Resource guarding?

Jujube doesn't seem to have an aggressive bone in her body, so she's not really resource guarding. But if she was, this seems to be the perfect spot to do just that.

Sunbathing

One small square of sun from the skylight is good enough for Loki. He loves to sunbathe. It doesn't matter that he has a double coat of fur. It doesn't matter that we're in the middle of a heat wave. It doesn't matter that shibas are supposed to be a northern breed built for the snow. Loki loves his sun.

Loki's a horse

But that's for the baby...

With two shibas our home has its fair share of dog hair. We find dog hair just about everywhere. Even after a good cleaning job, there's always still some dog hair. It's just not possible to make our home completely spotless. Because of all the dog hair, I always try to put down a clean blanket or a clean towel before I put my son down on any surface like the couch, the bed, or the floor.

But what's the point of putting down a clean blanket when this happens:

Loki! That's not for you! That's for the baby!

Thunderstorms

I thought Loki was okay with thunderstorms, but I guess not. We had a few last week, and he was shaking all over. Moreover, he wouldn't even take any treats when I offered some to him. When a dog doesn't take food, that's a real sign of fear. Poor dog. Fortunately, he got better as soon as the storm lifted.

Loki's got it

One day last week, I was pre-occupied in the bathroom, and couldn't get to my crying baby right away. I yelled over to Yun to see if he could go tend to the baby, but unfortunately, he also was unable to see what was the matter.

When I finally headed over to the nursery to check up on our crying baby, this is what I saw:

"Oh, don't worry," I called over to Yun, "Loki's got it!"

That can't be comfortable!

No more humping

When we first introduced Jujube into our household, they would try to hump each other. Sometimes Loki would hump Juju and sometimes Juju would hump Loki.

But they don't do that anymore at all. I don't remember when they stopped this behavior, but it was probably after 6-9 months of living together.

Update on Juju

Thanks you all for your comments! I still haven't figured out the mystery, but at least it seems like she's back to her normal self now.

Clingy

Juju couldn't be more clingy. Lying at my feet isn't good enough. This afternoon, while attempting to nap, I propped myself up for a minute to check my phone. During this time, Juju wedged herself between me and my pillow. Uh... does she want me to use her as a pillow?

What's wrong, Juju?

Jujube has been shaking since yesterday. She's extremely clingy and she pants a lot. I'm terribly worried about her. And I can't ever take a break from worrying because she's always at my feet where ever I go. She even sat outside the shower door when I showered.

I took her to the vet this morning. She ate breakfast just fine. She didn't have a fever. Her heartbeat was fine and she wasn't in any pain. The vet asked about fireworks, but I honestly don't think it's any fear from fireworks. She's a pretty fearless dog. He also asked if she had any trouble jumping or squatting, as that might indicate a pulled muscle, but she didn't. The only other possibility is an averse reaction to Advantix, which I applied just a couple days ago. The doctor recommended that I bathe her to wash off the Advantix. I did that when we got home from the vet, but she hasn't gotten any better. So if it's not the Advantix, then what is it?

Poor Juju. I'm sorry, girl, I don't know what's wrong.

Shibas are remarkably clean

After Loki and Jujube's romp in the water and woods this past weekend, they were completely filthy. Both dogs were totally wet and therefore attracted tons of dirt. Their paws were almost all black. On our walk home, we decided to give both dogs a bath that night. But after we got home, they went straight to work, cleaning themselves. I didn't even bother to wipe their paws. They were both remarkably clean in an hour or two. We gave them a bath anyways, because they hadn't had one in awhile, but honestly, they didn't look like they needed one.

Chewed Up Chopstick

"What happened to the chopstick? Did it fall into the garbage disposal? Or did the dishwasher eat it up?"

"No, one of the dogs ate it."

Last night our two dirty dinner bowls were left on the ottoman unattended. There were two pairs of chopsticks, so four sticks total. One pair (two sticks) survived. The other pair did not survive. One of the sticks is pictured above. And the last remaining stick is nowhere to be found.

Off-leash by the water

We treated the dogs to a fun-filled, off-leash romp by the water today. We took them to the woods behind our townhouse community. We went off the main path towards the water, where we weren't likely to encounter other people or pets. Whenever we let Loki and Jujube off-leash, we always try to find a secluded area, because like most shibas, they do not have a reliable recall. More specifically, they like to explore and wander, but they don't actually want to leave their pack. So they run around, but always stay somewhat close. Well, "somewhat close" is rather subjective. I'd say the most they'd wander away would be maybe a third of a mile, not too bad for our comfort level. We love seeing the happy smiling faces of our off-leash dogs in nature, so we try to give them these opportunities every once in awhile.

Anyways, today, Loki got himself stuck on the other side of the riverbank. Stupid dog! He jumped into a deep pool of water, hopped out onto the other side, and then couldn't get back to us. Well, he could if he would just jump back into the deep pool, but he refused to jump back into it.

Here he is crossing to the other side.

 Here he is enjoying the other side of the river.

Then, he attempted once to jump back to our side of the river, but failed.

After that one attempt, he wouldn't try again, as much as he wanted to get back to us. He barked and whined when we called the dogs back and only Jujube got treats. Then we leashed up Jujube and pretended like we were all leaving without him, hoping that would provide enough motivation for him to return. He desperately whined and barked in protest. But he still refused to cross back to us.

So finally, with his leash and some treats in hand, I walked all the way across the bridge and through the thick foliage to rescue him. There was absolutely no foot path. I fought through a tremendous amount of thick vegetation to get to Loki. I leashed him up, and carefully navigated him out. That was most definitely not fun. Stupid dog! Grumble, grumble....getting himself stuck on the other side of the river.

Here's a video clip of today, including Loki's travels to the other side of the riverbank.