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

Surf City: No Dogs Allowed

For Shibapalooza, the Twibas from out of town decided to group together in Huntington Beach because it has an awesome dog-beach and was voted one of the most dog-friendly cities in California.

Unfortunately, since then, a few things have changed.

What would Snoopy do?

There is a blog post here on the "no dogs allowed" in Huntington Beach, along with @Tokyoshiba blog post here about the dog-friendly hotel that is in the heart of the Main Street area. 

What Zuko wanted me to share with you is what he feels every place should have: 

Now that is more like it!

Lazy Dog Cafe is just outside HB in Westminster and they were very accommodating (as you can see). The patio was fenced in (@Tokyoshiba made an amazing jailbreak move and got out) and there were two gates in case it got crowded and you needed to get out without making everyone else move. 

The didn't have a doggie menu like some places do, but overall, it was a good experience. The food and drink prices were average and the food was decent. Zuko and Taro really, really enjoyed the chicken tenders. ;-)

-- Posted by Prince Zuko's devoted typist.

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.

More Shibapalooza: My furiends

Hi there - iz Prince Zuko! I really enjoyed Shibapalooza, even though I was a bit grouchy at times. Stoopid leash. Mom can totally trust me off-leash, I don't need that thing. (hee-hee)

I wanted to share some fotos of all my furiends from this weekend!

Kyuubi & hudad, me, me chasing Taro, Mika, Taro the Twiba, the two Mikas, Rinji with his sisfur Mika in background,  me sniffing Mika, me chasing Tokyo, Taro and his hudad

More to come!

-- Prince Zuko - woof!

Shibapalooza: The return of Snarly McGrowly

I've blogged extensively about Zuko and his challenges on-leash with other dogs. It is hit or miss - sometimes he's fine, sometimes he's not. A few clear problem areas are dogs who run up to him, stare him down or obsessively face-sniff him.

"Who me? I'm a good dog!"

Now - let's define how Shibas act based on what I observed at Shibapalooza:

• They are nearly all face-sniffers (considered rude doggie behavior). 
• Many of them like to obsess on things, like staring at another dog.
• A Shiba may do these things, but typically will not tolerate another dog doing it to them. Especially another Shiba. 

So guess what happened at Shibapalooza? Zuko snarled at a few dogs while on leash. Shocking! But then, there was a lot of snarling, growling, barking and snapping going on. ;-)

However, there was a very sweet cream Shiba named Katsu who completely ignored Zuko. Katsu didn't even look at him - and Zuko never snarled at him once. It was interesting to watch the body language. Katsu had great manners and was not rude at all, which meant Zuko had nothing to get all macho about. 

Very polite Shiba - Katsu

With all of this, you would think bringing out food would just escalate the issues and cause a massive melee of Shiba furballs fighting. I was shocked to see that THIS is actually what happens:

Good dogs all around

For a brief moment in time they were all just being good dogs. 

This fits with what the trainers at Zuko's daycare were suggesting and what I've been working on with him: the "look" command to draw his attention from whatever he's obsessing on and move his focus back to me. Also, I continue to reward good behavior like proper butt-sniffing and moving him away from other dogs before it gets "growly". 

The event was a wonderful time - it was amazing to meet the other hudads and humoms of Shibas and to see so many adorable dogs ... but it was also exhausting for me and Zuko. Towards the end of the picnic he went after Rinji for like the 400th time and my patience finally cracked and he got the "just knock it off already" tone from me. 

Off-leash Zuko did very well - which also wasn't a surprise. Off-leash he is free to move about and display the body language he wants and to play. But, this weekend did bring a question to my mind: how much of his on-leash issue is related to him guarding his humans? I wonder...

-- Prince Zuko's mom

 

Shibapalooza: The #Twibas

Hi everyone! Iz Prince Zuko here. Mom is working on a few blog posts for Shibapalooza, but I wanted to share two things with all my Twibas! First: the Twiba bandana: 

Pink Twiba bandana modeled by Tokyo Shiba (@tokyoshiba)

The ruff and tuff camo Twiba bandana as modeled by me!

Taro (@_tar0_) shows tuffness comes in all sizes. 

Mom found these at K9 Design online. The are nicely stitched and the lady who runs the shop was very sweet. Mom first requested #Twiba, but Betty wrote back and said her machine couldn't do the "#" sign, so mom went with just Twiba. The bandanas arrived three days later! They aren't cheap, but mom said she couldn't find anyone who would just do one bandana at a time so it was worth it. She couldn't afford to buy in packs of 100!!

Next up: Mom was the "Shiba Whisperer" this weekend because she had so many pawesome treats. And we Twibas are a sucker for good noms. You can see some early photos of all of us lined up being good here on my sisfur Suki's hudad's blog.

So what were those tasty noms?

• Pure Bites Cheese for Dogs
• Loving Pets Gourmet Duck Sticks
• Zuke's Jerky Naturals - Salmon flavor

And there you have it! Noms = good. Twibas = pawesome. 

More coming soon!

-- A very tired Prince Zuko