Kimiko the West Siberian Laikoku Ken (New picture 10Feb, look how big she is!)
So everyone already knows the story of Kimiko's parents and how she came to be (or new members can read about it here http://www.nihonken.org/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/7754/kilbes-pups...them-cute-little-bastards....updated-102212/p1)
For thise who don't know me;
I don't post very often in the forum, I mostly just read everybody else's advice and stories. However, I've been a member of the forum for about 2 & 1/2 years and was a lurker on it for a few months before I joined. I've been researching Shikoku for about 3 years and have been on a wait list for a puppy from Otakasaka Kennels for about 1 & 1/2 years. When @ttddinh posted her story and said that she was still looking for a home for the female I contacted her to find out what criteria she was looking for in placing her. After talking for a little it was decided that Kimiko (then Penny) would be coming to live with me in Augusta GA. (:
So this past Friday I flew from Augusta GA to Riverside CA to pick her up. She rode back with me as a carry-on Saturday morning. The flight could not have gone better, she jut slept the entire time. We had a two hour car ride from the airport to my house, which she also slept through. Then came time to introduce her to Kiyomi (my Shiba). My boyfriend waited in the car with Kimiko while I took Kiyomi for a walk. After a while he followed and we had them meet on neutral ground. Meeko barked a bunch which made Yomi do her weird high pitch Shiba noises, but after a little while they were fine and we were able to walk them together. Yomi just ignored Meeko after the initial greeting, while Meeko followed Yomi everywhere and did whatever she did. In the house Meeko got pretty vocal and kept barking at Kiyomi so we ended up having them take turns between being crated and being out... Of course since Meeko is new and just a baby she had more out time, but she was able to get acquainted with one of her crates. (They both have two crates, one downstairs for feeding/staying in when I go to work and one upstairs for sleeping in.) Overall the first evening went well.
Meeko slept in her crate right next to my bed, it took her maybe 3 minutes to settle in and she slept through the night. In the morning I took her outside where she pottied lie a good girl. When she came inside she went right to her crate to get water. I thought it was pretty adorable that she already knew where her bowls and crate were. (:
It's been one day and she's had 1 & 1/2 accidents. The first (the half) I saw coming and went to pick her up to bring outside but she squatted before I could grab her, so had just a little bit of a mess to clean there, she finished outside. The second I missed the signs because she was sniffing near a paper grocery bag so I thought she was just being curious... Till she peed on the carpet. Luckily that one was on an area rug on top of hardwood so it was easy to clean.
Sorry it's kinda long... Anyways, she is absolutely adorable and such a sweet little girl, so her is the promised spam (with more to come).
On the plane, she put her head back in shortly after I took this pic.
On the way home.
Here's a short video of Kimiko and Kiyomi with their Kongs. Meeko couldn't figure out how Yomi was getting the treats so easily.
Comments
I've definitely noticed her love of chewing. She's already gone for shoes, the rug, the couch, a wall, etc. luckily though she is really REALLY easy to redirect. As soon as she bites something she's not supposed to I give her one of her toys and she completely forgets about the other thing.
She also already knows where she is supposed to potty. Twice today in the middle of play she just stopped and walked to the back door, so I went out with her and she went. Which of course got her lots of praise and some treats. Such a good baby girl!
As for her and Kiyomi getting along, I bought a spray bottle to incorporate into their training. Meeko kept barking at Yomi, which was making Yomi really on edge and uneasy. So now anytime either of them barks/snarls/growls/anything else that could lead to a fight, they get sprayed. It's been EXTREMELY affective so far. For a little while anytime Meeko got to close to Yomi she would snarl her lip a bit and make a whiney growl Shiba noise, but now she doesn't care. They've yet to play together, and I wouldn't say they get along exactly, but I think they definitely will with more time. It seems that Kiyomi has accepted the fact that there is a new puppy but she doesn't really know what to do with her.
It was really cute earlier, they each had a bully stick and kong to chew on but Kiyomi left her bully stick to focus on her kong so Meeko took it. Since Meeko had both of the sticks Yomi went and got the other kong. I tried to get a picture of Meeko with both bully sticks and Yomi with both kongs, but of course they both moved once I tried to take pictures....
@zinja - a FL meetup is definitely a possibility, my mom lives in central Florida and I visit her quite often. (:
I'll keep trying to take more pictures, she moves a lot when she isn't sleeping, so there are lots of blurry pictures.
Some more pics:
With her little bully stick.
Then she decided she needed something bigger.
With William.
And how we fell asleep the other night...
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@ttddinh - I know! She's going to outgrow Kiyomi in no time. Kiyomi still won't play with her. It's like she's saying "Fine, I'll live with this thing, but you can't make me like her." And yes, it is a piece of wood. It was by the back door, left over from the spot in the fence that Will fixed over the weekend. I tried to get a picture of her carrying it, but she laid down too quickly. I didn't let her keep chewing it, just thought it'd be a cute picture. (:
We do have tons of chew toys and we definitely need them. She bites eveeeryyyything. So we have to be right there with a toy to redirect her like 24/7.
Both me and my boyfriend took off work until Thursday next week, everyday we leave her in her crate for a couple hours so by the time we go back to work she'll hopefully be used to it.
Kilbe had a HUGE obsession with logs. Not just sticks, straight up logs. I would find huge logs in her crate from outside and I am just like, how the hell did she get it from the bottom of the hill to the top? She also had an obsession with shoes. Logs and shoes.
She looks like her mom
They're in the car in those last two pictures, luckily, she hasn't gotten car sick yet.
Kiyomi and her have had no problems, they actually play together now. Their snarly faces are so cute.
I've been trying to get Meeko to not eat so fast.... She eats ridiculously fast, so I've been hand feeding her little portions from her bowl at a time. It's not working too well. Hopefully after some time she'll realize that her brothers aren't going to eat her food.... Lol.
I don't have many pics on my iPad, but here are a few:
Kimiko watching tv with me.
Meeko laying on me and Yomi on the floor.
It's so cute when they're playing outside and Meeko gets the zoomies, she'll sprint around Yomi and try to play bow super quick without really stopping and will end up tumbling. I'll try to record her doing it... but they seem to know when I'm trying to record them. They'll always stop whatever they're doing the second I start recording. -_-
Do you know when you guys might be planning it? I will be there this weekend for Thanksgiving, and then again next weekend for Tough Mudder down in Sarasota, FL... So I do go there quite a bit, it'll just depend on the exact date of the meet up. (:
We haven't all collectively discussed actual dates. We have a bunch of family coming in for thanksgiving so I'll be locked down in South Florida. You'll be down Nov 30th - Dec 2nd though? That might be a good weekend for a meet up after TM. I'm jealous you're going btw! I wanted to go but my buddies are either unavailable or out of shape. So I'm probly going to do a Spartan race or a different Mudder