Five Months Old!

lounging puppy

Kai had his five month vet visit to get his rabies shot and check on his, um, balls.  Unfortunately, one testicle still hasn't descended, but we went ahead and made an appointment for his neutering, which will be in mid-June.  The vet said that there is a chance that the testicle could descend on its own by then, although usually they both have already done so by five months.  If it doesn't come down by surgery time, Kai can still be neutered, but the surgery may be more involved, depending on how far up the testicle is.  Kai hasn't had any health issues at all so far... in fact, he's quite a sturdy, robust little guy, so I hope that this won't be too much of an issue.

I've been so busy with a demanding gig schedule over the last month (eight performances a week, in addition to still working my regular full-time job) that I haven't had as much time to spend with Kai as I would have liked.  His puppy class is over now, and we still try to take him out when we can, but it hasn't been as much as before.  Poor little Kai.  As soon as my gig is over (after this week) I really want to work more with him.  He has been really great, but he has a couple of issues we definitely need to address.  The big one is Kai's fear/hatred of putting anything on:  collar, harness, leash, all make him do the Shiba scream, BIG time.  I think it might actually be more traumatic for me than for him, but he clearly doesn't like the process.  I've tried a couple different types of harnesses, thinking that maybe he just didn't like the feeling of a collar around his neck, but the harnesses are even more difficult to put on him.  And FORGET about trying to adjust a harness once it's on him!  He will tantrum all over the place.

Other issues that we need to work on are:  leash skills (he can walk on a leash, but he pulls.  I think/hope that once we start properly working on leash training, he'll get this one down quickly) and mouthing.  He STILL wants to mouth people when they pet him.  He has a very gentle mouth, and I don't mind if he gently mouths my hand, but I want to cut the habit because I don't think everyone who pets him would want him nomming on them!  Especially kids.  There was a girl at the gym the other week who really wanted to pet Kai, but I had to be careful in letting her because I didn't want her to think that Kai was going to bite her.

The gig has been a great experience (I normally wouldn't be able to accept a gig with such a demanding schedule, and have been so lucky in that my boss at work and my boyfriend have both been really helpful in managing everything) but I will be glad to return to normal life soon!