Twiba-Interview: Prince Zuko

We are starting a new (hopefully to become a) series on our blog: Twiba-Interviews, whereby Shio will interview some of his Twiba friends and feature them on his blog. For those that don't know, a Twiba is a Shiba who tweets! First up, we have Prince Zuko, a Twiba celebrity.

<S>: Shio / <Z>: Prince Zuko

<S>: First of all, it is an honor that you have agreed to be interviewed. How did you become a Prince anyway?

<Z>: Well, all Shibas iz Royalty! But I wuz named after a master firebender, Prince Zuko, from the cartoon Avatar the Last Airbender. My hoomans thought my red coat indicated I might have a firey nature.

<S>: That is pawsome. I was named after ramen, and the fact that I was licking salt off my dad's hand when they went to pick me up... What about your blog? Why did you have your humans start it?

<Z>: BOL! Ramen! My blog - I wuz jealous of my Shiba friends having a blog! I started out on Twitter and the first blogs I found wuz Snick the Dog's and yours! After that I noticed more Shiba blogs and thought it wuz only fair that my hoomans blog about my awesomeness too!! Humom says other Shiba blogs helped her stay sane when I wuz a puppy and she wanted to maybe help some other people along the way. I haz no idea what this means. The blog is about me being awesome. Period.

<S>: Agreed! I don't understand why humans find it weird that we are not like other dogs. Of course we are not! We are BETTER.

<Z>: I totally agree! High-paw!

<S>: What is it like being royalty in San Francisco? Where do you hang out?

<Z>: Iz ruff being royalty in a big city - everywhere I go, the pupperazzi find me! People take my picture all the time and try to pet me. *huff*. I no like random strangers trying to pet me so I back away from them - do not touch the royal fur! My hudad has a saying "everyone luvs Zuko" because so many people tell him how awesome I am. Sometimes peeple call me "pretty" which is rude.

I luv going to Ft. Funston dog beach and chasing things and getting super dirty. I also like to hang wif my hoomans at the outside cafes cuz they give me nommy treats for being adorable. We go shopping too because the stores here are nice to dogs and usually have treats. We go to this one store that sells cooking stuff and the ladies there LUV me and talk about me all the time.

<S>: Oh wow. Sounds like San Francisco stores are a bit more dog-friendly than NY. Humans here try to do the same thing to me - always trying to pet my head. NO WAY.

<Z>: I agree! Don't touch my head. Or my feet. On my "slower" days, I also really enjoy baking in the sun and sleeping on humom's pillow.

<S>: Me too me too! Except I bake indoors so I don't have to be out in the NY heat. YUCK! Tell me about hiking with your mom. I don't enjoy walking so much... What makes it fun for you?

<Z>: Hiking iz the one place there aren't many pupperazzi - so I can just be a dog and not a celeb. Plus, I really like sniffing new things and then pee-ing on them. I luv climbing and there are LOTS of hills. My humom also needs me to guard her from rabbits, coyotes and mountain bikers so I haz to go and protect her. Sometimes she gets us lost and I get really worn out. That isn't so great. *huff*

<S>: Hmmm... Maybe I need to try hiking some time. Generally, I get bored really quick and I lay on the ground and protest! That is, unless I am allowed off-leash. A lot of humans ask my parents how I could be trusted off-leash. I see that you have also achieved Shibaquatch status. What tips do you have for other shibas who are not yet freed from their oppressive humans?

<Z>: My hoomans will only let me off leash in open areas (where they can always see me) like the beach or at a lake by our howse.  I haz spent YEARS training my hoomans to hand over turkey pepperoni or cheeze when I come back to them and look cute. Iz about trust - the more you come back, the more they will trust you and RELAX and not be all worried that you are going to disappear or get in trouble.  Humom says my "radius" from her is bigger than she likes, but she haz learned that I will not go past my comfort zone. It just happens to be well past her comfort zone. *huff* Hoomans really over think these things sometimes.

<S>: I know! They worry and start chasing me while I'm off-leash, and then I run away just to scare them a bit. Hee hee... It is a fun game (but they don't like it).

<Z>: I play same game! But then my hoomans starting running AWAY from me. And being a mighty Shiba hunter, I now chase them.

<S>: Anything else you want to say to address your loyal subjects?

<Z>: Twibas rule.

<S>: Agreed! Thanks so much for doing the interview!

Photos provided by Prince Zuko.

Shio vs. Jonathan Fleming

We had the pleasure of having a mini Shiba meetup here in Brooklyn Heights, with Betsy and Kit visiting from the city. All of us were on hand to meet Suki's pawrents -- Jonathan and Bridget.

The shibas did not seem to want to hang out with each other. Lots of growling and snarling whenever they got too close. Maybe because they were all on-leash? We kept the kids apart for most of the afternoon...

Here are Kit and Betsy. They are adorable together. When Kit would fall behind, Betsy would look back to make sure her packmate was still following.

Lunch for the Flemings at Brooklyn Bridge Park...

Gina gave us these awesome Shibal Inu tote bags (behind Shio on the left photo). Thanks a lot Gina!

Shio eventually got sick of walking and wanted to chill out in a bakery. He ran up and stairs and refused to come down. Not the confusion on the faces of Betsy and Kit...

Once we got to the part of the park that dogs were allowed to run on, Kit and Betsy went crazy... Betsy in particular decided she needed more fiber in her diet and started grazing...

Of course, there were lots of photos taken by all throughout the afternoon.

Thanks for coming to Brooklyn to hang out with Shio guys!

Photos taken with Nikon D700, 50mm f/1.4G.

What is the favorite thing about your dog?

The other day Josh asked me what mine was about Shio. I had to sit and think about the answer for moment. There are so many things that I love such as his stinky paws, shoving my face into his warm fur when I'm hugging him, the little turns that he does just before he curls up into a tight ball and falls asleep... just to name a few. Then I dug deeper and thought about his personality. The way that he literally stands his ground when he doesn't want to walk and the way that he always wants you to chase him around the living room. I thought about how he sleepily opens up his eyes and sighs in exasperation when you bother him mid-nap and how he rests his head on your lap during dinner when he really wants a bite of whatever delicious human food you're consuming without him. Then it finally dawned on me. My favorite thing about Shio is that he is unapologetically and brutally honest about everything. I know that dogs aren't built with the mental capacity to lie but it's utterly refreshing to know that there is always someone in your life that will always be honest. If Shio wants food, he will follow that little bite of food that you're holding in your hand with desperate eyes. If he wants you to play he'll play bow, wag his tail and play bark despite how tired you feel. If he doesn't want you to hold him, which he never does, he will take all the might in his four paws to push you away and escape.

Now, it sounds like Shio is a very selfish little fur monster with no regard for the way that any one else feels but isn't that great? He'll never say, "I'm FINE" and have us guess whether he's really "fine" or just saying it. We know that he always want to eat and play or when he wants to be left alone. I think we all need honesty like that in our lives.

So what's your favorite thing about your dog(s)?

Shio vs. Manhattan Beach

We have been exploring our near-by dog parks so that Shio can see new places every now and then. Found one ~20 minutes away.

Unfortunately, the beach does not allow for dogs. (What kind of beach is that!?)

As you can see, in the end, Shio got so tired he fell asleep with his head up...!

Photos taken with Nikon D700, 24-70mm f/2.8G.

Shio vs. NYFD

Shio surprisingly did not run away from our firefighters when they went to pet him. He decided to stage a lay down protest against walking away from the open doors of the fire department and as a result made some firefighters very happy!