A friend of mine just sent me this photo, taken before Miss ~T~ and Secret went to live with T’s Dad.

So… I’ve had a couple people email and IM me asking about Secret in the past few days and it made me realize just how little I blog lately. An aside to Janet in NC, owned by Teddy: I didn’t respond to your IMs because I was offline and didn’t receive them until several hours after you left them.

The Divine Miss ~T~ has gone to live with her father for a year and she took little Seeky with her. They spent the summer with my folks, as usual, and then went “home” to T’s dad’s place instead of coming home. It’s been a weird transition, since the longest T & I had ever been apart before this was a little over 4 weeks. The worst part of the transition was for poor Snick though. He MOURNED. He’s used to T going away for the summer, but this time all her stuff and her furniture went with her. He mourned her and Seeky for a few weeks. He kept looking for them and crying. It was really awful, but he finally adjusted to our new routine. T came home to visit, sans Secret, for Labor Day weekend and he was SO happy to see her.

So, anyway, that’s the reason I haven’t written about Secret for awhile. The good news is, that my concerns about her adjusting to being an only dog were unfounded. She seems to have really taken to it and a playful side of her personality has emerged. She’s also apparently taken QUITE a liking to T’s father.

And now you know… the rest of the story.

I finally got around to posting some photos from Christmas with the family. My sister managed to get some great shots of the dogs while we were all together. Click to see Snick’s new photos and/or Secret’s new photos!

Secret has really adjusted a LOT since I posted her first update. She’s so much more confident walking in the city now and she’s much less skittish when people reach to pet her. She seems like a different girl from the one that came to live with us a few months ago. She’s definitely gained some confidence. When she first arrived, she would stare at us with this look that said "what’s going on?" and we felt like she was unsettled and concerned. Now, the look we get is more like "can I have treats?"

She still barks at noises in the hallway and gets worked up when someone comes to the door, but not the way she used to. Plus, the protective/fear biting seems to be a non-issue now that she is settled in. At first, she was very wary and on guard with anyone that came in the apartment, especially men. She’s calmed down a lot though - between us having visitors (and watching and managing her with them of course), us taking her and Snick along to visit friends for dinner and other occasions, and also taking them both with us for the family holiday get together (4 days in a mountain cabin), she seems to have learned to "roll with it" when strange things happen.

The neatest thing about all of this though is that it wasn’t really anything we did. The majority of it came from her relationship with Snickers! Case in point, Miss ~T~’s father (we’ll call him Marc) came to visit recently. This was the first time he had met Secret. I was at work when he arrived, but ~T~ said that Secret hung back and just watched the way Snickers interacted with him for several minutes. (Snickers knew Marc when he was a puppy, before Marc moved to Europe.) Then Secret went up to him, sniffed him a little, and then KISSED him; she was totally fine around him the whole weekend! That is a complete shift from the way she watched and followed men with complete suspicion (and then bit them) when she first came to live with us. Yay, Seeky!

Now, if T would just teach her to STAY…

Secret has her own photo gallery. It didn’t seem fair to have one for Snick and not add one for Secret, so I started it even though I didn’t have much to put in it.

I’m sure we can convince Miss ~T~ to take some more photos of her sweet little Shiba girl though!

I wrote a long email to Shiba-L tonight about Secret and then realized “duh, blog post” so here ya go (edited a bit to make more sense to the blog audience)!

Secret (6 years old) came to live with us seven weeks ago. She lived in a backyard in the country most of her life. The city has been a BIG change for her. My daughter and I have a pretty tight schedule, so the best we could do was throw Secret into the mix and hope she could adjust. She’s been dealing with a lot of new sights and sounds and rules and, well, EVERYTHING. On top of all this, she had no training when she arrived. She was housebroken (pretty much anyway) and walks really nicely on a leash (except for balking at crossing busy intersections), but she didn’t have any basic obedience - not even sit or wait.

At first, she wouldn’t take treats. She would sniff at them and turn away. She finally realized - watching Snick devour treats and bits of food - that we were trying to hand her good stuff. Then she turned into a PIG. We couldn’t get her to stop trying to grab everything we had, whether it was meant for her or not. I started reminding ~T~ every night that she needed to get serious about teaching Secret some manners and self-control.

After a couple weeks of just bonding and loving, she started training Secret. Every night she would wrestle Secret into a sit (we couldn’t guide her into a sit with a treat or even nudge her butt down - she would squiggle all over the place trying to figure out what was going on) and gleefully exclaim "Sit Secret! Good girl!" after she managed to hold her in a pseudo-sit position. Finally, after about two weeks of that, the light bulb went off and Secret SAT. Now she sits like nobody’s business! You tell her sit, she sits. You have anything yummy, she sits. You call her name, she runs over and sits. She sits so earnestly that her little butt goes BANG on the floor. During the same time she was finally learning to sit, she stopped peeing in my room. (Five times in the first four weeks, she walked into my room and purposefully peed. Usually when I was loving on Snickers.)

Secret has really bonded with my daughter and follows her everywhere. They are the cutest pair. My daughter does all the training with her and walking her (except first thing weekday mornings). At first, I didn’t do anything extra with Secret because I didn’t want to interfere with their bonding, but now I’m spending more time with her also. She and Snick get along great. They don’t play much, but they kiss each other and sleep side by side and that sort of thing. They eat well together. They walk well together. She’s started going out with Snick and the dog walker even. (I didn’t let him take her for the first month because she was so skittish and unpredictable outdoors.) And, now that Secret is here, Snick isn’t lonely when I’m out, which is the BIG plus in my mind.

She’s been very skittish with new people but she’s making leaps and bounds in that area also and has even shown some affection towards another dog owner that she sees each morning at the dog run. Her personality is starting to emerge now that she’s been with us almost two months and I’m looking forward to seeing more of it. She’s started inviting us to play chase with her if we’re at the run and there aren’t any other dogs there besides her and Snick. She gets playful with us and with Snick at home some now too.

Her personality is decidedly different from Snick’s. He is so confident and self-assured. Nothing shakes him. He’s a serious dog and very standoffish with most dogs and people, but OH SO playful with the dogs and people he deems worthy. Secret seems shy and insecure, but she has a sweet and charming personality when you get to know her. She leans into Snick when they walk side-by-side. He provides the assurance she needs to deal with new situations.

Anyway, I’m babbling now. That’s the history. Here’s the issue… We have one problem with her that I’m not completely sure how to handle. She bit someone in my apartment a couple weeks ago. He’d been around her a couple times already - once just a couple days after Secret moved in and once the night before the she bit him. The night before, he was here for about 2 hours and Secret was following him and watching him intently the whole time he was here. We’ve had a number of other people over also. Deliver people, a friend from work, the dog walker, etc. She’s always very observant, but she never showed any signs of fear or aggression. The night she bit my friend was the same. She was watchful, but seemed comfortable. However, at one point we started laughing and acting ridiculous and Secret jumped up and dodged in and out and BIT him on the leg! ~T~ took her to the side and held her till she calmed down and we attributed it to our sudden weird behavior and her being new and unsure of what was happening. BUT then, about 15 minutes later, as he was getting ready to leave, she pulled away from T, ran across the apartment, and chomped him on the back of the leg! She bit him hard enough - through relatively heavy pants - to draw blood.

I thought about it a lot and decided that she must have been disconcerted by him because the pack order dynamic in the apartment changes when he comes over. He and I have known each other for years and he’s like family. When T and I went to get Snickers, he was driving the car. Snick grew up with him and tends to defer to him as leader (instead of me) when he’s here. T adores him too and I think we all treat him differently than the average visitor. Maybe she was completely freaked out by the shift in pack order and her solution was to try to chase him away? That was my original assessment. I spoke with a dog behaviorist (is there such a thing? a canine behavior expert, maybe?) a few days later and she suggested that now that Secret is feeling like she actually belongs here, she might be planning to assert herself and move up in the pack and she saw him as a threat. Someone also suggested that it could mean Secret is very happy here and she was worried something might change because he was here.

A few days after this incident, there was a photographer here for 4 1/2 hours. She had all sorts of (odd to a dog) equipment and we moved furniture around and did (strange to a dog) things. Secret tolerated most of it really well, but there were a few times when T and I were worried that she was getting over-anxious. We watched her very carefully and distracted and/or restrained her when we thought she needed some calming time.

I’ve asked my friend that was bitten to come by when he can spend some time with Secret and hand feed her and get to know her. I need to see how she reacts to him when he’s actually paying attention to her. The thing is though, I’m not sure if the problem is just about him or if it might be a problem with other visitors going forward. I’m not sure how to find out though without putting other people’s calves at risk! I’m certainly not going to stop having people over because of this, so I need to figure it out.

Now that I’ve written all this and I’ve thought about how much she’s adjusted since she came to live with us, I feel better about it. Hopefully, as she becomes more comfortable with us, we’ll have less to worry about. She’s such a darling little girl most of the time.

If anyone has any thoughts, input, things to look for, advice or otherwise, I’d be happy to hear it.

I’m writing a silly post because I’ve been very emotional about Snickers the last few days. I’ve realized he’s really my “heart dog” (a phrase I found ridiculous until recently, btw) and I can’t bear the thought of what I’ll do without him when eventually leaves me. Tonight, a friend sent an email to Shiba-L about finding out her elderly male Shiba has an enlarged liver and spleen - possibly cancerous - and I’ve been teary and sniffly ever since.

So, on to the silliness… this weekend my NYC Shiba Inu Meetup group wore their bandanas for the first time. They were custom made for us by Barb at bandanamania and they ROCK. If you need pet bandanas for any group or occasion - or even just for a single dog - she is the woman to talk to.

Some of them are a bit fuzzy because we were mostly avoiding using the flash. We figure she’d been through enough yesterday without getting flashed in the face too!

Click to embiggen*

*I’ve totally stolen the word embiggen from Lachlan and plan to use it every chance I get.

Snickers knew something was up when we left the apartment. He could smell Secret’s kennel in the hallway. He walked so nice with me to Bryant Park, looking up at me at every intersection to make sure I saw how good he was being. When we got to the park, I spotted ~T~ and pointed her out to Snick who made a FAST BEELINE for her across the park. He was most concerned with giving her kisses, but then he wanted to check out Secret. Secret was still a little dazed and confused and mostly ignored Snickers except to shy away from him a couple times. He decided that was no fun and hopped up next to me on a park bench. As soon as T and Secret walked off though, we were on our way after them. He didn’t let them out of his sight!

After a few minutes of wandering the park together, we decided to walk the few blocks west to the dog run. Luckily, Sundays are relatively quiet in my neighborhood, so the sidewalks weren’t too loud or crowded. Both dogs were wonderful on the walk and I gave T some advice on how to navigate the streets, people, traffic, etc. with a dog.

When we got to the run, it was empty, which was probably a good thing. Both dogs dashed in happily off leash. Secret sort of wandered and sniffed and explored a bit. Snickers mostly sat by me. Secret came over and sniffed at him a few times, but now it was his turn to ignore HER. After about a half hour, we put them back on leash and headed home.

When we got to the apartment, Snickers was VERY EXCITED that Secret was coming in. As soon as we got inside, he tried to get her to play, but she wasn’t interested. For the next few hours, she mostly napped in a corner of T’s room while Snickers napped by my feet. We fed them dinner and Secret ate most of hers and then we all went back to the dog run. Secret seemed much more confident about her surroundings this time around and she and Snick even did a little mutual sniffing while they were at the dog run.

One thing we have to work on… Secret can’t manage all the stairs up and down to our apartment. The stairs are ceramic tile, so they’re a little slippery for dogs that aren’t used to them. I’m sure she’ll adjust. She’s slipping and sliding all over the apartment floor right now too… she can’t seem to figure out how to walk on the hardwood. She’ll be ok until something startles her or Snicks bumps her on his way by and then she’s like a little cartoon doggie suddenly running and getting nowhere.

After we got back home, T and Secret went to bed. Secret’s crate is right by T’s bed and Secret went right into it for the night. I didn’t hear a peep out of their room until I woke them up this morning. Snickers seemed totally OK with her being there. He followed his normal routine… stayed by me till I went to bed and then went and slept in T’s room for awhile and then came and got on the bed with me for the rest of the night. He stayed with me till I woke up this morning, like usual. He didn’t seem overly concerned or curious about Secret being in T’s room.

More later… waiting for T to email the pictures to me!

What a day! When I woke up this morning it was raining. What could be worse on a day that I needed to introduce two water-hating Shibas to each other on neutral territory?!?! Snick and I didn’t even go out until about 11:30, but luckily the sun came out shortly after we went out. I told ~T~ to “wish really hard and maybe we’ll have a sunny afternoon for the dogs.”

Secret’s flight was supposed to land at 1:50, so we left home at 12:40 to catch the 12:50 NY Airport Service bus (which is only $12 to LGA)!!! When we got to PABT though, they said the bus left at 12:40, not 12:50! Grrrr. Anyway, the next bus was at 1:10 and we were on it, happily emailing and IM’ing away on our Sidekicks on the way to the airport. Luckily, when we got there, it turned out that it was an easy 3 minute walk from where we got off the bus to Delta Cargo. BUT, they said her flight had been delayed and she wouldn’t be available until around 3pm. Back to the terminal we went for OVERPRICED (but yummy) pizza and cheesecake (just T) and coffee (just me). We wandered back to Delta Cargo around 2:50 and they said she’d landed, but it would be a bit before we got her. We finally got her at about 3:25. T went to where she was and took her out of her crate while I finished the paperwork to claim her. She seemed more than a bit shell shocked at first - she was wobbly and had this glazed look to her. When we called her name, she just stared past us. T fell instantly in love with her though.

Pet Chauffeur was there to take us home (first time I’ve used them because of the cost, but so glad I did for this situation). The driver was so, so, so nice. He loaded the crate in the van while T walked Secret for a minute. Then we got on our way with Secret in T’s lap. The ride home was completely stress free. The driver dropped me and the kennel at the apartment and swung back around to Bryant Park to drop off T & Secret. I took the kennel upstairs, grabbed Snick, and off we went for the introduction.

You’ll have to check back tomorrow for the rest of the story - and pictures. I’m off to bed now!

We will be picking Secret up at the airport this Sunday at 2:00 PM. Hee hee!!!

I’m not ready. Her leash and collar are here though and she’s coming with an initial supply of food. ~T~ and I have a plan for introducing her to Snick before bringing her into the apartment and T has Monday off from school. We’ve got our daily walking and feeding schedule worked out and Secret may start her first Obedience class in mid-October.

But I’m not ready. Eek!

Snickers doesn’t know yet. ~T~ and I have a secret… actually, we’re getting a Secret. A dog named Secret!

She is a six year old, red Shiba Inu. She been living temporarily, as a foster dog, with the breeder that owns and shows Snick’s brother in North Carolina since January of this year. She needs a forever home and we’re it. We haven’t set a ship date yet. (More on that later.) In the meantime, here are two pictures of our soon to be family addition!

This is Secret!	Secret and Snick’s littermate, Bashir.

PS There’s still work to be done on the blog, but it is nitpicky functional stuff. The format is done. I know a few of you commented on it already. What do the rest of you think? I based on on the look of the old blog, but updated it with some round corners and a little bit different layout and some neat plugins.