Savvy Pets, 7/17/20: Sake, the adorable, spoiled grandpuppy … and Ikea’s Dog Puzzle Designer

Meet Sake, the ADORABLE shiba inu puppy! Sake’s grandma, Kelly, has Type 1 diabetes. Sake and Roger (Kelly’s son) come over to visit Kelly often. The 3 of them go on long hikes together. These hikes help grandma Kelly’s blood sugars while using up Sake’s puppy energy. A win-win! After their hikes, Kelly finds Sake’s “souvenirs” around the house. These are items Sake brings home from her walks. Could be a rock, garbage, a stick, or a leaf.

Sake is a funny and beautiful puppy who lives in Hawthorne, California. Only 6 months old, she is a fast learner. She knows many tricks and has been house broken since early on. She recently learned how to “speak”. A mistake her dad said. Because now she wants to bark for a treat/reward all the time.

Sake’s daddy, Roger, is currently working from home. He lives in a huge complex that has 2 dog parks. Sake has many friends, including her pal Tofu, a golden doodle puppy next door. Sake and Tofu are BFF’s. In addition to Tofu, Sake has play dates at the dog park, and visits other puppy-pal’s homes to socialize. She literally has more friends than most humans.

The roommates love Sake! One of the young men cleverly holds Sake while taking pictures for his dating app. The girls go crazy! This funny little girl has won everybody over. She packs a lot of personality into a small puppy body.

There was a recent scare with Sake. Roger noticed that 5 month old Sake did not want to get up and play, or even go for a walk. He said she was wobbling and drooling quite a bit. She was not herself. Her eyes were not right, as in “lights are on but nobody’s home”. He feared she was having seizures. Worried, Roger rushed her to an emergency vet. He could not go inside due to the coronavirus and remained outside waiting. Finally, the veterinarian came out and said that they were giving her IV fluids. The vet was convinced it was….

Marijuana! Sake was high!

The doctor explained that the slower heart rate, drooling, vacant eyes, poor motor function were classic symptoms of marijuana ingestion. She said the IV would help replace fluids lost due to excessive drooling. She also gave Roger an anti-nausea prescription for Sake.

Roger was relieved but not pleased. His roommate had friends over the day prior and they were smoking on the patio. They must have dropped something. Sake is notorious for bringing home the souvenirs she finds on the ground. But if something is small, she will eat it instead of bringing it inside. Sounds like she ate marijuana.

Sure enough, by evening Sake was feeling better following her daddy around as he prepared dinner in the kitchen. She knows where the food is. And chances are, she had the “munchies”!

It did not take long for her to start acting like a puppy again. Fighting with her pillow, and playing with her toys. Roger had a “stern” talk with his roommate – who felt terrible! He loves Sake too!

Kelly has fallen in love with Sake as well. Because of this, her son Roger, is trying to convince her to get a puppy to train as a diabetes and hearing-impaired service dog, perhaps in the future. For now, there is Sake, the spoiled granddoggy!

Ikea hires a dog for its latest collection. He’s the ulti-mutt designer, as reported by Elizabeth Segran for FastCompany.com, 16 July 2020.

The Australian outpost of Ikea has created a limited-edition collection, called “Mindsets,” that’s designed to take your mind off the extraordinary pressures of the day. The activity kits are free to the public, but only 1,885 were made, so they were distributed on a first come, first served basis by signing up online. Oh, and one was created by a dog.

The brand partnered with five local artists and designers to create kits that take about 15 minutes to assemble and come in flat packs. And to round out the experience, each collaborator created a Spotify Playlist that can be played while doing the activity.

While the series is designed to address a serious problem, the activities themselves are delightfully quirky. Mr. Chuck, a mini Dachshund based in Adelaide and an Instagram celebrity, “designed” a simple puzzle in the shape of a paw print, which is meant to give dogs and their owners an opportunity to bond by putting the pieces in their correct spots.