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.
Hey! I am hoping to get a shiba inu puppy in a few months but I am really worried that they are mean and stubborn and hate affection from humans! Are they this way and are they good dogs to have?
What makes a good dog depends on our lifestyle and what we want in a dog.
I got Sephy mostly for his looks, and because of that, we both had a very difficult beginning. Shibas are usually independent and stubborn, and I had to put in a lot of effort, time, and patience to properly train Sephy. Shibas also tend to be aloof, and like having their own space. Sephy is a lot less affectionate than my other dogs. A Shiba is definitely *NOT* a lap-dog.
Here is an article where several Shiba owners weigh in on why a Shiba is difficult to train.
The Shiba Inu forum can also be a good source of information on Shibas-
http://www.shibainuforum.org/forum/
They are awesome dogs! Mine is 7 and I got her when she was 5 weeks old, she potty trained the first day! She is stubborn but does well with other dogs and cats but is very food aggressive. To me that is minor and I’d get another Shiba in a heartbeat, great with kids as well.
I have a red Shiba named Cork (and he looks just like Sephy!) and he loves to eat grass and run around (thanks for the infi on the “shiba-Scream”)
He sounds like a lot of fun. 😀 Big hugs to your Shiba!
I want this dog, i have a good space for him, time and love, but i have a cat, my cat is 14 years old, he is active and very intelligent but he is kind of spoiled so he doesnt accept to have other cats in my house and he has always been scared of dogs. Is there a chance that a shiba can get along with a cat?
I don’t have any house cats, so I do not have much experience in this area.
Here is a good discussion on Shibas and cats on the Shiba Inu Forum-
http://www.shibainuforum.org/forum/discussion/7120/problem-with-cats/p1#Comment_125511
Here is an article on how to introduce a cat to a new dog-
http://www.aspca.org/Pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/cat-articles/introducing-your-cat-to-a-new-dog
Hi! I am getting an 8 week old shiba inu puppy. I was wondering if they are all agressive? Mainly because I was bit by a big dog 2 years back, and since then I’ve been a little afraid of being bit again. I have always been facinated by the Shiba Breed 🙂 I’m just very nervous! Thanks!
Puppies, especially Shiba puppies need to be taught what things are ok to chew on and play with, and what things are not appropriate to chew on. It was also important to train my Shiba puppy to control the force of his bites when interacting with people.
A bit more on puppy biting.
A bit more on how I trained my puppy.
Be aware though that Shibas tend to be aloof and stubborn. They can be mouthy and be much more difficult to train than many other breeds.
Why Shiba Inus are difficult to train.
I have a 6 year old female shiba Inu named Starbrite. My daughter picked her out and getting passed the dogs infant year and a half growing years I can’t imagine never having this dog. We love. She shows her affection as well. She is very loyal and will show she wants only to be with us as well. Smart they are but in a very good way as they get older. I feel the older they get the better.
Yeah, that has certainly been my experience with Sephy. We definitely had difficulties at the start, but it got better and keeps getting better with time – like cheese. 😀
Hello Shiba Shake,
It has been a long time since I have posted!! I am the owner of a 4 year old black and tan shiba named Moksha. I must say that I was not sure if I would survive Moksha’s puppyhood, but I must say that after all the chewing, stealing, and shiba crazy runs that constantly knocked over my lamp, Moksha has become the most wonderful dog in the whole world. He comes with me everywhere and about once every 6 months he spends the a whole day acting as if he has never had any training at all. On that day, I know that I can’t leave anything of value out where he can chew or steal it:) Then the next day he goes right back to being a very well mannered shiba. Of course, as we all know, a well-mannered shiba and a well-mannered dog are two very different things…LOL. All of his little idiosyncrasies are absolutely amazing and to be honest, I wouldn’t know what to do with a dog that did what I told him to without complaining. Anyway, sorry for rambling but I wanted to give an update on Moksha. Let me know how to and I will send some pics…he has grown into a very dapper dog.
Hey Meg,
It is great to hear from you and to get an update on Moksha! I think the last picture I got was when he went river rafting with you. 😀
Is Moksha on Facebook? Would love to see more of his pictures.
No unfortunately moksha and I don’t have much experience with social media, but I can give you an email address! I don’t want to put it on the main forum, so how would I get it to you? If I put my email in the comment section does it show up on the main forum? I am so glad to reconnect your sephy looks like he’s doing well and keeping you on your toes 🙂 and your huskies are absolutely gorgeous! I have to admit I am jealous. If I had more room I would have had a Siberian years ago, but I just felt it would be cruel to have one since I don’t have a fenced in yard. Anyway! Let me know how to get my email to you because Moksha has grown and has, believe it or not, been able to make friends!!! One is another shiba that moved into our area and the other is a Rottweiler!! The two of them together are hilarious! I hope to hear from you soon!
Haha, Moksha is such a lucky boy! I am definitely looking forward to seeing his pictures.
The email information is private so it *won’t* show up on the page. You can also send me a message from here.
Hello,
I have two wonderful Shiba Inu’s. One is a 6 yr old Black and Tan female named Kiko and the other is my 10 month old red male named Kenji. The problem recently is that Kenji all of a sudden (like this last week) has developed an obession with the wood chips we have out in their potty area. He grabs them, wants to play with it and chew it. Our other female will play for hours with the ball and he used to until now with this wood obsession. How can I break him of this? I’m so affraid he will chew it, get a spinter or choak on a piece. Please, any help will be appreicated. My male Akita (Kosan) passed away August 17, 2012 and I was so heartbroken (he was 14 yrs old), so the breeder of Kiko called us and said he just had a litter, so yeah, Kenji was an inpulse buy. He has a super sweet personality and we play with all his toys inside the house, but he has now lost interest with his outside toys. Should I buy him new outside toys??
Yeah, Sephy also had a wood-chip phase. I tried stopping him, but that only made him want to play with wood-chips even more, because it became a fun game where he gets a lot of attention.
What works best with Sephy is to engage him in some other game that he likes when we are outside. For example, he likes playing the flirt pole game and the water hose game, so I can use those to distract him. I play those with him as soon as we go outside, and *not* in response to wood-chip chewing. Otherwise, he will learn to associate wood-chips to the games, and perform the behavior even more. Instead, I stop playing and interacting with him if he decides to go after wood chips.
I also enhanced his chew toys with food. New toys don’t really help with Sephy because they become “old toys” very quickly and he would lose interest in them. I also tried cycling through his toys, but that stopped having an effect after a short time.
Another method I considered is to bring Sephy inside whenever he starts to play with wood chips, but unless I already had him on-leash, it would quickly turn into a catch-me-if-you-can game. I could have walked him outside on-lead, but that seemed overly constraining.
Happily, he got bored of wood chips after a short time because the other games were more interesting. Different dogs are motivated by different things though, so it would also depend a lot on Kenji and what gets him excited. 😀
Big hugs to Kiko and Kenji! They are very lucky Shibas.
Let us know how things go with Kenji, and what works best with him.
In the future, I would like to own 2 dogs. One definitely a shiba inu, and the other, maybe a basset hound. Do you know how these breeds would get along? Would they, due to their stubbornness?
Do shiba’s “initiate” playtime? The basset hounds I’ve had enjoyed playing, but only if a person or dog would approach and show that they would like to play.
I can assume that a shiba would give a basset personal space, because a basset likes to be left be as well.
Yeah, Sephy will sometimes initiate play. However, Huskies are very high energy, so my Sibes are usually the ones who do the play-invites. I also give my Huskies longer daily walks, and I play various chasing games with them, so that they get engaged doing alternative activities. A Shiba will probably be higher energy than a Basset, and will need more exercise.
As for getting along, I think a big part of that depends on supervision and setting up consistent interaction rules. I supervise my dogs a lot when I bring in a new puppy, and I also set up clear rules (especially for meal-time and play-time). In this way, my dogs know exactly what to expect from the new dog and vice versa. Here are some of the things that I do to help my dogs get along.
The other part of getting along will depend on the individual dog’s temperament. I waited for about 1 year before getting a second dog. In this way, I had time to observe Sephy, understand his personality, and pick a second dog that is compatible with him, would play well with him, and would do well with our current routine/lifestyle.
My shiba always initiates play with our pom esk cross. Shiba is sometimes too rough and can be a bully at play time though. Often she is ignored until she settles down
Hi, your site is interesting and the comments are even more helpful! Anyway, I was wondering if a shiba is suitable to live with Siberian husky? I have a beautiful playful Siberian husky and a cute pomeranian, will they be getting along fine? If we have a house with tall fense, will the shiba be ok living within the fense outside the house? Of course we will have a house for them out in the garden area. Also will shiba be fine with a warm weather ?
I think that would depend on the temperament of the dogs, their training and routine, amount of supervision and structured exercise, the environment, etc. I currently have two Huskies and a Shiba. With supervision, rules, and daily walks, they get along quite well.
My Shiba, Sephy prefers to be inside the house most of the time. He will go out from time to time, especially when it is sunny, but generally he likes being in the house. My Sibes like being outside a lot more. I make sure that my fence-line is not only secure on the upper parts, but also below ground. Dogs can dig under the fence and get out that way.
It is also important whether there is grass in the backyard or whether it is fully concrete. Staying on a concrete floor for prolonged periods of time, can have negative effects on joints, feet pads, etc, especially when it is very cold or hot outside.
My Shiba, Sephy does better in warm weather compared to my Siberians. My Huskies have much thicker coats. During hot summer days, they spend most of their time inside the house, on the tile floor, and under a fan.
http://shibashake.com/dog/cool-dog-keep-your-dog-cool-in-the-summer
My son Nick bought our Shiba (Rocky) at age 11 months. He had prior owners who moved out of the country and could not take him, so they returned him to the Kennel he was purchased from. Nick bought him 11/11/2012. We learned early on that he would run if given the slightest opportunity. Nick had him neutered on 12/03/2012 and on 12/04 he ran and was gone for three hours. We live in a sub-division which is surrounded by wood and Rocky wouldn’t let me or anyone else close to him, so I just left the front door opened and Rocky sauntered in exhausted. A few days later Rocky was very sick and we found out he had whipworm and had it for a while which caused bacteria to grow in his intestinal track along with an ear infection. He was treated and seemed well after that. I was always worried about his skittishness around others and his lack of affection toward me, but your article has helped with those concerns. Just yesterday, 3/31/2013 my husband left the door cracked and Rocky was out again but this time only for 30 minutes. While out there he rubbed his neck in another dog’s poop which was something he did when we first got him that’s why Nick had him neutered because he was told that would stop him from wanting to sniff so much and from rubbing in it. The poop was all in his fur so I gave him a bath. I am a bit ashamed to say, but I only had Head and Shoulders and used that to bath him and get the entire poop out his fur. Today, I have noticed that he is not walking around with his tail curled but he’s not scratching more than usual and he is eating, drinking and playing as he normally does. So what does it mean when he is not curling his tail, does it have anything to do with the shampoo I used? Just one more thing, Rocky likes to eat deer pellets if given the chance and I am sure he ate some yesterday, deer roam in our sub-division every night so there are a lot of deer pellets piles around. I am having his pooped checked in a few days to make sure he didn’t pick anything up. Why do you think he is not curling his tail and what do you think I should do if this continues? Thank You, Victoria L. Davis (new owner)
Based on what I have read, using adult human shampoo on a dog can cause skin irritation for the dog. This is because human shampoo may contain chemicals that are not appropriate for a dog’s skin.
http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/grooming-faq.aspx#humanshampoo
http://www.animalloversforum.com/content/it-safe-use-human-shampoo-dogs
As for the tail curling, I have noticed that Sephy leaves his tail uncurled and droopy when he is not feeling himself. In particular, he does this after he gets his teeth cleaned, while he is still groggy from the anesthesia. However, in addition to the uncurled tail, there are also clear changes in his behavior, and he does not eat until he feels better.
Is Rocky’s tail drooping down as well, or is it just uncurled? Given that Rocky was outside eating poop, it could be something from that, it may be irritation from the shampoo, or something else. Probably safest to check with his vet.