why and Zuko will be eating Puppy Chow instead of his expensive raw diet mix - ha!). Of course, this also means most people don't even know he's there at all - which is a good thing in a work environment. 

Finally, here is his official Shiba CEO stance on meetings and conference calls:

Zzzzzzz....boring....zzzzzz

-- Posted by Prince Zuko's dedicated worker bee

Doggie Weekend and Dog-park Success!

Thank you everyone who commented on my post about dog-parks. We journeyed out this weekend on some crazy adventures: one of which was to meet Zuko's half-sister Suki at a dog-park.

Zuko and Suki - brofur and sisfur

At the dog-park, Zuko was super chill with everyone. He sniffed and allowed himself to be sniffed and generally nothing happened. In fact, we and Suki's parents were all like "you guys are SO BORING!" Here is the irony: Zuko sniffed every dog in the park EXCEPT Suki for about the first half hour. Then, when there were hardly any other dogs left, they finally started sniffing each other. Maybe it is a family thing?

It was a warm day in San Francisco and Zuko was tired from the day before, so they really didn't play much together, but by the end they were Shiba-strutting together on leash and Suki tried to get Zuko to play a bit before she crashed out. (See the video).

However:

Zuko and Suki ran into each other before we got to the dog park and in typical fashion, there was on-leash growling. Zuko has never met a Shiba on-leash without there being snarling and growling (usually on both sides) but as soon as the leashes are off ... the issues are gone. Zuko's dad took him to work one day where he met another Shiba and they both growled at each other. Leashes off -- "oh! Let's play now! Yeah!"

Go figure.

Day one of the weekend was a meet-up with a rescue dog named Tia. She is mostly Taiwanese mountain dog and much bigger (and much more energetic) than Zuko. Unfortunately, we tried to let them meet up off-leash but I didn't get Zuko's leash off fast enough and Tia ran up to him -- and he told her to "back the f*ck off". Tia has good doggie manners and she did back off and gave him his space. When we got them both to Tia's house, things were fine. Zuko pretty much ignored Tia until a weird person went by the front of the house - then they BOTH barked and ran to the gate to defend the house. I mean, how adorable is that? After that they seemed to relax more with each other and when the cheese came out they were begging buddies.

A bit later there was some more snarling, but mainly because Tia wanted to play and Zuko didn't. Again, it was a "back the f*ck off" snarl, not a "I'm going to kill you" snarl and we all knew it. I just find it so ironic that Zuko is the one telling other dogs off now. When he was a pup he was the rambunctious one who needed to be moved from one play group to the other at daycare because he wore out all the dogs!

So what did we learn?

• Not all dog-parks are evil. 
• Shiba on-leash + Shiba on-leash = Snarling.
• Shibas off-leash = ignoring each other mostly. Unless it is cool weather, then we might get some playtime. 
• Being rushed by a bigger dog when he is on-leash is a trigger for Zuko to get snarly. 

That last one I've been noticing for some time and will post another entry on the on-leash habits I've been observing over the past few months. 

-- Posted by Zuko's Play-date Organizer

Dog Aggression or Aggressive Playing?

So, we had a "thing" happen at the off-leash dog-park today. I took Zuko to work on recall - and that wasn't the problem. In fact, he was like a little red rocket flying toward my hand holding the turkey pepperoni. Good Dog! He was being pretty mellow and interacting with the other dogs well.

Then a big puppy showed up with his older, not very mobile, owner. The puppy was immediately in submissive postures with the other dogs. On the ground, tail tucked - super, super submissive. Hmm. The owner threw out a stuffy toy and Zuko and another dog got it instead and began the tug-o-war. Zuko was LOUD. Very snarly, very growly. If I didn't know otherwise, I would think some dog was getting his ass handed to him. The other dog seemed fine, but I think I was getting some odd looks from the other owners. The stuffy toy came apart in about 30 seconds, and it was over.

Then the submissive puppy got into the mix and Zuko snarled her down. Meaning she was in his face a bit and he snarled and teeth came out and she dropped to her belly and gave a yelp. I was watching closely - Zuko's teeth didn't land on her, but my sense was he wasn't a fan of her attention at that time. I've seen grown up dogs put puppies in their places, but I don't know if that was what I was seeing or not.

Zuko goes to daycare 2-3 days a week and they have never had issues with him there. So - what gives? Am I over-reacting?

-- Posted by Zuko's paranoid people mom

Socialization: Dogs & other Animals

Other Dogs:

After his shots at 16 weeks we immediately went to puppy socials. He was so shy at first! It was amazing to see this little ball of energy suddenly become a wallflower. He figured it out fast though and after about 20 minutes was exhausted. San Francisco is such a huge dog town that we had some other great resources available - we enrolled him in SF Puppy Prep for daycare and for training class. The daycare was a dogsend. They would come over, pick him up, take him to daycare and work on socializing and basic training for a couple of hours then bring him home. I credit this early socializing with his being such a dog-friendly Shiba.

SF Puppy Prep takes puppies up to six months of age. So once Zuko was neutered and turned 6 months, he had to graduate. Our dog-walker suggested Woofgangs, down in San Bruno. My husband works in San Bruno and I often drive down to San Jose - so the daycare is right along the way for me. Woofgangs was another dogsend! Half days of cage-free doggie fun time. They run around like the little beasts that they are and have tunnels and cubes to get on. There is a huge outdoor area and if the rain is bad, a huge indoor area for running in giant circles. Four or five hours there and he is a dead dog after. They call him the party animal and when I was first taking him in, they said one day "he's on his third dog today". Huh? He had worn out the first two dogs. LOL! How awesome is that? They've seen some not-so-well-socialized Shibas there and all dogs must go through an interview process. Zuko passed with flying colors and they said he was the best socialized Shiba they have ever met. Yes!

Due to the "no off-leash with a Shiba Inu" theory, we don't let him off-leash in most dog parks here in the city - they don't have fences and usually there is a bus line or heavy traffic just a sidewalk away. I do not want a pancake dog! However, there is one nice fenced in dogpark that is about a 20 minute walk from us. Zuko has always been terrific at this dog park BUT: most of the dogs here are with pack walkers or professional dog walkers so they are well behaved. Our challenge with dog parks are the dog owners who go there to socialize with humans - not have fun with their dog. So, their dog is off getting into trouble and the owners are a good block away chatting up someone.

The other issue is Zuko himself and the Shiba nature: they play HARD. It is all snarling and teeth and apparent "death to you" but he has never hurt a dog in play. It freaks me out when a giant snarl comes out of my little dog and I see teeth everywhere, but I've learned to let it go. I've also learned to watch his ears for signs of when he is actually pissed and when he's just playing. The other owners: not so much - they can often freak out. So, I tend to not let him play with dogs unless we've met the dog and the owner before, or at dog parks where I know the pack walkers are hanging. I also check in with the folks at Woofgangs now and then to see if he's ever had trouble with other dogs there and they say he's great there. 

Our challenge now is he wants to play with every dog he sees, all the time. We are working on training him on when he can play and when he can not - more on that in another blog down the road.

A small note on other animals. Since Shibas have a strong hunting drive, the general belief is they cannot be trusted. However, Zuko grew up with two cats when he was a young puppy and he loves cats still. They do not love him. I did not socialize him with gerbils, hamsters or any such thing and I'm sure he would chase them and try to eat them.

-- Post by Zuko's staff

Socializing: Environment

We got Zuko out and about right after he came home to live with us, but didn't let him interact with other dogs. The breeder and the vet both felt early socialization was more important than him not having had his 16 week shots and that overall, the risk of him getting sick was low. The risk of not socializing a Shiba early is high, so there is the trade-off. We didn't let him really interact with other dogs or roll in their poop, but our building has another dog and the owner is a complete bitch who never cleans up after her dog in the backyard. So - he was exposed and never suffered harm.

Environment: 
After his full shots, we went everywhere together. We live in San Francisco on a busy street that was, at that time, being torn up by jackhammers. So early on, Zuko was socialized and exposed to all sorts of loud noises and crazy things - big trucks, buses, people with shopping carts, people with walkers, people in hats and hardhats, umbrellas, bicycles and so on and so on. We took him shopping with us to Union Square which is mass chaos and took him in the stores. We took him to a New Years Eve ball. We went to every outdoor cafe within walking distance - often.

It all paid off. Big buses can roll by and he doesn't even flinch. We walk along busy streets with no problem. He has never peed in a store. He is a perfect angel at cafes. I am not sure how we did this one, except I suspect it was the positive reinforcement. When we go to a cafe, I take a bag of treats. When he sits nice or lays down - he gets one. If he is super good, he might get a bit of our brunch. He must have made the connection early on. Also, he is a huge people-watcher and loves to sit there and watch all the people and dogs go by. I have to warn you: taking a Shiba to a cafe is a magnet for admirers. Seriously - we get people who stop and stare, who point or just start talking to us! It is so funny the things people say sometimes.

 

If you live in a quiet, rural area with a Shiba, I strongly recommend taking them to the busy city areas often during the 18 week socialization period. Essentially, anything a puppy has not been around by the age of 18 weeks can cause a fear reaction in them later. If you ever watched the Shiba Puppy Cam, you noticed Mr. and Mrs. Shoes would open and umbrella and just put it in the play area. They did all sorts of things to help socialize the puppies early on, before they even left to their forever homes!

-- Posted by Zuko's people