Shiba Inu Meetup May 2010

Today was another fun-tastic day at the dog park with our meetup group!

Kumo still had a slow start, but he did better than last time. The first time he was overwhelmed by all the other dogs that were eager to greet him and their barking scared him.  He cowered, hid behind people's legs, rolled over submissively any time another excited dog approached him and even ran away with his tail between his legs.  I felt like a bad shiba mommy, like as if I didn't socialize him at all. :(

At this meetup, Kumo made great progress.  He was only really timid for the first 15 minutes.  He found his buddy, Kouki, from last time and ran around with him. Over the next hour he was running around playing with all the others.  He even got over his fear of Sulu. Now, Sulu is a chihuahua-shiba mix and a super-barker - which scared Kumo and made him roll over (even mid run) in submission when ever Sulu came running after him, barking. Kumo finally realized that Sulu is all bark and there's nothing about him to be feared.  He even played with Sulu in the end too.

Kumo playing with Leah

I think these meetups are really helping Kumo - and me.  He's getting used to large groups of people and dogs.  He's also building confidence as he finds his place in their pack.  Confidence enough to get a little cocky even...

Kumo punks a dog at the park. And he's not sorry.

Can't wait for the next meetup!