My Shiba Inu’s previous problems are mostly fixed now after lots of hard work

Congratulations! That is very good to hear. The last really serious issue I had with Sephy was his leash biting and it felt so good when I finally got it under control.

now he has taken to trying to bolt out the door by squeezing between your legs and the door frame.

Some things that may help -
1. Double gates/doors. I have installed double gates on my backyard – kindda like what you see in dog parks. Double gates are a great way to do door training because when Shiba squeezes through, he gets nowhere except straight to a time-out. It also makes things very safe. Some people set up a temporary pen right outside the door during training.
2. Drag lead. Sephy always has a drag lead on (only on a flat collar). That way I have a better chance of catching him when I need to. When I was doing door training, I put on a longer drag lead on Sephy. When he tried to escape I would just step on the lead. If he didn’t try to escape he gets to go on a nice walk and I also played with him outside. This way he learns that -
Try to escape = No walks and don’t get to go outside, Sit and wait = nice walk in the great outdoots.

In general, you want to – a) prevent Shiba from getting a successful escape and b) reward Shiba for waiting nicely on doorways. If Shiba escapes, then he gets to be free outside which is a big reward from his point of view. This will definitely spur him on to try more escapes and be more creative in his escape maneuvers. However, if he keeps getting thwarted, and loses his walking privileges, he will think twice before trying anything.

My Shiba Inu’s previous problems are mostly fixed now after lots of hard work but now he has taken to trying to bolt out the door by squeezing between your legs and the door frame. We have had him sit EVERY time he enters or exits our home from the time he learned how to sit to try to teach him boundaries. This did not seem to help obviously because now, in the middle of his 8 Month old adolescence, he decided there are just too many new things to find on his own and I’m in fear of him running off or worse, getting hit by a car or biting someone who tries to catch him.

I need help! He is in obedience training but the trainer could only suggest what we’ve already been doing. I looked up some other websites to help me but they all taught dogs through negative reinforcement which we all know will never work on a Shiba…

Thank you for any response in this matter!
Lisa

I found that playing the object exchange game is a great way to get my Shiba to voluntarily give him stuff. I also practice Leave-It commands with him outside.

When I first got Sephy, I used to take things out of his mouth all the time because he was always trying to eat something crappy off the sidewalk or road. This made him get even more possessive about objects when outside, because he associated me coming near him with taking stuff away from him (when he is outside). He was fine inside the house because he usually doesn’t get anything bad inside the house, and I didn’t have to go into his mouth.

After doing a fair amount of retraining with Sephy he is better outside, but I try to make sure he doesn’t get the chance to pounce on anything bad. In general, it is best to reduce occurrences where you have to forcibly remove objects. In this way, Shiba associates taking away an object with getting something else back that is even better, rather than with losing a prized possession.

Another thing that helped me with Sephy a lot is bite inhibition training. This really saved me later on when Sephy started doing crazy leash biting and sometimes biting on my hands when he redirected his frustration.

In the dog run, if someone will a ball comes in, I leave.

I think that is a very good idea because then, she does not practice her guarding behavior. The less guarding she does, the less likely it will become a habit.

I would definitely consider getting a trainer to help with this. A trainer can help with timing and setting up training exercises, structure and routine so that we minimize the number of guarding episodes and increase the number of successes. In this way, Shiba learns that people coming near her does not mean that she will lose her items but instead, she will get something even better. Proper management is important so that she is protected from other people who might reach down to her when she is guarding.

Let us know how it goes.

My Shiba inu hates walking on grass

That is very interesting – Sephy is also like that but only for wet grass. He doesn’t even like playing on wet grass, so in the morning, he will only play inside the house. In fact, after it rains, he will avoid stepping on the wet door-mat when he goes out – lol.

Sometimes I know he has to poop but he refuses to sniff around to find a spot so he ends up holding it for long periods of time.

Yeah Sephy is very particular about pooping as well. The stars and moon have to align in exactly the right way before he will do it. He almost never does it in the backyard, and when we are out on a walk, there are only particular places that meet his standards of toilet excellence.

If there is another dog or person about, or something is not quite right, then we must try again in the next spot – lol. I usually take note of all the good spots.

I think it is another Shiba quirk

BUT if there is a situation that he does not like or if I reach down to him for any reason he unleashes the worst scream I’ve ever heard

Hmmm, many dogs, especially smaller dogs can feel threatened when we reach for them from above. Here are some of the things I did with Sephy to desensitize him to handling when he was younger -

http://www.shibashake.com/dog/hug-dog-teach-your-dog-to-enjoy-hugging

Depending on the situation and reason for screaming – I will sometimes also use the time-out technique for Sephy. If he is just screaming for me to open the door for example, rather than as a result of stress, I will just ignore him or put him in time-out. Initially, he would scream in time-out but after a few times, he learned that this had little effect so nowadays he just gives me the depressed look even though I let him out after a couple of minutes.

Just make sure the time-out room is far away from the difficult neighbors

the only thing im worried about is that he will claim that room as “his”. he is very dominant sometimes. he’ll nip at your feet when you’re not doing what he wants. but then he gets punished.. either leash correction or time out. but from what ive read, this is typical shiba. he’s such a little brat sometimes, but i love him!