I think my Shiba is the first. He always wants to go out. and when we are out he pulls towards people like "oh hello. who are you? this is my person walking me" and as for another dog. wont be happening for quite some time probably. want to be sure i can afford all the classes right off the bat so that he gets in them on time. and definitely not until i am very confident in my understanding of Azriel and all of his needs/wants.
I about flipped out on my vet receptionist when I got Misaki's license and realized that they put her down as a mixed breed. Turns out that they don't have Kai Ken in the system and it's the county system. At least the vet has heard of and seen Kai before.
At least Jiro is actually a mix so I don't have to try and explain him, my little curly-tailed coyote.
Saki is great with other dogs and other people as well. Jiro has gotten much better. He's very barky, mainly when people come over or dogs come up to the fence from the park to run back and forth with them. He'll bark and lick you at the same time. I still get nervous though. Saki actually has a much tougher bark when she decided to use it. She saw an older woman in an electric wheelchair yesterday going down the paved trail when we were outside off leash and she did NOT like it one bit! They both do wonderful outside of the house with other people and dogs. Still a little shy if someone comes up to them. Saki likes to initiate things, Jiro could care less.
@rikumom omg, toki is a heavy breather when excited too! lol. I thought that was just a weird toki thing.
all my NKs do this. We call "whiffling," though now I can't remember why we call it that. But it is a "heh, heh, heh" sort of excited breathing. My Akita did it a lot when he was younger and does it less now, but they all still do it at least to some degree, and my Shibas do it most of all.
Hum.... Meichan the midget long coat JA in the other hand is silent. Even her footsteps are stealthier than Riku the shiba's b/c her pads are thicker and the way her nails orient. She only pants heavily when it's hot
@rikumom can I ask what you meant by that comment? im not offended. just curious to your specific meaning behind it.
Pretty sure she also meant that you don't like people just enough to be straight forward and not let yourself be sweet talked by owners who are poor matches
@jellyfish PHEW that's normal for Ren to be doing too then. I thought it was just some weird quirk she had since it's a normal, but not normal sound. Like "HEH, HEH, HEH," vs normal pantings "HEHEHEHEHEHEH" like @shibamistress said.
@cezieg im sure this is a very important virtue for breeders. I had a TON of cats when i was still living with my mom(who lives on a farm so we defininately had the space) and we needed to thin out the herd becuase the cat food bill was getting a bit outrageous. I was just giving them away, but i still asked how many cats they had and what dogs they had and etc. my mom thought i was crazy, but i knew each cats temperment and how much they could handle and still be stress free and happy. So i think i get what you mean there.
@mapletwinkie We are finding things really different here. The parks are huge and all the dogs off leash. Yume is totally fearless so gets herself in trouble with some dogs but most are fairly patient with her. She has met at least a couple hundred dogs between Tokyo and here, she does back down for a moment if a big dog pins her down but then runs up nips him on the butt! I am starting to believe that it is impossible to spook a Hokkaido. She runs up to everyone to introduce herself and always wants to play with dogs. It seems when off leash the dogs can sort things out by themselves pretty easily.
So after 15 years of answering "Is that a fox?" when we took our Shiba for a walk, imagine our surprise at hearing "What a sweet Shiba Inu" wherever we go with our Shikoku!
As for socialization, I think 3 years of classes or doggy get-togethers are a minimum for a Shiba. Our Shiba did not develop dog-aggression until after she turned 2. We were taken be supprise as we had just finished 2 years of classes and thought we had a perfectly socialized dog.
I also get the Husky comment too. No one's every thought Taki was a Chow-mix. And when I tell them the breed, I usually just say "Shiba", because if I say "Shiba Inu" people get crazy tongue-tied and call her a "Shibu Ibu" xD. With Sakura it's always a Husky.. or "that Eskimo dog thing", or "Alaskan.. something".
I am now finding out what a big deal it is to have a NK in North America. In Japan when we walked Yume we got, "how cute" ect but not so many questions about her breed. Here everyone, I mean everyone, asks what kind of dog she is. When we say Hokkaido of course no one has a clue. We have had a few guesses of Shiba inu, a lot of huskies.
@jeffnkazuko I've only received one guess of Shiba Inu. The other gueses are Malamute, Alaskan Husky, Samoyed, Spitz, and American Eskimo. And one person who said Meitou seemed similar to an Akita.
@jeffnkazuko, @whobitme - oddly enough, I was once stopped by a woman who asked if my shiba was a hokka pup. Turns out she had grown up with one her dad brought back after military service in Japan.
Edited to add: also strange but interesting - I have been stopped more than once by Japanese tourists excited to see a shiba stateside. Then they usually ask to take a photo. The strangest was a troupe of Korean tourists (about 10-12) at an outdoor AKC all breed show, who asked and then started taking photos of my dog while we were spectators.
I'm a little surprised that NK owners don't get asked if the dog is a jindo. I've been asked jindo puppy quite a bit too.
@mirkam - I get asked that every now and again. My all time favorite description is still the little boy who pointed at my dog and said "mommy, look at the baby deer!"
Just last night at class in Petsmart a woman walked up and asked if he was an A-Ki-TA (thats exactly how she said it too) and i said no he's a Shiba Inu. Kind of like a smaller A-Ki-TA. haha. she asked if he was a puppy, i said yes, then she just kind of wandered off.. strange. @MirkaM cats... reallly? too funny. @Jeffnkazuko that would be a weird switch to go from people knowing what they are to a billion questions...
@bmass49 Akita is pronounced 'A-Ki-TA' (emphasis on the TA) in Japanese. Maybe she was Japanese? I always say A-Ki-TA, and I always get looks until I correct myself and say it the american way, A-KEY-Ta.
@MableTwinkie she said it like she was sounding it out to me. made me think "well i do have and Akita wouldnt i know how to say it?" i dont know. i just found it funny how she slowed down and put the same emphasis on all of it like she was sounding it out.. No offense meant to how its said. and she did not appear to be at all japanese, but i guess you cant judge a book by its cover! : )
A new one for me.... People walking down the street in front of my house this morning. My goats and Zabu (Male AA) were in the fence and I was on the deck. The people couldn't see me but they could see the critters. The lady says to her friend: "Oh look at the dog and her babies!! So sweet!" I was laughing hysterically when what she said sank in.....
Not NK, but I had an elderly woman outside the Home & Hospice center ask why London's face wasn't black. She thought he was an Akita. She was super nice to him, though.
For every nice interaction there is an equally awful one. I had a bunch of teenagers shouting about TK, trying to convince everyone who would listen that he was a wolf.
So, May 1st was Meitou's second puppy kindergarten class. To join the class I had to fill out a questionnaire about his breed (along with a vet-signed health form and a basic registration form). I also printed out Shigeru's write-up about the Hokkaido. During the second class, the instructor comes up to me and asks where I got Meitou from. I said I got him from Japan, which she found interesting. She told me that she was curious because several years ago she'd had someone (who had lived in Japan for awhile) take her class with a Hokkaido.
With my Shiba I get stopped every 20 feet for a picture or a pet sessuon or a "WHAT IS THAT". I did get one Japanese woman stop, greet him properly, and say "Beatiful Shiba, I have 5". I almost wanted to ask her how, or better, why? I usually just say, it's a Shiba, a Japanese hunting dog. I get a lot of really stupid questions. Any time I'm asked its a fox, I just startes saying yes (haha).
Husky Weird husky Mini Husky Fox It looks like a bear Chow German shepherd mix (yup) Wolf Coyote (especially since I'm in AZ)
Although I feel a little explaining is the nice thing to do, and it does a lot for his socialization since the people are excited to meet him
A couple of weeks ago I walked into the lobby at training class with Kyuubi, our 7 month old red Akita. Kyuubi is pretty big for his age he is already 60 pounds. He is the sweetest giant, however, and loves everybody. There were a few folks standing in the lobby. One couple in particular was standing there with a Cavalier King Charles puppy. At the sight of Kyuubi they pulled their dog close to them, moved away and turned their backs towards us as if Kyuubi were going to pounce them. They had no reason to do so but whatever. Of course other people approached us and were "ooo-ing" and "aahhh-ing" and asking about his breed, etc. Well, the male part of the paranoid couple overheard "Japanese Akita" and came over. He said, "Is this is a Hachi dog?" to which I just said yes because usually when you say that people understand. He then became super excited and started petting Kyuubi and calling him Hachi, he even motioned for the female to come over with their puppy. I just shook my head to myself and went on our way. The guy was still overly excited as we walked away and was waving and saying, "Bye Hachi, bye Hachi."
What I want to tell people most times is, "It is not the dog you need to worry about."
You guys should see all the comments I get about my black Basenjis! Is that a Shiba mix? Oh is that a Boston Terrier? (REALLY?!?!) Is that a Jack Russel mix? ARGH "What kind of mix is that?" my response "It's not" "What?" they are surprised..."Actually this is one of the oldest breeds on Earth...they are called Basenji" they just stare blankly then say "Well I've never heard of it"...as if because they haven't heard of it means they didn't exist before now! HAHAHAHA
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and as for another dog. wont be happening for quite some time probably. want to be sure i can afford all the classes right off the bat so that he gets in them on time. and definitely not until i am very confident in my understanding of Azriel and all of his needs/wants.
At least Jiro is actually a mix so I don't have to try and explain him, my little curly-tailed coyote.
Saki is great with other dogs and other people as well. Jiro has gotten much better. He's very barky, mainly when people come over or dogs come up to the fence from the park to run back and forth with them. He'll bark and lick you at the same time. I still get nervous though. Saki actually has a much tougher bark when she decided to use it. She saw an older woman in an electric wheelchair yesterday going down the paved trail when we were outside off leash and she did NOT like it one bit! They both do wonderful outside of the house with other people and dogs. Still a little shy if someone comes up to them. Saki likes to initiate things, Jiro could care less.
@jellyfish PHEW that's normal for Ren to be doing too then. I thought it was just some weird quirk she had since it's a normal, but not normal sound. Like "HEH, HEH, HEH," vs normal pantings "HEHEHEHEHEHEH" like @shibamistress said.
We are finding things really different here. The parks are huge and all the dogs off leash. Yume is totally fearless so gets herself in trouble with some dogs but most are fairly patient with her. She has met at least a couple hundred dogs between Tokyo and here, she does back down for a moment if a big dog pins her down but then runs up nips him on the butt! I am starting to believe that it is impossible to spook a Hokkaido. She runs up to everyone to introduce herself and always wants to play with dogs. It seems when off leash the dogs can sort things out by themselves pretty easily.
As for socialization, I think 3 years of classes or doggy get-togethers are a minimum for a Shiba. Our Shiba did not develop dog-aggression until after she turned 2. We were taken be supprise as we had just finished 2 years of classes and thought we had a perfectly socialized dog.
All. The. TIME! ಠ_ಠ
I also get the Husky comment too. No one's every thought Taki was a Chow-mix. And when I tell them the breed, I usually just say "Shiba", because if I say "Shiba Inu" people get crazy tongue-tied and call her a "Shibu Ibu" xD. With Sakura it's always a Husky.. or "that Eskimo dog thing", or "Alaskan.. something".
Edited to add: also strange but interesting - I have been stopped more than once by Japanese tourists excited to see a shiba stateside. Then they usually ask to take a photo. The strangest was a troupe of Korean tourists (about 10-12) at an outdoor AKC all breed show, who asked and then started taking photos of my dog while we were spectators.
I'm a little surprised that NK owners don't get asked if the dog is a jindo. I've been asked jindo puppy quite a bit too.
@mirkam - I get asked that every now and again. My all time favorite description is still the little boy who pointed at my dog and said "mommy, look at the baby deer!"
@MirkaM cats... reallly? too funny.
@Jeffnkazuko that would be a weird switch to go from people knowing what they are to a billion questions...
I was laughing hysterically when what she said sank in.....
For every nice interaction there is an equally awful one. I had a bunch of teenagers shouting about TK, trying to convince everyone who would listen that he was a wolf.
Husky
Weird husky
Mini Husky
Fox
It looks like a bear
Chow
German shepherd mix (yup)
Wolf
Coyote (especially since I'm in AZ)
Although I feel a little explaining is the nice thing to do, and it does a lot for his socialization since the people are excited to meet him
What I want to tell people most times is, "It is not the dog you need to worry about."
@Kuma123 That's hilarious! While I like goats, those would make for some pretty ugly Akita babies lmao