I had been researching the Shiba Inu breed for
about a year and a half before getting Kitsu. When my Cocker Spaniel Honey Love died I was absolutely miserable, just
as any loving pet owner would be. We had grown up together and I picked her out of the litter when she was only 3 weeks
old. She was more than just my pet she was my best friend. My family decided not to get another Cocker
because of how wonderful a dog Honey Love was, so it would be unfair to bring another one in with the high expectations we
had. So we went with the complete opposite breed of dog...the Shiba Inu!!!
As part of the healing process my Mom and I went
to puppy stores just to be able to laugh and cry. We had no plans on buying from them, because we knew that most of
those puppies come from puppy mills. In fact we were planning on adopting from MSIR. However when we walked into
one of the local puppy stores, there was this little curly tailed teddy bear body slamming (no joke!!!) the
Cock-A-Poo that was occupying the cage along with it. We talked to the manager and asked what the price on the little
monster was, and he told us $300.
$300?!?!?!?!?!?! (On average puppy stores will charge $900-$1500 for a Shiba)
He brought her out to us and explained that she
was discounted because she had a "Class 3 Loose Knee Joint." Basically she had a 50/50 chance of it tightening up when
she grew up. If it didn't she would require surgery. He also explained to us that he brother and sister had
already been sold, and if she was not sold by Wednesday (this was on Saturday) she would be sent back to the breeder (most
likely a puppy mill where she would have been stuck in a tiny cage and bred for the rest of her life or euthanized).
Being the bleeding hearts my mother and I are, we couldn't let that happen to her, so we bought her.
Later that week we brought her to our vet.
He checked her knee, and said it was maybe a class 2 (in other words nothing to worry about!!!) She had one
problem when she was about 6 months old. We were at the dog park on a colder day and she got rolled by a dog about 4
times her size. She let out her famous "Shiba Scream," but by the time we could reach her she was up and on her way
once again!!! We can only assume it was either the knee slipping or just her normal "Drama Queen" routine. But
since then she has never had a problem!!! So we consider this little girl our miracle rescue!!!
When we gave this little ball-of-fluff, the
name Kitsu, we were told it meant "bright and shinny." However this is apparently not the case. (This was before
I started learning Japanese!!!) Unfortunately by the time we learned this, Kitsu was already a year old, so it was too
late to change her name (besides I really like it!!!) So I did some research and came up with this information.
