Monday, July 26, 2010

It's Potty Time!

I've been blessed with the fact that Mika has had very few accidents. I think she's had more accidents at my friend's house than my own. Lately, I've been leaving her ex-pen open at night, so she can roam around and do whatever she likes. Most of the time she hops into bed with me. Sometimes, she just stays in her ex-pen and goes to bed and wakes me up in the morning when she's ready to get up.

Last night, I was very exhausted and let her out earlier than usual for her last potty of the night before bed time. She woke me up at 2am to tell me she really had to go, because when I let her out earlier before we went to bed, she only went #1. This time she had to go #2. I'm so glad she didn't go anywhere else in my bedroom, but instead woke me up to tell me she needed out.

I wonder if I am putting too much trust in her that she is now fully potty trained? Am I giving her too much freedom? So far she's proven to me that she knows where she needs to go and the place where she eliminates is not in the house, but out in the backyard. I guess I will have to wait and see if she has an accident in the middle of the night. Let's hope she doesn't though! =)

Friday, July 16, 2010

Mine!

"It's Mine!" is what I usually hear from my 3 1/2 year old niece who believes anything and everything that she wants is hers and is not yours. Same is true for a lot of dogs, especially shibas. I am lucky that Mika has been very good about her toys and food. However, she is still a puppy and I don't know if she will start to have resource guarding issues.

Lately, I've been taking Mika to the dog park so she can socialize with other dogs and people. She has been doing great. There is one thing I don't necessarily like about the dog park and can't seem to figure out why it's allowed. Toys, balls, frisbees. Why are owners allowed to bring in dog toys into the dog park? That may sound like a stupid question and I realize it is a dog park and many owners would like to play fetch with their dog at the park. That isn't always what goes on though. Many people bring toys to keep their dogs occupied. Yes their dog does end up being occupied. The dog is busy guarding the toy making sure no other dog gets close enough to take the toy away. I see it so often and I see so many dogs get into fights over a ball or frisbee. Just yesterday when I was at the dog park a little girl was playing with another dog and threw her frisbee to play fetch. Her dog who saw this got very possessive over the frisbee and almost attacked the other dog. When the girl went down to try to get the frisbee from her dog to throw it again, the dog snapped and growled at her. Then there was an incident where there was another dog guarding a ball that wasn't even his from everyone else. Mika saw this dog and wanted to play with him, she had no interest at all in the toy, but she wanted to play with every dog she saw and since this dog didn't want to play he wasn't very friendly to her. Before the dog locked his eyes on the toy he was running around with Mika and they were having a good time.

The atmosphere and attitudes change when toys are involved and fights usually break out and someone's play time at the dog park comes to an end earlier than expected.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Back to Basics

"Why would you feed your dog that?" is what I hear a lot when someone asks me what I'm planning to feed Mika. Mainly my family, asking me what she's eating, asking if I feed her dog food. Well, isn't most human food dog food anyway? Many people (and myself included at one point) didn't realize that dog food wasn't actually made until the 1930's when they had to find something else to do with the food that was rejected to be used and sold on the market for us 2 legged beings.

So what exactly am I feeding Mika? Right now she is still on kibble. She currently eats California Naturals No Grain formula to test for allergies. Her eyes do not tear as often, but I still have to wipe them a few times a day. This morning she got her first pre-made raw turkey patty (see pictures below).


She is very food driven and gets excited when she sees me get her food ready for her, but today when she smelled that raw turkey patty, she went nuts! I could barely get her to calm down to get her food in her bowl. I hope to keep her on a raw diet since I firmly believe that raw is the best diet I can give to her if I want her to live a longer life. I also want to keep her on kibble since there will be times in the future where I may need to go somewhere and cannot take her with me. Having her on a half kibble, half raw diet will be beneficial for when I may need my family to feed her if I end up not being able to feed her.

So I feed her some raw, what's wrong with that? Before the 1930's how else did dogs get their food?

Friday, July 2, 2010

Pizzle!

My mommy went to go get something her and all her friends call "boba", and when she was gone one of my DogFathers gave me my first bullystick! IT IS THE BEST THING EVAR!!! I love it and I can't get enough of it! My mom says my breath smells terrible when I chew on my stick, but it is the bestest delicious smell I've experienced in these past 11 weeks of my life!