Shio vs. Shedding
Did we mention anywhere on our blog that Shio is shedding? Cause he was. and he still is.
Shio is still shedding!
From this morning:
If I could ask Shio just two questions at this moment (assuming that he was able to respond) they would be:
1. Where the eff does all this fur come from?!
and
2. How are you not bald?!!?
Shio’s Fur
It's been two months now and no signs of the end of shedding season.
We furminate him and put his fur in a pile next to him.
He turns around and eats the ball of fur.
Do we have the only weirdo Shiba or is this normal?
5 Inevitable Truths
...of Being a Dogowner
1. You will find random poop bags in your coat pockets.
2. There will be crumbs from doggy biscuits sitting in the deepest corners of your pockets.
3. No matter how much you clean, there will always be fur everywhere.
4. At some point, your dog will poop in the middle of the street while you are crossing and there will be an audience of cars lined up at the red light watching.
5. You point at the Shiba owner with a Shiba that doesn't walk and laugh, all the while being thankful that the schmuck isn't you.
Shio’s 80′s Crimped Fur-do
Shio was the recipient of a much needed bath on Saturday afternoon and we left his fur to air dry. He fell asleep on his side on our new rug and woke up with a crimped fur-do that we haven't been able to straighten out.
Return of the Shio-Storm
Everything is about to be covered by Shio-Fur...
Photo taken with iPhone 3GS.
Shio vs. Poop
Not sure why it has taken so long for this to happen, but recently Shio has experienced some issues while pooping... issues that I find hilarious. Between my long hair, Shio's fur and anything shaggy that Shio can get his mouth on, he has a lot of strings and hair passing through his digestive system. The problem starts with when his poop cuts off mid-string and won't come out... leaving Shio with a stringy butt. Luckily, I found this post about Loki when I was researching Shibas and was aware of the stringy-butt problem.
Our first run-in with the stringy-butt happened on the way to the dog run. We walk from our apartment in the direction of the dog run (normal), Shio poops and runs away from it (normal), I grab a plastic bag to pick it up (normal) while Shio runs around in circles at the other end of the leash chasing his tail (not normal). I watched Shio try to run away from himself, frantically chase his behind and drag-walking his butt down half an avenue (while Shiba screaming for the neighborhood to hear) before I swooped in to help him out.
I don't feel the need to describe the next couple of times because it's the same story, different type of string. And each time, I'm equally as amused as the last.
Hope you weren't eating while you read this entry. 
The Calm After the Shio-Storm
It may be risky to say this so soon but Shio is finished with his fur storm...
The amount of fur that he's lost compared to the last two months has been light and we can see that he's slowly changing into his adult Shiba fur. He's losing his fluffy baby look. 
Changes that we see so far:
- The black mask he had when he was younger has diminished
- His white mask is starting to show around his eyes
- Fur on top of his head is starting to look and feel more like velour fabric
- The fur along his spine is coarser and darker than the fur on the rest of his body
I can't wait to see the finished product!
The Shio Storm
This is what I call Shio's ability to blow coat. For what feels like all of April and May, Shio has shed enough to build two new Shibas.
I'm not sure where he gets all that fur from, but he sure looks a helluva lot skinnier now than he did before. The furniture and floor in our apartment is always covered in a blanket of fluffy white hair and when Shio shakes, its like a mini fur storm in the apartment. What makes it worse is that all our furniture is either black or grey.
I don't remember what our apartment looked like before Shio came along!
Shedding Shio