Back to Basics

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Our foster, Goo Goo 2, will be here in an hour! In preparation for her arrival, we've gone back to the basics.

1. Crate for training

Having very little idea of Goo Goo's background, we are prepared to crate train her, just as we did with Shio. When Shio was a puppy, he was only allowed out of the crate under supervision and was crated when we were out of the apartment and bedtime. I remember for the first two nights after we picked up Shio, he wailed all night. If Goo Goo does the same, it'll be a loooong weekend.

2. Potty training

Not sure where to start with this one. I'm sure that Goo Goo will experience some sort of anxiety and her whole system will be thrown out of kilter for the first couple of days. If she's 11 months old, I anticipate four breaks a day like Shio had when he was that age.

3. Leash training

Being that the NJ-22s did not have room to run and were not walked, I've been told that though they are generally good dogs they lack the training for walking on a leash. We've stocked up on treats for that!

4. Puppy proofing 

Spent all morning making sure that the things that are touching the ground are moved to higher ground or run the risk of having it destroyed. Fingers crossed for this one!

Wish us luck!

Thanks to our little Shiba community for the well wishes. Hope you are just as excited to meet her as we are!

PS - Please consider donating to help with medical expenses for these Shibas on the NYC Shiba Rescue site: http://nycshibarescue.org/donate/

Re-Training Shio

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We never used to worry about Shio running out the front door into the street. Was it because we're bad dog owners? Nope. It's because he would have to run out the front door, down the hallway, wait for the elevator, ride the elevator to the lobby, run out the building's front door and then get to the street. In case you're wondering, yes, potty training was very difficult! Now that we moved and have a front door that leads to the street we are very careful about teaching Shio sit-stay before charging out the door. In this new place, we also gained an unfenced back yard. This would've been a dream if we had an area dedicated for Shio to run around in but we've been training him not to run out when the door is open to the back because it's not fenced. He's not allowed to run out for squirrels, birds or even a toy that accidentally rolls out the door.

We  have neighbors that live upstairs and often here them walking around their hardwood floors. Shio is slowly adjusting to the sounds although he does have his freak out moments where he goes into a barking fit if he hears our neighbor's door slam shut. Every once in a while, he can hear voices upstairs and has been on edge about that.

We also have the mail man, UPS/USPS/FedEx package deliveries that come through our front door. We had the luxury of a doorman accepting all of this for us previously but now we're on our own. So far, Shio hates all of them.

On the up side, we've made a new Shiba 8 month old friend name Boozer from the dog run. They play and fight like brothers! They also dig like Shibas and have created many ditches in the dog run in their attempts to get back to save their friends in Japan.

 

Shio @ 16 months

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I actually had to sit here and count how many months old he is... which means that its just about time to stop calculating the months! Let's see... updates from February until now...

- Allergies are back! We've determined that he has seasonal allergies, just like his human daddy. I have two sneezy and snotty men in my life. :)

- Shio likes to grab his toys with his mouth and smush them into our legs as his way of beckoning us to play with him.

- Since I'm at home a lot more than Josh, Shio is actually very clingy towards me in the way that Shibas can be clingy. This means that he will become anxious and stared at the door I walked out of until I return or look for me after I walk away from him.

- We learned a couple of new tricks: "Play dead" and "beg".

- He is a bit afraid of dog runs/Shibas now. Since the incident in the Union Square dog run, he is much more hesitant about walking into a new dog park. During the last Shiba meetup, he was not as friendly has he used to be and even got into a fight with an intact male Shiba. I'm not sure if he's afraid of dog runs, Shibas, or both.

- He's been testing his limits. He keeps on trying to jump on the couch even though he knows that he's not allowed to. Of course, there's also the lay down protests during his daily walks.

- He will sleep til 10am. Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! We haven't had an accident since January. Yayyyyyyy!!!!

- We are shedding. And we don't stop. Ever.

That's about it. Happy 16 months Shio!