I Am Shiba.: November 2009

Turkeys

Wonderful fowl.

Hope you all remember that there are starving Shibas suffering from the savory smells of that six hour long basted butterball bird, and desire only but a sliver of that tender white meat added to our nutritionally balanced dry dry dry kibble.

And, please dispose of the bones in the kitchen garbage so that we can show you our ingenious methods of obtaining an entire 12 pound carcass and move it into our crate without making a single noise that could potentially awaken you from your tryptophan slumber.

I Am Shiba. I Love The Smell Of A Turkey Basting In The Morning.

Loyalty

Yesterday, someone told The Woman that I am a Loyal Dog.

I think about that word, Loyal. It means "faithful to a person, idea or cause." I am not sure I qualify as "Loyal" since I would trade my leash in for squirrel chasing freedom in a heartbeat.

I do, however, Trust The Woman that whatever she does or asks me to do is safe and for my best interests. But I still seldom come when called unless I know that there is something in it for me.

Yesterday, where I work with my other dog therapists (only one is my friend, a Bichon Frisee named Sampson), it was picture taking time. At one point, all us canines were lined up in a sit/stay so that our picture could be taken. The other four dogs kept breaking stay while I sat quietly, looking at The Woman, listening to her whispher, "Good sit. Good stay." So I sat, until I head the word "Come" and She was sitting without outstretch arms, quick to embrace me and ruffle up my fur.

I hate it when She messes up my fur, but I love it when She does. It is Her way of saying that She is Proud of what I accomplished; I enjoy seeing her Proud of Me.

Yesterday, I had to sit in the car when The Woman went to the Post Office to mail the Calendars. The Post Office Person said to The Woman as They packaged the Calendars together, "I recognize this dog!" Of course he does! I go in there all the time! The New Employee (who I have yet to meet) as the conversation progressed said, "Your dog sounds very loyal."

I think that I am everything but Loyal. I Trust. I Guard and Protect. I Am Aware. I am a Leader and I am a Follower. But the only cause to which I am Loyal is that of my own interests.

It just happens that The Woman is a part of that.

I Am Shiba. My Kingdom For A Good Squirrel Chase.

Thanks Bidders and Buyers!

So far we have sold 5 calendars on-line and 3 in town; so far, we have a nice $40 donation for Bolton Vet. For those who purchased from Ebay, we will be mailing out as soon as the printer finishes making them.

We added examples from the calendar to the Ebay site so you can see at least two of the pictures that were used (one was recently posted on this site).

Thanks to all for your support so far!

I Am Shiba. World Fame Is All I Seek.

Number One, Make It So.

And my whims are at her command.

Here it is, the I Am Shiba 2010 calendar with hopefully no embarrassing spelling errors. Blame that Woman if there are.

There will be $5.00 from every purchase going to the Bolton Vet Hospital Animal Treatment Fund.

Tis the small fancy of a Shiba who feels like promoting a worthy cause as the Holiday season approaches, and wallets are often filled more with ideas than money.

I Am Shiba. Ho Ho Ho.

It Has Been Created

and will soon be available. The Woman would like to take a moment to thank everyone who put the bug in her ear (although I admit I don't see one in there) and caused her to go forth and create this vast project.

And what is it that which I speak of?

The 2010 I Am Shiba Calendar

will be ready for sale to the general public, admirers, and the prepared masses. Currently, The Woman and I are debating about cost. I am feeling charitable at this moment, and thinking that for every calendar I shall make a donation to the Bolton Veterinarian Fund for individuals who can not afford lifesaving treatments for their pets but this would cause the calendar to cost $25.00 (shipping included). The Woman is thinking that $20.00 (shipping included is costly enough) so the two of us are posing this to our readers and asking them:

Is there interest in purchasing and at which price?

I look forward to My Reader's input.

I Am Shiba. It's A Calendar About Me.

Today I am 9.

I think I will go dig up an expensive shrubbery to celebrate.

I Am Shiba. I Am One Year Wiser.

Dungeons and Dragons, Shiba Style

Life is a game of Dungeons and Dragons. We have experiences that create knowledge and we build upon these experiences. Each experience gives us extra bonuses toward different traits of our being, and every now and then we gain a level based upon our ability to stay alive and learn from the experience points that we have accumulated.

Shibas would most likely fall into one of several warrior like classes. For example:

A Hunter: uses Range and Speed to its advantage
A Ninja: Stealth and Accuracy is key here
A Barbarian: Strength and sheer Will Power

I consider myself to be the Ninja while Belle-chan is more the Hunter.

Shiba's use of Dungeons and Dragons experience points is a pure art form. For example:

with every Shiba, there is the Participant's List of how many points you get for being aggressive toward another dog, physically scaring another dog, or winning a fight with another dog. A Shiba's list might look something like this:

Toy Poodle: 50 experience points (seriously, no challenge here)

The Pit Bull behind the Electric Fence: 150 experience points if you get the Pit Bull to the fence, 400 if the Pit Bull crosses the fence, 750 points if the Pit Bull goes back home because everyone is screaming bloody murder, 1000 points if you end up spitting out the Pit Bull's fur after the encounter is complete.

The Really Friendly Happy Go Lucky Labrador That Hangs Out in its Front Yard Playing with the Kids all day: 100 points if you distract him from the children but 200 points if you scare the Labrador so he runs and hides behind the children. 400 points if the Labrador does this when you are on the other side of the street far away because Happy Lab wants nothing to do with Ninja Shiba.

So on a walk, I can conceivably gain the following experience points:

50 points for scaring the Poodle
150 for getting the attention of the Pit Bull and peeing on a nearby tree that he can't reach
400 points because the Lab hides from me every time he sees me (and seriously, I really did not do anything that bad to him).

for a total of 600 experience points just doing a 20 minute walk.

This does not include bonus experience points such as getting dogs inside their homes upset, peeing on the neighbor's expensive shrubberies, stealing another dog's toy out of his yard- the list goes on. Then there are the experience points we gain within the house. For example:

Notifying The People that There is a Spider on the Floor Right There: 100 points
Barking Loudly when The Doorbell Rings to Let The People Know that The Doorbell is Ringing Because They May Not Have Heard It Ring: 100 points
Destroying the Very Expensive Indestructible Toy in Under 3 Minutes that Your Person's Mother Gave The Shiba Because She is Trying to Understand Why Someone Would Want This Breed of Dog: Priceless

So as the reader can see, The Shiba is constantly gaining experience points for skills that are natural to our ancient breed. And with each Shiba having a different class specialty, I gain points specific toward my ninja agility skills for theft of items while Belle-chan gains experience points in her Range Hunting Skills by barking at dogs 1/2 mile or more down the road.

So as one progresses through their day with their Shiba, realize that Our Day is consumed with the need to acquire experience points, and often, this involves considerable creativity on our part since normal standard behaviors give low points. It's just not good enough that Shibas can slip through doors and run outside (that is like 25 points). To gain experience points, you have to slip through Your Person's legs while They are carrying three bags of groceries with an opening that is only one 1/2 inch wide and make it to the end of the block in under 30 seconds with the bag of deli sliced roast beef that you stole on the way out. Those are the Talents that Give Shibas experience points.

I Am Shiba. The Shiba With The Most Experience Points in The End Wins!