Hair, hair everywhere!

Of course when doing my research regarding Shiba Inus, one thing you will learn is that the Shiba Inu sheds their undercoat and LOTS of it. We realized that the brush we had was a 'slicker brush' and was NOT doing the trick for Sheba's shedding. Finally, we buckled down and purchased the FURminator, recommended per my blog/forum research.

I broke open the package, read the instructions and slowly familiarized Sheba with our new gadget. It has been about 3 days since we bought it and we have been raking all kinds of undercoat hair. I would think that I am done, but no, there's MORE!

I will have to give it a break for a few days because Sheba is tired of being brushed. I am making sure that her skin doesn't get irritated of course. I have to coax her by giving her treats, then she'll avoid walking away from me. Nothing is funnier than sitting down with Sheba, her looking at the FURminator and then as I am slowly combing her soft fur, she runs the opposite direction and has NO parts of the gathering. As long as I had my bag of treats near and one for her to chew on, she was good to go, but not for too long!

It really doesn't bother me, maybe because I have grown to love this dog so much so soon. I just keep swiffering and vacuuming with a smile.

OH...oh SHEBA!

We made a decision to adopt a new puppy and my husband came across an ad for a Shiba Inu. He just couldn't resit that foxy face and sprawled out floor stance. I started researching everything I could about Shiba Inus and realized that we were in for a ride, but felt it was worth it.

The first time we met Sheba, she came running up our walk way like she'd been here before and quickly greeted me. The family she was living with said she was rather shy and reserved at first, but with me, she 'owned' me rather quickly. Sheba became the newest member of our household.

There was something about this little 9-month-old that stole my heart. Even when she looks at you as if you're crazy, she's got this 'thing' that makes our hearts melt! She immediately felt like she was allowed to jump on the couch without being invited and just like I've read, will not budge if she doesn't want to.

The one thing we are amazed about is how she doesn't try to dart out of the front door and the one time she stepped outside of the house, she came right back in. She is really well behaved, smart and full of spunk.

Sheba only barks while playing and we only get a good Shiba-scream when she's ready to come back in the house. We think it's hilarious. She gets really excited once someone comes in the door or when she comes back in from outside, so she scrambles around doing her Shiba 500, trying to find something, anything she can put into her mouth to give to us. One time, we received a random sock.

She wasn't crate trained when we first got her, so slowly we got her to go in without having to coax her. That was short lived, because the next day she refused to get into her cage. The last two days she will go limp and make one of us pick her up or push her. We can't help but laugh because she will also stand up, start walking towards her cage, realize that's NOT what she wants to do and will turn around, look at us, and then go back to where she desires to be. This makes me laugh even harder because, well, I did my homework. She's a SHIBA.

We didn't get much sleep last night, this time she decided to howl and scratch and whimper in her cage. We tried taking her out, moving her to a new spot and nothing worked. It wasn't that she had too much energy, we took her to the dog park earlier that day and she got a good run in the backyard too. We are trying to teach her that her crate is okay and that we are not far away at night. I hope we get some rest tonight.

All in all, I love this girl and I know it's going to take persistence, but this is one fun Diva!