Kuma's Story
Welcome to Kuma's story, or if you prefer her Sunday Name Marilouvales Ziva (according to her pedigree) however as we cannot attend functions where she can use her Sunday name, (an issue I am sure we will cover later) she is more than happy to answer to the name Kuma.
I have yet to decide the best format to use for Kuma’s story as it will always be an ongoing work, at this stage I will be providing details of our history however we will reach the point where the page is more likely to develop as a blog but we will see how it goes.
Our story begins in April 2012 when after some research of the breed I decided the time was right to look for my own Japanese Shiba Inu puppy. I started my search online, which with hindsight probably wasn’t the best place to start looking for my new friend, believe me I have learned an awful lot over the last 12 months and I don’t think I am alone in many of the decisions I made so I am hoping that relating my experiences and highlighting the difficulties I’ve experienced will help you to avoid them.
Anyway back to the story, while searching the Internet I found an advertisement on Pets4Homes.co.uk for Japanese Shiba Inu puppies for £800, the puppies were due to be ready in May which seemed perfect, the advertisement suggested looking for the breeders website by searching for Marilouvales shiba inu’s which I did and ended up at www.japaneseshibainu.co.uk where I could see that according to the website the breeder had been established in the breed since 1995 and had a large selection of dogs with no shortage of success in the show ring. Perfect I thought, my new friend awaits me.
Unfortunately when I contacted the breeder all her puppies from the advertised litter were apparently spoken for, my heart sank but then a glimmer of hope; I was told about a 6 months old puppy which the breeder had been keeping for herself for showing but due to importing a new dog from abroad she now feared that she wouldn’t have the time to dedicate to both dogs and so the reluctant decision to part with the six month old had been made leaving her for sale.
It wasn’t what I was originally wanting, I was going to miss the little ball of fur and fun that is an eight week old Japanese Shiba Inu puppy but then on the positive side I would be getting a dog which would already be house trained and have the benefits of being brought up by an experienced breeder so it at least had to be worth a look. That was it, off to the bank to draw out some cash, just in case of course, all I needed to do was to arrange for someone to go with me to ensure I didn’t let my heart rule my head, or was it so they could look after my new dog in the car on the way home? To be honest I am not sure, I had already decided I wanted a Shiba Inu and why wouldn’t this one be as good as any other? In fact this one should be better than any other, after all the experienced breeder had been astute enough to see enough show winning possibilities in my potential new friend to want to keep her herself. Surely all the signs were good; experienced breeder, crufts winners, website, years of experience with Shiba Inus and what’s more she had wanted my new friend for herself, so unless one of the dogs legs dropped off before I got there it was likely to be the start of a beautiful new friendship.
I duly arrived and much to my delight no legs had dropped off the dog during my journey. Obviously the breeder hadn’t advised my prospective new friend about the exciting times we were going to have together as she did not seem particularly pleased to see me, in fact she seemed decidedly unimpressed with my sudden appearance. I was advised that my new friend was sulking because she had had a bath and wasn’t overly pleased about it. I had never had a little brother or sister but had heard that they could react the same to the prospect of having a bath so was pleased it wasnt me that had so obviously upset her.
I was advised by the breeder that I would be required to sign a contract agreeing that I wouldn’t breed from the dog and as I had no intentions of breeding I didn’t have a problem with doing so. I was also provided with a puppy pack document advising on how to care for my new friend and advising that considerable time had been spent getting the puppy used to people, cats, washing machines, dryers and such and how it was important that the socialisation was continued as that was important for her future temperament. If the time wasn’t put in she would be nervous and not a joy to take out. Very sound advice and obviously coming from someone who knew what she was talking about. As my friend was already six months old I could only imagine the wealth of exciting new people and things my new friend would have been introduced to during those six months.
Formalities over I traded £650 for my new friend and left with visions of our frolicking together in meadows of wild flowers and sitting together watching all the girlie films during the cold winter evenings armed with chocolates and doggy treats!
It was only when I got home that I realised I hadn’t been given a copy of the contract I was asked to sign, receipt for my £650 or my new friends papers, vet card etc, oh well at least I had my friend and I was sure the breeder would be happy to post them on.
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