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Neutered

So Zim was neutered yesterday. We dropped him off at 7 AM, expecting to get him back around 4 but then they called and said he should be ready around noon so we went and grabbed him. He was REALLY ready to go home, which probably had a lot to do with the fact that his mouth felt funny and they were keeping him in *gasp* a cage. He really hated that last part---you could hear him protesting in the waiting room.

Anyway, so we took him home and at first he passed out, like this:

Then he woke up and started licking his incision site, so we put him in this:

Unfortunately, it turns out that Zim is too flexible for a Kong Cloud, the little brat. As soon as he got over his horror at having it on and stopped trying to slip it, he just reached right around and started licking the incision site. So then we went out and bought him this:

To which his reaction was this:

As you can see, he did eventually get over it. He still doesn't particularly care for it, but he's accepted it, at least. Unfortunately, though, not being able to lick his incision site also means not being able to clean up after he goes to the bathroom, which upsets him greatly. He keeps stopping to try and clean up and obviously gets very frustrated when it doesn't work. We have to carry him home so we can clean him up. He does, at least, seem to get over it once we do it for him.

Two Escapes in Two Days---What the Hell?

So Zim escaped again yesterday. It was far less harrowing than the last time but, still, what the Hell is this? The first time was just sort of one of those things but this last one should not have happened and when I think about it I'm still kind of mad that it did.

So we were going to go out and grab dinner, so we went to put Zim in our bedroom. He didn't feel like it, though, so he slipped out the door as we were closing it. As I chase him down the stairs I notice to my horror that for some stupid reason our friends have left our door open. So what does Zim do? He makes a beeline straight for his people and someone picked him up and handed him back to me so I could put him away. Now, this was about what I would expect because this particular behavior of his is why doorbolting isn't usually a problem for him. It's not about going outside, it's about getting to the people. Sure, he'll rush a door when someone comes in, but that's because he wants to greet the person coming in (not to say that we're not careful about him doing that, we are because you never know), so it was perfectly predictable that he would go straight for his people (I'm pretty sure he thinks of most of our friends as being his in the same way he thinks of us like that) when he went out the open door. Still, though, I was pretty mad and more so, as well, when my reaction of "What the fuck, guys?!" was met by one person going, "What?" They should know what. Don't leave the door open for my dog to get out! It's not like all of these people didn't hear about Saturday's experience and the trouble we had then.

On a more positive note, I was looking through the album of pictures from puppy class and I found some of Zim playing with some of the other pups, including his favorite buddy from that class, Dublin the Saint Bernard. I'm reposting them here.

Zim's First Escape

So, we've had yet another Shiba owner right of passage: we've had to get our escaped dog to come back.

So, Zim is not normally a doorbolter. He's more interested in the person coming in a door than in getting out. Well, today we were at the home of my sister-in-law and her husband for her husband's graduation party. Zim was alternating between inside and outside, but when he was outside we had him on a 50 ft leash. When he was inside, he was playing with Molly, my sister-in-law's beagle mix. Well, at one point everyone was outside except me, Molly and Zim. Molly wanted to be outside where everyone else was because unlike Zim, she still really loves people when other dogs are around (Zim normally loves people but is merely fine with them when there are other dogs for him to interact with). Well, she was trying to doorbolt the whole time and then finally one of the many people at the house ended up letting her out and Zim ran right after her. Now happily outside, Molly's attention turned back to Zim and they started playing chase. Well, we tried to call Zim back but Shiba selective hearing was the order of the day---his entire focus was on Molly. Luckily the streets were basically empty the whole time we were there (I saw a total of maybe 3 cars in the hours we spent there), because at one point Zim went into the street. It was at that point that it occurred to me that with his focus on Molly, we should be calling her instead, I only hoped she came back. Like I said before, she's people focused but I've heard stories about her occasional selective hearing. Still, I was pretty sure her recall was better than Zim's and I knew he would follow her if she ran back to us so I tried it. She came right back and Zim followed. We didn't catch him right away but at least he was nearby instead of running away. He slipped out of my grasp once or twice after this, still staying nearby because Molly was, before he suddenly decided he needed to poop. I grabbed his harness as he went and we then put him on the 50ft line so he and Molly could play outside instead.

So now we're getting Zim a Tagg Pet Tracker. We'd thought about it before, but it seemed like an awful lot of money for a dog who didn't doorbolt and who was always on a harness and leash when outside (and wasn't a harness escape artist). Now, though, we've decided. He obviously becomes a doorbolter when's he's with another dog who's a doorbolter and I do know he's capable of slipping certain kinds of harnesses (he just doesn't try). This will give us a little insurance for if he does do the unlikely and slip a harness or run through an open door.

On a way, way different note, I just found a picture online of Zim's uncle, the full brother of his father, Kisaragi no Kouten go Amamisou (Kouten). I don't really think Zim looks much like him no that Kouten has gotten older but I found this picture of Kouten from when he was older that I really think looks a lot like Zim:

Makes me wonder if Zim will grow up to look like his uncle, or at least his uncle at the age pictured ( I would guess between 6 months and a year old).


Also, here's a picture that Fathead snapped on his cell phone of me and Zim earlier tonight, both curled up on the floor. Like owner, like dog I suppose.

Zim's Second Fear Period

So, I think that Zim is going through his second fear period. He's suddenly starting to whine and whatnot in the car and he was scared at the vet on Monday. We're going to be trying to use food to condition him to fear those things less (we've already made some progress with the scale at the vet, which he's never liked) and trying to ignore his upset to not encourage his fear. Hopefully it all goes well.

Picture Time!

These first ones aren't actually mostly of Zim, but rather of the Gir collar I made for him out of a lanyard. Pretty spiffy, huh?

Yes, that is my character sheet sitting right next to a dog who loves to shred paper. And, yes, I did notice this before he did.

Zim sometimes decides my backpack is a dog bed.

Zim has taken up the adorable habit of sleeping under the couch sometimes. It's super cute.

Little Zim at the Vet

So, we took Zim to the vet today because he was having problems with loose stool on Saturday (he was going about once every three hours as well) and he had some discharge from his right eye as well. I suspect the stool was either worms (right after we left the vet I saw some specks in his stool) or the fact that he's been on one brand of kibble (Avoderm) and another of canned food (Merrick), which might have been messing him up as well. Either way, we're going to try and get him onto all the same brand of food after his bland diet is done and hope that either that or the deworming he got at the vet takes care of it. We're also going to keep an eye on the discharge and take him back to the vet for it if it doesn't clear up in a couple of days.

Now, for the real reason behind this post---despite stuffing the little one with treats and him always having been fine before, he was super scared at the vet. He was shaking and wouldn't even take food when the vet took him in back to be dewormed---but when they led him back out from the back he was perfectly happy! No more shaking, no whining, tail up, just trotting along like the happiest puppy in the world. It was really strange. Maybe I made him nervous by not putting him down after having him on the scale? He's not a big fan of it and he climbed right onto my shoulder to get off of it. Maybe I should have put him down right away. Whatever it was, hopefully he'll be better at the vet next time---and we'll bring along hot dogs to try and make sure. He loves hot dogs.

He also growled when both the vet and the nurse wanted to look at his teeth. I guess Ben and I will have to be better about getting him used to that. It's funny, though, because I do look at his teeth every now and again to make sure his baby teeth are coming out. That said, I usually don't open his mouth to do that, I just let him open it and then I put a finger in there for him to chew on while I look at his teeth. I guess that's not good enough. We'll work on it to make sure it doesn't get worse as he ages.