Whistling....

How to seriously confuse a Shiba! (And produce funny Shiba smile!)

Fetch! Sort of....

It begins...

Whose been sleeping in my bed?!

It all started off so well...

...with a lovely walk to the pet shop, Doggies and Moggies. Although harnesses have been a somewhat controversial issue, we decided to go for it because she's making awful choking noises when out walking with just her collar on.

Here is a shot of Shinobi pretending to be a good girl for the photo (after ripping us to shreds moments earlier when we tried to put the harness on her).

Whilst we were walking home all enjoying the new harness, Shinobi decided to mix things up a bit and eat something horrendous. It all happened in three seconds flat, we were laughing over how she was chasing leaves like a cat when she picked one up that had something on it...I have no idea what, but I have a horrible feeling it was faeces. She spat it out and started foaming at the mouth, green foam, and drooling! Panicking, we stopped the first lady we saw with a dog and grabbed the number of the vet off her (thank you much-more-together-than-us dog owner!) The only open emergency vet turned out to be about an hour from us. The vet was kind of patronising, and told me she'd probably be fine or that she'd been poisoned and needed emergency treatment (helpful), he also stressed it would cost us a lot to go in on a Sunday - as if we were concerned about the monetary cost at that moment!
We ran into a delicatessen and the nice lady behind the counter gave us a free glass of water (and unsurprisingly let us kept the glass!) We washed her mouth out and let her walk again to assess the situation.

Here is Shinobi wondering why we're panicking; 'I'm fine, let me eat more poisonous crap off the floor!'

We decided to take Shinobi home because she seemed completely normal. We washed her paws and mouth and face (definitely some kind of faeces there, disgusting!) and brushed her teeth! (Well, tried to).

She seems OK, sleepy from the walk. I guess we're out of the woods? I will be way more strict with her on leash from now on and not let her sniff unless I can see exactly what it is she's getting into - it seemed a shame to be too strict with her when she was enjoying chasing the leaves so much - I learned my lesson!

Here is Shinobi looking at me accusingly. I feel like a bad puppy ma! At least we know our dog wont be a poop eater!

First cafe trip

Today we took Shinobi on a walk around Feock estuary. The walk was a little longer than expected, and muddier too, but she did really well and was good with the other dogs, even though some of them showed aggression towards her. It was pretty cold today so we walked to a cafe after our walk and sat outside huddled around some soup and some cake. Shinobi got homemade beef treats for being such a good girl...

and a well deserved rest afterwards!

Stinky Shiba!

Shinobi was smelling pretty funky today. She did a lot of rolling about in the snow last week, and perhaps rolled in something else...the Advoate (anti parasite treatment) we used on her 3 weeks ago still really smelt strong as well and after a stressful day at work I had had enough! Shower time for Shib!

I prepared myself for the worst (towels all over the floor, door locked shut, ear plugs...) and was pleasantly surprised! Shinobi was somewhat squiggly but really was a good girl overall! She licked the water, let me shampoo her, was generally quiet and not bitey. Perhaps she realised how badly she needed a bath!

 

Shinobi's new collar, so purdy!

Shisnowbi!

The weather said no chance of any snow whatsoever so inevitably we got loads of snow! Shinobi had the time of her life. It's going to snow more tonight, lucky pup!

Shinobi sans lead, eep!

 Getting really into it...

 In the garden.

Breaking into the park first thing in the morning before the gates are unlocked. Luckily the warden was charmed by the Shiba and we didn't get into trouble!

Bad girl Shinobi!

Shinobi has been replaced this morning by an evil demon wild fox wolf, intent on killing me. I took her for a long walk to tire her out where she met lots of people (the usual ridiculous conversations ensued "Oh it's an Akita!" "No a Shiba Inu" "Oh yeah I just love Akita's, she's gonna get huge!" "No, she's going to be quite small, she's a Shiba Inu" " Did you know that Akita's eat wolves?" "Err...ok yeah she can be an Akita if you want...")
I thought the walk would tire her out but it seems to have fuelled her bitey jumpy attack behaviour.

Planning her next attack...

The new training method I've been trialling with her the last couple of days to stop the biting has really wound her up. Everytime she bites, I say no firmly and leave the room for 15 seconds. She howls at the door and scratches, I wait till she calms down and come back in. So far, the biting seems to be just as bad if not worse, especially today. I have given her carrots and ice cubes and she's still a nutter. Sometimes I feel like I'm living with a stray wolf cub.

Park (distinct lack of snow)

Today we were promised a big exciting snow storm...I was looking forward to her reaction to it. The rest of the country has ground to a halt with blizzards and ice and whatnot. Cornwall, as usual, got the usual cold grey non weather (stupid humid coastal climate!) Didn't stop Shinobi having fun however!

Please take me for walkies

Getting very scared of fast running water...

 Shinobi is too distracted by strangers to master the stairs.

Doesn't want to go home...

Home time!

Journeys

Shinobi's days during the week are spent adventuring with my husband at work. It is getting tougher and tougher to get her there however as she is getting more intolerant to being held (why are Shiba's like this?!) and the walk is 45 minutes, far too long for those little legs!

Shinobi's first day at work!

Today my husband went back to work and took Shinobi with him. It was also Shinobi's first bus journey and she got mobbed by students (ah!). Everyone thinks she's a fox (predictably) except one person who asked if she was a wolf, what the?! Oh and another woman who insisted she was a Chow Chow and wouldn't have it any other way despite the lack of blue tongue or maine! Ha!

70 bloody pence! Bit of a rip off if you ask me.

He set up her playpen in the barn next to a heater and took her out for little walks every half an hour or so. Probably a much more relaxing day for her than being at home alone all day - (perhaps not so relaxing for my now exhausted husband who is sleeping on the sofa at 8pm!).

Not exactly an ideal solution for the separation anxiety she suddenly seems to have developed, but we do prefer keeping her close, she's still a baby after all!