Link: "Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog," by Taylor Mali

We found an interesting poem by Taylor Mali on his website. What will those humans think of next? Here is is:

• "Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog"

~Akira and Shiro

Cool Winter Dogs at Cafe Press (pun intended)

We wanted to make you aware of a neat design available on different products at CafePress. We are partial to the Shiba design, but they also have dog breeds such as Border Collie, Corgi, Keeshond, Sheltie, Dachsund, Dalmation, Spaniel, Jack Russel Terrier, Beagle, and Pomeranian in different Winter and Christmas poses.

Christmas Shop at My Treat *

*Note: We are not affiliated with this site and receive no proceeds from the sale of the product. We just think it's cool

Product Review: "My Dog's Journal"

Product Details:
ISBN: 1841722197ISBN-13: 9781841722191
Format: Hardcover, 144pp
Publisher: Ryland Peters & Small

From the Publisher:
Can't live without your personal organizer? Then why should your dog be any different? This guided journal covers every aspect of your faithful companion's life--from diet and healthcare to training and breeding--and will keep all important notes and information safe. With special pages for photos and pockets for mementos, it will become a visual record of your dog's development.
Journal includes:

• 8 informative chapters cover every important are of your dog's life



• Over 100 irresistible photographs of dogs, large and small



• Useful pockets to hold certificates, keepsakes, and relevant articles



• Fine black acid-free card inserts with Magic Dots to attach your favorite photographs



• Lined sheets for your notes and contacts



• Charts, checklists, and tables, and expert advice from a veterinarian

Our Review: This product is for the humans who like to write down everything we dogs do, and take lots of pictures, and stuff.... so it'd probably be pretty good for most of your parents. Part of the book is better if the human is just starting the process of bringing a dog to live with them, because it has places to record information about breeders and rescue groups, questions the humans should ask, how to figure out what kind of dog is right for their personalities and living situation, etc. There were a few other sections of the book only applicable to certain dog-owners, but most of it was more universal. There is space to keep track of medical history, training information, and just plain fun stuff like anecdotal stories and pictures. Our Sis purchased this book at a Barnes & Noble that will be closing at the end of December, so it was 40% off list price (she got it for around $11). On the Internet, it is available at http://www.amazon.com , http://www.bn.com , http://www.bamm.com and others for around $19.95.

Our Rating:

3 1/2 out of 4 paws

~Akira and Shiro

More Pictures from the Archive

Sis finally got around to helping us scan these photos...luckily her roommate has a scanner!

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Since everdog is doing the wet-dog look lately (See Boo's blog), here's one for you:

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Here's one from our younger days:

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Finally, here's one when Shiro was nearly smaller than the basketball he's playing with!:





Hope you enjoyed these old pics!

~Akira

Japanese Shiba Inu Calendar

We have scanned in some images of the 2007 Shiba Inu Calendar that Nobuko sent us from Japan!!! There is a website listed on the back of the calendar, so maybe if you read Japanese you can order one there: http://www.tg-net.co.jp/
Here is the cover:


Here are some of our favorite shots in the calender (There is a different photo for every week)- Click on the thumbnails to see larger pics:

Imported Shiba Inu Gifts

We still need to scan the Shiba-a-week calendar our dear friend Nobuko sent us from Japan, but meanwhile, we have found some interesting Shiba Inu items currently for sale in Japan. This first installment will bring you some items only featured on the Japanese language website of http://www.hanadeka.com. Hanadeka means big-nosed and these items are extreme close-ups, much like "The Dog" items in the U.S. First we have the calendar:



Next, Shiba stickers:



Finally, what appears to be a Shiba puzzle!



These items can be seen by going to the Japanese version of Hanadeka, then clicking on the button on the left hand side that also says "Goods" in English to get to the store.

According to a Japanese friend, the price on the calendar is 714yen(about $6.50), but we don't know if they ship to the U.S. or not.

Maybe This Will Help It Snow!

okay, last post of the night (honest, it's past our bedtime!):

More Scanned Photos of...US!

Here are some more old photos of us we just now scanned into the computer:

Akira in a box of milkbones	Akira loves laying in snow!

Will you share your bone?	One bone each

Well deserved nap!

Shiro positioning the bone just-so	Shiro and his TOYS!

Some Family Photos

We realized we never show you many pictures of us with our dear Humans. We scanned some regular (not digital) photos in tonight for your viewing pleasure. The whites turned a little yellowy though. Here are some with our FAMILY:

Akira and Dad



Akira and Mom



Shiro and Dad



Sarah (Sis) with Shiro and Luke (da brother) with Akira

"A Special Canine for Special Owners," and other Shiba Quotes

Some amusing (and true) quotes from the Shiba Inu "Meet the Breed" article by Stephanie Horan in the December 2006 issue of Dog World:

• "Bold as a samurai warrior, fastidious as a cat, the 'little brushwood dog' is a special canine for special owners." (p. 22)
  
• "They are teddy bears with an attitude!"- quote from Lynda Birmantas within the article (p. 22)
• "almost a feral breed. Although they are handsome, they are not for the family with no rules as Shibas will quickly become the boss,"- Shiba owner and breeder Laura Perkinson describing the Shiba in the article (p. 26)
• "Jacey Holden of Lodi, Calif., President of the National Shiba Club of America and an owner of the breed for 17 years, is convinced that if a Shiba could talk, he would immediately say 'Mine.' 'Sharing is a concept,' says Holden, 'that he feels others should practice. Food, water, toys, sofa, car, owner. The whole world revolves around him!' " (p. 27)
• "They are intelligent, learning the first or second time you tell them, but on the tenth time they may have selective hearing if they do not want to do what you are asking,"- Diana Smiley (judge, author, and long-time Shiba breeder), describing the temprament of the Shiba (p. 27)
• "Shibas are well-known runners that will watch for the opportunity to take off at high speed to investigate every nook and cranny in the area, and they may be gone for days," (p. 27).
• (on Shiba sounds): "They are quite vocal with a 'yodel' that they use when demanding attention. They can also offer blood-curdling screams of portest if they are being asked to do something distasteful to them," (p. 27)... this scream is later described as an "Oscar-worthy" performance tactic.
• "They are well known for working off some of their energy doing what Birmantas calls the Shiba 500: 'That consists of them running around the house at top speed for about five minutes.' Holden adds that dogs take great delight in 'banking off the couch and spinning on the bed.' " (p. 29)
• "They think they are big," (p. 29)
• "if a cat runs, chances are a Shiba will chase it," (p. 29)
• "The Shiba has a softer, gentler side. He will climb into your lap and gaze into your eyes as if trying to see into the depths of your sould," (p. 29)
• Also described as being "amazingly intuitive," (p. 29)
• They are "exemplary examples of canine cuteness and also fiery little furballs from hell!" - Holden quote, (p. 30).

Hey! We resemble that last remark! We mean resent! No, that's not a Fruedian slip!!

~Akira and Shiro

Our Far Away Dog Friends

We received pictures of our friends, sibling Joey (chihuahua) and Isabelle (mixed)from their Halloween outing. Joey is dressed as Batdog, and Isabelle makes a lovely Princess Leia! Enjoy the photos!

Let It Snow!!!

No, unfortunately this was not taken this year. It has yet to snow and tomorrow is December 1st! In fact, it has been sort of warm lately, as in the 60 degrees F! the man on the "severe weather team" on the TV says it might snow Friday night, though...Keep your paws crossed! I love the snow soooooo much. It is so fun to play and run and jump and burrow and tunnel in! SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW! PLEASE, let it SNOW!

~Akira

Another Update

dear friends,
we had to switch over to blogger beta because all new accounts are put on blogger beta, so that's what our human grandfather's new blog is on, and he wanted some advice on how to use it, but we didn't know since we were on the orginal blogger. but now we're on beta and some things are screwed up, like our posts now signed by our Sis! but the beta is more user friendly in some regards- if you don't know html it's easier to edit your template now. but if we switch our template over, it said we could lose stuff we already put in it, so we're not switching this blog over- our Sis can use it for her own blog!
Speaking of Sis, she picked us up from our R&R on Friday morning. We were so happy to see her! Dad dropped us off with Sis and Mom a little ways from our house so we could walk around the neighborhood and mark everything again so all the neighbor dogs and cats knew we were home and it still belonged to us! Then we had to make the house smell like us again. They actually washed the couches for some bizzare reason, so we had to rub ourselves all over them and flip upside down on them and walk on top of the backs of them until they smelled good again. Then we had to play with Sis, and then we were exhausted so we all took a nap. But Sis stayed up really late with us until she fell asleep on the couches with us and woke up at 1 am and went to her bed. Then she came down at 5AM and curled up with us to sleep some more. It was fun to spend lots of time with her! She doesn't even mind that her jeans got covered in our fur cause we're molting again. We shed all of our under fur a couple times a year (Mom says it seems like all year long), but it's really noticeable now, coming off in handfuls when we're petted. Sis used the brush and the mitt thing, but it didn't really make much of a difference. Oh, one more thing before we sign off and get some more sleep. Sis found a sheet of stickers at the dollar general store that had three shiba inu stickers on it! Two red and one black. We never see much Shiba stuff here- only once saw a shiba calendar at Petco, and once an issue of Dog Fancy had a Shiba on the cover, so we were excited. We'll try to scan them in for you soon,

Missed reading all our friends blogs....
(I'm feeling much better but Shiro threw up a little this morning- Akira)

~Akira and Shiro

Technical Difficulties

p.s. please excuse our technical difficulties- Sis wanted her own blog so tried to transfer our blog to another account, but she could only make it co-owned and not completely transferred, so now all of our old entries our signed with her name (Sarah), but we really did them, not her! sometimes technology is frustrating, but at least it got us to meet all of you dogs (and hamster)!

Akira and Shiro

Update

Akira is doing much better lately. I think he just had a tummy-ache, but I'm not sure. We're posting from out vacation spot at Bowser's Bed and Bath were we went for a little R&R. We have plush accomodations, altho we have to share a room. We even have a patio outside of our room and can stay up as late as we want carrying on with the other dogs. Plus, Amanda, our dear friend, takes us for walks, plays with us, and feeds us-- what more does a doggie need? Of course, we would rather be with our Sis, but we do not do so well around large groups of people (especially when those large groups include small kids who tease us!), and they are having a gathering at our humble abode today for Turkey Day. So we'll relax here for today and Sis will pick us up bright and early tomorrow morning to spend the weekend with us. It's a dog's life,

Shiro

p.s. Happy Thanksgiving to all our blogging buddies,
A&S

Update

Hey All,
Shiro here. The reason we haven't been on in a little bit is that Akira is not feeling up to par. He may have been having stomach pain, but he's really been just acting different lately. He gets separation anxiety when Sis leaves the room even, and he's been starting to get too rough when we wrestle. He's feeling a little bit better today after having some zantac or tagament or something like that, though, so hopefully we'll be on more soon! Thanks for asking, Boo!
~Shiro

p.s. Sarah said she saw a Woolrich Squirrel that Ivy would like at Target!

Non Sequitur

Well, "Non Sequitur" really isn't as impressive as it sounds. It just sounds impressive because it's from a Latin word. Here is the Heritage dictionary definition:

non se·qui·tur (nn skw-tr, -tr)
n.

1. An inference or conclusion that does not follow from the premises or evidence.
2. A statement that does not follow logically from what preceded it.

One cool thing, though, is that it's also a title of a comic strip that was started in 1991, and continues to this day!

~Akira and Shiro

Smartie Dogs

The University of Blogging Presents to Akira and Shiro An Honorary Bachelor of Non Sequiturs Majoring in Self Portraiture Signed Dr. GoQuiz.com ®

Username:

Blogging Degree
From Go-Quiz.com

For Our New Friend (Handsome) Boo!

Our new friend, dog blogger Boo, was worried about what picture we would pick for our "friends" collage. He was concerned that he wouldn't look good. Well, Boo needn't have worried because he doesn't take a bad picture! And in honor of Boo and our new friendship, we'd like to show off a few of his handsome pics!

Lots of licks,

Akira and Shiro

Quick Question

As you can see, we've been playing around with different slideshows for our bloggy. We want to ask our doggie friends who also blog if we can use each of your profile pics to make a slideshow to put under our links on the sidebar? we are still experimenting with this blog design business.... we need all the help we can get on that, too!

let us know if we can use your pic!

Akira & Shiro

UPDATE (8:32 PM EST):
We have made 2 photo collages of some of our bloggy friends. They are now up on the side bar. If you don't want your photo on there, let us know and we'll remove it. To see your photo better, mouse over it and it will get closer and show your name. Also, the link below it that says "Bigger" will take you to a bigger version. ENJOY!
A&S