i love my rope toy!!!

*chew chew chew*

*om nom nom*

[rope strings get caught in throat or caught between teeth]

*ack* *cough* *ack*

i love my rope toy!!!

i kind of like my rope toy.

(Source: Flickr / _tar0_)

i, taro the shiba, recently received this question from Mary in Washington D.C.:

“What was your name before adoption?  I read the SIRA site at least once per week and gaze longingly upon the shibas there because I hope to be owned by a shiba some day.  I remember seeing you up for adoption there, but can’t remember what your name was.”

my name, even when i was with SIRA (Shiba Inu Rescue Association), was taro. you can see here in SIRA’s 2009 adoption page that i was listed as taro and that there was no name change listed.

but that doesn’t mean i didn’t change names… although my humans didn’t give me a new name, my SIRA foster family did.

before i came to my forever home, i was named timmy. when i got to SIRA, the foster mom noticed that i never paid attention to my name. i know that a lot of shibas ignore their humans, but i wouldn’t even look over to my foster mom to let her know i was ignoring her; i was completely unresponsive to the name timmy. my SIRA foster mom also thought that i didn’t really look like a ‘timmy,’ which seems like a fair point.

determined to get me a new name, my foster mom started going through japanese names online and saying ones she liked to me. i didn’t respond until she said taro. and each time she said it, i continued to look back at her. she liked the name even more after reading its online definition: ‘big boy, strong boy.’ she thought it was both descriptive of my personality and a nice contrast with my physical stature.

in a more literal translation, though, taro can mean ‘eldest son.’ i favor this definition, since i am the first and only “child” of my chosen humans, and it emphasizes my important familial role. but while i may be the eldest and only “child” of my humans, we do hope to have a shiba sibling for me one day!

so, Mary, i hope this answered your question! thank you very much for asking. and we hope that you, too, are owned by a shiba one day!

if you would like to ask me a question, you can do this in one of three ways: 

1. leave a comment (if you can’t see the comment section, you can click a text post’s title or click “permalink & comment” at the bottom right of the post to get to the page with comments)
2. click “Ask Taro!” on the right side menu
3. ask me a question on twitter (i’m @_tar0_)

have a good weekend!

pictures of me (taro the shiba), my human (kai), and a nice elderly woman during last week’s pet-provided therapy session.

we were running late last week, so my humans didn’t have a chance to take off my collar until we went to the next section of the facility. usually we just use my ezydog harness during therapy work. my human, kai, also forgot his glasses. 

anyway, just one more supervised visit until i’m ready to submit my therapy certification papers!

(Source: tar0shiba)

this week’s taro shiba advertisement is for IKEA!

why ikea? there are quite a few reasons, actually.

• i like to play with this bag, when given the chance. it makes lots of funny noises and is sturdy enough for tug of war.
• i love, love, love my plush ikea soccer balls. my old black one lasted a couple of months, but my new red one didn’t make it so long. yes, i destroyed them, but hey, they’re only $4!
• some good things come from and happen at ikea… 
• (exhibit a) they sell these little dog tails at ikea (thanks @MelanalTheGreat!)…
• (exhibit b) koji the shiba (of koji cookies fame!) was picked up by his forever family in an ikea parking lot.
• swedish meatballs. if you haven’t yet realized that this advertisement is an elaborate ploy to make my humans buy me some ikea swedish meatballs, then i’ve just told you my ulterior motive. it’ll still work, though, because of shiba mind control!

now, humans, go forth and buy me (or your own shiba) some ikea swedish meatballs!

if you liked this week’s taro shiba advertisement, you can:

• recommend me, taro the shiba, for tumblr tuesdays (tumblr users only)
• see these photos and more in my flickr (username: _tar0_)
• follow me on twitter (@_tar0_)
• come back soon for more updates or next tuesday for the next taro shiba advertisement!

retro taro the shiba!

(pic from early november, 2009. age = 11.5 months)

because of recent rainstorms in arizona, there have been lots of downed tree branches.

this, of course, is great news for meas it expands the number of markable items during my walks. the other day, after one of the storms, i shattered my previous mark speed record!

now, i’ve always loved the stamp shibal-inu comic. in fact, i made my humans do my {taro} logo in brackets so it would look like kit’s awesome stamp.

well, today, i’m going to forward the favor of kit & pack’s creative influence on to other shibas and humans. i’m going to give away, to one lucky winner…

a set of these shibal inu button pins plus a bag of ziwipeak lamb-liver good dog treats!

to enter, leave a comment telling us one thing your dog likes about storms & a type of treat that your dog likes. [click comment page to enter] winner will be chosen using random.org. must comment before 11:59 pm pacific time, october 13, 2010 to be entered. 

good luck!