Tien'kou came to me not as a rescue but as a gift. A mother's day gift to be exact, From my husband Dale. He came to me and told me he wanted me to pick a Shiba inu because he wanted to buy him for me. But I was not certain that I was ready for a pup. I had recently had my third child and I was already stressed beyond my comprehension with responsibilities. Besides, I was inexperienced with puppies. Sure I had cared for and trained adult dogs but never a new born puppy. I had always been anti-potty training and chewing. Though I longed for a k-9 companion and only a shiba inu would due, and yet I was scared I would fail him with so many other responsibilities in my life. It was a really big decision that I was uncertain that I was in the right frame of mind to make. But Dale reassured me that I was not alone any more in my responsibilities or in the love of our shiba inu and so our hunt began.
Against everything I had heard over the years. About breeders in Missouri, I chose a breeder in Missouri that was willing to let me make payments on Tien'kou. After all not ALL breeders in Missouri ran puppy mills. Right? The breeder I chose because lets face it Shiba inu's are an expensive breed. And with three kids and only my husband working there was no way we could afford to pay $600 - $800 or more up front plus the fees to get the pup to us.. There were no local breeders that I could find and at the time I didn't care about papers A.K.C., U.K.C., J.K.C. it was all just a bunch of formalities that I never for saw would ever matter to me. I just wanted a shiba inu to love. Kirk seems to be a nice honest guy just trying to make a living like everyone else. And I had established a certain amount of trust in him. We talked almost everyday and he sent me pictures and updates on the puppies. He offered me my pick of registrations for a price, and since it didn't really matter to me I opted to leave it open to be decided later on down the road.
But Tien'kou had to be shipped to me through a puppy delivery service. Which was new to me at the time. I had no idea that people did that. Or that it was even legal. But I had no other choice my desperation and ignorance to have a shiba inu once again, blinded me to consequences.
We went to pick Tien'kou up at the meeting spot off the highway, it was dark and it was cold. Everything about it seemed wrong. But I kept telling myself I was just nervous. It was my fear getting the better half of me. Besides Tien'kou was waiting for me, it was too late to turn back now.
I got out of the car and walked up to the delivery driver who gave off the air of being more of a drug dealer than someone worthy of tending to my fur baby. I signed the papers and he handed me my new baby. Tien'kou looked nothing like his pictures, sure he was a shiba inu. But he was... dare I say it... ugly.
I looked him over again and again, this couldn't be right. He reminded me of a over grown rat. His fur was bristly and he seemed so scared. My heart went out to him of course. This poor little thing, despite not being anything I had hoped he would be. He was still a baby who was scared and needed me.
So I took him home and the next morning I called Kirk to let him know that the puppy had arrived. I also told him that Tien'kou wasn't acting anything like he had told me his personality was like. He was supposed to be cuddly, brave, bold, fearless, playful, adventurous, and curious. But this puppy he was a shy, scared, traumatized ball of bristly thorns. The puppy didn't want anything to do with me or anyone else. From the moment I sat him down he scampered under my couch and stayed there despite my efforts to get him out.
Kirk reassured me it was just a big trip for him and that after a week or so he would warm up to me and everything would be fine. So I agreed to give Tien'kou time just as I had to give Tsunami time to warm up to me. No problem. I can wait.
But a week had passed and nothing had changed, Tien'kou never came out from under my couch. I would slip bowls of food and water under the couch so that he would not starve and drag him out to go potty but as soon as I would sit him back down he would scamper back under the couch.
I contacted Kirk to update him on Tien'kou's condition and he asked me if I wanted to return him. What? Return him? How could I possibly return him? The first trip was hard enough on the poor pup I'd be completely heartless to send him back. I told Kirk I wanted to give Tien more time to adapt and so we agreed that I would update him again in a month.
But the weeks came and went by so fast and Tien'kou was showing no signs of improvement. I'd try to force him to be with me and he'd simply pee all over the both of us and scamper back under the couch.
The end of the month came and I tried to contact Kirk again to update him on Tien'kou but his email had been deleted. So I tried to call him and his phone was disconnect. I googled his name and found that our breeder had been brought up on charges of what I had feared. Being a puppy mill! We had to face it, we had been deceived and abandoned.
I wasn't angry with Kirk, I didn't blame him. Maybe I should have... I don't know. I blamed myself really. I shouldn't have been so eager. I should have been more patient and found a breeder that I could have driven to myself.
The months have turned into years and Tien'kou is still apart of our family. Though he is too big to hide under the couch now, he is still very anti-social. He does lay at our feet and put his head in our laps when he wants a good rub. But he has never been a puppy. And he has never been anything like any dog I've ever known.
Caring for Tien'kou has been more like taking care of an elderly grandparent. But none-the-less, he is still my boy, my Tien'kou.
He has matured and with that he now looks more like a shiba inu should. And he has gone on to father our two litters of puppies and might I add has been wonderful at mothering them. I think the puppies served as good therapy for him.
After the first litter we noticed that he actually started to loosen up and play a little. Not often but when your least expecting it you might even see his curly little tail wag.
