Murphy went home tonight! Murphy is technically my MSIR foster dog, but my sister has really been the one fostering him since I left Indiana almost five months ago.

On one hand he’s been an easy keeper for her; he gets along with her dogs, they eat the same food, he’s easy going. But on the other… well, this is the first time she’s lived with an adolescent Shiba. Just in case playing "you can’t make me" whenever it was time to go inside was not enough to try her patience, he subjected to her to A Great Escape too! (My reaction when Debbie told me about this? After I caught my breath… "welcome to the club!")

Murphy has been incredibly picky about choosing his forever family. While he was meeting and not clicking with families, Debbie was getting attached to him and he was growing into quite the handsome boy. Luckily, the PERFECT couple came along – they adored Murphy right away, Debbie really liked them, the MSIR home visit went great, Murphy totally fell for their female Shiba – perfect. So, tonight, Murphy went home with his new people, Allie and Richard.

This is the first time I’ve had a foster dog adopted and I wasn’t there to see them join their new family. Debbie took lots of pictures to share though! Here are some of my favorites.

As most of you know, foster Shiba Murphy did NOT move back east with me & Snick. My sister is graciously caring for him and letting him romp like a wild man in the huge yard with her silly-retriever-dogs.

Hmmm. I suppose I’m fostering him by proxy?

Anyway… she took some cute photos of him recently and posted them tonight. He looks like he’s matured a lot in the six weeks or so since I left Indiana. Click the napping Murphy pic below to be transported to more photos.

Murphy should have a home shortly, btw. Stay tuned!

A number of people have emailed me recently asking about Murphy. (I haven’t been doing a very good job of keeping the blog up to date since I moved. Sorry.)

We still have Murphy in foster care. He turned a year old a few days ago. He’s WONDERFUL. I have three or four applications for him. I’m waiting for MSIR to complete a home visit for the top application and then we’ll go from there.

I may have some pictures to post soon, but wanted to get a quick update out.

Murphy doesn’t officially have an adoption pending yet, but I think he will quite shortly. A local couple has applied to adopt him after they – and their Shiba – met him at a Shiba meetup. They’re on vaca this week and when they return the application approval process (home visit and such) will move forward.

I will let everyone know what happens!

Murphy is a little lover. Whenever he can, he will get on the couch and curl up nearby. I usually scoop him up and “make” him snuggle with me when I’m watching TV. I say “make” because he only does the “I am Shiba. No want snuggles,” for about 3 seconds (and very half-heartedly at that) and then he settles in for a snuggly nap.

He’s learned really quickly to settle down in his crate and go to sleep at night. The crate is right by my bed. He whimpers a bit, but then he’s fine. When I wake up in the morning, he’s very sweet about waiting till I get out of bed and let him out and then he’s VERY ZOOMY!

I think he’s completely house trained. He hasn’t had an accident in the house since a few days after he got here. During the day, he goes outside every 5 or 6 hours, but at night he’s inside for 10 to 12. When we wake up, he plays, eats breakfast, waits for me to get my coat and THEN goes outside, without any issues.

He’s learning rules really quickly. He takes food VERY nicely. He does NOT beg. He sits for treats, because the other dogs do it, but I haven’t taught him to sit on command yet. He knows he is allowed on the couches, but not on the bed (or the dining room chairs, which he jumped on a couple times the first day or two). He’s learned to take turns with the other dogs when I’m handing out goodies and he’s learning what “wait” and “I’ll be right back” mean!

That’s all of the new news I can think to share about Murphy. Someone adopt him soon. Please!

Snickers and I have our first Midwest Shiba Inu Rescue (MSIR) foster dog!

This is Murphy (in the green collar in the photos). He is eight months old and he’s been with us for four days now. All I know about him is that he was part of a big group of Shibas let go by a puppy mill. It couldn’t have been a typical mill though because he’s pretty human-social. He enjoys being held and petted, doesn’t mind being held upside down (like a baby) and doesn’t mind having his feet handled, so he’s had plenty of human contact.

He clearly hasn’t lived in a house… for example, he walks to the wrong side of the door almost every time I open one and he barked at the television a lot the first couple days! He wouldn’t take any treats from my hand when he first got here; I had to put them on the floor, but he was taking them by yesterday. He learns fast by watching Snickers and Secret. He’s learned to sit for treats, to be quiet and wait when he wants something and he even started lifting his leg today! (He was peeing like a girl when he got here.)

Murphy is learning FAST about living the good life. He’s enjoying lounging around the house and playing in our big yard. He is very snuggly and will let me snuggle him in my lap, upside down like a baby. He follows me from room to room and he gets super excited when T comes home from school. The downside to all this affection though is that he screams and cries in his crate at night. He wants to sleep on the bed with us. Snickers isn’t ready to allow him on the bed though. He’s also teething and chews on everything, so he has to be watched. Poor Murphy. Tonight his crate will be in the laundry room so he doesn’t keep me awake.

He’s a great little boy and is going to make someone VERY happy. (And I hope we find them soon before we all get too attached to each other!!!)

I promise I’ll be posting more about Murphy soon.