Kouda Bear!

edited January 2009 in General
Hi! I signed up here a few months ago and then never really contributed anything. (Whoops!) I love reading the updates on other NihonKen in the States and thought I'd share what Kouda's been up to as well!

My little puppy is now a puppy dog, 5 months old and 15 lbs. He's best friends with a spunky little French Bulldog named Ollie. Ollie likes to run up under Kouda's legs and then run off with Kouda wriggling on top of him. Kouda likes to bite Ollie's neck rolls. My parents' older sheperd mix, Harry, is the Enforcer Dog. He stands over the puppies and barks when Kouda & Ollie play fight and Kouda starts making those bizarre Shiba sounds. Kouda spends most of his time with Harry licking Harry's face.

We hike off leash in the woods waay out of town twice a week and Kouda picks up deer trails and swims in the lakes all the time. He runs with me too and he can run me into the ground. I swear he could run 10 miles every day if we had the time!

Sadly, Kouda lost his kitty brother, Fiyero, last month in a car accident. We miss him very much, but Kouda is as cheery and energetic as ever now! We won't be adopting another cat for a while, but we're looking for the perfect doggie brother at the moment. (We had planned on it before Fiyero's death, and are just now getting back on track. Unfortunately for us but luckily for "Honey Bun", the Basenji that we were considering before the accident found a home before we were ready for her. Yay Honey Bun!)

Kouda has learned come, sit, wait, down, shake, and roll over in English and Japanese (People are really impressed with him, but between you and me, it's really all about the hand signals! haha) I think I'm going to start training him in agility courses!

Here are some recent pictures of Kouda and his "pack" ! :)
«1

Comments

  • edited November -1
    Wait, clearly I can't work the attachments option right ...
  • edited November -1
    OMG! LOL CUTENESS! Say goodbye to those laces!!! PLEASE dont deprive us of Kouda spam anymore!!!!!
  • edited January 2009
    Awww, how adorable. Great work with Kouda! Sounds like he is a great little guy! More Spam! MORE MORE MORE!

    P.S. if you just hit "edit" each time on your original post you can add another picture to that post.
  • edited November -1
    Yeah, that's HIS shoe now. It didn't have a mate to begin with anyway :)
  • edited November -1
    I love the grin while chewing the laces.
  • edited November -1
    cute spam!
    I'm glad you are looking into rescue for a doggy friend! You'll find the perfect mate for Kouda soon enough!
  • edited November -1
    Kouda is super cute! Even while chewing on a shoe. :-P
  • edited November -1
    Thanks for finally introducing yourself and Kouda! He looks super cute in the back of the pickup. :-)

    Good luck on your search for a suitable companion.
  • edited November -1
    Kouda is definitely a cutie! Keep those pics coming, and can't wait to see what happens in yor quest for a brother for Kouda! Oh, and welcome to the forum!
  • edited November -1
    Welcome! ~
  • edited November -1
    How do we add more than one photo at a time?

    Also, does anyone have a Shiba and a larger dog in their home? Does that generally work out? How would you manage that? I'm nervous about adopting a dog that will be much larger than Kouda.
  • edited January 2009
    There are a couple of ways.

    One is to use a site like Flickr or Photobucket. If you want to use those, there are step by step instructions, here:
    http://www.nihonken.org/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1297

    You can also, edit your thread and attach a second, third, etc. photo to your original post.
    One note on doing this, if your photo is larger than 1Mb, it will not automatically embed itself to the thread. It will show as an attachment that people will click to open.
  • edited January 2009
    Several of the forum members have shikoku / shiba, akita / shiba, or kai / shiba pairs, [ or even rotty / shiba ] and they all seem to do very well together. So long as both dogs are well socialized and their personalities match, size wont really be an issue. :) ~
  • edited November -1
    well guys, Koufa's getting a brother this week! We're going to ATL tommorrow to meet "Larry", a 3 year old red sesame Shiba looking for a home that I found thru National Shiba Rescue. If it doesn't work out with Larry, Im going to adopt the Husky mix pup that Kouda loves so much at the Humane Society. So tomorrow, Koufa will have a playmate & me, another running partner/more messes to clean up :)
  • edited November -1
    Where are you picking Larry up from?
  • edited November -1
    He and his foster parents are going to meet Kouda and I at an adoption event at a Petsmart in ATL.

    I figure I can meet Larry and let Kouda and him meet and see if it's a good pair, ask any last questions I have, see his vet records and everything, and watch him and Kouda play to be sure they'll be good buddies ... If everything seems OK, Larry will come home with us tomorrow. :)
  • edited November -1
    But the name's gotta go. Is there a tried and true way out there of changing an adult dog's name without stressing it completely out?!
  • edited November -1
    Just call him something else. He'll get used to it a lot sooner than you think. :)
  • edited November -1
    temporary identity crisis isn't too bad.
  • edited November -1
    Honestly, I don't think dogs don't really care what you call them and don't consider them "names" per se. I think it's more that they know when you say that specific word, you're talking about them, so they (hopefully) look at you and pay attention to you when you say it. That's also why dogs will often respond to nicknames (Jack responds to Doofus!) or "group" names. Larry will catch on pretty quickly that whatever name you choose is his, especially if you don't call him Larry at all.
  • edited November -1
    Oh, yeah, I believed you!
    I'm pretty sure the only thing a dog's name is good for is at the vet for his files. :)

    I was just thinking it will be funny, poor guy. 2 hours in the back of a car, then he gets out in a new home, with a puppy jumping all over his face, and everyone suddenly calling him " 'Taka". I might feel a little conflicted! :D Larry/Taka will probably be more concerned with dinner.
  • edited November -1
    Awesome news about Larry or the husky! Good luck!

    About names: using a sort of focus routine helps, holding food near your face or even eyes and saying the word you want them to respond to (new name, etc). Its how Hanzo learned his new name, I have no idea how many names he's had in his life, but he wasn't respnding to the one the shelter gave him, so as soon as we started associating the word with him and food and asking him to focus on me, every time I'd say it, he'd look at me and come over.
  • edited November -1
    Hi guys. So, Rio (for Ryota, the singer in my favorite band!), formerly known as Larry, came home with Kouda and I for a grace period of one week.

    Rio is skittish, and growls at Kouda now that we're in the house. He wasn't like this (defensive, and skittish) at the adoption center, but because he was pretty aloof, I worked out an adoption-on-trial kind of thing with the foster owner. She seemed to think he would come right out of his shell once he was out of the craziness of the pet store. Unfortunately, he just seems to have gotten worse.

    Hopefully, as the week goes by, he'll settle in a bit.

    In the meantime, I was hoping someone on here might be able to offer some advice on getting the dogs acclimated. He's fine with me. But he's so nervous, he can't even decide where to poop, poor thing! ^^
  • edited November -1
    Oh wow! Good luck with your possible new addition. And hopefully Rio will calm a bit once he settles in. There is a thread somewhere around here on introducing a new dog into your home. I will see if I can track it down for you!
  • edited November -1
    Here it is!

    http://www.nihonken.org/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=826

    (sorry, not good enough with HTML coding to link it!)
  • edited November -1
    Congrats on the potential new addition! You MUST post pictures. :-)

    My suggestion would be for you to take things slowly. If Rio is nervous, give him space to figure things out. Keep his interactions with Kouda VERY low key. Limit them to walks together with only VERY closely supervised play sessions after a day or two. Make sure Rio has a "safe place" like a crate or a bed in the corner of the room he can go to if he feels overwhelmed. Make sure Kouda doesn't bother him when he's in that space. The article that Casey linked to has some very useful advice as well.

    Good luck and keep us posted!
  • edited November -1
    My suggestion is be patient with Rio. Being a foster mom myself, this is the biggest thing you can do. Rio is terrified right now. That is why he is being aggressive. I am not sure his background, but this is his 2 home in a short period of time, he is freaked out. He will have to learn to trust again, which shouldn't take to long. Stay in there!
  • edited November -1
    Thanks y'all! I really appreciat the advice and encouragement. I think it's going to be a bit of a stressful week for everyone in the house!

    Rio refused the tid-bits of steak I offered him after dinner. :( (If I have to bribe the dog to like me, so be it!!) He did lick my fingers a bit, though!

    I'm not too sure of his history, either. No one really knows, but his foster mom pulled him from a local shelter, where he was surrendered by his last family, who apparently neglected him a bit. Not in the food department, though. The dude's a porker! ^^

    Time to go supervise his frantic running about the backyard before his first night!
  • edited November -1
    Awww, hopefully everything will work out!


    Good things come with time & patience :) [ or that's what I keep telling myself, anyways. ] ~
  • edited November -1
    Dave and Nikki gave you exactly the advice I would, set the dogs up for success and just keep it safe and calm. Good luck!
Sign In or Register to comment.