When I first got Shiba Sephy I was constantly embarrassed by him. Being a Shiba, he is not very interested in being a model citizen, and more interested in doing whatever he wants.

I took him out on five 30-45 minute walks per day to get rid of his hyper energy but he was still a wild thang inside and outside the house.

Shiba Sephy - A terror that flaps in the night.

The worst was his leash biting.

Don't let that sweet innocent Shiba look fool you.

If I tried to stop him from doing something during our walks he would redirect his frustrations onto the leash and sometimes onto me. Several times he jumped on me and did kill-moves on my jacket sleeve.

This was all very entertaining for my neighbors and many of them would watch from their windows or even come out to watch whenever our leash-biting dance commenced. Many of them offered all kinds of free advice, much of which was conflicting and inaccurate.

It seems that everyone is an expert when it comes to someone elses’ dog.

Needless to say, I was very embarrassed by Sephy’s behavior.

Because I was embarrassed, I got frustrated and angry with him more easily and this only made him get even more Shiba crazy.

Shiba Sephy pretending to be a model citizen.

Finally, I decided that this path of embarrassment only led to bad things – for both Sephy and me. Rather than be embarrassed by what random other people thought about my dog parenting skills, it was more important to do what was best for Shiba Sephy and help him live a happier, better life.

Once I put my ego into cold storage and started to focus on Sephy; things improved significantly. I also realized that most of my previous spectators had problem dogs of their own, and are probably just as embarrassed as I was.

When it comes to dog training – it is best to gather information on your own and make up your own mind in terms of what makes the most sense for your dogs.

It is human nature to be affected by what others think of us – but whenever I start feeling that way, I consciously refocus on the well-being of my dogs and let people on the street think whatever they want.

Whenever I start feeling embarassed, I consciously refocus on the well-being of my dogs. They are the ones that matter most.