Do you find there is a lot of difference between the temperament of male and female Shibas?

When I got Shiba Sephy, his breeder told us that females are generally more adventurous and more likely to escape. Here is an article on whether males or females are more alpha.

In my experience, getting a more submissive puppy makes things a lot easier. I specifically picked more submissive puppies for my 2nd and 3rd dogs (Sibes), because Shiba Sephy has a more dominant personality. In my experience, more submissive dogs are easier to train and more affectionate. They also get along with more dogs.

Just more submissive though, not fearful or nervous. For example Husky puppy Lara was happy to come and meet us, and she wasn’t afraid of new people. However, she didn’t try to launch herself at the enclosure fence, and was a bit less hyper. She is a bit scared of new things and loud noises, so we were careful to properly build her confidence and slowly socialize her, so that does not become nervous and fearful.

The breeder can usually tell which of her puppies are more submissive and which are more bold.

If you have any other general advice for first time Shiba owners I’d love to hear it.

With Sephy, two things were really important – being patient and being calm. If I got angry or frustrated, Sephy’s behavior became worse. Things got a lot better once I was able to always stay calm and find humor in his Shiba hijinks.

Forceful techniques also did not work well with Sephy because he would just fight back. Instead, I would just ignore him or take away one of his treasured privileges, e.g. his freedom. Sephy really calmed down a lot after I stopped using forceful methods.

Here is my early Sephy story. We had a very difficult start, but things are a lot better now. He is not perfect, but he is quite well behaved, fun, and occasionally, even comes over to ask for affection!

Me and my partner are looking to have a Shiba pup by next year, once we’ve got a good 6ft fence up! I’ve been quite worried recently as my sister’s boxers had a bad experience when coming a across two Shibas, but your site has cleared all my worries.

We both work full time, but my partner will be returning home at lunch everyday to checwe’ll him/her and we’ll also take 2 weeks off work and help the pup learn to go mess outside or on the pads in the enclosure whilst we’re not home. Another post which was extremely useful.

Do you find there is a lot of difference between the temperament of male and female Shibas? Of course they all have their own personality. Ut I have read that females can be a bit more reserved. Although I’m sure it can vary with the pup’s own developed temperament.

It will be a while before we get our pup yet and it will be a lot of work and patience, but I have no doubt that it will all be worth it! If you have any other general advice for first time Shiba owners I’d love to hear it. My previous dog was a very calm and loving greyhound/saluki and i’m sure a Shiba is going to be a lot different!

A big thanks to you for your site and all the helpful posts, I’m so glad I found you!

Hannah x

He acts the same way with bully sticks, and other high priority food items that he can’t finish quickly. My guess is that he is afraid he might lose it, so he wants to find a really good hiding spot for it. Meanwhile, he is too stressed to eat, because he is not sure what to do with his ‘gold’.

When his crate is locked, he feels safe that nobody else can get at his Greenie, so I guess that is the only time he feels relaxed enough to eat it.

Shiba Sephy is definitely more on the high strung side of things.

I’ve tried giving my Shiba Inu Greenies and Dentastix but he can’t seem to figure out how to eat them. It’s the same thing with Pizza Crust. Basically, he will sit there with it in his mouth whine very loudly but not chew on it. I suspect he doesnt know how to chew on them? He has done this since he was a puppy. He chews on other hard things like toys but for some reason doesnt chew on food. He will chew his kibble when he eats, but I suspect he does that because it is bite size.

Any ideas?