Shio vs. Anti-Lick Strips
Ends up Shio has allergies of some sort. We are not yet sure of what his allergies are triggered by.
As we are trying to weed out his foods one by one to determine the cause of the allergies, the hot spots that Shio keeps picking at are getting progressively worse from the excessive licking and biting. There are now patches of skin showing through because his fur has been bitten off along with beginning signs of an infection (as confirmed by our vet).
So today, Ting put these The Anti-Lick Strip Prevent™ strips on both his arms. They are made from medical grade tape and seasoned with cayenne pepper and lemon powder to deter puppy's licking habit through scent and taste. The scent from those spices made Shio smell like dinner but effectively deterred Shio from bothering his hot spots again. Unfortunately, with the anti-lick strips on him, Shio was a completely different dog. He was subdued and quiet. Basically, he moped around all afternoon.
That night, we realized he tried to chew through the strips anyway. It also stunk up the entire apartment so Ting took them off, and realized that the powders irritated his skin to the point where it was swollen and red. We then proceeded to clean as much as the scent off his arms using water and gave him a big broccoli with peanut butter on it to reward him for being good -- and because Ting felt guilty about putting through all of this. It took a while for the scent to filter out of the apartment and off his arms.
Needless to say, as effective as those strips were for its purpose, we will never use it again. We've never seen him as miserable as he was that evening with the anti-lick strips on him. Lesson learned.
Shio the Ruffian, Part II
So today I got to take Shio to the park.
15 min in, this other Asian dude with his French bulldog arrived. Shio and the Frenchie got along immediately and started playing.
I saw the Asian dude — who had white long hair, a cap, and skinny tight jeans — freak out once he saw that Shio was mouthy.
Mind you, the Frenchie loved playing with Shio — they ran and wrestled and play-danced. But given how flabby the Frenchie’s face is and how large his ears were (Frenchies are so ugly they are cute), Shio of course started nipping at it.
The Asian Ass went to separate the two, and slapped Shio in the face.
Nobody slaps my dog in the face except me and my fiance.
I walked over, and said “Hey buddy.”
He looked over at me. Lucky for him, I had my sunglasses on so he couldn’t see my death-stare that said “if you touch my dog again, I will fucking kick your ass.”
I told him, in my sarcastic tone: “It’s ok man. He’s mouthy but he’s gentle.”
10 min later, Asian Ass left the park with Frenchie.
Losers.
Shio’s Baby Teeth
Vet: “Before you know it, he’ll start losing his teeth.”
Me: “He loses his teeth?!”
Vet: “Yes, at around 6 months he’ll start losing his baby teeth. You won’t even notice. You might find one or two in his toys but he’ll swallow most of them.”
Shio is 5 months old. We have found 6 baby teeth so far.
Bestest Buddies Foreverest
We bought Buddy from our breeder when we picked up Shio. Buddy is a Snuggle Puppy stuffed animal had has a velcro underbelly that can be opened up to insert a “beating” heart and heated warmer. This gives Buddy the feel of a real dog next to your puppy when he may be experiencing separation anxiety. During the first night that Shio came to our home, Buddy was the only item in our home that Shio would acknowledge and has been with him ever since.
Needless to say, we know that wherever Buddy goes, Shio is sure to follow. Here are some examples of their inseparable bromance:
Prison Break Buddies:
When we first started crate training Shio, he thought he was being imprisoned. Shio would know that if Buddy was being put into the crate he would be following right behind so he would “rescue” Buddy from the crate. The whole “prison break” used to comprise of him making a mad dash for the crate, grabbing Buddy with his mouth and then speeding out of crate with Buddy. This would happen at least 5x a night before we were able to have them both settle in the crate and close the door behind for the night. The next morning, Shio would ignore Buddy because he sold him out to the crate.
Walking Buddies:
If we have trouble motivating Shio to go out, we clip the leash onto Buddy and drag him towards the door. Shio will jump up from whatever he’s doing and follow us. Then we clip the leash onto Shio’s collar and carry Buddy out for our walk while passerbys tease us for having “two” dogs. I have to admit, we DO look ridiculous.
Grooming Buddies:
This, by far, is the funniest Buddy story we have right now. On Saturday mornings, we groom Shio. We take his brush and try to pull out as much of his dead undercoat out as we can, pile it up next time and throw it out into the garbage when we are finished. One Saturday morning after his normal grooming ritual, I catch Shio pulling out Buddy’s fur with his teeth and piling it up next to him. No joke, this really happened.
Maybe one day we’ll get him a live buddy to play with. But for now, we have a warm stuffed dog with a heartbeat named Buddy.
Shio and Buddy Napping
The Shio Guide: How to Eat Broccoli
1. Take a little off the top
2. Flip over and whittle down the stem
3. Flip over again and take some more off the top
4. Flip over one more time and work on stem until you finish the whole broccoli
5. Lick the floor for any remaining bits
Shio the Ruffian
My dog doesn’t take sht from anyone and I’m dmn proud of him for it.
Last week, I took him to his usual dog run and he was roughing it up with Toto* and having his usual puppy fun. I know that Shio is a fearless face biter and wrestler when he plays. It took a little time to get used to, but I’m not fazed by it anymore. That’s his Shiba-ness and just how he rolls. Now, Toto and his mommy on ther other hand, are not used to it. Shio caught Toto’s skin with his sharp puppy teeth and gave him a booboo which I found that day while I was grabbing Shio and pointed out to her.
Come yesterday, I saw Toto and asked his mommy how he was. She said, “He’s good but it was because he was playing rough with other dogs… actually, it was THAT dog.” Naturally, she was pointing at Shio. Of course I came to my dog’s defense and said, “Oh, that’s MY dog.” She backed off a little but was clearly unhappy with them playing together.
Two minutes later, Shio comes running towards me bleeding from the mouth. The woman shoots a hah!-told-you-so look in my direction, grabs Toto, and leaves the dog run.
Turns out that he knocked another tooth loose while playing and bled from his gum.
Fabulous job, Shio. Way to prove your point.
(*Name changed to protect the innocent)
Not a Morning Shiba
We’ve found that Shio is just not a morning doggy.
Every morning at 6am, J or I will come stumbling out in a huff to grab him and run out so he doesn’t have an accident in his crate. When Shio was 3.5 months old, if we were late by just 5 minutes, there would be an accident so we are trained to jump up and go the second the alarm rings in the morning. This week we’ve found that he would just lift his head up to say “Hi” and then back down he goes. J and I will sit there until 6:30am while he lazily looks at us with his chin on his arm or stretches eveeeer soooo slooowlyyy in his crate.
Sometime in between 6:30am and 6:40am he’ll decide that he’s ready to trot out and join the rest of the world with his newfound leg lifting antics.
This is good news for us… we get to hit the snooze for 30 minutes before dragging ourselves out.
5 Months
It’s been a very long 2 months with our little Shio but he’s finally calmed down a bit and I’m ready to blog!
Shio came into our lives at 3 months old at a mere 8lbs. He is now 18 lbs and no longer the little pup who’s scared of the city!
He’s been growing into his personality every day and learning to love us more and more. He does his little Shiba things but it’s all the more reason to love him.
We found his second lost tooth last night after teething on J.
Shio is allergic to something and we catch him reverse sneezing whenever we are outside with him.
Last Monday we experienced his first leg lift and he’s been working on it since. Our little boy is growing up quick.
Shio @ 5 months