Growing out of puppyhood
Hi guys, so I have a question for all my fellow humans owned by their Shikoku. How has your Shikoku's behavior/temperament changed as they transitioned from puppy to adult?
Background: So raising Miya has been an amazing adventure. She just hit 15months old and I can believe it. She is one of the sweetest, easy dogs I've ever had. That said she does have her moments when she is completely crazy, stubborn, hyper, spazy, or any combination those. She loves to play with my girlfriends dog Toby who is now 5 years old. But sometimes she decides (out of nowhere) that she wants to play at completely in appropriate times ...... like at 4:30 am when we're all trying to sleep. My girlfriend says that Toby was like that but mellowed out as he got older. This got me thinking about how/if/when Shikoku "mellow" out, so I thought I would reach out and learn from those more experienced.
Thanks,
-Rick
Miya spam:
After a little too much fun the night before
First time at the beach
I'm Woke up to this one morning
Background: So raising Miya has been an amazing adventure. She just hit 15months old and I can believe it. She is one of the sweetest, easy dogs I've ever had. That said she does have her moments when she is completely crazy, stubborn, hyper, spazy, or any combination those. She loves to play with my girlfriends dog Toby who is now 5 years old. But sometimes she decides (out of nowhere) that she wants to play at completely in appropriate times ...... like at 4:30 am when we're all trying to sleep. My girlfriend says that Toby was like that but mellowed out as he got older. This got me thinking about how/if/when Shikoku "mellow" out, so I thought I would reach out and learn from those more experienced.
Thanks,
-Rick
Miya spam:
After a little too much fun the night before
First time at the beach
I'm Woke up to this one morning
Comments
I can't comment on the 4:30 AM thing; Yuki is not a morning person. I'll get him up and he just moves to another spot to sleep for awhile.
He was a bit of a nut job at 15 months. He doesn't have any buddies his size, so I'm evidently the surrogate dog friend. He would occasionally go nuts and nothing I could do would calm him down. He is moving in on 2 years old now and we have worked with him on appropriate behavior. He still can go nuts a bit, but we can direct him in a more appropriate direction than me.
I think a big factor is exercise. If we can keep him tired out not problem. If there are a couple days in a row where we can't get him out as much as we would like he will let us know.
To answer your question though -- Kaja is now almost 2 years old and she has changed, yeah. She was very independent as a puppy and wouldn't listen well, to the point where I thought she might have hearing issues, but now she listens very well. She used to get separation anxiety and doesn't so much anymore... and she has developed a respect for barriers -- when she was a puppy she would push right through our baby gate, but now she doesn't even try (we just lean the gate, we don't have to secure it).
Kaja will get playful at random times, yes, but if I tell her it's bed time and shut the bedroom door she calms down and zonks right out. Mind, she almost always goes outside for a half hour before bed time. Newest achievement is she knows I don't like it when she jumps up to greet me, so the past half dozen times I've noticed she's been a good girl and sits to greet me. She actually sits, ears down to her head, wiggling her tail, and waits for me to go down and let her give kisses.
There isn't really any 'inappropriate' time for Kaja to play, we just toss her toys whenever she brings them to us. When bedtime rolls around Kaja will lay in bed and not budge until I wake up the next morning. If she DOES move around it's a special circumstance and needs to be let outside -- emergency diarrhea or something.
She spends most of her time laying down on couches or dog beds or on stairs in the sun. She goes for walks and runs and loves playing with the dogs at daycare. The only time she ISN'T mellow is when she sees strangers, dogs, or strangers get too close to her. But heck, even when she plays with you she can be timid. We had a friend come over recently and wonder why Kaja wouldn't wrestle with him... it was because he was wearing all tight clothes and she knows she isn't supposed to bite near the skin. So once he put a baggy sweater on, it was game on.
Of course there are always exceptions -- she humps a LOT, but we don't discourage it. I think it's funny. She sometimes nips the skin when she's trying to grab your shirt, but that's on accident. She sits to greet ME but other people she will jump up on and 'punch' them with her paws. We call her the puncher.
Overall I think Kaja is a really well behaved dog. I think it takes time, age, routine (or sometimes lack of routine), and making sure you're not letting her push you around. Oh and treats, lots of treats.
He's now two years old and has mellowed out significantly. I don't recall exactly when he started mellowing out though. He's now a couch potato in the house most of the time, but very energetic outdoors. He'll play with the other dogs during the day, and just relax most of the evening/night. The other two still get zoomies a few times a day though. I don't they play much at night anymore (but I'm also a deep sleeper, so I wouldn't know if they were!). I'm not sure if it's because we put away all the toys or they just tire each other out during the day.
@kaja - lol, I can totally relate to being completely ignored by Miya when she was a pup. I almost debated changing her name when she was a pup because she ignored it half the time. We've come a long way since then! what is weird is that when she's just with me she hops in the bed and will sleep all night. When she's alone with Jess and her dog Toby, she snuggles in and falls asleep with her too. But with both of us she gets super hyper. Crazy, I know!
@emi802 - Thanks. I love how Katsu goes from toy to toy! Miya does the same thing! she'll pick one up and play a minute, then toss it in air and then run to another one as if it moved. Got to love those Shikoku quirks!
Takeo is just 3 yrs now, while he has mellowed a bit, he's not very calm... Still waiting for that
Takeo is just 3 yrs now, while he has mellowed a bit, he's not very calm... Still waiting for that
@Jigzzor - yes, she does! I met Saki when I got Miya but would love to see a comparison of her, Shiggy, and the now grown pups in the litter.
I can definitely see the resemblance in Miya, Saki's genes are strong! Acadia, Miya's littermate also looks very similar - with @AtlasUnderfoot. I do see differences in the shape of the eyes, underjaw, and ears (Saki's are rounder at the tip). Overall, I'd say they have a nice refinement of Saki's features.
Here are some pictures of Saki from a few weeks ago -
Thank you so much for these pics of Saki. I can really see the resemblances.
@AtlasUnderfoot - How is Acadia doing? Please please please post some more pics soon! I don't think I realized that they were siblings, and now that I see the earlier pictures It's crazy how much they look alike.