Meet Kinta, The Shiba Inu Who Cannot Stop Smiling


The Dodo had the opportunity to meet Kinta. Kinta is a female Shiba Inu who has been nothing but squints and smiles ever since she was rescued rescued by her current owners, Michelle and John Procter.

[photo via Facebook/Kinta fan page]
[Photo via Facebook/Kinta fan page]
According to Masakado Shiba, the white shiba Inu can be a rare sight due to genetics, in case you are unfamiliar with Japanese breed of dogs. So, perhaps the manner in which Kinta was discovered would only happen once in a millennium.

During the summer of 2010, Kinta was discovered lying out in the sun, on top of a car. Michelle Proctor, a 32-year-old ER nurse from Owassa, Oklahoma, initially thought that the dog lying on top of her neighbor’s car was a cat.

However, upon further inspection, it became clear that Kinta was actually a white 12- to 18-month-old Shiba Inu. Michelle immediately took Kinta to the vet, where it was determined that she was not microchipped.

Kinta also appeared to have not eaten for days, Proctor told the Dodo.

“She looked like she hadn’t eaten in a few days, so I brought her food and water.”

The 32-year-old nurse then made rounds throughout the neighborhood to find out whom Kinta belonged to. She created Facebook posts and old-fashioned newspaper ads to aid her in her search for Kinta’s owners. And after a thorough search, no one claimed Kinta as theirs.

The only thing left to do was to leave Kinta in hands of animal control. However, Michelle knew that Kinta would only be euthanized if left there, most likely. Proctor noted that Kinta not being spayed and particular malformations would cause potential adopters to stray away from the her.

“I’m not really a gambling girl. We had high hopes of returning her to her owner, but after two months we were certain that she was probably a reject from a puppy mill since she was not yet spayed and had a genetic malformation — she has no nipples.”

In fact, Masakado Shiba also notes that white — or “cream-colored” — shibas are often avoided by dog showers because of the perceived genetic disparities which these dogs have been stigmatized with.

After her epiphany, Michelle resolutely knew what she had to do — adopt Kinta into her family herself.

Today, Kinta is now around 7- to 8-years-old, and doesn’t know how to stop smiling to show her gratitude. And Michelle always delivers for fans with a daily #squintakinta post.

[Image via Facebook/Kinta Fan Page]
[Image via Facebook/Kinta Fan Page]
She’ll even throw in a quick wink to show love.

[Image via Facebook/Kinta fan page]
[Image via Facebook/Kinta fan page]
And Proctor says that Kinta’s infamous squinty smile is a quirk which Kinta learned herself, the Dodo writes. And a unique one it is.

Pets.net claims that although dogs do indeed show happiness outwardly, they do not necessarily smile the same way as human beings do — by showing their pearly whites out of joy.

On the contrary, the canine may be showing aggression or “readiness to bite in doing so.”

When asked by the Dodo as to how Kinta acquired such a human-like social skill, Michelle indicated that their love for Kinta naturally conditioned her to smile. Michelle noted that at first, it was a guilty expression because, Kinta would do the following.

“[She’d] make that face when she was guilty of eating our food off the table. But we would start hugging her because it was so cute. So over time she realized that making that face meant we would start hugging and loving on her. She’s a professional at it … now she mostly does it when she’s happy to see us.”

For instance, Kinta appears to have gotten into the cough drop drops at the proctor home. Perhaps she caught a cold? Nevertheless, her cute squinty smile gets her out of another jam.

Do you think that you could bare Kinta’s smile?

[Image via Facebook/Kinta Fan Page]

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