The adventures of Rollo the Shikoku
Hey again, here is the story of our shikoku as he grows up from the wee bundle of fur that he was when we picked him up. We found out that we could bring a shikoku home the week before Christmas. As it was the busiest travel week of the year, no flights were available. So we set out, bought all kinds of puppy supplies, and packed the trusty rally car for a long road trip.
We made the 15 hour drive from Fort McMurray AB all the way to Chilliwack BC through a couple of big ugly storms. It was pretty insane making this expedition given the weather we faced, but we took it slow and made it in just over a day with an overnight stop.
We went up this twisty mountain road, almost got lost and arrived at the right spot. We met Saki, Rollo's mother and saw the rest of the litter that was still there. i don't remember meeting his father, Yamato. We went inside and met our little man. We fell in love right away!
Here are a few shots of him as a puppy while he was with Mac from the Akashima kennel.
We had a hotel just down the hill, and braced ourselves for projectile vomiting, but he was fine. We were surprised. He seemed very calm for what was going on, and he stayed that way mostly.
We hit the road early the next morning, and all the way home we had much better weather, we avoided a massive storm that came just after we left which was great. Rollo was great for the entire two day trip home. Only got sick on a spot where the road was full of rolling curves.
As soon as he got home we had to secure everything. We thought we had the condo puppy-proof but he showed us what wouldn't work. We had to secure the Christmas tree right away!
He is very curious, wants to know exactly what we are doing at all times. He met his best friend right away, Molly the sheepdog. They love each other and wrestle every time they see each other. She is a lot bigger than him, but he is now starting to push her around.
We went over to a family member's for Christmas where he played with a big goofy chocolate lab and even met a cat!
He was settling in well.
He loves his couch.
Here puppy training is in session. He is a great listener when properly motivated!
And he met Fred, the female lizard. He doesn't like lizards. Or toothbrushes. Or fizzy drinks...
We took him out to pee, and he found $20 buried in the snow. Good boy!!
We had our cousin take a few pictures of him with her fancy camera two weeks ago. They captured how cute he is!
That face though!
We have him in puppy kindergarten and it has been going very well. He is the oldest pup there and by far the biggest. He pays attention so well. During play sessions he has honed in on a very aggressive black lab mix and keeps pinning him to the floor. That dog snarls at everyone else, bites and is dominant. It seems like Rollo goes in to break up the fights and put him in his place. He is great with other dogs, and does play pretty rough if the other dog is game for some rough housing.
Here's a spoiled rotten dog for you.. Though he has destroyed ALL of these toys!
Needless to say we are proud as punch of him, and he has been an amazing little pup to have around. He is quiet, and calm around home. But he loves to play and has boatloads of energy in spurts. We are in a condo, but back onto 26km of world class cross country ski trails. I am working with him off leash deep in the forest, and his recall is excellent. He even started chasing a deer and I stopped him within about two seconds.
He's growing fast. At 16 weeks he's 28 pounds! I think he's going to be a big shikoku.
I will definitely keep this thread going for Rollo. We do a lot of backcountry pack expeditions in the Rockies so he is going to be an amazing expedition partner. He loves the trail so he's well on his way!! I am so excited to see him get big and have lots of fun adventures.
We made the 15 hour drive from Fort McMurray AB all the way to Chilliwack BC through a couple of big ugly storms. It was pretty insane making this expedition given the weather we faced, but we took it slow and made it in just over a day with an overnight stop.
We went up this twisty mountain road, almost got lost and arrived at the right spot. We met Saki, Rollo's mother and saw the rest of the litter that was still there. i don't remember meeting his father, Yamato. We went inside and met our little man. We fell in love right away!
Here are a few shots of him as a puppy while he was with Mac from the Akashima kennel.
We had a hotel just down the hill, and braced ourselves for projectile vomiting, but he was fine. We were surprised. He seemed very calm for what was going on, and he stayed that way mostly.
We hit the road early the next morning, and all the way home we had much better weather, we avoided a massive storm that came just after we left which was great. Rollo was great for the entire two day trip home. Only got sick on a spot where the road was full of rolling curves.
As soon as he got home we had to secure everything. We thought we had the condo puppy-proof but he showed us what wouldn't work. We had to secure the Christmas tree right away!
He is very curious, wants to know exactly what we are doing at all times. He met his best friend right away, Molly the sheepdog. They love each other and wrestle every time they see each other. She is a lot bigger than him, but he is now starting to push her around.
We went over to a family member's for Christmas where he played with a big goofy chocolate lab and even met a cat!
He was settling in well.
He loves his couch.
Here puppy training is in session. He is a great listener when properly motivated!
And he met Fred, the female lizard. He doesn't like lizards. Or toothbrushes. Or fizzy drinks...
We took him out to pee, and he found $20 buried in the snow. Good boy!!
We had our cousin take a few pictures of him with her fancy camera two weeks ago. They captured how cute he is!
That face though!
We have him in puppy kindergarten and it has been going very well. He is the oldest pup there and by far the biggest. He pays attention so well. During play sessions he has honed in on a very aggressive black lab mix and keeps pinning him to the floor. That dog snarls at everyone else, bites and is dominant. It seems like Rollo goes in to break up the fights and put him in his place. He is great with other dogs, and does play pretty rough if the other dog is game for some rough housing.
Here's a spoiled rotten dog for you.. Though he has destroyed ALL of these toys!
Needless to say we are proud as punch of him, and he has been an amazing little pup to have around. He is quiet, and calm around home. But he loves to play and has boatloads of energy in spurts. We are in a condo, but back onto 26km of world class cross country ski trails. I am working with him off leash deep in the forest, and his recall is excellent. He even started chasing a deer and I stopped him within about two seconds.
He's growing fast. At 16 weeks he's 28 pounds! I think he's going to be a big shikoku.
I will definitely keep this thread going for Rollo. We do a lot of backcountry pack expeditions in the Rockies so he is going to be an amazing expedition partner. He loves the trail so he's well on his way!! I am so excited to see him get big and have lots of fun adventures.
Comments
That makes sense, though with the travel and everything we did take in a lot that day. Our brains were thoroughly scrambled after the preparations and the white-knuckle driving we did earlier in the day.
She met skinks at the shed and green anole down in Louisiana. she was omg gotta catch it! luckily they're quick so they climbed too high for her..
Jesse
Jesse
Sounds like you live in an great area for him to run around.
He REALLY loves the snow. When I take him into the woods and let him off the leash he bounces through the deep snow beside the trail. It's up to his shoulders. I've had him on a few trail runs and he has just been awesome. He's going to make a great trail buddy!
Out of curiosity, where did you get the name?
Tonight it was -33, -41 with the windchill fcctored in. Fricken cold out there. Rollo had so much fun in the woods tonight. He spent the whole hour and a half walk bouncing through the deep snow. I could only see his ears poking through the snow and his red flashing light.
His double coat has really come in thick and is great for our cold weather. When we got in the door he didn't feel cold at all to the touch, and no snow builds up at all in his paws. He could have gone another couple of hours easily, which is fantastic for a 30 pound pup. Pretty cool as my neighbours big 80 pound pitbull can't stay outside for more than 10 minutes in this weather without crying and coming right back in.
Might have to get a YouTube channel, photobucket and Apple don't play nice together because of flash. Video works on desktops though.
The past two nights he has been off leash quite a bit and has had more deer encounters. Luckily I had his flashing red collar light on, and had to track him down in the bush. He LOVES to chase deer. Keeping him leashed for a little while until we can sort that out. Man can he ever move when he feels like it!
Here are some shots of him this morning. He is so lazy early on a Saturday!
I love that you can flip him on his back and manhandle him, he does not care. He likes to curl up beside or on us when we're on the couch.
Here was 20 minutes later. Lazy bum!
That's pretty badass that you do a lot of backpack trail expeditions! I really want to get into backpack expeditioning, both for hunting and for trailing with a dog partner. Have you done much in the past or it's a relatively recent hobby?
Here's me all loaded up. Carrying way more than I needed to here.
Pretty wild where we've gone actually. 25k in from the highway, and way above our base camp here. Berg lake trail to mount Robson (highest point in the Canadian Rockies)
We'll be taking Rollo here, to the Rockwall trail in the Kootenay national park just inside of BC. This trail is dog friendly, and it's the longest and most difficult one I've done. I think the shikoku will be a great breed to bring here.
This is such an awesome spot to set up camp!