2010-03-05

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I Lost

Wrigley official sleeps with us every night. I don't know when it happened but I don't think there is any going back. He is pretty cute when he snuggles into us. Of course he has to sleep right in the middle of us so bed space has been lost to him. I love it when I am up stairs in bed but my husband is still downstairs and Wrigley will come up to bed with me. He is my little cuddle buddy and I do enjoy him with me. When he starts blowing his coat again I may be telling a different story!

12-20-09 Wrigley

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Poosicles

So it has started to snow here. Not more than a couple of inches each time. The first time out in the snow Wrigley just really wanted to eat it. It wasn't enough for him to have to bunny hop around which I am looking forward to. I did notice a new trait from the snow. Wrigley is enjoy a new treat called poosicles. That's right, his frozen poo has now become a tasty experience or an enjoyable toy for him. Multiple times we caught him picking up the frozen chunks of poo and running around with it. Then I caught him munching on something only to go outside and find that it was poo!

What happened to Shibas hating there own bodily functions. He is suppose to want to run away from his poo and find it disgusting. Instead I have the Shiba that loves to turn around and sniff it and now pick it up and play with it. So Gross! I watch him more now when he goes out so that when I see him go to the bathroom and he turns to smell it I can give him "leave it" so that hopefully he learns that this is not appropriate behavior.

12-06-2009 Wrigley

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Shiba Scream

Wrigley slept with us last night (Husband brought him up after I fell asleep so I couldn't say no) then woke up around 7:30 and jumped off the bed. I woke Husband up to take him downstairs which he did. Husband game back upstairs and went back to sleep but I stayed up and watched some TV. Around 8 o'clock we heard the horrible Shiba scream.

Wrigley sounded like he was in such pain and he let out two petrified shrieks. Husband popped up and turned to me with a scared look on his face as he jumped out of bed and we both raced downstairs. I was so afraid to see what was wrong but Wrigley just walked to us nonchalantly like nothing was going on. We looked all around for some wire chewed or the newly placed Christmas tree to have a missing light bulb or something. We couldn't find anything wrong and Wrigley seemed to be doing fine but it was such a scare.

I have never seen Husband move so fast in the morning or be so afraid that something was wrong. Now Husband is sleeping on the sofa and Wrigley is outside playing around like nothing happened. I'm realizing just how important Wrigley is to the both of us. I know how much we love him but to see Husband react so quickly to make sure Wrigley was OK really made it apparent.

Slipping and Sliding

For some reason our kitchen floor has become more slick. I'm not sure if it is because I changed my floor wash product to just steam instead of chemicals or if I'm not cleaning it as much as I used to but it has a slippery factor. Not bad for my husband and I but little Mookie (Wrigley's nickname) has a hard time getting his balance.

I first noticed he had a hard time going around our kitchen table to make it to the back door. If he was going any faster than a slow pace he wouldn't be able to get good gripping. Not a horrible thing, he just needs to learn to slow down. Then I noticed that when we throw toys to the kitchen for him to retrieve he would not go to get them. Now I know if your a Shiba owner that seems normal but Wrigley actually loves to retrieve his toys. Since we got him we have thrown things in the kitchen to have him run like a manic to get them. Not anymore though, he just looks at it all sad and goes to find something else on the carpeted area.

The thing that has made the slippery floor difficult is that one time when Wrigley was eating in the kitchen Husband scared him accidentally and he went all crazy trying to move fast but ended up slipping and sliding on the floor. So for the next day he would not go over to his food area. I didn't put it together until I remembered how weird Shibas are and something like that could actually have really bothered him. I moved the bowls over to an area where he could stand on a rug and sure enough he went right over and ate.

These dogs are so sensitive! I forget how if he has one bad experience it really makes him nervous to try it again or to venture out. Like one time when he was playing with his Bob-a-Lot (food dispensing toy) he kinda choked on a piece of food and now he wont play with that toy any more. I have tried multiple times and he still cowers when I bring it out. Moral of the story don't scare your Shiba while they are eating on a slippery floor or you will have to find a new spot for the dishes.

Wrigley says bee safe this Halloween!

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10/30/09 Wrigley

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Rainy Day

I have heard that Shibas are not big fans of water. Rain, baths, pools, ponds, lakes and oceans are not usually sources of entertainment for them. It rained a couple of days after we first picked Wrigley up. I was excited to see how he would react to this. I think I was really hoping he wouldn't like the rain purely so I wouldn't have to deal with being out in it and having to dry him off afterward.

We opened the back door for him to explore the rain. He slowly stuck his head out the door and was hit with his first drop. His head shot up as he tried to find out where it came from. Then he made his way out further as he tried to eat the rain that was coming down. At the time it was so cute.

Here we are months later and he still enjoys being in the rain. He goes out in the backyard and sits in it like a goof! Now its colder here and I still dont know why he finds it enjoyable. Every time he wants back in I have to dry his paws off which usually ends in a battle of him letting me do it. Sometimes he gets sneaky and darts into the house before I get a chance to dry him off. If he has been playing in the mud it adds to the excitement for him and the annoyance for me.

The sad part is I tried to get him to like, or at least tolerate, baths. You think he would enjoy warm water instead of the cold rain but no he insists on putting up a fight during the baths. Or I bought him a kiddie pool to play in during the summer and he would only go in when I put a toy in that he would want to retrieve.

Its interesting that something that he started out doing as a puppy still holds true now. It should be amusing to see what happens when it starts to snows. Shibas supposedly like to play in it but since I want him to enjoy the snow he probably will hate it.

Neuturing

Sorry that the picture is graphic of my dogs thing but I am trying to show what his neutering looked like after surgery.

We took him in to get the balls cut. Well I thought pleural but as it turned out one of Wrigley's balls did not drop so they said they have to make another incision in his abdomen to retrieve the other ball! Yikes, poor dog not only does he get one cut but a second one. Poor me, it costs more money to retrieve the missing ball. The condition is called Cryptorchidism, which just means one or both balls did not descend. Im glad we picked him since he would not have been a show dog for our breeder. We do have some fun new nicknames for him though, Unaballer and Numero Uno.

Overall the whole neutering thing went well. I didn't cry or anything when I dropped him off. I felt a little bad but nothing over dramatic. When we picked him up I thought he was going to be so out of it but he really seemed fine, just ready to leave. He practically ran out of the vets office. He was definitely tiered and bummed with us on the couch but he was running around like crazy the next day. He also did not have an issue with going potty.

We bought a cone for his head but he never was licking that much and whenever we would catch him he would stop right away. It was funny though he learned to go out in the back yard to do it since we don't watch him as much. Whenever we would look out the windows he would be licking away. I think it also helped that we had 4 days of being home with him to watch him.

Later in the week his abdomen incision looked a little red and opened. We called the vet and they saw us right away. They said it wasn't infected but he may be licking too much. So we had to stop letting him outside every time he wanted to go so we could keep an eye on him better.

As of a month later everything with the abdominal one is completely closed and fine. I cant believe that we never put a cone on his head. I'm a little sad that we never did get a silly picture of him with a cone. All and All it was a way easier experience than I thought it was going to be.

Puppy Abuse

I feel so guilty. I did it. I never thought I would but here I am writing this. I came downstairs this morning and there Wrigley was chewing one of our video game controllers. He saw me and jumped up to greet me. I walked over to go pick the controller up and Wrigley went back to go get it in his mouth. It was over at that point. I was angry and frustrated since we have to control so much of his free time that we cant even leave him alone for 15 minutes.

I popped him on the butt. I use popped since it doesn't sound as harsh but I hit my dog. That sounds so sad. I hit, spanked, swatted or popped him on the butt. Not all those times, just one little hand motion and I felt sick to my stomach. It wasn't that hard but still the look in his eyes was like what the heck. I use the excuse that it was to teach him a lesson but in reality does he really understand what that means. I also did it in part of my angry. I was mad when I did it. I have been frustrated with all the recent chewing and I over reacted.

I hate to watch Cesar since I think his techniques are mean. The jerking, swift kicks to bodies, alpha rolls and all the other harsh things I feel that he does. I cant stand him actually but yet I did what I thought I would never do. The good news is that Wrigley doesn't seem scared of me or my hands. Maybe in the end he wont go after the controllers anymore and I can count it as a win for the Cesar Millan lovers of the world.

Fustration!

OK, I have been annoyed with Wrigley before. When he was a puppy he did somethings that would get on my nerves. But he was a puppy so he got a pass at the things he did or at least he had a good excuse. Usually it was something that Husband or I did so I really couldn't be mad at Wrigley for that.

Today has started out hard. As usually he was taken out of his playpen when my husband got up and then left out when he went to work. I dont have work today so I was upstairs trying to sleep. Then I hear some noises coming from downstairs. It sounds like a ripping noise. I couldn't ignore that for long so I raced downstairs to see Wrigley with a long strand of string from my area rug in the living room hanging from his mouth. He looked the Tramp from Lady and the Tramp where he is eating the spaghetti and meatballs. Kinda cute but annoying also.

I picked him up and put him in his playpen and went straight back to bed. When I came back downstairs I inspected the damage. Not too bad, you cant tell by looking at it that he was pulling out strings. Alright I'm not too annoyed now.

Later I noticed that he has been quiet and missing for a little bit. Never a good thing in Shiba world. I go back to the living room to see him with the area rug pulled up and the under side in his mouth! What is going on here!! We have left him out for a while now and he has never had any love affair with the area rug. Since I caught him in the act I made a loud noise to startle him and he did move away. I replaced the rug back to the original look and went on my way.

About a minute later I heard some more noise from the living room. Oh no, he is not back at it again. Yes he is, the rug once again is all twisted and moved around even more that last time. So the loud noise is not doing the trick. What is a girl left to do, the baby gates are put back up.

We have been doing so well. I guess its the unexpected life with a Shiba, especially now that he is in the teenager stage. Now Wrigley is pouting outside pretending he doesn't know who I am. I think I will take him on a long walk now. He needs to get out some of that naughty energy! I personally think he is getting back at me for making his neutering appointment today. How he knows these things I will never know.

Morning Fun

So as I was saying before Wrigley has been whining in the morning by the baby gate we have up so he cant go upstairs. Well one morning I woke up and it was 8:30! Wow I thought he let me sleep in. My next thought is this could be trouble.

A quite Shiba is not necessarily a good Shiba. That means he is entertaining himself with who knows what. My chairs, the plants I have, the chair covers that I found out he likes to chew. So I got up quietly so that I could sneak down to see what has helped distract him.

Spotted right there in the living room, black batting ripped from underneath my chairs. Wrigley looking very proud of himself, running around with pieces in his mouth. He keeps throwing the pieces up and catching them. The good news was the chair was free and it didn't do any damage that is visible. I try to rip out the rest of the batting so he wont be able to play with it again. I also sprayed the Bitter Apple chew deterrent spray.

Day two of the quite Shiba. I woke up around 8 to a chewing sound. At first it took me a minute to realize what I was hearing but when it clicked I jumped out of bed and ran downstairs. What has he gotten into now! In the living room he found a new treat, some paper that was under the sofa. But not just any paper, huge 12X20 sheets that came in picture frames (I am trying to do a wall collage).

Shredded paper lay all over the floor and once again Wrigley looked like the proudest Shiba ever. With paper sticking out of his mouth and running around like a fool. How does he find the paper that I crammed under the sofa? How did he even get it out? They are a tricky breed! I cant be mad at him since it is my fault that I had the paper under there.

So I have turned in the whining for mischief. So far it hasn't been anything that I have been sad about or really cared about so I don't mind being able to sleep in later. I wonder when he will just relax in the morning and enjoy the downstairs in a safe way?

Whiner

We have stayed true to having Wrigley sleep downstairs in his playpen. It has basically become the norm in our house. He sleeps completely through the night and when we get up around 7 for work he is ready to start his day.

Husband usually goes downstairs first since he supposed to leave before me. He lets Wrigley out of the playpen and plays with him for a second then gives him a cookie and takes off for work. This leaves me to hear him whining, in only a way a Shiba can, for me to come downstairs to entertain him. On my days that I have work I have some time to feed him, go outside and play with him before sticking him back into the playpen until I come home from work for lunch to free him.

On my days off or days I don't go into work until later I still hear my little Shiba cries right by the gate we have blocking the stairs. He sits by the stairs and whines his little head off. I try to wait until he is quite for a couple minutes since I don't want him to think that whining gets me to come running but somehow I think that we have created a routine of him whining and us coming down the stairs.

Its so hard to resist though, since he is not really a barker (only if he hears another dog or sees something different outside will he give a couple of alert barks to let us know) its not really annoying but sounds more pathetic. Like he really misses us and wants to see us soooo bad. Then I feel bad that I am laying in bed so I get up to see him and I get the best welcome from my wiggle monster. He runs to get a toy so we can begin playing right away.

Just recently my Husband told me that when he lets him out of the playpen instead of Wrigley's usually greeting to my Husband he runs to the stairs and wants to go upstairs. How sweet I think that he wants to see me! He loves me more, I win! Of course my Husband is sad that he doesn't care about him and wants to see me. But then the other day I came downstairs first and let him out of the playpen. What happens next is my little love bug runs right past me and to the stairs. Ouch, I was totally rejected!

We now have realized it is neither Husband or I that interests Wrigley, it is the upstairs. We have been dethroned by the chance of him getting to run around upstairs and go crazy underneath our bed. I guess I can see the draw for him. The underneath of our bed is like crack to him. He goes crazy scooting around down there.

I wouldn't mind too much but we have so much stuff crammed under the bed that I hate to have him start chewing on random things. Which he always seems to find that random paper or wrapper that has fallen under there. I have gotten into more trouble with Husband by having Wrigley pull out candy wrappers that he didn't know about! Wrigley also gets a little too protective when we try to look at him or get him out. He goes into devil dog mode that normally we don't see. So it looks like the gate and the whines are staying for awhile.

Bed Time

We started to get in a bad habit of having Wrigley sleep in our bed. This is something I thought I was going to stand strong on before we got him. I thought people were crazy who let their dogs take over their bed. I want my full bed and I didn't want his dog hair all over my sheets. Sounds like pretty good reasoning and that I wouldn't break right?

Well at first we would put him on the bed when we were just watching T.V. and then when we were ready to go to sleep move him to his crate. We also put him on the bed in the morning so that we could get more sleep time. My husband and I both enjoyed this since we got more time with him, he is always so cute snuggled up in the bed, and it was easy to move him to the crate in our room from the bed. But then Wrigley got used to being in a huge comfy bed, who can really blame him for that!

So once we put him in the crate he would stay there for a bit but then start to whine. We thought he had to go potty outside but instead he put his paws on our bed and we indulged him. Hey, it was 3am and it seemed way easier then listening to him whine. Wrigley curled right up next to us and went right to sleep. The slippery slope was in full slip.

Other problems that started was Husband wants him to sleep in the bed. So when I was gone one night the boys had a slumber party. Another time Husband and I fell asleep with Wrigley in the bed so he just stayed there through the night. I can see why Wrigley is confused when we do put him in the crate.

Somehow we (or I) have started to transition to having Wrigley sleep downstairs in his crate. He really does enjoy going to his play pen and sleeping in the bed that is in there. So if he is sleeping when we are ready to go upstairs I decided to just leave him. Of course Husband was sad about this decision since he wants him close to us. Other times he stays downstairs is if he is acting crazy upstairs and wont settle down. The play pen is a good way to contain him so I know he wont get into anything. Wrigley actually sleeps longer when he is downstairs which is a huge plus!

So hopefully we can stand strong on keeping him off the bed and in his own space. It is hard when he is so cute and we do enjoy him being with us but in the end I feel it is the right thing to do for us. Although I can see writing in a couple of months that he always sleeps with us now!

July 4th

We made it through 4th of July!

It was pretty uneventful. There were defiantly fireworks in our neighborhood and the city had some that we could hear but all in all Wrigley was not phased by them. It was so nice not to have him be upset by the loud booms.

I think he has become desensitized to loud noises from Husband playing video games. Husband likes his surround sound going and plays lots of shooter games with loud bangs and gun firing. Annoying for me but perfect for Wrigley to get used to so he wont even pay attention to a wide range of noises.

I highly recommend playing loud annoying noises from an early age. It makes everything easier. Wrigley doesn't really notice thunderstorms, garbage trucks, and other weird noises that he may hear. Which ironically makes our life much more peaceful.

Walk=First Bath

Today I went to take Wrigley on a walk around the block. I am trying to go on at least one a day for right now when he is still young. I know I will need to increase the walks and length when he gets older and has way more energy. Its also good practice walking with his harness and leash on.

So all was going well and we were almost home. Then two big dogs came running full speed out of their backyard WITHOUT leashes on! I freaked out since I didn't know if they were going to hurt Wrigley or me. He had his tail between his legs and was trying to get away. I wanted to pick him up so that he would be semi safe in my arms. Wrigley started to do his classic Shiba scream and I finally got him in my arms as the dogs reached us.

I cant even recall what happened then. I started to walk away slowly and the dogs appeared not to want to harm us. They started to sniff where Wrigley was standing. In all this commotion the owners never appeared from their house. I then smelled something stinky and realized Wrigley had peed or something on himself and me.

Time for a bath. I have never given him a bath but have been trying to desensitize him to the tub. I put him in it with peanut butter on the side of the tub and let him lick it while I run the water slowly. Now it was time for the big show. No more trial runs, he was going to go all the way in.

I had peanut butter on the tub again but once I started the water at full force to get it warm he was clawing to get out. I kept trying to show him the peanut butter but he wasn't having it. The water was finally warm enough and I got him under the faucet. He froze. OK, I can live with that. He just stood there under the water. I was able to soap him up and rinse him off with out major injury. He wasn't even screaming. He only tired once more to get out.

Finally I was done and he looked like a drowned rat. Once the water was off he went to licking the peanut butter. Soon after he wanted out of the tub and I needed to dry him off. He hates the towels normally when we try to just dry his paws off so his whole body was hard to do. I put some treats on the ground and while he snarfed those down I dried as best as I could.

He dried pretty quickly and by then he was pawing at the door to get out so I gave a finally treat and let him out of the torture chamber. I thought he was going to be pissed at me but he was fine and defiantly hyper. He went running around downstairs and trying to kill his stuffed toy. As I write this he is tuckered out and taking a nap.

I am so mad that the owners of the dogs just let them run around with out any leash on. Also that they didn't even notice what was going on and didn't come out to get the dogs or at least to say that they are not going to rip my dog apart! I want Wrigley to be comfortable with dogs so I would have put him down to meet them if I knew that it would be OK.

Now I feel that he is traumatized by dogs and by going on walks. These early months are so important for socialization and getting them acquainted to different things. I feel like all our positive work that we have done could be set back. I am hoping that this doesn't change his attitude to other dogs.

I'm also pissed at Husband since when I told him the story he was like did you let him meet them. I was like no, I was trying to make sure he wasn't going to be eaten or that I wasn't going to be mauled. He thought I should have just left him on the ground and waited to see what was going to happen! How faustrating, I really enjoy our walks and now I don't want to go on them.

3am Wake Up Call

For the past 3 days Wrigley has been getting up at 3am. Not cool. Since we got him he has slept through the night getting up around 5am. So this change in ability to sleep until morning has really started to bug me.

I wouldn't mind so much if he started out not sleeping through the night but to reverse in what we have is hard. I also need to figure out what is going on with him.

He sleeps in a crate in our bedroom. So maybe we need to change locations and put him in his x-pen downstairs. When I take him out the first thing he does is go get a drink of water. So I was thinking we could put a little water in his x-pen and that would solve the thirsty problem. But that does add on to the need to go potty outside which is his next step in his 3am fun time.

After he goes potty I put him in his x-pen and go back to bed. I don't hear him make a peep when I leave him down stairs. That kinda helps me rule out that he doesn't needs more exercise during the day and he is getting up out of boredom. I still would like to start walking him more though just because I think he needs to get out.

My last concern is that his urinary infection he had a couple of weeks ago is either back or not cleared up. He didn't change his sleep habits when he had it but I still feel like he may be having some issue. I'm going to try to experiment with different things and hopefully we can go back to our regular sleep habits.

First Damage

Well, we have official received our first damage from Wrigley. At least it was just the plaster and not the molding. When I cannot watch Wrigley I put him in his x-pen but Husband is not as diligent as I am. He thinks that since Wrigley has done so well for the past month that it would be ok not to confine him when he left for work today. Boy did Wrigley prove him wrong!

I didn't even notice it at first but then I was sitting on the couch and Wrigley was hanging out in the corner that he likes. That's when I noticed the paint missing from the wall and then the metal hanging out.

We try to give him plenty of heavy duty chew toys since we know that he is teething and that puppies do chew. But the allure of the corner won over all the nice chew toys that I bought. Lesson learned, we need to keep our eyes on him more and to put him in his x-pen when we are not there to watch him.