Happy Belated Gotcha Day!

So I am a day late to this, as I was busy yesterday and was not able to post about it!

It's been one year since I brought little Mika home! As it turns out it is also my birthday. Yes we picked her up on my birthday last year! It was not planned that way either. She was supposed to arrive a few days before, but I wasn't able to get her until the weekend started. She is the best unplanned birthday gift I could have received!

starting to come out of her crate

I remember trying to look into the crate after picking her up at the airport. She was so afraid and didn't want to come out of the crate. We decided to leave her in there while we drove home. When we got home we opened the crate and she just stood in the back. Wanting her to get more comfortable we opened the top of the crate so she could see her new surroundings. She started slowly coming out to sniff us. Still a bit timid, but she did warmed up quickly.

It's been an amazing experience living with her for the past year and I hope every year with her just gets better.

For her Gotcha Day, we decided to go to the local shiba meetup that was scheduled in our area. She had a blast running around and playing with other dogs at the dog park. After all the running and wrestling she did she was wiped out when she got home. It was a fun filled doggy day for her!

Weekend at the Dog Parks

We usually only take Mika to the dog park once a week. If there isn't a LA/OC Shiba Inu Meetup going on, then we will usually take Mika to Fullerton Pooch  Park on Sundays to meet Shaina and Ari. However, Mika got a treat! Kevin took her to Irvine's Central Bark Saturday morning, and we also took her to see Shaina and Ari on Sunday at Fullerton Pooch Park.

Mika still acts like a puppy and still has the energy of a puppy. I'm not sure if she will ever grow out of her puppiness, but I don't really want her to either! I love that she is so social and loves to be around other dogs. The down fall is that she doesn't realize when a dog is telling her to back off! I always have to try to redirect her to another dog or pull her attention away. Nope, she is relentless, if she has her eyes set on a certain dog that she wants to play with, she doesn't care! She will jump up on owners if they are holding their dog cause their dog is afraid of Mika (who could ever be afraid of her?). I've tried letting her get snapped at by other dogs so she can start to learn the body language of other dogs, but she still doesn't get it. I'm really afraid for her sometime, so I always have to watch her to make sure when the other dog has had enough and physically pick up Mika and give her a little break before putting her down again. That usually will break her focus on a dog and let her roam around til she finds another playmate.

Here are two videos from each dog park this past weekend. The first one is from Central Bark. Sorry for the ending, I was a bit too lazy to edit it  :) The second video is at Pooch Park and you also get a glimpse of Ari in the video. The owner of the dog Mika is playing with, didn't really like the way they were playing. Not sure why the owner felt uncomfortable. I personally think she played wonderfully with the other dog.

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.