Juju escaping in
Shibas are notorious escape artists. Juju, not only escapes out, but she also escapes in. We recently installed baby gates at the top of our stairs. When I left the house, I locked the baby gate. I figured this would keep the dogs out of our bedroom. Prior to the gate, we closed our bedroom door. I thought that the gate would be sufficient. Well, Juju proved me wrong. Never underestimate a shiba! When I arrived home, Juju didn't greet me. Why not? She was stuck upstairs. The gate was still locked.
Now, she's made us a bit more wary about whether baby can fit through those side banister bars. Probably. We haven't done anything with that area, and we're probably not going to, but I'm a bit more cautious in watching him when he's by that area. Thanks Juju, for showing us our baby proofing oversight!
Juju, how did you get upstairs?
Ah, I think this is how she got upstairs:
Now, she's made us a bit more wary about whether baby can fit through those side banister bars. Probably. We haven't done anything with that area, and we're probably not going to, but I'm a bit more cautious in watching him when he's by that area. Thanks Juju, for showing us our baby proofing oversight!
Loki marking Juju?
The other day, I took the two furry kids out for a quick walk. Juju squatted to pee. Most of the time, Loki likes to pee on top of her pee. This time, Loki didn't wait until she was done. Yikes! Of course I yanked him away, but I'm not sure if I was quick enough. Was Loki trying to mark Juju? Poor Juju.
Baby and Loki
Baby and Loki seem to be developing a very good relationship.
Baby almost always feeds Loki some of what he's eating. And it's not just feeding in terms of throwing a mess of food on the ground. Baby will deliberately pick up some food and hand it over to Loki. Loki knows to sit on Baby's right side, as whoever is on that side gets more food. From time to time, Baby will also throw over some food on his left side to Juju. But whoever is on his right side gets most of the food.
In turn, Loki will let us know if Baby has a poopy diaper. How might you ask? Well, just take a look:
Still, despite the fact that I think Baby and Loki are going to have a great relationship, I'm still always cautious about the two of them together, due to Loki's history. I had my first scare the other day, when Loki barked at Baby. Loki was sitting underneath the dining room table, and I guess Baby was getting too close to Loki. Luckily, no one was hurt. It must have just been a warning bark. I'm very glad of that. Warnings are always good. A million times better than a bite. Loki has his particular triggers, and being underneath a table is one of them. When he's underneath the table, you leave him alone. (Or you can not leave him alone, but pair that with some yummy food.)
I'm hopeful that this can all work out. I do think that Baby and Loki will have a great relationship. Still, I can't ever let my guard down. I have to always be cautious. It's tiring -- this always being cautious thing. But it's worth it.
Baby almost always feeds Loki some of what he's eating. And it's not just feeding in terms of throwing a mess of food on the ground. Baby will deliberately pick up some food and hand it over to Loki. Loki knows to sit on Baby's right side, as whoever is on that side gets more food. From time to time, Baby will also throw over some food on his left side to Juju. But whoever is on his right side gets most of the food.
In turn, Loki will let us know if Baby has a poopy diaper. How might you ask? Well, just take a look:
Still, despite the fact that I think Baby and Loki are going to have a great relationship, I'm still always cautious about the two of them together, due to Loki's history. I had my first scare the other day, when Loki barked at Baby. Loki was sitting underneath the dining room table, and I guess Baby was getting too close to Loki. Luckily, no one was hurt. It must have just been a warning bark. I'm very glad of that. Warnings are always good. A million times better than a bite. Loki has his particular triggers, and being underneath a table is one of them. When he's underneath the table, you leave him alone. (Or you can not leave him alone, but pair that with some yummy food.)
I'm hopeful that this can all work out. I do think that Baby and Loki will have a great relationship. Still, I can't ever let my guard down. I have to always be cautious. It's tiring -- this always being cautious thing. But it's worth it.
End of Loki's good streak
I'm very sad to report that Loki's no bite streak ended. We celebrated a year of no bites in January of this year. And I was hoping that we would forever be done with Loki's biting. But alas, no. Maybe we'll never be truly done with his biting and maybe we just have to learn to forever be cautious.
So what happened?
We had a couple of house guests visiting this weekend. Loki had seen both of them before. The very first time he met our female house guest, he did growl. But this time, he was familiar with her and greeted her with tail wags and airplane ears. He was happy to be petted and scratched by her throughout their visit.
One evening, we were all watching a movie with all the lights turned off. With only the glow from the screen, our female guest saw that Loki was approaching her as if to just sniff. So she extended her hand, and as she did, he bit her.
The damage itself wasn't too bad, but it made us very apologetic and very upset.
I don't really know why he bit her. It was dark, and so, I guess that taught us to always be careful with Loki when you can't clearly see his facial expressions. Yun thinks that maybe it was redirected aggression due to Juju, as Loki is still prone to growling at her from time to time. Between the two dogs, the growling no longer escalates to full contact fights. It hasn't since July of 2009. We're pretty confident at this point that fights between the dogs are over with.
And I wish that I could say that bites from Loki are over with. But we can't. We still have to remain ever vigilant and cautious.
Random Shiba Links
Taken from Cute Overload, here's a shiba with volume control! I wish I had volume control over Loki.
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