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.
Appreciate all the comments on here. I too love the look of the Shibas but after reading the posts I should probably get a lab :-). I had dogs growing up but none that were solely my own. I would consider a Shiba in the future but not at this time. Thanks all for the great advice
How can I tell if I have a Fnnish Spitz or a Shiba Inu? The people we got the dogs from say they are part Golden Retriever and Chow Chow but I don’t see any resemblance. I think my one dog is a Finnish Spitz but then looks like a Shiba Inu to. We have had Golden Retreivers and they are so much different than that
Some people do dog DNA tests.
http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/features/dog-dna-testing
We have sibes. One of which came from a home that also produced shibas. I thought they were amazing although I’m a very loyal husky girl. My niece has just bought a shiba though – win win!! Pointed her towards your blog!
Haha, yeah they are both awesome breeds. I think you may enjoy this –
http://shibashake.com/dog/shiba-vs-siberian
I’m looking into getting a 3/4 German Shepard and 1/4 shiba inu, do you think that he will be like the shiba inu because those seem like 2 very different breeds?
Hello Tony,
It is not possible to tell which traits a puppy will inherit from each of his parents. How old is he? Have you met his parents? If both parents are well temperamented, then their puppy will have a good start.
As with us though, behavior is based on both genetics and learning/experience (e.g. training, socialization, environment, and more).
Thanks for keeping your site active. I posted a couple of years ago. I live in Mexico with my shiba boy, Paco. I have the site as a desktop favorite, and I visit often. Pehaps you saw the recent article in Pets magazine, “Ten Dog Breeds that Act Like Cats.” Of course, shibas had to be there. Here is what was printed.
Thanks!
Wayne
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/pets/10-dog-breeds-act-cats-205300325.html
Thanks Wayne, it is an interesting article so I added the link to your post. Hugs to Paco.
New Shiba acquired at 8 weeks old. Now 12 weeks. Any tips on the biting? Not aggressive but he thinks he’s playing and with the razor sharp puppy teeth, my arms look like they went through a grinder. Every one wants to pet him and he likes it but he thinks he has to gnaw on them and this causes him to be a social turn off. Discipline does not work either.
Congratulations on your Shiba puppy!
This is what I do to teach my puppy not to bite on me.
I also do bite inhibition training with all my dogs.
More on puppy biting-
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-how-to-stop-puppy-biting
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-tips-solutions
I’ve been owned by Ciaran nOg for 9.5 years now. My first shiba – I’ve always had Malamutes. (Yes, a big, or rather ‘small’ change. I got him after researching the breed. I wanted the same type of personality that my Mals had, but in a smaller package. I got those traits and then some!!! Holy Moly has he kept me on my toes. Every yard we’ve lived in has had to have landscape cloth (small square wire) taked to the bottom of the fence and buried in the ground. He is definitely NOT an off leash dog, ever. My cat is MUCH more demonstrative, but I love Ciaran dearly and am a complete fan of the breed. However – Ciaran has developed an auto immune disease which is not unknown to spitz type dogs – and I’m wondering if any here have had to deal with it? Pemphigus F is the name. Any feedback is appreciated. After chemo almost killed him, we’ve been treating him with traditional Chinese herbs and prednisone for the past 10 months.
I’m so sorry for you both. I had a German Shepherd with the same condition and lost him at six. Whilst I cannot suggest any alternative treatments except combining vet care with homeopathy (which ‘helped’ but did not cure or ultimately save Deisel), I can at least say that the disease is not breed specific and not usually associated with Shiba Inu.
Just returning , and catching up on your website, I posted here a couple of years ago when I adopted Sebastian and Copper, father and son , from a local family, we bonded very quickly, and words cannot describe my respect, devotion and love for them.
They go with me everywhere, and I enjoy their company , there has never been any serious issues with them , other than encounters with other people’s dogs, when the owners didn’t respect my dogs space, to be honest their aloofness is one of the traits I like, we mutually understand each other. I don’t need them smothering me to know they care about me. Believe me, when they want attention they will come around.
Do walk your Shibas each and every day, they pout if you miss a walk. I am lucky, I live on a farm, with plenty of open fields with briar patches , which is Shiba heaven!
Thanks for keeping the website going, I also have 8 Sibes! (I am a volunteer in a Siberian rescue.)
2 Shibas and 8 Sibes – You must drink a lot of Red Bull! 😀
Would love to see your gang. Do you have any pictures online?
I have a shiba inu myself he’s called Reo!
reading through the shiba shake, I cant believe how alike they are!! I would class ourselves as blessed because he has been an angel, he rarely gets aggressive brilliant off lead (unless there is cattle in the are) we tend to keep him on the lead then, he decided to start playing with sheep and it took me a good hour to get him back on lead!!
One thing Reo tends to do when playing with other dogs is the as we call it “shiba bum bash”! he will literally throw himself 360 degrees and use his bum as a weapon whilst playing!! is this common play for a Shiba?
LOL! I like that.
Shania (Husky) loves doing the ‘butt-check’. My Shiba does not do it as much. Maybe it is because he is smaller, so he is just bumping at their legs. 😀
It is very interesting to watch them play. Sometimes, Shiba and Sibe will just stare at each other, like in those Kung-Fu movies where they are playing out the entire battle in their minds. It is hilarious. Sometimes, I do the voice-over for them.
My shiba, Akai, is 10 months old and exactly everything you said. I was quite aware of a lot of the shiba qualities before searching for him, but some took me surprise…he cleans our mastiff’s mouth. He just licks all the water out of her jowls while she lies there sleeping. He also hates grass. Of all types. Will not walk on it unless forced. ;-/ And the shiba scream got animal control called on us, more than once…but he is the greatest, most loving dog. He is not aggressive or shy. He has to be touching myself or my fiancée at all times while he is lying down or he doesn’t feel safe. He will follow me and do anything I say, unless it involves stepping on grass or getting wet. He is the most loving, ponderous dog/cat/fox ever.