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.
My blackand tan female is about 2 years now. At about 18 months a friends girlfriend had her for a day. She taught her sign language in one afternoon.she knows sit,down, and stay at a snap. and even not using it much she remembers it instantantley.
Hi All
Well today was the big day and after 8 weeks of reading and thinking about it and waiting we brought home our shiba. she is a red 11 week old and is wonderful. We have already run into the first difficulty which we would welcome advice on. We put her lead on today as we wanted to walk her around the block so she could have a smell and were treated to the shiba scream (ohhh it really did make my blood run cold). is there something we could do to her her get used to the lead? she has been sulking for about an hour and is only now starting to even look at me 🙁
thanks.
Hi Brendan,
Congratulations on getting a Shiba! They are a pretty awesome breed that will keep you on your toes all the time. 🙂
One thing that helped with my Shiba is to fasten the leash onto the collar, and just let her drag it around. This will help her get comfortable with the feel of leash.
Make sure to supervise so that the leash does not get caught on anything. And only do this with a flat collar.
You can also play the Find-it game with her while she has the leash on. Fasten the leash and bring out some of her favorite treats. Throw one a small distance away and say find-it. Once she gets it, praise her a lot and throw another one and so on. This way you get her moving around and playing something fun with the lead on.
Once she learns to Find-It you can throw in some recalls. Walk a few steps away from her and call her. Praise her a lot for coming to you, treat her, and then do a Find-It, then just keep repeating.
She will quickly get used to the leash and see it as something really positive.
Thanks for getting back to us so quickly. We had a great night with Dusty. She sat between us and cuddled for about an hour before she wanted to take herself of to bed. My other half was cuffed as she was worried she would not be a dog that wanted to sit with us and cuddle.
As for the leash thing, we have put it on her (we got a look but no scream which was good as it was 6.15am) and have started to play games with her and see seems ok. We will keep doing this for a few days before we try and take her out on it.
I am so amazed at how much a Shiba can say to you with just a look, unlike any dog I have ever had before. Dusty is of the mind that she is royalty that’s for sure.
lol – my Shiba is especially communicative when he wants something from me or when he is unhappy about something. It is tough to resist him when he is doing his best begging positions 🙂 He is a very good moocher.
But I know what you mean. I was just commenting on another page that Shibas have a large repertoire of looks, poses, and moves. Many of them are very funny and entertaining. That is how a Shiba earns his/her room and board 🙂
Glad to hear that Dusty is settling in so well. Sephy usually just gives me the “talk to the butt” move.
Let me know how the walks go. Sounds like she will be fine now – and will be pulling you around in no time 😀
WOW it has been a long weekend.
After the first night when she slept really well we had a copy where she cry/howled from 11pm till 5am. After going to the lady living next door with some flowers and explaining that it might be a noisy time for a few nights, we decided to just let her cry it out. We gave her a radio playing quietly next to her cage and a couple of toys as well as a fluffy teddy with a clock in it.
It’s now been 3 nights and she still cries for 30mins when first put to bed and a couple of time during the night but we can live with that just because she is such a ball of excitement during the day.
She loves to sit between us on the sofa and nap. She is just starting to show some interest in chewing the tables so having to watch her like a hawk.
We have taken her to meet the mother in laws dog (cocker span) and they get on great gun (dusty is clearly the boss and play is on her terms)
Hope all are well.
B
lol – I remember those nights! You have some really good advice –
1. Be a good neighbor!
2. Leave a radio playing.
3. Soft teddy with calming ticking sound.
One thing that really helped with my Shiba is to put his crate in the bedroom. He is a lot more calm when he can keep an eye on his people I think 🙂
How goes the walking?
well the nights she is now better at going to sleep but still has a cry every couple of hours and then is so excited when you go and see her in the morning.
Dusty will now walk around the block but does get worried when cars go past. She really is hard work but so rewarding.
Love her to bits and its only been a week lol.
just out of interest. people here feed their shiba on wet or dry food. we tried dry but she was not so keen so moved on to some natural wet food (meat fit or human consumption) so it i very get snowed in we can all share the chicken, rice and veg packs 😉
LOL! Sounds yummy! One time CNBC was highlighting the dog food industry and they had the Wellness CEO come on for an interview. He ate his own dog food during the interview – always remembered that! He offered it to the news anchor but was declined 😀
As for food I give both my dogs Innova EVO kibble mixed with some boiled chicken or cheese. I like using kibble because I can use them with the interactive toys. Both of them can get a bit picky about the kibble, but they will work for it and eat it when they are hungry.
They will always mooch for the good stuff, but they know that they have to finish the kibble before they get more of the good stuff 🙂
hello,
Ive been enjoying reading all the questions and answers here as it has helped me a lot with understanding what I am getting myself into getting a new Shiba puppy. I have a question that I have not seen answered yet. I am getting a male puppy and was trying to decide whether to have him neutered or not. What are the differences in personality with a male that is not neutered compared to one that is. Normally I have had all my pets neutered but with this one I was thinking of possibly using him as a stud. Any advice would be greatly appreciated and I get the feeling I will be visiting here a LOT and asking for LOTS of advice.
Thank!!
Hi Kathy,
I don’t breed dogs so I don’t have first hand experience with this. From what I have read and heard from breeders, unfixed dogs can be more dominant and can trigger aggression in other fixed dogs. They also tend to want to roam more, especially if there are unfixed females around.
My neutered Shiba is already enough of a challenge for me 🙂
One thing you can do is call up the accredited Shiba breeders near you and ask them for advice. My Shiba breeder was just starting out when I got Sephy from her, and what she did was attach herself to a more established breeder so that she could get help on breeding and showing her dogs.
I contacted many of the Shiba breeders around my area when I was having troubles with Sephy and they were very helpful and supportive. I even visited a few of them and got to see how they set up their kennels.
yeah i have a shiba who is almost 2 years old and he always gives me the shiba look
i caught him eating my one thousand doller phone i would normally be so pissed he looked at me with those eyes i couldn’t resist them so i gave him a hug and praised him LOL bad thing to do i know but his adorable
The Shiba is strong in the Force. Beware Darth Shiba! 😀
Hi. We have a female Siberian Husky and are thinking about getting a male Shiba Inu. Do you think they would be ok together? Our female is very much ‘The Boss’ (or so she thinks she is) when it comes to other dogs & I’m not sure how she’d like a little male puppy running around.
Hi Cayla,
It can be difficult to tell how dogs will get along. When I got Shania (my Siberian) I got her for a trial period of 2 weeks. I wanted to use that time to see if my Shiba got along well with her, and whether we were the right home for her.
It turned out really well.
Before I got her, I looked into adopting a dog, and brought my Shiba to meet several rescue Siberians. That didn’t go as well because my Shiba tended to spook the rescue dogs and they got aggressive with him.
It is best to meet the dogs first, or bring the dog/puppy home for a trial period. Then evaluate if getting a new dog will enhance the quality of life for everyone in the family.
I need some more advice…My now 7 month old shiba male will be getting neutered this friday. Do you have any advice about care after being neutered? I know that I really can’t baby him too much, I don’t want to make him insecure, but some advice would be good. I have never had a dog neutered before so I don’t know what to expect. Thank you Again
Hi Meg,
The hardest part of the neutering will be to keep your active Shiba fairly sedate for at least 7-10 days. No jumping or running around.
Mine totally hated the e-collar and tried getting out of it. He half succeeded one time, and got minor cuts on his lip as a result.
Some things that helped –
1. First day he will be pretty out of it – so I just left mine alone.
2. Frozen Kongs to keep Shiba somewhat entertained. I held it for him because of the e-collar.
3. Make sure the e-collar is on properly. Initially, they only put his collar through 2 of the e-collar tabs and that was how my Shiba half got it off.
4. E-collar was a must for my Shiba because as soon as it goes off, he was trying to get at his stitches.
5. Make sure you don’t give Shiba too much free reign – no Shiba running during this time. I had a long drag lead on mine, and had him in the kitchen with a baby door when I could not supervise. If he still wants to run and jump, you could also consider using a tie-down.
6. Figure out new ways to challenge Shiba mentally – he will have a lot of pent up energy because he can’t do his usual physical things. Put cheese in rubber toys to get him interested in chewing, etc.
7. I was very happy when the stitches and e-collar came out 😀 Probably happier than my Shiba!
hello…I was hoping for some more ideas…my shiba just got neutered on friday and he is in very good spirits…he is doing well at not licking the stitches and he’s even doing well at not doing his little shiba run, but there is a problem…HE IS GETTING INTO EVERYTHING!!!…I think it’s cause he’s bored and i’ve tried to come up with things to keep him mentally challenged…I.E. Kongs w/peanut butter, hiding treats that sniff around and find…I even got him some new toys, but instead he’s stealing things off the coffee table and today he even tried to take my sock right off my foot…PLEASE HELP!!!…I need some ideas on how to keep him mentally engaged…he is used to having a good hour and a half walk every day plus extra exercise so he is going crazy…any and all ideas would be most helpful…thank you very much…GOD I LOVE SHIBA INU’S…never a dull moment.
Hi Meg – Hang in there 🙂 My Shiba drove me CRAZY during this period as well.
Chew toys could keep him occupied for some time – especially if you stick pieces of cheese onto it. Do you have the Nylabone Rhino ball? Sometimes I stick sardines into the holes of the ball and my Shiba really loves that. Here are more food toy ideas –
My Shiba also loves shredding up cardboard. As long as your Shiba does not show an inclination towards eating cardboard, this could be another interesting activity. Just don’t let him eat the cardboard as that could lead to digestive issues.
The e-collar will probably get in the way of some of these activities, so make sure to only give him challenges that he can solve with the e-collar on, or with some help from you.
I am not usually a proponent of using sedatives – but this is a special one time case where limited use of sedatives could be helpful. It is best to talk to your vet about this option.
I MADE IT!!! my shiba’s stitches came out this week and he is back to his wonderful little self. However, he picked up the habbit of biting while he was recovering…I need some ideas on how to deal with that…I definately don’t want him biting…I swear it’s one thing after another with my shiba….sometimes I do wish that he could have a lab personality for one day a week so that I could have a break…I still wouldn’t trade him for the world…I must be crazy..anyways…I would really appreciate any advice you might have.
YAY Meg!! I was ecstatic when my Shiba’s stitches came off! Hurrah to you and your Shiba 😀
As for the biting what worked best for me are –
1. Redirection – non-mark (ack ack) for the bite and redirect him onto a sanctioned toy. If he redirects, praise him, play with him and maybe put some food on the toy so that he will play with it.
2. Time-out – There will be times when Shiba does not redirect and will keep wanting to mouth on you. If he does not stop after you non-mark him and does not want to redirect, then say time-out in a stern voice, and put him in timeout briefly. Ask him for a command before letting him out of timeout. If he goes back to biting, put him back in timeout.
3. Bite inhibition – Shibas are naturally very mouthy, so bite inhibition is a very useful thing to train them on.
Here are more details on the techniques for puppy biting.
I am wishing to bring a Shiba into our family. I have two children 5 & 6, along with 2 male Ragdoll cats…(my husband is getting further down that peking list). 1. Do you think that I would be placing my cats in any danger by adding a Shiba to the family? I think that they are just gorgeous, but I am afraid that this dog may “turn” and bite one. 2.Also, are these dogs ok with being kept in a roon like the laundry to sleep at night. 3.Is a male dog “easier” than a female?
Fingers and toes crossed, that this is workable.
With thanks Anna.
Hello Anna,
It is great that you are doing so much research before getting a dog. I didn’t do much before getting my Shiba Inu and ended up with a holy terror on my hands 🙂
How dogs are wrt. cats often depends on their prey drive. Shibas have pretty high prey drives given that they are hunting dogs, so their instinct will be to chase cats and other small animals. You can train a Shiba to live with cats, especially if you train them from young. However, given their higher prey drive, you will need to put time into training and they will not generalize across different cats. You may need to repeat the training for each different cat.
My Shiba really likes being with his people so he likes being in the room with the family at night. That being said, dogs can get used to almost anything. Shibas are extremely stubborn though, so there may be a whole lot of whining and such in the meantime.
Based on my conversations with Shiba owners, that certainly seems to be the case. I don’t have a female Shiba, and don’t plan to get one. My male Shiba is challenging enough 🙂
Shibas also tend to be aloof and can be mouthy with people. All this is trainable, but they are harder to train and take more time to train because of their stubborn nature.
Your kids may have more fun with a less aloof, and more people oriented dog breed.
Let us know what you decide 🙂
We have many Shibas and they all have their time in the house alternately. They stay in the house alone for many hours each day and don’t destroy anything. Our first one was in the house when we went to visit a friend for the day. However, a snow storm came up suddenly and we were stuck away from home for 2 days. Upon returning home we expected to find piles and puddles, but, to our surprise (pleasant surprise) there were neither. I must admit she was VERY ready to go outside!!! In our sixteen years of owning Shibas we have only had three that destroyed things and only in their very young ages. We start training early and their mothers teach them, as well.
Hi Bill,
You must have very good Shiba kung-fu! If there are any good tips that you can share with us, please post them below. I think lots of Shiba owners will be very thankful- including me 🙂
I’ve had my Male Black and Tan shiba for about 1 1/2yrs. He does almost everything that is listed on this page. From knocking stuff of the counters, dressers, and end tables then destroys them. Sometimes my cat even helps him out by knocking stuff off so he can get it. But lately I’ve had a problem I can’t seem to fix. I recently adopted a female pitbull they get along pretty well accept at dinner time. But that isn’t my problem he recently has been going #2 in my bedroom in the same spot almost every time. This is right after I take him for a 20-30 min walk in the morning. It’s like he’s holding it just to spite me. He’s never had this problem until we moved into our new apartment. I don’t know what to do if you could give me any kind of insight I would appreciate it.
Thank You,
Lance
Hi Lance,
It could be that the particular spot has smells from a cat or perhaps a dog from the previous owner of the apartment? Try cleaning out that spot with enzymatic cleaner, that is specially made for pets.
Be consistent with your rules and discipline in the new apartment. Dogs don’t tend to generalize across different locations, so your Shiba may think that the old rules do not apply to the new apartment.
Also sounds like there has been a fair number of big changes for Shiba (new apartment, new dog), and he may be stressed from it. My Shiba really likes routine and structure, and he gets really stressed out whenever there are changes in my schedule or if anything unexpected occurs.
Other things that may help –
1. Start establishing a fixed routine again.
2. Close the door to your bedroom for now and always supervise him when he is in your bedroom so that you can stop him if he looks like he is about to go potty.
3. Exercise him more, for now, so that he has a healthy outlet for his stress.
4. Make sure that your new dog is playing nice with your Shiba.
5. Make sure to apply the same rules and same discipline to both dogs.
i had my a cream seven mth old shiba for about five mths now and he does about the same thing mentioned on this page. He whines when he cant follow me in some areas of the house and its hilarous. He makes it seem like its the end of the world. he use to rip up my bedsheets and bite anything he can find. However i bought him those rawhide bones an he loves them. Doesnt bother with my covers anymore. But he still pulls on my pillows when he wants to go outside in the morning. Love him to death though even though he destroyed my furniture the first mth i had him. He also that shiba 500 which is hilarous and he also likes to climb stairs and walk on thin ledges like a cat. Lol. By the way your shiba is adorable. =)
Hi Timber – your Shiba sounds adorable! I especially like the walking on thin ledges bit.
lol – yeah, Shibas are not the easiest to love, but we love them anyway 🙂