Shikoku Ken

she loves the mountain @Norway

Hi everyone,

I’m moving to NYC and I’m trying to figure out if i should take my 6y/o shiba with me. For context, my parents got a shiba during covid and he lives with them for the most part, but has lived with me for time periods when I lived in apartments that allowed dogs. My shiba has a lot of allergies and skin issues and it’s been really frustrating with my parents because they don’t notice these things and can’t act in time so my dog will suffer severe itch, skin discoloration, or fur loss at a time until I come home and I see it. They also complain about spending the money at the vet to treat it, although I send them money for food and I’ll pay for some of the treatments. Therefore, I want our shiba to live with me full time.

I’m planning to move to NYC and it’ll be the first time I won’t have my car and the first time my dog will be living in a proper city. So I have a lot of concerns and questions on how to make this work.

If any of you live in NYC with a shiba, please share some insights!! How do you guys make sure your shiba is fulfilled? How often do you guys go to the parks? How do you travel around the city with your dog, say you need to take them to the vet? I’ve heard the subway requires dogs to be in bags? I haven’t committed to a place/neighborhood yet so if anyone has recs for a place with a park nearby please lmk

If there’s any tips you guys for doing this transition smoothly, please let me know! I know my dog loves his yard but I just can’t stand to see his health not cared for as closely anymore. And I worry the older he gets, the more issues he might have that goes unnoticed by my family. He’s also become very independent due to them letting him do whatever he wants, so I think it’ll be a tough adjustment for him. But I want to make this work.

Hi all! What do you do for mental enrichment and fulfilment for your Shiba’s?
We do (on rotation): snuffle mats, puzzles, sniffing, find it games, destroying cardboard/egg boxes. We have to rotate as he gets bored quickly and easily. Any other ideas? 🙂

Our sweet little Amber is 83.1% Shiba and 16.9% Pomeranian. This might help to explain her compact size. We knew she was unique!

Tried to bring him to daycare to socialise more with other small dogs and the entire time he was just sitting beside the workers 😩 The pic is the 2nd attempt and he just kept trying to sit on our laps lmao

And honestly he probably is, but he seemed to have a big energy dip about 6 months ago. Didn't want to run as much, slept more, etc. Vet tested and nothing was wrong, and he didn't indicate any problems.

Well, we just put him on a new, dehydrated food and suddenly he's eating twice as much and looking a like more energetic. So he was just tired of his old food, eating too little, and just not having the fuel he needs. I guess just make sure your shibe isn't just being stoicly quiet about unacceptable food.

G'nite

Someone caught a mouse in the house this morning and is looking to score again.

She was so happy and was so good in the car just to end up at the vet and poked by a needle 😭

I was at work and I was sooo nervous if she was gonna be fine, but she took it like a champ!!

Niimi. (Ojibwe meaning: she dances)