How to have fun with friends....

Last year, we had friends come stay with us... another shiba inu and a mutt! I thought of them because Yogi, the shiba inu, looked a little like the coyote pic, agree some? Could just be my fear talking..he was an intimidating dude at first.

Yogi didn't like our dad very much, he hid in his mom, Anne's guest room and snapped at dad if he tried to be friends. His mom and our mom went to a Tellington touch seminar to learn how to give us the awesome massages we deserve so much. Sadly, Yogi's sister passed away last year multiple multicentric malignant lymphoma- simply cancer of the
lymph nodes. Yogi's mom did everything to try to save her. JC was a cool buddy and played with us. She was a fun and loving girlfriend to have. We don't know where we'll find another one for a while... Here's JC's picture and we hope Yogi is doing okay now, not getting stuck anymore under the shed...

Post note: his mom said there are also different treatments for cancer- JC went throught the Wisconsin Protocol (that was developed by the University of Wisconsin/Madison). What it does is rotate 4 chemo drugs over a 22 week period. It usually lasts 6 months. IF the dog is in remission
at that time- then chemo stops. Each successive remission is only half the length of the original one. That being said- cancer moms and dads need to know that for all the medical expertise out there- vets still don't know everything- the stats they give are just stats. There are dogs who are still around 1 yr, 2 yr and more after the diagnosis.

A good place to start is www.caninecancerawareness.org. Cafepress ( www.cafepress.com ) sells calendars. One of them is a canine cancer one. JC appears in it- November and December. There is also a yahoo group called caninecancer which gives lots of good information and hope. Massage your dog and pet them everyday. This is how Yogi's mom found JC's cancer through massaging and finding the enlarged lymph nodes. Let's save other dogs out there~

Christmas letter 2006

The Howlidays are here??? Arrrrooooooo…….. What have Max and I been through this year? Tons as I will now orate.

We got to go on a family vacation which was snowmobiling in February for a week in Canada. The snow is so much deeper like 5 feet and the temperatures hover anywhere from 10 to 30 below 0 fahrenheit. We love to play in snow because we never get any back home in Michigan. No, we weren’t allowed on the snowmachines. Pout…

February was also the month Mom and Dad offered up our home to anyone who wanted to buy it. They promised us a bigger place with a large yard for us to run around in. So for 4 weeks, poor Max and I got intruders being nosy in our house. They would pet us and ask if we came with the house. Growl….. Of six viewings, mom and dad were happy that three put offers down and the house sold at asking price. We were so sad to say goodbye to our picture window with a view of a busy street. Now, we just howl and bark in the middle of the night to go out and chase deers, rabbits, groundhogs and skunks. Max loves the skunks most and I can’t count how many times he’s been sprayed. Even after three skunk baths in a row, he still smells and it lingers for months. So the corollary here must be, if it smells like a skunk, it’s a skunk. Hey Stinky, I’m telling them what you are.

Our old house was nice and quiet. Mom and Dad had finished remodeling it and everything had a place. Well, not this new one. We don’t even have a kitchen now. Dad gave away the cupboards and stove on ebay. He’s going to be jackhammering the concrete floor next to move pipes. Me and Max are going to be deaf soon like Mom. Hell, I already have selective hearing when I don’t want to come inside. The people in this hood don’t have chain link fences like the old one. Instead you get a collar put on you with a black box that scares would-be fleas off of me if I go too close to the road. I have seen a black lab, newfoundland, husky and 2 saint bernards all wearing the same collar. On my walk, all they can do is howl at me from their yards that they want to play. And you know what, it’s discrimination against dogs! I never see the any of the cats wearing these shock boxes and they come and go as they please. Wimpy Max stays in the house rather than wear one. These things send him sailing three feet in the air when he hits the line.

The parental units did abandon us for 10 days in June. They said something about seeing Rio, some large waterfalls called Iguazu and the Amazon River. Heck, if they stayed home I could have peed them a nice waterfall onto the Holly out front. I even do it on Max’s head when he gets in the way. While they were away, they managed to also see the border towns in Argentina and Paraguay. Apparently there are no leash laws in those countries and people take their dogs walking everywhere. Will you help me start a fund and call it Scout, expat shiba of Brasil. I don’t think baby Max will agree to leave Mom’s side which is fine by me.

In October, Mom and Dad predictably did what they’re good at. They went away and left us for 5 days. They went across the big pond to see Dad’s side of the family in London. Grandpa went with them so he could spend time with his brother. I hear they saw Tower of London, Big Ben, Stonehenge, a castle and Harrod’s the department store among other things. They even had good home cooking every day with the extended family including indian cuisine and raclette I googled this (while Mom was at work) to know what table scraps we were robbed of. While they were abroad, we had our new dog walker, Aunty Doris, walking us in the middle of the day as well as cousin Lynn at night. She even feeds us yummy holistic food which is both wet and dry supplemented with lots of treats. So far, we haven’t gained weight, run away in protest nor gotten nice and sick on all the carpet in our new abode.

For Christmas, all we want from you is lots of visits at our new pad. I know I deserve to be petted, treated and walked more. (No, I haven’t tripped anyone this year) So y’all take a note of our new address and we’ll be pawing you real soon.

How to get a new home....

One day, we were happy with Mr. Sunshine in our old home... We slept all day, then ran the yard all night. Then next thing you know, Mom and dad were packing up all our stuff into boxes and driving us between 2 houses.... Sure I thought it was strange that I had no couch or chair to sit on when they worked at the old house. But i thought they were buying a papasan fit for kings like me. Nooooo, they had other things in mind. They were scheming to buy me all this:

Yes, you got it right folks... we are no longer city boys!!! We now have 1 and 1/2 acres in the country. Before we sat in front of our window watching cars go by all day, people & dogs walking to bark at. Now I have a house set so far back from the road. Now we lay at the back bedroom doorwall and howl with coyotes. They look like this:

Sigh... and Max loves all the possums and rabbits that go by. In fact, he keeps me and Mom and Dad up. Yeah, I know Mom's deaf but we jump on the bed when we get excited at something outside. Once, they had doorwall open and Max pushed down the whole screen door in the night to go out and be the mighty hunter he always was. He came back smelling of eau-de-skunk for weeks. It was so funny to watch him destinking in a tomato soup bath!

And that's not all, they got me a pool! I hate water like all shibas but I love to run around the pool barking at splashing water and kids. Boy was Dad surprised the first time I ran up the ladder to run around the sides of this. He had the last laugh though... they got a solar cover they call it. It warms the water from Mr. Sunshine. I thought it was the floor and walked right out on it only to fall into, yep... nasty water. Want to see what my pool looks like? Here it is:

And.... I haven't even gotten to the best part yet!! We have a dogwalker!!! Her name is Aunty Doris and she walks us every day in our big old neighborhood. We used to go around 2 blocks in our hood but now we got a couple of miles easy. We need little backpacks to carry our water b/c we are left drinking out of puddles when we get hot. You can see our Aunty at www.auntydoris.com

Well, I got to run... Dad's jumping in the pool... He says it's 80 degrees and I want a chance to bark at the little drops of water jumping out at me!! See you around pals....

Happy Howlidays

Hi everyone! It’s me, Scout. Mom doesn’t feel like doing the Xmas newsletter this year but Dad likes it when everyone gets one in the mail. And if Dad is happy when it done, then maybe Dad will feed me and Max at the table and take us on longer walks. Gee, maybe I’ll even get an unleashed run if I write this real good. Oh boy, what should I talk about? So much has happened. They dragged me to training class at the beginning of the year which was pointless if you get my drift. I already know sit, stay, shake paw and how to run through an agility tunnel. But the class marveled at my skills at the last class. I was the only dog to do a trick and get
applause when I got my certificate. What did I do, you ask? I walked on two legs for liver treat Dad was holding up. If only all those poor old pups knew what to do for food. I am real smart and sneaky at knowing where
it is, how to get it and make it disappear but shhhhhh…. That’s between you and me.

In March, I was taking Mom for one of her walks and here’s my first hand account to all the reporters. After Mom's fiasco at the Timmy Hort donut place in the previous days where she dinged the truck, I heard some people complaining about her driving, how she should never drive again. Yeah, Dad was chief among them and he should talk. Wanna go outside with me and I'll show you with my paw all the dings in his truck and trailer. I don't got time to worry about him right now, save for later. 'We gotta do something about the Mommy' everyone was whispering. So I thought long and hard about what I could do. So when Dad told me it was time for me to take Mom for a walk, I thought there might still be a way for me to be a superhero. Shazam!!! I started the walk out nice and normal so as to not get her suspicions up. I did my sniff, sniffs and mark, marks on the obnoxious people's bushes & trees and where stupid Poms & Yorkies dared to tread. When I looked back to see that we were out of sight from our house, coast was clear. Broke out into a trot. It's like Michigan Derby time. Run, run faster Mom! Oh goody, here comes a raised sidewalk panel, might be what she needs, Bingo! Mom
goes flying over my head….. Oh no, she was crying…. Her kneecap was exposed she ended up with 17 staples to close the skin. So I didn’t get walked for a while. I learned a good lesson from that.

Next, in May… I got a new brother. He was a very annoying, yappy dog the size of a rat. Mom went and got him to keep me company without asking me if I wanted any. Dad was working in Toronto and didn’t know about it.
When she brought him home, I didn’t know what to do with him. He was bugging me so I growled and snapped at him for a few days. Mom went back to work, I felt sorry for the beast named Max who was now afraid to
come up to me. I got used to him and it wasn’t so bad having a rat-dog around. Mom, on the other hand, had a problem with how to break the news to Dad. When he came home and heard Max from outside, he said “oh nooooo”. I tried to break out the popcorn for a good fight but my paws don't reach high enough to the microwave. And the next day, Dad was hugging Max and telling him how cute he was and he just said “no more dogs!” I think Dad lost his spine.

August 1 came and we went up to Grandpa’s house for a week. Got taken for lots of walks in the woods and
on a golf course no less! All those men hitting their sticks at balls just waved at me so I figured I must be a
celebrity. It was a real great time. I even enjoyed going out in the boat and putting my paws up at the back of the boat to bite at the water. Mom was too busy to worry that I might fall out. She had Max whimpering and crying on her lap like a baby. He didn’t like the boat. My other Grandma and Grandpa came up to stay with us for a few days and they all went to some rodeo of trucks and left us behind in the house. I guess it was in Quebec and me and Max don’t speak any french at all so we couldn’t go.

But wait, that’s not the best part yet. Mom took me alone on trip to California! Can you believe it? I got to ride on the plane at mom’s feet because she told everyone I was her helper dog. (how do I help her by begging,
running away, and be an all around nuisance?) I think she slipped me some pills disguised in peanut butter so I wouldn’t say anything to the people on the plane about what a lack of help I am. When we got to Arizona I met 2 dogs named Deaus and Sophie and their momma, Jodi. We all rode in the car together a long way to California to go sleep on the ground outside. The only thing we had for privacy were these pieces of cloth they called tents. Of course I wondered why Mom would take me all this way until I saw all the other dogs that looked like
me. What a blast! And wait there’s more, People pet me and took pictures of me. I got to go down to the lake and bite the wave bubbles. I fell in love with the little dogs that dig holes in the ground and pop up and down. They come from the prairie and I couldn’t take them home with me. I got to go on long walks with mom and also
see a real honest to god dogfight! I was crowned biggest shiba ever and the other dogs couldn’t believe how I let everyone pet me. They don’t know being handsome, big and smart (editor's note: read suck-up) are good virtues towards getting more food in your tummy. Still my secret.

And then when October came around, Mom and Dad left us alone for an entire week! They tricked us. They left after putting all their clothes in some bags and putting them in the car. Me ‘n’ Max laid down to sleep while we thought they were out slaving for our greenies. We woke up at night and went to stand at the garage door but they never came home. The nerve! Instead, our cousin named Lynn came and she brought some clothes of hers. We knocked her down running to see if Mom and Dad were behind her. In all fairness, she was rather nice and tried to get us to sleep with her at bedtime. We got to go outside to pee, got our food and wait, it gets better… walks 2x a day!! Mom sometimes doesn’t want to walk us so we are lucky if we get walks everyday. She tells Dad she is just avoiding being dragged down the sidewalk and hurting her other knee. This Lynn gal brought these sticks with her and would bang them together. She called it fiber art. What is that? Why would you do that if you
could be licking yourself instead? I know I’m a crabby dog sometimes. You try holding your pee all day and then submitting as a furry mannequin at night. I do not do soap operas, knitting or modeling --- I hunt wild prey, my true calling… Not having doggy sweaters put on me. Max, he was a total wuss. He loved it all so much that I’m thinking about entering him in a contest called “The Dog”. I think he’ll be in his glory with all that fairy dust after they put the crown on his itty bitty ears. I told him just bring back all the food that you win and if you please, our Mom and Dad.

And they did come back. They told us they went to Paris where all the dogs get to go on walks without leashes and go inside stores. People in Paris really love their dogs! Speaking of contests like I just mentioned, did I forget to tell you that not only did I get my obedience certificate, I also got famous on the internet. I was a Punk Pet for chewing all the fingers off Mom’s glove except for that certain one. I left it in front of the door for her to
see when she came home after being gone all day. I also won Dogster.com’s Diary of the Day not once, but
twice! All the accolades still don’t get me all the food I want but I am a happy shiba living with Max (tibetan
spaniel) and my Mom and Dad. We hope you had a good year too and get lots of treats under your tree. Does Santa have a dog that I can write my wish list too??

Merry Christmas from our house to yours, Scout, Max and our owners, Claude & Kristine

How to croon....

My friends' moms are building paradise for us dogs out west. They are gonna call it shibaville! We will be able to run free, catch anything we want and eat it all up! Mom's birthday is in October and she shares it with a dead beetle I probably stomped and his name was John.

She changed John's song for me. I think we can make it our shibaville song, what do you think?

Imagine there's no fences,
It's easy if you try,
No water below us,
Above us only clear skies,
Imagine all the shibas
living for today...

Imagine there's no restrictions,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to sit or shake for,
No leashes too,
Imagine all the shibas
living life in freedom...

You may say I'm a dreamer....
but I'm not the only one, Arrroooooo