The Shiba Inu is a beautiful Spitz dog. You will get many compliments and turn many heads, while walking next to a Shiba.
A Shiba can get you a lot of attention, and open doors to many social encounters. Get used to hearing, “He looks just like a fox!”.
In fact, it is this foxy look that often gets Shibas into trouble.
Many people fall in love with the ‘Shiba look’, but are not equipped to handle his larger than life personality.
If you like the Spitz look, there are many other breeds that fall into this group, that may better suit your lifestyle.
The Good
1. A dog that is more like a cat
A Shiba Inu is independent and very clean.
My Shiba Sephy, spends a fair amount of time not just grooming himself, but also helping to groom my Siberian Husky.
Their inborn cleanliness make them generally easy to potty train.
Sephy only had potty mistakes on the first day that we brought him home (10 weeks old). After that, he has always let me know when he needs to go outside. In fact, he naturally dislikes soiling his living space, and even prefers not to go in our backyard.
Shiba Inus like having their humans around, in the general vicinity. However, they are aloof like cats, and do not need or want human affection, much of the time.
2. A good watch dog
A Shiba Inu is not a noisy dog. However, when there are strange people or strange noises around the house, Sephy will bark to alert me. Once I go and check things out, he stops barking.
Sephy also has a great memory, and will alert me if anything is out of place around the house, or in a familiar neighborhood. One day, he started barking at the fence, because somebody had put a piece of wood on top of it – amazing!
3. Graceful, agile, and high energy
A Shiba Inu is graceful and agile.
He can leap tall fences in a single bound, and can scale walls like Spiderman. If properly directed, his super powers can be used for good. However, when left on his own, the Shiba will likely turn towards the Dark Side.
Sephy is a great hiking buddy, and is always up for a new challenge. He can easily learn and conquer an agility course, but he will only do it, if I make it worth his while.
A Shiba running is a sight to behold, and a Shiba at play is poetry in motion.
4. A doggy Einstein
A Shiba Inu can learn many dog obedience commands, and he can learn them very quickly. He also thinks that he is much smarter than you, and will only obey you when it suits him.
Sephy can quickly solve complex interactive dog toys and puzzles. I am always trying out new ways to deploy his food in toys, because he figures things out so quickly.
A Shiba will challenge us and keep us sharp and on our toes!
5. A larger than life personality
No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness.
~~[ Aristotle ]
A Shiba Inu may be small in body, but he has a ginormous personality. If a Shiba were a person, he would either be an extremely successful egomaniac or in prison!
Sephy always surprises me and makes me laugh; at least when he is not making me cry.
He has this one move, where he puts his head down on the ground, with his butt sticking up in the air – it is just too precious.
The Bad
1. Bold, strong willed, and stubborn
A Shiba Inu has a “Never give up, Never surrender” attitude.
He will not back down from a challenge, and will often fight back when he perceives a threat. Because of this, many Shiba owners face aggression issues with their dog, including food aggression, dog to dog aggression, and people aggression.
To successfully live with a Shiba, we must be extremely patient, and have a good sense of humor.
Turn a Shiba’s annoying habits against him.
For example, a Shiba gets bored easily. If we ignore him and give him nothing to react to, he will quickly lose interest, and move on to something else.
Sephy can also be very competitive. If he sees another dog getting praise and rewards, he will want to strut his stuff and show that he is better.
Work with a Shiba’s innate personality, and use it motivate him in the right direction. Passive resistance and reward obedience training, work best with my Shiba.
A Shiba will hand you many lemons, which is good if you like lemonade. Otherwise, just cut one up and squirt it on his muzzle.
~~[ just kidding! ShibaShake ]
2. A sly, rougish intelligence
A Shiba Inu is super intelligent. He will most often use his brain power to “push your buttons“, and get what he wants.
Sephy is always trying to figure out how he can outsmart me, and all the humans around him. A trainer once told me that Sephy was spending the weekends, “Devising new strategies to defeat her”.
In another life, my Shiba was probably a Catholic priest. He can guilt me into doing almost anything for him.
Beware the Shiba look – it is one of his most powerful weapons, and he will use it to great effect, if he senses any weakness in you. Before you know it, your Shiba will have gotten you trained to fetch, stay, and rub tummy.
- Remember that a Shiba will do whatever he wants, if he can get away with it.
- If he cannot get away with it, he will figure out another way to get what he wants.
- When he gets caught with his nose in the cookie jar, he will give you the innocent, “What did I do?” look, and then come over to lick your hand.
As soon as you turn away, he is back in the cookie jar!
3. Like the evil, black Spiderman
A Shiba Inu is capable of great feats of agility. However, if left untrained, he will use his powers to destroy and cause great havoc in the household.
If bored and lonely, he will escape by jumping over or burrowing under your fence. He can squeeze through small holes, bite through leashes, and achieve amazing great escapes, that will make Houdini proud.
If not properly supervised, Sephy will pull down items from counters, and shred them to pieces. He may even eat some of those pieces. Once, I left him unsupervised for about 10 minutes. In that time, he pulled down a phone headset, dismantled it into little pieces, and arranged them in a strategic pattern all over the floor. Luckily, he did not swallow anything.
A young Shiba Inu has a lot of energy.
It takes a lot to keep him occupied, and away from trouble. Supervised play sessions with friendly dogs can help. Another alternative is to put him in dog daycare, or to employ the services of a dog walker.
4. A Drama Queen
My Shiba will whine, mope, and act like it is the end of the world, when he is unhappy about something (e.g. wearing a harness).
Woe be to you if your Shiba gets hurt, or even just thinks that he is hurt.
Sephy acts like he is close to death’s door, even for small things like getting grass stuck between his teeth.
Woe be to you, woe be to your vet, and woe be to anyone who tries to help.
Shibas are extremely touchy when in this state, and may snap or bite at anyone who comes near them.
In addition, Sephy is extremely sensitive to the energy of the people and dogs around him. If I am scared or stressed-out, he picks up on that immediately, and gets that way too – except with a thousand times more gusto!
5. An accomplished singer
A Shiba Inu does not bark much, but he has a wide range of vocal stylings.
The most well known is the Shiba-scream, which is a high pitched, loud scream, that will make your blood curdle. Your neighbors will think you are torturing your poor little ball of fur.
A Shiba will quickly learn to use his Shiba-scream against you, if you let him.
Do not get embarrassed, and do not give him a reaction during a Shiba-scream. I just ignore Sephy and go about my business. He quickly learned that screaming is not very effective at getting him what he wants, and he stopped doing it. Remember that a Shiba can see your outward appearance, as well as sense your inner energy.
6. Dog royalty
A Shiba Inu does not like being touched or handled.
Cutting nails, bathing, or a vet examination, is never fun for any breed of dog. However, with a Shiba, it can be total hell.
After a lot of desensitization work and management, Sephy still protests to some of these activities. He sometimes throws a fit when I pick him up, and he only likes human contact when the mood suits him.
A Shiba is like dog royalty. He wants his subjects close enough to serve him, but not too close as to sully his royal person.
7. Pretends not to understand ‘Obedience’
Obedience? What’s that?
Shibas Inus think that you should be obedient to them and not the other way around. If you want a Shiba to do something for you, you had better make him a good offer. Sometimes, Sephy bargains with me. He will sit there and wait until I have the acceptable number of dog treats in my hand, before going into his crate.
A Shiba can be a good citizen at home, but he must be properly managed.
Shibas are strong willed, independent, and bred to hunt. Aversive training does not work well on them. Shiba owners need to be creative and flexible when interacting with their dog.
A Shiba is not to be trusted off-leash, unless in a fully enclosed area.
8. Nasty, wicked teeth
For a small dog, a Shiba Inu has very large teeth, and he is not afraid to use them.
Shibas can be very mouthy; more so than many other dog breeds. When I first got Sephy at 10 weeks old, his mouth was all over me. Now, it is in control, but his instinct is still to bite.
Shibas are a primitive breed, and they lose control more easily than other more domesticated dog breeds.
The Quirky
A grass connoisseur
Sephy likes grazing, but he is picky about what grass he will eat. Dogs may sometimes graze when their stomachs are upset, to clear their digestive systems. However, my Shiba just enjoys eating grass, provided it is the right kind of grass.
I recently found an article suggesting that there might be something to this grass connoisseur business after all.
“We at Green Foods believe that dogs and many other carnivores, including cats and bears, eat cereal grasses because cereal grasses contain nutrients not found in meat that are essential for the animals’ good health.”
~~[ Green Foods web site ]
Thanks to all the posters at Shibatalk and ShibaInuInfo for their many humorous Shiba stories that inspired this article.
Thanks for a great and informative article.
I’m amazed at how precise your description of shibas are. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought you were describing my shiba.
Feeding question.
I noticed on several occasions, my shiba bringing her empty bowl to me after she’s done eating.
We are on a pretty consistent schedule when we feed her, and we are not exactly the stingy type when it comes to feeding her. Is this a sign I should be giving her more food?
Thanks!
LOL! That is simply adorable! Definitely take some pictures!
My dogs are also big time food lovers, especially my Sibes. They will eat and eat and eat if they can. 😀
In general I feed them their allotted amount of food and don’t give them more than that. I also give them some treats, so I reduce their kibble intake according to their treat intake.
With Shania especially I have to keep her slim so that she doesn’t have to support any extra weight (she is a 3 legged dog). I think it is generally good practice and healthy to keep dogs slim and well exercised.
Remember to share those bowl pictures with us. I can’t wait to see it! 😀
My dog actually has a bowl of kibble to eat from when he’d like, when it’s 3/4 empty he tips it over… lol. Oh Shibas, I love them, and also this article described my shiba exactly. So true!
Omg this website makes me want a shiba inu even though there kind of a tough dog to take care cause you need to know so much about it and know how to take fully good care of it.
Hahaha, yeah Shibas are a big pain in the ass! The get better when they grow older but they are always rebels at heart. 😀
Theyre a pain, but they pay that back in being adorable quirky love balls. They pay you back for their mischief with loyalty and love.
I have a 10 month old Shiba female named Collie. We had her since she was 10 weeks old. She is a total momma’s girl. 🙂
Her favorite place to go (daily) is the dog park. When we go there are usually 3-4 other Shiba’s (3-12 years old) and I’ve noticed that Collie doesn’t not want to play play with them vs gathering them up and ganging on the small dogs. 🙂 Is there a reason why (certain) Shiba’s don’t like interacting?
Heh, Shibas generally think that they are King and all other dogs should behave according to what King Shiba wants. 😀
Sephy likes playing chasing games so he will usually steal balls and try and get other dogs to chase him. I think he is truly puzzled when other dogs don’t want to play chase with him because why wouldn’t anyone not want to play with a Shiba?!
Sounds like Collie likes herding other dogs, which is also a type of interaction.
Also, I have noticed that small dogs don’t generally like playing with Sephy because he has a rougher play style that can easily overwhelm them. I usually only let Sephy play with larger dogs.
my shiba will not stop biting people! he often humps my leg and paws me and bites my hands and clothes and when I back up he follows and continues to bite. when we go on walks he won’t let me put on his harness and does this ‘scream’ thing. also he will not listen to orders unless he can smell food. is there anything you know that can help? mainly just no jumping up and biting ppl.
thx!
Hello Clare,
In terms of biting, here are some things that helped with Sephy –
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-tips-solutions
1. Bite inhibition training.
http://shibashake.com/dog/bite-inhibition
2. If Sephy does not stop biting after I non-mark him and give him an alternate command, then I withdraw my attention (stand up and turn away from him).
3. If Sephy continues with his crazy biting then he goes to time-out.
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-how-to-stop-puppy-biting#timeout
Here are some of the things that helped with jumping –
http://shibashake.com/dog/stop-your-dog-from-jumping-on-people
Getting help from a professional trainer also helped a lot with Shiba Sephy. The professional trainer was able to observe Sephy and identify the root of many of his behavioral issues. He also gave us many useful tips for every day management.
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training
Congratulations on your new Shiba Inu. Let us know how it goes!
Very interesting article. K may be adopting a shiba chihuha mix. Will refer to this article again, I am sure
I loved your article. It was very fun to read. Some of the parts were very humorous to me. I was thinking about getting a shiba inu puppy(8 weeks old approx.) when i move. The thing is i work anywhere between 8-10 hrs usually. Would a shiba inu puppy be okay for that long by themselves? Thank you.
Hello Tyler,
With Shiba Sephy, he really needed a lot of attention especially when he was a puppy. Not the cuddling type attention, but the “what kind of trouble I can get into now” type of attention. When left on his own, he would be biting at curtains, biting at books, and biting at everything in sight except his toys. 😀
He is 4.5 years old now, so he is often happy to relax and sleep after his > 1 hour daily walk, but he still really likes having his pack close-by.
In terms of how to keep a Shiba puppy entertained and somewhat contained while you are away, here are some possibilities –
1. Dog daycare.
This allows Shiba to be with people and socialize with other dogs. A good daycare will have small very well supervised playgroups. They will also group together dogs based on size and energy.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Dog-Daycare—Good-Or-Bad?&id=1494435
2. Group dog walks.
Many dog walkers now offer group dog walks where they bring a group of dogs to a hiking park. This is usually a much smaller group of dogs, probably around 6 at most. It is also more structured than a daycare. However, a really good dog walker is probably required to be able to do this with a Shiba.
This article on whether Shiba Inus are truly independent may also be of interest –
http://shibashake.com/dog/are-shiba-inus-truly-independent
omigod u want a shiba?! i hav one and if this is ur first time it will be a HEADACHE! will u b able to STAND the biting? they often jump on u 2 greet u, scratching u in the process and leaving paw prints on ur clothes. r u ready for a shiba? also shibas tend to be the leader instead of u. my shiba is almost 1 yrs old and still isn’t well trained!
but there is a good side!
they r sooooo CUTE! especially when they roll over and let u scratch their belly or when they cock their heads to one side at weird noises. don’t fall for their ‘cute look’ when it’s meal time!
good luck!
WOW!! What a great article you wrote!!! Very informative
Ok, so it’s been a while since I’ve posted. My moksha has been a model shiba well that is until now. Just recently he has decided that he is going to test me on every bit of the training that I’ve done so far. He will not do anything that I ask him too. He is doing things that he used to do when he was just a little puppy ie, biting furniture, stealing things, whining all the time and my least favorite being a little aggressive with other dogs. So lately I have been feeling like he is very much testing my patience…I swear it’s a good thing he’s so adorable. So anyway I think that all the other things will come around, but I am a little worried about the dog aggression. I would appreciate some suggestions about how I can get him to stop with the dog aggression safely. I mean so that he doesn’t tick the wrong dog off and get hurt. I have been using the NILF technique for all of his other behaviors and that has worked in the past, but the dog aggression I am pretty stumped on. I don’t feel like the dog park is the right place to work on this problem, but because I don’t have many friends with dogs it’s kind of hard to work on it at home. The other problem is that I could take him to the local dog trainer, but as every shiba owner knows it’s either hit or miss with dog trainers and I really don’t want to put a tremendous amount of money to spend time with a trainer for a half hour. All that to say if you have any ideas HELP!!!!!!!!! I love my prince moksha, but it seems as though the terrible twos is a cliche not only for humans but for dogs too.
thanks,
meg
Hello Meg,
Always good to hear from you and Moksha.
I would agree. Going to the dog park actually made Sephy’s behavior worse. There is very little structure in dog parks, and often, there are dogs there that do not want to interact with other dogs, are dominant, aggressive or untrained.
Based on my experiences with Sephy, I have observed that different dogs have different tolerances when it comes to meeting other dogs. Dogs bred for protection are slower to trust and will be more particular when it comes to dog greetings.
Sephy is pretty picky about his dog friends. He does not like dominant dogs and he does not like new dogs coming up to him and sniffing his butt. In general, we don’t stop and meet neighborhood dogs because most of them are over-excited and not under good owner control.
In Sephy’s case I have found that it is best to create neutral experiences. We simply ignore other dogs, stay calm, and go on our way. For playing, I carefully choose his friends so that he only plays with more easy-going dogs that are totally not dominant.
When Sephy was young I did a fair amount of dog-to-dog training with him at our SPCA. We would go over and have short sessions with a variety of dogs. Most of the time we would pick easy going dogs that Sephy can have fun play-sessions with. Sometimes, we would pick dominant dogs or intolerant dogs, and in those cases we practice focus exercises so that Sephy stays calm and ignores the other dogs.
Sephy does not trust easily and he has very clear social boundaries, so I make sure that when he does meet new dogs, it is a successful meeting. For example, with the new puppy, Shania took to her right away. It took Sephy a few days before even starting to accept her into his circle of trust. However, once he has accepted her, he is very tolerant of her crazy puppy behaviors – it just takes him more time.
How to train a particular dog will depend on what sorts of situations we want to prepare him for, what his temperament is, frequency of dog-to-dog encounters, context of dog-to-dog encounters, etc.
Here is an article I wrote on my experiences with Sephy and dog-to-dog aggression –
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-to-dog-aggression
Hugs to Moksha. Let us know how it goes.
I have raised and breed many German Sheperd dogs in the ’70s …then after my last one was old i decided to get shiba’s..my first instinct after getting him was well i’m the boss…and you have to very well enforce this from day one.. my shake can was always available and every nite after he was 12 weeks old i held him with back down and made him listen to a story. then with treats taught him to sit and lay down. and every day i took him to my hobby store to meet people and i think that daily socialazation is why he is so good today . he is absolutly great with any kid and if the kid is a testy on he knows it from the get go and just avoids them…but the nice ones he is always very good and gets his ball and plays…now adults he mostly says hi and goes to his spot on the window ledge..unless its a person who comes in every week…he never barks but is very vocal when he wants something….i suggest finding a calm dog and meeting him but only on a leash.,not to play but to socialize..and always get him to meet people every day..and even if he is old go to a class like petsmart or others…it may take several times but you have to be patient..playing fetch is always a fun way to get him to listen and sit and throw ball but have his leash on so you can keep him sitting then go longer for staying and laying..and catching the ball…if he gets bored after 2 minutes then wait and hour and repeat..i have found the fetching with shibas is easiest way to get attention..my male is nuetred as he has an underbite but perfect in every other sense.i now just got another female and she is show quality…Marion from classy kennels in michigan raises more champion shibas than anybody in the states…good luck..jeff
Haha, I can just see Lara giving the puppy battle cry and Sephy pretending to be above it all (while secretly enjoying all of the attention and shenanigans).
If Kiba keeps doing well, we’re planning to get a little girl Shiba puppy next year. I love Sibes too, but I think they are just a little to big for our family.
We start puppy class next Monday!
Oh, I don’t think I mentioned it, Kiba’s a Christmas puppy, born on Christmas day. How’s that for an easy to remember birthday? 🙂
Looking forward to pictures of Lara and Sephy playing!
That is awesome! My Birthday is actually quite close to Christmas but I didn’t manage to make it. The big upside to having a near Christmas birthday is that it is always holiday time and everyone is in a good and festive mood. The big downside is that people usually lump birthday and Christmas presents as a combo thing. 🙁
Should be a whole lot of fun! Definitely tell me how it goes. Would love to hear about Kiba’s classroom experiences.
I just posted some Lara and Sephy pictures. Those are difficult to get because most of the time Sephy is too cool to play with puppy! 😀
I love this – If a Shiba were a person, he would either be an extremely successful egomaniac or in prison!
I always tell people Kiba is very well aware of his own worth. In his opinion, nothing in the house is nearly as impressive as he is.
LOL!
How is Kiba?
I have been really proud of Sephy. It took him a bit longer than Shania but he has now fully accepted puppy into his circle of trust. He tolerates her using all of the toys and sleeping on his bed. He is also really good about trying to ignore her when she pesters him to play with her.
Last weekend puppy let off one of her super war-cries and launched herself into a sitting Sephy. Sephy just sat there and pretended to ignore her. Meanwhile puppy bounced off the Shiba wall, and fell onto her back. Then she let off another war-cry and went back to pestering Sephy. It was too funny! 😀
Hello Shiba Shake,
I have a Shiba puppy I got from my sister and he is very aggressive when he is playing and bite me. I was on my computer doing something and he bit my arm! Any suggestions on how to nip this in the bus, he isn’t always bad, he is sweet at times, but i find he is starting to become aggressive.
Kate
Hello Kate,
Shiba Sephy was very mouthy as well when I got him as a puppy. Some things that really helped with Sephy –
1. Using a drag-lead so I have better control.
2. Following the NILIF (Nothing in Life is Free) program. This means puppy must do something for you first before he gets anything in return.
3. Bite inhibition training.
4. Timeouts.
Here are a couple of articles I wrote on puppy biting –
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-how-to-stop-puppy-biting
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-tips-solutions