Archive for the 'Shiba Inu' Category
The position that we put Mango in when we are trimming his nails.
Smelly and i made some real progress in using the Dremel on Mango’s nails. Two weeks ago, we were only able to barely touch Mango’s nails with the Dremel.
Since then, i received a Peticure Safe Guard that i ordered. The Peticure Safe Guard is an attachment for Dremel rotary tool. It not only keeps the filed nail dust from getting all over the place, it also prevents hair from being caught in the rotary tool. Another advantage i found with the Peticure Safe Guard is that i no longer have to worry about accidentally grinding my hardwood floor. So far, i am very pleased with the Peticure Safe Guard.
Last night, i was able to trim almost all of his nails while Smelly kept him distracted with tons of chicken jerky and praise. Ideally, our goal is to get to a point where Mango is so comfortable with getting his nails filed by the Dremel rotary tool that we can give him a treat only after the session is completed.
Tonight, after picking up Mango from his weekly daycare, i was able to use the Dremel on a few of his nails without any treat! Granted this happened during the moment when Mango was tired and very mellow. We noticed that every time after picking Mango up from his daycare, he would be tired for almost a full day. Nonetheless, being able to trim his nails without keeping him occupied with treats is a breakthrough!
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Mango posing on a rock at the Washington Park Arboretum next to Lake Washington.
The sunny weather on Sunday was probably one of the few remaining days of the year before the arrival of cold rainy days. Originally, i was planning on visiting some place on the Olympic Peninsula with Smelly and Mango. But the long drive there discouraged me so we decided to spend our Sunday in Seattle instead.
Standing in front of Alley 24, an apartment complex just across from REI.
Our first stop with Mango was REI’s flagship store in downtown Seattle. To get ready for the upcoming rainy days, Smelly and i wanted to get some light waterproof jackets so that we can walk Mango even when the weather is wet.
Mango filling up the carrier bag. In a month or two, he probably won’t be able to fit in the bag.
REI only allows service dogs to be in the store so we had to put Mango in the sling-style carrier bag. Mango weighed 16 pounds on Sunday and it was definitely harder getting him to fit into the bag that we bought two months ago. We were not able to find any reasonably-priced jackets that we like so we most likely will head back to the Outdoor Research store on 1st Ave.
After leaving REI, we went to the Washington Park Arboretum. Smelly and i first went to the Arboretum more than a year and a half ago. This time round, we had Mango with us.
Mango had his attention caught by a passing kayak.
The Shiba Inu breed in general is not known to like water. When we took Mango to one of the boat launches in the arboretum, sure enough, Mango was really wary of getting himself wet. No amount of encouragement or treat would get him into the water. I finally decided to carry Mango and drop him in knee-high - Mango’s knees - water. Almost immediately after dropping him into the water, Mango took off for the dry land.
No amount of encouragement or treat was sufficient to entice Mango to get into the water.
Meet and greet with the 12-week old Sasha.
While we were trying to get Mango into the water, a black and tan Shiba Inu puppy showed up. The 12-week old puppy seemed small to us. She was even smaller than Mango when we picked him up at nine weeks old.
Smelly posing with Mango.
We then took Mango on a walk on the trail through the wetlands. It was a very pleasant walk.
Walking Mango along the trail.
Smelly posing with Mango along the trail.
After spending two hours at the arboretum, we took Mango for his first bath in two weeks.
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This post is more than a week late. I got lazy this week and really did not feel like writing.
Last Thursday (9/11), Mango was exactly 15 weeks old. When i weighed him three days later on Sunday, he was 13.2 pounds (5.99 kilos).
So far, our breeder Leslie has been kind enough to trim Mango’s nails when Smelly and i take him there for his weekly daycare. However, at some point, we really have to do this on our own. When i took Mango to his first week of daycare, Leslie showed me how she trimmed Mango’s nails with a Dremel. Mango was put on a grooming table and was secured by a short leash from the top. You would not believe the amount of screaming and whining Mango made as Leslie proceeded to dremel his nails. Even when Leslie got done and i was holding Mango, whenever Leslie turned on the Dremel to trim another Shiba’s nails, Mango would be trembling all over. I asked Leslie if there was a way to associate nail trimming with something that’s positive. Leslie responded that it’s probably very difficult with the Shibas. The best way she recommended was to get it over with as quickly as we can.
About a month ago, we attempted to trim Mango’s nails with the nail trimmer. Naturally, Mango threw up a fit. Really, he sounded like a pig that just found out that he was going to be slaughtered. While i was grabbing onto Mango to prevent him from jumping off the table, Smelly was doing the nail trimming. On one of the nails on his front paw, Smelly trimmed a little too much and it cut into the “quick”. Mango started bleeding immediately and was appeared to be quite traumatized. After applying some Qwik Stop Styptic powder, the bleeding stopped, but also that ended our second attempt in trimming his nails.
Two weeks ago, i decided to do some research on trimming nails using Dremel. I found this really good site that demonstrates how to do just that. The instructions are very clear and the idea is to associate the nail trimming session with something enjoyable for Mango.
The first step was to get Mango comfortable with his paws being touched and handled by us. Every time i touched his paw, i would reward him with his favorite treat - chicken jerky from Costco. I did that for about two days.
Mango investigating the Dremel when it was off.
The next step was to take the Dremel out and leave it on the floor for Mango to sniff and explore it. I would reward him with treats and praises when he was brave enough to get close to the Dremel to investigate it.
Mango sniffing the Dremel when it was on.
When Mango became comfortable with the Dremel, i would turn it on and leave it on the floor. Again, when Mango came over to investigate it, i would reward him treats and praises. This step was to get Mango used to the noise generated with the Dremel on.
Touching Mango’s nail with the Dremel.
When that went well, i moved on to the next step. With the Dremel off, i would touch one nail with the Dremel. This was follow by a treat. I proceeded to touch two nails and then gave him treat and praises. Eventually, i would touch all his nails and then give him his treat.
Mango came back from his daycare with trimmed nails.
I was planning on grinding his nails for a very short duration last week but when i picked Mango up from his daycare, i realized that Leslie had already did that for me. I also noticed that Mango was bleeding. After waiting for another day or two, i started getting Mango used to being touched by the Dremel again.
This morning, i have a slight break through. While Mango was eating his treat, i touched one of his nails with the Dremel while it was on. The grind bit was probably on his nail for only half a second but Mango seemed ok with it. Tomorrow, i am going to try it on a few more nails and see how it goes.
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Mango at 13 weeks old.
About three and a half weeks ago, Mango weighed a little less than 8 pounds. Last night, Mango weighed in at 11.8 pounds 
Nowadays, Mango is probably eating about three times the amount of food that he was eating when he first arrived home from the breeder.
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Mango at seven weeks old.
Mango at 13 weeks old.
The most obvious differences: Mango’s snout has gotten longer and his ears are bigger.
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I spent part of Saturday night and Sunday morning working so i get to take today off. By taking today off, it saves Smelly a few trips between work and her condo since i will be taking care of Mango.
Mango spooked by the construction noise coming from one of my backyard neighbors.
I took Mango for a walk around the neighborhood. For whatever reason, the first part of the walk along Hudson St has been the hardest. There is something along that portion of the walk that Mango does not like. I guess whatever that he’s having a problem with, he just has to get used to it. On our way on Dawson St walking toward California Ave, there are a few patches of healthy-looking lawn. Mango loves to walk on these few patches of grass. Mango took care of his business right there, both #1 and #2 simultaneously.
A few posts ago, i mentioned that Mango was losing his puppy hair. A coarser and longer hair has started taking over, beginning from his tail on. Other than his head, there are only a few small patches of puppy hair on his body.
You can see Mango no longer has any puppy hair on his back.
I spent part of the morning training Mango on the sit, stay, down commands. Mango is still not able or unwilling to go “down” on command, without having a treat or pretending to have a treat in my hand. He seems to be able to “stay” better now, at least he can remain sitting when i move backward away from him with a treat in my hand.
Mango in his donut bed.
Mango had been doing quite well with not peeing in the house. When i was eating my lunch, Mango walked near the closed backyard door. Because he was not sitting while facing the door, i did not think that he wanted to pee. No more than a few seconds later, Mango peed almost right in front of me. I had to lift him off the floor and put him in the backyard while he was still peeing. The pee pattern on the floor clearly indicated what i did. There was a big pool of pee and then there was a trail of pee all the way to the door 
Waking up from his afternoon nap.
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Mango has been scratching himself since he arrival home the first time on July 19th. I could not figure out what is causing him to scratch. Initially, i thought it was the Rosemary plants in the backyard. On the first few days home, Mango was going in and out of the Rosemary bushes. Even after fencing off the Rosemary plants, Mango was still scratching himself.
About two weeks ago, Mango started to shed his puppy coat. He appeared to be scratching himself quite a bit more than usual. So i decided to have Mango bathed on the Friday when i was working from home. I called around all the nearby Pet grooming places but they were all booked up. Finally, i gave up and decided to bathe him myself. I found a nearby do-it-yourself bathhouse for pets called The Wash Dog. At this facility, shampoo, bath towels and the very important power dryer.
Mango looking wary before being bathed (picture taken with my iPhone camera).
Oh boy…there is no escape (picture taken with my iPhone camera).
This was the first time that i have given Mango a bath. He had been bathed by the breeder in the past but the breeder was not able to give him a bath during his daycare that week. Surprisingly, Mango did not put up a fight when he was being sprayed with luke warm water.
Mango almost completely soaked (picture taken with my iPhone camera).
Get me outta here! (picture taken with my iPhone camera)
The next thing i did was to massage some shampoo into his wet hair. The breeder told me in order to loosen a Shiba’s shed hair, the massaging process is important. Then i attempted to express Mango’s anal glands. I was not sure if i did it correctly. What expelled out of Mango’s anus did not seem to be like what i saw when the breeder was demonstrating a bath to me.
Mango after being rinsed (picture taken with my iPhone camera).
After rinsing the lather off Mango, i placed Mango back on the grooming table and used the pretty powerful dryer to blow dry him. Because Shibas are doubly-coated with the outer coat being stiff and straight and the undercoat soft and thick, i was informed that a normal blow dryer is not powerful enough get the loose hair out. I was not sure how much loose hair i got rid off but when i got done, i could feel Mango’s hair all over me.
Looking good and smelling clean after the bath (picture taken with my iPhone camera).
The bath did not seem to help with Mango’s scratching. In fact, it may have gotten worse. On the following Monday, Smelly took Mango to the vet to have his scratching problem looked at. His stool analysis came back negative - no parasite was found. The vet gave Mango an unknown shot and told Smelly to give Mango half a table of Benadryl every 12 hours.
Something in my backyard must be causing him to scratch. I am still going through the process of elimination to find out what is the culprit.
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Mango’s puppy training certificate
This post is a week old. Last Saturday, August 16th 2008, was a special day for Mango. That was the day Mango graduated from Diane Rich’s puppy training class!
We are not slacking off though. We enjoyed training with Diane so much that Smelly promptly enrolled Mango in another set of private lessons with her.
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