Hiro

Tenshu's Hiro (May 12, 2012 – November 25, 2025), though I just called him Hiro, was a "woolly" Shiba Inu born in Winlock, Washington. He and I formed a pack in June 2012 when I moved to Oregon for graduate school. He remained my very opinionated, sometimes grumpy, but always steadfast buddy and companion for over thirteen years.

Hiro lost his right eye to glaucoma in early 2021 and lived quite comfortably as a "pirate doge" until fate cruelly took his remaining vision almost exactly three years later, quite literally overnight, thanks to acute glaucoma. Though he was blind for most of the last two years of his life, he nevertheless remained confident as ever, up until the end, fearlessly blundering his way through any environment, obstacles be damned.

Unfortunately Hiro was unable to fight back against the forces of canine cognitive dysfunction, or "doggie dementia," which, over the course of just a few short months and at a shocking pace, stripped away any semblance of quality of life that he had left. On the advice of his vet, I had to make the incredibly painful decision to let him go. I miss him terribly--he left a Shiba-shaped hole in my heart (that is, of course, riddled with loose dog hair).

Send Your Pictures!

If you got to meet Hiro at some point and happen to have a photo or two of him that you'd like to share, I'd love to have it. Just go to my contact page and upload it there--and thank you!