Any update on your doggy? Did keiko get her sight back?

Sadly Keiko was suffering with the Symptoms of SARDS. She went blind almost overnight but is coping well.

by and large is a dream-except for the massive fur explosion in our house over the last couple weeks during this whole coat blowing thing. Oy!!!

LOL! Time to knit a Shiba sweater for Christmas. 😀

Big hugs to Curly. He sounds like a Super-Shiba. Hope he is getting something really good from Santa. 😉

We also have a 5 year old shiba that we rescued that doesn’t seem to fit many of the descriptions I read. Curly is the most laid back, easy going, kinda lazy, sweet dog imaginable. Never barks or vocalizes at all unless he really needs to go out. Amazing with kids and babies and as docile and patient as can be with tugs and being carted around like a baby. I think he’s smarter than he lets on, but seems like not the brightest bulb in the bunch. Tho he definitely only obeys when he’s in the mood. But for the most part is so gentle and well behaved we don’t think much about it. He sleeps most of the time and doesn’t mind being left alone for many hour stretches. But when we’re home he follows us from room to room underfoot just wanting to be near. Maybe we just got lucky, as he’s our first dog and by and large is a dream-except for the massive fur explosion in our house over the last couple weeks during this whole coat blowing thing. Oy!!!

Aiko sounds adorable!

She has no problems being home alone when we go to work, and never makes a sound. No barking, no gnawing on anything, she just sleeps.

That is really awesome. Sephy was a lot more needy when he was young. He still likes having his people around, just not bothering him with affection. He is ok with being home alone for a few hours, but I think if it is too long he will start to get stressed. He is definitely a house-dog too, preferring to stay inside the house most of the time. My Sibes like being outside a lot more.

In general, Sephy is just a lot more picky and really needs to have things exactly just so, according to the routine that he has grown accustomed to. Maybe it has more to do with inflexibility rather than anything else. Definitely interesting to think about. 😀

Happy 12 months to Aiko. Big hugs to her and thanks for sharing her stories with us.

My girlfriend and I read your site through when we got our black and tan shiba Aiko. I fear we haven’t trained her enough, as she is exceptionally non-obedient. The exception is to the word “no”. There she obeys almost all the time, although I don’t use it if I don’t need to. Mostly it’s used to keep her from doing things indoors that she’s not supposed to. She rarely doesn anything, though, and doesn’t even touch food that is available because she’s learned not to.

When it comes to recall training she is not so well behaved. She comes back to me when I call if there is nothing interesting nearby. I only let her off leash when hiking (or in enclosed spaces with noone else around), so it’s not a bit problem. She can run off chasing an animal, but she always comes back pretty quickly by herself. She’s not too happy to be out of sight. If she meets other dogs, though, she wants to play and nothing else. If she sees them first I always have a hard time getting her to follow me. Meh.

Most of this is in line with your descriptions of Sephy, but the part that doesn’t fit is being able to entertain herself. She has no problems being home alone when we go to work, and never makes a sound. No barking, no gnawing on anything, she just sleeps. If she can look out the window she will just happily watch traffic for a some of the time, entertaining herself like that. She even likes to do this when we’re home. This was, actually, one of the reasons we chose a Shiba. Our breeder (who co-owns her with us and takes her to dog shows) had an interview with us to see if we and our lifestyles suited a shiba and they consider the shibas independent as a general rule when it comes to being alone. So I’m not sure if your Sephy is an exception or a rule (or our Aiko).

Anyhow, I’d like to say I love your site and have found it very useful. It’s been a while since I was last here and it’s been fun to reread some of it now that I have more experience. I think Aiko was 2-4 months last I read here, now she’s 12 🙂

Regards,
Morten Båtbukt

Sounds like you have a super-special Shiba!

My Shiba, Sephy is almost 5 years old. He is much better today than he was in the past, but I definitely would not call him obedient. He is loyal and sometimes loving – for some values of loving. 😀

Sephy is also not really into playing Fetch. He may go chase after balls sometimes, but he is most interested in stealing balls and then running off with it so that he can start a game of chase. Chase has got to be his favorite game!

Big hugs to your Shiba. What is his name? Would love to see him, so please share some photo links when you have the time. Thanks!