Day 7:  Mikey's First Shiba 500

Morning walk: I had to wake him this morning, which was just as tough as waking him last night for his pre- bedtime walk.  Boy, does he sleep soundly.  He did just Robert, no moses.  Once we got home, he ate a few bites of his breakfast.

One thing I’ve noted: since he squats to pee instead of lifting his leg, he often gets a bit of robert on his paws.  It would be good to wipe down his paws before returning home.  However, he dislikes having his paws handled.  (Lord knows how scared he must have been at the vets for his claw clipping, poor little guy.)  So I’ll need to start gradually acclimating him to having his paws handled.

The weather is warming up. This is great, but it leads me to a growing concern.  My heavy coat had plenty of pockets for moses bags, treats, keys, wallet, etc.  But soon my heavy coat will be going into storage   I’ll need to think up some kind of bag, non- fanny pack style, that holds:

-bags so I can pick up moses 

-treats that I can grab VERY quickly

-keys, wallet, phone, chapstick

-and now, paw wipes 

I’ll continue to keep a list so I can be prepared when warm weather arrives. If I get a travel water bowl, that'll need to go in as well.

(Later)  I came home from work to find robert AND moses on the floor!!  Bummer. I guess he didn't do either on his midday walk. I took mikey out immediately but he was empty, of course.  Regardless, it was a beautiful evening and we had a great walk.  I even saw a smaller cream- colored shiba inu. Mikey probably resembled him when he was younger.  Alas, Mikey was too busy sniffing a stain on the sidewalk to see him.  After his walk, I'm pleased to say Mikey ate all his dinner!

Today is our 1- week anniversary with Mikey.  It seems like he's been part of the family forever!

Tonight I decided to try a slightly earlier evening walk, around 9:30 pm, so I didn't have to wake him up out of sound sleep around 11 pm. It turned into a very long walk.  Then we came in and Mikey did his first Shiba 500!  (This is just running up and down the hallway, throughout the apartment, like crazy.  Some shibas do this every day!) I never would have thought he was capable of a Shiba 500! Panzer hissed but Scott and I were psyched.  Maybe Mikey's not the slow guy I thought he was!  He's doing so great!!

This isn't  a bad picture.  He really is moving this fast.

Tonight I'm trying out a new thing: leaving his crate unlocked, with the door slightly open.  I'm just seeing if he'll choose to stay in his crate by night.  It's not a perfect experiment.  His dog bed is in the crate, and that's the only soft spot on the floor for him to lay on.  The only other place he might want to lay is the dining room rug.  So if he escapes his crate, he'll probably be in the dining room.