Last weekend was Shania and Sephy’s combined Birthday extravaganza!
Shania is now 2 years old.
Sephy is 3 and starting to develop white whiskers!
Here is what happened …
1. Opening of Birthday presents
First, the presents arrived.
Both Shiba and Siberian had much fun opening their Birthday packages. In fact, both dogs probably had more fun with the packaging than with the toys.
2. Spa scratch session
Then we moved on to the spa scratch session of our program.
The dogs got to relax to the music of Air Supply, and much wonderful scratching and tummy rubs were delivered by trained experts.
3. Brunch and new toys session
After the nice r&r session, the dogs are ready for brunch.
Today’s menu is Innova kibble mixed with boiled chicken. Brunch is filled into various toys, including their new birthday Egg Baby fish toy.
First, I cut off all the tags, strings, and plastic tabs from the toy. Then I remove the squeaky balls from inside the toy. My Shiba destroys those balls in a matter of seconds.
Then I fill it with little pieces of boiled chicken, throw in some kibble, and stuff in a Hollee Roller Ball. The ball makes it more challenging to get the food out.
Result – Good, wholesome fun for everyone!
4. Walk in the hills
Now we are ready for some action!
Time for the doggy daily walk in the hills. This includes some great exploration across grassy and hilly terrain, as well as hunting and digging for earth critters.
5. Nap and cake making
Even Energizer Bunny Shania needs to nap sometime, and after a long walk, she is ready for some shut-eye.
We also start making their favorite peanut-butter, carrot, and honey cake with rice flour.
Both my Shiba and Siberian are allergic to wheat so we replace regular wheat flour with rice flour and some guar gum – YUM!
6. Apple bobbing and Chicken bobbing
Since it is Halloween time, I thought it would be fun to have an apple bobbing session.
We filled a small tub with water and put in two apples.
Unfortunately, apple bobbing is no challenge at all for Siberian Shania. She gets the apple in a second and is off.
Shiba Sephy is more cautious and unsure about this whole wet, weird game. Finally he decides that getting his royal Shiba paws wet, just for an apple, is not really worth it.
Both Shiba and Siberian were not too interested in the apples, so I pushed in some small pieces of chicken jerky and they had fun getting that out of the apples.
This led me to my next brainstorm …
which was to do chicken bobbing. I broke up some small pieces of dry chicken and threw them into the tub of water. As you can see, Siberian Shania is a pro at fishing out those chicken pieces.
She is a very smart and wonderful dog!
Meanwhile … Shiba Sephy just mooches for his chicken!
7. Birthday cake and birthday song
Finally, it is birthday cake and birthday song time.
There is a lot of singing, licks, and dripping saliva. Everyone waits patiently for the good stuff.
And then there are obedience commands, cake, and cake stuffed in interactive toys.
It is a good doggy birthday, and a fun weekend for all!
Hi Renea,
Thanks for the update. I am very glad to hear that things are going well.
Yeah Sephy really needs his multiple walks as well, or else he will definitely be up to “no good”. I think it is a favorite Shiba pastime š
Hugs to Memphis and congrats to all of you for helping him onto Santa’s good list!
Memphis, our 10 month old Shiba is doing better. We are still taking him for at least 2 walks each day. We have had a couple of guarding incidents in the last couple of months. We put him in his kennel and cover it. We ignore him completley. After a couple of hours, he is calmed down and is let out of his kennel. The object of his desire (usually a sock, hat or glove) is left in the kennel. One of the kids distracts him while another gets the item. He hasn’t wrecked a sock yet!! hahaha
Overall, it has been a good couple of months.
Our family is at the perfect age for this type of dog. Our kids are ages 13 and up. Memphis likes attention and active play. He loves the snow!!
Renea
That is very good advice Renea. A busy and well-exercised Shiba is always a better behaved Shiba.
Another thing you can do is make your Shiba work for all of his food. Use Kongs and other safe interactive food toys. My Shiba likes his Buster Cube and Omega Kibble ball. Here are some interactive food toys that I have tried.
Let us know how things go.
Hello Kaiks,
Good to hear that not all Shibas are hellions š Also a lucky Shiba to have found such a good home.
When I got my Shiba, I didn’t do enough research, and made a lot of mistakes with him. I don’t think he was very happy then, and neither were we.
He is much better now though, and I think also much happier. Not quite a model citizen; more like a rogue moocher š
Thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly. Your dog sounds just like ours. hahaha. I will try the techniques and let you know how he is doing.
I have hand fed him since we got him at five weeks. He has a very soft mouth and doesn’t guard his food.
We are giving him high priority items when he is in his outdoor kennel all day. He is inside at night and when my son goes to school, he goes to his outdoor kennel. I feel he still needs to chew and that way he has all day. He comes back inside in the late after-noon.
We have also gone back to walking him several times a day. We notice his guarding behavior is worse when he has had only been walked once a day.
thanks for the great web-site. Shibas are very rare in our area so I always find something I can use on your site.
Renea
My wife and I got a male shiba named Senbei on the 4th of October, he is now 3.5 months old.
We are expecting a lot of fun and troubles in the future but Senbei has been perfect so far. He’s been doing extremely well at puppy pre-school and will graduate on Saturday, then on Sunday we will meet at a park for a reunion with his parents and two brothers, unfortunately his sister is about 2000 miles away.
I really appreciate you making this site and sharing your pack experiences with the world, this site is the most comprehensive I have found in dealing with a shiba.
I’ve yet to read a lot more and look forward to future entries.
Hello Renea,
What you describe is a common problem with Shibas – resource guarding. Shibas are bred to be guard dogs so they have a strong guard instinct.
However, it is a behavior that you want to correct because it can become dangerous for everyone involved.
More on the how and why of resource guarding.
Bite inhibition training was also invaluable for my Shiba, but only do that if your Shiba is fine with hand feeding, and will not resort to aggression.
I would also follow the NILIF (Nothing in Life is Free) program so that your Shiba learns that you are the source of all his resources and he has to work for you to get what he wants.
If Shiba escalates his aggression, it may be best to consider getting a professional trainer.
Thank you Kaiks! š Shibas are such fun – they have all these weird looks and poses. Sephy comes up with all these funny moves both when he is awake and asleep. I have never seen other dogs with such a large repertoire of poses – lol. Shibas truly are a unique breed.
I’m not sure how to ask a question so, I’ll try this and see if I can get an answer.
Our shiba is 8 months old and is a great dog except for one thing. He gets aggressive at different times. For example, tonight he had a bone in his crate and barked and growled anytime someone went near his cage. Should we just leave him alone or make him get out of his crate. He has also gotten aggressive over socks. He will find one, go to a corner and guard it. Should we ignore his behavior, try to take the sock, distract him or none of the above. We really need so help.
Thanks.
Renea
Sephy has the cutest little smile on the fourth photo where they are watching the toys get prepared.
Looks like everyone had a great day. Happy birthday Shania & Sephy!!