Too Much Barking

I just found out last weekend that Kai apparently has been barking his head off whenever he's left alone!  Chris and I had no idea.  Kai never has exhibited any signs of anxiety when we prepare to leave, he doesn't bark when we DO leave... he is always excited when we come back, but not overly so.  He has a doggie door, so he can go in and out as he pleases, and he has our cat Molly to keep him company.  I come home for lunch every day during the week, so he's never alone for more than about four hours.  But our neighbor said that Kai has been barking like that for about a month now.  The neighbors were super nice about it and I feel terrible on many levels.  Obviously, I don't want to piss off the neighbors, and I also don't want Kai to be experiencing anxiety on a daily basis.  This seems like a tough issue to address.  How are we supposed to know what's going on when we aren't there?  Kai is such a confident little guy.  I never thought he could develop separation anxiety.

We had already planned a trip to Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico for Sunday for a friend's belated birthday, so we had to quickly find a solution for Kai.  We didn't want to leave him stuck in the house alone all day, and we didn't have anyone who could watch him.  Obviously we couldn't leave him outside since the neighbors had just complained!  We called a local doggie daycare/boarding place called Wag Hotel.  This place was recommended by a friend of mine, and they got really good Yelp reviews.  Since Kai has had all his shots, they were able to take him for All Day Play on Sunday.  They have a doggie cam, so we could see how he was doing while we were in Chico.  Kai ended up having a blast!

Kai's report card and photos from his first All Day Play at Wag Hotel

We took a tour of the facilities at Wag Hotel and felt comfortable with it, so we are going to try boarding him there for future trips.  It's not cheap, but I guess part of owning a dog is accepting the extra cost of boarding if we want to do things out of town and can't take him.  And it's worth the extra cost if Kai can also enjoy his time, rather than just be sitting miserable in a small kennel somewhere.

For the work week, we are going to try some things to hopefully alleviate the barking:
1.  Kai will have to be kept in the house.  Doggy door will be locked.  That way, if he barks, it shouldn't be loud enough to annoy anyone
2.  Kai will get a peanut butter-filled Kong before the last person leaves the house.  The Kong will be a special treat that Kai only gets when he's going to be left alone.
3. (this one we've sort of been doing already, but we'll have to be more conscious of it) We won't make a big deal of leaving or returning home.  When we come home we'll ignore Kai for a few minutes, until he calms down.
4.  either the TV or classical music will be left on in the house when Kai's by himself
5.  We'll try to set up a doggie cam so that we can see how Kai does when he's alone
6.  We're going to have to start taking Kai to the gym with us, every time we go.  We probably won't be able to get as good of a workout in for a while, until Kai gets used to being there, but we can live with that.

I REALLY hope that this is just a phase that Kai's going through.  He really isn't an anxious or nervous dog at all, and he's not needy when we are at home.  The neighbor said it's been going on for about a month, and we've been leaving Kai out in the mornings longer than that... so I wonder if something happened about a month ago that scared him and triggered this behavior.  Maybe someone was getting their trees trimmed or something.  But anyway, I hope these steps will work out okay.  And if Kai seems to settle down, we can try leaving the dog door open for him again in a couple of months, and just ask our neighbor to let us know how he does.

The bad thing is that Molly is going to have to be locked OUT of the house in the mornings now.  I don't want her to feel trapped with Kai indoors.  In the afternoons, I've been crating Kai anyway, so that won't change, and then Molly can come in and out as she pleases.  I hope the week goes okay!

so sleepy and tired after All Day Play 

Dog Park

We took Kai to the dog park for the first time yesterday.  It was Kai's first July 4th, and we had a full day of stuff to do, so we wanted to get him nice and tired out so that he'd be ok hanging out at parties with us and not monstering everywhere.

Kai had lots of fun with these two dogs

Kai did great at the park.  He had so much fun playing with all the other dogs there.  He'd run around super fast, trying to get the dogs to chase him.  Sometimes he'd run so fast that his legs would get tangled up and he'd topple over, but he'd just get right back up and carry on.  Kai is so spunky and fearless.  He doesn't care how big the dog is.  He just wants to play with everyone.

Chase me!!

oooh look at how vicious I am.

Water break

tired happy Shiba

Shaved Puppy Belly

 Kai is bouncing back from his neutering surgery just fine.  Since the vet had to go searching for an undescended testicle, Kai had to have his belly shaved.  It looks funny, but since it's been in the high 90's this week, it's probably actually cooler for him this way.  He's licked the suture area a little bit, but not too much, and the area is healing nicely.

I think Kai is getting a little stir crazy, though.  The vet said no walking or playing fetch with Kai for about a week, at least, and no other vigorous play activities.  Kai really WANTS to play, though.  I think we'll be able to start walking him again by the end of the week. 

The Deed is Done

in the waiting room on the morning of the Big Day

We took Kai to get neutered a couple of days ago.  He had to fast from the previous evening, at 6pm, until we took him to the vet.  No food, no water.  No treats at bedtime.  Kai kept looking around for his water bowl in the evening, and I felt bad.

The vet had already told us that they wanted to keep Kai there for a couple of days following the surgery, so I knew that it would be a quiet time at home.  It was weird to come home for lunch and not have a puppy bouncing around everywhere.  It was just Molly, and she is so tiny (only a 7 pound kitty) and mellow.  Molly was meowing at me more than usual, almost like she was trying to ask me where the monster went.  I couldn't stop thinking about Kai all morning.  I knew the surgery might get complicated because one of his testicles never descended.

Chris called the vet in the afternoon, as instructed by the vet, and found out that everything went fine.  Kai also got microchiped and had his nails trimmed, and was just resting.

We picked Kai up after two nights at the vet.  He was really excited to see us!  He looked somehow smaller than I had remembered him... maybe because of the surgery, or because part of his underside was shaved.  The vet had to make two incisions, one right in front of Kai's scrotum (to remove the normal testicle) and one along the side of Kai's penis (to go into the abdomen).  Kai has sutures, so we'll have to take him back in two weeks to get those removed.  I hope that isn't too traumatic.  Poor little Kai.  It almost looks like someone tried to cut his penis off.  :(  (I wanted to take a photo, but Chris refused to let me.)  He is doing great, though.  They didn't even send him home with a Cone of Shame, because he hasn't been messing around with his surgery area.  The vet told us to not play too vigorously with him or take him on walks for a week or so while he's healing.  And Kai doesn't seem to hate us for sending him away to get his balls chopped off.

Kai was so happy to come home with us.  Normally he rides in a crate in the car, but we let him ride up front with us for the 1.5 mile drive home.

I know that getting Kai neutered was the right thing to do.  It actually was in our purchase contract with the breeder, for one thing.  And in Kai's case, an undescended testicle can mean a high chance of testicular cancer in the future if it's not removed.  It can also cause the dog pain, if the testicle is sitting at a weird place in his abdomen.  We have no desire to breed or show him, so he doesn't need to stay intact.  He will be happier because won't have that need to "sow his seed".  But part of me still feels a little sad and guilty.  I kept thinking of the Avox in the Hunger Games books, for some reason.  The Avox are characters... slaves... who have had their tongues removed so that they can't speak.  Obviously, Kai isn't a "slave", but he is fully dependent on our decisions for him.  He didn't get a say in whether he kept his balls or not.  He had to go through a somewhat invasive surgery, and two weeks of recovery time, to remove those dang balls.  We would never remove a human boy's testicles if the boy knew that he would never want kids!  I know it's not the same thing, though.  I had an unneutered dog, a terrier mix, as a kid, and he would occasionally run away to do this thing.  He'd always come back.  But one time, he didn't come back.  We got a letter from the city a week later, saying that he had been hit by a car and was killed.  He was identified by his tags.  So for me, as an adult, I know that I would always want to spay/neuter my pet, just for that reason.

Kai gets a treat for being such a brave boy.

Anyway, it's all over now.  Well, the big part is over... we still have to take him back to get those sutures removed.  I don't know how that will go.  I am already having visions of Kai Shiba screaming all over the place, and (for once) I can't say that I would blame him!

Everyone was tired by the end of the day.

Doggy Dash

fun times at the Doggy Dash

Chris and I took Kai up to see the events at the Doggy Dash last weekend.  The Doggy Dash is a 5K run sponsored by the Sacramento SPCA.  In addition to the race, they have tons of vendor booths, demonstrations, and fun contests (costume, tallest dog, etc.).  We didn't run this year... Kai is still learning how to walk on a leash... but there was still so much to see there!  Kai did so good.  It was super crowded, both with people and with other dogs.  Kai wasn't scared or monstering at all.  He was just friendly and interested in everyone, both human and canine.  I was so proud of him.  He got really tuckered out, though, and Chris ended up carrying Kai back to the car.

Kai with the Great Dane who won "Tallest Dog"

Kai and another Shiba, who was also named "Kai", watch the festivities.

Kai's leash skills are still somewhat lacking, but he has made HUGE progress as far as his fear of the leash goes.  He used to tantrum and Shiba scream like nobody's business when we would try to attach the leash to his collar, but now he will sit still and let us do it.  I can tell that he still doesn't really like that process, but now he knows that once the leash is on, something fun (like a WALK) will happen.  We were able to get him to accept the leash by first giving him treats while holding the leash in the treat hand... then touching the leash to him while giving him a treat... slowly, over time, extending that out.  And we made sure to use the word WALK a lot when we would start out.  Now, if we ask him "Do you want to go on a walk?" he immediately gets excited and runs to the back gate to get ready.

We're using a martingale collar for walks now.  Kai slipped his regular collar last week when I was walking him and nearly gave me a heart attack.  I had to chase him down the street and lure him back to me with treats.  The martingale collar seems to be working well for now.

Tomorrow will be a big day for Kai... he's finally getting neutered.  It's hard to believe he's already at that age, six months old!  I hope it all goes smoothly.  I hate to think of my little guy having to go under the knife, but I know we need to do it-- and better to just get it over with, I guess.  The vet likes to board the dog after the surgery for a day or two to make sure the dog has calm recovery time, so it's going to be a quiet couple of days around the house.  Poor little Kai.  I hope he doesn't hate the vet (and us) after this!

Chris Jr. and Sr.

You can almost see the family resemblance in these photos!  They have the same look in their eye.  That's only one of the many reasons I sometimes call Kai 'Chris Jr.".

 Kai gives his dad kisses.

Shibas are a handful, but they are never boring!

Shiba Party!

Kai waiting to meet some of his kind.

Chris and I took Kai to the 22nd Annual Shiba Party in Novato, hosted by the Shiba Fanciers of Northern California.  I heard that it's the biggest Shiba event in the country, and there were many Shibas there of all colors, ages, and sizes.  It was so fun to see the variation in them all!  Kai did pretty well.  He wanted to play with all the Shibas, but (as typical to the breed, I guess) many of them weren't really interested in playing.  He did get to play with a few of them, though.  It's crazy seeing Shibas play together.  Definitely more teeth than when Kai plays with other dogs!

Lounging

Kai seems like he's a normal size for a male Shiba of his age.  At 5 1/2 months old, he actually is already bigger than a lot of adult female Shibas.  He's also redder than most of the ones we saw, and he doesn't have as much white on him (although I guess that could still change over the coming months).  There was one girl there that looked a lot like Kai, with a very red coat and black tippy-tail.

just a few of the many other Shibas at the party

 I was surprised to see quite a few Shiba puppies at the party.  I personally would be scared to bring a pup who wasn't fully vaccinated to a dog park, but I suppose it's a great opportunity for socialization.  It's hard to believe Kai was that tiny and fuzzy only a few months ago!

Playtime!

 There were a lot of fun events and contests scheduled for later in the afternoon, but we got fairly tuckered out so we didn't stay for that stuff.  Maybe next year :)

Kai sticks his tongue out at the camera.