Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

Soba wants to give a shout out to everyone who gave him a Christmas gift!!! Whoof Whoof!! Thank you!!! I took some pictures so you can see what he got. He made out like a bandit!!















After receiving this box addressed to Soba, we put it aside waiting until Christmas so he can open it. Soba has been sniffing the box. When we came home from our neighbors last night, we found him chewed a hole in the box.














On closer inspection, he even chewed a hole through the bag itself. We think he gobbled up a biscuit even though we found no evidence.















Thank you Auntie Pei-Fen for the gift. It did come with 2 canisters, but I didn't have room to put the other one in the picture.














We love the paw stocking! Good call Uncle Ron, Auntie Susan and Cousin Andrew. I think A-Gong and A-Ma was a little too generous with the target gift card! Thanks again everyone for his presents!

Mari and Her Puppies

I HAVE NEVER heard such a sad story. Stories with animals is always heart warming, but the ones where the story illustrates a strong bond and trust between humans and animals is so touching. I was surfing some shiba sites today, and came across a movie recently released in Japan called Mari and her puppies. This is based on a true event that occured on Oct 24, 2004 after an earthquake in Yamakoshi village in Japan.

I saw the trailer for the movie on youtube and then read the translated story. I didn't think I would cry, but I did. Wade found me sobbing when he came downstairs. A part of me was thinking that if we had a natural disaster here (given how prone this area is to earthquake and fire this is pretty likely) AND I had to leave Soba behind that would just devestate me!!!

Here is the clip from youtube (*** be forewarned that it will be sad. Get some tissues ready.)

Here is the link to the story of Mari and her puppies.

Here is the link to the actual site of Mari but it is all in Japanese.

Neutered

Soba got neutered and groomed Wednesday. It was a long and scary day for him. I dropped him off at 9am and couldn't pick him up until 5pm. When we picked him up at the vet, he was still under anesthesia and looked very groogy. He had that look in his eyes like how could you guys do this me. Yes, the "look" did the trick. We both felt really bad and guilty.

We had to put the cone around him so that he wouldn't lick his wound. It will take him any where from 3 days to a week to heal. He looked so sad in his cone.

I found him recovering in his pet bed this morning. Again, the same sad looking face. Poor guy!

It looks like Soba recovered a little. I found him in the backyard doing his usual guard duty. Aside from that he is also back to his normal self of sniffing around. I couldn't help laughing that his cone looks like a lamp shade when his head is down. If he only knew that we found him so amusing!

Happy Holidays!

Thanks Brian for taking a picture of the Wan family! This picture was included in our holiday newsletter to our family and friends.

Does Soba look like a reindeer?

Should we send Soba to North Pole to help Santa out? I think he can do it! =)

Teething, Shiba 500 and Agility Meet Up

Soba has been teething for a while, and we were wondering when we were going to find his teeth. Well, lo and behold! Wade found these. One popped out of his mouth while Wade was playing with him. We put it in a plastic bag. Maybe we can get some $$ from the tooth fairy? Wonder if she takes doggie teeth. =)

We started to take Soba to a large open area pretty close to our house. He loves to run around on grass, but there is NO WAY we would let him roam free so we put a long leash on him. He got so excited that he started to do a Shiba 500 (aka running around in a circle like a race car). We love it when he does this cause (1) he looks so darn funny, and (2) this means he will be really tired and groggy when he gets home.

Wade and I decided to take Soba to an agility meetup group for beginners. We thought that it would be good to socialize him with other dogs, and that he would enjoy jumping around and through obstacles. Although Soba was the youngest and most hyper (aka mis-behaved) dog there, he did seem to enjoy himself, and got it after a few tries. After 3 hours of running around, he was pretty much dead for the entire afternoon which allowed Wade to watch his football uninterrupted and me to take a LONG nap.

Ornament, Popcorn, New Toy, and Restricted Zone

In preparation for Christmas, I got Soba his first Christmas ornament! Pretty cute I think, but then again I'm biased.










Wade and I made a promise that we would NOT feed Soba any human food. Well... I broke that promise when Wade went on a business trip. I made a bag of popcorn, and I couldn't resist those puppy eyes starring up at me. So... I fed Soba some. After that whenever we make popcorn, he would sit by the microwave to wait for it to be done.














We got Soba a new toy! I couldn't resist because I keep reading reviews how great this one was. It is called Hide a Squirrel. It didn't take him long to figure out that his objective is to get his face in the tree trunk and get out the squirrels.









Now when he plays this game, there are squirrels ALL OVER the floor...













Soba broke into the "restricted zone" which is an area we blocked off because there are too many tempting things for him to get at like the bark, plants, grass, etc. Although it is gated off pretty well, he sometimes manages to find a way in. When I looked outside this morning, I saw him frolicking in the area. Yes that is me yellling at him in the video.

New bed and chewed up toy

We just got Soba this new bed. It looks ginormous, but quite comfortable. He is always curling up under the table looking cold and lonely. So, we figure he can snuggle up against this during the cold California winters! =)


Remember this little pig I got for Soba. It looked so cute when we first got it home.













BUT like all toys... it starts to miss a limb here and there. The casuality this time was one ear gone and 1/2 ear still intact.











That 1/2 ear didn't last long. This is what the pig looks like now. I'll leave it to your imagination what this looks like!!










Someone just woke up from a little nap. Not sure how he got the ears flip back like that...

Getting ready for Halloween

I finally got Soba a smaller size costume. This one fits much better. He looks so cute as a pumpkin! He STILL looked sad and depressed when I put this on him. Look at his sad face!








After he was fed up with me laughing, Soba tried to shake the pumpkin off AGAIN. This time he couldn't get it off. He started to whine. Halloween will be interesting when he has to keep the costume on for a few hours.









I got this new toy from Old Navy for Soba. We thought he needed another "quiet" toy to play with besides his lobster. Isn't it a cute piggy? He loves to nible on the ears. YUM! Pig's ears...










I think Soba is playing too much with his new toy. He is starting to look like the piggy!!!












Wade usually take Soba out for a walk in the morning. Here he is waiting for Wade to come down from upstairs to take him out. It's funny that he can stand there looking at the door and waiting patiently until one of us comes.

By popular request.... Here are more pics of Soba!

We got Soba this new toy from Ikea. He sometimes gets his paws caught in the two holes when he retrives the toy after we throw it. Sometimes he'll go skidding across the floor on top of this toy which looks like he is surfing in our living room.









Who can resist this cute face? Yes, we are suckers. Now that Soba is pretty much potty trained, we are letting him roam upstairs WITH SUPERVISION. He loves sniffing around in each room. Hope he decides to not leave us any early Christmas presents.








There is always an itch that Soba can't reach.













Soba has a habit of placing toys he retrives on people's laps so he can "play with you". Got to be careful of his sharp puppy teeth when he does this. I've gotten in his way a few times, and all I can say is O-U-C-H.









Happy Halloween! Do you like his pumpkin costume? I thought it was hilarious, but he didn't like it. He had his head down and looked sad and unhappy. He barely moved and then he decided he had enough. So, he shook the costume off. I need to exchange it for smaller size so it stays on.




































This is what happened to Soba's favorite lobster toy after Roxie (our friend's yellow lab) and Soba played with it. Mr. Lobster was violently attacked. He lost one of his claws and his guts were spilling out. We buried him (in the trash) and now he is resting in peace. Good thing we were able to go to Target and buy Soba a Lobster 2.0.


















Wade & Soba practicing for the next season of Dancing with the Stars. We always thought dogs hate to stand on their hind feet. Not our Soba!

































When Soba was smaller, he use to be afraid of the gloves Wade uses to pick him up when he doesn't want to be picked up. He would run away, but NOW he runs towards the gloves. When we have a hard time getting him to come into the house, we pull out the gloves. He likes to fight and bite the gloves. The gloves are also another way to work off his puppy energy. We "glove" him and he loves it!

Growing up fast

Uncle Brian got me this monkey stuffed animal. Not sure I appreciate Wade putting it right in front of my face while I sleep.











Didn't take long for Soba to remove the monkey's felt eyes resulting in a pretty creepy looking toy.












Sleeping in one of my favorite spots, right by the sofa and ottoman while my parents watch TV.












Discovered that Soba really likes water bottles as chew toys.












Snoozing again. Check out my ears.













When he gets tired, Soba likes to strike this pose to get what he wants.












As you can see, Soba's growing quickly and getting rather long. He loves to stretch out when he sleeps.












Another attempt at bypassing the baby gate which "Houdini" has done multiple times.

















Like my new Red Dingo tag? It's a blue metallic bone with my info engraved on the back.












I want some Mike's Hard Lemonade also!!

Soba the social butterfly

Sorry for the delay in this update. Soba's social calendar is keeping us rather busy!

Soba got his first shot at the vet last Sunday so now we're trying to socialize him more so he doesn't end up being a big momma's boy. He's getting more used to car rides, made a trip to visit Broadcom, has met and played with a bunch of people who visited our house and even went to Uncle Josh and Aunt Laura's baby shower this weekend. That's where he met up with their Lab puppy Roxie who is very sweet and friendly and really loves to play with other dogs but doesn't realize how big and strong she is (she is 10x the weight of Soba). So she ran up and literally squashed him when we let her run free. Soba got very scared and had to be rescued from Roxie's ginormous wet tongue and kisses. But as the night got later, he got a little bolder and eventually we let them play and wrestle for about 5 or 10 minutes in the backyard. Of course, the neighbors were probably thinking it was Michael Vick's house and we were dogfighting with the large circle of people watching and cheering. He did pretty good and was really jabbing with his front and hind legs as he was in the submissive position. He was really tired and slept really well that night. Now we joke with him that he got beat up by a girl!

Soba is a great puppy. Yes, he does have his bouts of crazy nervous puppy energy which are funny to watch as for no reason, he suddenly zips back and forth all over the house and yard like he's nuts. Then he gets tired and settles down to one of his frequent naps. He's getting really quick now and hard to catch when he doesn't want you to catch him. Most of the time, he just wants to hang out near us and checks we are close by then get back to sleeping or gnawing on one of his toys. We also constantly find out how smart he is. For example, a couple of times Cindy has fallen asleep on the couch and he has barked at her to wake her up and let her know he needs to go outside. Of course, this intelligence sometimes doesn't work out so well as when he continually finds way to get into the garden and do some digging. We put up a fence but now he has figured out that if he scales the nearby planter, he can go the backdoor route and drop down into the garden. Doh!

Thanks Uncle Ron and Aunt Susan for the Seahawks jersey. He needs to grow into it a little more but it won't be long both of Cindy's boys are decked out and ready for Sundays.










He was scared of this squeaky elephant at first but not anymore after he figured out he could grab it by the nose and show it who's boss.











Let's say Soba hasn't gotten used to leash training yet.












Sometimes Soba plays so much, he forgets to drink water and has to be led there by Dad.












His super puppy energy not only wears him out, but anyone nearby.

I'm settling in

Soba has done a lot this week. It started by going to the vet on Sunday. He is 7 weeks old and he weighed in at a whopping 5 lbs! For some reason, that does not stop him from barking at the 80 lb laborador next door. I'm not sure he appreciated the anal probe he got when they took his temperature but he passed his checkup with flying colors. Later that day, we tried to give him his first bath. As you might have guessed, he didn't appreciate that very much and we got our first "shiba scream" and both of us also got very wet in the process.

He's a pretty good puppy. Housebreaking has gone pretty well with only a couple accidents. I'm not sure if it's because he likes Cindy better but for some reason, his only accidents have been when I am around. Doh! The only thing he absolutely despises is when we crate him at night. Some pretty loud whimpering (enough that I close all the windows so people don't call the cops) since he doesn't like to be alone but he is getting more used to it. He's now playing with more toys. The lobster is still his absolute favorite but as you can see in the pic below, he doesn't mind gnawing on some rawhide.

Enjoy the pics and we'll again end with one of his signature poses .... passing out on his side, this time on the sofa.