The Dave and Linds Blog: June 2010

SUKI!!!!

Ok so Suki was born April 9, 2010. She's a Shiba Inu (a Japanese breed) and we've had her for a little over a week now. For the past month every moment I had to spare I was researching this breed and I think I have a pretty good feel for our new dog.

Female Shiba's usually will get anywhere from 17 to 20 lbs and about 13 1/2 inches to 15 1/2 inches tall however both her parents were smaller so she'll more than likely be on the smaller scale. A Shiba's coat has two layers, a thick soft under coat that protects them from extreme temperatures and a second outer coat that is straight and stiff (just like a husky.) Their coloring is usually reddish with white on the belly, in the ears, under their jaw etc. but they can also be a tan color, black and tan, and some odd ball are even white or cream.

Shiba's are very clean dogs, they have been described as cat in dogs clothing. Wikipedia says they try to avoid mud, dirt, puddles and such on walks and can often be seen licking themselves clean like a cat. They are very intelligent and independent dogs but are very loyal to those who earns their respect. They have a high bark otherwise known as the "Shiba scream" and usually only bark when they are excited or provoked or unhappy.

So far with Suki we've noticed that she's very nervous around strangers but once she's been around them for a few hours she'll warm up to them by allowing them to hold her but she doesn't show them the same affection as she does Dave and I. She didn't bark for about three days and when she finally did we got so excited that she now likes to bark when really playful and to get our attention. She has been good with potty training and the few accidents she has had were our fault (like leaving the bedroom door open at night or not taking her outside regularly.)

She's on a weird schedule right now where she sleeps most of the day and then gets really active at night but we're trying to break that habit. She's a very smart dog, she knows that the leash means we're going outside and how to sit for a treat. We're still training her to chew only on her toys, (they're very mouthy dogs and no that doesn't mean they mouth off Mom Wilson :P ) but she does enjoy playing with almost all of

her toys. We fed her a scrap of meat fat the other day to see how she would react to it and now she loves just sitting patiently by us when we eat. She's really good at begging right now because she's just so darn cute!

I'm defiantly the alfa dog and she's very good at following most of my commands (at least the ones she understands) and she loves playing with Dad because he lets her bite (more or a nibble) him... but she still gets a little nervous when David is speaking loud or laughing. She's still in the mind set that men have cooties or something b

ut it's understandable because she's so tiny and men are so big and have really deep scary voices and such.

We have a lot of dogs in the neighborhood and she's terrified of all of them right now. There is a really big husky that lives next door and when he's not outside she loves to go over and sniff the place out and mark her spot but as soon as she sees him she runs away as fast as she can. The other day I saw him lying down next to his house and decided that it was time for Suki to introduce herself. I held her so that she wouldn't try to run away and we approached him slowly, she was sniffing things out the whole way over, I suppose he was impatient with our pace and decided that he would come to us at that point. Now this guy is pretty darn big and looks very much like a wolf, even I got a little scared of him. He pokes his nose right up to her and she freaks! Ha ha I wish I had recorded it because the growling noise she made was so funny. Needless to say she's slightly reluctant to go over there anymore, but she did interact with another dog which was medium size and even though she was

still nervous she did very well with the latter.

Ok I suppose I'm done bragging about my baby now... time for pictures!!! :D