The Downside of Training

/

Ting and I have very different training philosophies. I think training should only be done to the extent the skills taught benefit Shio in real life situations; I am not into tricks. Ting, on the other hand, is an obsessive trainer (and that is why she rightly should take almost all credit for Shio's good behavior) -- she will try to teach Shio as much as possible.

"Target" (Jump)

Recently, Ting started to teach Shio how to jump on command. When she told me she was going to do this, I immediately said: "Well that doesn't really count as a life skill now, does it?" My sly remark was ignored and she trained Shio to jump on command pretty much in 2 days.

Shio is now jumping up and down and on people way more often than he used to -- so much that Ting is completely annoyed with him.

Potty Bell

Shio has always been pretty good about telling us he needed to go outside for potty break. He would go to the door and scratch at it to let us know he needed to go. We decided to buy him a bell that sits on the floor so that he can press it and let us know he needed to go out vs. having to scratch the door. Being a smart Shiba, Shio mastered the art of ringing the bell in ~2 days as well.

Shio now rings the bell whenever he is bored, knowing we would take him outside -- even if only for a quick walk around the block, driving both Ting and me crazy.

Such is life with a smart Shiba...

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!