by Christopher Lin
When I first got Panda, my sesame Shiba Inu, from a New York City pet store in 2016, I had no idea I was meeting the love and joy of my life. Fourteen countries and countless travels together later, Panda is my best friend and the best dog and companion any dog owner could ever wish. But it wasn’t always like that.
If you’re reading this post, you may have some interest in the Shiba Inu breed or perhaps other Japanese small sized dogs.
Raised in a puppy mill with countless other puppies and showered with a hose to the point that he continues to fear water and white vans, it is important to adopt your dog from a renowned breeder or from an animal shelter. Immediately after I brought him home we found out he had stomach worms and diarreahd all over my brand new rug. A lesson of the importance of pet insurance is not exactly a meet cute you’d expect from your first puppy.
A notoriously clean and proud breed, I could see his frustration over his own mess even in his initial small potato form. Poor Panda, he could’ve been adopted by a nice retired couple with a yard in New Jersey or Long Island. Instead the first years of his life would be spent in a small studio apartment in the middle of Manhattan going to puppy kindergarten as I worked 11 hour shifts at a midtown investment bank, not exactly the meet cute he’d expect from his first human.
I had never gotten to raise a dog as a child because my grandfather, may he rest in peace, forbade it, and I’ve aways wanted a cute Shiba Inu, so elegant and poised. However, not even I, ambitious as I am, was prepared for the all-nighters and training pains of raising Panda.