Hello Dot,
It is difficult to say without knowing more about Cricket. What does she do when she is outside? When she comes inside, does she get a lot of attention? … perhaps too much for her? What does she do when she is inside? What does Suke do?

My two Sibes also like being outside. They love digging, they like the cooler temperature, and they also like smelling the air. They also really love food though, so they will definitely come in when they smell dinner! I make them work for all of their food, so they end up spending a fair amount of time inside doing that. They also like playing with other inside the house because Shiba Sephy does not usually go outside.

I also make sure that puppy Lara does not pester the other dogs when they just want to be left alone.

Here are some things I did when introducing Lara her housemates.
http://shibashake.com/dog/second-dog-introducing-a-second-dog

Hello Kathy,
Desensitization exercises may help.
http://shibashake.com/dog/separation-anxiety-dog-why-how-reduce-dog-stress#desensitize

Hello Nevena,
Congratulations on your new Shiba puppy! A calm Shiba is a very good Shiba.
Thank you very much for your kind words and BIG HUGS to Hoshi! Take lots of pictures and share some with us.

Hello Emily,

Congratulations on your new Shiba puppy!

This is what I did with my Shiba when he was young and prone to biting-
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-how-to-stop-puppy-biting#timeout

Here are some other things that helped me with Shiba Sephy when he was a puppy-
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training

When Sephy was young, he was very energetic and easily excitable. Giving him a lot of exercise also helped to drain some of his crazy hyper energy.

Hello Natalie,

Congratulations on your new Shiba! 4 paws up for adopting a dog in need.

Share some pictures with us when you get her, and let us know how it goes.

since then has nabbed another bird and two voles. It took forever for her to drop them too because she was so proud and happy of her kill,

That is impressive. I think Sephy would just run away with the stuff and try to start a chasing game.:D

I was just wandering how cold it can be outside before they need to wear a coat or something.

It doesn’t get really cold here, so I haven’t gone through any truly freezing temperatures with Sephy. Also Sephy really dislikes wearing anything on his body. I did consider getting some shoes for him because he does not like getting his feet wet, especially cold and wet. However, shoes would only help for supervised walks and not for more rigorous activity as they would quickly fall off.

How is Jada in terms of wearing things?

Here is an interesting thread on the Shiba Inu forum about whether Shibas need jackets-
http://www.shibainuforum.org/forum/discussion/8890/coats-or-jackets/p1

(I always do over-researching on things like pets or colleges;;)

That is a really good practice. I didn’t do enough research before getting my Shiba and it was not good for us in the beginning. I could have saved myself and my Shiba a lot of pain if I had been more prepared.

Sounds like you have a great environment. Sephy loves to go hiking and playing with us in the backyard. The only thing is that Shibas tend to love routine and may get really stressed when there are large changes in their life. Sephy is pretty high strung about changes, so I try to keep things as stable for him as possible. Shibas misbehave most when they are stressed.

In terms of noise, Sephy is actually a pretty quiet dog. He will bark when there are people or dogs close to the house to alert us, but he stops after we go and check things out. He did do a lot of Shiba screaming when he was young, but after we switched to using reward training techniques and learned how to properly train him, he got a lot better. I haven’t heard him Shiba scream in a long time.

Sometimes we will have howling sessions with all our dogs. It is pretty fun and I think the dogs like it.

Good luck with college. What are you majoring in?

Hello Maha,
My new Sibe puppy Lara was also pretty anxious when we go on our walks. Some things that helped with her -
1. First we only went on very short walks and very close to home. This helps to get her outside and also helps her build confidence because every walk ends well and on a positive note.
2. Luckily, our area is next to a quiet hiking path so I would just take her there. There is usually no one around and it is very quiet. This also helps her build some confidence. Another possibility is to drive to such a location.
3. Now Lara is used to going to the quiet parts, so sometimes we will venture into the more noisy areas. Usually though, we go to the quiet parts first, which helps to build her confidence, then if she is up to it, we explore a bit of the new areas at the end. I make sure not to overdo it though because I want to set her up for success.
4. Together with the walks, I am slowly desensitizing Lara to the things that she is most fearful of, e.g. sound of coyotes, garbage truck. We are currently working on skateboards. Here is a bit more on the desensitization process -
http://shibashake.hubpages.com/_srec/hub/Dog-Anxiety-Fearful-Dog

This article on dog anxiety may also be of interest.

Hope this helps. Big hugs to Tuffy and let us know how it goes.

Hello Juli,
I am not a breeder so I have not experienced what you describe above. Based on conversations with my Sibe breeder, she usually keeps her un-spayed female separate during the heat cycle. From what I have read, hormonal changes during the heat cycle may cause irritability, nervousness, and pain, which can cause changes in behavior.

Here are some general things I do with my dogs to help them get along-
http://shibashake.com/dog/second-dog-introducing-a-second-dog

Hello Jessica,

Congratulations on your new Shiba puppy!

Actually, Sephy is like that as well, especially with certain types of dogs, e.g. German Shepherds. In particular, he gets in the dog’s face and tries to initiate play. However, he only does this when he feels like it, and only with certain types of dogs.

At the same time though, he does not like any new dog sniffing his butt.

With Sephy, I focus on creating neutral experiences with other dogs. We pass by other dogs calmly, and without any greeting. This gets him into a more calm mindset, and teaches him to ignore other dogs rather than getting over-excited and losing his mind, which was his default mode of operation.

Sometimes, I let him meet dogs that are calm and under good control of their owners. However, I always keep greetings short and call him back to me after a very brief period.

I also did a fair amount of desensitization work with him with other dogs.
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-to-dog-aggression#desensitize

I am a big proponent of setting our dogs up for success, so I carefully manage things and only expose Sephy to experiences that I know he can handle and will result in a positive outcome. The more success he gets, the more confident he becomes.

Some people believe in “letting the dogs work it out for themselves”. I think this can be very risky, because a strong correction from another dog can create a lot of stress. This can cause a dog to become fearful or it can cause dog to fight back, which will encourage aggression.

I only let Sephy play with non-dominant, playful dogs, that like his wrestling type of play style. I also keep play groups very small (usually only one on one) and very highly supervised.

Here is an article on some of our experiences with dog-to-dog aggression -
http://shibashake.hubpages.com/_srec/hub/How-to-Deal-With-Dog-to-Dog-Aggression-Aggressive-Dog-Bite-Biting-Dog

Big hugs to Akira. She sounds totally adorable!

Hello Cait,

But I hesitate to take him to a park because I don’t want him to get in an altercation or to stress him out.

Yeah, that has been my experience with Sephy as well. I took him for a few months but it was really hit or miss in terms of the mix of dogs. Sephy was also learning and practicing bad behaviors at the park.
http://shibashake.com/dog/enclosed-dog-parks-good-or-bad

Ultimately, what worked out best for Sephy was to have one-on-one, highly supervised play sessions with friendly., playful dogs.

In particular, I took Sephy to our local SPCA and we had one-on-one playing/training sessions with the dogs there. It was great because they always had new, playful dogs, and we also did some dog-to-dog training together with the SPCA trainer.

Any suggestions on how to get him to be a little more relaxed with other dogs?

What helped with Sephy is doing desensitization exercises with him so that he is not as reactive to other dogs.
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-to-dog-aggression#desensitize

Here are more of our experiences with other dogs -
http://shibashake.hubpages.com/_srec/hub/How-to-Deal-With-Dog-to-Dog-Aggression-Aggressive-Dog-Bite-Biting-Dog

Also he has been a counter surfer his whole life and no matter what I try I cannot break him of that.

With Sephy, I am usually around to supervise him, so when he jumps up to counters I give him a warning. If he ignores that, he goes to timeout. He doesn’t have the opportunity to steal anything off the counters so it is not very rewarding for him.

Another possibility is to use a sound or sonic scat mat. These emit an unpleasant sound when they are stepped on.
Sofa Scram Sonic Dog & Cat Deterrent Repellent Mat Trains Dogs and Cats to Scat!

I have never used those before though. I am not sure if a Shiba may just decide to attack the mat.
[** Note there are also shock scat mats which are risky and dangerous for a variety of reasons. I would not use those.]

Thanks so much for the response! I see what you mean now, saying Ack Ack is just another way of saying No. I wasn’t sure what non-mark meant.

Hello Tommy,

I used to take my Shiba Sephy to the dog park but I have stopped taking him. There are many reasons for this, one being that he was learning a lot of bad habits at the park. The more chaotic and unstructured nature of dog parks just did not suit Sephy’s temperament.

When we did go to the parks we go to the large dog section. Sephy is a big Shiba – he is over 30 pounds, so small dogs easily get overwhelmed by him.

In the big dog area I have to supervise him pretty closely so that he only plays with the more relaxed and less dominant dogs. As you say, there are some dogs who do not want to play with other dogs, and may get aggressive when another dog comes into their space.

I know that if that happens Sephy will not back down, so it will not be a good outcome. This is another key reason why we stopped going to the enclosed parks. All it takes is one dominant and aggressive dog …

Here is more of our dog park experiences and reasons why we stopped going -
http://shibashake.com/dog/enclosed-dog-parks-good-or-bad

But each situation is different and it also depends a lot on the dog park and the people who frequent the park.

Yeah Shibas can be very particular when it comes to meeting other dogs. They are usually very protective over their personal space and do not like other dogs invading their space uninvited.

Here are some of the dog-to-dog socialization experiences I had with my Shiba -
http://shibashake.com/dog/socializing-a-shiba-inu-to-other-dogs

Hello Annie,
Shibas are usually pretty clean and will quickly learn to potty outside.

With my Shiba Sephy, I set up a very fixed routine for him, and took him outside after every nap session and play session. I also fed him at very regular times so that his poop schedule was also more regular.

Then every time he pees outside, I praise him very well and reward him with yummy treats and a fun game. Very quickly he learned to go to the door and alert me whenever he needed to go.

I also supervised him very closely so that if it looked like he was about to go inside I would quickly take him out. If he is in the middle of pee-ing inside, I non-mark him (ack, ack), interrupt his pee, and take him outside.

In this way he learns that potty outside = a lot of rewards, potty inside = undesirable and no rewards.

Here are more of my experiences with potty training -
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-potty-training-facts-and-myths

Heh, yeah Shiba Sephy does not come when called either. Part and parcel of the whole “Shiba gig”.

Here are some of the things I do with Sephy to prevent escapes -
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-escape-why-dogs-run-away

Hello Kevin,
My Sibe puppy Lara also likes scratching and biting at my kitchen cabinets when I tether her in there. A couple of things helped to stop that behavior -
1. Supervision. I made sure to tether her when I was around to supervise so that I can teach her that I did not want her scratching at the cabinets. When she does that, I would come over, non-mark her, and get her to do something else. If she starts up again as soon as I leave, then she goes to timeout. This way, she learns that scratching at cabinets is not something I want her to do.
2. Alternative digging spot. Some dogs really like to dig. Siberians especially are really into digging. Therefore I let puppy dig in the back, non-landscaped area of my backyard. I did a bit of training with her so that she understands that she is not supposed to dig in the front. Now she has a lot of fun digging in the back. My other Sibe keeps my yard clear of gophers and such, so she earns her keep and gets to have digging fun as well.

Another thing I considered was to get some old carpeting and then mount that up on a wall or some other structure. Then teach puppy to scratch on that as an alternative to the cabinets. However, puppy has stopped scratching on the cabinets, so I haven’t tried out the carpet idea yet.

Hello Mia,

Yeah Sephy really loves to steal things as well. Initially, supervision is very important. Every time he tries to jump onto the counter I non-mark him and take him to timeout. In this way he learns that jumping up on the counter = no food and loss of freedom.

However, this only works if I can supervise him and prevent him from getting the food or objects on the counter. Otherwise, if he keeps getting stuff off the counter, then he is being rewarded for that behavior, and he will keep repeating that behavior.

When I was too busy to supervise him during puppyhood, I put him in his crate or in his play room (where there are a lot of toys but no counters). This prevents him from practicing the counter stealing behavior and getting rewarded for it when I am not around.

Other possibilities include using sound aversion techniques –
- Sound scat pad.
- Putting metal bowls on top of the counter, so that if he knocks them down, it will make an unpleasant clanging sound. Make sure to only use light bowls that can’t hurt the dog.

As for recall, Shibas have a stubborn personality, and it is difficult to get 100% recall with them. If there is something else that is more interesting, they will go do that instead. Since Shibas are hunting dogs, chickens are very high priority. It would be difficult to trump that natural instinct to chase after prey. It may be easiest to simply keep Shiba in a different area than the chickens.

Hello Cindy,
Yeah, it is actually something that many dogs do – “raised hackles” (piloerection). As I understand it, animals do this so that they appear larger and look more intimidating. However, dogs may sometimes also do this when they are excited.

Dogs that are aroused will often have their hair stand on end, usually the “hackles,” the areas over the shoulders and just before the tail. This doesn’t necessarily mean aggression, just that they are on high alert. Some dogs get “raised hackles” more easily than others; it’s like some people who get red in the face very easily.
Stacy Braslau-Schneck

Also, how often should a shiba inu be bathed?

Shibas tend to be very clean dogs so I don’t bathe my Shiba much. When his fur starts feeling a bit grimy, I play the water hose game with him, and that usually gets the dirt out.

“Not more than once a month” was the advice I got from my breeder. Bathing too often can result in dry skin and may wash away essential oils from the coat. Show dogs probably get bathed more often depending on show schedules, but I only give my Shiba a bath when he needs it.

Hello Melissa,
Yeah Shibas do have a pretty strong protection/guard drive. Sephy used to protect his stuff when he was a puppy. During walks he would always try to put everything he sees in his mouth, and I removed all of those things by force. This made him associate me coming over to him with “losing his stuff”. As a result, he started to protect his resources.

Some things that helped with Sephy -
1. Playing the object exchange game.
2. Setting him up for success – I started observing him like a hawk and stopped him before he got any bad stuff in his mouth. In this way I don’t have to forcibly remove things from him.
3. Add food to his chew toys and help him with getting food out. In this way he starts to associate me with getting more stuff instead of losing his stuff.

With Sephy, I found that it was very important not to go too quickly. I started with very low priority items and then slowly worked my way up to higher priority items. Also, Sephy trusts people in his immediate family a lot more than other people. Therefore, he may not guard with me, but he may guard with new people and very likely with new dogs. I always remove all high priority items when introducing new people or new dogs. Sephy does not trust new people or dogs easily, but once he gives his trust, he really looks out for them. Koda sounds like he is the same way.

Here are some of my experiences with Sephy and resource guarding -
http://shibashake.com/dog/stop-food-aggression-stop-resource-guarding
http://shibashake.com/dog/resource-guarding-shiba-inu

Big hugs to Koda!

Hello Maha,
Thanks for sharing Tuffy’s stories with us. He sounds a lot like Sephy!

Hello tpj,
What has worked for potty training my dogs is to keep them on a fixed eating, resting, play, and walk schedule. They get fed, walked, crated, etc. always at fixed and consistent times. I follow the same schedule whether or not they have pooped or pee-ed. In this way, they know what to expect, and when to expect it.

Also, my new puppy has reminded me that constant supervision is key when it comes to potty training.

I have noticed that my Shiba especially really needs to have a fixed routine. When his routine changes, he gets stressed, and may start “acting-out” simply because he no longer knows what is expected of him.

In terms of what to do when puppy makes a mistake, I always just non-mark her (Ack, ack) in a normal voice (no yelling). Then I take her out for her to finish doing her business. If she does, I reward her very well with treats and her favorite games. Then I come back in and clean-up while she is outside in the enclosed backyard.

During potty training, I took my puppy out very often – at least once every two hours and more often than that if she has been playing inside the house. Activity and play usually makes a dog have to go. How often a dog should be taken out is dependent on age, the dog’s activity, health, etc.

In general, I take my puppy out more than is necessary. This helps to maximize successes and minimize failures so that she keeps getting reinforced for going outside, and she does not practice going on the inside. If she doesn’t need to go, that is fine. We come back in and resume our usual schedule.

Here are more of my experiences on potty training -
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-potty-training-facts-and-myths

I want to take a vacation next year without them and am worried about how I can find someone who will be able to take care of them.

Yeah I know what you mean. My Shiba really hates going to daycare places. I am thinking that perhaps I can get him used to a sitter/trainer, so that if I have to leave, there will be someone he is comfortable with who can house-sit and walk him.

In terms of getting loose on walks, I now use the Premier no-slip martingale collar. It works great at preventing Sephy from escaping during walks.
Premier Pet Collar Medium 1-Inch, Red

Hello Rida,
Shibas tend to be rather aloof dogs. My adult Shiba likes being by himself most of the time. He will ask for affection sometimes, but based on his own Godly Shiba schedule.

As Andrea says, a Shiba Inu is a dog that is more like a cat.

Here is an article I wrote on the Shiba Inu Personality.

Hello Tricia,

sometimes entices too much pack,chase mentality in the big dog park.

That sounds very much like Shiba Sephy. He loves chasing games so he his standard mode of operation is to get a ball and try to entice other dogs to chase after him. One time he initiated a chase game with a beautiful Afghan Hound who totally creamed him in terms of speed. Poor Sephy.

What is your Shiba’s name?

Good luck! Shania promises to send lots of positive vibes and virtual licks to Reptar.

Let us know how it goes.

Hi Colleen,
I had a lot of fun looking at Reptar’s recent photos. Your captions gave me a nice pick-me-up on a Monday morning.

I liked the fort one and the ones with the red dinosaur riding on Reptar’s back – LOL! He is such a cutie!

In terms of busting out of his crate, it sounds like it could be separation anxiety. He may be unsure of the recent changes.

Some possibilities –
1. Leave him something Shiba-proof that really smells like you in his crate.
2. Record your voice and have it play on a timer. There are also interactive toys that can play your voice back.
3. Have a neighbor or dog walker look in on him in the middle of the day and take him on a short walk. When Sephy was young I got a dog walker to do group dog walking with him. It could help relieve stress and break up his day.

Where in the house does Reptar spend his time when he gets out of his crate?

If there is a favorite room that he likes to go to, perhaps that could be his intermediate enclosure. The worry I have with the crate is that he may hurt his teeth and mouth while trying to break out.

Then perhaps during weekends or at night, he can still have some supervised crate time.

How are things with you? Did you move to a new city/state?

Hahaha! It is so like a Shiba to try and dominate a GSD.

Thanks for sharing Nikka’s story with us.

Thanks Liz. Training a Shiba is a big exercise in patience. At the end though, I think my Shiba really taught me a lot of good life lessons.

LOL – yeah I don’t think Shibas ever stop testing their boundaries. Every once in a while Sephy will try something just to see if he can get away with it.

As for smarts, Shibas are definitely up at the top. Dogs that follow commands are smart; but I think the ones that manipulate their humans to follow their commands are much smarter.

he’s such a sweet boy and loves to cuddle which is rare for a Shiba.

Yeah Sephy is not a big cuddler but he is much better than he was. I wonder if I didn’t make so many mistakes in the beginning whether he would be better today. Maybe one day I will get another Shiba and see.

I’m still waiting for him to find his independence.

I think Shibas are strange – they like to act very aloof but they are not as independent as they would like us to think. Shania is very affectionate, but in most ways she is a lot more independent than Sephy. She likes staying outside and finds fun activities to do on her own. Sephy wants to stay inside most of the time and gets a lot more stressed when home alone. Sometimes, he also tries to get Shania to come in because he wants everyone to be in close proximity.

Oh Shiba!

Yeah definitely sounds like the legendary Shiba independence and stubbornness.

Shiba Sephy is much better now but he still only does things on his own schedule. He is quite a character.

Some of the things that helped me control Sephy when he was younger -
1. Drag-lead – This is very useful. Whenever Sephy started to misbehave, I would non-mark him (Ack, Ack). If he does not listen and continues with his craziness, I say time-out and use the lead to take him to time-out. The lead is also extremely useful to stop chasing games. If he starts to run away I just step on the lead and take him directly to time-out. Make sure to only use the drag-lead when you are around to supervise and only use a flat soft collar (not a training collar).
2. NILIF – Follow the NILIF program consistently. This will help Shiba learn that the only way he gets anything that he wants is by first doing what you want.
3. Time-out – Time-outs work really well with Sephy. He really likes his freedom so putting him in a dark room with nothing to do is a big downer for a Shiba. After some repetitions, he quickly learned to stop behaviors that got him into the Time-out room.

This article contains more of the things I did with Sephy when he was a puppy -
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-training-tips-and-advice

I was also a first time dog owner when I got Sephy and he was a big pain in the ass. At the time, I thought he would never get better and would be a Holy Terror all his life. But he actually got a lot better in his own Shiba way. He is still stubborn and can sometimes be a pain in the ass, but most of the time he is actually fun to hang out with! Things will get much better with Buddy as well.

Hello Caity and Ben,
When I got my second dog, I found that it was very important to supervise the dogs whenever they are playing. They can get excited very quickly, and then suddenly play may turn into something else. The key is to step in and get them to calm down before play gets too intense.

When play starts to get intense, I usually call my Siberian to me (she has much better recall), reward her, get her to do some commands, and once she is more calm, they can go back to playing. Sometimes, Shiba will come over too, so I do commands with both of them. In this way, play interruptions are also fun and rewarding for the dogs.

Here are some of my experiences in dealing with multiple dogs in a single household -
http://shibashake.com/dog/second-dog-double-the-trouble-or-double-the-fun

Another question that comes to mind is 11 weeks too late to train and bond?

11 weeks should be very fine. I got my Shiba at 10 weeks old but didn’t really start to bond with him until much later because I made many mistakes in the beginning. But even with all the early mistakes, we are now quite close and Shiba Sephy is no longer a terror that flaps in the night.

Since you are doing so much research now, you should be way ahead of us.

Hello Anonymous,
Thank you for sharing your Shiba’s story with us. She sounds like a very awesome girl!

My Shiba is also an anxious little dude. He really likes his routine, and anything out of the ordinary really stresses him out. He is very silly though. He is always doing all these weird Shiba moves that makes everyone laugh. Last night he tried to roll onto his back and expose his tummy for rubbing, but he couldn’t quite do it properly and kept falling back onto his side.

Big hugs to you. It is always difficult losing a loved one, but they are always with us, in our minds and in our hearts. Would love to see your Shiba, so please send us a link to some pictures when you can.

Hello Donna,

1) Should I get one male and one female or will two male Shiba puppies get along?

Probably one male and one female. Males are more likely to compete with another male. Shiba females can be very dominant though, so rules and supervision are still important especially when they are young.

2) I can get two four-month old or two eight week old puppies

Everything else being equal, I would go for the 8 week puppy. Puppies absorb and learn a lot during that period, so you can really make a big difference. Still though, the most important thing when it comes to puppies is the breeder.

I got my Shiba when he was 10 weeks old from a new and not very experienced breeder. He was already very sensitive to handling and his mouth was all over us when we put a collar on him. He also mouthed on the breeder’s husband when he tried to help. Then he was really unhappy, stressed out and whining all the way home in the car. It took us a long while to desensitize him to collar handling and car rides.

On the other hand I got my Siberian from an experienced breeder. She was awesome with collars and cars right away. The breeder had already trained all of her puppies and socialized them to people, other dogs, cars, collars, and much more.

Post us some pictures when you get your little fur-balls. Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello Page,
Sephy was like that as well. As a puppy, his favorite activities were biting the curtains, chewing on books, and running around with the t.v. controller in his mouth. He totally drove me nuts.

Most of the time, Sephy would be with me in the kitchen behind a gate. I would set aside a couple of hours every day for special Sephy supervision sessions. During this time, I let him out and about so that I can catch him in the act and correct him. Every time he goes near the curtains or books I would non-mark him (Ack, Ack, or No) and body block him away from the area. Sometimes I will give him the “go to your mat” command. If he persists, then he goes into time-out.

It was not possible to multi-task Sephy supervision with something else because he seemed to know exactly when I would be engaged in something else and would choose exactly those times to start his Shiba moves.

Some other things that helped with his behavior -
1. A lot of exercise. The more engaged Sephy was with doing walks and play, the less likely he would start chewing on curtains to get attention.
2. Obedience exercises every day.
3. Following the NILIF (Nothing in Life is Free) program.
4. Putting a drag lead and flat collar on him at all times so that he can’t start a game of chase when I go over to put him in time-out.
5. A very fixed schedule. This really helped with my own sanity as well. I set up an exact schedule for play-time, walks, obedience time, supervised outside time, and most important of all, sleep time which is rest time for me.

Oh finally, giving Sephy some off-lead play-time with other dogs really helped a lot. We were able to set up several play sessions for him with friendly dogs at a nearby SPCA. This was when Sephy burned the most energy; running around and wrestling with other dogs.

Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes with your Shiba.

Hello Justin,
My Shiba acted in a similar way towards me at the beginning. It happened because when I tried to stop him from biting at some books, he redirected his frustration onto me and started mouthing my hand. This made me back away and become afraid of him. Then it just went downhill from there because his behavior got worse, I became more fearful and on and on it went.

Shibas are very sensitive to the emotions of the dogs and people around them. I think that when they sense fear, they get stressed out themselves and may use aggression to protect themselves from possible threats. It is not so much that my Shiba wanted to take over the pack, but rather that he sensed unbalanced energy from me and got affected by it himself.

Also, I was inadvertently rewarding my Shiba’s aggression because of my fear. Every time Shiba shows me teeth, I would get afraid and back away, and Shiba got to do whatever he wants. This rewards his aggression and the next time I try to stop him, he will just keep using aggression because it works and he keeps getting rewarded for it.

To stop this cycle, I had to get rid of my fear and get my Shiba to follow house rules. The best way I found to properly manage my Shiba is by strictly controlling his resources – including his food, toys, affection, and freedom. Shibas tend to value their freedom a lot, so by controlling his freedom I was able to gain better control of his actions. The more successes we had, the more confident I became, and Shiba’s behavior improved significantly.

Here are a couple of articles about what I did with Shiba Sephy -
Pack Leader to an Aggressive Dog
Are You Afraid of Your Dog?

My Siberian used to do this as well. She was actually digging for gophers and such in our lawn. Now, I have a dig area where there is no-grass and a no-dig area where there is grass. This way, she gets to enjoy her digging but just not on the grass.

To stop her from digging on grass I would only let her out when I was around to supervise her. Then when I notice her digging, I non-mark her (No or Ack-Ack) and body block her away from the area. If she does not listen, she loses her freedom to roam outside and has to come back into the house. She quickly learned where she could dig and where she should not dig.

Now, I don’t even need to supervise her when she is outside and she doesn’t dig on the grass.

Also try increasing his exercise and walks. The more things he is engaged in during the day, the less likely he will be to devise his own activities.

Another possibility is to bury some chicken wire in the areas where he likes to dig. Dogs don’t like digging on chicken wire because it is uncomfortable on their nails. Make sure to cut away all of the sharp edges on the chicken wire so that the dog does not get hurt.