Hooray for Secret Shiba Gift Exchange!! It’s one of the most exciting events of the year! Phineas‘s humom organized it for us this year. We are all very grateful for that!

OK, so, this year, my Secret Shiba was Keiko in Hawaii. When the package arrived, my humans saw the return address and told me it was from Hawaii. They said it was very far away. So far that we can’t get there with a car. I thought it was cool to receive something from so far away, but thought it was a bummer that I’d never get to say hi to her in dog….

When we opened the presents (Humans opened theirs too at the same time. It was a big event), I was a bit freaked out by all the strange boxes and bags, so I stayed back, and watched from the couch. So humans opened the package for me and showed me everything one by one.

They were awesome presents! Keiko sent lots of yummy and chewy treats and some little toys. She also enclosed a very nice card. And I was so surprised to see a personalized wooden hook fixture that Keiko’s humans made for me. I was suspicious of it at first, but then realized it was for me to lick, sniff, and maybe to chew on. Humans say it’s to hold my leashes and harnesses. I think they are wrong.

I was a Secret Shiba for my buddy Zuko. I dunno. After seeing the handmade gift from Keiko, I became a bit unsure about what I sent to him. I hope everything was special enough!

In Vermont, there seems to be snow most of the time. Most of the times that I’ve been there anyway. I’m going to try and shiba-mindcontrol my humans to move out there!

They complained that there wasn’t enough snow. I don’t know what skiing is but that’s what they wanted to do. I say it’s nonsense. There was a lot of snow. Just look at those pictures!

Snow is fun. So much fun. They took me to a nature trail for a long walk, one day. It was amazing. Imagine being in the woods, with no scary cars and buildings. Around you, there are only trees, snow, and your humans. It’s awesome. I sniffed around and hopped around. I was so excited that I had some crazy zoomies, and jumped up on my humans and nipped at them more than several times. They didn’t like that. Oopsies. It was just perfect. Well… except… I just wish they’d let me off leash. I wanted to see what were in the woods. Deeper in the woods. Oh, and it would have been nice to have another dog to play with.

On some days, the snow was kind of mean to me. After light rain, it got very cold. The snow became sticky and snowballed on my paws. My humans remembered to put Musher’s Secret to protect my paws, but I quickly licked it off. I probably shouldn’t have. My paws hurt so much that I couldn’t move at all. All I could do was to stand there, lift my paws one by one, and then lay down on the snow. My humans had to carry me home. I’ll try not to lick that stuff off next time 🙁

Kaiju spent his Christmas holiday in Vermont, with us, grandhumans, and a hu-unkle. We were there for 5 nights. Since we planned this trip a bit late in the game, we could not book one place for the whole length of the trip. So, we stayed in one place for 3 nights and in another for 2 nights.

Kaiju did great in the first house. It delighted us to see him explore and move around. It was not the case at the 2nd house. It had more slippery floor. We were surprised to see how much this affected Kaiju. He wasn’t willing to move away from his safe area (carpeted area) unless he was called.

The outside of the 2nd house was amazing for Kaiju, though. The house was isolated, standing on a hill all by itself. It had a huge private snowy field right in front. We took Kaiju as often as we could, and even let him off leash once. The freedom was quickly revoked, unfortunately, because Kaiju immediately and happily ran off and around the trees, away to the edges of the field, and totally ignored our calls.

I make funny faces when grooming

Going somewhere again!

A package arrived today and It was a Secret Shiba gift from a Twiba! I’ve been trying to figure out what’s inside since then

We had not been there in a while. This is the park we take Kaiju after the swimming sessions, and we have not been to Flowdog in a while.

Kaiju was happy. He pounced on some holes like a little fox, zoomed across the field, jumped on our legs and butts, sat down and chewed on branches (“I swear he has thumbs” said Paul) while we stood around and waited, and asked for belly rubs by rolling on the grass.

Do other Shibas dislike wooden boardwalks? Kaiju definitely does. He always needs to “think about it” a lot before walking on it.

Oh, and we tried a bit of off leash time in the woods, although we were too nervous to let it go on for too long. [3] [4]. We may need to get Tagg before we feel more comfortable.

licked (tried to, at least) my humans’s face nonstop for like 10 min. they say “awwww thank you,” then try to avoid my licks. i’m confused.

Sometimes, Kaiju sits next to us, lays down, and rests his head on us.

We pull him closer, and he doesn’t mind. He stays there and falls asleep.

It’s a heart-melting moment (x 100) for us humans.

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Whatcha doin’, Kaiju?