The Shiba Inu is a beautiful Spitz dog. You will get many compliments and turn many heads while walking next to a Shiba.
A Shiba Inu can get you a lot of attention and open doors to many social encounters. Get used to hearing, “He/She looks just like a fox!”.
In fact, it is this foxy look that often gets Shibas into trouble.
Many people fall in love with the ‘Shiba look’ but are not equipped to handle his larger than life personality.
If you like the Spitz look, there are many other breeds that fall into this group that may better suit your lifestyle.
The Good
1. A Shiba Inu is a dog that is more like a cat
A Shiba Inu is independent and very clean.
My Shiba Sephy spends a fair amount of time not just grooming himself, but also helping to groom my Siberian Husky.
A Shiba Inu is extremely easy to potty train.
Sephy only had housebreaking mistakes on the first day that we brought him home (10 weeks old). After that, he always let us know when he has to go potty. We did not even need to train him to go potty outside. He naturally dislikes soiling his living space and even prefers not to go in our backyard.
Shiba Inus like having their humans around in the general vicinity. However, they are aloof like cats, and do not need or want human affection much of the time.
2. A Shiba Inu is a good watch dog
A Shiba Inu is not a noisy dog. However, when there are strange people or strange noises around the house he will bark to alert you. Once I go and check things out, Sephy stops barking.
Shibas have great memory and will alert you to anything out of place around the house and even in a familiar neighborhood. One day Sephy started barking at the fence because somebody had put a piece of wood on top of it – amazing!
3. A Shiba Inu is graceful, agile, and high energy
A Shiba Inu is graceful and agile.
He can leap tall fences in a single bound and can scale walls like Spiderman. If properly directed, his super powers can be used for good. However, when left on his own, the Shiba will likely turn towards the Dark Side.
A Shiba Inu is a great hiking buddy and is always up for a new challenge. He can easily learn and conquer an agility course but he will only do it, if you make it worth his while.
A Shiba running is a sight to behold and a Shiba at play is poetry in motion.
4. A Shiba Inu is a doggy Einstein
A Shiba Inu can learn many dog obedience commands and he can learn them very quickly. He also thinks that he is much smarter than you, and will only obey you when it suits him.
A Shiba can quickly figure out complex interactive dog toys and puzzles. I am always trying out new ways to deploy Sephy’s food in toys because he figures things out so quickly. A Shiba will challenge you and keep you sharp and on your toes!
5. A Shiba Inu has a larger than life personality
No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness.
~~[ Aristotle ]
A Shiba Inu may be small in body, but he has a ginormous personality. If a Shiba were a person, he would either be an extremely successful egomaniac or in prison!
Sephy always surprises me and makes me laugh; at least when he is not making me cry.
He has this one move where he puts his head down on the ground with his butt sticking up in the air – it is just too precious.
The Bad
1. A Shiba Inu is bold, strong willed, and stubborn
He has a “Never give up, Never surrender” attitude.
He will not back down from a challenge and will often fight back when he perceives a threat. Because of this, many owners face aggression issues with their Shiba including food aggression, dog to dog aggression, and people aggression.
To successfully live with a Shiba Inu, you must be extremely patient and have a good sense of humor.
Turn a Shiba’s annoying habits against him.
For example, a Shiba gets bored easily. If you ignore him and give him nothing to react to, he will quickly lose interest, and move on to something else.
Shibas can be very competitive. If they see another dog getting praise and rewards, they will want to strut their stuff and show that they are better.
Work with a Shiba’s innate personality and use it motivate him in the right direction. Passive resistance and reward obedience training work best with Sephy.
A Shiba will hand you many lemons, which is good if you like lemonade. Otherwise, just cut one up and squirt it on his muzzle.
~~[ just kidding! ShibaShake ]
2. A Shiba Inu has a sly, rougish intelligence
A Shiba Inu is super intelligent. He will most often use his brain power to “push your buttons” and get what he wants.
Sephy is always trying to figure out how he can outsmart me and all the humans around him. A trainer once told me that Sephy was spending the weekends, “Devising new strategies to defeat her”.
In another life my Shiba was probably a Catholic priest. He can guilt me into doing almost anything for him.
Beware the Shiba look – it is one of his most powerful weapons and he will use it to great effect if he senses any weakness in you. Before you know it, your Shiba will have gotten you trained to fetch, stay, and rub tummy.
Remember that a Shiba Inu will do whatever he wants if he can get away with it. If he can’t get away with it, he will figure out another way to get away with it. When he gets caught with his nose in the cookie jar, he will give you the innocent “What did I do?” look and then come over and lick your hand.
Once you turn away, he is back in the cookie jar!
3. A Shiba Inu is like the evil, black Spiderman
He is capable of great feats of agility but if untrained, he will use it to destroy and cause great havoc in the household.
If bored and lonely, he will escape by jumping over or burrowing under your fence. He can squeeze through small holes, bite through leashes, and achieve amazing great escapes that will make Houdini proud.
If not properly supervised, a Shiba will pull down items from counters and shred them to pieces. He may even eat some of those pieces. Once, I left Sephy unsupervised for about 10 minutes and in that time he pulled down a phone headset and shredded it to little pieces. Luckily he didn’t swallow anything.
A Shiba Inu, especially a young Shiba Inu has a lot of energy.
It takes a lot to keep him occupied and away from trouble. Getting him a dog playmate can help. Another alternative is to put him in dog daycare or to employ the services of a dog walker.
4. A Shiba Inu is a Drama Queen
Sephy will whine, mope and act like it is the end of the world when he is unhappy about something (e.g. wearing a harness).
Woe be to you if your Shiba gets hurt or even just thinks that he is hurt.
Sephy acts like he is close to death’s door even for small things like getting grass stuck between his teeth.
Woe be to you, woe be to your vet, and woe be to anyone who tries to help.
Shibas are extremely touchy when in this state, and may snap and bite at anyone who comes near them.
Sephy is extremely sensitive to the energy of the people and dogs around him. If I am scared or stressed out, he picks up on that immediately and gets that way too – except with a thousand times more gusto!
5. A Shiba Inu is an accomplished singer
A Shiba Inu does not bark much but he has a wide range of vocal stylings.
The most well known is the Shiba-scream, which is a high pitched, loud scream that will make your blood curdle. Your neighbors will think you are torturing your poor little ball of fur.
A Shiba Inu will quickly learn to use his Shiba-scream against you if you let him.
Do not get embarrassed, and do not give him a reaction during a Shiba-scream. Just ignore him and go about your business and he will stop. Remember that he can sense your inner energy, not just your outward appearance.
6. A Shiba Inu knows he is dog royalty
A Shiba Inu does not like being touched or handled.
Cutting nails, bathing, or a vet examination, is never fun for any breed of dog, but with a Shiba it can be total hell.
After a lot of desensitization work and management, Sephy still protests to some of these activities. He sometimes throws a fit when I pick him up, and he only likes human contact when the mood suits him.
A Shiba Inu is like dog royalty.
He wants his subjects close enough to serve him but not too close as to sully his royal person.
7. A Shiba Inu pretends not to understand ‘Obedience’
Obedience? What’s that?
Shibas Inus think that you should be obedient to them and not the other way around.
If you want a Shiba to do something for you, you had better make him a good offer.
Sometimes, Sephy bargains with me. He will sit there and wait until I have the acceptable number of dog treats in my hand before going into his crate.
A Shiba Inu can be a good citizen at home, but he must be properly managed.
Shibas are strong willed, independent, and bred to hunt. Aversive training does not work well on them. Shiba owners need to be creative and flexible when interacting with their dog.
A Shiba Inu is not to be trusted off-leash unless in a fully enclosed area.
8. A Shiba Inu has nasty, wicked teeth
For a small dog, a Shiba Inu has very large teeth, and he is not afraid to use them.
Shibas can be very mouthy, more so than many other dog breeds. When I first got Sephy at 10 weeks old, his mouth was all over me. Now it is in control, but his instinct is still to bite.
Shiba Inus are a primitive breed and they lose control more easily than other more domesticated dog breeds.
The Quirky
A Shiba Inu is a grass connoisseur
He likes grazing, but he is picky about what grass he will eat. Dogs may sometimes graze when their stomachs are upset to clear their digestive systems, but a Shiba Inu just enjoys eating grass – if it is the right kind of grass.
I recently found an article suggesting that there might be something to this grass connoisseur business after all.
“We at Green Foods believe that dogs and many other carnivores, including cats and bears, eat cereal grasses because cereal grasses contain nutrients not found in meat that are essential for the animals’ good health.”
~~[ Green Foods web site ]
Thanks to all the posters at Shibatalk and ShibaInuInfo for their many humorous Shiba Inu stories that inspired this article.
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Dog to Dog Aggression –
Thank you! We’ve had a few days together and he’s calmed down a lot around me… he’s a sweet little thing, very cheeky but he seems to really want to please us. I have been observing him, and have found out he’s very reward oriented, so have been following the NILIF tips on your site which seem to be getting great results. Let’s see how it goes!
That is great to hear! Big hugs to your Shiba.
Hi there,
On the weekend my husband and I bought a two year old male Shiba Inu. He is a darling around other people, dogs and my husband… everyone apart from me! He has growled at me a few times and stands around staring at me. I figure it’s just him working out the pecking order in a new pack and doesn’t fully trust me yet, and I am going to start taking him to dog school so we can learn some new things together, but I was wondering if you have tips? Is it the sort of thing he will grow out of if I keep up consistent behaviour? I have been alternating between holding my ground when he gets bolshy (we had a stand-off earlier today when he tried to eat a tissue on the ground when walking – I made him sit and drop it before we walked on, and gave him a treat as a reward when it was finally dropped) , ignoring the bad behaviour (I left the room when he growled at me last night) and rewarding good behaviour with treats.
It’s a bit saddening for me that he doesn’t seem to love me the way he does everyone else, but I am doing my best to stay calm and work through it!
I had a similar experience with my Shiba (Sephy) when he was young. He would be calmer and much better behaved with other people, but he would go crazy with me.
The key reason for this, was my energy. I was uncertain when interacting with him, and would get frustrated, angry or disappointed, and ultimately also somewhat fearful of his behavior. Sephy would pick up on my non-calm energy, get uncertain and stressed himself, and act out even more. The truth is, Sephy did not love me less. He was simply reacting to my own emotions and feelings. Since I was uncertain and frustrated, he got uncertain and frustrated as well, and used aggression to deal with his stress.
Here are some things that I did with Sephy. Here is a bit more on my experiences with Sephy.
I also set up a very consistent set of rules and a very consistent routine. Consistency is very important with Sephy, and I make sure to always respond in a very consistent way to his behaviors, so that he learns what are desirable behaviors and what are undesirable behaviors. Here is more on how I train a new dog.
Dog training is also very context dependent. Ignoring may work well in certain circumstances, and may have the opposite effect in others. For example, my dog may try jumping on counters to get whatever is on top. I could walk away and ignore him, but he would still keep jumping on counters. Every time he jumps, he may get rewarded with something fun from the counter, e.g. paper, food, etc, which would encourage him to jump even more. Similarly, “holding our ground” is the same way.
What helped most for me is to observe Sephy carefully, and try to understand things from his point of view. Once I understand what motivates a certain behavior, I can redirect it or reorganize the surrounding motivators to get a different behavior. Here is a bit more on how dogs learn.
With Sephy, group classes were mostly useful for socialization purposes. However, they are not as helpful for dealing with specific behavioral issues. For those, private lessons were much better.
http://www.apdt.com/petowners/choose/
Need Help!!! I am dog sitting my friend’s female shiba. She is 5 years old. I had a problem on the first day walking. While we were in the parking walking and accidentally she slipped out from her harness to chase after a small dog. I was able to grab and hold her on my arm. When I tried to put the harness back on, she growled and showed teeth at me. I tried different methods, being nice, being mean (having a rod on my hand! She got scared actually) But when I put the harness closer to her every time, she just growled again. Now I don’t know what to do. I live in an apartment so I need to take her out. I was told that no one could put the harness on her except her owner who is on a cursie and the owner won’t be back in a week. She is fine with me but I when tried to put the harness on, she got angry again. I used to have a penkingnese and a Sheltie. They are not like that. Any suggestion??
Sephy (my Shiba) is also very sensitive about wearing anything on his body. I had to spend a lot of time getting him comfortable with putting on and wearing a collar. I did this *slowly* by associating the collar with positive events (e.g. fun games) and food rewards. Here is a bit more on the collar desensitization process that I used with Sephy.
Shiba Inus are loyal, and they do not give their trust easily. It was something that I had to earn over time through consistency, repetition, and positive experiences. My energy is also very important when interacting with Sephy. If I am fearful, frustrated, angry, or otherwise not-calm, Sephy would pick up on my energy, get stressed himself, and his behavior would worsen.
Do you have a way of contacting her owner? She knows her dog best and would know the best way to deal with this. Is the Shiba ok with wearing a collar for the short term?
Hi there. Thanks for all the fantastic pics and great info. I recently lost my beloved Akita, Toshi, to cancer. I have approximately 20 years’ experience with the breed. I am thinking that it might be time to explore smaller breeds. My Akitas were all rescues and health-wise proved sad and expensive, to a one. I am shy to get another, especially one that originates in No. CA due to the overwhelming health problems they seem to have. Can anyone point me to reputable breeders of the Shiba Inu? I am up for a breather regarding serious and costly health problems. The oldest Akita I was blessed with died, also from cancer, three months shy of her 9th birthday. Very sad. I’d appreciate any help anyone can offer. Thanks so much. P.S. I love, love, love the Akita personality and know the Shiba shares many of the same attributes, hence my interest. Thanks again. Rannie
For Shiba Inu breeders, I go to the National Shiba Club of America-
http://www.shibas.org/breeders.html
There is also some great information on the site in terms of common Shiba health issues and more.
Hey, it’s me again… I wanted to ask about a problem… I have my dog (the all mighty Cork, lol) but i also have 2 cats… the cats hide from Cork, and Cork chases the cats… do you have any pointers on how to get them to get along?
Hello Jade,
I don’t have any cats, but here is a thread from the Shiba Inu Forum about Shibas and cats-
http://www.shibainuforum.org/forum/discussion/7120/problem-with-cats/p1#Comment_125511
Here is an article from the ASPCA on introducing a cat to a new dog-
http://www.aspca.org/Pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/cat-articles/introducing-your-cat-to-a-new-dog
HI , would it be hard to keep a Shiba in an apartment ? I really like this dog but since i dont live in a house i have my doubts
http://shibashake.com/dog/shiba-inu-personality-good-bad-traits/comment-page-5#comment-63240
http://shibashake.com/dog/shiba-inu-personality-good-bad-traits/comment-page-5#comment-71181
http://www.dogster.com/forums/Shiba_inu/thread/561213
We’ve raised our 8 month Shiba named Stella in a townhome and an apartment. Stella was fine in both. We crate trained her, but quickly realized that she has no intention of getting into any trouble when left home alone and the house to herself. She’s very well behaved, but we might have just gotten lucky. We did exercise her very much on the weekends. We’d take her to puppy parks, on hikes, etc. During the week, we’d just exercise her on a quick 20-45 min walk. I’ve just moved in to a larger house with a yard, so I’m happy to be able to give Stella some room to run around!
Shibas are good for apts. Just take for regular walks and give attention. I live in a condo and it works good
Should I get a boy shiba inu puppy or a girl shiba inu puppy? Which one has the best qualities?
I belive that both have great qualities. but if i was to pick one i’d say a male would be better… or that could just be because my Shiba, Cork, is a male and he’s just the best dog ever!!!! JadeCorkus OUT!!!! Peace
Hi! I really want a shiba inu but I feel like they are too mean and stubborn. Are they really mean all their life or are they loving and playful?
I’ve honestly never met a “mean” Shiba. However, all of the Shibas that I met were socialized very thoroughly. If you take the time to do your research and socialize your puppy as appropriate I doubt you’ll run into any issues.
Shibas aren’t mean, it is just the ancient breed trait coming out. My shiba growls at people or other dogs and its her way of saying back off but even after growls you can pet her or comb her and even a stranger can let her sniff. She loves her people and usually doesn’t want to be far from me and she loves to cuddle
Hey! I am hoping to get a shiba inu puppy in a few months but I am really worried that they are mean and stubborn and hate affection from humans! Are they this way and are they good dogs to have?
What makes a good dog depends on our lifestyle and what we want in a dog.
I got Sephy mostly for his looks, and because of that, we both had a very difficult beginning. Shibas are usually independent and stubborn, and I had to put in a lot of effort, time, and patience to properly train Sephy. Shibas also tend to be aloof, and like having their own space. Sephy is a lot less affectionate than my other dogs. A Shiba is definitely *NOT* a lap-dog.
Here is an article where several Shiba owners weigh in on why a Shiba is difficult to train.
The Shiba Inu forum can also be a good source of information on Shibas-
http://www.shibainuforum.org/forum/
I have a red Shiba named Cork (and he looks just like Sephy!) and he loves to eat grass and run around (thanks for the infi on the “shiba-Scream”)
He sounds like a lot of fun.
Big hugs to your Shiba!
I want this dog, i have a good space for him, time and love, but i have a cat, my cat is 14 years old, he is active and very intelligent but he is kind of spoiled so he doesnt accept to have other cats in my house and he has always been scared of dogs. Is there a chance that a shiba can get along with a cat?
I don’t have any house cats, so I do not have much experience in this area.
Here is a good discussion on Shibas and cats on the Shiba Inu Forum-
http://www.shibainuforum.org/forum/discussion/7120/problem-with-cats/p1#Comment_125511
Here is an article on how to introduce a cat to a new dog-
http://www.aspca.org/Pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/cat-articles/introducing-your-cat-to-a-new-dog
Hi! I am getting an 8 week old shiba inu puppy. I was wondering if they are all agressive? Mainly because I was bit by a big dog 2 years back, and since then I’ve been a little afraid of being bit again. I have always been facinated by the Shiba Breed
I’m just very nervous! Thanks!
Puppies, especially Shiba puppies need to be taught what things are ok to chew on and play with, and what things are not appropriate to chew on. It was also important to train my Shiba puppy to control the force of his bites when interacting with people.
A bit more on puppy biting.
A bit more on how I trained my puppy.
Be aware though that Shibas tend to be aloof and stubborn. They can be mouthy and be much more difficult to train than many other breeds.
Why Shiba Inus are difficult to train.
I have a 6 year old female shiba Inu named Starbrite. My daughter picked her out and getting passed the dogs infant year and a half growing years I can’t imagine never having this dog. We love. She shows her affection as well. She is very loyal and will show she wants only to be with us as well. Smart they are but in a very good way as they get older. I feel the older they get the better.
Yeah, that has certainly been my experience with Sephy. We definitely had difficulties at the start, but it got better and keeps getting better with time – like cheese.
Hello Shiba Shake,
It has been a long time since I have posted!! I am the owner of a 4 year old black and tan shiba named Moksha. I must say that I was not sure if I would survive Moksha’s puppyhood, but I must say that after all the chewing, stealing, and shiba crazy runs that constantly knocked over my lamp, Moksha has become the most wonderful dog in the whole world. He comes with me everywhere and about once every 6 months he spends the a whole day acting as if he has never had any training at all. On that day, I know that I can’t leave anything of value out where he can chew or steal it:) Then the next day he goes right back to being a very well mannered shiba. Of course, as we all know, a well-mannered shiba and a well-mannered dog are two very different things…LOL. All of his little idiosyncrasies are absolutely amazing and to be honest, I wouldn’t know what to do with a dog that did what I told him to without complaining. Anyway, sorry for rambling but I wanted to give an update on Moksha. Let me know how to and I will send some pics…he has grown into a very dapper dog.
Hey Meg,
It is great to hear from you and to get an update on Moksha! I think the last picture I got was when he went river rafting with you.
Is Moksha on Facebook? Would love to see more of his pictures.
No unfortunately moksha and I don’t have much experience with social media, but I can give you an email address! I don’t want to put it on the main forum, so how would I get it to you? If I put my email in the comment section does it show up on the main forum? I am so glad to reconnect your sephy looks like he’s doing well and keeping you on your toes
and your huskies are absolutely gorgeous! I have to admit I am jealous. If I had more room I would have had a Siberian years ago, but I just felt it would be cruel to have one since I don’t have a fenced in yard. Anyway! Let me know how to get my email to you because Moksha has grown and has, believe it or not, been able to make friends!!! One is another shiba that moved into our area and the other is a Rottweiler!! The two of them together are hilarious! I hope to hear from you soon!
Haha, Moksha is such a lucky boy! I am definitely looking forward to seeing his pictures.
The email information is private so it *won’t* show up on the page. You can also send me a message from here.
Hello,
I have two wonderful Shiba Inu’s. One is a 6 yr old Black and Tan female named Kiko and the other is my 10 month old red male named Kenji. The problem recently is that Kenji all of a sudden (like this last week) has developed an obession with the wood chips we have out in their potty area. He grabs them, wants to play with it and chew it. Our other female will play for hours with the ball and he used to until now with this wood obsession. How can I break him of this? I’m so affraid he will chew it, get a spinter or choak on a piece. Please, any help will be appreicated. My male Akita (Kosan) passed away August 17, 2012 and I was so heartbroken (he was 14 yrs old), so the breeder of Kiko called us and said he just had a litter, so yeah, Kenji was an inpulse buy. He has a super sweet personality and we play with all his toys inside the house, but he has now lost interest with his outside toys. Should I buy him new outside toys??
Yeah, Sephy also had a wood-chip phase. I tried stopping him, but that only made him want to play with wood-chips even more, because it became a fun game where he gets a lot of attention.
What works best with Sephy is to engage him in some other game that he likes when we are outside. For example, he likes playing the flirt pole game and the water hose game, so I can use those to distract him. I play those with him as soon as we go outside, and *not* in response to wood-chip chewing. Otherwise, he will learn to associate wood-chips to the games, and perform the behavior even more. Instead, I stop playing and interacting with him if he decides to go after wood chips.
I also enhanced his chew toys with food. New toys don’t really help with Sephy because they become “old toys” very quickly and he would lose interest in them. I also tried cycling through his toys, but that stopped having an effect after a short time.
Another method I considered is to bring Sephy inside whenever he starts to play with wood chips, but unless I already had him on-leash, it would quickly turn into a catch-me-if-you-can game. I could have walked him outside on-lead, but that seemed overly constraining.
Happily, he got bored of wood chips after a short time because the other games were more interesting. Different dogs are motivated by different things though, so it would also depend a lot on Kenji and what gets him excited.
Big hugs to Kiko and Kenji! They are very lucky Shibas.
Let us know how things go with Kenji, and what works best with him.
In the future, I would like to own 2 dogs. One definitely a shiba inu, and the other, maybe a basset hound. Do you know how these breeds would get along? Would they, due to their stubbornness?
Do shiba’s “initiate” playtime? The basset hounds I’ve had enjoyed playing, but only if a person or dog would approach and show that they would like to play.
I can assume that a shiba would give a basset personal space, because a basset likes to be left be as well.
Yeah, Sephy will sometimes initiate play. However, Huskies are very high energy, so my Sibes are usually the ones who do the play-invites. I also give my Huskies longer daily walks, and I play various chasing games with them, so that they get engaged doing alternative activities. A Shiba will probably be higher energy than a Basset, and will need more exercise.
As for getting along, I think a big part of that depends on supervision and setting up consistent interaction rules. I supervise my dogs a lot when I bring in a new puppy, and I also set up clear rules (especially for meal-time and play-time). In this way, my dogs know exactly what to expect from the new dog and vice versa. Here are some of the things that I do to help my dogs get along.
The other part of getting along will depend on the individual dog’s temperament. I waited for about 1 year before getting a second dog. In this way, I had time to observe Sephy, understand his personality, and pick a second dog that is compatible with him, would play well with him, and would do well with our current routine/lifestyle.
My shiba always initiates play with our pom esk cross. Shiba is sometimes too rough and can be a bully at play time though. Often she is ignored until she settles down