During Mango’s annual physical exam, doctor found one of his back teeth was fractured. A fractured tooth will most likely became infected. So the tooth had to go.

According to the doctor, fractured tooth is not uncommon. Fractures are usually caused by chewing on hard objects like bones or hoofs. Doctor added it came as a surprise to many pet owners because it’s not a well known fact. I have given Mango countless bones and hoofs in the past. Poor mango is about to go through the pain and discomfort of the procedure I felt responsible for.

I dropped Mango off at the animal hospital first thing in the morning. Before the procedure, the hospital took some dental x-rays and found out his other side of the same tooth was fractured as well. I learned that Mango will be just fine eating without those teeth. Finally, some good news.

The procedure required Mango to be put under anesthesia. The hospital called around 2pm to inform me that Mango had woke up from anesthesia. They would keep him in the clinic for few more hours to make sure he’s fine before sending him home.

When I return to pick up Mango, he was alert but still a little off. I was told after Mango regain conscious, he was given some can food but he didn’t touch it. It’s pretty unusual for Mango to refuse food. Especially he was not feed since last night. That worries me a little.

Mango was more than eager to leave the hospital. He practically lead me to my car, didn’t waste a second sniffing other dogs. He was having trouble getting up the car seat. I pick him up to give him some much needed help. My poor little guy.

Home at last! Mango carefully climbed up the satires, still slipped and stumbled on one of the steps. He saw his half-chewed bully stick on the floor, slowly and surely, he approached the bully stick, attempted to resume chewing on it.

The sight of him showing interest at the bully stick was a huge relief for me. Thank goodness, he still got his appetite. I boiled some chicken breast and made some rice. Mango pick up the smell of chicken boiling in the pot, start whining and getting restless. Yes, our hungry little guy is back!

Shiba is known to be pretty difficult with hospital visits. We were fortunate Mango has been really good with doctors and nurses poking and checking on him. I hope after his teeth procedure, he remains his sweet self with the hospital folks. We’re going back to the hospital in couple weeks for follow up checkup. We’ll find out!

This month’s fillet was bigger than usual. I left a few pieces aside as treats. I enjoy giving Mango treats because he is super gentle when taking the treats off my hand. I caught two videos of him working as hard as a shiba can for his favorite salmon pieces. In the first video, his final facial expression filled with anticipation of tasty treat was just precious. But since he was such an eager beaver, I tried to milk as many tricks out of him as possible…

First Video

Mango got impatient on part II video and started getting fresh with me. For some reason his rollover acts has always been a bit of hit and miss. 20% of the time he can’t flip to the other side no matter what. And when he lost his cool like in this situation, his body stiffed into a plank, which makes the rollover even more challenging. I was losing him fast, but I couldn’t just give in and let him had his way. So finally when he did two half-assed rollovers, I quickly handed over the salmon piece.

Second Video

This is Chilly Pepper, a 5-year-old white Shiba, and a trained therapy dog. She was the first Shiba I know that made it to become a certified therapy dog. Shiba by nature are cautious of strangers and skittish to their surroundings. I have lots of respect to Chilly Pepper and her mom for overcoming Shiba’s shortcomings. This was a great accomplishment!

Meet Mochi! After getting to know Mango through his Flickr albums, Mochi’s mom decided to get herself a little Shiba from Leslie. And that’s how Mochi came about! It was no accident they looked alike. Mango and Mochi were probably related.

Overall it was a great day to be out enjoying the sun and spent quality time with loved ones.

This is the latest crime scene of our paper-fetish boy.

We were organizing photos from our recent trip to Tuscany. The travel books & maps were conveniently located on the side table. Mango got a hold of the map of Siena, torn it to pieces.

This photo was taken by ktula. The description for this photo post on flickr:

“I didn’t do it. It was the other dog. I think his name was Tango? Dango? Kango?”

Technically I just woke him up from his nap. Clumsy mom with her stupid camera. Sorry buddy…

Unlike some breeds that requires regular bath to get rid of the doggy smell, Shiba don’t have that problem. During winter times, we can get away with not bathing Mango for months. At one point, Mango was shedding pretty badly. Since he didn’t smell bad, we simply vacuumed his loose hair away and saved another bath. We are fortunate that Mango doesn’t mind our vacuum machine.

Finally we felt we own Mango a bath. Not because he smelled bad, but we didn’t want him to forget what’s it like to take a bath.

Mango doesn’t like bath, but he put up with it. The only thing we needed to watch for is water splash from his occasional shaking.

One thing we like about going to self-service dog wash place was their industry strength blower. It would take so long to dry all his hair using home hair dryer.

The last step was to clean his ears. It was Mango’s favorite thing of the entire bath. He closed his eyes and let the alcohol-soaked cotton rubbed inside his ear for as long as it takes.

*Gasp!* I can’t believe I haven’t post our engagement photos yet. Recently I uploaded some on flickr. My photostream view counts went nuts. One of my favorites was Mango peeking into the camera. It is also many people’s favorite! Maybe it’s the curious little eyes, or the button nose, something about this photo melts my heart every time I look at it.

Yvonne Wong was the photographer, she did an amazing job capturing us in our home. I love both ktula and I look very comfortable in the shots, as if these are our day to day family photos. It makes me look forward to the future days to come. That to me is happiness.

This is our 2nd year in a row participating the event. It was great to be part of it – dogs big and small walking side by side with their human companions. The walk was surprisingly calm and relaxing considering the cheer amount of people and dogs gathered at one place.

Mango was a walking machine once his state of mind is set on the walk mode. Other than stopping for a short pee break after the 1 mile mark, he finished the walk without stopping or sniffing at other dogs.

Our Eastlake home is just minutes from Burke Gilman Trail. With weather being so miserable most the time, we managed to ride out with Mango twice since late spring.

The first ride was a short trip to Fremont. During our lunch break at Fremont Farmer’s Market, half dozen market goers approached us to ask about Mango. We noticed Mango is more comfortable with strangers this time around. Instead of backing away or avoiding the hands, he let almost anyone pat him.

The second ride was just this Sunday. We rode a total of 39.5 miles to Woodenvill then back. There was sun, no clouds, and high in the low 70s. The traffic on the trail was surprisingly light. It was a great ride. The only thing I wish could be different is if we knew a dog-friendly restaurant in Woodenvill we can go to. We’ve being going to Redhook Brewery as our rest point before riding back to Seattle. Sadly Redhook does not allow dogs, not even at the outdoor seating area.

There were lots of double takes, laughter, and kids cheering in excitement when Mango was spotted in his little trailer. I have a feeling the sight of Mango-mobile will be spotted a lot more often as summer approaching.

It took about 20 minutes to boil the chicken, cool it, then cut it into bite sizes. Mango waited patiently but never left the kitchen area the entire time. I went through the normal seat and watch routines before Mango gets his meal. Poor Mango, at this point he was giving me the Oliver Twist’s “Please sir can i have some more” look.

As soon as I gave him the okay to approach his food, Mango went for it and didn’t make another sound for the next few minutes.

The birthday boy enjoyed his meal so much he didn’t leave the kitchen after he was done. Instead, he was hanging around the empty bowl, expecting perhaps a 2nd or 3rd courses. My boy is just like me. We turn into bottomless pit when we are eating something we like.