Kobe is doing well in his new foster home. He weighs 22 lbs. and is healthy.

The resident dog in his first foster home didn’t take well to Kobe, and Kobe got a nip on his leg. After the vet changed his antibiotic and prodded his injury, Kobe was 100% better.

Here’s an update from his new foster mom:

Yesterday he chased my Seeing Eye GSD around the backyard and last night he was chased all over by Haiku (another Shiba). No limp either. So a couple of weeks on this new med and he should be all clear. He plays with my cats very gently and they haven’t even swatted or hissed which is unusually good. Also good with other Shibas. So far, the leg injury has prevented his dog socializing except for my GSDs and Molly’s Shibas and he’s fine with all. Also, rather than have a confrontation, Kobe will back away.

Kobe hasn’t shown any toy aggression. No problems with people and, when the other dogs want his toy, he defends it just by wrinkling his nose and showing teeth and they back off. If he gets distracted and walks away, they then get the toy and he doesn’t care.

Vocal? This boy is an opera singer – though sometimes he sounds like a donkey. He howls when I leave the room or go next door for something. Or he chimes in when the GSDs bark at the mailman.

Kobe is a very sweet boy. He knows commands for sit, stay, down, etc and comes when I call him (are you sure he’s a Shiba?). Kobe is very affectionate. Kobe loves people more than he loves other dogs. He will curl up with me and pushes his face against mine, cheek to cheek. He is also curious and wants to know everything I’m doing. He’s very curious about the cats – what they’re fed, where they hang out, etc. He insists on joining me when I do my rounds with them. When he first met my GSDs and Molly’s Shibas, he approached with great curiosity but not in a threatening way so he seems to be a wonderful ambassador in the dog world.

Kobe is crate trained and enjoys having it out so he can use it if he likes. So far I haven’t been out of the house long enough to bother crating him. He has shown no propensity to be destructive in the house. The throw pillow he disemboweled was started previously by one of the GSDs and was made of the same stuffing as a dog toy. I just exchanged the people stuffie with a dog stuffie.

Kobe is leash trained and barely pulls when on walks. Kobe likes to look out the window at the wildlife from my bed on the second floor but he doesn’t leap toward the window or act as if he wants to get to anything. He naps anywhere he wants to and I have to be careful not to step on him as he often lies down right behind my feet when I’m working in the kitchen. At night I let him sleep on my bed and he stays there all night.

I’ve only seen a little nervousness when he was first here and another dog barked. I think it had to do with being bitten at the last foster. Now that he knows the dogs, he’s fine. In fact, I can vacuum right next to him and he doesn’t move.

Kobe is good being left alone and I’ve been gone maybe two hours at a time. I left him with the GSDs uncrated and he was fine. It looked like they all watched out the window for me and slept.

Kobe is amazingly quiet. I haven’t been able to take him out back to run or to the dog park yet until his foot has healed so I don’t know how he is under those circumstances but he’s mom’s little helper in the house, usually by my side. Right now he’s in my “Shiba chair,” a leather chair right next to my computer. He loves to sit there while I work, though he did fall off the other day when he stretched. Even then, he just got right back up again.

Gosh, he’s so adaptable, he could live with other dogs, cats, probably even little pets like ferrets though I haven’t had a chance to test that out yet. He’s quiet and gentle and very devoted such that I could see him with an older person. I don’t know about a loud family but I can say he is incredibly lovable and, when I come through the door, he actually runs up to give me a hug so I think he prefers a quiet one-person family.

 

Posted on May 3rd, 2008 by michele m
Filed under: Kobe