Essie - Soba's mom

Wade and I have been following Loki's blog - http://lokitheshiba.blogspot.com/. Since Loki is older than Soba, we get a preview of what to expect. It is also nice to see that other Shiba owners have gone through the same type of situations as we have.

I had a feeling that Loki and Soba came from the same breeder. There was a post when Yun and Vi dropped Loki off at the breeder while they went away. It sounded like our breeder. Following Loki's growth process became even more meaningful after finding out they may have interacted with each other before they were adopted.


I visited Loki's blog yesterday and found out that Yun & Vi have adopted another dog - Essie. I knew that she was Soba's mom after seeing her picture and the picture of the breeder with her. We've always wonder about how his mom is doing. It is sad to hear that she had problem with her last birth. But, we are happy to hear that she will be going to a good home. Furthermore, we get to follow her progress on line!

Prior to adopting Soba, we visited the breeder. There we met Essie and her 3 puppies. It was easy to fall in love with the puppies, but Essie also made a huge impression. She was sweet, smart and loving. We knew right away that we want one of her pups.

Here is a picture of Soba with his mom prior to us getting him. Now that he is grown, he looks alot like his mom. The resemblance is uncanny.

I love Thanksgiving

We decided to give Soba some turkey for Thanksgiving, and after having the turkey, we found him like this under the kitchen table.

Happy Halloween - from the Little Devil

Back to work..

I went back to work on September after taking a year and half off. This meant that Soba would be home alone most of the day. Poor little guy. Since he came to us, we have never left him alone for more than 4 hours at a time. We were very worried about how he would do by himself. So, Wade did a trial run with him while I left for a week visiting family in August. He gated off part of the kitchen, and placed Soba's pet bed along with some of his toys in the gated area. He did ok initially, but after a few days he chewed off part of the wooden gate. Yikes!

However, after a week of practicing, he knows the routine now. When we move his pet bed to the kitchen, he would know to go to that area.

Here is his routine. Wade walks him around 9AM. He is then behind the gate in the kitchen until 6PM. I let him out so he can play with his friends when I get home from work afterwards I would also walk him. Wade gives him his last walk around midnight, and then into the crate he goes. So far the routine is working very well with a few minor break through incidents where he was on the wrong side of the gate.

In the spirit of the Olympics in Beijing...

Move over Michael Phelps, here comes Soba Wan!!

Nicknames

Why does such a little guy have so many nicknames?

• Soba
• Sheebs
• Bad Guy
• Shiba Shiba
• Sobster
• Sobes
• Romeo and Casanova- since he loves to court his girlfriend, Madison.
• Pepe Le Pu - He loves to follow his other girlfriend, Shilo, around.
• Soduko --- Per Uncle Jeff (** Yes, you made it onto Soba's blog! You are in the big league now!!! I think you should go out and buy a lottery ticket. When you win, you should split with Soba.)
• Sodukster --- Per Uncle Jeff

Soba and his bad paws

Last week Soba was limping his rear right foot. We took him to the vet and found out that he had a secondary infection due to too much licking of his paws. The vet is still unsure what caused him to lick excessively. They thought allergies to food, environment, etc. So, we left the vet with antibiotic, hydrocortisone spray, and a new hypo-allergenic dog food. That was $300 later.

His paws are looking better this week, but he is still licking his paws. We would put a cone on him. I think the hardest thing this past week was not to feed him table scraps or any other food. It is hard to resist his begging, but for his sake we (or me really) have stopped feeding him scraps.

We have another check up in 2 weeks. It will be really hard to figure out what is really causing this. It is most likely allergies, but to what? The vet even said he is so young to have such a strong reaction.

Alpha Dog

Our neighbors were kind enough to look after Soba while we were gone for a long weekend to attend a wedding in Seattle. We gated off part of the kitchen allowing Soba to have some area to roam around. The neighbors took turns walking him in the morning, letting him out to play with other dogs in the afternoon, and then give him his last walk before bed.

He ate very little the first day we were gone. I think this was normal as this occurred when we boarded him. So, we weren't too worried because he will eventually eat if he gets hungry enough. However, when we heard he got into a fight with Bailey, we were very worried. To make matters worse, John got hurt while he tried to break up the fight. Wade and I were horrified.

Here was what happened:

Soba pinned Bailey down thinking she was going after his snack. Poor Bailey, she was just walking by and didn't know why she was attacked. We were told that for a few days Bailey would lower her head when Soba walked by OR would make an attempt to avoid him.

This is bad... We wanted someone to keep him in check, but who knew that he is now the bully of the block!

Squeeky Toy

We finally captured a video of Soba playing with his squeeky toy Hippo. He gets so angry at it that it is quite halarious.

Celebrating Soba's One Year Birthday

We celebrated Soba's birthday by passing out pupcakes to him and his friends. As you can imagine, he gulp down the treat like he was in heaven. Here are a few pictures we took.


This picture is dedicated to Soba's cousin, Andrew.













Doesn't this pupcake look so delicious? Well, it is! The boy dogs got chocolate ones while the girl dogs got pink ones.









Here is Soba enjoying his pupcake.










Yikes! He is devouring it!

Happy Birthday Soba!

Soba is ONE year old today!!! We have delayed his birthday celebration until this weekend. It is amazing to see him grow from a small pup to a full grown dog. We can't imagine our life without him.

Here is what Soba taught us in the last year:

• Patience. I have little patience period. At times, the little critter would test our patience to the limit. However, I must admit it is good training for when we have kids.
• Exercise. Wade and I walk him at least 2 times a day. We benefit from the exercise too.
• Laughter. We learnt to laugh more. It is the little things he does like pounce at his toy hippo.
• It is ok to be a little messy. I'm a neat freak. It use to bother me when I see dirt on our hardwood floor. After having Soba, I have relaxed a bit. It is ok to have dog hair on the floor, and not vacuum until tomorrow. Having a little dirt around won't kill me.
• Avoid dark color anything. I stopped buying black or brown pants, blankets, shorts, etc. Dog hair shows up too easily.

Happy Birthday SOBA!

Lounging

Apparently, Soba is enjoying the patio furniture more than we are. It looks like we are living in his house rather than he in ours.

While getting ready, Wade looked outside of our bathroom window and saw this. This explains why this particular ottoman was so dirty the other day. Yeesh!

Happy Birthday Bailey!

It was Bailey's birthday on Sunday. Her parents passed out cookies to the other dogs in the neighborhood. Soba got one too! He devoured it after I gave it to him!!! Thank you for the yummy cookie!

Tantrums

We didn't realize that dogs throw tantrums too when they are not happy. So, here is what happened...

I went out to see a movie with friends while Wade purchased a car unexpectedly the last minute. So, in order to get the good price on the car, he needed to go in to sign the paper work. We thought it wouldn't take that long, but the both us didn't get home until 3 hours later around10pm. In the meantime, we left the Sobster in the backyard.

To show his anger with us, he was not his usual happy self when he sees us with his tail wagging and ears back. Instead he barked at us. If that wasn't enough, he took his anger out on his food bowl earlier (see below). We ended playing with him for a few minutes. Afterwards he was content and then passed out on the floor.

Who knew dogs can throw tantrums like little kids!

NAP Blanket

** * Soba wants to give a shout out to his Aunt Sue. This one is for you!

I got this NAP blanket from Sue for Christmas last year. The blanket is from Brookstone. It is super soft and very cozy to snuggle up against.

On our drive home from Austin, Soba found my NAP blanket in the back seat and snuggled up agsinst it. I felt bad that he was in the car for so long. Naturally I let him use the blanket on the ride home. Now, he it is his blanket.

I found him dragging the blanket out of his crate and tugging on it. The next time I checked on him. I found this. What to do with our shiba!

Austin Trip

** * Soba wants to give a shout out to his Aunt Sue. This one is for you!

Wade and I drove 20 hours with Soba to visit Jimmy and Bella in Austin. Soba was a little car sick initially, but handled rest of the car ride well. We thought the ride would be the hardest part for Soba, and didn't expect that his initial meeting with Bella would be so rough. Soba got possessive and aggressive with Bella with food and toys around. Bella fought back. I got caught in the cross fire when I tried to break up the fight. I have some battle wounds that are healing. Fortunately, the rest of the week got better. Soba and Bella started to play together under close supervision. They were having fun together. However, Soba on several occasions tried to assert his dominance by mounting Bella. We were not surprised! Instead of disciplining him, Wade was cracking up. Arg! Bella drew her boundary and fought back. Go girl!

Although we did have a great time, w have yet to determine if we'll drive to Austin again with Soba. The drive took 2 days with an over night stay in El Paso. It took alot out of us. We are still recovering from the drive this week.


Bella is a very obedient dog! She loves to come up to you to get belly rubs. Unlike Soba, she actually knows how to do shakes! Here is her all excited with her ears back doing a shake.

She is all exhausted after playing with Soba. Bella is about 5 years old. She is of a mixed breed - part German and a few other breeds. I can't say enough about how sweet she is. I told Jimmy that he should be home when we leave or else we may swap dog with him.

Wade is exhausted from supervising these two.

Mall Outing

Get buckled In

Soba has the entire backseat to himself. He is all buckled in, and ready for the ride. Notice the towel on the seat... That is to pick up his drool. He gets a bit car sick, and would drool on himself and the seat.

Hang out with Dad

Although it was a bit hot, Soba did pretty well keeping up with us. Wade and I decided to sit by the fountain and get a little sun. Soba was a good sport about it. He even had a few admirers come by to pet him.

Yummy... Pinkberry

Soba got a taste of Pinkberry Original flavor yogurt. It was might tasty. Look at his face in the cup!

So Tired

This is what happens after we get home from the mall. The Shiba crashed on the floor! He was so tired. He is out cold for the entire afternoon! Yippe!!! This means that Wade and I get time to do our own things...

Shedding time

Well, it is that time again... Soba is shedding like crazy which means I have to vacuum everyday now. I used the furminator tool on him everyday, and this is what I get... a pile of his fur. The one below is on the smaller side.

Yummy books

Of all the books on the side table, Soba took a bite out of this one called "The Culture Clash: A Revolutionary Way to Understanding the Relationship Between Humans and Domestic Dogs." Is he trying to tell me something?

Introducing Soba's Friends..

It has been so great that Soba is able to grow up playing with other dogs in our neighborhood. This not only helps him socialize with other dogs but it also allows him to burn off some energy when they play. So, ... here are the dogs that Soba hangs out with almost everyday.

1. Bailey - "the lizard hunter". Bailey doesn't play with the other dogs as much. You'll find her in bushes or next to walls looking for lizards. When she finds one, she starts to bark and then jump up (at incredible height) trying to get at it. When she does play with other dogs, she takes the role of sheriff. She would bark at Soba and Madison if they are playing to rough. Here is a picture of Bailey with a lizard.

2. Madison - "ball chaser". Madison is such a sweet dog. She is the most obedient dog in the neighborhood. If you call her, she would come to you. She loves to play catch. You'll find her dropping balls of any kind in front of your feet wanting you to throw or kick it. She and Soba plays so well together. Here is a picture of them playing.

3. Toby is a black lab who lives next door. Although he looks a bit scary because he is so big, he is actually the sweetest thing. He plays with Madison and Soba. Because he is a bit older, he gets tired more quickly. You'll find him just walking around or lying on the ground resting. Picture of him to come...

Soba the Casanova or Not?

Don't the pictures below say it all? Soba is a pretty dominant dog. So, when he plays with more submissive dogs, the following type of actions will occur! I've been told that humping is a way to show he is dominating another dog.

We see a lot of this when he plays with his girlfriends - Roxie and Madison (both are at least 3X his size). He spent an afternoon with Roxie yesterday, and there was a lot of humping action. Roxie's mom calls this "doggie porn". Yikes! =)

What a day!

I went out to run some errands today. Since Soba was sleeping, I decided not to crate him. Well... When I got home, here is what I found...

• My favorite purple pen all chewed up.
• Lotion all over the floor.
• Destroyed hair tie.
• A mint candy wrapper with no sight of the candy. I assume he ate it.
• He ate all the Chinese candy and left some wrappers along with black seasame seeds all over the carept.

Bad guy! Unfortunately, he will be crated from now on when we go out until further notice.

If that wasn't enough, he found a dead, flatten rat from the bushes while he was outside playing with his friends. I screamed when I saw the tail protruding from his mouth. It was so disgusting. I had to borrow a glove from John and Susan to get the rat from his mouth. He grossed out the entire neighborhood!!!

"The Nipper"

Usually, when someone sees Soba, they would ask us what type of dog he is. However, when Wade went on a walk with Soba today, another fellow dog walker asked Wade "oh, is he the Nipper?" Apparently, Wade was so shocked he didn't have a good reply. After Wade told me the story, I was insulted. We were trying to figure out why we took offense to her remark. Perhaps, it is true that Soba nips when he greets people, BUT ... you don't refer to him as "The Nipper". That is just rude. I am keeping my eyes open on our walks for a lady walking her Beagle. I'll let Soba show her what nipping feels like! Haa haa! =)

Birds of Paradise

We did some garden work this weekend, and cut down a big bird's of paradise leaf. Here is Soba trying to show it who is the boss.

Fenced Out

Soba loves to get into the planter to dig, dig, dig... Wade finally got fed up and put chicken wire around the planters. The backyard now looks like a war zone. Got to give Wade credit for getting the green chicken wire so it doesn't look so ghetto. TBD if this will work.

Grossed out by Soba

During our walks, Soba puts things in his mouth. He will walk down the street with the darn thing in his mouth. When he does this with sticks or leaves, he looks really cute. However, in the last few days, he had not so not good stuff in his mouth.

One time it was a dead fish. Now, I am not sure why there was a dead fish on the sidewalk. He smelled the fishy odor and snapped it up very quickly. I wrestled with him for it for about 20 minutes. Unfortunately, I was only able to get the body out of his mouth. He kept the head in his mouth until we got close to home, and then he decided that he wanted to eat it. He chewed the darn thing and then swallowed it. YUCK! Fortunately, he didn't get sick.

The other time is he found some dried up dog poo on the sidewalk. He thought it was dirt. He sniffed it and then determined it was ok. All of a sudden I see it in his mouth. I tried to entice him with a funny looking branch. It actually worked! He relinquish the nasty poo.

It amazes me that he puts these things in his mouth and tummy, but manages not to get sick. I guess that is a dog for you.

Happy Valentine's Day

My neighbor, Song, invited me and bunch of others over to decorate Valentine's Day cookies. So, I made two for my 2 boys! Wade already had his, but I'm giving Soba his today. The frosting on his cookie got rubbed off so it doesn't look so good. Hey! Like he is going to notice right? =)

Kuai Kuai

While growing up in Taiwan, Kuai Kuai was one of my favorite snacks. I found some in the Chinese grocery store today. As I was eating it, it brought back nostalgic memories. I decided to share some with Soba or rather I gave in to his begging.

Rounding up the kibbles

When Soba starts to lose interest in eating from his bowl, Wade & I would put little piles of kibbles around the house so he can "hunt" for his food. He seemed to like working for his food. So, we think anyways! =) I put some kibble on his pet bed this morning. This is what happened when I looked over. He was trying to round up his pile of kibble using his nose. I'm not really sure why!

Guarding

I got Soba a bully stick a few weeks ago, and he seemed to enjoy chewing it while he is outside. It is a considerable upgrade than the branch he was chewing on outside. Since he finished with his bully stick, I went to Petsmart to try to get him something similiar but small enough where he can finish chewing in an afternoon. So, I ended up getting him a bag of beef flavor raw hide.

We gave it to him last night while he was outside. He started to guard the raw hide. He didn't chew it but just stared at it to make sure no one gets near it. We can hear him growling at us through the glass door. So, I decided to do the following base on what I read and what our trainer said:

1) Trade something more valuable for the raw hide. I got some cheese from the fridge. I told him to sit and then gave him a small piece of cheese. While he ate the cheese, I took the raw hide in my hands then I handed back to him. This is to teach him that although we take it away from him we do give it back. It worked for a little bit but he was still guarding. He would push the raw hide close to him.

2) Since this didn't work, I decided to try what our trainer recommended which was to dump the entire bag of raw hide in front of him to show him that it is no big deal that there are alot more. But the reaction we got was he started to collect raw hide into pile and then proceed to guard them. This didn't quite work.

We left him outside for about 2 hours with the lights off. He was still guarding. Finally, Wade decided to bring him in but he went and got a broom. He used the broom to keep Soba away from him and then grab the raw hides. Soba was so vicious. Not only did he growl but he also bit at the broom. After he came in, he became his normal sweet self.

This is a huge problem! We need to help him break the cycle before he hurts someone. I guess back to the drawing board on how to do this.

Playtime with Roxie

Roxie is Josh and Laura's Labrador Retriever. She and Soba are good pals. Whenever they play together, they are like two crazy animals running around. We went to visit Roxie today. For the first time, it looks like Roxie finally pinned Soba down. Most of the time you find Soba on top of Roxie humping her. Yikes!

This is what happened to Soba after we got home from visiting Roxie. Looks like somebody had too much fun playing! There is a "dead" Shiba on the pet bed.

Auntie PF visits

My sister (Pei-Fen) visited SoCal for about a week. Soba had a good time hanging out with her. It was very cute how quickly he accepted her into the pack. PF joined us for our afternoon walks. If Soba and I went too far, Soba would put on the brakes, and then look back to see if PF is coming. He would then wait for her to catch up before we started walking again. It was so sweet! I'm sure Soba is going to miss his Auntie after she leaves! :(


Pei is eating ice cream on the couch. Soba is trying to get some using that cute looking face of his. His smart Auntie didn't fall for it! Doh!








When did Soba get rabbit ears? Not very becoming. =)

Allergic Dermatitis

We've noticed Soba have patches of receeding fur on his paws for a few weeks (similiar to the picture below). So, we decided to get him checked out by the vet just to make sure it wasn't anything too serious. The good news is that it wasn't cause by nutritional deficiencies, parasites or infections. However, the bad news is that the Vet couldn't give us a diagnosis. He thinks it is some sort of allergies caused by the environment. He sent us home with a spray and shampoo for Soba's paws and also told us not to switch his food.

So I've been thinking maybe our hikes up the hills near us may have caused this? Soba doesn't stay on the trail when we hike. He likes to wander and sniff around in the grass and dirt. Also, I've been guilty of feeding him human food like carrots, bread, cheese, etc. This probably contributed to this issue. So, from now on until his condition improves, no more hikes up the trail and no more human food!! =(

Graduated from Obedience Class

Yeah! We FINALLY finished the obedience class yesterday. We really liked our instructor Valerie, but the class was a little out of sync. I think each "parent" had different expectation of what it was going to be like, and I guess these expectations were not met so some of them just stopped coming to the class. Sadly to say Soba and I were the only ones who showed up to our last class yesterday!! There were also some gaps between classes due to holiday and weather which slowed down progress. We had to revisit some of the things we already did because the doggies forgot.

In spite of all this, I do give Soba credit for learning the basics like "sit", "stay", "down", "heel", etc. But he still has a LONG way to go before he is truly obedient. Wade and I were joking that he didn't really graduate from the class 'cause there were no tests at the end to see what he really learned. He was the only doggie that went to ALL the classes so maybe the certificate should be changed to congratulate him on full attendence. Man! We are harsh parents!! :)

Destructo puppy strikes again!

We left Soba alone for about 2.5 hours while we visited our neighbors. Wade went upstairs after we came home and discovered this all over the upstairs hallway. DUH! Soba shredded Wade's notebook and papers into pieces. Wade was upset because they were his World of Warcraft (WOW) notes, and apparently it was his only copy. I told Wade that it was Soba's little revenge for not paying enough attention to him and playing WOW all the time! Ha Ha Ha!!! I felt a little vindicated too!

Go Seahawks!!!

Soba celebrated the Seahawks making the playoffs this week by tossing around a few rounds of football with Wade. His football jersey is a little tight on him. He looks like a sausage. I think the jersey is too small on him now.














Soba and Wade posing before the game. It is all smiles until the first fumble by the Seahawks then it is all yelling and cursing at the Wan household.














Soba is getting comfy so he can enjoy the game. Let the game began! Go Seahawks!!!