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.
Hi All! We are from Argentina and we would really like to have a Shiba Inu 🙂 We are doing some reasearch about that since we live in an apartament and work the whole day. I know that it is an independant dog, but i´m afraid that the dog could be a bit deppresive or bored and destroy all the things around him…
What do you think about that? It could be possible to have a Shiba in an apartment?
Thanks a lot for your comments! LOL
I have two Shiba’s. I don’t see a problem with them as apartment dogs but your working all day is a real problem. These little guys require a lot of exercise, training and attention. Unless you take them to daycare or have a dog walker I doubt you will be happy. Just as an FYI, most puppy’s do a lot of damage…
Hello Florencia,
I think Shibas can do fine in an apartment as long as they get enough exercise, structure and supervision.
My Shiba, Sephy, needed a fair amount of structured activity, especially when he was young. He also needed a fair amount of training and supervision during puppyhood. As you say, Shibas are independent and also very stubborn. Sephy does best when he has a fixed routine and a consistent set of rules.
Why are Shiba Inus difficult to train.
Here is another comment about Shibas and apartment living.
Here are some of my early experiences with Sephy.
We adopted our Shiba ‘Yoshi’ at 12 weeks old, and she is a handful to say the least. A charmer, extremely intelligent and strong-willed. She has taken to our family quite well and has acquired some pretty interesting habits not all too common with Shiba’s – she sleeps in our bed at night (but eventually ends up in hers by the morning). I have been told they house train quickly – this has NOT been our experience and it’s getting pretty frustrating. We take her out constantly and most of the time she does her business, but many times will come right back in and relieve herself almost immediately, sometimes right in front of us. Anyone with any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Two things that work well while potty training my Sibes –
1. I reward them very well for doing potty outside. I give them attention, special treats, and play their favorite game with them after a successful potty.
2. When they potty inside, I no-mark the behavior, interrupt them, and take them outside. If they continue going outside, I reward them very well for it.
This teaches them that –
potty outside = lots of rewards, attention, and games
potty inside = get interrupted and no rewards
Here is more on what I did while potty training my puppies.
I know this was posted a month ago, but I had a similar experience with my shiba Alice. When she was a baby puppy (what I call it) she would do the same thing, go out and pee then come in to pee! Or just randomly pee no matter how many times she’d allready been out. I took her to the vet, turns out she had a urinary infection. After some antibiotics, it cleared up within days and I never had that problem again. You might get her checked out. I was so frustrated because I thought she just wasn’t learning or I was a bad teacher! Silly human.
Hello,
I adopted my black and tan Shiba Inu when she was 6 years old through a local breeder surrender. She was born and bred in a puppy mill setting and the whole story is very sad. She was worked and had many litters of pups. When I first took her home her hind quarters were almost completely bald and her tail looked like it could belong on a hairless rat, not the beautiful Shiba plume that I had always seen. Her breath was bad enough to fill the car if the windows were up and she was extremely overweight. For one whole month I could not get her to eat anything more than a few bites of soft food. She would sit in the same room as me but didn’t like to be petted and when we went for a walk it was more of a drag and ended in me walking carrying my plump little Shiba a few blocks back home.
We had a few incidents of her pulling herself out of her harness and going for a nice run… They can REALLY run. Overweight or not.
She was extremely frightened of humans, men in particular. There were a lot of frustrating, crying evenings and a few points where I thought I’d made a big mistake. I’m glad I am as stubborn as she was and that I did not throw in the towel. After treating her for Hypothyroidism and having a whopping seven teeth removed she finally started to eat and that led to her finally starting to trust and to blossom.
Sheena Easton (when I was told her breed I misunderstood Shiba Inu and made a joke that the breed was Sheena Easton and the name stuck) has been a part of my home and family for two years now and I cannot imagine life without her. I love this dog and understand the expression man’s best friend. She is extremely loving with me and friendly to friends that come over and even to their dogs (Best friend works with a chihuahua rescue group and brings new small dogs over all of the time) and I have even caught her trying to snuggle up to our cat Emma. She is a bit bashful. She is so beautiful now, her fur thick all over and even her tail is somewhat filled out and we are asked on our daily walks if she is a Husky puppy quite frequently. She greets me at the door and runs and jumps into my lap and a few close friends but no longer looks at everyone as a threat or as someone that will cause her harm. i have had no issues with her as a destructive force and she even plays with her squeaky toys gently and loves her bones but makes them last.
There is one issue that we cannot seem to work though and I’m hoping there might be someone that can offer advice. Throughout the entire time I have had Sheena, she has been afraid of my boyfriend. He is tall and has a deep booming voice but is an animal lover and has been desperately trying to get Sheena to not be afraid of him. She becomes a totally different dog when he is around. We do not live together but he comes over about 3 nights of the week and she still paces and hides from him. If he enters a room, she will run around the room that is closest in almost a panic. If he makes a sudden movement or really just any movement she cowers and jumps and has even made an accident on the floor due to jumping so hard (we call those scare poos). She licks hot spots on her paws that swell when she is nervous and we have had to treat these infections frequently. Matt tries the sideways approach, he has tried bringing her real meat treats. He speaks to her like I do, and has even tried getting on all fours but that almost made things worse. When he comes over I put on her Thunder Shirt and that has helped enough that she can stay in the same room as him, as long as he sits still but that is not a real solution. Anyone ever seen this type of behavior in their Shiba Inu or any adopted dog really? I love her so much and I also love him so much so I really would like to find a middle ground. I want him to see her actual personality and not the flighty paranoid dog she becomes when he is around. I’m sure there is something more we can do and I’m sure I’m not doing something correctly. I should also mention this is my first dog ever.
I appreciate any feedback, be it constructive criticism or anything.
Cheers to the best little big dog around!
Thank you,
Heather
Wow, that is an amazing story. Four paws up to you, and a good helping of licks! 😀
In terms of dealing with a dog’s “fear of men”, desensitization and counter conditioning methods may help. The idea is to first present the dog with a very weak version of the stimulus, and then slowly build up from there.
With a fear of people, we can use distance to weaken the strength of the stimulus. It is also important that the person stays relatively still, does not talk, and does not initiate any kind of eye contact. When I do this, I usually get the other person to just read a book or work on his computer. In the beginning, it is important for the person to totally ignore the dog and not try to interact in any way.
Here is more on what I do during people-desensitization training.
During the training period, I make sure that my dog is *only* exposed to the “scary person” in a structured and controlled setting. We want to set the dog up for success and teach her to only associate the person with positive, or at worst, neutral experiences.
I usually go very slowly with my dog, and slowly build up her confidence. I make sessions short, fun, and very very rewarding. As my dog gains confidence, I slowly increase the strength of the stimulus.
Hope this helps and big hugs to Sheena! Love the name! 😀
She is only reacting to what she had to endure when she was a canine puppy making factory. She was probably feed and sheltered by a male and associates your boyfriend as the ass that had her. God bless you for taking her and giving her a better life. You have no idea what those poor dogs endure in that environment.
As a vet tech I see some of this in my work place. All you can do is keep trying and give lots of encouragement when your boyfriend is around that he is ok. Try having her sit in your lap and he sit next to you and don’t touch her but be there. This will take awhile as they are a stubborn dog. She survived that mill, please give her time. Puppy mills and HSUSA are the shit!!!
Hi, I just stumbled over this while trying to do some research on my shiba inu, Nova. We adopted him from a friend when he was only a couple of months old because he did not get along with her other dogs. Since then we have noticed many of the things you have mentioned in this article. However, I am doing my research because Nova is beyond aggressive. Anyone who walks into my house who is a stranger to Nova, will be welcomed with aggressive barks. He will then calm down until the person is leaving our house and will proceed to chase after them and bite them.
This evening, we found out that Nova actually escaped from our backyard when we innocently let him out (our backyard is securely enclosed), chased our neighbor and his dog down the block, gave the dog two puncture wounds and then came back home. We had no idea this even occurred until our neighbor texted my mom saying he was at the animal hospital. Nova must have been out for a total of 7 minutes maximum. We never let him out for too long unless he is supervised because we are afraid he may get out.
Nova really is an amazing dog, with the people he knows and is familiar with. He is loving and cuddly, and is always willing to play. However, whenever he hears an unexpected noise or senses a neighborhood dog walking past, he freaks out and runs rampid.
Do you have any advice on how we can go about further training Nova?? We do not want to lose him, we love him so much. We have had him for over two years now, and no matter what we try to do, it just does not seem to work!
Hmmm, what have you tried with Nova? How did he respond? How does Nova react to other people and other dogs during walks?
Sephy used to be very reactive towards other dogs when he was young. With Sephy, I did a lot of dog-to-dog desensitization exercises. We practiced with friendly dogs at our nearby SPCA under the direction of a trainer there. It took time, but desensitization helped Sephy to be more comfortable around other dogs and taught him to use alternate behaviors to deal with his stress.
Desensitization and counter-conditioning training can also help with reactivity towards people.
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-to-calm-a-fearful-reactive-dog#people
Always love reading ShibaShake. Posted last year, right after adopting father (Sebastian), son (Copper), from a local family , and how I have grown to love them. They are 7 and 6 years of age, and luckily the family socialized them very well. They go with me everywhere, and they are no more trouble than any other breed of dog, actually, I get along with them better because they are in their own world!
All of the traits mentioned here are in my two Shibas, but probably the worse one is the issue with dog aggression. I take them walking in many various places, and have to have my dog antenna up looking out for loose or other dogs. They do well until some one let’s their dog run up to us, then it’s my Shibas protecting their space. But, I have never seen them go on the offensive, mostly their aggression is a defensive behavior.
I have 8 Siberian Huskies also, Sebastian and Copper get along with some, and some they do not, however that applies to my Siberians only too. I believe Shibas are much smarter in many ways than Siberians. Shiba’s size the situation up before proceeding, where Siberians just rush in and then try to figure out what the heck to do now!
Copper looks like Shephy, Sebastian is much smaller, more foxy. They do need to walk every day or they pout, but I love walking them, so that is not a problem. I could write a book, but in closing, I was very lucky for them to come into my life.
LOL! Very well said and very accurate. I must include this in my Shiba vs. Siberian article.
Glad to hear that everyone is doing so well and Happy New Year!
HI! Loved this site. Most adorable-looking dog breed ever.
You spoke of how shibas like grass, well did you see this video? omgeez they’re cute
http://www.wimp.com/eatcabbage/
That is some extreme cuteness! I love it that the adult Shiba is eating the cabbage with such gusto and the puppy just wants to be like momma (or is it papa)! Too adorable. Thank you very much for posting it.
Hi again,
I need some answers here! I adopted 2 Shiba brothers. one is white the other black.
They are now 4months old.
The white one is a bit bigger in size. He is now whining a lot, protecting food, ext. We are trying to split the brothers up a bit so they get more dependent on us humans. lol. We now have 2 cages and they sleep seperate but the cages are next to each other. Does anyone have ideas as to why the white dog (Mooschu) is whining more? the Black/tan (Scout) does not make these sounds. Should i keep trying to separate? We now walk them separately as well.
Some dogs naturally vocalize more than others. For example, Shania is a very quiet dog. On the other hand, Lara (Shania’s niece) is very talkative. She vocalizes when she gets excited, when she gets afraid, when she is playing, etc.
Sometimes, dogs will vocalize more if we inadvertently reward/reinforce the behavior. For example, we tend to pay more attention to loud noises. Therefore, when a dog vocalizes, it is our instinct to give him attention. This attention rewards the vocalizing behavior, which will encourage the dog to repeat it in the future.
In terms of food guarding, I try to train my dogs not to guard their food or toys. Here is a bit more on my experiences on food and resource guarding. Here is a bit more on what I do to keep the peace at home between my dogs.
Since they are so young, it may be a good idea to get help from a professional trainer. Best to nip aggression issues in the bud.
I had considered having a Shiba, but after much research, I decided that I had way too many children coming and going through our home. I would not be able to have enough structure and routine for the Shiba at this point in my life. I was pretty down about it when I discovered the Alaskan Klee Kai. They are kind of a Shiba light lol. They have a cry and are certainly drama queens when ill or even a little hurt, and they have huge separation anxiety. My baby Tank has never slept a night alone and until he was two was never left alone for more than 15 minutes, which was the amount of time it took him to eat my new couch *ouch*. Now he can tolerate being alone with the tv on for about 3 hours, but never over night. People have gotten used to me being the crazy dog lady and just expect him to be with me, so I am invited places at their own risk. Tank does ok in social settings as long as he is a barnacle on me and if he gets over whelmed he asked to be picked up and I calm him a bit and his anxiety level goes way down. We always visit a day before to acclimate. SO I guess I am recommending the Alaskan Klee Kai to all who would not be a good fit for a Shiba Inu.
Shibas sound sooooo adorable! everything ive read about them makes me want one so bad, except for the prey drive. But sadly when im older i want to foster for my local shelter and a shiba inu has a good chance of being unhappy with such an arrangment. so at the moment im debating over whether to get my favorite breed and maybe foster when im older or foster ealier and get a shiba later. never getting one is such a sad unthinkable fate.
Rightio. Question time:
Do you think a shiba would do okay in an apartment? when i started seriously considering a shiba inu, i realized the way i am, i would currently not be able to provide enough exercise for most dogs, so i’m trying to work my way to being capable of providing a medium sized dog with enough mental and physical stimulation to be okay in an apartment,
Would a. adult shiba inu be able to learn to live with kids? If socalized to them throughtout their life?
I very much appreciate your site and will keep reading so i hope you keep going for a long time!! Have a happy new year!!!1
When I first got Sephy, we were living in a house with no backyard. Sephy was able to do ok, as long as he got good daily exercise. We did frequent daily walks, a couple of hikes in the park per week, and we took him to play at a nearby SPCA. They had a nice enclosed yard, and we sometimes did training sessions with the friendly dogs there.
From what I hear, Shibas can do well in an apartment as long as they get enough exercise. Here is a comment from someone with Shiba-apartment experience-
http://shibashake.com/dog/shiba-inu-personality-good-bad-traits/comment-page-5#comment-48643
I don’t have much experience with this, but there are some good threads in the Shiba Inu forum about Shiba and kids-
http://www.shibainuforum.org/forum/discussion/10752/tell-me-about-your-shiba-with-your-kids/p1
Sephy does pretty well with older, more calm kids during walks. I make sure to supervise him very well when he is with kids. I only let him meet with kids that I know, and who are good with dogs.
Happy New Year!
Hi,
It’s been fun reading all the comments from other Shiba “owners” (I say this with a serious grain of salt since Kimo owns us!!). We did not choose our boy, but came to us through our daughter. She had gotten him thinking he would make a great condo dog. After choosing the “grunt” not runt of a litter from registered Shibas. So low and behold he became a Dogzilla!!! Imagine all that quirky Shiba personality in a 65 pound body!! Everything about him is Shiba ( the scream, the stubbornness, the tricky ness, the coat, the strange eating of certain plants and everything else you have mentioned above) and we have finally adjusted our lives to him now that he is 5. Even starting to look for a second one! He and our 14 year old cat are friends now and he is very good with other dogs even ones that come to our house. He goes nutty over the opossum and squirrels that come in the yard! Ultimately we are very happy to have our bright eyed, devoted when he wants to be and furry headed big buddy happily greeting us when we get home.
Happy Shiba thoughts to you all! Phyllis
Thanks for sharing Kimo’s story with us. He sounds absolutely adorable!
ACK! 😀
Bigs hugs and Happy Holidays!