The Misanthropic Shiba

Archive for December, 2009

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I finally got off my ass and got Feedburner to handle all the wonderful posts of this blog. AND I made a Shiba RSS image! It’s now on the top right menu bar.

Happy New Year 2010!

What? I was here the whole time, I swear.

I’m used to noises in other parts of the building because our landlord has several teenagers who regularly slam in and out of the house and play LOUD games on their X-Box… or at least I hope that’s  the origin of the groans and the screams…

Tonight, though, I heard something different.

KA-THUMPETY-THUMPETYTHUMPETYTHUMP!  KA-THUMPETY-THUMPETY!  THUMP! THUMP! WHAM!

What the hell?

Now, I’m conversant enough with the pitter-patter of four little feet, but this sounded like four little feet in army boots.  So I start up the stairs, just to see if I can catch him in the act.  Not to punish him, you understand, but just to see what was going on.

THUMPETY-THUMPETY-WHAM-WHAM!

WOOF!

And then I brushed against the wall.  Sssshhhh…

Silence.

The stairs in our home are built with six steps going up to a landing, then seven steps going up to the bedroom.  I cautiously poked my head around the wall.  Nothing.

I started up the stairs.  As I ascended, the tips of two pointed ears, then a foxy looking face came into view.  Looking at me.

Mischa is away, so I’m alone in the house, it’s dark in the stairway and in the bedroom, but the ghostly light from the bathroom silhouetted Tierce’s head and body.

It really looked like he was playing with someone or something that disappeared as soon as I stuck my head around the wall.  There was this air of, “What are YOU doing here?” that was somewhat disconcerting.  And, of course, now that he was being observed, he did not deign to pick up his little game to show me just what kind of craziness he was engaging in.

Creepy… he doesn’t do this when Mischa is here.  I think he’s just fucking with me.  Or maybe he is playing with a hellhound that he inadvertantly summoned by dropping his hydrolized soy protein dog food into a pentagram.  I would not be surprised.

Dog park pinball is a game usually played with two or three dogs and four or five humans, other dogs and natural features.  The object of the game is to strike as many point-bearing goal posts (the humans) with penalties incurred for striking other dogs and more or less unforgiving features of the dog park, including, but not limited to the fence, the picnic table, the shelter, trees, buckets, the water spigot, the garbage cans and the pick-up bag dispenser.

No human knows what purpose this game serves in the greater scheme of things, or the exact nature of the rules.  However, the rules (insofar as I can make them out) are as follows:

The game can begin as early as when a dog is released into the dog park.

If a dog shows an inclination for wrestling, the game can begin as soon as the preliminaries are completed (sniffing, milling around the entrance/exit gates, etc.)

The dogs engaging in the game are to run a course that will most efficiently hit as many knees as possible.

Extra points are given if the person loses their balance.

More points are given on a sliding scale, based on the inverse proportions of the dog and human.  Therefore, a small dog gets more points for staggering a larger human, while a larger dog gets less points for throwing a smaller human off balance.

Colliding with three or more people in quick succession gets triple bonus points.

While wrestling or chasing one another around a specific human can result in hitting the knees, the act of circling the human is not in itself point-worthy.

Running into a dog that doesn’t appreciate the sport of Dog Park Pinball results in the loss of points.

Running into something solid, like the fence, results in the loss of points.

Running into something wet, like a water dish or mud, results in the loss of points only if a bath is threatened by the dog’s owner.

The game can end at any time, whether because one is removed from the dog park or because one loses interest.

Drug bust nets a stolen dog

Merry Christmas, Jackson!  I bet you’re glad to be home.  This isn’t too far, relatively speaking, from my home in Nanaimo.

This is Shassi on the eve of her 16th Christmas.  You’re a good girl, Shassi.

One of my favourite books is Cache Lake Country by John J. Rowlands.  In it, Rowlands reminisces on his first year in the north country, with tips and tricks for the people who choose a solitary life up in the north woods.  In it he also makes mention of the dogs he owns, huskies he calls Old Wolf and Tripper.

Patience and more patience and firm kindness is the secret of training a dog, or any animal for that matter.  You want him to love his work and good sled dogs do.

I think that one of the things that people don’t consider when adding a Shiba to their lives is that it has the attitude, intelligence and ability to work at something and, like huskies and other northern breeds, generally has a better time when it has something it is expected to do.

This doesn’t mean the work has to be serious, like hauling a sled or packing in the 2 pounds that a Shiba could safely carry, but it has to be something that you expect the Shiba to do and do well.  Like Rowlands says, this comes with “patience and more patience and firm kindness”.  “Work” to a dog is something that their owner takes seriously and expects the dog to take seriously likewise.  This could be anything from tracking to just being a good companion.

Rowlands goes on to say:

If you want a good sled dog don’t make a pet of him.  You can be good friends, but a dog that is a pet is almost sure to be spoiled and does not obey as he ought to.  You must earn a dog’s respect and he has to know who is master.

“Pet” in this case refers to a dog that has been allowed its own way and hasn’t been required to do or be much of anything.  Dogs that are allowed to follow their own inclinations to the exclusion of everything else seldom end up in happy homes, as they are constantly trying to exercise their perceived dominance, which puts them in conflict with the humans they live with.

I think that Rowlands makes four good points about dogs and their training.  One, you need patience.  Two, you need to be firm.  Three, you should not spoil your dog and allow him to run heedlessly through life.  Four, you need to consider what your dog does as work and you need to take it seriously, so your dog learns to do so as well.

Senior Dogs Project

Many people think that older dogs are “set in their ways” and can’t adjust to a new environment, but that is simply not true.  Many senior dogs are more than able to adapt to a new home.  What people are really saying is that they themselves are not able to adapt to the idea of a senior dog – even though older dogs are generally calmer, housebroken, trained and aren’t impressed by a lot of things that freak younger dogs out.  For someone looking for a companion who enjoys leisurely walks and is content to relax most of the day, a senior Shiba is a lot better bet than a freakazoid 1 year old whose main ambitions are to chew through the living room wall.

Current list of senior Shibas and Shiba mixes that need homes

(The above is based on my location, so you might have to re-enter the information to get a list closer to home)

Shibas can live beyond 16 and there are plenty of dogs out there that need homes and are beyond the age that most dogs are easily adopted by.  A training class and a regular schedule can speedily adapt a senior dog to a new lifestyle.  This is a great idea to put into the heads of friends and family who are considering a new dog.