She’s having trouble bonding with my partner (who lives with us) and is at best completely indifferent, if not hesitant and scared regarding him.

Yeah I can definitely relate. I was pretty scared of Sephy as well early on because he was such a crazy dog. At one point he started redirecting his frustration onto me and started biting my jacket. He would do kill-moves on my jacket when we were out walking and something set him off. That was pretty scary.

It is difficult to build a relationship with someone you are scared of or hesitant about. I did not really have a good relationship with Sephy then and really wanted to change things. At that point, the thing that helped me most was to inject a lot of structure into our activities together – there were a lot of rules and I planned for all of his Shiba maneuvers.

I also took little steps so that we could maximize successes and minimize failures. The more successful walks we went on, the more confident I became, and the more confident I became, the better behaved Sephy was. Shibas really are very sensitive to human energy. My Sibe is a happier girl, I think, because she does not react so strongly to the energy of the people around her. However, Shiba Sephy can sense any little change and often reacts strongly to it.

Here are some of the things I did with Sephy that helped me build a better relationship with him –
http://shibashake.com/dog/pack-leader-to-an-aggressive-dog

Training and doing fun joint activities with Shiba is a great way to build a better bond. Feeding is also a great way to strengthen the bond. Dogs usually develop a strong bond with the person who feeds them most. The way to a dog’s heart is almost always through her stomach 😉

Also it is important that everyone in the household institutes and enforces the same rules for Shiba. That way Kira will see everyone as belonging to the same pack/family.

Would a trainer help with something like this?

I think getting a trainer can help – but it is also difficult to find a good Shiba trainer. I have had trainers that are pretty clueless about Shibas, and couldn’t handle Sephy at all. I have also had some really good trainers who taught me a lot. Bad trainers can sometimes mislead you in the training process – which was what happened with Sephy and me early on. Nowadays, I try to do as much research as I can on my own so that I can tell which trainers know what they are talking about and which of them are just blowing out hot air 🙂

In the situation you describe it may be very helpful to have an independent third party come in and observe the interactions of everyone in the family. Usually, when it comes to dogs, people find it easier to accept advice from a professional. Bringing up a dog is often like bringing up a kid – a very personal thing.

Was the “Animal Farm” reference intentional?

Awesome that you got the Animal Farm reference! It was one of my favorite movies when I was growing up. I don’t think I understood all the nuances, but the story had a big impact on me nevertheless.