Foster Shibas Who Have Lived With Jenna & Snickers
When Snickers came to NYC to live with us in 2004, we assumed he would be our only dog. Ha! We sure were wrong about that.
About two years later, we adopted Secret from her rescuer. A couple years after that, Secret and “her girl” (Jenna’s daughter) moved to Florida for a year. Snickers was lonely, so we fostered our first Shiba girl for NYC Shiba Rescue. Her name was Shayna. She was a fabulous playmate for Snickers; they had such a good time together.
Our next foster dog was NYCSR’s Penny. Most posts about Penny are on NYCSR’s website. While we were in Indiana, we fostered Murphy for Midwest Shiba Inu Rescue. After Murphy, we took a break from fostering for awhile, because we moved back east and adopted sweet Brandy.
Our first foster dog after Brandy (and in Mississippi) was crazy little Sophie. She came from Memphis and was adopted by a great family in Florida. Then Zuki came along and we decided we needed to be a “three Inu” family again, so we adopted her. Shortly thereafter we fostered Smokey for NYCSR and had four Shibas in the house for a couple months! (Posts about Smokey are on NYCSR’s website.) After Smokey, we fostered our first non-Shiba, a Leonberger mix puppy named King, whom I fell HARD in love with. I posted a photo album of King on facebook.
I don’t write about all our foster dogs here, but what I do write is posted below.
Snickers and I are halfway home from having delivered Sophie to her new home in southern Florida. Yes, I drove ALL THAT WAY to take her personally instead of putting her on a rescue transport. She has a tendency to be anxious and need reassurance about new situations; a transport would have been too stressful for her. Plus, I just love to see my fosters in their new homes. Sophie has a new “mom & dad,” two teenage human sisters and a Shiba brother, Remi. So far, all reports are [click to continue reading...]
When integrating a new dog into a multi-dog family, traveling the path to peace in the pack requires patience and baby steps. [click to continue reading...]
I took all three dogs to the vet today. Sophie’s checkup went well. She gave the vet tech kisses and she wasn’t anxious about anything, even when they microchipped her with that huge needle! The vet says she’s very healthy and in great shape. He’s not too concerned with the “fly biting” behavior. Since she is so young and it seems to be triggered by anxiety, he thinks there’s a good possibility that it isn’t neurological and it may just go away. I’ve seen some improvement this week, which could [click to continue reading...]
Today has been a good day for dogs and a lazy day for me. Friday, I spent time figuring out what I do, why I do it, and what I really should focus on. Yesterday, I ran errands and did chores – a typical Saturday. Normally, on Sunday, I would work… work on rescue stuff, work on NSCA stuff, take Snick for his shelter visit, answer email, do some web development or updates for clients or one of my clubs/charities, etc. NOT TODAY! I started the day with good intentions, [click to continue reading...]
Sophie’s owner had to leave the country for work, so she is living with us until we find her the perfect forever home. She’s a crazy, but smart, 11 month old Shiba Inu. She has crazy puppy energy and wants to play non-stop all day. She would love a home with another playful dog for company! [click to continue reading...]
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 [click to continue reading...]
I’ve been personally involved with the lives of many rescued Shiba Inus since founding NYC Shiba Rescue two years ago and I’ve felt varying amounts of affection for each and every one of them. Every dog is an individual (just like people) and there’s almost always something lovable about each of them (maybe not so much like people). I believe there are only a few dogs in our lifetimes that truly steal our hearts though. Some people call them "heart dogs." For me, one of those few dogs was a [click to continue reading...]
Snickers and I fostered little Penny in the summer of 2008. She was a great little Shiba girl who got off to a bad start (her original owner didn’t train her, give her any boundaries or instill any self-confidence in her). Our relationship with Penny was a little rocky for the first week or two when she came to live with us. She was a fast learner and a sweet girl at heart though and we really fell for her by the time she was adopted. Penny found a wonderful [click to continue reading...]
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 [click to continue reading...]
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! [click to continue reading...]
Back home, playing in the snow meant bundling up; leashing up the dogs; tromping down four flights of stairs; and navigating slick, SALTED sidewalks (unless it was a blizzardy and then we could walk in the street) until we found a good spot to play. If we got to the dog run in time, we could play off leash. If the dog run snow was already “played out” we’d have to find another spot and that usually meant playing with leashes on. NOT TODAY! My city dog Snickers, his sister [click to continue reading...]
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 [click to continue reading...]
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 [click to continue reading...]
cross-posted from NYCSR’s blog OK, first off, I have to say that the sound of two Shibas merrily destroying roasted lamb bones is almost as soothing as a stable full of horses chomping on their feed. Today is Shay’s birthday. She’s THREE today. My special birthday present to her is… a brand new, wonderful, forever home! The main reason we’ve had Shayna as long as we have is because I took her off the available list over the holidays while I contemplated adopting her myself. It was a TOUGH decision [click to continue reading...]
Well… I’ve decided not to keep her. As much as Snick and I love her, I can’t handle – or afford – another full time dog. Shayna isn’t getting the leash training or the attention that she needs. I realized my primary reason for wanting to keep her was to keep Snickers company and that just isn’t enough of a reason. If there was another human in the house to give Shayna the kind of loving she wants, I would find a way to make the money piece work, but [click to continue reading...]
OK, so I have a dilemma now. I’ve been through the pre-adoption process with two different adopters for Shayna so far and they’ve both fallen apart at the last minute. The first had a family emergency and the second found out they are about to be uprooted by the military. [poll=2] Of course, Snick and I have become more attached to Shay every day and vice versa. Most of you remember how upset Snick was after ~T~ and Secret moved out? Well, he’s loving having a buddy around every day [click to continue reading...]
I have to show you these photos of Snick and Shay. They love each other! Besides, you can’t go wrong with cute doggy pictures when you have nothing to blog about. [click to continue reading...]
I was crating Shayna at night and whenever I wasn’t home until she and Snick got to know each other better (and stopped fighting). Friday night, I let her sleep outside the crate for the first time. After I went to bed, Snick joined me as usual and a few minutes later Shayna hopped up on the bed too. I thought Snick might chase her off, but he didn’t. She’s done well… she stays on the opposite side of the bed from Snick and he doesn’t seem to mind. I [click to continue reading...]
Snickers and I have our first NYCSR foster dog! Shayna was surrendered by her owner because she didn’t like sharing her home with puppies. (Her owner had other dogs that had puppies recently.) Shayna was apparently very unhappy and needed a place to live where she felt more comfortable. She’s definitely comfortable living with me! And, as my friend Judith said when she met her yesterday… “She’s certainly Shayna!” (Shayna means beautiful in Yiddish and she is, indeed, quite beautiful.) [click to continue reading...]
