The One with A Day in the Not-So-Typical (But Hopefully Soon-To-Be-Typical) Life of a Puppy Named Joey

We have high expectations of our little Joey. We want him to like wind, rain, snow, water, the beach, the mountains, the desert, maybe even tornadoes. We want him to like taking baths, getting groomed, and getting his toenails clipped. We don't want him to bite or bark. We want to be able to take him everywhere leash-less. Basically, we want a perfect dog...Too much to ask? Probably. But we've found a reputable trainer who says he can make our wildest dreams come true.

And so we take our journey to 8 o'clock am on Saturday November 14th, 2009. Plan of attack: wash and dry the dog. I saw him get his very first bath two weeks ago and he didn't do too bad. He shook like a leaf in a hurricane while getting dowsed, and he howled like the wind when the blow drier was on his face, but other than that he wasn't too bad so we were expecting similar results today. Not so. As soon as we put Joey in the sink he started freaking out. I'm surprised our neighbors didn't call the cops on us. But if there's one thing we've learned it's to press on. We gave Joey a bath whether he liked it or not.
Then we dried him with a fancy shmancy blow drier (and I don't mean this towel). That was an experience...
Fast forward to 10am - we left the shady woods of South Pasadena for the ocean views of Redondo Beach to meet with our dog trainer.
Joey was an angel and sat on my lap during the one hour ride.
We were at the trainer's house (well, in his backyard) for two hours. We are super impressed and have seen positive results already. We've learned tips and tricks and what to do and what not to do. Joey got the bejeezes scared out of him by the trainer's male dog. Joey was getting a little too friendly (ie: trying to get milk from him...haha) and the dog snapped at Joey and Joey screamed like a little girl for 30 seconds straight. I thought he had been hurt but he was just scared to high heaven. Let's just say Joey minded his manners around that other dog the rest of the time.

The trainer wants Joey exposed to EVERYTHING. Bikes, trikes, automobiles, wheels, skateboards, people old and young, people with disabilities and people with too much energy, animals of all kinds (we're well on our way in our own apartment in this department), and terrains of all types. We're so excited, this is exactly what we want too. So we decided to go to the beach. Our mission was two-fold: expose the dog to the elements and let Chris see the ocean for the very first time since we moved here in August. What a deprived husband I have :)
Dogs aren't allowed on the beach (sad!) so we just walked him up and down the boardwalk or whatever the path is called.
Shhhhh.....
We couldn't walk more than five feet at a time without getting stopped by hoards of people. Typical conversation went as follows:
"Oooooooh my gosh! He's sooooo cute! How old is he?"
"Nine weeks."
"How big does he get"
"About three times as big."
"What kind of dog is he?"
"Shiba inu."
"A what?"
"Shiba Inu"
"A what??"
"SHIBA INU."
"Oh. OK. Oooooh he's sooooo cute!"
Moving on to the next bunch of gawkers.
It was a long day for Joey, what with the bath, getting yelled at and demonstrated on, then the bombardment of people at the beach. But he had a good time.
He slept on my lap all the way home then he slept for the rest of the day.
Presh-a-presh.