Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Yesterday was my dad's 60th birthday. Due to my work schedule, I wasn't able to fly back to Taiwan for the big party, but I decided to have Maya make a short film to wish her "grandpa" a happy birthday. Though my dad never allowed us to have a dog while we grew up, he had became Maya's number one fan, and always refers to her as his "grand-dog".

Maya and I woke up at 5:00 am in the morning to FaceTime with an entire room full of guests. After the call, Maya's video was projected on a big TV. Hope this brought some joy and entertainment to everyone.

Thank you dad for teaching us to be earnest, honest, and always curious. Happy birthday and every unbirthday!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Maya!! Can't believe she's already three.

Tachi was here over the weekend for an early celebration. They had a great time zooming, hiking and begging for treats.

We went to Zoom Room tonight and Maya graduated from Agility 2. She'll be starting Agility 3 next week! When we got home, her daddy brought back some New York Steak for dinner. Ah, she swallowed the whole thing without even chewing. I guess that's how she enjoys a good meal.

Maya decided she doesn't need a new toy for birthday and donated to Bella instead. Wish Bella a speedy recovery!

My Belated Birthday Present

Two years ago, Maya joined our family a week after my birthday. I thought no other present could ever top that. This year, a few days after my birthday, Maya's out of the cone and stopped itching. It's a very different type of joy, but certainly on par with getting a new puppy.

Maya's first day home, taken on 9/25/2010

On Friday, I was really worried about the Shiba Inu meetup taking place on Saturday. I was afraid Maya would be scratching every other minute or so, and would just not be fun for any of us. Maya's daddy then came up with the theory that she's only scratching because we were restricting her, and it's a mental issue. We should let her scratch till she's satisfied and she'll get over it. Of course I said no, and dismissed the crazy idea. 

Well, he went ahead and took the cone off anyways while I was taking a shower. According to him, it was all bloody and chaotic at the beginning. Maya was scratching like crazy, and he just repeatedly cleaned her up with a baby wipe and kept applying some Vaseline over the wounds. This went on for like ten minutes, and then she decided to stop scratching. Well, I'll be damned. However, we are both glad I wasn't there to witness the ten minutes of craziness, cause I would put that cone back on for sure.

She has been out of the cone ever since, though she still scratches every once in a while and still chews on her feet. It'll probably still take a while for everything to heal up, but at least she's much happier now. Last year, her itchiness stopped around this time as well, but with the help of Atopica, so it's definitely something seasonal. I also have been avoiding our local park in the past few days because they've been fertilizing the grass areas. Not sure if this is a factor or not, but I'll continue to do so for a while to see if it makes any difference.

I made a "wish" that if she stops itching by my birthday, I'd donate $200 to a Shiba rescue and be on a vegetarian diet for a full month. Though it's been a bit late, I'll fullfil my promise and start my new diet tomorrow. I also made a further commitment to be on a year-long vegetarian diet starting from my next birthday, if she can remain itch free till then. I will be more than happy to comply.

Thank you the House of Two Bows for the great shot at the meetup

Happy Birthday Maya!

Happy two year old birthday, my baby girl!