Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi Everyone,
It's been a while, sorry!

Brewster turned 11 in September. He's doing well. We moved to a bigger house with an acre and a half of land this past summer. My kids are now almost 8 and 9.5. They enjoy taking care of the pets and Brewster now enjoys an extra walk from Katharine when I am making dinner each afternoon.

We have started thinking about adding another dog to our pack. As you may remember we did have two shibas at one point, and despite a lot of training and help from behaviorists for almost 5 years, we were unable to make it work due to Bella's food aggression towards Brewster. Bella was a rescue and we didn't get to meet her in advance because we rescued her from the MidWest and had her flown to us. We didn't know she was food aggressive because that side of her didn't come out until she had lived with use for a bit and was more comfortable. We ended up rehoming her with a different family about 6 years ago, because she kept attacking Brewster every time my toddlers would so much as drop a cheerio.

We have always wanted a bigger pack, but after the heartache of having to rehome Bella, I couldn't even think about it for many years. Now that we are in a bigger house, and we have had some time to heal, and the kids are older, we would really like to add another shiba. Personally, I would love an already trained calm 3-year old Shiba rescue that won't chew my furniture. HA HA...Brewster, however, seems to like puppies much better than older dogs. I think it would be easiest to integrate another pack member if that member is much smaller and younger when s/he joins. Brewster is very picky about which breeds he likes and doesn't like, too. One thing I know is that he does not like labs! He doesn't like many black dogs, either. Brewster is dominant and set in his ways, but he knows his place in our pack. I think a red (submissive as much as you can tell as a pup) female would work best. We want to work with local breeders so that we can visit a few times with Brewster and make sure we find the best possible match, if we go forward with this at all.

My kids are amazing with animals. My daughter wants to be a veterinarian. They would love to show a dog or run agility, and I would obviously help them get into that, but I'm not sure if an unaltered pet would be best for us.

If Brewster does not seem to be open to the idea I will forget about it for now. I'm not going to tell the kids about it, either, until we are sure it's the right thing to do. I think having so much space and land and 2 really good well-trained extra hands will help a bunch, too!

Any advice? NH or MA breeder suggestions? Chelle - I know this is something you have done. Do pups cause a lot of stress to seniors?

Also, we prefer male dogs, usually, but I've always read that it is really hard to make 2 male shibas work. All you multi-shiba owners, can you tell me if that is true?
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Amanda's Pack: Greg the Husband, Kate the daughter, Liam the son, Brewster the Shiba Inu, and Cassie the Torbie!

Hi, Amanda,

I still only have Artemis (who is almost 11 and likes being an only dog), so I can't offer advice on a new addition. But I did want to say that it was nice to see your message. I started reading the boards before I got Artemis and remember Brewster from when you first got him. I loved how active the forum was back then--with Alicia, Chelle, Bob, Meg, and so many others. I wish you all the best.

I have a friend who has rescue dogs. One just died (at age 13), so she got a puppy (also a rescue) to add to their family (they have an 11 year old dog). It took a couple months for the older dog to tolerate the puppy, but they're buds now, and the older dog is more active with the puppy around. Every situation, of course, is different, but I think if you follow the path you described, things should be OK, especially if you can introduce Brewster to the puppy before it's in your home.

So good to hear from you, Melissa! Thanks for the encouraging words. How is Artemis? I remember you had a foster for quite some time long ago. What ever happened with that pooch?

So we definitely are not going to rush into anything, but I am going to work on finding some pups to bring Brew around. I think if he seems open to the idea and is still good with puppies, we will place a deposit on a future litter. I know it will take a while for Brew to accept another dog in our pack, but he loved Bella when she wasnt attacking him.

Bella is still alive and well, too. She lives with a family with 2 kids in Western MA. We lost touch for a while and I was so relieved to hear she is doing well.

I loved when this board was hopping, too. I wonder if everyone posts somewhere else now? Meg is on FB, but I lost touch with everyone else.
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Amanda's Pack: Greg the Husband, Kate the daughter, Liam the son, Brewster the Shiba Inu, and Cassie the Torbie!

Artemis is doing great. She's getting white in the face, but she's as sweet as ever.

Foster was adopted by a man in VT who loves her dearly. We're still in touch by mail (her dad and me), though I haven't seen Foster in several years. I got a card from her dad just after Christmas. He said she's getting older and whiter, but she's still well.

I'm in touch with Dave and Joanne--and Bob every now and then.

So good to hear from you, Melissa! Thanks for the encouraging words. How is Artemis? I remember you had a foster for quite some time long ago. What ever happened with that pooch?

So we definitely are not going to rush into anything, but I am going to work on finding some pups to bring Brew around. I think if he seems open to the idea and is still good with puppies, we will place a deposit on a future litter. I know it will take a while for Brew to accept another dog in our pack, but he loved Bella when she wasnt attacking him.

Bella is still alive and well, too. She lives with a family with 2 kids in Western MA. We lost touch for a while and I was so relieved to hear she is doing well.

I loved when this board was hopping, too. I wonder if everyone posts somewhere else now? Meg is on FB, but I lost touch with everyone else.
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Amanda's Pack: Greg the Husband, Kate the daughter, Liam the son, Brewster the Shiba Inu, and Cassie the Torbie!

Amanda- it is good to have you back here. All the kids and dogs are getting older. Scary and strang, but good.

First- I will say you know Brewster very well and go with your gut instincts on this. If you think he can tolerate a young dog vs. an older dog, than you have to go that route.
Second- I do think you can get two males to work out together better than two females. So if your daughter REALLY wants to do conformation, I believe you can get that to work out. You just have to have some help during puberty and "the testing phase."

I don't know many breeders in your area. The Giles are the ones I know the best and would probably recommend the most, but they do not breed often and when they do, their wait list is long. I would go to the National Shiba Club of America's website and choose. I can give you my email address and I can tell you some things about some on the list, but I think you can figure out hte good from the ok on your own. Also, UKC allows altered dogs to compete in conformation in Junior Showmanship, so if your daughter wants to try the sport out. She could even with Brewster and see if she likes it before making that committment. For agility your dog can be altered, so that is no big deal. Granted, I find most breeders placing for agility prospects tend to want them unaltered (unless they are oversized or have some ofther disqualifying fault, but it does not effect structure). It just kind of depends.
Right now I am dealing with two unaltered males in my house (Taiko- 12 years old, Legend- 15 months old) and Katsu (2 year old female that I spayed this summer). Dealing with heat cycles and unaltered boys was not an option in my household. Taiko has never liked puppies and does better with adults, so things have been tough on him, but he always has his safe zones that the puppies are not allowed in and we disciplin the puppies (remove them and crate them) when their manners are not to our expectations. Bullying and throwing weight around is not allowed in our house. Stealing from the other dogs is also not allowed. IF one tries, the other dogs gets everything and the offender gets crated. The DVD "Feeling Outnumbered" has been a lifesaver and impulse control behaviors are highly reinforced.
I will say that puppy behaviors were hard to deal with, but puberty has actually been harder than puppy. Nothing has been impossible, but parts of personality that are not perfect are not enhanced for the better during puberty.

What I had not anticipated was the much higher energy of the younger dogs vs. my senior dog and the rough and tumble play puppies enjoy is not tolerated by a senior dog with arthritis. Often I have to do two walks in a night. So I double back and drop off Taiko and go another lap with the young ones. I even bough a backpack for Legend to wear him out further on walks because he is extra high energy.

The first month after adding a new addition to the family, you will probably wonder why you did it- especially if you get an 8 week old puppy. Yet, it gets better after that. It's not without it's challenges, but you will make it work.
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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

Ahh...I wrote a long reply and lost it. I forgot how much that used to happen here! LOL

Thank you so much for all the info! I didn't know junior handlers could work with altered dogs. That is a perfect compromise. I agree about tired dogs being good dogs. Brewster gets at least a couple miles of walking/day. The block we live on is pretty big! My husband takes him on a morning and evening loop (1/2 mile, I think, sometimes longer if he doesn't poop right away, he's a picky pooper). He also gets a good running in the yard with the kids each day. We don't have a fenced yard, but we have a lot of land. The kids take him in the yard on leash and bring him all around. He is usually exhausted and the one that wants to come back in! It has helped keep his weight down, though.

Therapy work and agility are of higher interest to us. I am actually going to start by pursuing Brewster's CGC since he was a CGC drop-out when I got put on bed rest when preggo. It's never too late to go back, right? If we do go for a pup it will be a nice refresher on manners, and he will be a better influence.

I started reaching out to some breeders to see who would be a good fit for us and who we might be a good fit for. I started by calling Rodel because I have always admired their shibas. They require in person whole family meetings to get the ball rolling (we live too far for that) and referred me to Cape Cod Shibas. I sent both Nozomi and Cape Cod emails. I don't care if we need to go cross-country for a perfect match for our family, but I hope we will be able to Skype for at least some of the meetings. ha. Nozomi is a town over from us. They are very nice, I have met them in the past when I volunteered in rescue. I will wait and see what the breeders say. I have to say I am a huge Mr. Jones fan. Why do there seem to be so many breeders on the West coast? I'm guessing because it's closer to Asia and easier to import?
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Amanda's Pack: Greg the Husband, Kate the daughter, Liam the son, Brewster the Shiba Inu, and Cassie the Torbie!

I would love to ask you some questions via email. You can add me via facebook (mills foley) or my email address is:
First part: amfoley615
Second part: @Comcast
Third part: .net

(hopefully that prevents spam from phishing robots)
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Amanda's Pack: Greg the Husband, Kate the daughter, Liam the son, Brewster the Shiba Inu, and Cassie the Torbie!