Koji vs the Mighty Boar!

Or, how Koji cracked his tooth.

Yesterday was Koji's yearly checkup, and all went very well, doctor said he was perfect, gave him his three year vaccinations that were due and aside from being really nervous, he did very well.

Then I pointed out that I noticed he had a broken tooth about two weeks ago (but I had already made an appointment so it could wait.) The vet looked at it, checked the other side, which was fine, then went back to it and wiggled it. In pieces.

Way to go, bubs. You cracked your tooth and it now has to come out soon. I hope you'll be turning tricks in order to pay for this, mister.

As to how he cracked his tooth? We were thinking it over, trying to figure it out. He doesn't pick up rocks, his antler and nylabone he doesn't even touch, and the hardest treat he eats are bully sticks, which is easy enough to cut with a serrated knife (I've done it before to fit in the jar). While putting on his new rabies tag, my mom joked about his tags, and that's when it hit me. Koji used to chew on his tags all the time, and I'd make him spit them right back out. In that picture, you will notice a purple tag silencer, which he chewed right off. Once that was gone, he'd continue to chew on them, on his left side. I haven't realized it until now, but he hasn't been chewing his tags anymore. Probably because numbnuts cracked his tooth.

Way to go, dog. That's why I said don't chew on your tags.

Consistency

You don't really realize how important the routine is to your dog until it gets completely tossed out the window.

Koji's been in boarding before, he's been over at friends' for the weekend, we've had fosters and guests come and go and both Jeff and I have left for a few days while the other stays at home with the dog. Apparently this last time completely threw our dog off his mojo.

I was invited to join my mom out at DisneyWorld for 4 fun filled days, and of course I jumped at the chance. Jeff had to stay home, on account of him student teaching, so nothing else out of the ordinary would have to happen except dropping me off and picking me up from the airport.

I guess with me being gone, his whole world flipped upside down this time. As reported by my husband, he'd race out of the bedroom in the mornings to look for me at the front door or living room, then sulk back off to bed when I wasn't there. And when I did get home, not only did I get the lovely parting gift of food poisoning, but I had to go right back into work for the next four days. My dog turned into a shaking, unsure, almost neurotic mess. Every time it looked as though we were going to leave, he'd get up, hide behind the chair in the living room, and shake. If i was home, he'd shake. If the ice maker was dispensing ice, if the rice cooker was making noise, if someone walked up the stairs on the other side of the living room wall, he'd shake. Of course I couldn't coddle him, pet him, or tell him things were gong to be okay. He's a dog. He'd think that shaking would keep me here and give him lovin's.

So we went about our normal routine, continuing to feed, walk and play with him as normal, and as he was getting even when I was gone. After about a week back into the normal swing of things with everyone home, he's finally starting to settle down, his leg will barely tremor and he's back on track to being the dog that "doesn't give a f**k". I suppose some good that has come out of it was the tactic I used on my days off to distract him from his neuroses of training. I was able to get his nails dremmeled with less panic and we're on our way to a new trick (though so far only if I have treats. Of course.) Also, he is continuing to be my velcro dog and has to be in the same room as me more than ever. I must admit I do enjoy the attention, but only if he continues to be confident. I don't need him to be a broken mess every time I have to step out to do something.

Koji Cookies

FINALLY got some of these recipes to listen. I'll be a baking machine for the next few days to get all of these done for my winners (and I apologize for the delay!) I promise they'll be worth it.

Pictured left is a grain-free peanut butter and carob cookie that literally makes Koji drool.

Happy Gotcha Day, Koji

One year ago today, we drove nearly four hours away to pick up this little guy at the parking lot of the Round Rock Ikea from someone who took him in after his owners felt they no longer had the time for him. We had been looking for a dog for some time, had emailed the rescue with our information, and at Quakecon 2009, had gotten an email back from, who are now our "Shiba Friends" that he was available and needed a home soon. So after four sleepless gaming nights, we hopped in the car the Monday after and snatched up this bundle of pure crazy. Against better judgement, we decided to leave him uncrated in the car for the first 20 minutes, and he decided it was going to be a good idea to attempt to drive on the freeway, paws on the wheel and everything. He was crated as soon as we pulled over. I loved that we got to see pictures of him being the absolutely adorable puppy that he was, yet didn't have to deal with that level of obnoxiousness.

Koji has taught us so many things over the last year, including why he's the best dog in the world, and why we still really want to wring his little neck sometimes. He's kept us honest and has also given us excuses to duck out early. I love the way his feet smell like Fritos, a corn chip I absolutely hate, how he screams for sweet potatoes, and the way he smiles and wags his swishy tail when we come home, whether we were gone for 5 minutes or 5 hours. I love that he talks to us, annoys us till we play, and that he wants to be everyone's best friend, even to the point of making other dogs annoyed with his persistant rudeness. He makes us burst out laughing every single day and we miss him dearly if we don't come home to his anxious face.

I love this dog. He was definitely the best decision we've made so far.

To celebrate, Koji, Jeff and I would like to give away another Field Point Shiba key cover, as well as a tin full of custom Koji Cookies, tailored to fit your pup's tastes and needs. Just leave a comment telling me about your first dog, your first Shiba, or the day you picked up your current dog. A winner for the double prize will be announced 1 week from today, (8/24).

Key Fob Giveaway Winners!

I really enjoyed reading about everyone's favorite things about summer! Gave me warm fuzzies and ready to hit the summer activities! And what you've been waiting for, the winners (brought to us by random.org)!

#14 - Peter and Edgar
#6 - Kimberly and Bella

Please email me at thepaisleyfox at gmail dot com to claim your prize!

Adorable keys!

I have a perpetual need for cute. I love stickers, stuffed animals, pillows, keychains and kitchen gadgets, especially if they are cute. You can see my apartment key in the background there is an adorable little owl I picked up from Borders about a year ago (and the key that I hid up the owl has little pink sparkle hearts. Yeah barf, I know, but I love it.) So when I found this Shiba head key cover by Field Point from an awesome online compnay in Osaka, I jumped at it. They also had other dogs, such as Bostons and Corgis and Chihuahuas, but you know that there was only one that mattered to me. ;)

So after several emails, taking time to try and trust my rusty Japanese, and about a month to convert pay and get addresses straight, this little guy finally found itself in my mailbox. I could not be happier, either. It has upped the cuteness factor of my keychain tenfold, and it's slightly relevant, seeing it's on a spare copy of an apartment key to good friends of ours, who we refer to other friends as "the Shiba friends." (BONUS - they, TOO have a cute key!)

Also, I felt like it would be an awful waste of time and resources to only get one, so I got a whole bunch. But seeing that my husband doesn't like things on his keys (or keychains for that matter), and I only needed the one, I decided that I'd share the cuteness and offer them up!

So, right now, I'm giving away TWO (2) of these Field Point Shiba key covers! Keeping in the recent summer spirit, post a comment that tells what is a favorite aspect of summer for you and/or your dog. For example, I think Koji loves summer because that means I share my watermelon with him.

Two winners will be chosen at random 8pm central on Saturday the 19th!

Something exciting on the horizon...!

A secret event should be coming up soon. I'll try to post here when I've got all I need to do it.

Meanwhile, a hike is coming up this weekend and some Texas Shiba pictures (like the one on the left) are currently in "post production." Needless to say, there will be pics a plenty.

In other news, my temporary foster Umi found herself her new home! I wish her many years of happiness, warm beds, and belly scratches with her new family.

Happy Birthday, Koji!

Today is Koji's 2nd birthday, or at least the date we chose for him. Apparently we're not far off, since the only clues we had for his birthday was his old Dogster page, which lists him as a Taurus, and it does say he's 2 now. I just picked 29 since 9 seems to run in my side of the family (I'm 29, Jeff's 29, my sister is 29, my dad was 19, my niece is 19, my mom is 9...we have a lot of 9s.)

Today we will celebrate with an egg all to himself and a baked sweet potato. Maybe a trip to the dog park while we're at it. Because he's just not smelly enough from the last time we went a few days ago.

Happy birthday, pup pup. I'm sorry about the hat.

...okay, I'm not that sorry.

More snow!

Snow Day!

And it's still snowing outside! Koji took a liking to it much better this time around since there was no brutal wind to go along with it.

I wish I could have stayed home and taken him out on his 20' leash and have him run around all day. It seriously looks more like the Rockies than Dallas right now, and I'm loving it, even from the 6th floor of my office building.

Life at Chez Dill

or: Why nothing has happened lately.

Us here at the Dill residence are a bunch of wimps. I grew up in LA where the cold part of the year was watching fireworks off the harbor during 4th of July with that frigid 50 degree breeze blowing off the Pacific. Koji grew up the better part of his life before in San Antonio, where hot and humid is the norm (though not nearly as bad as Houston.) and while fluffier than last August, he still has a rather not fluffy coat when compared to his Shiba pals. Jeff can handle it pretty okay, but he and Koji aren't gone on many long walks in the frigid and damp outdoors lately.

We're in Dallas. I don't think we'd be able to brave anything much further north of us. Especially since the use of our heater last month hiked our electric bill an extra $100!! Ouch...

We braved a dog park over the weekend and met a very nice lady with the sweetest Basenji (which Jeff called the 'corgi inu' since the little African dogs look like a mashup of our favorites.) Jeff sounded like he'd consider one, though I was surprised by how short the little girl's fur was, though thinking on it, it's not like they exactly need to brave harsh winters down on the savannah. But even with the highlight of a Koji sized and attitude matched play mate, we didn't last much more than an hour at best. At least the road directly to the park is finally open, making it actually convenient to go to the nearby complex now.

I wished I had brought my camera with me, but hopefully we'll see her again. When I finally sort through a few of those photos I took at another dog park a few weeks ago with my new Nikon D5000, I'll put them up. Thinking of picking up a book about it at the store, though. Kind of a big deal, seeing I'm not a manual kind of gal, but seeing I have NO IDEA what I'm doing, it might be a first step into something good...

House Guest

Look at that happy smile!

Haku, a foster for the Texas Shiba Rescue, came to stay with us yesterday while Nicole and Ian were out. This little guy is a little needy as far as attention goes, so the long hours they were out would have been too much for him, so he got to hang out with Jeff, Koji and me.

And what a sweetheart, though his little doggie farts were something less than desirable. But even with that big ol cone head and a recent neuter, Haku tumbled a bit with Koji (with supervision, of course) and they shared toys and bullies and us very well. He falls right asleep in someone's lap and was just a joy to have around. Also made us realize how far we've come with Koji and how much we appreciate what he does. He may not know a bunch of tricks or commands, but the basics he has down like nobody's business, and that was something that Haku will still need to work on, though he looked like he was starting to get it but just didn't care enough. I know the cone is a big obstacle, so I'm sure he'll learn faster once that bad boy is finally off.

Hopefully his forever family is found soon. He'll be a great pet and I hope we'll be able to see him again after he's home.

Koji and Haku Play
Round 2!

Take your cold back, Canada!

Koji is having fun testing us recently since he's been getting a little stir crazy. We haven't been able to take our extra long walks around the neighborhood or take a trip to the dog park because it's been riddiculously cold with wind, which has left no one happy on the necessary walks. We're supposed to get back into the 50s by the middle of next week, which will feel like a tropical vacation compared to the teens we've been experiencing.

Don't worry, fuzzbutt. We'll take a trip to the park on Wednesday so you can get all your crazies out. <3

Yessss, they're over!

Koji experienced his first snow over Christmas and wasn't so sure about it while it was actively falling. He was better the next few days when the sun was out but the snow stayed behind so he could explore without getting that chilly wind and snow all in his face and through his not so fluffy coat.

Hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday season, I for one am glad they are all over. With work, deadlines for gifts, budgets and babysitting both my dog and the family I am a bit exhausted and ready to start the new year off with a fresh start on many things, including job searches, costumes, better weight training habits, and a new camera by the end of the month.

Cheers!

Someone is helping!

Or barely staying out of trouble. ;)

Take a hike!

Last weekend, Koji and I drove down with two of my friends and two of their dogs to take a hike around McKinney Park in Austin. It was a great day that left Koji's tail wagging while he walked toward the end of the trail that stretched a couple miles. A little cool during the day, but comfortable with a few shirts and a scarf protecting me from the slight chill, and seemed perfect for all of the dogs there. I was also proud that Koji did not pant in his crate the whole way down, as he did to the Alamo. He seemed a little more calm and relaxed, with only a few panting episodes, which is most definitely an improvement. He already gets excited by being in a car, and is a little nervous in crates in general (though will calm down after a few minutes to go to sleep when not in addition with the car.) Again, the dogs were all zonked for the ride home, and Koji didn't wake up until the race in the complex where we went over a few speed bumps (oops!).

The only tragedy was that Deshi, one of the Shibas, apparently is going through a Teenaged-Turd age and just suddenly decides he doesn't like some dogs sometimes, but is okay a few minutes later. It resulted in Baker's ear being bit, a little blood, and a few angry barks at Deshi (who completely deserved a telling off) but she didn't seem bothered with the injury and let us touch and handle it to help the clotting. I think she was just more surprised and upset more than hurt.

In other news, Thanksgiving at the in-laws actually went really well since we let Koji off the leash in the house. He was very well behaved, stayed nearby most of the time (except when he just HAD to run on the stairs) and got spoiled with lots of turkey. Maybe we need to just let him off leash in houses more often and he might behave better. Still going to take it slow and not have him go over all the time, though, for my sanity at least. Test #2 of off leash sleeping went REALLY well last night (as opposed to the first time we tried and he ate my favorite sandals...), he stayed in his bed the whole time and only came out of the bedroom when we called him out. I'm getting proud and pleasantly surprised with the small steps of progress my little fuzzbutt makes in being a well mannered member of our family.

As always, photos of the meetup can be found on the meetup page here: McKinney Falls Hike

I remembered, you rememberd?

This past weekend, I conned two friends of mine to drive the 5 hours down south to San Antonio and visit the Alamo with a bunch of other Shibas for a meetup. Koji did very well, though he hardly got an ounce of sleep the night before (motel freaked him out a little) and he was a nervous little leaf until we actually started walking on the Riverwalk, he was well behaved and greeted some of the Shibas as old friends he hadn't seen in quite some time, which was great to see. I made Texas flag bandanas to show off our proud Texas doggies at THE Texas landmark. I replaced the star with a paw.

We took pictures at the Alamo, walked along a scenic river, got asked what dogs we had countless times (and even overheard someone remark that we were a Corgi club...) and ate lunch out on a patio, where Koji insisted on sitting in my lap for a while, though he can never stand to do that at home. By the time the meetup was over and all the pictures had been taken, we walked back to the car, chatting up with Carina (the meetup coordinator and who I picked Koji up from those months ago) Koji was more than eager to get back into the car and his crate, despite the fact he panted the whole way down the night before. My little guy was so tired that he pretty much slept in the car next to his buddy, Dug, the whole ride up to Austin (for a few detours and dinner) and almost the whole ride home north of Dallas. I think he had a great day and was even tired the day after. Can't wait until the 5th for that hike we'll take at McKinney Park in Austin, I know he's going to have a lot of fun.

Some of the Alamo pictures can be seen here: Alamo Meetup 2009. You can tell which one Koji is since he was the leggiest and skinniest of all the Shibas there, as well as the one with the uncurliest tail. Everyone else seemed to have more of a donut tail while Koji was one of the only ones with a samurai tail (Crockett had one, I believe, though his is kept curled more than Koji's ever is.) He is average weight, too, so I don't know what to tell you. ;)

Takin' a break.exe

Friday nights at my in-laws has been a family tradition for years, now. It's a time that my husband and I go over in the evenings, usually with a few other friends, and we hang out, eat dinner, watch a movie, play games, swim in their pool, and otherwise just relax and unwind from the week. Since these hang out days were important to us, we looked for a rescue that could get along with other dogs (and possibly cats) so that he or she could tag along with us.

Enter Koji, the ideal house guest! Well, sort of. He plays well with my in-law's dog, Goose, and wants to play with the cats (waggle butt and all) much to the dismay of Reese, but they pretty much leave each other alone. We let the dogs go nuts in the back yard, which Koji enjoys more than Goose, and usually stays out longer, and when they come in they rough house a little bit. It's the Shiba style of play, a little rough, rather mouthy, and full of funny vocalizations. While it sometimes looks like Koji is beating up on Goose, the mini Schnauzer usually charges right back in to try again, and they are usually broken up before anything gets bad, but we know they both have a good time since they are just DYING to get to each other to sniff butts and generally see how life has been since they last met.

Unfortunately, after Thanksgiving, I don't think Koji will be coming over with us for a while. It has little to do with my dog's actions and more to do with the other people's reactions.

With excitement and new people, Koji will sometimes think that humping is a good idea. It happened, he got caught in the act, promptly taken off and carried to time out in a closed bathroom. 10 minutes later, he was able to come back out and rejoin the fun and he did not try that again with anyone, proving that my method works (and I was paying attention to him throughout the night, as well.) But while Koji and Goose play fight all over the living room, with Koji on his 20' lead and Goose having free reign, people felt inclined to break the two up occasionally as Koji looks, well, downright mean when he plays. I have no problem with that, but the problem I have is the way they break them up then only punish Koji, with rough shoves and alpha rolls. One offender in particular will break them up, Koji will stop and move on (either in thought or physically move on) and then this person will shove Koji after the fact and when it has no relation to him of anything he was doing the 30 seconds before.

What happens when you shove Koji (or any Shiba?) That's right, they shove back harder, which ends up in Koji not respecting these people and I saw a few instances of him motioning to mouth people as he was coming back for more. What's more surprising to me is how my in-laws have NO IDEA how to deal with this kind of dog even though they've had several American Eskimos and used to work with the rescue. Didn't Hawk or any of the million Angels they had in their home have similar tendencies? But I feel it is immensely unfair that my dog gets shoved and forced to the ground while their dog goes away free, though he instigated many of these "problems" as well and was just more quiet about it. I mean, don't get me wrong, when a bop on the snout is what is going to stop him from playing rough with people (for instance, he kept trying to charge and mouth one of our friends, because unfortunately Jeff allows it with him) then sure. He certainly didn't try that again, but was still content to sit near us and have us pet and mess with him in a nice way. But bullying my dog around, yelling and pulling and pushing him to the ground is NOT okay, and I don't feel like I need to babysit the actions for two dogs and 6 other people.

Why don't I just speak up right then when it happens? I don't believe they share my same training thoughts and I don't feel I am ready now to stand up to them and be prepared to take the negativity. And while I keep an eye on him, if I'm not doing anything, I don't see it as a problem, because I know my dog, and I know their dog better than my in-laws do for that matter.

So, until I feel more okay with these people, my friends and family, who tend to use aggressive Cesar techniques that would never work with my dog, he can relax at home in his bed while we're away. It's just not worth it right now, and I'm uncomfortable raising the point with them that what they are doing is essentially taking my child out back for mouthing off and slapping him upside the head instead of letting me take care of it with methods I feel more comfortable with and I know that work. Koji still needs some more work and training, I know this, but he actually does fantastically well and is only a year and a half. Though I still believe that this has more to do with the people than the dog.

Next weekend, Koji and I visit the Alamo to meet up with other Shibas and have lunch, and it's inevitable that he should be with us at Thanksgiving, being it's an all day family affair and we might be staying over till that Friday evening. Perhaps instead of going over to their place, he'll get to have more dog park time. I just wish I was strong enough to say something.

Intelligent Conversations

Our conversation got cut off by a phonecall, but it was still fun. I'll see if he's more talkative tonight.

Also, trying to spread more smiles in light of all this awful news lately. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Training?

So, it's been about two and a half months since we brought our fuzzbutt home. He already had a solid "sit" when we got him and now has a fairly good "wait" that we can rely on him doing about 85% of the time (with a continual repeat of the command, he will wait at the door or away from his food.) Of course he's also a Shiba, so sometimes he knows what we want, I can see that ear of his acknowledging me, but he'd rather not. Frustrating at times, yes, but he's catching on he still has to do what I ask before he can get what he wants. Rarely he just figures he doesn't need whatever I will reward him with that badly and will forget the whole thing. Stubborn little cat-dog.

For about a month now, my husband and I have been trying to teach him "paw", where he'll touch one of our hands with his paw, almost like a shake. He doesn't mind us touching his paws terribly much, and I see his leg move back at the command, but it's like pulling teeth to get him to do it. I usually have to start poking on the back of his leg before he'll move it, then I say the command again and give him his treat. I'm thinking maybe his reward needs to be better, but there's only so many pieces of cheese or hot dog I'd be willing to give him. Been looking into other treats, but I want something he'd like, wouldn't be terrible in larger training quantities, and isn't chicken. Also been meaning to teach Koji other tricks like "down", "crawl", and "make dinner" though I feel the last one might be left to dreams and fantasy lands.

I've been thinking of picking up a book on clicker training and wondering if that might help in letting him know faster that he just did a behavior we want. I feel like I might be confusing him a little (on top of his stubborn nature) so perhaps a more clear cut clicker answer might be what we need, though I'd have to read up on how to use it, first.

On a different note, I think Koji is starting to shed. :(