What a day.

Again, not a banner day for Shibas. Dippy got stung by a bee while in a "compromised position" (who knew bees don't like being peed on?). There was much crying in a very loud tone of voice (see previous posting titled "Serendipity Bernhardt"). This caused the resulting trip to the vet and a benedryl shot. More crying. Then much sleeping for the rest of the day.

This was not the day to be off her game. Tonight was the final "exam" in her puppy training class. She had to run an obsticle course including sit-down-sit, wait, and leave it. Even off her game she was the fastest one in the class with a great time of 17.54 seconds. Go Dippy! She got first pick of the toys and many treats as well as giving her mom the satisfaction of being top of another class.

OK, class was not all fun and games though. Sometmes karma comes around faster than you think and after peeing on a bee early in the day, one of the other dogs in class peed on her during recess. This was not a great follow up to her first time at the dog park yesterday where she was a bit overwhelmed by the other dogs. We'll try again but it wasn't the great experience that we'd hoped for. None the less, life goes on and it's all a good learning experience for the whole family.

Sharon

4 1/2 months old in Golden Gate park. Her first outing!

My how she's grown!

News

Sorry it's been so long... law review, you know.

We went to the vet and got out LAST puppy shots! She weighs 12 lbs and she's a DOG now, officially. Also means we can go to parks, the river, the dog park and other places. It's very exciting and it leads me to the rest of today's news...

Today we walked all the way to the park down the street. It was our longest walk in terms of distance from home and we had to cross the street 5 times! The sitting before crossing and waiting for the OK will take us a while, I'm thinking. We'll see.

We also went to a dog park this afternoon. Two lessons: #1, dog parks aren't fun without other dogs and #2 take REALLY good treats because chasing a Shiba over 3.5 acres just isn't any fun. While there, Dippy lost her first canine! Bottom right (her right). She was a little upset and it cut our stay at the boring dog park short (which was fine with both of us, I think). We'll try again later when it's cooler and more people are home from work and might bring their dogs.

Meanwhile she's still our little angel. We have graduation from puppy training next Tuesday and she' doig great (except for "come" obviously which is not a Shiba trait). She knows shake now as well as sit, down, wait, and we're getting better at leave it (as long as Mommy has treats). She also learned a new word this week which is "ball." She will go get her ball when you tell her to, as opposed to any of her other 1,000,000 toys. She's so smart! I'm so proud!

Sharon "Staff" Everett

One reason why maybe not to own a Shiba...

Dippy with her Pooh Bear - 4 mos.