The Misanthropic Shiba

Archive for January, 2009

On the old blog site, I wrote about Katana, a 10-year-old Shiba who had been dumped at PAWS by her owner because he “didn’t have enough time for her”.

Katana

Today I got a note from the old blog:

First I need to let everyone know that I took Katana in a foster only to get her out of the shelter asap before she got kennel cough. She has since been adopted by our family.  She is a wonderful dog that enjoys playing with squeeky toys and bones. She is in very good hands and will always be for the rest of her golden years.

It was signed by Anonymous.  Anonymous, thanks for making the life of an abandoned older Shiba happy again!

The other day, I got a letter from City Hall.  It was about Tierce’s license, but it wasn’t a polite reminder.  No, it was a threat to send my account to collections.  Apparently, since I haven’t purchased a license yet, they think that this will be an effective method of making me trot my ass to City Hall and merrily pay the fee.

Now, I believe in licensing and everything that my municipality does to improve and maintain the dog poop bag dispensers, the dog park and the animal shelter.  I appreciate and support what they do to aid dog owners.  If the letter had been a polite reminder that it was time to renew, I would have eventually headed over and ponied up the $25.

But I do not support threatening dog owners in order to force them to pay licensing fees, especially when they are good enough to alert City Hall to the fact that they have a dog in the first place.  I think it’s stupid and offensive.  So, tomorrow, I’m definitely going to go to City Hall.

I’m going to tell them that the dog’s dead.

Buddi, Shassi, and Kena

Every so often, I go Googling for “misanthropic shiba” just to see what people are sayin’… and I found this blog post.  It’s on NYCGadgetGirl’s blog.  NYCGG does her some awesome Shiba Rescue stuff.  Anyway she was saying that this very, very old incarnation of TMS was “funnier than hell”.  The impression I got was that this site as it is now isn’t quite as funny as that one page I posted eons back.

Things change.  I changed… a lot from the person who posted that rant/information back in 199-something.  Perhaps I’ve lost a little of the irreverence.  I still swear on my blog, though!  That’s got to count for something.

Actually, when I went and reread it, I thought it was still funny… maybe not as Hell, but it could possibly give Hell a run for its money.  Maybe I should take the old content and post it on a “TMS in a nutshell” page or “A Heartless Brochure About The Shiba Inu – Print It Out And Tell Your Friends” or something.  Thoughts?

Tierce in the Snow, taken by my 2.0 megapixel cell phone camera

I took this picture this morning after Tierce and I conducted a successful transaction at Bosleys Pet Foods, where Tierce got a 3 foot long beef stick and a Christmas hedgehog that was on sale (it squeaks, honks and rattles, so Tierce liked it best of all the toys!).  He enjoys the snow mightily, leaping into the snow drifts, attacking the snowballs I throw for him and even chasing falling snowflakes.

We’re not used to so much snow on Vancouver Island; most of the major cities here are lucky if they get two days together when snow is on the ground.  What we do get is a lot of rain, which can be pretty bad if things go below zero.  Much as I love the Island and the people here, Island drivers suck the big one when driving in winter.

Tierce is blithely unaware of the unusual weather pattern, except to note that snow is a mighty fine thing to have around to play in.  Watching a Shiba bounce through snow higher than his shoulders is always an amusing experience.  That is, if you are not required to trudge through thigh-deep snow to follow him.

I’m wondering, at this point, whether many of the readers of this blog experience the Shiba Flexi-crazies.  Both Tierce and Shassi (in her younger days) have done the same thing. The first step in the process is to hurl oneself forward, only to be brought up abruptly short 16 feet from where I’m standing.  The second step is to run, full-tilt at the end of the lead, in a crazy circle around me.  After a few circuits, stop and pee or sniff at something or stare fixedly at an object like a garbage can and start barking at it.

This is all very well in summer, but on icy ground, it can be a bit problematic.  If he didn’t look so damn cute racing around and jumping in the snow, I’m sure I would be stricter about such things.

Shibas have been compared to foxes probably from the time of their emergence as a distinct breed.  However, have you heard of a genuine domesticated fox?  Wikipedia has an entry and several links about the Tame Silver Fox.

I’m wondering just what this “fast-forward” domestication is doing for the foxes’ genetic health.  From what I’ve read, it looks like these animals were mass-bred to produce these results in such a relatively short period of time.  45,000 foxes in 45 years.  That’s 10,000 foxes bred a year… over 1500 litters if one assumes that 6 kits are born per litter.

BBC News: Tame Silver Foxes

Foxes are relatively solitary creatures and people who have raised them describe their behaviour as cat-like.  Obedience training would be an interesting proposition at best.

Dogs have instincts that have been modified from wolf pack behaviour.  We can use these instincts to mold the behaviour of the dogs in our lives.  What fox instincts can be modified to make sure that a domesticated fox can integrate with our human world like the dog has?

The biggest problem, of course, is that this may be the next “cool” pet to own and, like every other “in vogue” animal, be treated like a commodity; sold and purchased by people who have no clue about the needs of the animal or consider whether they can handle those needs.

I would consider owning one of these animals, but I confess that it woul be the novelty factor.  I could get a healthy, well-bred Shiba more easily for less, so I don’t think I’ll be switching allegiances any time soon.

The breeders of the Shiba inu cam puppies have a calendar for sale on Cafepress.  All the proceeds are going to Shiba rescue, so if you’re looking for a Shiba calendar or just a calendar of cute puppies, consider this one