Black Muzzle

When Conker was younger (4 months in this picture) he had a black muzzle. It's common for Shiba Inu puppies to be born with black muzzles and retain them until they have their first few sheds. After that, they may have a slight trace of black in a few areas that either stay faint or fade completely with age. Conker's muzzle now has very little black, it's almost all gone. There is a very faint amount on the underside of his muzzle that I suspect will disappear by his fourth birthday.
Some Shibas, often those with more black in their coat, may retain the black muzzle into adulthood.

(October, 2010)

Phoenix Arizona, prepare to be invaded!

Conker the Shiba Inu will be visiting the southwest this upcoming holiday season!  I would love to get together with any Phoenix area Shibas and their owners, if time allows, sometime this December.  I don't yet have definite dates as to when we'll be there but I do know we're going and that it'll probably be sometime after the 17th (kids gotta get out of school) and we'll be coming back to Oregon around new years eve.  We will most likely be staying in Buckeye with the Grandparents (haha so far from the actual city) but I've got a sister in Central Phoenix right across the street from Indian School Park and wouldn't mind driving there or a bit farther to have a mini Shiba-meet at a favorite dog park.

Anyways, let me know if any of you are interested in meeting us!  I should be getting definite dates sometime soon and will post them when I know what they are.

Riverside Park

Today Conker and I went to Riverside Park.  I haven't ever been here for anything other than Boatnik and since we went hiking yesterday I figured today would be a cool down day.

Riverside park is pretty nice.  It's not huge but it's a good size.  The Boatnik fair is held here afterall, complete with rides, food and all that.  Anyways, it was a nice shaded walk with relatively few people so Conker wasn't bothered by anyone.  There was plenty of new smells for keep him busy for the few who did ntotice him.

The Rouge River itself is actually not too easy to get down to.  The bank drops down pretty steeply and there is no actual shoreline on this stretch of the river.  Conker and I found a boat launch and visited the river from there. 

With a little encouragement (me stepping in and showing him it was okay) Conker walked into the Rouge and pawed at the water.  Then he saw the geese.  Oops.

After visiting the river we walked around the park for a short while then headed to the Grange. Conker's never been in there before and he did okay.  He still doesn't really like to go into buildings but the Grange is more open than Mini Pet Mart.
I found a Ruffwear Approach pack for $24.99 though!  It fit Conker PERFECTLY but I lack the money plus with Conker's LP he's not going to be carrying a pack anytime soon.  I might hop in there and get one anyways just in case Conker has surgery or I get another Conker-sized dog in the future. 

On our way home we stopped at the dog park.  There was a Labish dog named Morgan who I've never seen before there then a man with a Cocker Spaniel and some GSD mutt who I have met.  I didn't stay too this time.  On our way out of the park Conker surprised me by taking off into the creek.

Okay not too surprised but instead of his normal splashing in paw-deep water he jumped into the deep end and swam!  He almost never does this on his own nor looks like he's having fun if I make him go in.  But this time it was all him and he was loving it.  Weirdo.

Shiba Shedding

Shibas Shed, it's a part of life.  Today on the Nihon Ken forum someone askeds to see pictures of a Shikoku shedding but I figured a Shiba was close enough.  So I got out the bag of Conker's fur that I've been hoarding for some ungodly reason, spread it out on the bed and took a couple photos.

Shiba, fur and Furminator knock-off.  The fur is kinda wadded up so if it were "fresh" it would cover more than half of my bed.

The small pile at the very bottom of this shot is freshly brushed fur. See how it's looser than the other stuff?  And that was only from a small portion of Conker's neck.

The fur was about three inches deep on the bed, so there is a lot more than appears in the other pictures.


And today was somewhat exciting (frightening) for Conker.  While I didn't get any pictures of it, today was his first official swimming lesson!  He was NOT happy do be in the pool however, but I'm going to keep taking him in and letting him swim around until every time he heads to the stairs instead of the side.  He can't get out of the pool if he tries from the side, so I take him in about halfway then let him go and walk backwards ahead of him towards the stairs so he knows to go that way.
And thankfully since he's lost almost all of his winter fluff, he dries off really quickly.

Today Conker got: Pork meat, turkey back piece and gizzard, beef kidney, chicken liver and heart.

Rollerblading and the dog park.

I had an idea earlier today so I ran to Mom's storage unit and dug out my rollerblades.  I haven't used them for a couple years but fortunatly my feet remembered how to use them.

First I took Conker on a trail run.  Oddly enough he wouldn't actually run, or even trot for that matter.  He just walked really fast.  I'd easily pass him then have to slow down and wait for him to catch up.
Juneau on the other hand... She was all "RUN RUN RUN SQUIRREL RUN RUN RUN!" She was pretty good about slowing down, not pulling when I told her and stopping when I did.
Sasha lumbered along and after only two blocks I could see she needed to go back.

On Conker's first run we stopped at the local dog park.  I conveniently forgot a camera and since mine was dead (left my charger in Missouri) I'm stuck with stealing my sister's or Mom's.  Anywho, there was a little Rat Terrir pup there who stuck to her family and Conker didn't seem interested in her much and stuck to the other side of the dog park.  It took him a while to realize he wasn't on a leash and when he did he turned into a rocket for a few minutes only stopping to roll in the muddy grass.

We rollerbladed back to the dog park this evening and met a female Lab named Midnight.  She was the perfect playmate for Conker and the two of them romped around while her owner and I chatted about the Shiba Inu.  He had a smart phone that somehow got internet and was reading about them and asking questions, it was kinda neat.

After they left I did a bit of recall training with Conker since he got out earlier today and wouldn't come even when Juneau and Sasha did.  Bad Shiba.
But on the way back I was able to get him to trot and run a bit so hopefully he'll get used to the faster speeds and we'll be able to go a couple miles instead of to the dog park and back.

Conker searching for a treat I threw into the grass.

SNOW! (Saturday, December 11th)

  I really didn't think it was going to snow in St. Peters this early.  I'd been watching the Weather Channel the whole day and they kept saying that we were only going to get a tinsy bit of snow.
Well, around 6 at night the snow was beginning to fall, barely enough to see but enough that one could spot it blowing across the road in car headlights.  By 11 at night there were gatherings of snow on rooftops, cars and patches of grass.  By 2 AM the ground was covered.  We decided to go out at 3.  It was so bright due to the snow in the air we didn't need lights.

Conker had never seen snow before.  At first he didn't want to come off the steps or touch the snow but after a bit of coaxing, he jumped right in.

Conker decided the snow was the best thing he'd ever seen.  He constantly ran around, jumped and rolled in it and chased the large flakes blowing in the wind.  I was surprised at how quiet he was, normally he makes a lot of noise when he plays like that.  I was glad he didn't bark since our neighbors probably wouldn't have liked that.

We decided to go for a walk around the complex.  Conker wanted to stay in the large grass area and run some more.  He was on a 30 foot lead and surprisingly had no urge to run off.  Though he didn't want to leave the grass area, he followed after he realized we were leaving.  He stayed close the entire time.

Conker would trot ahead of us and sniff the snow then run to catch up after we had passed him.  He liked to jump onto the "planters" with grass and bushes and sniff at whatever was under the snow, but for the most part he stuck to the snowy sidewalk.
We spent a good 45 minutes walking around the complex.  Conker slipped on a patch of ice that I, immediately afterward, slipped on as well but I caught myself before I landed on top of him.  Conker really enjoyed his late night in the snow, but we were getting tired so we decided to call it.

The snow was still there the next day and had added an inch or so, bringing the snowfall to around 3 inches.  We took Conker out for a quick 20 minute 30-foot lead walk then had breakfast/lunch.  After that we walked to the treat store and bought him some more Orijen and a few treats.

Letting Conker run around in the snow on the 30-foot lead did something to him.  He is a MUCH better dog on the leash now and understands that when we grab the big lead he gets to run and play and when we grab the short lead he needs to stay close.  The better he does on the short lead means more long lead time.

The snow is still here.  It's kinda odd for me seeing snow outside every time I look out the window since I grew up in Phoenix Arizona and snow doesn't exist there.  For Conker it seems like he's known about snow for his whole 5 1/2month life.  He loves the snow so much, it's kinda sad to bring him back inside.

Introduction.

Hello from St. Louis! Or, 30 miles west of St. Louis. Close enough in my book. This blog is about Conker, the nearly 5 month old Shiba Inu my boyfriend and I adopted from a shelter 3 1/2 weeks ago.

I'd done quite a bit of research on the Shiba Inu before we agreed to get one and thought he was going to be a complete hassle to train.  Not so.  Conker has surprised me in how easy he's been to train so far.  He sits, waits, lays down and comes almost every time we ask him to (provided the proper treats are on hand of course) and is pretty easy to walk.  He learned fast what he is and isn't allowed to chew on or play with, a feat that took my Mom's Border Collie/Labrador Retriever mixes nearly a year to accomplish.  He is pretty good around the apartment as well.  He likes to fetch any of his toys (again, something my Mom's dogs still struggle with) and is getting better with the "Drop It" command every day.  He isn't allowed in the bathroom and doesn't quite understand that yet but he'll get it eventually.
When we first got him we had to take him out every 10-20 minutes to be sure he wasn't going to "do his business" in the apartment.  There were a few accidents but after that he began to understand that you only do those things outside and pretty much house trained himself.  I guess being a Shiba, who are naturally clean, helped quite a bit on that one.

This all makes the Shiba Inu sound like a breeze, doesn't it?  Well, he is a Shiba after all, and no dog is perfect.  Sometimes he goes bonkers, spinning, barking and running around while on a walk and is almost impossible to calm down.  He is fond of trying to get onto things he isn't supposed to (couch, bed).  Conker also has this obnoxious habit of barking at us and running around if he thinks we aren't paying enough attention to him. 
We keep a harness on him most of the time with a drag lead so he is easier to catch when he misbehaves, but he is quite fast and we don't always succeed.  When this happens he thinks it's a game and runs around even more.  He will also decide his food isn't good enough and bark at us to give him ours.  Another thing that no dog should think is appropriate.  We are trying to correct this behavior by ignoring him until he is quiet and calm, then he gets praise and a treat. If that doesn't work we put him in the baby-gated kitchen with no toys or anything fun (a Time Out)  for 1-5 minutes, then we take him out again.  If he continues to misbehave, he is put in for fifteen minutes.  He usually gets it the second time.

 
Going on walks is very important for Conker.  It gets him the exercise he needs and also helps wear him out so he is calmer and less obnoxious in the apartment. But that's not the only thing walks do for him.  They expose him to many different sights, sounds and smells, all things that every dog needs to experience to help them become a balanced and sociable dog.  Thanks to the walks and proper timing of treats, he isn't afraid of cars, trucks, motorcycles (if he sees them first) airplanes and other dogs.  He still hasn't gone to a dog park but he is good with polite leashed dogs.  The ones who jump on him or bark and snarl aren't so high up on his list of fun things so we ask people first about their dogs before Conker meets them.

People on the other hand are a different story.  Conker warmed up to me almost instantly when I brought him home.  It took him about a day to warm up to my boyfriend but strangers are a different story.  He is very people shy, something that is difficult to deal with since he's such a cute little dog.  Some of the time I am not able to stop people from trying to pet him, something he doesn't want them to do, and only makes everything worse.
We are working on this by walking to the local natural pet food store, buying a few of his favorite treats then sitting outisde of the bookstore.  Every time a person walks by, Conker gets a bit of treat.  The employees of the food store are also helping him get used to people by giving him treats when we stop in.

Tomorrow we are off to Chicago for Thanksgiving.  Conker is going to meet some family members as well as their dog Riley.  If all goes well Conker will be one step further in becoming a calmer and more balanced dog.