But I got the house to myself, which NEVER happens, ever. I can't remember the last it did. I also didn't have a stupid and long CMA assignment to due that week so it was pure bliss. Except for the fact that Alex's mom invited me out to lunch with them and we spent half the day eating and basically, me not being home alone with Obi. I know I sound totally ungrateful but it's so rare for me to have the house all to myself that it's like finding the mythical unicorn after you've been searching for it all your life. I accepted her invitation to lunch because I didn't want to be rude (but I guess complaining about it after, and during, in my head, isn't any better...) since I didn't have any excuses.
Anyway, my family arrived home with our new addition at around 1:30 AM that Sunday. She was so unafraid and just waltzed in as if she had been living with us the whole time. She walked up to me and Alex, unafraid and wagged her cute fluffy little tail and was licking our hands and feet (she loves feet).
Her name is Okami but we call her Kami for short since there's too many syllables and dogs can't pay attention for that long. At first, we were going to name her Miki but my brother was really adamant about naming her Okami (his fist choice was Amaterasu and we'd call her Ami for short but my parents didn't want that).
The next week or so, she was in total explorer mode, sniffed everything and was more interested in sniffing things than us. I went outside with her a few hours after we brought her home and she was so friendly. Never mind that she only saw me once (briefly), she came right up to me, wagging her tail and we started playing.
Those pink things on the corner of her eyes are stitches. She has really large eyelids so her eyelashes would get into her eyes and irritate her. Normally, when as they get bigger, it'll sort itself out but the breeder wanted to make sure that it didn't bother her now so she took her to the vet to get some stitches.
Our previous akita, Yoshi, was black and white and she was beautiful. We originally wanted another black and white one but when the breeder showed us a picture of Kami, we fell in love and decided to take her home instead of waiting for the next litter, which is due in the spring, when my mom and brother won't be home to help take care of her (since my dad and I work full time, we'd only be able to take care of her after work).
She's very adventurous and unafraid, the complete opposite of Obi. But surprisingly, Obi is terrified of her (well, maybe not that surprising). We thought that Obi would be really happy that he has a new and willing playmate but instead, he avoids her and runs away when she trots in his direction. He stares at her from a distance, usually in a dark corner, like some kind of creepy stalker.
But he's getting a lot more comfortable with her now. They actually play together in the backyard, a lot of chasing each other. At first, he would run away from her out of fear but when he realized that she's not out to hurt him, he'll start becoming more on the offensive and she'll be the one running from him. They usually change places every once in a while, which is good since Obi always has the option of running away back into the house to avoid her, but he doesn't.
It's also good that Obi is so submissive, since akitas are dominant by nature. This will avoid any problems in the future since their own doggy hierarchy has been established and Obi probably won't fight it since he's such a pleaser.
One issue with Kami that she vacuums up her food, and then she'll steal Obi's. We've been trying to discipline her and showing her that it's unacceptable to steal Obi's food but she'll still lunge at his food bowl, even when we're holding her by the scruff (like her mom does). Despite this, Kami will continue to try to get to Obi's bowl and her eyes get really squinty so it's kind of funny, except not since Obi will run away from his bowl, leaving it open for her to eat it and she'll try harder to get to it. She has been eating a bit slower lately though.
As you can see, Obi seems to be getting more comfortable with her presence. This was taken about a week ago, Friday, December 7th by Alex when he was watching them for us while we were on a day trip to the US. I think this was the closest they've ever been together at the time without Obi freaking out.
He looks pretty comfortable being that close to Kami, especially since his hind legs are totally stretched out (I think it's so adorable when he does that, I always coo and squeal at him. I'm so bad with baby talk to animals).
Teehee, look at their bones lying around close to them. Yet, they always want the same one, dogs are just like people; they want what they can't have.
We also finally decided to introduce the hamster to Kami. Obi's obsessed with the hamster and he'll just stare at it or follow it when it's in its hamster ball. It's kind of cute. He'll never attempt to bite it though, which is always good.
Kami was curious about the hamster but otherwise uninterested. She looked at him and then decided to ignore it, unlike Obi, who as usual, followed it step by step. Sorry for the bad picture, I usually don't like to use flash since it makes the pictures look worse.
I tried to take some pictures of Kami while she's still tiny but with my new job, I get home after the sun went down and I'm usually tired and/or have to work on my CMA assignment. She's already bigger than when we got her two weeks ago. I did manage to take some cute pictures sometime last week, but I haven't uploaded them yet. I'm hoping to take some more tomorrow since I'll be home and I'll blog about it later.
And my new job is interesting! It's overwhelming and there's a lot for me to learn but the days pass by so quickly! I'm invited to their Christmas party so I'm excited for that. Don't make fun of me, but it's my first work party so it's all new for me.