Strawberries and blueberries, oh my!

My owners have been very busy planting strawberries and blueberries. Last few years I chewed up all the stawberries so they gave up and only have two strawberry plants this year. But now they are planting blueberries. I overheard that some of them will yield blueberries the size of cherries. They are called Chandler Blueberries. Nice, plump and juicy. Mmmm!

Scuba Dog

I love swimming in our pool. During the summer, my owners always catch me and i can have a litttle swim! I don't need all the gadgets this dog has! Of course, I only doggy paddle...

a mop that breathes

When I first saw this picture, I thought it was a mop. Then I noticed the dog-like eyes, nose, and little pink tongue. This is a Hungarian Puli sheep dog. This dog looks like it has never been groomed, has never taken a bath, or was accidentally used to mop the floor.

photo credit: http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Most-Emailed-Photos/ss/1756;_ylt=Al9RksNpgze8wMIUPSOStALBaMYA

Techno dog

My owners frequently complain how I always take up the computer, but this dog looks like he's just browsing around! Whenever I get on, I post on this blog, check my email, (yes I have my own account) and I am done. I only get a short amount of time to post because my owner always says that she needs to do homework and that I should use another computer.I never do.

Copperdots

I came from a breeder north of San Francisco. All the shibas from the breeder are named starting with Copperdot. So my entire name is Copperdot Ikura plus my last name. Check out some of my relatives, my fellow Copperdots at http://shibasofcopperdots.com/ourshibas.html

All of us look a lot alike, similar color, facial features, but of course I am the cutest one, right?

One of the Copperdots, forgot his name, was chosen as best in his class at the Westminster Kennel show last year. He looked a lot like me. Maybe I should enter a dog show. Or, maybe not. I heard it is a lot of work for the dogs to have to stand still, trot around the ring, and look cute. I think I rather hunt grasshoppers and birds in the backyard.

New food group

Hi! sorry, I have not posted for a while because the Internet in the house has been down. Now, my owners have taken me to some place where they do have Internet. Anyway, I only have a few minutes to post. I have been quite busy the past few days in the garden. My owners have been planting tomatoes, and I have been helping them dig dirt and messing up all the freshly dugged holes and getting my fur a nice coat of dirt color. Besides that, I have found a new food group, grasshoppers. I have been chasing them around and pouncing on them. I have not managed to catch any, but they do look tasty. Hey, I am supposed to be a hunter. Plus I understand that in Japan, people eat sugar coated grass hoppers?

photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grasshopper

What's in a name?

Ikura in Japanese means salmon roes (salmon eggs). Yes, I was named after sushi. Salmon roes are orange brown, and that is the color of my fur. There are 3 types of shiba inus, red, dapple, and black. I am red because my fur is primarily reddish brown. Uni, my predecessor in the family, was a dapple. She was reddish brown with black fur intermixed. There are also black shibas, but they are not common. These three types are recognized by the American Kennel Association (AKC) who has a registry of all the pure breed shibas in the country. White shibas are not recognized by the AKC. So there you have it. I am salmon roes, and proud of it. Are you laughing at me? Well, at least I am not named Uni, which in Japanese means sea urchine, also a reddish brown type of sushi. Personally I think Ikura and Uni are really cute names.
picture credit: http://japanesefood.about.com/library/pictures/blnigiri_ikura.htm

cute but not as cuddly as I am

This is a pygmy hedgehog. They are popular in the U.K. even though they cost $400!

As I have mentioned in a older posts, Hedge hogs are illigal to keep as pets in California. I bet if they were not, i would be getting no attention ever.

A BIG dog

I have always thought that the neighbor's dog was the biggest canine ever, but after my owner showed me these pictures, i changed my mind. This dog is...big.

Fatter than Garfield?

This cat weighs over 28 pounds, which is a lot for a cat. It does look fake, but the truth is that this cat is not a stuffed animal. My owners frequently show me this picture before they bring me somewhere to exercise. Once my owner was so frustrated with me because I refused to fetch the ball that she said: "Kura, why do we bother to exercise if you are already heading for the weight of a few tons!?!?!?" I guaranteed you that I am not nearly as fat as that cat nor am i heading for a few tons in weight, and I hope I will never be. If you saw my post "Here comes the Easter Bunny" this cat looks like a skinny, little kitty compared to the rabbit in that post.

Professional Laser Chaser

When you visit Raven the cat's blog, you may notice that Raven has developed a close friendship with a little red dot, Dottie. Well, my owner talks about Raven and Dottie, and a few days ago, she got me my own little red dot.

We enjoy the game tag, and my owner has a habit of popping up whenever the little red dot does...I am suspicious. The dot may be a ... laser pointer. Maybe I should investigate further.

Competition with another blogger

Right now, the only animal bloggers I know of are me and my buddy Raven. But, I heard that a cat, Hatch-chan (from Japan) has been blogging too! Hatch-chan's blog gets 5,000 hits per day, and is quite famous. Learn more by visiting:

Hatch-chan

my new bodyguard

This dog has muscles growing on his muscles! (he is actually a very nice dog). I just hired him to be my new bodyguard! My owners have blackbelts in martial arts so I feel pretty safe with them, but I think that this dog can be really awesome if I ever get attacked. He hides his muscles under a bit of skin and he has not an ounce of fat! Don't want to run into him in a dark alley.

In and Out

Can't make up my mind. Should I go in...or out? I want to watch birds and squirrels outside but it is warm inside.....

Ban on wolf hunting

The U.S. government is lifting the ban on hunting gray wolves in the U.S. because there are 1,500 wolves, so it is "OK" to hunt them. I do not think that they should have done that because dogs and wolves are closely related! Population of 1,500! Poor wolves... They are so pretty, so graceful, and looks so much like...me!

Uni

This is Uni, a Shiba Inu my owners had before I was born. She died when she was 16. Shiba inus typically live til about 13 years old.
That's Brownie holding Uni's arm. Brownie was Hoppy's brother who died around the same time Uni died. Brownie and Uni were friends, and I think that poor Hoppy misses them. Hoppy and I are now the pet buddies of the house.

The worlds second most loyal dog

Here is an interesting story about a very loyal dog. I think I am a little more loyal since I wait to eat until everyone else has started eating.
I feel sorry that that dog did not know that his owner was gone. A Shiba Inu is a smaller version of an Akita, also a Japanese breed.
credits: Original story by Kathryn Hawkins http://www.gimundo.com/Articles/Daily/914/27/03/2008/Hachiko:_The_Worlds_Most_Loyal_Dog Hachiko was brought to Tokyo in 1924 by his owner, a college professor named Hidesamuro Ueno. Each day, when Ueno left for work, Hachiko would stand by the door to watch him go. When the professor came home at 4 o'clock, Hachiko would go to the Shibuya Station to meet him. Though this simple act alone shows a tremendous amount of loyalty, that's not the end of it: The following year, Ueno died of a stroke while at the university.

Hachiko didn't realize that he was gone, and so the dog returned to the train station every single day to await his master. He became such a familiar presence there, in fact, that the station master set out food for the dog and gave him a bed in the station. Even so, Hachiko never shifted loyalties – every day at 4 o'clock, he hopefully waited by the tracks as the train pulled in, searching for his best friend's face among the people getting off.Hachiko's love for his master impressed many people who passed through the station, including one of Ueno's former students, who became fascinated by the Akita breed after seeing Hachiko.

He discovered that there were only 30 Akitas living in Japan, and began to write articles about Hachiko and his remarkable breed, turning the world's most loyal dog into a household name, and creating a resurgence in popularity for the Akita.Hachiko died in 1935, after 10 long years of waiting for his master. But the dog would not be forgotten – a year before his death, Shibuya Station installed a bronze statue of the aging dog, to honor its mascot. Though the statue was melted down during World War II, a new version was created in 1948 by the son of the original artist. Go to the station now, and you'll be able to see the bronze statue of Hachiko – still waiting, as ever, for his master to come home.