The adventures of Rollo the Shikoku

Hey again, here is the story of our shikoku as he grows up from the wee bundle of fur that he was when we picked him up. We found out that we could bring a shikoku home the week before Christmas. As it was the busiest travel week of the year, no flights were available. So we set out, bought all kinds of puppy supplies, and packed the trusty rally car for a long road trip.

We made the 15 hour drive from Fort McMurray AB all the way to Chilliwack BC through a couple of big ugly storms. It was pretty insane making this expedition given the weather we faced, but we took it slow and made it in just over a day with an overnight stop.

We went up this twisty mountain road, almost got lost and arrived at the right spot. We met Saki, Rollo's mother and saw the rest of the litter that was still there. i don't remember meeting his father, Yamato. We went inside and met our little man. We fell in love right away!

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Here are a few shots of him as a puppy while he was with Mac from the Akashima kennel.

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We had a hotel just down the hill, and braced ourselves for projectile vomiting, but he was fine. We were surprised. He seemed very calm for what was going on, and he stayed that way mostly.

We hit the road early the next morning, and all the way home we had much better weather, we avoided a massive storm that came just after we left which was great. Rollo was great for the entire two day trip home. Only got sick on a spot where the road was full of rolling curves.

As soon as he got home we had to secure everything. We thought we had the condo puppy-proof but he showed us what wouldn't work. We had to secure the Christmas tree right away!

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He is very curious, wants to know exactly what we are doing at all times. He met his best friend right away, Molly the sheepdog. They love each other and wrestle every time they see each other. She is a lot bigger than him, but he is now starting to push her around.

We went over to a family member's for Christmas where he played with a big goofy chocolate lab and even met a cat!

He was settling in well.

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He loves his couch.

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Here puppy training is in session. He is a great listener when properly motivated!

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And he met Fred, the female lizard. He doesn't like lizards. Or toothbrushes. Or fizzy drinks...

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We took him out to pee, and he found $20 buried in the snow. Good boy!!

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We had our cousin take a few pictures of him with her fancy camera two weeks ago. They captured how cute he is!


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That face though!
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We have him in puppy kindergarten and it has been going very well. He is the oldest pup there and by far the biggest. He pays attention so well. During play sessions he has honed in on a very aggressive black lab mix and keeps pinning him to the floor. That dog snarls at everyone else, bites and is dominant. It seems like Rollo goes in to break up the fights and put him in his place. He is great with other dogs, and does play pretty rough if the other dog is game for some rough housing.

Here's a spoiled rotten dog for you.. Though he has destroyed ALL of these toys!

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Needless to say we are proud as punch of him, and he has been an amazing little pup to have around. He is quiet, and calm around home. But he loves to play and has boatloads of energy in spurts. We are in a condo, but back onto 26km of world class cross country ski trails. I am working with him off leash deep in the forest, and his recall is excellent. He even started chasing a deer and I stopped him within about two seconds.

He's growing fast. At 16 weeks he's 28 pounds! I think he's going to be a big shikoku.

I will definitely keep this thread going for Rollo. We do a lot of backcountry pack expeditions in the Rockies so he is going to be an amazing expedition partner. He loves the trail so he's well on his way!! I am so excited to see him get big and have lots of fun adventures.
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Comments

  • So great to see an update of him, he's gotten quite handsome already. You wouldn't have met his dad when picking him up since Yamato resides in Ohio (US).
  • He sure has gotten handsome. He's got such a great personality too.

    That makes sense, though with the travel and everything we did take in a lot that day. Our brains were thoroughly scrambled after the preparations and the white-knuckle driving we did earlier in the day.
  • Love the pics. Saya my shiba thinks lizards are for chasing. Your bearded dragon is so cute! :)

    She met skinks at the shed and green anole down in Louisiana. she was omg gotta catch it! luckily they're quick so they climbed too high for her..
  • Nice pics, he is a good looking guy. Yuki is 27 lbs now, so looks like there may be some big boys out of that litter.
  • Awesome, yeah I'm used to retrievers and have no idea what the normal growth rates are for shikoku pups. He seems to be getting big fast!
  • I've met both parents on different occasions and they have a very sage-like look about both of them. I can see that in Rollo's future:).

    Jesse
  • Oh wow, he's got some handsome coloring :) glad to hear he's doing well!
  • Glad to hear he is doing well and has adjusted to life with you guys so quickly. :) He is definitely a cutie!
  • 'Oh, hi. Trouble? Who, me? Nope, this is my new toy'

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  • "I need fiber cuz I'm a growing boy, right?"
  • Haha, or 'there was a white snake, and I just killed it. You're welcome!'
  • LOL the toilet paper picture is hilarious. Rollo is a cute guy.
  • He's so large already! That last trouble making photo is way too cute hahaha
  • I love how rich the hue is on his coat as a sesame. He really got some good coat genes passed down by his parents.

    Jesse
  • Wow, what a handsome guy he is!
  • edited February 2015
    He does have very rich colouring. It really looks great I think. His adult coat came in really fast since we got him home. In Chilliwack it was 15C outside the day we picked him up. It's been -30ish here since we brought him home. Poor guy was frozen for the first few walks outside so we got him a jacket. He doesn't need it anymore, he's got a really lush and healthy looking coat.
  • Rolo is a very handsome pup. The last picture with the toilet paper is priceless.

    Sounds like you live in an great area for him to run around.
  • Well I found out he isn't much of a hockey player today. I took him to an outdoor rink right by our home and brought pucks and a stick. He oddly didn't chase the pucks, mostly chased me around the rink while I skated around. He never fell over which was impressive. Then he took a huge poop right on the centre ice faceoff dot. Game on!

    He REALLY loves the snow. When I take him into the woods and let him off the leash he bounces through the deep snow beside the trail. It's up to his shoulders. I've had him on a few trail runs and he has just been awesome. He's going to make a great trail buddy!
  • Wow, Rollo is absolutely beautiful! I just love that color on a Shikoku. I can't wait to see more pictures of him as he grows!

    Out of curiosity, where did you get the name?
  • My wife is reading a series of books and there is a character in there that has a wolf named Rollo as a companion. Also the show 'Vikings' on the history chanel, the main character has a brother named Rollo. The name grew on us and seem to match his calm personality.
  • edited February 2015
    Rollo graduated from puppy k last night. He was a bit of a space cadet for the first half of class but when they set up a mini obstacle course he was great. His play has gotten really good as well. He is able to adjust his play depending on how rough the other pup wants to play. He wrestled with a 40 pound pitbull pup and then got down on all fours and let a tiny 3 pound furball climb on him and then chased her around the room.

    Tonight it was -33, -41 with the windchill fcctored in. Fricken cold out there. Rollo had so much fun in the woods tonight. He spent the whole hour and a half walk bouncing through the deep snow. I could only see his ears poking through the snow and his red flashing light.

    His double coat has really come in thick and is great for our cold weather. When we got in the door he didn't feel cold at all to the touch, and no snow builds up at all in his paws. He could have gone another couple of hours easily, which is fantastic for a 30 pound pup. Pretty cool as my neighbours big 80 pound pitbull can't stay outside for more than 10 minutes in this weather without crying and coming right back in.
  • Rollo is such a cute name, and HE is so cute!! Sounds like he's developing an awesome personality and into an awesome buddy! :)
  • edited February 2015
    Here is a video of him when we let him off the leash in the trails. He loves it here, and he always gets this excited when we are in the woods.

    Might have to get a YouTube channel, photobucket and Apple don't play nice together because of flash. Video works on desktops though.

  • Dawwww! LOOK AT THAT LITTLE BUTT BOUNCE THROUGH THE SNOW. Too cute. He's so big already! Loving the puppy pudge :)
  • Hahaha, the hops into the snow are priceless! Like a little deer ^_^
  • Rollo is so cute. :) glad he is doing well.
  • He has had some dog park exposure now, two nights ago he met Gus the 7 month old Shiba, and met a beautiful big fluffy Akita who was on her way home. Rollo was running around her legs and she didn't seem to impressed with him haha. He wrestled with Gus and they had lots of fun. That Shiba was no pushover, he had Rollo on the back foot even though he is a good deal bigger than Gus was.

    The past two nights he has been off leash quite a bit and has had more deer encounters. Luckily I had his flashing red collar light on, and had to track him down in the bush. He LOVES to chase deer. Keeping him leashed for a little while until we can sort that out. Man can he ever move when he feels like it!

    Here are some shots of him this morning. He is so lazy early on a Saturday!

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    I love that you can flip him on his back and manhandle him, he does not care. He likes to curl up beside or on us when we're on the couch.

    Here was 20 minutes later. Lazy bum!

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  • the pudgy face that katsu still has. I love it!!! he's going to be a large and beautiful adult.
  • Wow! He sure has grown up to be super handsome, and he's so fluffy! :) I love that about Shikokus. He also has really friendly eyebrows/eyelids lol.

    That's pretty badass that you do a lot of backpack trail expeditions! I really want to get into backpack expeditioning, both for hunting and for trailing with a dog partner. Have you done much in the past or it's a relatively recent hobby?
  • I love getting out exploring the Rockies especially on longer treks. I've been doing it for about 5 years. I've got our gear finally narrowed down to where I'm very pleased with the pack setup and every piece of gear that's in there. It takes a good bit of trial and error to get your pack weight down as much as you can while having everything you need.

    Here's me all loaded up. Carrying way more than I needed to here.

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    Pretty wild where we've gone actually. 25k in from the highway, and way above our base camp here. Berg lake trail to mount Robson (highest point in the Canadian Rockies)

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    We'll be taking Rollo here, to the Rockwall trail in the Kootenay national park just inside of BC. This trail is dog friendly, and it's the longest and most difficult one I've done. I think the shikoku will be a great breed to bring here.

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    This is such an awesome spot to set up camp!

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