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