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.
I loved reading all about Shiba’s here. You hit the nail right on the head. We have a 7 year old white/cream shiba named Alex. We just found out he has torn his ACL and has a luxating patella in the same leg. My heart hurts, we will do what we have to do to fix him back up but the stresses of the financial aspect of this all is taking a toll on me. I love my little guy, I can’t wait til he’s back to himself! I love Shiba’s!
Yeah, I know what you mean about the stress – both financial and emotional. Shania hurt one of her back legs a few weeks ago, and it was very stressful keeping her level of activity down, and worrying about her recovery.
When we really love someone, it is difficult not to worry.
Big hugs to Alex! Shania also sends some super Husky kisses.
Our shiba inu is 13 years old and since we came back from vacation he is howling usually for no reason that we are aware of. He was left alone most days for 10-12 hours while we were gone. Our son would stop by to feed him and let me out on the run. We purchased a device that is supposed to stop barking, but so far it hasn’t seemed to help. We brought him to the vet and she said he is in perfect health. I am thinking that his hearing, sight and senses are dimished due to his age. And possibly he is afraid that he will be left alone again. When I walk out of the room for any exteneded time he starts howling. We are at are wits end. Love the little guy, but he is driving us crazy. Any suggestions?
It sounds like it could be separation anxiety. I know my Shiba gets stressed when there are changes to his routine, even though they may seem like small changes to me. When we moved, I quickly set up a fixed routine for Sephy in the new place. It helped to recreate routine and certainty for him again, and he was able to relax soon after. I also gave him more structured exercise after we moved, so that he had an outlet for his stress.
Here is more on dog anxiety and stress.
Hmmm, what device are you using to stop the barking? There is very little regulation in the dog equipment field. Often times, the risks of certain devices, such as bark collars, are swept under the rug, in order to promote more sales. If a dog is vocalizing because of stress, shock collars or other types of bark collars can further increase anxiety, and worsen the dog’s stress symptoms and behaviors.
Here is more on how to deal with separation anxiety from the RSPCA.
well, it’s beem decided! I’m going to acquire a Shiba Inu of my own! (Finding a breeder in SoCal/Arizona is proving to be beyond impossoble though). I have read many of your amazing articles, the shibainuforum.org discussions, two cesar milan books, one housetraining book, one trick book for dummies, and one specifically about the shiba inu. This leaves me just a few questions id like to ask! A) is it extremely rare that shiba inus are cuddly? I dont need to smother the dog with affection, but someone to chill on the couch and watch a movie with would be nice, and B) are there any extra books or websites you may recommend? It will be my first personal dog (had family dogs growing up) AND itll be a Shiba, so im preparing ;). Thanks!
James
Congratulations James! Sounds like you are more than prepared to be owned by a Shiba!
Sephy will often chill out with us when we are watching t.v. He likes being around us, just not too much of the touchy-feely stuff. 😀
In terms of dog training information, there is a lot of conflicting advice out there in net-town, so I try to stick to-
1. Scientific studies.
2. Behavioral articles from top veterinary schools, especially the ones with good animal behavior programs, e.g. UPenn, UCDavis.
3. Well established dog advocate sites, such as the RSPCA and ASPCA.
When I first started with Sephy, I really enjoyed Bones Would Rain from the Sky
by Suzanne Clothier. It is not a dog training book though – but more of a dog relationship book. Instead of blaming everything on Sephy or on dominance, I started to listen to him, see where he is coming from, and try to be a better pack leader. It made me view things in a different way and turned things around for Sephy and me. However, the book’s message may not appeal to everyone.
She has a bunch of great articles on her site. Definitely have a look at her articles first to see if you like her style of writing.
Dr Sophia Yin (from UCDavis) also has a lot of useful information on her blog.
Truly enjoying your “Shiba Shake” and you are 100% accurate! Also enjoying all of the comments. You forgot one warning, though–you forgot to tell everyone how ADDICTING Shibas are! I started with a puppy mill rescue in 2007 and now have three–one rescued at 10 years of age from a high kill shelter and my girl came along two years ago when the local shelter called to tell me they had a Shiba who had been adopted out twice and kept escaping. I can’t imagine having any other breed of dog. Even with all the “quirks” (and there are many!), my Shibas are the most loving, sensitive, funny, and fun-loving dogs ever! They have never been and never will be off leash, and my Sammy (puppy mill dog) nipped my best friend and my aunt when I first had him. Honestly, he was a handful until I adopted Saki, the 10 year old, who proceeded to calm Sammy down. Of course, that all changed when Abbey joined the pack, because she is completely in charge of the boys. There were PLENTY of fights at first, still can be over food, but, for the most part, Sammy is in love with Abbey and Abbey is in love with Saki. Quite the love triangle! Thanks for all the info and your love of the breed!
I cannot believe Raiden is going to be 6 months next week time flys when you have a Shiba puppy!
I’ve noticed a couple more people asking about whether a Shiba is a good apartment dog. We live in a one bedroom apartment with no yard and it was a big concern of mine. Raiden is doing just fine in the apartment. We make sure he is well excercised and my Mom puppy sits while I am at work. He gets to play with a Collie all day and is well socialized with other dogs.
Raiden wanted nothing to do with his crate. He would scream, wine and carry on. Since I am in an apartment, with thin walls, that wasnt going to work. Needless to say, we slept on the couch together. We had many a cold nights in November and December running outside every two hours to pee pee. I certainly dont miss that. Note: Always get a puppy in the Spring or Summer! After about two weeks Raiden understood where to relieve himself. That isn’t to say he hasn’t had a couple accidents. Mostly my fault though, getting all bundled up with boots and scarves and gloves sometimes takes too long for his liking! He did, however, jump up in bed two nights ago and precede to pee in the bed. Not fun!
One of my favorite parts of being a Shiba mom is hearing his cute yawns waking me up in the morning. I swear sometimes the noises he makes are unreal! Raiden is definitely not a big barker, but a screamer he is. All the Vets call him the biggest baby. Heaven forbid they need to check his temperature, if you know what I mean.
Good luck everyone!
My neighbor knows some people who lost their home, and needed someone to keep their dog until they are on their feet again. I had been considering getting a dog for a long time (about 10 years, actually), so I agreed to take him. I enjoy dogs, and a dog is a dog, right? Wrong !! He turns out to be a 18 month old Sheba, and is the stubbornest bunch of fur that I have ever encountered. We had a couple of “fights” where I wanted to go to bed, but he did not agree to come in from the garden area until about 2am. I moved his crate/bed into the washroom where there is a dog door, and he has agreed that sleeping in there is acceptable, also he is not allowed out in the big back garden after about 5:30 pm. His hair started falling out in handfulls this week and I thought maybe he was sick but from what I have seen online, it seems as if this is normal for Shebas. Our walks consist of a mad dash from one good smell to the next, and I think my arm is 6 inches longer now than it was a few weeks ago. I made the mistake of letting the neighbor’s dog into my yard to play, and that turned into a fight – also I tried getting rid of some of his energy at a local dog park, which worked for a while but then also ended in a fight.
He has gotten out of the yard a couple of times, and darted off to investigate the neighbor’s chickens.
I thought exactly the same thing when I got Sephy. I mean, how bad could a dog be, right? 😀
Shiba says, “Silly human.”
Hello hello!
I got my first Shiba Inu back in September 2012. My fiance and I were just browsing a pet store admiring all the cute puppies. We’d duscussed getting a dog but decided to wait until after our wedding. Then we saw Kira while in the pet store. It was the first time I’d ever seen or even heard of a Shiba Inu and I thought “We have to have her!!!”
Being smart, I asked the pet store for books on the breed while we played with her in their little playpins. The first three words we read about Shiba’s were “Smart, energetic, and stubborn”. My fiance looked right at me and said “Hey Kay! That sounds like you!” It was a done deal after that.
After bringing her home I continued my research on the breed. I wanted to ensure she was getting the best upbringing to help her personality thrive. This website has helped out so much and has been a great resource.
We’ve had Kira for 6 months now and she has turned into quite the mommy’s girl. Having read (more specifically from this site) that bad side of the shiba personality, I was truely prepared for the worst. I’ll be honest that raising Kira so far has been a blast though. She is extremely comical, and you’re right, you need to have a sense of humor with them.
LOL! I really love this part.
Kira sounds like a very happy and very lucky girl! Thanks for sharing her story with us. Is she going to be the flower girl at your wedding? 😉
Big hugs!
Hi, We got a shiba inu/american eskimo mix her name is Hermione and she is 1 1/2, she has all the traits most shibas have like, very energenic, tempermental with our other dogs, ect. My question is we have a pretty good size yard, take her for walks and she went thru puppy training. She seems to remember some of the training but refuses to come when called. when she gets out of the yard by sneaking past someone coming in the gate the chase is on, we had to chase her down for over an hour and finally caught her when someone else was walking there dog,
Also she is very people shy when she is out in public, but when she is at home and someone comes to visit she barks the whole time they are there and she will run up to them like she is going to bite them, but never does. We have tried a spray bottle and pet corrector, but nothing seems to stop her.
Any help would be great. Love this sight.
Hello Shawna,
In terms of training, I find that practice is very important with my dogs. Even though we are no longer doing classes, we still do commands every day to keep the lessons fresh. I follow the Nothing in Life is Free program, so it just happens naturally in the course of the day.
This article from the ASPCA has a very good list of recall training techniques (training a dog to come when called).
Recall training can be more challenging for some dogs, especially the more stubborn and aloof breeds. For example, my Huskies are a lot better with recall than my Shiba. 😀
In term of sneaking out of doorways, what helps with my dogs is teaching them door manners.
To get my Shiba more comfortable around people, I did people desensitization training. With Sephy, it was really important to start from a far distance away and to get the person to totally ignore him (no talking, no touching, and no eye-contact). Eye-contact is often seen as a desire to interact and can sometimes also be seen as a threat.
In this way, I start off with a very weak version of the problem stimulus. Then, I slowly help Sephy to associate positive experiences with being around new people, so that he is less uncertain or anxious about them. As he gains confidence, I slowly increase the challenge of the exercise.
Big hugs to Hermione!
Hey there! Love your dog, seems like a sweet, little and funny devil! :p My family are thinking about getting a Shiba puppy (if I can convince them..). We already have a cat, he’s not used to be close to dogs, but I have seen him cuddling with one. Do you have any experience regarding cats and Shibas? I was planning on giving him/her about 40 minutes of exercise (walks) every day + some play time and probably some obedience training, would you think that that is enough for a Shiba? And are Shibas allergy friendly? This isn’t our main priority, but a few people in our family (none of whom are living in our house) are allergic to dogs. I have been thinking about the Japanese Spitz as well (really love the Spitz breeds), but I really fell in love with the Shiba! They seem like amazing dogs, you’re lucky! 😀 Thanks in advance!
Hello Carmen,
No, I don’t have any cats so I don’t have much experience in this area. Here are a couple of articles that I like on cat training-
http://www.shibainuforum.org/forum/discussion/7120/problem-with-cats/p1#Comment_125511
http://www.aspca.org/Pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-articles/introducing-your-dog-to-a-new-cat
The first link is to the Shiba Inu Forum which is a great place to get input from other Shiba owners.
It would depend on the individual dog and on the surrounding context. Sephy needed a lot of activity, exercise, and training when he was young. After he was fully vaccinated, I took him out 4-5 times every day. A couple of the walks were about 40 mins or more, and the rest were about 20 mins. We didn’t have a backyard then, and he was an only dog, so we were more limited in our exercise options.
Later on, I cleaned out one of the rooms in the house and made it into a play-room. Then I was able to invite friendly dogs over to play with Sephy (under supervision). He really liked playing with other dogs so it was a good way to direct his Shiba-energy. He also liked going for hikes so we would do that as well.
I also made him work for all of his food, set up a consistent routine, and a fixed set of rules. Shibas are a lot of work, and a big time commitment, especially when they are young.
Sephy is now over 6 years old, so he needs much less supervision and exercise. Currently, he is good with daily walks of about 1 hour. He also plays with my two Huskies, works for all of his food, and happily lays about in the sun. 😀
Shibas shed a lot so they are not very allergy friendly. They have a soft undercoat which they blow once or twice a year. During coat blow season, there will be a lot of hair and a lot of grooming.
Good luck with your puppy search! Let us know what you decide. 😀