Where are all the other Shiba's?

Before I got Sami and Miko, I had never heard of the Shiba Inu and had never seen a Shiba Inu.  When my boss came to work and told me his daughter had dropped off her two Shiba Inu to keep until she could find them homes, he looked Shiba Inu up on the computer so I could see what they looked like.  They were a certified breeding pair.  Now, I really wonder what exactly that means.  I never asked, but given the medical problems that we have had with both dogs, she must have gotten them at P*****d, you know that one store that sells puppies.

Before we decided to take them, I did a lot of research on the breed.  The two things that stuck out to me was that they needed to be socialized with people and other pets and they needed obedience training.  Not that they will always do what you want them to do, but I really think it makes them better behaved.  LOL  Another thing I remembered reading is that while they are the most popular breed in Japan, they are still considered a rare breed in the United States.  Still, you would think you would see one floating around here or there.

We didn't see our first Shiba until the girls were several months old.  We were at PetSmart at the obedience class and we met this guy that had a very tiny female Shiba named Isis.  Now, I remember questioning to myself if she was really full blooded or not.  There was just something not Shiba like to me about her.  Besides being very small, her coat pattern really didn't look Shiba like and the coat itself was not thick like a Shiba.  The guy asked me where I got my two Shiba's as he was looking to get a second one.  If I'm not mistaken, he also got his Shiba at P*****d.  And, he also eventually got his second one from there too.   He got another female and called her Meeka.  I guess he had some medical issues with Meeka at first that are often associated with puppy mill dogs, but they eventually got her all better and then they just disappeared into the woodwork.

About a month ago, this guy at work told me that had a black and tan Shiba puppy at P*****d and that weekend I decided to take the girls out to see it.  When we got there, there was this guy in one of the cubicles holding an Australian Cattle dog puppy.  It was really cute and sweet.  I went over to see it when one of the employees came over to see Sami and Miko.  I told them I heard they had a Shiba puppy, but was then told they had already sold it.  The guy holding the puppy asked me if I liked Shibas, he of course couldn't see Sami and Miko because he was sitting down.  I said yes and he then told me he had two.  Really?  What colors do you have?  He then tells me that he has a Black and Tan and a Cream Shiba.  I then tell him he needs to stand up and see what's on the other side of the wall.

He stood up and he couldn't believe his eyes!  He said Miko was bigger then his Black and Tan, but besides that, they looked very much alike.  He had one of the employees take the puppy from him and then we sat on the floor while he checked them out and petted them.  He went on and on about how he couldn't believe how calm they were.  He said his wife wouldn't believe him when he told her, so he took some pictures of them with his phone.  I asked him why he didn't bring his Shiba's to the store and he told me that they can't take theirs out in public like this because they don't behave.  What a shame!

Then 2 weeks ago, I went back there and as we were leaving, this woman stopped me so she could see Miko and Sami.  She said she has a Black and Tan Shiba at home.  I asked her why she didn't bring hers to the store and she tells me she can't because every time she puts the leash on, the dog just wants to run.

So, I now know that there are other adult Shibas around here, but I guess I'm the only one that will take theirs out in public.  LOL  Maybe someday.

Two are more fun then one. 

Slumber Party!!!!

I guess the girls decided to have a slumber party and they invited Calista to join them.  She is the only one of my 3 cats that really seems to enjoy being around the dogs.  When she walks by them she rubs on them and she even lets Sami clean her ears.

I think one of the reasons why she started spending so much time with them is because I spend so much time with them and she likes to be where I'm at.  And, generally they are pretty good to her except for a couple times she got run down in the heat of the Shiba 500.  LOL  But, she has never been hurt and it hasn't deterred her from wanting to be around them.

So, I had been busy doing things on the computer and when I turned around, this is what I saw.

I guess in this case, three are more fun then one.  LOL

Scary time with Calista

Besides my two Shibas, I also share my home with 3 cats.  Buzby is an 8 year old female Torte, Beau is a handsome 5 year old orange and white tiger and Calista, who is also 5 years old.  She is a mitted Torte Point Snowshoe.  She is my baby.  Some day I will have to share the story about how I came to have her.

It's that time of year to get her yearly shots.  In the past, I could tell the shots affected her a little as she just seemed to lay around a couple days afterward.  So, since all my cats are strictly indoor cats, I asked the vet if all the shots were necessary.  My normal vet is on maternity leave so had to see a different vet in the group.  She told me that the rabies and distemper shots had to be given, but the feline leukemia shot could be skipped.  So, she just got the 2 shots.

Later that night, I was out in the living room watching some episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond and must have dozed off.  The next thing I knew, I heard some retching and opened my eyes just in time to see Calista vomit on the living room floor.  So, now I have to corral both the dogs into the dining room and put the gates up. I wiped up the mess and mopped the area.  It was getting pretty late, so I decided to check a few things on the computer and was then going to bed.

I took the girls outside one more time and then noticed that Calista had thrown up again in the living room.  I cleaned that up as well and my son came down stairs and told me that Calista had thrown up in my bedroom.  Cleaned that up and got ready for bed.  I collected up Calista and put her on the bed as she loves to sleep with me.  Well, she was definitely not acting very good at all.  She hunkered down on the shelf of my waterbed headboard and within a few minutes started retching again.

So, I picked her up to put her on the floor and that is when I really noticed how hot she felt.  That was when I decided we needed to make a visit to the emergency vet.  So, I call them up to let them know I was coming and got ready to go.

Now, I really hate going to our emergency vet.  Not just the cost, ( $125 just for the exam) but I have had problems with them in the past with Sami.  I won't go into that as it just makes me so mad just thinking about it.  Anyways, I took the papers from my vet in so they would know what shots she got.  Well, the vet was not convinced that this was from the shots.  Her temperature was 105.5 which is very high for a cat, normal being between 100 and 102.  She thought maybe she had some kind of infection going on.  I told her she was just fine before she got the shots, but since my vet failed to take a temperature, she said there was no way knowing.

Now comes the guilt trip, the vet says, if she were my kitty, I would have x-rays and blood work done and some other test.  Now my blood is boiling.  I tell her, I'm almost positive this is from the shots and she tells me the only thing she is willing to do is give her a Benedryl shot to help bring down the fever.  I told her that if she was not better in the morning, I would take her into the vet and have her rechecked.  So, she gives her the shot and out we go minus $147.

She said the shot would probably make her sleepy, so when I went to bed, I put her next to me.  Didn't get a whole lot of sleep, didn't get to go to bed until almost 4:30 and got back up by 7:30 so I could call the vet and take care of Sami and Miko.  It was then I remember seeing a sign on the door to the vet that they would be open Saturday from 8 to noon, but only to get prescriptions filled and sell food.

So, I call them up and tell them what happened and asked if they knew any other vet I could take her to.  Just so happens there is another vet close to them that has Saturday hours.  So I call them and luckily they could get her in at 10am.

When I get her in there, her temperature is now down to 103.  The vet said this was definitely a bad reaction to the shots.  She recommended another Benedryl shot, a shot of Fomotidine to keep the nausea down and some subcutaneous fluids injected between the shoulder blades to keep her from getting dehydrated.  Now, why couldn't they have done this at the emergency vets???  Total cost for this was $102, but I felt this was well worth it.

She went to one of her sleeping spots and slept for a few hours and later she was roaming about, acting more normal.  I could also tell her fever seemed to be gone.  I was afraid she would be a little mad at me for all she had been through.  She has her ways of getting even, like opening up and taking all the clothes out of one or more of my waterbed drawers.  LOL

I had called my Mom to tell her what happened and she told me that in Indiana, the rabies shot is only required every 3 years.  Now, why don't they tell you that at the vets office.  I am definitely going to make an appointment to have a talk with the vet and try to get some of this straightened out.  I'm definitely going to get some of my questions answered and possibly have Calista exempted from getting shots since she had such a bad reaction.

So, I think everyone should find out what the requirements are for immunizations in your area.  Why get unnecessary shots for your pets?  Especially when there are side effects involved.

Two is more fun then one.

Not very tasty

August was a very dry month for us.  Especially the second half.  But last night, shortly after I got to work, the rain finally came.  So, it seemed logical that some things that depend on the rain would be out and about this morning.

After the girls ate, I took Sami out for the second time.  As we were walking across the yard, I saw something move on the ground just ahead.  Just as I figured out what it was, a toad, Sami snatched it before I could pull her back.  I told her to drop it, which she did, but before I could pull her back, the toad moved and she grabbed it again.  I told her to drop it again, but I really don't think I needed to tell her that, for as soon as she dropped it the second time, she started shaking her head, spewing saliva everywhere.

Toads can be dangerous for your pets.  Toads have a few defenses to avoid being eaten.  One thing they do is take in air and puff up to look larger then they are and make it hard for say a snake to swallow them.  The other thing they do is secrete a toxin from the large glands behind the eyes.  Well, I think that is what happened and Sami didn't think it tasted too good.

The toad was curled up in a ball on it's back and I was hoping that she didn't hurt it.  After a few minutes of shaking her head, she finally got her business done.  On the way back to the house, I went over to where the toad was and it appeared unharmed and hunkered down by the oak tree.  It then jumped and Sami really wanted it.  It was all I could do to pull her away.  On the plus side of this, this was the 4th toad I've seen in the yard this year.  So, if you have toads in your area, be careful that your pets don't get a hold of them.  I plan on keeping a close eye on Sami today to make sure she is not suffering any side effects from the toad.

Two is more fun then one.

Mole number 2!

Now that Sami has caught her first mole, they now know what they are all about.  They are so anxious to get to that spot in the park, that they literally drag me there.  The day after Sami caught the mole, we were down in mole central and both Sami and Miko saw the ground move and immediately they pounced on it.  They were both digging and sniffing, sticking their noses into the tunnels and breathing in so deeply that I was sure they would inhale dirt.  Well as hard as they were working to get the mole, I knew they would come up with nothing.  For while they were busily working away, I saw the ground moving a couple feet away, slowing moving farther away.  The mole wins this time.

The next night, the mole wasn't so lucky.  Before I knew what was going on, I heard a squeak and there was Sami with another mole!  The head and front feet sticking out of one side of her mouth and one foot and the behind sticking out of the other side.  Don't worry, the other foot was inside her mouth.  This one was much more lively and was squirming around.  You could tell Sami was so proud of herself.

So proud in fact that she did not want to give this one up.  I kept telling her to drop it and she would start shivering.  It made me feel bad.  So now I'm trying to figure out what to do, she was not going to drop this one.  So, we continued our walk around the park area and I was hoping that I would find someone on the next street to help me out.  We finally get back on the road and Sami is just prancing down the street with mole in mouth.

It was just my luck that Bob was sitting in his garage cleaning up his motorcycle and I asked him if he could help me out.  He really got a kick out of Sami.  A few years back, Bob had a Beagle that loved to go to the park and hunt moles.  It brought back memories for him.  He told her a few times to drop it, but that wasn't happening.  Bob was a little concerned that if he tried to take it from her, she might bite him.  I assured him that she would not do that.  She has never even acted like she would bite anyone.  She's the attention seeker and goes to anyone for some attention.  So, he gets a pair of work gloves out of the garage and with a little work, was able to extract the mole from her mouth.

Now the story gets a little ugly.  Bob does not like moles, especially since they can be very destructive to your yard.  He and his wife spend many hours in their yard, they just did some nice landscaping and planted lots of new plants.  So, Bob did the mole in and disposed of it.  I didn't particularly care for how it ended, I would have preferred to see the mole released back to the park, but since he did help me out, I didn't complain.

So, I looked around and found  my garden gloves and plan on taking them with us on walks in case Sami or Miko catch another one.

Two is more fun then one.

EWWWWWWWEEE Yuck! Or.....Sami gets the prize

I guess it all depends on who is looking at it.  This morning we went for our usual walk.  We go down into the park area more since we found the stolen items there.  We have had a rash of thefts in the area that is escalating and everyone in the neighborhood is on high alert.

There is one area of the park in particular that seems to have a lot of mole activity and Sami and Miko love to sniff around there.  Well, Miko was sniffing at this one area and Sami rushed over there to see what was going on.  They were sniffing and sniffing and sniffing.  Then in the blink of an eye, BAM!!!!, Sami plucked a nice plump mole right out of its tunnel!

I of course was freaking out, trying to get her to drop it.  She was not going to give up her prize that easily.  I was not wanting to try and open her mouth to get her to drop it.  Finally after telling her numerous times to drop it, she finally let go of her prize and I pulled both dogs away.  It just laid there, so I'm not sure if she hurt it or if it was just playing dead.  Just goes to show how strong their natural instinct to hunt is, no training required!  And because of that, I did tell her what a good girl she was, we just weren't going to take it home with us.  LOL

Two are more fun then one.

Our good deed for the day

Yesterday morning we went for our usual walk around the back way by the park.  When we got back to our street, that is when I started seeing things strewn along the side of the road.  There was a plastic bag that looked like it had cosmetics in it.  There were several small tubes of what looked like lotion.  There was one big bottle of lotion, some perfume, then a hat, some gum and what looked like an unwrapped McDonald's toy.  It was when I saw the plastic huggie container containing baby wipes that I suspected that someone had been walking a stroller down the street and the stuff fell out.  Later, I found a cheap mens sports watch which I took inside.

Later that day after I got up, I found out the couple down the street had had their car broken into and a diaper bag which she also used as purse was stolen.  The watch was one of the items that was in the bag. 

So, this morning on our walk, I got to this point in the road that looked like someone had slammed their brakes and then there were two trails that led down to the park area, like someone had gone off road.  I had noticed this yesterday morning, so the girls and I decided to investigate the park. 

The first thing we found was some papers and a few store cards.  Not credit cards, but the kind of cards that get you discounts, like a frequent shopper kind of card.  Then I saw something on the other side of the park and we went over there, but it was just some junk food wrappers.  Then I spied something that looked like money and went over there and found a $5 dollar bill and a set of car keys.

I knew of this one area that lead into the woods and just before we got on the path, I found a small coin purse.  Inside was a bank card and a drivers license.  When I pulled out the license, I expected to see the one ladies face, but no, it was someone else in the neighborhood.  So, we walked down to her house.

She was ecstatic to get her things back, the keys and money were hers also.  She said I saved her a ton of money as she was just getting ready to go to the dealer to get her locks tumbled and new keys made.  Here her car had been broken into the same night as the other one.  She had spent the day yesterday getting a new license and new bank card, but she felt so much better knowing that someone else did not have the old ones.

It was very rewarding to find these items, I just wish we could have found the other ladies wallet that had her license and credit cards in it.  I took them down to show them where I found the other stuff, but we didn’t find anything else.  Hopefully it will show up.

Two are more fun then one.