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.
Hello Everyone,
First I would like to say that this website is very helpful! I just got Shiba Inu for my husband’s birthday. He is almost 5 months. We named him Biggles (it’s British character). He was brought from Lithuania to England and he handled his first trip well, not happy but he handled like a man 🙂
Reading everyone’s stories about their Shiba Inu’s prepares me and my family for all great and mischievous moment ahead of us.
So far he is very good and I feel like it’s calm before big storm hits us! He adapted to his new house very quickly and we all were and still are surprised. He is hyper once we go outside and he is ready to run; therefore, letting hip off the leash as of now it’s not an option. Hopefully with training he’ll get better. He is very good with dogs and humans right now. We don’t have any other animals and I can see from most owners blogs that Shibas definitely need to be socialised with others or there will be trouble.
I’ll be reading more blogs and no doubt I’ll be asking for help sooner or later. Shiba Inu is definitely an unique breed.
P.S. I would love to share some pictures but I don’t see the option to attach attachments.
Congratulations on your Shiba pup!
I currently do not have comment images enabled. Do you have a Facebook account? I would love to see Biggles and that is how I usually exchange images. Big hugs to puppy!
Dear ShibaShake,
I do have a facebook. Would you like to email me so I can provide a link for you.
Regards,
Asta
Very cool! Here is my facebook URL-
https://www.facebook.com/shiba.shake
Maybe the Shiba owners love their dogs scream but it is not fun to hear for the neighbors. My neighbor ( they are rental tenants) has 2 Shibas that they keep penned up outside all of the time. The only interaction with the dogs I have seen in the year they have lived there is when they feed the dogs, that is it. No playing, petting, walking them, trying to train them, even no poop picking up. The dogs are NEVER inside the house. These dogs bark at just about anything at anytime of day or night and wake us up. They still bark at me when I am in the yard gardening. Sometimes the bark is a high shrill like they are fighting and one of them was hurt – It is very unnerving to hear. The neighbors are very upset about it and have recently contacted the landlord about it because the tenants don’t care. We ask ourselves, why in the world do they have these dogs in he first place if they pay no attention to them? Only this weekend we saw 3 puppies roaming around the yard, looking like Shiba puppies. These pups they keep in the house. The chances are that they are breeding the two Shibas left outside in order to make $$ selling the pups which can be sold for quite a bit of $$. That is probably the only reason they have the 2 Shibas outside. It is so sad and I don’t know what else to do. They look healthy physically so I don’t think that ASPCA could have a case unless they are breeding without a license – not sure if they need a license to breed dogs. Does anyone know the law on this??? This is south Florida, it gets very hot too and the dogs are out there also when it is pouring raining. Obviously the dogs are mentally not in good shape. They are neglected in that respect. Often they sit in one spot and stare at the door of the house just waiting for someone to come out and feed or pay attention to them. What else can I do? Can anyone give advice?
If they only have one breeding female then they probably do not need a license. I believe dog breeding laws are different state to state and there may be different county restrictions as well, but usually for people who have several breeding females.
I would share your story with all your friends and with your online network. Encourage them to spread the word as well. If it is no longer profitable, because there are fewer buyers, then there will be fewer sellers as well.
Say no to pet store and online puppies.
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-we-can-all-help-to-stop-puppy-mills
Dear FL shiba neighbor,
This is animal abuse, pure and simple. Please be brave and call the ASPCA to report these people. Shibas should not be outside non-stop in the FL sun. Thanks so much for your kindness to the animals!
I have an almost 3 year old Shiba, Kit; she’s the baby and knows it Lol. She’s good for the most part except when it comes to other dogs or the outside yard. She does ok with my lab/border collie who I had when Kit got there, but she does not like any other dog. She will even walk up to them to investigate then growl and snarl at them. People and cats she’s fine with, but not other dogs. The worst was when my husky came home after having gone missing for 2 years. Kit would noy let her anywhere near me. Tasha- my husky, ended up going to live with my dad, which was fine bc he’s sick and she loves watching over him, but it broke my heart to finally have Tasha back and Kit be so mean to her. I also can’t leave her alone in the yard for even a minute, or if the person who is outside with her isn’t paying attention, she knows it and will find some way to escape. It’s ironic because I can walk her off leash no problem and she responds wonderfully to my voice commands (she doesn’t listen well to others though). But in the yard she will escape anytime she’s not being watched (and she even checks to see). Otherwise she’s incredible. I have some anxiety and PTSD issues and when I get worked up she will climb right in my lap n put her face in mine and start petting me with her paw (she does that when she wants attention too). It really is the sweetest thing though that she’s so in tune and doesn’t want me upset. I love my Shiba!
I have never heard or seen a shiba till my mom brought home this fuzzy fox. We’ve had her for about four years now and she’s ruin me for any other breed. Lucy, (my lil trouble maker) is one of the strangest animals I’ve ever seen lol. With her toys, she’ll chew out the eyes and wherever the squeaker part is till she rips it out. Or she’ll just sit and stare at me for twenty minutes. For all of her quackery, she’s my best friend and wouldn’t trade her for anything. While I’m here, quick question. Lucy has this weird thing, that if I say the word buddy she’ll go crazy. Not a bad crazy. Do any of you other shiba owners discovered a word that’ll set her/him off besides the obvious treat and outside?
I don’t know why I haven’t stumbled upon your site before when I have been at my wits end and crying my head off looking for help and answers for my willful Shiba/Doxie mix. I rescued him, he had been with this no kill for 8 months because everyone was intimated by him. Your dog sounds so similar. I felt validated reading about him and your life together.
I had the breed analysis done about a year after I got him to try to understand him better, almost 7 years later I am still working on that, but have learned a lot. It has taken so much patience and understand to realize he does not want me to shower him with love and affection like my Golden Retriever.
There have been bites, both human, canine, and me. This never stops upsetting me and hurting me feelings. I try to defuse these situations ahead of time, but sometimes they come out of no where. Like you, my guy is very much influenced by my moods, anxiety level, etc., so I try hard to keep this in check as well as possible.
I love, Harley, but this is the most challenging dog I have ever known or had (and he’s my 7th.) I work with two rescue groups and have seen lots of cases of dogs with problems, but it is worse when they are in your home. It can be exhausting and stressful. He is very lucky I adopted him or he may have been returned on day one!
Harley is VERY cat like, and extremely vocal. I can tell the difference in a purr type happy noise, a playful growl, an alert, or an aggressive/dominant noise. He puts all others (humans and dogs) in their place, as this is HIS world, he’s just allowing them to live in it.
Its good to know someone else out there understands.
LOL! So true. I was really going nuts with Sephy in the beginning. He is such a stubborn guy, and still is, but at least now I know what to do.
On the positive side, I learned a lot from him, in a very short time. I also learned to better control my own emotions, especially my temper. And he gave me lots of material to write about, which led to this site. You know what they say, “That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.” 😀
When I first got my shiba 1.5 years ago she was not an affectionate puppy so I would force her into cuddle time. (Haha) which I’m glad I did because she is so lovey!!! Anytime she sees me she’s in my lap, giving me kisses, loving on me, nothing like a cat…but I’m the only one she will do that with. She is a crazy dog but I love it. She is a great protector; she doesn’t like certain people and if we go to the park, if a stranger comes near me she right in front of me or in my lap.
I’ve found that she likes baths…as long as I’m in the water with her, haha. We swim but I have to hold her or if we float in the pool she’ll lay on me.
We have a chihuahua also, so she is great with all little dogs. She doesn’t care for bigger breads.
Overall, something I read about other people’s dogs astound me. My shiba is different in some aspect! So don’t go thinking your shiba will be the same as another. They have big personalities! I think your shiba will reflect who you are on the inside, like a window to the best and worst parts of yourself lol. That’s been my experience!!
Good Luck with your Shibas 🙂
I have a relatively young shiba (she’s about a year now) named Gabby that I rescued when she was just a little pup. To be honest, I didn’t do any prior research about the breed which is unlike me but I found her in a kill shelter and time was of the essence for my poor little Gabby. We already had 2 dogs ( a chi-wiener mix and German shepherd-husky mix ) and 3 cats who have turned a shy aloof shiba into an extremely social and happy dog. There’s only one issue. Gabby has begun to nab things off tables and dressers at night or when no one is home, taking them outside, and then proceeding to either hide or destroy them. Closing doors doesn’t deter the behavior as she just finds another place or object. I suspect that she’s not quite getting enough physical and/or mental stimulation. I’ve started walking her more, giving her more one on one play time, and will invest in some interactive toys next month when I go shopping. We live 3 hours (one way) from the nearest Wal-Mart, pet store, or training facility so getting professional help is next to impossible and I was wondering if you had any training tricks or advice to help back up us refocusing her energy? Or even just your thoughts on our predicament? Anything at all would be greatly appreciated! 🙂
Yeah, counter/table surfing is a self-reinforcing behavior. Every time my dog jumps on a counter or table and finds something yummy to eat or fun to play with, he gets rewarded for the behavior with something new that he would never get otherwise. This will keep encouraging him to repeat the behavior.
The only way that I know of to stop counter surfing, is to make sure that my dog never gets rewarded for it. When I am home, I supervise well, no-mark the behavior, and redirect my dog into doing something else (which he gets rewarded for). If he keeps trying to jump on the counter, then he is no longer allowed in the room or I put him briefly in a timeout. In this way, he learns that –
Jumping on counter = Don’t get to be in the kitchen or lose freedom to roam in the house.
When Sephy was young and still in training, I put him in his crate when I am not home. I am not away for long, so he just naps in his crate. I make sure to crate-train him beforehand, so that he enjoys crate time and is comfortable relaxing in there.
Im thinking about getting a Shiba innu but not sure. Gourgous dogs and I really want one. What do you think I should do???
My Shiba Inu was a lot of work when I got him as a puppy. Shibas can be very stubborn and aloof which make them more difficult to train.
More on why Shibas are difficult to train.
I fell in love with the look of the breed and didn’t do enough research into their personality before I got Sephy. As a result, we had a really tough first 6 months and I had to put in a lot of time to learn to properly manage and handle him.
More on my early experiences with Sephy.
Now, when I am thinking about getting a new breed, I do a lot of research into the breed first. I want to make sure that the breed will fit well into my current environment, lifestyle, and level of training experience.
Hi,
I have had a Sheba in my household for about 8 years. I adopted her when she was about 2 yrs. She is an extremely loyal dog and a very good companion. I would trust the so called good and bad of owning a Sheba Enu in that they are extremes but possible realities. The most important thing to consider is the patience and time you are willing to spend to have the type of personality in a dog that suits you. The Sheba is definitely and independent dog , but lovable to a fault 🙂
Im getting a Shiba puppy this weekend. Thank you for the info its really helpful
trying to figure out what her size will be do you have any pics of sephy when he was 8 weeks old.. It would really help
Unfortunately, I do not have too many early pictures of Sephy. I was very unprepared for a Shiba at the time, so taking pictures just fell by the wayside. 😀
This gallery contains the earliest pictures of Sephy, but unfortunately they are on the blurry side and I do not have exact ages attached.
http://shibashake.com/dog/shiba-pictures/early-months-dec-2006-mar-2007
Thank you so much. Well I picked up Inori on Saturday its been 2 days.
She is amazing, guessing since she’s 8 weeks old she still sleeps quite a lot most of the time really 🙂
But when awake wow she sure has the energy you were so right about the biting part.
Its been snowing here so having a bit of an issue getting her too stay out long enough to potty. She’s not fond of the snow any suggestions??
Thank you so much I keep reading all your blogs over to make sure I bring her up in a happy home.
Congratulations on your new puppy!
We don’t have snow here, but even with rain, Sephy does not like getting his paws wet. I think it is a ‘Shiba thing’. 😀 The only exception is when he is having fun playing with other dogs, then jumping in puddles is suddenly no problem.
With Sephy, we stay out for a few minutes and if he does not need to go, we come back in. If it looks like he needs to go again, then I take him out again. Sephy was very good about going to the door when he needed to go, so usually he would go right away and then come back in if it is raining. The other alternative is to make it fun for him outside, so he will want to stay outside, but that can be difficult to do.
Sephy doesn’t like wearing anything and it doesn’t get very cold here, so this is not something that we tried, but some people use dog shoes and a dog coat.
Big hugs to Inori!
Love the article, it was just you were describing my Bear, he is a six year old male. I love him like no other but this breed is definitely not for most people. Even after ALOT of training, he still lacks manners with strangers, I’ve gotten used to the look of horror when I tell strangers he doesn’t like to be pet (at least by you) or that he can be funny with some dogs (there are a few of his best buddies that he drag his ass going past their house hoping for a glimpse of them available for a good tussle, a lot of others that he will show his alpha). A lot of my friends and family don’t get it, they just think Bear is a bad dog. I see the good, cherish the awesome and avoid situations that bring out the bad. I fully embrace the responsibilities and rewards of having this little guy that I chose as my companion.
So very well said! Bear is a lucky guy. 😀
Mark says,
Feb. 2, 2015 at 11:415 P.M.
I just lost Sadie, who I had for 16 yrs., last month. She was a shiba/chow mix of about 21 yrs. of age. She was a well behaved girl that loved certain types of grass to graze in, and was walked twice a day up until the last year and a half or so. As she matured, I was more able to walk her without a leash than earlier on. She had the kindest heart I have ever known, and I look forward to owning another shiba soon! I miss my girl very much!
Well this sure has been an enjoyable blog! We have 2 crazy Shibas, a 7 year old super sized male, Kimo, and a 2 year old standard sized sesame female, Posey.
Kimo was a handful for several years with all kinds of mischievous tales to his life, but has settled into a easy going mature good natured guy…..now Posey on the other hand has a long way to go! What a goof off! She is just starting to settle down but has tricks under her collar every day! She thinks she owns us all and is relentless towards our old gentleman Kimo. With her bright eyes, pushy ways and incredibly over done scream she grabs everyone’s attention in one way or the other. We can’t imagine our home without our two fur balls of fun! I have never known any set of dogs more excited to see us arrive home at the end of a day as these two! Good luck to all our fellow Shiba owners, or should I say companions to the dogs that own our house! Haha
lol!
Hugs to Kimo and Posey.