Lots o' Video

Take a look at N2Paws, featuring Tellington Touch, or TTouch, AND our favourite breed of dog!

And, of course, everyone's favourite puppies: the webcam Shiba sextet.

I've got to give their owners kudos for not trying to capitalize on the fame of their pups and for promoting responsible breeders and ownership. If you go to the webcam page, you can see their disclaimer:

For more information on the Shiba Inu go here - http://www.shibas.org/docs/Shiba_Brochure_color2.pdf

Please do NOT purchase pet store (puppy mill) puppies!
Do your research to locate reputable breeders in your area.

Likewise, do NOT buy puppies over the internet! No legitimate breeder will ever advertise puppies for sale on the internet. Don't be fooled by the misleading ads!

Another option would be to consider adopting a rescue Shiba
http://national.shibarescue.org/

After watching the horror story on CBC about puppy mills in Quebec, it's nice to know that there are people out there who are using cute puppies to promote a message of responsible dog ownership.

Webcam Shibas taking online world by storm

For when you're sick of politics

I've been trying to find out the breeders and kennel name of these pups, but so far have had no luck... does anyone have a link to more information?

Still hunters in their native land

I came across this blog entry containing a photo of Japanese wild boar hunters and their dogs. Two of the dogs look like Shibas. It's interesting to note that they are still used for hunting, especially wild boar, which is a tough opponent even for larger hunting dogs like Catahoulas and the American hounds.

Remember Buddy?

The Shiba who gnawed his leg down to the bone has had some closure.

Owner of dog who gnawed own leg takes plea deal

Honestly, didn't the guy ever hear of Elizabethan collars or muzzles? Duct tape is one of Dog's gifts to mankind, but it isn't the solution to a medical problem like this.

Why do we go through this?

Occasionally I meet up with people who say, "Well, why did you get a dog if you knew that it wouldn't listen to a thing you say?" Sometimes I play along and say, "I'm a masochist. I enjoy pain, but don't want to scar myself, so I got a Shiba instead of indulging in BDSM."

Some people just can't function without adversity. If angst was a career, I would be writing this on my private jet. And it seems I can never give myself a break. So it stands to reason that I would not get a dog that makes life easy. I would not be truly happy with a dog that obeyed my every whim. I can only be happy with a dog who, when he obeys a command, makes it seem as if he is giving me the Holy Grail.

As soon as a Shiba responds to a command, the Shiba owner's mind is immediately flooded with a plethora of endorphins, each one shrieking, "Did you see that?! He came/sat/flicked his ear!" For that one instant in time, it doesn't matter if you're broke or depressed or worried about life - by Dog you told your Shiba to something and he did it. Suddenly you can do anything. If you can get your dog to acknowledge your existence as something significant to him, you can get your boss to give you a raise, campaign for mayor, get to the top of that mountain and learn to parallel park all in one day!!!

People with border collies just don't know what they're missing.

They're probably glad.

Nooz!

Another game featuring a Shiba is on the market!

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A Shiba has won the utility group at Crufts!

But that's not all - Tango, the Shiba, won under some interesting speculation. Bookies suspended betting at Crufts due to rumours of inside information. The above article mentions suspicions tending towards a poodle as winner. However, judge Keith Nathan chose Ch Janeryls In The Line Of Fire, owned by Mrs J Bannister from Telford in Shropshire. If you don't normally pay attention to England's biggest dog event, then this year it's worth keeping an eye on Best in Show on Sunday.

Congratulations to Tango!

Don't let them hang with the cool kids

Shassi was born on August 27, 1993. When I started showing her in 1994, I was often the only person nervously trotting back and forth in the breed ring. I have a bagful of impressively coloured ribbons, but Shassi only achieved 9 points before an unfortunate incident involving my father, an open car door, and the highway going through Cloverdale, BC marked the end of her show career.

Back in 1993, somebody casually recognizing Shassi as a Shiba was cause for throwing a mini-party. It meant that I could talk to someone who understood. Back then the only people who recognized Shibas were Shiba owners or the owners of some breeds who greatly resembled a Shiba in looks and temperament.

In 2008, "Hey, that's a Shiba!" means that someone has a friend or a relative with one or considered one as a pet. This means that Shibas are (slowly) becoming more popular. 16 years after the Shiba Inu was recognized by the Canadian Kennel Club, they are slowly becoming mainstream. With Tierce, proper breed identification stands at about 33%. The other 67% is broken down into "What kind of dog is that?", "Is that a Chow mix?", and other haphazard breed guesses, with the most points going to people who at least name some variety of spitz breed. From one or two breeders on Vancouver Island, I can count at least five who are closely involved with breeding Shibas.

Popularity has its ups and its downs. On the plus side, I can now find Shiba merchandise at the local dog biscuit kiosk that also peddles breed-specific keychains, stickers, and other memorabilia. People actually recognize my dog's breed! It's easier to convince people of the Shiba's unsuitability for their lives when they have a vague memory of the problems that their brother's friend's nephew's sister's dog's best friend's owner went through.

On the negative side, the Shiba can now be found in pet shops and bred by unscrupulous fucking idiots. The more common a breed gets, the more likely that members will fall prey to the shelter/SPCA/rescue roundabout. Being as the Shiba can be a high-strung, dominant, independent breed to start with, rehoming a mistreated/unsocialized/ill-trained one can be, at best, difficult.

A Shiba breeder of my acquaintance lamented that the Shiba people at one dog show she visited were unrelentingly negative about the breed's traits. I was of a differing opinion. I thought then and I still do now, that emphasizing the negatives of the Shiba scares away the undedicated and prepares the tenacious of dog ownership. It also keeps this breed mildly unpopular with those who want an easy ride on the pet wagon, despite its appearance in Vodka commercials and as the evil genius (how appropriate) behind Silent Hill 2.

Unpopularity is the Shiba's saving grace when it comes to people who are not willing to accept and address its unique philosophy that all things exist to be eaten/chewed/played with/dominated. Most owners are already addressing this by rabidly jumping on even a hint that someone wants a dog "just like yours!" with tales of valuable items destroyed and frantic chases through the streets, not to mention the unfortunate incident with the neighbour's cat.

Keep up the good work. We don't want the Shiba to go through what the Akita went through in the 90's, what with being shoved into the limelight as big, unique protection dogs. The last thing we need is someone touting the Shiba as the very latest thing in wash n' wear home alarm systems. Thank Dog they're too big for your average handbag.

Out for a walk

Dog strolling along railway tracks brings train to a crawl in Yamanashi

How could it not be a Shiba?

This kind of reminds me of an adventure 10 years ago with Shassi. Friends and I were hiking Dodd's Narrows, which is a place of rock, ocean, islands and trees where one could watch the strait flow on by. When the herring run was on, the strait was churning with sea lions. It was the first time Shassi or I had been there, or to the house where we started from.

In my madness, I had let Shassi loose, figuring she would run with the other dogs and so stay with us. She did stay with us until after lunchtime. About an hour into the hike back, we took stock of the dogs and found that there was no Shassi. Calls and hollers rebounded into the woods - no Shassi. The best thing we could do was hike back to the house where we had left the cars and figure out what to do from there.

When we got there, who should uncurl herself from the doorstep, but Shassi. Apparently she had had enough of hiking and calmly decided to head back to await us hiking fools. We later heard from some locals that they had seen her trotting purposefully on the side of the road, heading back to the house. Keep in mind that this was the first time she had been to said house, and that via a car, so that made it even more incredible.

Note that I don't recommend this for Shibas or any dog who doesn't stick close or come when it's called. There are a lot of things in the woods who would happily make a meal out of a 20 pound dog and we're lucky that Shassi came out of the woods with nothing worse than a tick bite.

I'm definitely reading this one

Ruff love

The love of Andrew DePrisco's life is loyal, affectionate, well-groomed and high class. Unfortunately for his partner, Robert White, his main amore also has four legs and goes to the bathroom in the backyard. Don't get them wrong - their 11 years (and counting) human relationship is strong and healthy. But from the first week the New Jersey-based couple started dating, DePrisco made one thing clear: He would always have two dogs and they would always be purebred Shiba Inu. "He wasn't unhappy with it, but he wasn't as committed to that breed as I was," DePrisco says of his confession. "He pretty much had to accept it."

That's DePrisco's number one rule: Never choose a man over your dog. You will regret it, he warns. But that's just one of many tongue-in-cheek - yet strangely accurate - observations he makes in his book, "Woof! A Gay Man's Guide to Dogs" (BowTie Press, $19.95).

Shibas advertising dog products.

Working in a pet supply store, I have already made a mental note of the products that feature a Shiba on the packaging. Here are two, both from Outward Hound:

Here we have a Shiba who is no doubt delighted to have this water/supply backpack on.


Next, we have something more in keeping with a Shiba's goals: a nice tent for camping! This nylon tent sports bug mesh to keep your Shiba free from mosquitoes.


A closer look:


I think I remember some Ziggys that had a Shiba puppy on them, but we don't have that packaging any more. Akira and Shiro's blog has a post about Shibas in other kinds of advertising.

Last but not least, I have to promote my favourite screensaver: Kissing Canines, which features Libby the Shiba, both as herself and wearing a santa hat.

Hair today...

Today, I brushed Tierce. This is the result of 30-45 minutes of constant brushing with the slicker and the FURminator.

I generally have a low opinion of the latest overpriced, overhyped miracle tool, but this thing really works! It has a row of tiny, sharp inverted Vs that catch the dead hair and pull it out of the coat. It's real charm is the fact that one does not have to stop to remove the hair from the teeth in order for it to keep working.

The FURminator, alas, is not without its drawbacks. For the price (roughly $50 Cdn and up), this thing ought to groom your Shiba itself and clip its nails into the bargain. Instead of containing the fur in a easy-to-grab area, like the average slicker brush, it pulls it out in large, amorphous clouds, which float away and glom onto the nearest clean surface. I like the slicker for its ability to pick up the loose hair that the FURminator leaves behind and to generally separate and pull dead hair out of the coat.

The next time you and your Shiba are in a pet supply store, see if they have a test FURminator that you can try out. You may be impressed at the amount of fur it removes.

Sato sightings

Search goes on for dog lost at I-84 rest stop

Michael Risinit • The Journal News • January 8, 2008

EAST FISHKILL - The 2-year-old dog who slipped away from his owner last week at an Interstate 84 rest stop was seen twice last night close by the highway.

A woman who was driving on Stormville Mountain Road, which runs parallel to the interstate near the rest stop, spotted the 23-pound red dog with a tan belly about 7:15 p.m. That followed a sighting about 45 minutes earlier on Grape Hollow Road. Both roads, as well as the Appalachian Trail, converge near the highway.

Michele Dugan of Southeast, who works to locate and reunite lost pets with their owners, speculated that the dog, a shiba inu, found the rumble of traffic familiar. His owner is a trucker.

"That's what he's known all his life," said Dugan.

Sato, the dog, slipped away Thursday from his owner at the westbound rest stop, which is in Dutchess County and not far from the Putnam County line. Trucker Alen Nelson was hauling frozen bread to Atlanta when the dog, who also answers to Little Toad, ran away from him. Nelson said the dog was spooked by the new Freightliner rig he was driving.

Sato was used to riding in a Kenworth. His employer told him to give up the search and keep on trucking.

Dugan has put up fliers at the rest stop. She is also driving along Stormville Mountain and Grape Hollow roads with the dog's favorite toy - a plush raccoon - and occasionally squeaking the toy in hopes of attracting Sato.

Anyone who might have seen the dog is asked to call 845-494-1519 or 914-329-6067. Nelson said he was offering a $500 reward.

The Search Continues...

Search continues for dog lost at rest stop

Michael Risinit • The Journal News • January 8, 2008

EAST FISHKILL - The search continued yesterday for Sato, a 2-year-old dog who slipped away from his owner last week at an Interstate 84 rest stop.

Sightings of the 23-pound, red dog with a tan belly have come in from Pawling and Beekman in Dutchess County, which are northeast of the westbound rest stop in East Fishkill.

Michele Dugan of Southeast, who works to locate and reunite lost pets with their owners, said yesterday that she was going out to post some additional fliers and look into the reported sightings.

Afterward, she said, she would check out the rest stop, where the shiba inu slipped from his collar early Thursday. His owner, trucker Alen Nelson, was hauling frozen bread to Atlanta when the dog, who also answers to "Little Toad," ran away from him.

Nelson, who was just outside Oklahoma City on Sunday night, said the dog was spooked by the new Freightliner rig he was driving and ran away. Sato was used to riding in a Kenworth.

Anyone who might have seen the dog is asked to call 845-494-1519 or 914-329-6067. Nelson said he was offering a $500 reward.

Reach Michael Risinit at mrisinit@lohud.com or 845-228-2274.

Shiba movie!

A Shiba movie!

Warning: serious tear-jerker, if the trailer's any indication. I so want to see this. It's based on a true story about Mari, a Shiba inu and her three puppies who were left behind when their owner was evacuated due to an earthquake.

These links brought to you courtesy of Loki's blog AKA The Misadventures of a Shiba Inu

I've got to say that I can't imagine leaving Tierce alone to fend for himself. However, people leaving dangerous situations often cannot bring their pets with them - Hurricane Katrina was an example. Another is people leaving abusive partners and not being able to find shelter that will accommodate their pets, who are then at the mercy of the abuser. This holiday season, for those of you making donations to battered women's shelters, etc. see if you can find shelters that support people with pets who need to flee unlivable situations.

And the debacle in Dover continues...

Dover man pleads not guilty in animal cruelty case

On Oct. 30, Buddy bit his leg, resulting in a small wound. Laurion treated the small wound and wrapped it with cotton and gauze, putting duct tape around it. Two days later, Buddy chewed his foot to the bone because police say he couldn't feel it. The foot was amputated Nov. 3.

Is it just me and my silly ways or wouldn't any sane person have Elizabethan collared/muzzled the dog to make sure that he didn't chew his leg further? There's something really weird going on here. I know that some dogs can lick themselves to the point where they have red, angry sores on their legs, but not very many dogs chew their own feet off.

Snow!

For those of you living in non West Coast environments, snow may be just another annoying/fun/inevitable part of winter. However for us Vancouver Island peoples, it's occasion for MAJOR ISSUES. In Nanaimo, Malaspina University-College shuts down almost as soon as the first white flake dusts the Arts building. Drivers don't comprehend that a sudden dump of snow and freezing temperatures mean that they should take their foot off the gas pedal. Children are liberated from school and adults take out their pristine snow shovels and start resentfully clearing their driveways. This is Vancouver Island, not Whistler. It's not fair.

I had to work. Since I bicycle everywhere, I am at somewhat of a disadvantage when it snows so deeply that my tires won't bite anything. So my boyfriend drove me to work. Some hours into showing yet another eager customer towards the doggy coat racks, my boyfriend phones me. Tierce had refused to come in and was bouncing out in the snow.

Tierce stayed out there for five hours. Mischa threw snowballs at him, which he chased and ate. He ran up and down the compost heap until he wore his own track. Then he chased himself around the yard... again.

When Mischa drove me home, having finally persuaded Tierce to delight in the comforts of the house, I immediately dug my cross-country skis out of the closet, attached Tierce to my waist belt and headed outdoors. We went down the road and back. I am afraid that Tierce's sole skijoring moments were confined to random lunges towards the deep, fluffy snow on the lawns that we passed. I guess that he needs more lessons on how to be a good sled dog. He did pull my creatively snowified boogie board up the hill, though.

It wouldn't work by itself, so I had to duct tape some garbage bags to it. Tierce seemed to have a good time running beside it as I whipped down the hill and using his harness to pull me off balance. I think that it's gonna be a few more months before he starts channelling Yukon King.

More on the Dover Shiba case

Man charged with animal cruelty in Dover denies wrongdoing

I am wondering if he's as big a moron as the last article would indicate. However, most vets don't charge one for animal cruelty for a lick sore, so I'll be interested in how this develops.

(Hit by a car? Just another one for the files of "don't let your Shiba outside without a lead")

Anyone in the New England area want a 3-legged Shiba previously owned by a moron?

Dover man charged with cruelty after dog gnaws own leg down to bone

It looks like a little fox!

Pictures of a Shiba meeting two foxes. Does it really look like a little fox now?

Shibas and death

A friend of mine died on October 29th this year. It was a big shock to all of her friends. Myrranda, as I knew her, was a joyous, vibrant woman who will be greatly missed by many. The memorial was held on Saturday, November 3rd.

What does this have to do with Shibas? Nothing... and everything. I had decided to put together a "memorial book" chronicling all the emails, Livejournal posts, Facebook entries and personal messages. During the hellish days between the 29th and the 3rd, I was glued to the computer. The only thing that got me outside to remember that there was something other than a big gaping hole left by Myrranda's passing was Tierce.

There is something to be said for having a Shiba around when grief strikes. They aren't dogs that let one wallow in grief. They insist that life go on - well, at least the life where they get fed regularly, walked every day and given attention when they so desire.

This is interpreted as cold-hearted, no doubt, by people who think that a dog's sole purpose during a time of mourning is resting its head on its master's knee and looking up at him soulfully. These people are more suited to an aged Golden Retriever, who is generally deliriously happy doing just that.

But a Shiba snaps you out of depression with his antics, rattles your cage by refusing to come when called - even during a period of intense mourning - and generally wakes you up to the fact that there is a world out there beyond the blackness of grief. I found that, while I neglected my workout schedule, I did not neglect to take Tierce for a walk or to the dog park. He teased many a smile out of me that would have otherwise have stayed hidden.

Whether he is running joyfully in the dog park or sneaking something forbidden off the table in the hopes of you chasing him, a Shiba is showing you the way out. Not out of sorrow for your loss, but rather out of the hopelessness and helplessness that a death - especially a sudden one - can bring.

Remember, there is a world out there and it can be beautiful. Celebrate the passing of your loved ones by enjoying the good things that the world has to offer and by trying to make the bad things better.