Camping Trip to the Poconos ( image heavy )
Hey everyone! 
I just got back from my week of camping in the mountains. Toby came with, and we had a lot of fun. A little rain in the middle of the week, but besides that, weather was very beautiful. Toby ... did have the stinky farts almost the whole time we were there. Not sure if that was the food switch or the fact that he didn't really like to poop there as much. By the end of the week, he was getting more used to the place and actually starting pooping. Oh fun!
Besides that, of course I took tons and tons of photos. Only a few passed my 'inspection' of quality to make it to the computer screen.
We went to a campground in Marshall's Creek, PA. Very beautiful up there!
... in the car
The dock -- at our campsite
There was dozens of ducks there, I thought they were cute!
We did lots of hiking and walking with the pack!
One morning it was really foggy, so I stayed up and watched the sunrise with Toby.
We hiked to the other side of the lake, and they had a little 'beach' there with a bench, so we let Toby explore on the cable.
Inside the trailer
At the campsite
Toby and I
Overall, I thought it was a really great trip for Toby. It was his first full week of camping, and he was very good throughout. I did not enjoy waking up at 5:30-6am every morning to take him out to go potty and feed him ... but, it ended up being a nice wake up call and I got to catch some nice photos in the morning!
I just got back from my week of camping in the mountains. Toby came with, and we had a lot of fun. A little rain in the middle of the week, but besides that, weather was very beautiful. Toby ... did have the stinky farts almost the whole time we were there. Not sure if that was the food switch or the fact that he didn't really like to poop there as much. By the end of the week, he was getting more used to the place and actually starting pooping. Oh fun! Besides that, of course I took tons and tons of photos. Only a few passed my 'inspection' of quality to make it to the computer screen.
We went to a campground in Marshall's Creek, PA. Very beautiful up there!
... in the car
The dock -- at our campsite
There was dozens of ducks there, I thought they were cute!
We did lots of hiking and walking with the pack!
One morning it was really foggy, so I stayed up and watched the sunrise with Toby.
We hiked to the other side of the lake, and they had a little 'beach' there with a bench, so we let Toby explore on the cable.
Inside the trailer
At the campsite
Toby and I
Overall, I thought it was a really great trip for Toby. It was his first full week of camping, and he was very good throughout. I did not enjoy waking up at 5:30-6am every morning to take him out to go potty and feed him ... but, it ended up being a nice wake up call and I got to catch some nice photos in the morning!
Comments
Thankfully, I gave Toby a K9 Advantix the week before we left, and that also repels the mosquitoes.
We had lots of fun!
I just got back from the pet store, bought Toby a new harness and collar -- he had a huge growth spurt a few weeks ago. I just got him weighed, and now Toby weighs 30lbs. At 7 months old. Wow.
So much for mommy and daddy being tiny little things ( both parents were very small, and the breeder told us he was going to be small, too ). Looks like he inherited someone else's genes instead!
The likelihood of him ACTUALLY having Shikoku in him is pretty rare. Consider the numbers, there are about 25 Shikoku in the U.S. almost all of them are owned by members of this forum. What are the odds of a Shikoku being crossed with a shiba without one of us hearing about it?
Does your breeder breed any other kind of dogs? How big are Toby's siblings?
Toby only had one brother; a White Shiba. Though, I'm not sure how big his brother got. I don't know who bought the other sibling. As puppies, they were incredibly huge and fat, since it was just the two of them. When Toby was 10-12 weeks old, he was 8lbs. Which I was told ... was a lot for a Shiba puppy. :O
Yes, the breeder also had a few Golden Retrievers ( which had a litter ) and a pair of Yorkies ( which she had just gotten by the time we were visiting the kennels ), but she specialized in Shibas. Most of the dogs were separated or paired up with another of their own breed. She only picked up other breeds because her three children insisted on them. - shrugs -
I mean, he's Shiba in every way. His personality burns with Shiba, but it might have just been poor breeding stock, or bloodlines. I can't quite explain why he is so ginormous, when his mother and father hovered around the standards. Grandparents might've been huge? I'm unsure.
Well, as long as Toby is happy and healthy - It doesn't really matter. You just cant breed him or show him if you were planning to. I think Brandon posted a pic of a 60 lb. Shiba! Totally porportional - just a big shiba! Im sure Toby won't get that big, but there are some pretty big shiba's out there!
I mean, I don't have a problem with him being huge. More Shiba to cuddle with! I wasn't at all concerned about how big he was as a puppy, because I just figured that he got a lot of milk as a puppy, and that was why he was fat and huge. He lost the fat, and now hes a nice skinny, growing Shiba.
Anyways, he's gotta be big and tough! Gotta keep the awesome factor up for packing. He totally thinks he's tough shit when he wears that thing. Its really funny!
I took him to a pet store a week ago with his pack on, and he pretty much told off all the other puppies with his silly little screamy bark. And then they all went totally silent once he barked, and I assume he was telling them that he was the dominant doggie at the store, because that backpack made him awesome the second it went on him.
Toby is so handsome!! There are a few shibas I came across that were a bit large per the standard, most memorable was a 35lb male shiba who was a bit taller than Kitsune.. so probably 20-24 inches at the withers.. he looked healthy and like a shiba, but he was just muscular and a bit big for a shiba.. he towered over Tsuki but would try to get very close to the ground around her.. it was a bit funny.
BUT I was JUST talking to a woman who had an 'oops' dog that she called a kaiba - a kai/shiba cross that had that recessive long hair gene.. she's on dogster actually: http://www.dogster.com/dogs/131149
So it's probably not impossible for two different nihon ken to cross paths..
But Toby looks like a shiba who got all the milk he could ask for as a pup!!
(p.s. are you going to the august philly shiba meetup?:)
Aww, that Kaiba looks really cute. And wow, they got a few Kai Ken. :0
~A
The harness is a pack, and its from Ruffwear. It was ... I believe $60 USD. I kinda messed up, bought the wrong size ... and ended up paying shipping out my ass. They wouldn't cover it. So, be sure you're certain on sizing the pack, because I was not reimbursed.