Our Various Foster Shibas
We've had three long term fosters. Our first NYC Shiba Rescue (NYCSR) foster was Shayna. She was a fabulous playmate for Snickers; they had such a good time together. Most of my posts about Shayna are on our old website. Our second NYCSR foster was Penny. Most posts about Penny are on NYCSR's website. While we were in Indiana, we fostered Murphy for Midwest Shiba Inu Rescue. (His posts are listed below.)
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! [...]
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 foster – never meant to be a permanent addition to [...]
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 home through NYC Shiba Rescue and has really blossomed in [...]
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.
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.
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 Secret (who actually started off in the country before we [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
