Juju seems okay

Well, we still don't know what was wrong with Juju, but she seems to be okay now. She ate dinner just fine, and is otherwise, acting normal.

Of course we want her to be perfectly fine, and if we had to do it all over again, we'd still take her to the vet, but in retrospect all that money spent at the vet seems to be such a waste.

Jujube is sick

We got a call from our dog walker today. Jujube is really sick. She's been vomiting, having diarrhea, and shaking. Yun is taking her to the vet now.

She seemed fine when we left for work this morning. She must have gotten into something. She eats practically anything and everything. I've given her cardboard before to play with, and she just ate it. (Loki, on the other hand, plays with cardboard and doesn't eat it.) Did she eat the Christmas tree? Did she get into the garbage? I don't know!

Poor girl!

Of course we're going to pay for all the diagnostic tools, like x-ray and blood work, but my gosh, it's expensive!!! It's running into the hundreds of dollars. I hope that the vet has something useful to say. It'll suck if he can't find anything after all that money.

In any case, I hope that she gets better soon.

Petting Jujube

Shiba Mind Control

Last night my family arrived from Jersey to celebrate Thanksgiving with us at our home. They stayed in our guest room. As they arrived somewhat late, we all went to bed shortly thereafter.

In the middle of the night, I was awoken not to the sound of my baby's cry (as I'm somewhat used to), but rather Juju whining and scratching at a door. Really, Juju? In the middle of the night? Then I realized, it wasn't my door. It was the door to the guest room. I got up, told her to go away, and tried to go back to sleep. This repeated a couple of times, but I was unsuccessful in stopping her obnoxious behavior.

Then from the comfort of my bed, I heard not only Juju's whining, but also Loki's barking. Ugh! What is going on in this house? So I got out of bed again and went downstairs to find out what was the matter. There in my kitchen I saw two dogs staring up at my mother, who was standing in front of the pantry where the dog food is stored.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"She was whining at my door, so I was going to feed her."

I glanced at the clock. It was 3am! Seriously Juju? You are getting our house guests to give you food at 3am?

I told my mother to go back to sleep and that feeding her will only encourage her bad behavior.

So my mom went back to bed and I locked the dogs up in their crates.

Looks like a broken neck

How is that comfortable?

Loki by the fridge

Jujube and Baby

Shedding Season

How long does your shedding season last?

Ours lasts approximately from Labor Day to Thanksgiving. Jujube started on Labor Day and Loki is almost finished. One of the downsides to being a shiba owner.

Off-leash by accident

This afternoon, Yun reported one of his misadventures with the dogs last night. Good thing that I saw both dogs this morning and knew that they were okay before Yun related his tale, otherwise, I wouldn't have been so happy with him.

Yun is responsible for taking the dogs out for their last pee at night. This usually occurs well after I have gone to bed. Last night, Yun tells me that he started to take the dogs out as he usually does. That is, he opened the door to our front landing and proceeded to walk down the outside stairs with the dogs in tow. But as he was heading down the stairs he wondered, "Why are the dogs so far ahead of me?" Suddenly, it dawned on him that he forgot to put their leashes on! Yes, you read that right. He forgot to put their leashes on! What? How in the world did he forget to put their leashes on? I can't comprehend such absent mindedness.

Anyways back to our story. He raced inside, grabbed the leashes, and then grabbed some treats. Once outside again, he realized that both pups didn't go anywhere. They waited patiently for him at the bottom of the stairs. They didn't cross the street. (It's not a busy one, just a residential side street.) They didn't walk down the sidewalk. They didn't wander anywhere! Without further ado, he slipped on their leashes and they all went about their merry way to pee on bushes and stuff.

I was shocked! Shocked that Yun could actually forget the leashes. And shocked that the dogs didn't go anywhere. I'm amazed that they just patiently waited for him at the bottom of the steps.

Begging

Do your dogs beg at the table?

Ours do! Although begging is thought to be terribly bad dog manners, Yun seems to love the begging. In fact, when Jujube came to us, she never begged. She didn't know the first thing about it. Yun quickly taught her to stare up at us with big cute eyes. Now she's a first class begger, just like Loki. Neither of them are obnoxious about it. They sit up real pretty and give us their cutest looks. They don't really whine. I am much more against the idea of begging, but I've accepted the fact that Yun loves it. He thinks that it's a "natural" behavior. And by "natural", he just means that throughout most of dogs' existence with humans, they have begged for our scraps. They are scavengers. We don't really feed the dogs our scraps. We just give them little morsels of yummy food. My mother and mother-in-law would be the types to truly feed the dogs human scraps; that is, their food would consist of everything that we humans didn't consume after a meal. Doesn't seem very healthy, does it? We don't do that. We just give little bits of meat or veggies from our bowls. Not a meal, just a treat.

More babies

Over the past weekend, we had some friends over, including a baby who is the same age as our Baby. The dogs did very well with the small visitor. Yay! I was a bit apprehensive about the whole situation. But both dogs behaved very well. Jujube was more nosy. She was fishing for attention, which she got. She didn't mind being prodded, poked, and grabbed at. She's a very sweet girl. Loki also behaved well, but he after his initial sniffing, he stayed back. He wasn't going to join Juju in being prodded, poked, and grabbed at.

Shiba Inu on Dogs 101

Here's the Animal Planet Dogs 101 video on the Shiba Inu.

http://animal.discovery.com/videos/dogs-101-shiba-inu.html

Hat Tip to Jen

Baby cries at dog

Just because Baby lives with two dogs doesn't mean that he is comfortable with all dogs. This weekend, we took Baby with us to a friend's house. Our friend had a small, hyper dog that loved to play fetch and never sat down. For some unknown reason, Baby started crying when he was around that dog. We have no idea why the dog upset him, but it did. The dog wasn't mean, didn't bark, and ignored Baby. At first we were really puzzled as to what was making Baby upset. But we guessed it was the dog, And our suspicions were confirmed when Baby was perfectly fine as soon as the dog was put away in a bedroom.

So just because your baby or child grows up with dogs doesn't mean that he'll be comfortable around every dog.

Talking to your dog

Do you talk to your dog? We do! Little did I know, but this was one habit that proved to be very useful when Baby came along.

I talk to Loki and Jujube all the time as if they understood me. And I realized that if you repeat the same set of words or phrases, then they eventually DO understand. For instance, when I get my coat and socks on, they think that they are going out for a walk. I see that they are all excited, so I glance over at them and say "sorry". Nowadays, they understand that sorry just means that they aren't going anywhere. I also ask them how their day was and ask if they missed me. I'm not sure if they understand, but I assume that they do. Perhaps they only understand it as words upon my return. We also ask them, "Do you want to go out?", "Do you want to go on a walk?", and "Do you want a treat?" They definitely know "out", "walk", and "treat". They  know a bunch of different words that we've never specifically taught. And they only learned because we talk to them.

So, how is this useful when you have a baby? Well, language experts say that babies begin to understand language far earlier than when they begin to speak. The best way to encourage their language skills is to talk to them all the time as if they understood you. And you know what? Perhaps they do understand. I talk to Baby all the time. I tell him "I'll be right back" if I'm going away for a second and "Let's change your diaper" if I'm about to change his diaper. I ask him, "Are you hungry?" and "Do you want more?". If I always say "I'm going to change your diaper" right before a diaper change, then perhaps he will associate that sentence with a diaper change. Now, I don't really know for sure whether or not he understands, but I assume that he does. And well, one day he will. I just don't know exactly when.

I bet for some people it seems difficult to talk to someone who doesn't talk back. But I had plenty of practice on the dogs and that's one way in which having dogs has made my transition to motherhood easier.

Guarding the basement.

Here's Loki guarding the entrance to the basement. Can you see his little teeth? He decided to lie on the top step and no let anyone pass. And by anyone, I really mean Juju. He always moves for us humans. Silly doggie!

Dogs in bed

Do your dogs sleep in your bed?

Ours do, but at different times. Loki crawls into bed when no one is around. He's sneaky like that. He almost never sleeps in bed with us. Juju, on the other hand, only sleeps in our bed when we are in it. She tends to be this big lump at the foot of our bed and prevents us from being able to stretch our legs out. She doesn't move when we nudge her. To get her out of bed, you have to push her, pick her up, or promise her treats elsewhere.

Both sets of our parents think we're crazy for allowing dogs in our bed. But we don't mind. The more the merrier!