# Instructions to care for Iro (thank you, by the way!)

## Mannerisms:

Iro spends most days sleeping or bothering you to go on more walks, tell him to go lay down if he gets annoying. If he keeps asking you and he's panting quickly, he probably needs to pee. If he's just howling at you, tell him to lay down. He'll be fine. He's just being annoying.
Food & water:

Iro uses the normal blue bowl, Suka uses the plastic puzzle bowl. It's best if they eat in separate rooms because Suka has anxiety about Iro eating her food, even though he's never done it.

Water bowl is shared between them, we use the large metal bottle to fill the bowl, for ease.

- Iro: 2 cups AM & 1.5 cups PM
- Suka: 1.5 cups AM & 1 cup PM

## Kennels:

Kennel Iro if you leave the apartment. He doesn't stay out if I'm out, this is especially important if they're in an uncommon environment.

Dogs are actually calmer if they are somewhere they understand to be theirs when you're not home, and Iro has a bad tendency to … pee on things out of anxiety and frustration if he's alone. Suka is anxious in general so probably best to keep her in the kennel, in a common environment. Believe it or not, they do actually like being in there.

## Sleep:

Iro typically sleeps in the bedroom with us. I close off the door to the bedroom at night so they don't roam the apartment. Iro will probably sleep on the floor. The dogs are not allowed on the bed.

I'd recommend having a water bowl in the bedroom so that they can drink at night.

## Walking:

Iro and Suka together are VERY strong - like, pull you off your feet, you have no idea what to expect strong. It's highly recommended that for the first mile or so of your work, you use it as a time to tell them that they HAVE to listen to you or they won't actually have a good time on the walk.

Additionally, Iro will try to pee on EVERYTHING since he isn't allowed to when Park walks him. Don't let him do this, he does it to mark, not because he needs to pee, and it can lead to him peeing on things that really shouldn't be peed on. Park usually lets him pee on anything that doesn't seem like it would interact with humans often (light posts / signposts / fire hydrants / grassy [**NOT GARDEN**] patches). I cannot stress enough that he will make it seem that he should pee constantly, and it's COMPLETELY because he wants to mark. Don't let him do this.

Otherwise, keep the pulling in check, and he *will* whine at every intersection. Tell him to sit and 'shush' or give a light tug with 'sit' and 'shush'. Eventually he'll get it, but I'll let you know in advance, he's an asshole with people he doesn't know, so it's up to you to decide what happens.

## Other habits:

We take them out first thing in the morning for a walk. Then they get a long walk in the afternoon. We take them out one last time before bed.

We'll offer you their towel. Suka hates the rain and will likely rub her face against you while you're walking.