Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello Out There!

Besides knowing about your Fabulous Shibas and Beloved Others I would love to know more about you.... I suspect most of you are located on the east coast, but I'm not sure.... I live in Southern California and teach 5th grade. Beni rescued my husband and I 4 years ago, and, (luckily for us), Kari came to us, (from a LOVED family), 3 1/2 years ago... Beni, Kari, and I love walking in the early a.m. (5 -ish) when it's so dark that a flashlight is necessary at certain times. We hear the birds begin to chirp, alarm clocks go off, and our city begin to wake up. It's lovely, peaceful, and sometimes spooky...but always an adventure. My husband and I leave for work and look forward to our return. As soon as I'm back - it's walk time again, (but not as long). We are fortunate to have many fabulous trails close by, so it's off to the back hills for about 20-25 minutes. A lot of good sniffing goes on. After that, belly rubs, cooking, cleaning, grading, and (my new love) reading the new posts on the Shiba Forum. One more super short walk from the mister, and then bedtime...until the next wonderful morning .....Life is good when you have
love - to give and to be returned.

Have a Wonderful Evening,

Patty

I live in Minnesota. I'm a chemist and have a husband and two young children. The animals in our household have always been a huge part of all of our lives. We do public education events with the reptiles and many of our dog walks are as a group (unless it's really cold). On really cold days I tend to walk the dogs. I do enjoy winter, but I'll admit this year has been a bit too long and a bit too cold for my comfort. As Kita gets older and her arthritis gets worse, she doesn't tolerate it as well either. We also have quite a few trails for walking in my area. I don't always utilize them for every walk, but many of them are on the trails. I enjoy seeing the hawks, deer, and any other creature that happens to be there with us. Just the other week I had the pleasure of watching two bald eagles circle over the pond. My schedule forces me to walk the dogs at night and after having a bit of a scary encounter last year, my inclination to walk alone at night has been reduced quite a bit. Thankfully I've found another shiba owner in the area and we get out together once or twice a week. I also thankfully have a fenced in yard that allows quite a bit of safe romping for the pups as well as some training. I do work my dog's brains quite a bit and Taiko "weaves" (agility) for his dinner every night and Kita does a 2 minute down stay while waiting. They also do quite a few tricks. Taiko's favorite is sneezing on command. Kita's is "look pathetic" (she puts her chin on your lap and gives you the big brown sad eyes).
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Chelle and the rest of the crew including, but not limited to Kita and Taiko (the shiba inu wrestle maniacs), Adi (reserved and dignified tabby cat), and all 28 reptiles www.freewebs.com/performanceshibas

Telling about ourselves is nice.

My husband and I are retired, parents of 3 sons, and grandparents of 6. Bill worked as a bio-medical engineer, and I was office manager for a dentist. We've always had dogs, and feel it's just not a home without one. We've had 3 large dogs, and 3 small ones. The small ones were kind of 'donated' to us, and were pretty much alike, although they came at different times. They sort of went their own way and let the big dogs rule. Our life with Murphy came about because he was sweet and cute, and small, and needed a home. We knew nothing about Shiba's! Thank you to all on this list who have guided us along the Shiba Path!

Chelle, we have a six foot chain link fence, but don't feel secure that the coyote that ran up the street in front of our house, last week, couldn't get over it. Result is that Murphy has a lot more restrictions on his outdoor play time, which is hard on all of us. Was your scary encounter with a coyote?
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Anne, Bill, and Murphy

Brrrr!

I live with my wife in Central New York... right in the heart of the beautiful Finger Lakes. I've work in retail for 35 years and my wife has worked for the county almost as long. I've always had dogs in my life... for as long as I can remember. When I was younger my aunt raised and showed Miniature Poodles so we always had a Poodle growing up. They really are terrific dogs. I've already posted my story on my Shibas and have become involved in Shiba Rescue helping my breeder friend in placing dogs. I usually haunt the dogs shows in the area... especially the huge one everyone year at the end of September. Over the last couple of years Beni has taken much of my time and attention due to glaucoma and my quest to keep him sighted.
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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.