Dippy News

It's been a little while since I last posted so here's all the news that's fit to print:

Dippy's been to the Vet for some infection problems but she's on antibiotics (which she looks forward to as a treat!) and doing much better. The worst part, for her I think, was the urinalysis rather than the infection. Turns out it's vaginitis (don't ask me how she got it, 'cause I've no idea) and the anti-b's should get rid of it.

Today she had her first what I'd call even puppy fight. Shiba's are known to be tough little "stud muffins" and Dippy's no exception. Every other dog in the neighborhood that she's met she has dominated without effort (all small dogs). Today she met up with a Black Lab puppy who was about 3 times her size and it was finally a fair fight. She was sat upon a lot but she definately got her nips in too and never thought she was out gunned at all. She had a blast. Sadly, the puppy was only visiting and Dippy will be the undisputed Queen of the neighborhood again. And she needs a bath. Ick... dog drool.

Dippy's doing well with her new dog door. She's still a little afraid of it and tries to open it with her paws instead of her head (by just walking through) but more often than not she uses it with very little prompting from Mom and Dad. She gets better every day and will probably be using it with no hesitation by week's end.

In other news, Dippy's Mom got good news about my grades. GPA of 4.05 and all is well.

Love from Dippy and her family.

Sharon

Dippy through the looking glass...

Irony

Those of who have been reading along know that Dippy will eat anything. I mean anything. Rocks, pinecones, used chewing gum, bugs, worms, screws, you get the idea. So last night, to be nice as I was baking, I gave her a carrot. No dice. The only dog in the world who doesn't think carrots are a treat. She will eat packaging material and carpet but not carrots. She tore it apart and played with it but no eating. In fact, she played with it so much as was so distraught by it that it made her throw up. So, to be sure I'm making my point... worms = yummy: carrots = barf. I know my dad, consumate veggie hater, would have agreed. So much for being healthy.

Sharon

Vet visit #2

Well, Dippy is officially the favorite puppy of the ladies in the Vet's office. She was very good, of course. She weighs 5.75 pounds now and got her second set of shots. All went well, although we hung around and talked to the other dogs for a while because I'd heard Shibas sometimes have reactions to the second set of shots. Everything was fine though and the other dog-mommies thought that I was crazy worrying that this little thing that was barking at their full grown big dogs was about to go into shock.

She can now get up on the couch by herself almost every time. Everyone agreed she's gotten a lot bigger and even cuter. I'm still trying to find someplace where I can take good pictures in the grass or something (not carpet). Maybe Sunday at her grandma's house. We can't wait for agility training!

Sharon

Dippy at 9 Weeks. Ears UP!

Ears up!

Nine weeks old and she has full Shiba ears. We were hoping that the left one would always flop over a little bit but no such luck. We have a vet appointment on Thursday and can't wait to see how much she weighs now. It seems like she's grown a lot.

She's doing really well on her leash now that she's on the harness, not her collar. She still has a tendancy to flop down in the grass and graze, but the incidents are getting further between and most of the time it just means she wants to go home. The new trick is finding bubble gum people have thrown on the street. If you're ever lost, make sure you have chewing gum and Dippy will find you! (BTW, if you see people doing this, tell them they may be hurting a very cute puppy!).

She went to school with me on Friday and was the hit of the campus (making it very hard to have a meeting!). However, I am definately having cards made up telling people what she is! Shiba marketing!

I'm sure I'm leaving out about a million things that she did that were cute since my last post but she'll do them again, I'm sure.

Sharon Staff

Dippy and her sleeping companion.

Dippy meets Chesire.

Adventures in dining

OK, anyone who might read this... how do you keep the stupid animal from eating everything she comes across on a walk? So far I've removed pinecones, those little prickley balls from the trees, leaves (lots of leaves) she ripps up grass by the mouthful, and anything (I mean anything) non-organic that she finds. Now she's starting to have tummy troubles, I think, and it's all her own fault but I hate to pick her up every two seconds while we're out and take something out of her mouth. Makes walks not a lot of fun for either of us. And the carpet when we're inside - oh the amount of carpet she's gotten I hate to even think...

On a lighter note, she got whapped by the cat (Chesire) for the first time today. It's as low on the stairs as Chess has come since Dippy's been here (two stairs from the bottom!) and Dippy chased her up and got knocked for it. Finally. She looked really scared which is exactly what we want. Go Chess! Pictures later.

The eating and chewing is annoying but she's still a joy and I swear she's grown an inch or more since we got her last week. We'll see what the vet says next week.

Sharon

Our own Serendipity Berhardt

Julius Ceasar: Act I. Et tu mommy??

OK, you hear things about Shibas but somehow you just never think YOUR precious Shiba will ever do those horrible things because you (unlike the thousands that came before you) are above that. You picked the good one. Yeah. Right.

If we were to pick one of those horrible long AKC names that you see at the dog shows we would have to go with Drama Queen of Shiba. This morning I took her outside to go potty and (gasp) left her alone for less than a minute. I came back out to find a yelping Shiba with one paw straight out like it was broken. Probably severed and going to have to come off to hear her tell it. As a new mom, and novice staff, I was understandibly concerned. I checked for stings, splinters, felt her paw to see if she had any tender spots - all to no avail. So I set her back down to see if she was maybe, possibly, slightly overreacting. Still, an adament refusal to put her paw to the ground. There was much circling and pathetic whimpering. Still, puppies don't get to go in the house in the morning without doing certain things (I mean, the carpet's not new, but we have to learn about going outside). So she went and I picked her up and took her inside and put the food down. Miracle! Like the laying on of hands in a revival meeting! Food = suddenly mended paw! What a sucker I am.

Yesterday was very exciting. She got on the futon by herself for the first time. Walked on a leash, went outside of the yard under her own power, and met Brigit (T and Daniel's Golden Retreiver). All in all, she was very good and very brave. It was all very exciting and we're looking forward to exploring more today - once the paw heals, of course - oh, wait, which one was it again??

Sharon

Boy am I glad we don't have carpet we like.

Who knew that dogs ate carpet?
OK, not saying the honeymoon's over but there are times when you just want a muzzle. Our little darling is still doing very well but obviously the five billion toys we got her are just not the right five billion toys. The carpet is far more interesting. You can dig in it. You can pull on it. You can eat it (though mom always takes it out of your mouth). Endlessly facinating.
I think it's fair to say that the heavy stress portion of Dippy's acclimitization is over. She's gone from being timid about most things to thinking (perhaps rightly) that she owns the place. From hating to go inside to hating to be outside. Yup, she's home. Sadly, that means the battle-of-wills phase has begun. She's not as bad as I've heard other Shiba's can be (yet) but there will definately be a patience test in our future.
Dippy spent her first few hours home alone in her den and did very well, from all I can tell. Nothing destroyed, no accidents. This is what new dog owners live for. It's the small successes that help. Also this blog. Venting at any time day or night... a Shiba staff must! Still, it just doesn't get cuter than Dippy.
Sharon