The Misanthropic Shiba

Archive for December, 2008

I had a wake-up call a couple of days ago.  It’s hard to get it down here, because I feel so utterly ashamed of myself.

We have friends who own a pit bull.  “Buddy” is a lovely example of the breed; happy and friendly with people, but also with the single-minded intensity and dominance around other dogs that are hallmarks of the breed.  Despite this, he has had amicable relations with other dogs, so we thought he and Tierce should meet.

Buddy and his owners came around the corner of the house.  We were outside, because we thought it would be easier than in the house.  I brought Tierce forward on the lead to let them sniff noses.  Tierce was excited and went directly to Buddy… and Buddy grabbed him by the ear and Would. Not. Let. Go.  Tierce started SCREAMING and thrashing.  Luckily, Buddy’s owners were right on both the dogs and held them down so Buddy couldn’t shake his head and Tierce couldn’t thrash about too much.

At this point, I’m ashamed to say that I completely freaked out and could do nothing but alternately cry and scream, “Oh my God!”.  I couldn’t see how much damage Buddy was doing.  I couldn’t get in there because it would have made things more complicated, meaning worse, since Buddy’s owners were already in there and getting him to open his jaws.  Honestly, I don’t know what I would have done if I had been alone and I don’t want to know, because I broke down so completely.

They separated the two dogs and took Buddy to the car, while I got Tierce into the house. I was freaking out, my boyfriend was frozen with horror, my friends’ kids were hysterical and terrified that Buddy was going to be taken away or put down, and my friends had each been bitten by Tierce while he was freaking out from the terror and pain.

Amazingly enough, Tierce did not have a scratch on him.  It had been a warning.

But what a warning!  I was thinking of Bella, who is still at large.  I was thinking of all the pictures that I’ve seen of pit bull attacks.  Despite the fact that Buddy is a well-socialized, well-trained dog, he still took a long time (it probably was maybe 45 seconds to a minute) to let go and one of my friends had to stick his fingers down the dog’s throat to do it.

At this point, I would like to emphasize that this is NOT an anti-pit-bull post!  This was a huge human error on both sides.

Above all, I am kicking myself for not foreseeing this and protecting Tierce.  Buddy is a great dog, but he is a pit bull who has been attacked by other dogs before – it’s not strange that he would be on the defensive.  And, for an ABPT, defensive is usually a really, Really, REALLY good offensive. APBT have been bred for generations to fight other dogs and are very, very good at it.

Thank Dog my friends took the time to train and socialize him.  Thank Dog they were on the ball.  In the end, Buddy was a true APBT.  The only injuries that occurred were from Tierce and I’m going to give him a pass on that because he was hurting and scared.  Buddy never bit or threatened to bite his humans.  However, he would have severely injured or killed Tierce if things had not gone the way they did.

After this horrorfest, we got Tierce calmed down, Buddy calmed down and the kids calmed down.  After a visit from his “mom”, Buddy was a happy dog again.  Tierce was happy after I had the kids feed him a huge slab of turkey.  We dressed the wounds that Tierce made and spent a reasonably relaxed hour visiting… “So, anyway, how ya been?”

We also discussed the situation and came to the following conclusions:

Mistakes:

- Expecting Buddy and Tierce to get along because we wanted them to.  This was a big one, because we relaxed our guard around two male dogs, one an APBT and one an intact Shiba.

- Introducing the dogs near the house.  That was Tierce’s territory.  Out in the street or even farther would have been better.

- Bringing Buddy around the corner of the house to meet Tierce.  Surprising a dog with the presence of another dog is not always the best idea.  We would have done better to go out in the open where they could have seen each other coming.

- Letting Tierce come up to Buddy right away.  Keeping them separated to see their reactions could have clued us in to the fact that this was a Bad Idea.

- Not acknowledging the fact that Tierce is a very dominant dog and therefore is likely to approach other dogs in a dominant, in-your-face way.  Not something a male dog, especially a male APBT, is likely to take in good part.

- Forgetting that dogs often make decisions based on smell or minute behaviour that humans can’t easily detect.  Tierce’s entire demeanor up to the instant that Buddy grabbed him was, “Who the fuck are YOU?”  Buddy probably had figured that Tierce was going to try to take a chunk out of him well before Tierce came within touching distance.

I am heartily ashamed of myself for not stopping to think.  I could have easily cost Tierce his life or his left ear.   As it was, neither dog was hurt and the humans will recover.  I think my friends were scared – Buddy had never done that before.  I’m guessing he made the decision, after he was attacked by a loose Labrador, that a pre-emptive strike was best.

This was also an excellent lesson on the kind of responsibility that goes with the ownership of an APBT.  Buddy’s owners were prepared to deal with him and did not hesitate to act when things went south.  This is the kind of owner that a pit bull needs.  Buddy is a good dog who has a great temperament and who is owned by knowledgeable, prepared owners.  However, this great temperament is directed at people.  Dogs are a completely different ballgame, as we learned that day.  This incident proved that even the best owners can be blindsided by their dog; fortunately, Buddy’s owners acted immediately and saved Tierce from permanent damage.

Of course, if Tierce had been someone else’s dog, they could have easily blamed Buddy for the incident, because he is a pit bull.  It wasn’t Buddy’s fault. It was our fault, for not recognizing our dogs’ limitations and stress thresholds.  Unfortunately, since Buddy is a pit bull, the onus tends to be on his owners to prove that he didn’t start a fight or that the fight was the natural result of dog-to-dog dominance and not he’s-a-pit-bull-and-they-are-all-vicious-uncontrollable-dogs-that-should-be-killed.

In retrospect, Buddy acted exactly like a typical dog of his sex, age and breed would have acted.  In fact, given what we know about APBT, it was odd that a male pit bull in the prime of life, possessing all the speed and power gifted to his breed, latched on to Tierce and did not leave a single toothmark.  Maybe it was luck or maybe Tierce was very lucky that Buddy was socialized with other dogs in his youth and did not immediately go for a killing hold.

Repeat after me.  Dogs are not people.  Just because a dog gets along with people, does not mean s/he will get along with other dogs.  Shibas are very smart about a lot of things, but their comprehension of their size and fighting power is grossly exaggerated.  Shibas are little shits who will take a shaky situation and make it worse if they possibly can.  Despite the fact that Shibas are little shits, it’s the owner’s full responsibility to make sure they don’t pay the price for being said little shits.

So, if you have a dominant Shiba, be very careful about their attitude towards other dogs.  A Shiba that is extremely submissive may not have the problems that were brought up by my experience, but then again, I have never met a Shiba that didn’t think it owned the world.  If you want to introduce your dog to your friend’s dog, stop and think:

-am I prepared to cancel the physical meeting of the dogs if I think that they are not reacting to each other well at any point?  I ignored my inner warning voice because I wanted the dogs to get along.

-is my dog really good with other dogs?

-is my friend’s dog good with other dogs?

-is there any history that might indicate that the dogs may not get along or may start to grate on one another?

-are the dogs stressed at all?

-am I choosing a neutral venue that allows the dogs plenty of time to see and evaluate each other before physically meeting?

-if there is a fight, am I prepared to deal with it?  Can I break up a fight if it happens? (this is a big one for me; I learned that I need to know what to do if this (DOG FORBID) ever happens again, instead of standing around like a useless, screaming git.)

In the end, this was a relatively minor incident that ended as well as such incidents can.  I didn’t blame Buddy for being what he was.  I didn’t blame his owners; I was just as much at fault for not seeing the pawprints on the wall.  They didn’t blame me or Tierce.  While we were shaken up and frightened at what could have happened, what could have happened didn’t.  It was human error, not canine viciousness and I daresay that Buddy’s owners learned as much as I did about their dog’s abilities and limitations.

I just hope that this story will encourage people with dominant dogs to take things slowly when introducing their dogs to other dogs and keep their dogs away if there are any signs that things will not or are not going well.

Me:  I wish we had another dog for Tierce to play with.

Boyfriend:  Mmmhmm?

Me:  I was thinking of a Collie or something.  A farm collie, not a Rough collie or a Border collie.

Boyfriend:  I’d like a dog with a little more personality.

Me:  You think Collies have no personality?

Boyfriend:  I didn’t say that.

Me:  That means you think Collies have no personality.  You’re *insinuating* it.

Boyfriend:  I insinuate nothing.

Me:  So, do you think Collies have no personality?

Boyfriend:  …well I think they’re a little dull.

Me:  Compared to, say, a Boxer?  You’re always on about that Boxer you used to have.

Boyfriend:  Boxers are goofy!  And they’re always happy!

Me:  So, you like Tierce because he has a “personality”.

Boyfriend:  Well, yeah.

Me:  He doesn’t come when he’s called, he tries to hit you in the testicles with his front paws every  chance he gets and he chewed through your dialysis cord and sent you to the hospital.  Is that what you mean by personality?

Boyfriend:  He knows his own mind.  He wanted to be Alpha.

Me:  It’s like this whole nearly killing you thing was a real bonding experience for the two of you.

Boyfriend:  Hey, it was a natural thing.  I’m the Alpha and he tried to remove me so he could be Alpha.

He’s probably thinking of another way to kill me right now.

Me:  That’s great!  There’s nothing that really illuminates the 10,000 year bond between man and dog than a rogue Shiba inu plotting to kill you.

Boyfriend:  At least he’s interesting.

Me:  So… what, shall we get some kind of bully breed with an anger management problem?  Would that be interesting enough for you?

Boyfriend:  Is a boxer a bully breed?

Me:  Close enough.  Maybe we could train the dog to attack you as soon as you come in the door every day.  Excitement!  Challenge!

I’m watching Dirty Jobs. One of the jobs that Mike Rowe is doing on today’s episode is dog groomer.  Pretty cool, right?  Well, such is the delicate constitution of today’s Discovery Channel viewer, that they are blurring out the penis, testicles and anus whenever they show a dog’s nether regions.  I honestly didn’t think that humans’ screwed up views on sexuality could get much worse, but there you have it.

Old age comes to every dog, eventually.  At first it may just manifest in a few white hairs, but as time goes by, stiffening joints and ailments tend to come to the fore.  Shibas can maintain great health for years, but I can tell that Shassi is in the twilight of her life.

Here Shassi is with my aunt, who lives with my mother and takes care of Shassi.  We visit often, but keep Tierce away from her, as she has shifted from LOUDLY telling him where to get off to just trembling and looking frightened.  So we keep him and his exuberance away from her and she is much happier.

It is somewhat disturbing to watch Shassi now – she spends most of her time on the couch, but sometimes will pace around in circles or stare at a corner of the room for hours.  She is also not too steady on her feet and this can be a little distressing as I watch her hind end becoming undecided as to whether it’s going to follow her front or not.

My aunt is very good to Shassi – she has taken her to the vet several times to make sure that her health is as good as can be expected for a 15 year old Shiba.  She buys her special low-protein dog food to minimize any strain on her ailing kidneys.  She takes her out for walks, ensuring that Shassi’s body remains as flexible as possible (I believe it’s the lack of exercise that shortens the lives of many old dogs, whose bodies succumb to the degeneration of muscle and bone).  In short, Shassi has as good a life as possible, given her infirmities.

However, once it becomes clear that Shassi is in pain or is just not enjoying her food and her walks, we will have her euthanized.  It sounds harsh and cruel to some people, but I believe it’s crueler to keep a dog who has outlived its enjoyment of life, alive.

I think that a lot of people don’t understand the real responsibilities of owning a dog.  There is a lot written and said about the responsiblities you take on during a dog’s life, but many people don’t realize how responsible they are for their dog’s death.  To be a truly responsible owner, I believe that you have to be prepared to take your dog’s life when there will be no surcease of pain or if the dog is broken in some way that can’t be fixed enough so the dog has a happy life.

With Shassi, it’s hard to tell.  She is definitely not the dog I grew up with or even the dog I knew two-three years ago.  She is nearly blind and deaf and she shows little interest in things that used to excite her.  However, she still eats, she shows interest in her walks and she is not showing any of the signs of a dog in pain.  We will watch and wait and, while she is here, give her the best life we can.

The Daily Puppy: How To Care For A Shiba Inu

I am slowly getting better, but haven’t gotten to take Tierce out lately.  Thank Dog for obliging boyfriends!

Mischa took this photo a couple of days ago as Tierce raced around… and around… and around in the snow.  It was snowing pretty hard and the camera was only a 3.0 megapixel.

I still kind of like it.  It’s rather evocative of the experience the Shiba owner has when an orangish or blackish streak announces to their disbelieving eyes that their Shiba has somehow gotten past the armed sentries and barbed wire fence to bounce ecstatically around the neighborhood.

During Shassi’s puppyhood, there was a subtle tension in the household every time someone opened a door… or a window less than 6 feet off the ground.  Shassi had a talent for finding a human’s blind spot and tracking it, so the only sign of her defection was an orange streak booking it down the stairs and across the street.

The problem was that we had gotten used to dumb dogs or at least dogs that used their intelligence for good rather than for evil.  Collie-types, you know.  The kind of dogs that only utilize their brain power to figure out how to come back faster and to sit with more snappy precision.

It’s become a happy fantasy of mine to one day open a door without automatically stick my foot in first and waving it around to forestall a Shiba from zipping out into the wild blue yonder.

I still like the photo, though.

I want a Shiba Inu! Cheap!

Well, Nanaimo finally got some snow and I’m sick.  I’d like to say “sick as a dog”, but Tierce has been disgustingly healthy.  Well, that was before he barfed up some bile in the car, when my boyfriend decided to take him to the dog park to run around.  Tierce and the dog park are not always compatible, as my boyfriend found out when Tierce decided to take offense at a Shepherd/Rottweiler mix who promptly pinned him down and gave him a smacking.  Not to be deterred, Tierce decided to launch a full offensive, only to be separated from his bemused antagonist by Boyfriend and the other dog’s owner.

Sometimes Tierce gets on alright with other dogs; sometimes not.  However, in the dog park, there are 2 acres that he could be deciding to fight another dog in and that just doesn’t do it for me.  I might try him out after he’s neutered, but I’m still leery of it.  Neutering doesn’t always “fix” all the aggression and dominance issues some Shibas have.  Tierce is much better one-on-one with other dogs, or with females (surprise, surprise).

And my boyfriend isn’t planning on taking Tierce back to the dog park.  Amazingly enough, the owner of the other dog was frantically apologizing, probably the result of having a large, strong dog with obvious guarding breed ancestry.  Boyfriend, bless his heart, said, “Why are you apologizing?  My dog was being an asshole and deserved whatever he got!”

Tierce was fine, by the way, which was a good thing, as that dog could have seriously taken a chunk out of him had he wanted to, from Boyfriend’s description.  I’m wondering if there really is some kind of “small dog syndrome”.  I’ve heard owners of Rottweilers and APBT talk about it – small dogs going for their dogs for no apparent reason (often while their owners wring their hands and accuse the owner of the attacked dog for having a vicious monster).

Either way, Tierce is not going back into the dog park for a long, long time.  Now my boyfriend knows why I generally don’t let him in there unless there are no other dogs (although that’s tricky, because someone could come in with their dog at any moment).  All’s well that ends well, but things can be better when they don’t happen in the first place.

And, no, that picture above has nothing to do with the subject of today’s treatise; it’s just a cute picture of Tierce on the SCA garb my brother scored off of Craigslist for me.

Well, shibainus.ca is back up and running and so is the blog. I’m not sure what I’m doing with this blog; might keep it for a while and just post to both or eventually switch to the WordPress one. I’m tired.

I’m not sure if I’m going to keep my old Shibalog, but for now I’m keeping it up.    I’ve changed the comments so people don’t have to register to post.