Nails

Loki hates having his nails done. We originally bought a standard dog nail clipper, but Loki didn't want anything to do with it. We went a couple months without doing his nails at all. Then we just had the breeder do them last month when we boarded him there.

Under our breeder's recommendation, we got a Dremel. We bought a cordless one from Amazon.


Yesterday, we successfully did his two back paws. The whole thing was a big ordeal. I held Loki in my arms, while Yun did Loki's back paws. Loki put up a little bit of a fuss, but then during the grinding of his nails, he looked away and over my shoulder. He's a funny little furball.

Afterwards Loki got real smoked turkey. What a special treat! We decided to freeze the rest of the turkey meat and use it next time when we do his front paws. He put up more resistance for his front paws than his back, so we decided to do the front paws later.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the end result. His back paws were done and no one got scratched, bitten, or otherwise injured.

The only con is that I found the Dremel not very user friendly. It took awhile to figure out how to change the little attachment pieces. (What do you call them? bits?) And the battery doesn't last long, but I don't really mind.

Eventful Day

What an eventful day for Loki! Puppy class in the morning, dog park in the afternoon, and then almost being eaten alive by Yun!

Puppy Class
Loki did so well today in puppy class! We reviewed all of our previous commands in a rapid fire drill. Name, Sit, Down, Stay, Let's Go, Target, Sit to greet, and Pillow. He knows all of them except for Pillow. We don't really use that one with him. Pillow means go to your blanket and lie down. At home, we use Pen, which means go to your exercise pen and be locked up.

Today we learned Heel, so we'll have to practice that this week. I never quite understood the concept of Heel and how it's different from Let's Go. The only reason I thought Heel would be useful is in the show ring. Do people actually take their dogs on walks in a formal Heel position? I guess a Seeing-Eye Service Dog would have to. I'll try it out and practice Heel. Maybe our walks will be better if I have Loki in a Heel position.

Dog Park
Loki did lots of running at the dog park today. Good thing! Now he's all tired out. You never know whether he'll end up getting good exercise at the dog park or not. The pug ran around with him a lot.


After running, dogs need water. Loki didn't really drink out of the communal water fountain. He did once when no other dogs were around. But I spoil him and bring him a separate water bowl.



Just around the time that we were going to leave the dog park, Loki got attacked by another dog. I think it was a Scottish Terrier. I'm not quite sure. It's very easy to spot an unstable dog. Most dogs there are friendly and happy. This dog came in to the park barking like crazy and charging. It was also obsessive about fetching the tennis ball that its owner would throw. It would keep on barking at the owner demanding he throw the ball. Unfortunately, he got into a scuffle with Loki. It wasn't play. It was a fight. Loki looked really vicious. Yun stepped in pretty quickly, so no one got hurt. Still, then I wanted to stay a little longer so that Loki wouldn't leave with a bad impression of the dog park or of dogs. I didn't want him to be fearful of or aggressive towards other dogs. So we stayed a little longer than I planned, but I think doing that was helpful for Loki.

Being eaten alive
After a tiring time at the dog park, Loki decided to sleep by the kitchen table. But then his ear got eaten off by a terrible monster. Poor Loki!

Digging

Today, I was sitting at my desk and heard this racket going on. Uh-oh, I thought, what is Loki up to? Where is he? Not in the exercise pen. Not in the living room. Not in the kitchen or dining room. Is he in the bathroom? No. He's in his crate in the bedroom!



Silly dog! Where are you going to accomplish? Anyways, I was very proud of him for knowing that he is allowed to dig in his crate (he's also allowed to dig in his exercise pen), because he's not allowed to dig on our carpet or other flooring.

Poopy!

By the vet's orders, Loki's supposed to be keep his Elizabethan collar on for 3 days and be on restricted activity for 3-5 days. He doesn't walk very well; he'll take a few steps and then sit down, take another few steps and then sit down. I only take him outside to poop/pee and I don't take him very far.

Unfortunately, this meant that Loki went on a poop strike. What's a poop strike you ask? It's when he refuses to poop, because the locations I take him to do not meet his standards of a proper pooping place. I have no clue what his criteria is, but apparently, it must be very FAR from our apartment. Because he doesn't walk well yet, I only take him to locations right next to our apartment. So after about 2.5 days without pooping, he finally pooped tonight. I was so frustrated. He wouldn't poop where I took him. He did his poop dance, but instead of pooping, he sat down and whined. It's cute the first time, but not cute the second or third time. Since he was just going to sit there and I didn't have all day to wait him out, I let him walk out a bit farther. Finally, he pooped.

Why is he so picky about where he poops? I don't understand. It doesn't have to do with where other dogs poop, because there are plenty of spots right next to our apartment where other dogs poop. And I've tried picking up his poop and putting it down at a spot close to our apartment. That doesn't work either. All I know is that a proper pooping place has to be FAR away.

Neutered

Nintendogs

I am usually pleasantly surprised when I meet someone who correctly identifies Loki's breed. Most people are clueless about his breed and typically have never heard of Shibas. However, I am the most surprised when little girls very confidently say, "Oh, that's a Shiba Inu!"

Wait... how does these 8-10 year old girls know Loki's breed when most adults don't?

Nintendogs for Nintendo DS.

Of course a Japanese company is going to include their popular furry critter in their games. Here's a screen shot of the Japanese version taken without permission from IGN.com.
What a cute puppy!

A day at the beach

Yesterday was Loki's first trip to the beach. And what fun he had! When we got to the sand, we put him on a long line and let him run around. He had tons of fun digging in the sand and running away from the water.




Lastly, here is a short clip of him playing by the water's edge.

Energy

One of my favorite Cesar Millan concepts is energy. He claims that there exists a universal language understood by all animals -- energy. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a language, as the information that energy carries is not nearly as complex as a true language, but energy is certainly understood across animal species.

People and animals can sense the energy you project. Your dog's ability to sense whether you are feeling sad, anxious, happy, or excited is not really that amazing. Surely, you can sense another person's state of emotion without any words. Furthermore, energy is contagious. Have you ever felt yourself becoming more nervous only because the person next to you was very nervous? And conversely, have you ever felt calm and secure only because the person next to you radiated confidence?

One of Cesar Millan's mantras is that humans must project calm-assertive energy to their dog. If you are a nervous and fearful person, your dog will be too. If your project confidence, your dog will feel secure being under your leadership. Although the idea is simple, I find it to be the most difficult concept to apply. Just about anyone can apply the idea of click & treat, but who can really project calm-assertive energy all the time? Maybe a Buddhist monk.

Striving to project a calm-assertive energy is often times vague. Here is concrete example. In teaching Loki to drop a toy or a sock, I tried a little experiment. Instead of bribing him with a treat or pulling the object away, I decided to hold onto the object gently and slowly assert, "This is mine, not yours," over and over. Speaking it aloud is not necessary, but I find that it helps to convince yourself of the statement. It also greatly helps if you sit up very straight and maintain confident body language. Surprisingly, I find that this actually works. It's not a magic pill or a quick fix. It is abstract and not tangible in the way using treats or choke collars are, but in my opinion, it does work.

Another day at the dog park

I got tired of posting pictures of Loki, despite the fact that this is Loki's blog.
Here are a couple samples of my amateur pet photography with our Canon S3IS.

At the kennel

Loki was with his breeder this past week while Yun & I were away on vacation.

This picture was taken when we arrived at the breeder's. Who's that other Shiba? Does Loki remember her? It's his sister Julianne!!!

And here are the two siblings sharing a bucket of water in the kennel. We snapped this picture when we returned to pick him up. They sure do look alike! (Loki's still cuter, but I might be biased.)

While at the breeder's, Loki got groomed and even had his nails done. Yay! We haven't been able to really clip his nails in a couple months. Sometimes we can sneak in a nail here or there, but we haven't been really able to get him to voluntarily sit still for clipping. The breeder used a Dremel on his nails. She did it very quickly and didn't back down when he put up any resistance. Maybe we'll look into getting a Dremel.