Set up a schedule and carefully supervise our puppy.
The little puppy is very curious and will get into trouble every chance he gets.
To save ourselves a lot of pain and to save our puppy from stress, we want set up a fixed schedule which includes crate time, play time, walk time, as well as handling and grooming time.
When our puppy is out and about in a non-dog-proof area, we need to supervise him closely. Close supervision will give us the opportunity to teach puppy right from wrong, without too much damage to our furniture and belongings.
If I do not have the time,
- I usually crate puppy, when he is home alone, or
- I put puppy on a tie-down, when I am home but unable to fully supervise.
If you are concerned about crating your puppy, here is what the Humane Society of the United States and the American Dog Trainer’s Network have to say about dogs and crates.
When I am away for a long period of time (> 3 hours), I put puppy in a long-term enclosure. This can be a secure puppy pen or a safe room (e.g. kitchen). I make sure there is nothing in the enclosure that my puppy can destroy. I also put in some bedding, a water bowl, puppy pads, and safe chew toys.
As a general rule, the longest time to crate a puppy is (age of dog in months) hours. For example, an 8 week old puppy can be kept a maximum of (2 month old) = 2 hours in a crate. Note that this is just a general guideline for the maximum crate time.
Most puppies need to go outside more frequently than that, for exercise and potty training. I take my puppy outside as soon as he wakes up, and right after any kind of vigorous play. In the beginning, Husky puppy Shania needed to potty after about 10-15 minutes of play. Here is a more detailed table of maximum crate time.
At night, I crate my dogs in the bedroom. Sleeping together helps with the bonding process, and shows them that they are part of the pack.
2. Keep a drag-lead on our puppy
I put a drag-lead on my puppy when he is roaming freely in the house.
This will help us control our ball of energy without resorting to chasing games. When my puppy tries to run away, all I need to do is step on the drag-lead.
I use a regular, thick (1 inch wide), flat collar or harness and not an aversive collar (choke chain, prong collar). I make sure to cut off the loop on the leash, so that it does not catch on anything around the house. I start with a longer (6 feet), light leash, and then shorten it depending on my puppy’s behavior. I only do this while I am around to properly supervise my puppy.
Once he matures and is better behaved, I switch to a leash tab or remove the drag-lead altogether.
It is best to use a secure 6 foot leash during puppy leash training and not the flexi-leash. The 6 foot leash gives us better control of our puppy, and is necessary to keep him safe when he decides to go chasing after dogs, cats, or squirrels.
3. Start with reward obedience training
It is most effective and least risky to start our puppy with reward obedience training. I started out with aversive techniques, and it made my Shiba puppy develop additional behavioral issues, including aggression. In fact, my aversive based dog trainer said that it was inappropriate use pain based techniques, such as leash jerks and alpha rolls, on dogs that are younger than 6 months old.
Today, I prefer to use reward training because it is more effective at motivating my dogs, stopping undesirable behaviors, and building a strong bond.
With reward training, we establish ourselves as the pack leader by controlling our dog’s resources through the Nothing in Life is Free (NILIF) program. This simply means that my puppy has to do something for me, for example a Sit, before he gets any resource (e.g. food, toys, affection, freedom) in return. Any bullying will be ignored, or will result in the removal of that resource.
Many people make the mistake of equating pack leadership with the use of aversive training. Aversive dog trainers say that difficult, strong-willed, dominant dogs require stronger, punishment based methods in order to show him who is boss.
This is not true.
One of my dogs (a Shiba Inu) is extremely strong willed, and can be quite difficult, but he responds much better to reward training.
Be careful of advertisements for 10 minute puppy obedience training programs and the like. There are no miracle cures in puppy training.
4. Bite inhibition training
Puppy biting is common because puppies are naturally curious, and want to examine everything with their mouths.
The good news is puppies do not have the jaw strength of an adult dog, and will not do much damage to us when biting. Because of this, puppy-hood is a good time for bite inhibition, or soft mouth training.
One of the best ways to train a dog to have a soft mouth is through hand-feeding.
I hand-feed my puppy at least some of his kibble every day. If he bites too hard when getting his food, I do a sharp ouch or yelp and ignore him for a few seconds. Then, I retry the exercise. If he takes food from me gently, I praise him and continue feeding without any breaks.
We can also combine hand-feeding with obedience commands, and dog grooming sessions. Hand-feeding also helps with food aggression issues, so I continue with it even through adulthood.
Ian Dunbar’s book After You Get Your Puppy, gives a good overview of bite inhibition, and how to best train our puppy to have a soft mouth.
A puppy, and ultimately an adult dog who has a soft mouth is a great asset. Because my Shiba Inu has good bite inhibition, we were able to solve many of his behavior problems, which would have been difficult to deal with if he were biting at full strength.
5. Practice calm and assertive energy
This is something that is always emphasized by Cesar Millan (the Dog Whisperer) and it is extremely important; especially for a hyperactive puppy.
If we interact with a dog using nervous, submissive, fearful, or otherwise weak (non-assertive) energy, the dog will sense that and start acting out even more.
Anger, impatience, frustration, and all other non-calm energies will only excite our puppy, and cause him to exhibit even more extreme behaviors.
In order to achieve calm, assertive energy, we must first overcome whatever fears we may feel toward our dog, and become his pack leader. This is much easier to do if we have achieved good bite inhibition.
6. A busy puppy is a good puppy
Puppies have a lot of energy, and will get into trouble if we do not keep them busy.
I make my puppy work for ALL of his food. Instead of presenting everything to him in a silver bowl, I use his daily kibble and treats for obedience sessions, bite inhibition training, handling, and grooming. If there is food left over, I put it in interactive food toys.
I also schedule play time with my puppy. Some games that my dogs like include flirt pole, the water hose game, and sometimes soccer.
When I start with a new game, I make it fun by handing out lots of treats for effort. Once my puppy understands the game, I switch to only treating his more stellar performances.
Make sure to always have control of a puppy’s play-time. This means that we own all the toys, and we decide when to start and stop the games. Play-time can be very useful in training our puppy to calm down, and to pay attention to us even when he is excited.
I also schedule two or three short obedience training sessions (10-15 minutes) with my puppy every day. This helps to establish me as the leader, gives my puppy some mental exercise, and provides a good bonding experience.
Other good ways to exercise our puppy (after full vaccination) include neighborhood walks, walks in the park, dog playgroups, and dog sports.
7. We are not alone
The most important thing to remember while bringing up a difficult puppy is that we are not alone!
Our puppy journey will be filled with a lot of joy, but there will also be challenges and pit-falls. Sometimes, we may feel discouraged by our puppy’s behavior, or with his performance in dog obedience class.
We are not alone!
There are many support groups out there where we may post our questions. I also find it helpful to visit these groups when I feel discouraged, or when I feel like my puppy is some mutant strain of devil dog.
Do not think that you are a bad dog owner or trainer when your puppy behaves badly. Many other dog owners are facing the exact same problems. Also remember that with proper rules and training, our puppy’s behavior will improve with time.
Thanks ShibaShake!
We had our shiba puppy for 2 weeks (she’s 12 weeks old now) & she’s been a handful (though hopelessly adorable).
We are trying reward based training so far & can get her to sit quietly for a treat. However, no luck yet on everything else (e.g. the down command).
One thing we noticed is while she is very very food motivated (sometimes it’s scary to see how she wolf down the treat in my hand & the relentless licking of said hand thereafter), she will immediately turn & walk away once she is done with the treat. If we try to pet her or hold her back, she will start to nip.
Is this normal? We don’t think this is play biting, more like she don’t want us to touch her unless we have treats to offer..
Congratulations on your Shiba puppy!
Sephy was the same way when he was young. He is better now in terms of affection, and will sometimes even request belly rubs and neck scratches. It took some time to earn his trust, but he is a very loyal dog. Unlike my Sibes, he will not go off with strangers just because they have some treats in hand. đ
However, he is still a lot more aloof than my Huskies and he does not like being restrained. With training, we have taught him to tolerate some types of touching and holding, such as for grooming. Here are some things I did to desensitize Sephy to touch and hugs. We also took him to puppy class to help with his socialization to people and other dogs. We specifically picked classes that focused on socialization.
Bite inhibition training (soft-mouth training) was also very important for Sephy.
I think aloofness is a common Shiba trait, and it certainly was something I had difficulty with when Sephy was young. Here is a story of my rough start with Sephy. Happily, he has gotten a lot better, and I learned a lot from him. I write a lot more about my experiences with Sephy here.
Big hugs to your Shiba pup … well maybe not hugs but little touches with treats as a start. đ Remember to take lots of pictures. They grow up really quickly, and I hardly have any early pictures of Sephy.
Hi there,
We just got our 10 week old shiba puppy & is thinking of setting up a long term enclosure which we can continue to use when she is older.
Just how high is the height of the enclosure? We read horror stories about Shiba jumping over fences & will like to make sure the enclosure is high enough.
Thanks!
Congratulations on your new Shiba puppy!
I only used the puppy enclosure with my Shiba when he was young and still in training. I used it when I was home but could not keep a close eye on him, to keep him out of trouble. When he was alone at home, I used his crate (after getting him comfortable with it through crate training exercises). The crate seemed more secure, and I did not want him trying to jump out of the enclosure and accidentally hurting himself.
Sephy had some separation anxiety when he was young, so I also slowly got him used to alone time.
Big hugs to your puppy!
Hey, ShibaShake! I am hopefully going to adopt a male Sesame Shiba Puppy soon and I have had some experience with dogs, i.g. taking care of other people’s pets while their away and I already have a small mutt that looks like German Spitz only with less hair.with less hair. I was thinking that if I got it as a puppy it would be easier to train and it would be easier for it to adapt to a new home and lifestyle as well as have a better relationship with my current dog. I have been doing tons (and tons and tons) of research, mostly on your website ;D. I am going to have to get the dog in either South Africa or America because I live over seas and I was wondering if you had any traveling tips or any other additional training tips or food, treat, toy, or brand recommendations.
(oops.)
Four paws up for adopting a Shiba in need. đ
With food, Sephy is allergic to wheat and my Huskies also have sensitive stomachs. I currently feed them grain free kibble. For treats, I try my best to to get things with as few additives as possible.
More on how I pick my dog’s food.
More on some of the treats we have tried.
Some of the toys we have tried-
http://shibashake.com/dog/best-dog-toys
http://shibashake.com/dog/shiba-and-siberian-dog-toys
What I do to help a new dog get along with my current dogs.
Congratulations on your upcoming puppy and big hugs to your current furry one!
Hi. We got our Sheba, Sadie, in April and she was already 9 months old. The information on your site is invaluable to me!! I have you bookmarked for quick access. Thanks so much!
I have one question and one problem.
Question: is it normal for a Sheba to eat bugs? Every time we go for a walk Sadie has her nose to the ground looking for prey. She will root bugs out of the earth with her nose, or catch them on the fly. She also goes after snakes, and doesn’t mind a chew on a discarded snake skin. Ewwww! I try to get her to leave it and take it away. Even in our yard she hunts for bugs in the dirt. Maybe I’m not giving her enough food? Or is it the hunting instinct?
Problem: I took Sadie to my sisters, she has a male lab and a female small poodle. Sadie played with the lab okay, but the poodle is old and didn’t want to play. Sadie went at her and when she tried to get away Sadie grabbed her with her teeth and pulled her back. I had to keep Sadie on her leash for the rest of the visit.
Since then she has tried to go after 2 other dogs (both female and 1 small, 1 lab) the same. Both of these times the other dog yipped a lot at Sadie first. I keep her away from other dogs now. She has since been spayed, I don’t know if that will help? The breeder had said that she keeps her females apart because they will fight. Most of my doggie owning friends have females!
Thanks.
Yeah, Sephy is big on hunting lizards. Lizards move really fast, so it catches his attention and triggers his prey drive. When he was younger, he also used to hunt grasshoppers. He doesn’t try to eat them, he just likes to chase and pounce. Shibas are bred to hunt, so they can have pretty high prey drive. My Huskies have even higher prey drive so they will be gone if they see running cats, squirrel, or deer. I always keep them on-leash when not in a fully enclosed area.
My *guess* is that it is prey drive combined with puppy curiosity. Puppies often try to put everything in their mouths, at least once, to check it out. My younger Husky tried examining a bee once and got stung. However, as with all behavior, context and temperament play a very big role, so for a more accurate assessment, those would have to be taken into account.
A bit more on prey drive.
In terms of other dogs, Sephy was also reactive to other dogs when he was young. He would get over-excited, and would often overwhelm the other dog, especially a lower energy dog or a smaller dog. Sephy also has the Shiba stubbornness in spades, so he would keep at a dog until the dog gives in and plays with him.
Some things that help with Sephy-
1. I pick his playmates very carefully. He likes larger playful dogs who are energetic and likes to wrestle. He does not like dominant dogs, and he does not like new dogs sniffing his butt. I make sure to pick playmates that are compatible with his temperament and play-style.
2. I set very clear dog-to-dog interaction rules with all of my dogs. I also throw in many play-breaks so that I can manage their excitement level. Here is more on what I do to manage play.
3. I did a lot of dog-to-dog desensitization exercises with Sephy to raise his reactivity threshold and to teach him to stay calm while in the presence of other dogs.
The key with Sephy is to control the environment and context as much as I can so that I can maximize success. With each successful encounter and play session, he gains confidence, learns to view other dogs positively, learns how to play-nice, and learns to trust me to handle conflicts. Similarly, I also protect him from negative encounters.
A bit more on how I socialized my dogs.
Consulting with a good professional trainer can also be helpful. I visited with several trainers in Sephy’s first year, and learned some good things from them. We also did desensitization exercises with trainers at our local SPCA because they had a nice variety of dogs that they could use for our training sessions.
Hope this helps. Big hugs to Sadie!
What is your schedule that you use for your dogs. Like puppy training or walks. It would be a great start for my schedule đ
The puppy schedule will be very dependent on the individual dog. Lara’s schedule works for Lara but may not work well for a different dog, who will have a different energy level, be motivated by different things, live in a different environment, and enjoy different activities.
With Lara, she would sleep for about 1.5-2 hours, then we would do stuff for about 2 hours, then sleep again, and so on.
– I take her outside to do potty as soon as she wakes up, and then I reward her really well with games and other fun training exercises when we are outside.
– After that we come in, and she plays with my other dogs if they want to. In the beginning, when Lara was small, I only let her play on-leash so that I can keep her close, supervise her *very closely*, and make sure nobody gets hurt.
http://shibashake.com/dog/a-new-puppy-first-10-days-of-hell
– After 10-15 minutes of play, I take her out again to do potty if she needs to.
– Next, we come in and do some training exercises.
– Finally, we end the session with a couple of frozen Kongs. That helps to calm Lara down and she goes to sleep after that.
At night, she would sleep for longer, but I may take her out once or twice for potty. She lets me know when she needs to go.
I *did not* walk Lara in the neighborhood until after she was fully vaccinated. For dog socialization we did supervised puppy play groups at a nearby daycare center. The sessions were supervised by at least one trainer, and they checked all the puppies for vaccination records. Shania and Sephy went to puppy class where they also checked for vaccination records.
Hey Shibashake!! My boyfriend and I just got an 11 week old shiba pup last Saturday. So we found your site when trying to do as much research as possible on our pup and training him to be the best dog he can be! You have tons of great information! I have a concern. In our efforts to stop his biting we have tried to do some of the things you suggested, such as limit his resources – only give him one toy to play with at a time, and only give him access to food at 3 set times a day. We are avoiding playing tug of war with him and are trying to walk away when he starts to bite. We have penned off a small part of the living room of our condo that is connected to a narrow kitchen so he has a small area to roam and play. We’ve made these changes today, after doing a lot of reading last night. However compared to before we made these changes, like setting up the pen, saying no and walking away when he starts to bite, etc. he was very boisterous and full of energy, whereas now he seems sort of depressed and low energy. Do you think this is normal? Should we be worried that we are being too harsh on him? halp please đ
Congratulations on your new puppy!
In terms of dog training techniques, it is very dependent on the temperament of the dog, the surrounding environment, our own temperament and more. I always make sure to listen to my dogs and tweak whatever methods as necessary to suit our situation.
For example, Sephy the Shiba is a lot more stubborn and more likely to test his boundaries. I set up more rules for Sephy, and I am very consistent with making sure he follows the rules. My Huskies are more relaxed and easy-going, so they get rewarded with more flexibility and freedom.
What I learned from Sephy is that it is important to-
1. Listen to my dogs.
2. Be open-minded, and gather as much information as I can about how dogs learn and how I can improve quality of life. There is a lot of misinformation out there about dog training, so I get my information from many different sources, especially from trusted sources such as scientific studies, highly regarded vet schools (UPenn, UCDavis), and well established dog advocates (e.g. SPCA, RSPCA).
3. Set Sephy up for success. The more good behaviors he performs, the more likely he will repeat them in the future. The same is true of bad behaviors.
Also, I take any new puppy into the vet for a check-up when I first get them. In this way, I can be sure of his health and can also set up a vaccination schedule.
Big hugs to puppy!
Hi ShibaShake!
I just got a Shiba a few weeks ago when he was 8 weeks old. He is almost 10 weeks now and I have a few questions for you.
I live in an apartment in the city and when I go to sleep at night, I just let him roam around in my room. So I see that you use a crate at night, should I try to get him to do this or just let him free in my room? So far he has learned to wake us up if he needs to go potty and there have been very few accidents while we are sleeping.
Another question I have is about leash training. In your guide, you say you have problems with your dog pulling, I have the opposite problem. My dog doesnât want to go. I put the leash on his harness and he just sits down and wonât go. How can I make him walk with me?
Thank you for helping me out! I love your helpful website =D It has given me so much info!
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training/comment-page-1#comment-71784
Hi ShibaShake!
I just got myself a Shiba last Saturday. Yay! Mochi was 8 weeks old when we got him (9 now), but unfortunately I didn’t do any reading beforehand and I did not realize the “I’ll do it if I want to” personality haha.
So my situation is this; we live in an apartment in the city with one bedroom. I have taught him that we go outside to go potty and he actually learned this quite quickly (within a week!) and does it very well. One of my current problems is that for some reason I canât get him to walk on a leash with me at all. I got him a full body harness because I donât want him to have it just around his neck and I put it on him when we go outside to go potty and set him down on the sidewalk to walk to the grass; he just sits down. He wonât move at all unless I tug on him.
Now, I have read a little bit on your site and I know that pulling him wonât do anything to help him, but aside from that, he sits there like a bump on a log and wonât move! He goes potty but then walks out of the grass and wonât go the way I want him to. I imagine it would probably come with time, but I donât know why he wonât walk on the leash. Do you know what I can do for this?
My next question is about crating, sleeping and time away. When we first got Mochi, we got him a blanket and put it on the floor for him to sleep on. He just went under the bed and hid in the corner. Now we have gotten him to come out and sleep on the floor and he does well with that. We got him a crate yesterday and he seems to be ok with it, but he still prefers to sleep on the bed we bought him (Costco dog bed). So my question is this, should we try to do like you do and keep him in the crate for the majority of the time, or let him roam around my room like it was the short-term confinement area like you have? Also, should we keep him in the crate at night or let him sleep wherever he wants in my room?
My schedule is such that I am gone in the morning from 11 until 8 at work, but my girlfriend is home at 4 or so. We donât have anyone else in the house that could let him out, so do you think that putting him in the crate would be ok for that amount of time?
Sorry for the long post, I just have a lot of questions and I want to make sure he will turn out to be a good boy ; ]
Thank you for your help!
Congratulations on your new Shiba pup!
Re: Walking on a leash
With my puppy, I start small, help her get comfortable with having a leash, and help her associate it with positive events. Here is more on what I did.
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-i-trained-my-husky-puppy/comment-page-1#comment-71204
Re: Crating
That depends a lot on the puppy, his routine, the environment, our preferences, etc.
1. Sephy only goes in his crate at night. If he wants to come out, he can, and then we let him roam around downstairs which is a fully dog-proof area.
2. He gets special snacks in his crate, and we carefully desensitized him to it. He views it as his safe place, and likes going in there to work on high priority chews such as Greenies.
3. Since I cannot supervise my puppy while I am asleep, I do not let her roam freely about in a space unless I am 100% certain puppy is fully potty trained, and 100% certain that the space is totally safe, e.g. no wires, paper clips, phones, or whatever else that a puppy may chew on and become a choking hazard; nothing puppy can jump on and then hurt herself while trying to jump down, etc.
During puppyhood, I have found that supervision is key. When I cannot supervise, I make sure to put my puppy in a safe, dog-proof area.
Based on what I have read, this is the general guideline for the maximum amount of crate time. I usually let my puppy out much more often than that. If I will be away for longer, then I use a puppy enclosure.
This article has more on what I do while potty training my puppy.
Big hugs to Mochi! Share some pictures with us when you have the time. đ
We have a 9 week old Shiba male named Nico. We got him 9 days ago and by day 2 he was going into his crate and sleeping all night (10-6 am) with no issue. He goes to the door when he wants to go outside and I give him treats when he goes. He is so calm when we take him outside that everyone comments on it. We will travel in the car and him in his crate and he just sits there waiting for us to get him out. He sits patiently by his food as I get ready to feed him, waits for me to put his bowls down and then calmly walks to his food. We have at times been able to keep him out of his crate for the whole day without any pee or poop incident and then take him out and he goes. I think his training is going extremely well. We feed him at the same time, put him to sleep at the same time, play, etc.. all on schedule, he doesnt even complain when we may try to watch a movie and put him in his crate, he will whine for about 2 or 3 minutes and then play with his bone or take a nap. The puppy is almost to good to be true…However yesterday he pee’d in the house 3 times and 1 time in his crate and also got “crazy” out of no where running wild, biting, growling, to the point I had to put him in his crate to calm down because my son was scared. He even would run full speed to the back door and jump into it a few times. He does a lot of sniffing outside in the yard, is it possible he sniffed something bad and it somehow affected his brain? His actions last night were just that odd that it now really concerns us. For the first 8 days he was such an incredible well behaved puppy, smarter than any other I had ever had that we joked he was an alien lol. But after last night I almost feel as if now he may be going backwards.. Is this normal for a Shiba puppy to be unbelievably perfect and then out of nowhere completely bonkers and aggressive?
What you describe sounds like the end of the “honeymoon period”.
A puppy or new dog may be more passive and quiet in the beginning because there was just a big change in his environment. Everything is new, everyone is new, and there is a lot of uncertainty and stress. As a new dog “learns the ropes” and gets more comfortable in his new digs, he will likely start acting more like a puppy again.
Unusual peeing behavior *could* also be due to physical issues, e.g. urinary tract infection. Has he been to the vet for an initial check-up?
Sephy was very energetic during his puppyhood. He would run around at high speeds, bite books and curtains, steal t.v. controllers to start a chase game, and much more. The high-speed running around Shiba behavior is also affectionately called the Shiba 500.
I had a lot of difficulties with Sephy when he was young. In fact, I started this site because of him. We had lots of adventures together and he gave me lots of stories to tell. đ
http://shibashake.com/shiba-inu-tips-information-care
HI there,
So when getting a dog we decided we wanted a challenge and got a sibe. He was a pain in the arse just as we expected but got over it. He’s now 8months old and we decided to get him a buddy.
Of course being suckers for punishment we got a shiba. Its actually going well he’s stays in his crate at night and only cries to got to the toilet and hasn’t messed in side once. The sibe acts as we expected and wants to play all the time. He’s fairly gentle and we always supervise and step in if he goes too far in fact it’s hilarious watching a 3 kg shiba “pin down” a 16 kg sibe by the throat.
This where the problems start to occur. Our sibe ALWAYS wants to play even when the shiba just wants to explore and the shiba can get quite vocal during these play sessions. A couple of times he obviously wants out so I step in to stop it other times I’m not sure.
So after all this I have two questions. The first is how do I tell if the shiba is giving a play bark or a “back off, I’m over this” bark?
The second is should I be trying to discourage my sibe from playing so much. I was thinking of trying to calm him down by giving him treats for sitting calmly while the shiba is out exploring to de-sensitise him to having another dog around.
LOL! That definitely deserves a video or a picture.
Yeah, this can be difficult to tell with just the sound alone. It helps to look at other cues, e.g. the entire body of the dog and movement. When Sephy is uncomfortable or tense, his body posture will be more rigid, and his facial expression is also different.
When he is interested in doing something else, he will just do whatever it is he wants to do and start ignoring the other dogs. When I see him lose interest (e.g. start to ignore and focus on something else) then I make sure the Sibes do not bother him.
When he is interested in play, his body is more loose, he is focused on the other dogs (eye-contact, body orientation), and he does a fair number of play-bows.
The more I observe Sephy playing with my Sibes, the better I can understand his body language. When in doubt, I just throw in a play-break – I call my Sibes over, we do some very simple commands, and they get rewarded well. In this way, they calm down, refocus on me, and get used to doing commands even while excited. I find play-breaks to be a really good way to manage their excitement level, so that “play” never becomes too intense.
In the beginning, I start small and only calling them over when they are not really distracted with anything. Then once they come consistently, I very slowly increase the level of distraction. I also use really good rewards.
As you already know, Sibes are Energizer Bunnies. What works well for my Sibes is to redirect their energy into doing something else. If my Shiba does not want to play and Husky Lara is in one of her playful moods, then I may step in and play with her instead, or we go out to the backyard and play a game or do movement exercises (e.g. jumps, running+recall), or we go out for a walk. I also set up a very fixed schedule for all my dogs, so they know when walk time is, and when sleep time is. In this way, everyone knows what to expect from everyone else.
Thanks,
I found watching the shibas body language hard because he’s so small and often obscured by the sibe.
They are both playing better now. I take the sibe for a walk twice a day anyway so I try to leave play time for after walks. Last night for the first time in a while the sibe got so worn out that he had no interest in playing with people or the shiba infact I had to pull the shiba off him because he wanted a break. I’m quite confident they will grow up to be great friends, I just need to keep an eye on them till the shiba is a bit bigger.
p.s. I have plenty of pictures and videos of both of them including them playing.
LOL! That sounds like a very happy day for a Sibe.
I would love to have a look. Do you have them online? Please post us some links when you have the time.
Of course they are online :). Here’s their Google+ page.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/107055328424626530638/107055328424626530638/posts
Enjoy.
Hahaha! Kuma has an awesome mask. It makes him look very mischievous. I also like how he redesigned your bathroom. He has great carpentry skills. đ
Also really like the video of little Kuma rearranging his bed and water bowl. Gotta love Sibes!
Many thanks for the link!