When we lived in Indiana, we couldn’t walk the dogs outside because loose dogs in the neighborhood would approach us – even chased us a couple times. Luckily, we had a HUGE backyard to play in there. When we got ready to move to Mississippi, I made a point to find an apartment complex that was all fenced in and has strict leash rules (in addition to the town leash laws). We can only walk around on the grounds of our apartment complex and very nearby though, because there aren’t any sidewalks going anywhere else. Can you say BORING??? Poor Snick – who grew up walking 2 miles a night around midtown Manhattan – is bored out of his mind.

There is a college campus directly across the street from my job. There is a beautifully manicured road leading to a lake on campus with a gazebo. I’ve been eagerly awaiting non-brutal temps so Snick and I could go walk there. Today, after work, [Read more…]

hi peeples, snickers here

today my mom did check the mail and she laughed! why did she laugh? because there were two things in the mailbox and neither of them were for her. my Girl did get something and i did get something. i got this wonderful gift from my shiba friend in california, yuki. hers mom made this felt keyring and it looks JUST LIKE ME.

my twitter furriend @cokiethecat haz this thing called the anipal photo hunt where anipals with bloggys post pics in a different theme each week. this week the theme is “hey, that’s not me!” when cokie saw the photos of my gift from yuki, he said i should post it in the photo hunt, so that iz what i haz done.

shiba kisses!

Snickers has turned into such a snuggler this past year or so. Here’s the proof. (That’s my leg that his paw is draped across.)

A lot has happened since my last post, but most importantly, we’ve moved (again). We’re all settled into our new apartment and routine in Mississippi, so hopefully I’ll be blogging more soon.

Today was a good day. Snickers and I started off the afternoon (which is the beginning of our day after all) with romp in the snow covered dog run. Then Snick managed to take me to his favorite liquor store. Yes, I said my dog has a favorite liquor store. Jersey City Wine & Spirits keeps dog treats at the register. I discovered this shortly after moving here when Snickers unexpectedly dragged me in there. I try not to walk by there when I’m not prepared to go in, but sometimes I’m not paying attention and he leads me there. Today was one of those days. Also today, between our time at the dog run and our visit to the liquor store, Snick made a new friend on the sidewalk.

Wherever Snick and I go, people stop us and ask me what kind of dog he is. This is pretty common for Shiba owners, possibly more so for black and tans because they aren’t as plentiful. When we still lived in Manhattan, sometimes the people who stopped us would be fellow Shiba people. (I do this too… stop people on the street to say hi to their Shiba even when Snick isn’t with me.) Many times they would ask something along the lines of "I heard there is a Shiba club or a meetup in the city. Do you know about it?" I would introduce myself as the organizer of the Shiba meetup and give them all the details. Once, a guy stopped us a couple blocks from my apartment and said "I’m sorry to bother you but I’m looking for the Shiba rescue and thought you might know. They’re supposed to be around here somewhere." Of course, the address he was looking for was the mailbox rental around the corner from my apartment. I told him the rescue doesn’t have an office and proceeded to answered all his questions about volunteering for NYCSR. Those incidents aren’t really remarkable though. NYC is just a very big small town so running into people with shared interests is to be expected!

Lately though, people know Snickers from this website. A few months ago, we were at the dog run and I was talking to a couple with an adopted Shiba. I mentioned that I volunteer with NYCSR and we talked about foster dogs and adopted dogs, etc. At some point they asked me Snick’s name. When I told them, one of them said "You’re Jenna & Snickers! I thought you looked familiar!" That was weird.

We had a moment like that today and it wasn’t even a "Shiba person!" During our walk, someone came up behind us, apologized for the intrusion and asked what kind of dog Snick is. When I answered that he’s a Shiba Inu, she said she thought so, that her parents had a red Shiba and that she had only just discovered black and tans. Snickers tends to be very Shiba-like with most people on the sidewalk… meaning, he ignores them completely. So, I said "Snickers, say hello" (which I taught him during school and therapy visits). He went over to her, greeted her and immediately tried to kiss her face. Upon hearing his name, she said "Snickers! I was just reading your blog!" This was at once very odd and very cool to be talking to a stranger who knew my dog from the Internet. She said he was just as beautiful as his pictures (and he is!) and we chatted for a minute. We went our separate ways, but the idea that I’d just met proof that strangers actually visit and read this blog stuck in my head all day. Neat, huh?

Even better? She made a donation to NYCSR tonight! Awesome.

Oh. My. God. This may be one of the most fun things you can EVER do with your dog. This past Saturday morning, Snick and I trekked to Central Jersey with friends Catherine and Nick and their two dogs Wylie and Tigger.

I believe the course was about 700 yards long. No one was officially timing the dogs, but we used Cathy’s iPhone and clocked Snick’s second run at just under a minute. That’s a polo field they’re running on and, no, there’s no fence. I was terrified to let Snickers take off like that without a leash, but after watching Tigger do it, I swallowed the lump in my throat and let him go. We had a little trouble catching him after his first run because he was trying to figure out where the “bunny” went after the bags stopped moving. Luckily, the lure operator heard us stressing and turned the lure back on long enough to grab his interest so we could snag him. Letting him go the SECOND time was even scarier, but at least we were more prepared to catch him that time. I’m going to take some sort of toy for him to “kill” at the end of the course next time – more satisfaction for him and an easier catch for me.

There’s really not much else to say… just watch the video that Nick posted (THANKS NICK!) of Tigger and Snickers chasing the lure!

In August, Snickers tried lure coursing for the first time and LOVED IT. I immediately (literally, within minutes of his first three runs) started searching and emailing to find a way to get involved in lure coursing.

I got really lucky. My first email was to the American Sighthound Field Association regional director for this area. Within an hour or two, I’d received a reply and we were corresponding back and forth on how to find all-breed lure coursing events. They put me in touch with Mickey Stoble who runs all-breed lure coursing practices and competitions in central NJ.

So, long story not so long, Snickers and I are going out on Saturday, November 14, to check it out. Any of our NY/NJ peeps want to go with us or meet us there? Let me know. It should be GREAT!

click for details and directions

8:00 AM to 4:00 PM on November 14, 15, 21, 22, 28 & 29
Last sign in to participate is at 2:30 PM!
Bucks Mill Recreation Center in Colts Neck, NJ

"It doesn’t matter if your dog is mixed breed or purebred, or if he’s an experience racer or has never raced at all, all are encouraged to attend. Have a day of fun for under $10.00!"

Snick and I can’t wait to get there and try it out. Let me know if we might see you there too!

hi peeples,

snickers here!

it has been awhile since i dictated a post for the blog (although i am always talking away over on twitter). i asked my tweeps recently what i should blog about and friend-to-all-nyc-shibas, @roxyturtle, asked "what do you do while Mom is gone for the day? Does your Mom do anything to give you activities while you’re a latchkey dog?"

i can say that in my five short years i have spent my days in many many ways! here is the bulleted version (because i dont really dictate in full sentences anyway, much less paragraphs).

• when i came to live with mom and girl, i was only 9 or 10 weeks old. mom worked 9am to 5pm back then. for the first couple months, she walked home at lunch to play with me and walk me
• i had lots of energy and wanted to chew EVERYTHING, so mom started taking me to doggy daycare three days a week. this helped me a lot in being a good boy at home!
• as i got older, mom tapered off the daycare time, but then i got a dog walker who came to spend time with me every day! i haz had the best dog walkers – first bernard and then trent
• all the time from puppyhood till now mom tries to take me for long walkies in the morning before she leaves me. this is very important because then i am happy and ready for a nap when she goes!!!
• mom and girl adopted my sister secret and then i had company at home ALL THE TIME. i cannot recommend this more highly. all you doggies convince your peeples to get you a doggy pal. really! go do it right now
• mom tapered the dog walking down to a couple days a week after secret came. (she says something about daycare and dog walkers being ‘spensive if you do it too much… i dunno about that)
• my sister secret moved to florida for a year and i was back to being alone all day, so moms started taking me to daycare again when trent wasnt coming over
• then we started fostering for NYC Shiba Rescue! that was the best cz it meant i had a pal at home again. trent still came two days a week, but no daycare for me when i had a foster girl to watch over
• then the best thing ever happened… mom quit her job and we moved to indiana. not only was she home all day but sis and girl came there from florida so we were all together again. i spent my days lounging around with mom and sis, playing in the big back yard, and then we got foster pup murphy to play with too! having mom home all the time was really pretty great
• but then me and mom moved back to east. i am very happy to be home again, but the worst thing happened when we first got here. moms new job is ten hours a day and she left me all alone all day. sis wasnt here. no daycare. no dog walker. (cz we are in a new town.) i was so sad. when mom would come home from work, i would FREAK OUT so she would know how much i missed her and how lonelies i was all day. i was a very good boy though. i did not chew anything or do anything i shouldnt
• luckily sis and girl got here a few weeks later so then i got to spend all my day with sis and girl while mom worked. yay!
• but, wouldnt you know it, now girl is gone for the summer! mom and girl were really looking out for me and sis though. normally sis goes everywhere with girl, but this year sis stayed here with me and mom. mom is gone to work 10 hours per day but i have sis here and we keep each other company
• mom knows leaving us here alone all day is not the greatest but i am five years old now and sis is almost nine so we are good dogs and able to hang out without getting in any trouble

so, what you think? i think girl needs to come home from summer fun soon so me and sis have more company and get our afternoon walkies back! i have mostly been good but friday i did something funny to make mom laugh and show her i dont just lie around all day. i buried my toy duck in her bed. i used to do stuff like that a lot when i was younger. funny, right?

so, mostly i play with toys, nap, shed on the couch, chew the bones that mom leaves for me, and play with my sister when i am home alone. that is how i spend my day @roxyturtle!

mom wants me to add from her the following:

• A tired dog is a good dog, especially when they are young. Don’t leave your dog at home alone without vigorous physical and mental exercise first!
• Bored dogs get into trouble. That’s your fault, not theirs! Give them toys. Break up the day with a dog walker! Spring for doggy daycare once or twice a week. Get your dog a friend!

Snickers is definitely LOVING being back in an urban environment. He enjoyed the big yard and the big parks we went to in Indiana, but mostly I think he was almost as bored as I was. When he went outside he would check the fence perimeter and then settle on his park bench and wait for me to sit down with him. Now that we’re back east, he’s back to taking his long adventure walks and enjoying all the sights and smells a city has to offer a curious pup.

Here’s a photo I took of Snick during a long walk around Jersey City a few weeks after we arrived. (That’s downtown NYC in the background.)

Snick and the City

Last week while I was away for three days, Snickers stayed with my friend Kathy and was a bit mopey and worried. When I took him back this Monday though he was SOOOO excited to be there. Apparently, now that he’s sure I’ll be back in a few days, he’s having a great time. Here’s a video Kathy shot of him playing in her backyard this afternoon.

hello everybody. mom is worried that you will think we abandoned our website. we did sort of but not forever. me and mom moved again. we moved to a place near the home where we always lived before we moved to the country!!! we are really happy about that but mom has been too busy to update our website and tell all you peeple about it.

see, mom went to nyc to visit some big dog show (without me! i know, can you believe it?). when she came back to the country, she said we were moving again. we moved into a new apartment with sidewalks and stairs and everything sort of like our old apartment but in a different neighborhood. a few days ago we went back to our old ‘hood to visit and i had so much fun!!! i am really a city dog at heart. i was kinda bored living in the country.

so, that is the scoop peeples. we will be back to updating things again soon. in the meantime, i talk a lot on twitter, so you can keep up with me there. i have better luck mind-controlling mom (and my auntie kat and sometimes my girl T) to tweet for me than i do getting mom to type out whole blog entries. you can follow me on twitter here.

kisses,
snickers

I will get back to regular blogging after the holidays, I swear. In the meantime, here’s a picture of Snickers sleeping on the couch between my parents while they were here for Christmas.

I have a better photo that shows that my mom is passed out asleep too, but she would kill me if I posted it. hee hee

I’ve fallen behind on my regular pace of posting for Jenna & Snickers (.com). It’s partly the holidays (don’t we all love to blame stuff on those?!?). Plus, Snick and I have just been busy!

Wednesday, we went to the Crossroads Easter Seals Adult Day Program to meet the volunteer coordinator and visit with their clients. Before we left NYC, Snick visited with developmentally challenged elementary children. I was so happy with the way Snickers read the children at the school that I looked for just the right new job for him here in Indiana. I think I’ve found it… we’ll be visiting with adults with a wide range of disabilities. This is going to be a challenging and rewarding job for us.

Snickers is incredibly empathetic with kids and will match his actions to what they need. If a child is afraid of him, he’ll move slowly or even lie down and wait for them to approach him. (He actually shows them the whole range of calming signals – turning his head and body, yawning, lying down.) He LOVES kids and will play with them as boisterously as they want and loves to kiss faces, but he’s always gentle. Most dogs know children are different though, so I wondered how his skills would translate to working with special adults.

Wednesday was an intro visit, so the Easter Seals people could meet us and Snick could get a feel for the facility. We were probably only there an hour and only about half of that was spent with the clients. (They aren’t really patients; it is basically adult day care for people with disabilities who can’t stay home while their peeps are at work.)

Snickers didn’t let me down. I could see him thinking and working on figuring things out. The clients’ mental and physical abilities were extremely varied, so I think sorting it out was difficult for him. He did really well though. He took it easy. He said hello to almost everyone I asked him to. (There was one person, who said she wanted to pet him, but he didn’t believe it. He kept turning his head, so he must have sensed she was nervous.) He licked the hands of the people who were comfortable with him. He kissed up to the employees who were making snacks. 🙂

There is one issue I have to work on with him. At least half of the people we talked with were in wheel chairs and were not physically able to lean down to pet him, so I had to pick him up to their level. Those of you who know Shibas, know that they don’t typically enjoy being picked up! He tolerated it, but he clearly liked it less and less each time. He knows a command I call “perch” which basically means to stand with his front feet on whatever I point to. He was totally comfortable with the wheel chairs in general, except that he didn’t want to “perch” on them (probably because he’d seen some of them moving). I need to avoid picking him up much because it will shorten the amount of time we have for visits. Visits like this are hard work for him as it is, so I don’t want to make it harder. I’m going to work with having him perch on all different types of objects and surfaces. I’m also going to take cheese next time we go and reward him each time he perches for petting. 🙂

So, that’s part of what we’ve been up to. I think we’ll have some good visits there. I’ll certainly post more about in the future.

Hi all,

today was my fifth birthday. mom made a big deal of it. she said something about five being special. also, there’s thing day called Thanksgiving where the people eat together. the day I was born was Thanksgiving and this year it was Thanksgiving again. (I have no idea why it isn’t that way every year, so don’t ask me.) anyway, after all the people ate – and I had some of that, don’t worry – seeky and I got to eat a special kind of cake, just for us! I never had a cake of my own before. the top tasted like peanut butter and it was really yummy. mom was ridiculous and took pictures of us eating. she added them here at the bottom.

when your dog has a special birthday, think about treating them with doggy birthday cake. it was really yummy!

luv,
Snickers

Birthday TEASE		Cake PLEASE?		Mmmm, peanut butter!
Sharing w/Seeky				Almost done

Snick doesn’t want the new blog to be ALL about serious stuff, so here’s one just for fun.

I met some of my bestest friends through the Shiba Meetup group that Snick and I started in NYC a couple years ago, so we’ve started one here in Indianapolis too. The Indy Shibas have had two meetups so far. Below are some photos from our second meetup, which was this past Sunday afternoon in Fort Harrison State Park. You may click the smaller images to embiggen.

Snickers and Sachi waiting for the rest of the group to arrive	Takara cozying up to Snickers before the hike
Snickers had SUCH a good time on the hike!	Snickers and Koda hiking together.
This is the full hiking crew, including "Honorary Shiba (aka Poodle)" Texas. From left to right: Texas, Takara, Snickers, Koda and Sachi.

OMG, these are the cutest squirrels you can imagine. Unfortunately Snickers thinks they look incredibly tasty. If I am not VERY careful he is going to break one of my fingers and/or get away from me when he sees one of these cuties dashing across the park.

Debbie clicked this photo with her phone when we were walking. Click through to see the next one!

I learned what could have been a devastatingly difficult lesson this morning. Snick’s leash broke while we were out for our morning walk. He was running at the time (he does this weird “run away from it” thing after he poops) and the end hardware attached to his collar just POPPED out of the hardware piece sewn into the leash. You know the part where it swivels? Just popped right out! I guess the metal must have worn over time.

There are few things quite as frightening as seeing your heart dog running away from you on a midtown Manhattan sidewalk during the morning rush hour!

Luckily, I’ve done some training in case the leash ever broke or I dropped it. I keep him close to me and then suddenly release all but the end handle of the leash so it feels suddenly loose. Then I drop to the ground, call him, and give him big rewards for returning. I think that’s what brought him back to me this morning because shortly after it popped, he put the brakes on and turned back towards me, instead of continuing to run. He stopped to say hello to two pedestrians, who – even though I asked nicely and quite desperately for them to grab him – just looked at me, looked at him, and kept walking. Then I started calling him and he trotted back to me and started playing the “dancing just out of reach” game. I chose my moment carefully and managed to lunge for him and grab his collar. At most, he got about 50 feet from me and he never left the sidewalk, but I think my heartbeat and breathing completely stopped from the time the leash broke until the time I had my hands on him again. When I caught him, I just sat down on the sidewalk until I had recovered enough to stand up again.

I learned two things:

1. Check equipment regularly for wear and tear!!!
2. Training him would work better if I had learned too. He did the right thing (turned and came back), but I DID NOT. I did not drop to the ground and cheerfully call him with “Snickers, Come,” and then give him a handful of treats. I totally panicked and froze and didn’t even reward him after I caught him! I need to train MYSELF better.

Snickers and I pupsat a couple of our buddies – Benno & Lily – this weekend. Snickers and Lily are in LUV. I got a couple quick videos of them playing together tonight.

Having the three of them in the apartment all weekend has been great, although walking them all together is often challenging! There’s a very primitive feel to having 3 Shiba wandering around the place, even in midtown Manhattan!

One of my meetup members posted some new photos today from our last meetup and this was in them. Ahhhh…. that’s my beautiful boy.

So, yesterday I spent the day out in New Jersey (AUGH, THE HORROR) at the Shiba Specialty. I got to meet some great Shiba people and was able to love on some awesome Shibas. I learned so much sitting ringside with Kathi Melton of Bali Hai Kennels, watching the 42 Shibas that were entered. I must have been asking her the dumbest questions… I’ve never even BEEN to a dog show before, but she was great.

When I got home last night, Snickers was soooo happy to see me. He even forgave me for cheating on him with all those other Shibas. But then, with all my new found Shiba knowledge, I looked him in the eyes and I said to my darling dog "Snickers, my dear… your ears are too big!" Luckily, he doesn’t expect me to be Cindy Crawford and I don’t expect him to have a perfect rusty black coat (he’s a little too blue black) or tiny teddy bear ears! He adores me with all my faults and I adore him with his teeny tiny little faults! 🙂

Today, I spent the day at Westminster. I met a few more people and kissed some more dogs. It was absolutely great. I have to say thanks to Kathi, Valerie, and Alex for putting up with my non-expert-Shiba-ness for the two days. I had a great time hanging out with you guys (and Miss ~T~, Snick, and Secret enjoyed meeting you too)!

Miss ~T~ has a bean bag in her room. She got it from my folks for Christmas about five years ago. It’s gotten a lot of use -double as much for the 3 years that we’ve had Snickers. The zipper is broken, enough beans have somehow disappeared for it to be about 2/3 it’s original size, the cover is looking sort of worn… you get the idea.

So, a week or so ago, we briefly discussed the idea of getting rid of it. It takes up a lot of room and she doesn’t really use it anymore because she’s always at her computer or playing her guitar. Snickers used to play in it a lot, but not so much. A day or two after T and I had this conversation, she walked into her room and saw this… click for the cuteness.

I guess that ends that discussion.

WOOF! LET’S PLAY!!!

I know, I know, I only posted twice in December. Well, my knee is almost healed, the holidays are over, and I caught up on about half of my past due work this long weekend. I logged into Bloglines today to find over 400 posts that needed reading though (eek), so I’m not QUITE caught up on everything yet. As soon as I can stop to breathe, I promise that I will post.

My sister took lots of great photos (including the one above of Snick) while we were all together for the holidays. I will post the ones of the pups soon.

Snickers Then

And Now

He’s all grown up and he’s my "heart dog."

I never would have guessed that the silly, squiggly, mouthy puppy we brought home back in January 2003 would grow up into such a confident, wonderful adult. He is so self-assured and so loving. He’s reserved with most folks outside the pack, but he turns into such a silly boy when he is greeting one of his favored few (human or canine). There is just so much to love about this guy, I could blog about him for years (and probably will) without covering it all.

Happy Birthday Snickers. I love you.

Snick’s Canine Good Citizen certificate came today. He’s a certified good dog. (Secret, on the other hand is a CDB – canine dumb blonde – but we love her anyway.) Just for fun, here’s a silly picture of Snickers at the dog run a few weeks ago. He had just yawned, I think.

I was thinking today about a couple of my favorite Snickers moments that ended up as blog posts. They were:

• Snicks, The Valiant Hunter (or something), and
• Shibas are Fierce

One of these days when I’m not so busy, I’ll go back to blogging about stuff other than just Snickers. Really. 😉

Snickers passed his Canine Good Citizen test today. Yay Snickers!!! We went to the My Dog Loves Central Park Country Fair with our NYC Shiba Inu Meetup group today. He was scheduled to take the CGC test on October 24th but they were doing testing in the park and I thought “what the heck! we’ll take it and fail and know what we need to work on.” So we did, and HE PASSED!!!

The one part I thought he might not pass was the “supervised separation” where I have to leave him alone with the evaluator for THREE MINUTES. Yikes! We have a hand signal for “be right back” though, so I told him to sit (so I’d have his attention, but didn’t tell him to stay) and then I told him I’d be right back and walked off where he couldn’t see me. I think I was fretting more than he was for that 3 minutes. The evaluator said he whimpered when I left but not loudly and he didn’t get anxious or pull on the leash or anything, so he passed.

If you want you can see the ten components of the Canine Good Citizen test on the AKC’s website.

Oh, I have to cancel our appointment for the 24th. Hee hee! 🙂

A few days ago, I referred to a photographer, but gave no detail. Well, the detail is that Snickers got to be a model for a day (unpaid, just for fun) for Urban Hund’s Fall 2006 Collection.

The photographer, Kent Henderson, emailed me a few days ago to say that a picture of Snickers made it into the catalog! hee hee! I don’t know if Snick will be on Urban Hund’s website too, but if so, I’ll link to it when the fall collection goes online. In the meantime, click the pic to the left to see my six favorites from the shoot.

The best part was that we got to keep one of the collar & leash combos and it is really, REALLY nice stuff!

Note: Edited October 24, 2008, to remove link to photo gallery that no longer exists.
Edited August 11, 2013 to remove the link to Urban Hund.

A few weeks ago, Snickers had his first sleep over. He goes to the dog run, he has playdates, he goes to doggie daycare, but this was new. His friend, Bean, spent a whole weekend with us! (Bean’s companions – Beth & Jeff – had to go out of town. We were dogsitting.)

Snickers and Bean met when they were puppies and they have been fast friends ever since. Bean used to live in our neighborhood, but he moved to Brooklyn, so now we have to coordinate visits. They get so excited to see each other. They had SUCH a good time that weekend. They were both completely exhausted when it was over. We spent a lot of time outdoors and at the dog runs. We also met up with a photographer (more on that later) who took these nice pics of the boys.

Bean and Snick even signed up for their first Agility class together, which started tonight, but unfortunately Bean had to drop out. 🙁 He had a problem with his back about 6 months ago and he’s started limping again when he gets too tired. Class tonight was FUN, but it would have been so much better with our friends Beth and Bean.

I guess I forget – because he has such a big personality and heart – but just now I turned the corner into my room and saw Snick sleeping (and shedding) on the corner of my bed and thought “Gee, he’s really quite small.” So, I went over and gave him hugs and snuggles and kisses just for being so cute and wonderful. Of course, that woke him up and put an end to my leisurely afternoon (because now he wants to eat, play, walk, something.)

The evening of the May 24th – Snickers was acting weird at the dog run – breathing fast, staying right next to me. He was stung by a bee at the run last summer and flies made him nervous after that (till it got cold and they went away), but this was a bit extreme.

The morning of the 25th – We were at the dog run and he started looking all around like something was after him and then he started to shiver and shake and whimper and cry. I also noticed him pawing at the sides of his mouth and realized he’s been doing that more and more for the past few weeks. I took a close look and noticed that his bottom lip on both sides of his mouth is red and inflamed. The right side looked like he’d scratched some flesh away.

The evening of the 25th – Around 5pm, T called from home and said he was freaking out, crying and shaking and looking all around. I went home and he was so intent on whatever he was imagining that I couldn’t even get his attention. Eventually he calmed down and I took him for a walk. He acted weird again at the run after our walk and we went home.

The morning of the 26th – He was sleeping more soundly than I’ve ever seen him sleep. He didn’t wake up when I petted him or even when I moved his head with my hand. His ear finally twitched a bit when I said his name (rather desperately, I’m sure, as I thought at that point that he might have curled up and died during the night).

Saturday, the 27th – Snicks went to the vet. She did a full exam and drew blood and the tech went with me to walk him outside and get a pee sample. She prescribed Clavamox (antibiotic) for his lips, along with Chlorhexadine solution to clean his lips with once a day. She also prescribed Tramadol, which is a mild sedative and pain killer. He acts freaky sometimes with sedatives, but she said this is mild and also if there is something bothering him the pain killer part will help also.

Her initial ideas were:
– Focal seizures,
– Internal discomfort of an unknown source,
– Thyroid problems, or, simply
– FEAR.

Tuesday evening the 30th – After a long discussion with the vet Tuesday evening, I am treating Snickers’ issues as fear-based, not physical. All his test results came back normal. There is still the possibility that it could be focal seizures, but the vet and I both think from the timing of the incidents that he is having panic attacks.

I treated his infected, chapped lips (from drooling, then scratching) and they’ve slowly gotten better. We only stay at the dog run briefly now. If he starts to stress out about the flies (or imagined flies), we go for a walk instead. If he freaks out at home, I give him the Tramadol. I’ve only had to do that twice. I’m going to order Rescue Remedy to use instead.

It’s going to be a long summer…

I talk to so many people since I got Snickers. (Mostly because tourists are more likely to ask someone with a dog for directions, but also kids that want to know if they can “pet the puppy” and even the random Shiba owner or enthusiast that we run into.)

Tonight, as Snick sat in one of his favorite people watching spots, I had a conversation with a nice Japanese lady. She came over to say hello to Snick. She was familiar with Shibas, but when I asked if she’d ever had one, it turned out that she has a Labrador Retriever in Japan. I thought it was sort of nifty that she has a dog from North America in Asia and I have a dog from Asia in North America.

That’s all… I know I’ve been MIA for a couple weeks, but I’ve really had so much going on. I’ll be back. I promise. 🙂

will be long enough for Snickers to be in our lives.

Tonight, Snickers got to do something only country dogs usually get to do. He trotted proudly home with a prize held carefully between his teeth.

He didn’t exactly hunt this down and kill it, but he certainly proved himself to be capable of procurring dinner.

We were outside for our bedtime walk. As we were walking north on 8th Ave we started to pass two ladies carrying identical shopping bags. These weren’t just any shopping bags though; they each had a big picture of a DOG on the side. As Snick came along the lady in front, he slowed down and looked at her bag. Then he slowed down some more until the 2nd lady came up beside him and he looked her bag. Sped up to 1st lady. Sniffed bag. Slowed down to 2nd lady. Sniffed. Sped up to 1st lady and nudged. Of course, by this time they had slowed down and were going “oh, how cute! he’s looking at them!” The next thing I knew, Snicks must have sent out some subliminal messages, because one of them was searching around in her doggie bag for something.

I almost protested but it was so cute, I had to let it play out. She handed him a BONE (which I later learned was a Pedigree Dentabone). He put it down on the sidewalk to check it out and the ladies walked on. He then picked it up and practically DRAGGED me several blocks home, carrying it all the way. We passed the ladies on the way; as we went by, I heard “oh, look, he’s carrying it!”

So, to make a long story at least marginally shorter, we got to our building, I took off his leash and he trotted up to the fifth floor, bone in mouth and proceeded to immediately polish off half of it.

I didn’t get a chance to say thank you to the nice doggie bag toting ladies, but I wish I had. They created a memorable moment for me and made Snick VERY happy.

Shibas? Evil? Never!

Um, well… maybe! Talk about evil eyes!

(These were taken back in October when Snick’s buddy Toshi was over to play again. No Shibas were actually harmed during this playdate.)

OK, I know I should be sleeping now, but I’m goofing around with the blog instead. What’s it to you? Sheesh!

This was just a few days ago. This is clearly Snickers’ favorite toy. I just HAD to share this. He was furiously playing with his hedgehog one day and then basically just collapsed into a nap with it.

And here is Snickers enjoying the brand new conference room at my job last Friday. (I guess this is proof that he’s a good boy. The company just completely renovated and remodeled the entire office space and no one hesitated to let the S Dog continue coming in on Fridays.)

I know my Shiba readers will understand. He’s not spoiled. He’s just, um, well loved.

First, this is Snick enjoying the king size Sheraton Sweet Sleeper Bed while we were away for the holidays.

Second, this is the recipe for Snick’s food. I’m not exactly sure what it says about me that the ONLY time I cook is when I prepare Snick’s food.

Snick just walked out of the bathroom with a piece of tissue stuck to one paw. I swear, I am not making this up.

aka How To Stop Traffic in NYC

Snick and I just went for a long bedtime walk. We walked and walked and walked. He rounded the corner onto a street he walks on almost every day. There was still some snow there. He started sniffing around and checking it out. All the sudden he started to run back the other way. Then he abruptly stopped, sat, lifted a paw, and started to SCREAM.

Have you ever heard the Shiba Scream? No? Well, if you live in my neighborhood and you thought you just heard a dog get hit by a car, that was Snickers. With cold salt in his paw apparently.

I knelt down and held him. And he screamed. I put my hand around his paw. And he screamed. I started to gently rub it to see if I could get whatever was in there LOOSE. And he screamed. Less. Finally he whimpered and then he stopped.

Meanwhile a group of pedestrians stopped in their tracks across the avenue. People stared out of two cars stopped at the intersection. A lady walked over and asked if he was ok and then said she’d thought I was beating him (from the sound) until she saw I was holding him. A Con Ed crew stopped working and a woman on the fifth floor of the building across the street opened her window and was calling out something about “dog” and “hurt” and “?”.

And, yes, I had to carry him most of the way home.

Inu means “dog” in Japanese. I’ve known that for years. Akita Inu, Shiba Inu, etc. What I didn’t know until my mini me and I started researching breeds was that an obsolete meaning of Shiba in Japanese is “small.”

When I mentioned to a friend of mine last summer that Shiba Inu means Small Dog, she found it quite funny that when someone asks me “what kind of dog is that?” my answer is “he’s a small dog.”

Now, whenever I answer the question, a strange “Who’s On First”-type script plays in my head, especially if the person asking is Japanese.

Well Meaning Stranger: What kind of dog is he?
Me: He’s a small dog.
WMS: He’s not so small!
Me: No, he’s not. He’s actually a little larger than the small dog standard. He’s 27 pounds.
WMS: There’s a small dog standard?
Me: Of course. He’s a pure bred small dog.
WMS: Oh! What breed of small dog is he?
Me: He’s a small dog.

Or, something like that anyway. 🙂

I still haven’t caught up on my work. I seem to have the developer’s version of writer’s block. Which sucks. A lot. <sigh>

Anyway, I just had to catch up on reading a few of my favorite blogs today. I am not going to let myself post (this doesn’t count!), so in the meantime, here is a picture of Snickers politely reminding me moments ago that I can’t go to bed until I cook his next few days worth of food.

I think he may have meant “can we go for another walk before bed tonight?” but it did, indeed, remind me to cook his food. He’ll just have to wait till tomorrow morning for that next walk. (Don’t worry, he spent 1 1/2 hours at the dog run a few hours ago.)

Spoiled dog. 😛

• I have been awake for 3 hours.
• I’ve had breakfast with my daughter.
• I’ve had my first cup of coffee.
• I’ve probably dropped off, or picked up, my laundry or my dry cleaning.
• I’ve spent time with at least two of my good friends.
• I have walked 1.5 miles.
• I’m usually hungry for my second breakfast already.

If we were still sans dog, this list would look like this…

• I’ve been awake for 45 minutes.
• I’ve glimpsed my daughter in passing as I stumbled into the shower.
• I have walked .7 miles.
• I’ve incoherently purchased my breakfast and coffee on the way to the office.

I think I’m better off with the dog. Although I’m sure similar lists (say, about house cleaning or free time) might seem to slant the other way. 🙂

Today is Snick Dog’s Birthday! He’s TWO. 🙂

My dog – Snick the Dog – He knows the days of the week. I don’t mean that I think he knows the names of the days, but he knows the pattern of the week and he keeps track. He knows that for 4 days I go to work and leave him home, for 1 day he goes to work with me, and then for 2 days I generally stay home and hang out with him.

On normal Friday mornings, when we leave the dog run, he trots purposefully past the turn to our apartment and heads towards my office. I have always attributed his certainty of our destination to the fact that I take my laptop/backpack to the run with me on Fridays and that’s his cue that he’s going with me. However, when I was on jury duty a few weeks back, I did NOT have my backpack with me when we left the run on Friday and as I turned towards the apartment to take him home, he pulled toward the office! I told him “no, we’re going home. this way,” and he looked up at me like “nnooooo…. I go with you on Fridays!”

I convinced myself afterwards that it was probably my imagination. Or a coincidence. Nope. Nada. I was wrong about that. This morning he did it again.

We had clients coming in to the office today, so I had to leave him home. Walking home from the run today, when we got to the corner and I turned for home, he started PULLING and trying to drag me east towards work! We went upstairs and as I was changing into my work clothes and preparing to leave, he didn’t lie down and wait for his “goodbye treats” like normal. He kept watching me expectantly, like I was going to realize I had my days mixed up, grab his leash and take him back out with me! He knew today was the day he goes to work.

The good news though is that my mini me came home from a four day school trip today and he was there to greet her. I bet he was ssoooo excited to see her!

Lunch Break Blogging: It is almost 2:00 PM and I have spent my entire day so far working on one friggin computer that suddenly decided to stop booting up. I’ve had a VP in Investment Banking computerless all day and it looks like I’m going to have to reformat c:. <sigh> I’m running some last ditch effort diagnostics right now while I eat a hamburger for lunch.

I am catching up on a little blog-reading while I eat and test and a blog post about Dakota, a Shiba puppy in Pennsylvania, reminded me of Snickers protecting me from the boogieman on Halloween.

We were walking home from the dog run around 10:00’ish. 39th St was pretty empty and these three (probably teenagers) guys in costume were coming towards us, yelling at each other, throwing things, goofing off, doing the things people do when they feel safe behind masks. Snickers was immediately wary of them when he saw them coming. One of them realized it and came up to us on the sidewalk. He was wearing all black and a Scream mask. Snickers stopped and crouched into an attack posture and all his hackles went up. The guy made a growling noise at Snickers who then burst into warning barks – roo roo roo, roo roo, roo roo roo. I couldn’t help but laugh at my fierce little dog protecting me from the Hobgoblin on the street.

Seriously though, Shibas bond VERY strongly with their owners and I can imagine Snickers doing just about anything if he thought I was in danger. He gets into the occasional fight at the dog run (when he thinks another dog has stepped out of line) and he’s a determined little thing, all muscle and teeth. Someone told me once he was like a wolverine. I hope I never have to find out if he’d defend me against a person, but I bet he would.

It’s raining today, so Snick has his buddy Toshi over to play. Watching them race maniacally around my apartment reminded me that I never posted pictures from the last time Toshi came over. So… with no further ado, my favorite pair of Double Trouble Shibas.

 
 

OK, this is a quick post from work (BAD ME), but I just could NOT help myself.

Snick comes to work with me almost every Friday. Since half the office was out for Rosh Hashana today, he got to come for an extra day this week! I keep a fleece mat in my desk and unroll it for him when he’s here. He’s so cute snuggled up napping under my desk, that I had to take his picture. (Although, I only had my phone to take it with, so isn’t very good.)

I couldn’t help myself. This is one of Snick’s puppy pictures that the breeder sent us when he was just a teeny baby.

And THIS was a week or two after we brought him home.

Since it was so BRUTALLY hot when Snick and I went out this morning, he decided to spend the rest of his day like this…

Everyone asks why I didn’t kick the guy back. I HAD TO CHECK ON SNICKERS. By the time I knew he was OK (perfectly fine, just a bit befuddled), the jerk was almost a block away.

Besides, all that really mattered to me was taking Snick home and giving him lots of extra snuggly love.

Who goes to someone else’s city and kicks their dog??? Apparently, American tourists do.
[Read more…]

Shibas are such regal little dogs and they usually have nice, exotic sounding names. One of Snick’s Shiba friends is named Toshi and another is named Kaleo. People (well, adults at least) look at me a little sideways when they ask his name and I tell them "Snickers."

But what can I do? T and a committee of her friends picked his name. I suppose I had veto power, but who can veto the name a 10 year old picks for her first puppy?!?

His registered name is actually Kawakirei BNT Sweet ‘N Nutty. Of course, I’m not really sure if that’s better or worse. 🙂

Here’s his brother. He’s handsome too, isn’t he?

I was at Snickers’ girlfriend’s apartment early this afternoon saying (to her owner, not to her) how much work I need to get done this weekend and as I was saying it I realized that my entire weekend so far has been about the dog… doing stuff for and with the dog.

Yesterday, Snick and I left home at 10:30 AM. We ran errands, we went to the dog run, we went to the pet store, we dropped stuff off at home, and then we went to Brooklyn to see his best friend. Yes, his best friend Bean lives in Brooklyn now. Beth, Jeff, and Bean moved out of our neighborhood about a month ago. Bean and Snickers were SO EXCITED to see each other yesterday. I should have taken my camera. I was extremely jealous of how HUGE their apartment is. People in Brooklyn have a lot of space! We went to Fort Greene Park and hung out under a big shade tree. When Snick and I got back to Hell’s Kitchen, we went back to the dog run and then we were finally home around 7:30 PM.

Today, we went to the dog run and then to his girlfriend’s apartment. This afternoon, we’re walking to the dog park at Chelsea Piers with Snick’s friend Toshi (another black and tan Shiba; I’ll take pictures). Then tonight at 8:30 his potential new dog walker is coming by to visit!

This dog has a more active social life than I do. (Maybe I should do something about that.)

OK, my DOG has play dates. My daughter didn’t go on play dates… well, not until she was old enough to arrange them herself! I’m not sure how this happened; Snickers and his doggie pals are obviously colluding to influence our behavior. And they say Shibas aren’t social!

The picture on the left is Snickers and his girlfriend Ill Nana. The one on the right is him and his best buddies, Bean. Bean’s mom Beth took that one.

Snickers is the best little dog. This first picture is from a couple months ago. I just remembered it and had to post it. He jumps up on the cushions and watches the cars and people on the avenue below our apartment. When he was smaller, he thought they were something small to be chased and eaten. (I think, from the way he barked.) Now he seems to understand that he’s looking at the same place he goes when we go downstairs and walk outside.

This one was today. That’s my daughter he’s curled up against. She has a loft bed, so he sleeps with me at night. When she crashed on the floor cushions for an afternoon nap, it didn’t take him long to realize this was his chance to snuggle up next to her!

This past Saturday, I went to Bryant Park to take some pictures for a website I was working on (Bryant Park Capital). My daughter and her puppy, Snickers, went with me, and I ended up with this great picture of him. At some point later that day, I decided I wasn’t a half-bad photographer (at least for such a cute subject), and today I decided that I needed somewhere to post pictures. So, there you go… now you know why this blog is & here. 🙂