Happy birthday to Ahi (and Rakka)!
Ahi & Rakka turns 2 year old today!
Heidi - Hope you don't mind me making this post, I was not sure if you knew Rakka's b-day.
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Heidi - Hope you don't mind me making this post, I was not sure if you knew Rakka's b-day.
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Comments
What, no birthday spam? ;-)
Picking her up at Katja's:
Random Puppy pics:
Adolescence:
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(Brad: is that a G-class Benz you're loading her into?)
That makes me want to go home and force Nola to cuddle!
(Dave:we must be thinking along the same lines, I thought about that too)
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Dave - Yes, that's my dad's Geländewagen. We drove that from ATL to Vancouver Island, it was great and extremely wasteful of us [wasteful of gas]. lol! I'm impressed you could tell that from such a poor picture of the G.
I have wanted a "G" since I was 8 years old when I saw my first on in Greece. When my mom and dad started looking for a vehicle that would work for Bush's "company truck" tax reimbursement program [in 2006] I urged my dad to check out the G class. He thought it was kinda silly looking, then he drove it, that was it - he ordered his the next day.
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Happy birthday to Rakka, too!
So what have you learned since owning a shikoku for two years?
Then I really got to thinking about it and I can sum-up everything we have learned from sharing a life with Ahi in 2 words:
Heart
-and-
Confidence
Ahi overflows with both heart and confidence and I think it has taught us that those are the 2 qualities we value most in a dog.
I would say that Shikoku-Ken, in general, posses these two traits at a higher level than our other dogs - when they are into something [good or bad] they put their entire heart into it. If you watch them interact and move, even Loa who is a little shy, you can tell they have confidence - and it’s a humble kind of confidence, the type that allows them to be total goofs or spazzes without caring.
Another thing I have learned is that, imo, confidence is the most important trait a balanced dog posses and one can’t have too much. I used to think that high levels of confidence could be a bad thing, something that could cause trouble in a dog – but over time, watching our dogs interact with each other – specifically Ahi – I have noticed that the more confidence they have the better they are at handling situations [with dogs or people - good and bad]. I always thought that choosing a dog that was more in the middle of the confidence scale was the way to go, but I am now starting to think the more confidence the better.
Hope that answers your questions well.
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Ahi was such a cute puppy...her pics kill me!
BTW, you and Jen haven't aged one bit!
Happy Birthday ladies!
I have actually changed a lot - I lost a ton of weight right before we got Ahi, I was thin all my life then got relatively large for a while. lol.
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me at 16
me at 21
me now
scary huh?
Fun fact: it's also my FIL's birthday.
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Ahi was one little cutie! (And still is) I love her black belly.
How many confidence-charged shikokus do you think could live together openly as your pack does?
Tsukitsune - I think as long as these dogs also respect each others space, you could have quite a few living together "openly" just fine. Since everyone has to answer to the human pack leader anyways. They can be confident, but still have their own quirks/personalities that will make them submit or be a bit more dominant over the other. The best matched packs will always have some kind of variety in temperment.
The one with the most confidence, however, with the most energy will most likely be "2nd in command". It really boils down though to each dog having a kind of respect for the other. If you have multiple dogs that don't respect the other's space, your gonna have problems.
Remember the quote, "A leader is born, not made."