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.
This article is so one point! We got our Shiba when he was 4 years old. We had no idea what we were getting. Our Shiba lived until 2 months shy of his 15th birthday. What a character! Dog aggression-check; smart and manipulative-check; jealous for attention -check. Stubborn-check. Escape artist extraordinaire-check. In fact my husband and I seriously thought he had a collapsible skeleton. And boy what a drama king/cry baby! But even with all the “negatives” he was part of our family. He was “monitored” our daughter while she slept. He loved to play to tag…yes tag with us. And he would talk with us. We’d ask him a question and he would talk back.
If you are looking for a buddy-buddy dog park gad about don’t get a shiba. But if are an experienced dog owner who can relate to a smart, somewhat aloof dog that belies his fierce love of you, then yes get a Shiba
i also adopted mine from a neighbor when she was three, not knowing what I was getting into (I had always had collies). She is much better 3.5 years later, but is still dog aggressive, still bites me when I try to give her a pill, has chewed the drywall off the wall next to the door, trying to get out (twice – I repaired it once), even though she has a dog door to the yard. She loves to play ball, but will never bring the ball closer than 4 feet from you -expects you to walk the rest of the way. i had to install a fence INSIDE my fence, 3 feet down for my little escape artist – luckily, when she did escape, she heads for my friend’s house a mile away (how did she learn to get there? I only drive there). She hates taking a biscuit from my hand, preferring that I throw it a few feet away – the feral ancient wolf in her, I guess. But she and I love each other dearly. I can’t imagine life without her now.
Hi Everyone,
My husband and I recently inherited my Son’s 5 year old shiba. He lived in San Antonio Texas his whole life and was recently flown in to Massachusetts. My husband picked him up from the airport and when they pulled into the driveway the dog was quite disoriented. We have snow. He has never seen snow. My husband had him on a leash but when the dog heard the storm door close it spooked him and he managed to get out of his collar and run away. He has been missing for two days. We had one sighting the first night. We have posted flyers everywhere and he is posted on all the missing dog sites between here and Rhode Island. Does anyone have any advice on how we might be able to trap him? He will only run if we finally find him and call to him. There is a great volunteer group that will set up cameras and a trap once we have a few sightings, but we haven’t had any sightings since the first night.
Any insight you can provide would be immensely helpful. We want to find him as soon as possible!
Hopefully you have found him by now. I can tell you that my Shiba will never come when called. I would buy an extra large animal trap and put meat and bacon in it where he was last sighted. If you have anything with your sons scent on it put it in the trap. I am only half certain this will work because Shiba’s are highly intelligent and may not enter a trap. He has probably bedded down somewhere around where the sightings are occurring.
Thank you for sharing your experience with your Shiba here. My husband and I are researching breeds to see which best suits out lifestyle. Your insights are quite funny! We currently have a 10 yo miniature pincher named Stella and are looking for another dog of smaller size. Is your dog an only child? Do you feel that this breed does better in a single dog household? Thanks for your feedback.
Hello Dana, We currently have three dogs. Got a Husky one year after Shiba.
I think it depends on the personality of the individual dog, and this is something that may change with age. Sephy really liked playing with other dogs, especially when he was young. He is older now, so he is less accepting of new pups. At the time, I didn’t get a new dog right away because there were many things we had to deal with, but we did a lot of puppy classes and play-dates with dogs that fit his temperament and play style. Sephy plays pretty rough, so that is another thing to consider.
Here are a couple of articles on my experiences with getting a second dog-
http://shibashake.com/dog/getting-a-second-dog
http://shibashake.com/dog/second-dog-introducing-a-second-dog
Hope this helps and let us know how it goes. 🙂
Hi, I have a 12 year old female Shiba. She is, and has always been, a dream. She is smart, loving and extremely friendly. While all fur babies have their own personalities, my girl does not display many of the challenging traits this poster has experienced. She is obedient and eager to please. She’s also extremely loving. Her only fault is that she is not overly fond of young children….I think they move too fast for her and are too loud. I have always been home with her, so that may be the difference. She loves her fur-siblings, including a kitty. She is truly a wonderful girl. Good luck choosing a new fur Baby!
Very interesting article I have to admit that I had quite a few laughs here and there but overall this is a very well written article, it also helps a lot because I was deciding on getting a Shiba Inu and this article gave me the full amount of information that I will need to own a Shiba Inu!
I have a 2 yr old Shiba who has recently started have UTIs and struvite crystals. Has anyone experienced this health issue with their Shiba and if so how did you treat it? Vet says to go on a prescription diet that is very costly. Currently I feed him a pure venison or bison diet with sweet potato. Occasionally a carrot or raw green bean treat. I don’t think he drinks enough water. Should I try wetting his food first or switch to a wet/dry mixture?
My Shiba will be 10 years old this April. His Vet found crystals in his bladder. Bet suggested more water which is difficult with this stubborn breed. Sorry I couldn’t help you but at least you know it’s common.
My vet reported some dogs are allergic to sweet potatoes.
Try removing them from diet and see what happens.
To increase fluid consumption try adding real chicken or beef broth to the dogs water. Also wash the water bowl more frequently if you try this.
I just got an 8 week old Shiba a few days ago. She’s not remotely afraid of my other two small and medium dogs at all, even when they bark at her or playfully growl. She’s also been entirely mute – not a single bark, growl, or whimper which I think is perfect haha. Shes clearly fearless and not phased by anything.
They seem to LOVE playing with her and vice versa , and normally my dogs just play for a minute with other dogs then run and hide upstairs. She never runs out of energy. Constantly wants to follow my family around and brush against our legs and sit on our feet. Will let you cuddle her on your lap, but would rather lay by your legs like a cat.
My biggest obstacle is this Shiba absolutely loves to chew on everything and is super restless as I sleep. Tried stuffed toys and chew tiys but she is more interested in eating her blankets and bedding.
She’ll paw on her kennel, which for the most part means she wants to potty (I have yet to successfully get her out the front door before she does so, unfortunately)
I keep her in a small kennel on my floor as I sleep, and have to take the bell off her collar at night because she refuses to stay still, and I’m getting 4 hours sleep if lucky.
I want her to enjoy this house, wander around and use up her energy throughout the day, but with the constant curiosity of chewing every thing in sight I’m not sure what to do, since I can’t follow her around all day to give her freedom and keep an eye on her, but I dont want to just put her in a kennel either. on top of the fact I can’t leave her unsupervised because then potty accidents will happen, and I know from past experience that the more accidents I miss and can’t immediately correct (by saying “no” and picking them up and setting them on my grass) , the longer the potty training process will be. I know puppies are hard work and kind of a full time job if potty training and bad habits are involved, but this has definitely been my hardest yet. I’m dreading the training sessions of teaching her basic commands using a clicker and treats.
Any one have some general tips? I’m considering just locking her in my room to hang out on my bed with me since that’s where I hang out most the day, and then making her follow me around the house on a leash as I do my daily routine when I leave my room.
I usually do “crate training” with my puppies, but for some reason I don’t have the heart to keep my Shiba in a kennel a large portion of the day, except when I’m at work. But if any one used crate training on theirs, can you give me an idea of your process for it and lengths of time you kept it in there? I love this dog so much and I think that’s playing a huge role on me hating myself every time I put her in a small kennel. Also the fact I dropped a seriousss amount of money on her is stressing me out and making me worried I’ll do something wrong and it’ll affect her behavior in a bad way for years to come. My worst fear is always my pets turning out anti social and aggressive; the dogs you see at your friends houses that have to be tossed outside every time company comes over because they’re unpredictable.
Fortunately all mine are ridiculously attention seeking, loving, and play gently with random dogs and cats.
Dan go to the Shiba inu forum many people with great advise we have 2 of them and I truly wish I had tapped into this forum when my dog was 8 weeks old they are a lot of work and 8-12 weeks is the golden time for training best wishes Kira
Dear Dan,
The chewing part of your story strikes a familiar chord. Our shiba “Aiko” went through this chewing stage but grew out of it. Offer your pup copious amounts of dog chew toys with a squeaker built inside. The thought being something more appealling than furniture to chew on. Squeakers inside are designed for dog chew toys are all soft plastic and are “safer” in case of ingestion. Do not ever give your shiba beef bones as shards can break off and hurt your shiba’s throat and require an emergency vet visit (Don’t ask!). There is something about the squeaker that the shiba will focus on and rip it out of the chew toy with a vigorus neck shaking (The Famous Shiba Shake). Have a tub or basket of cloth animal type squeaker equipped (a dozen or so) chew toys availible for your pup and his other dog pals and they will initiate all sorts of tug of war games. I hope some of this advice will be helpful for you and your pup. Good luck!
I recently took in my daughters year old male Shiba, Fenrir. He is adapting to country life from being a city apartment dog. He has 2 playmates, my 8 yr. old pittbull (fm) and a 4 yr. old male boxer…..needless to say its been a bit stressful for all of us. Fen is having stomach issues occasionally, I believe due to stress as his food has not caused any previous issues. This breed is new to me although I have raised, trained and shown guardian breeds for decades. Does neutering help with the dominance/aggression issues?
Neutering helped us some but Shibas are variable. ultimately our male Shiba at 4 years old decided the only dog he liked is our female Shiba. I still work with him every walk to have him sit and pay attention to me rather than stalk and attack other dogs. No Shiba is ever trustworthy off leash.
Tisw doges ish verry coot, how mooch ish oosed one?
$1000-$2000 now a days
Our 2 year old Shiba named Aiko is an amazing creature. I can verify that it has super powers. I kid you not, but this dog somehow got up on the flat roof to the back stairs of our house which is 8 feet above the ground. There was a picnic table next to the house Aiko must have used as a spring board. A ladder was required to get her down and we think she was chasing some wild animal. She is a very dedicated and fearless hunter and has killed 2 rats and 1 squirrel in our back yard. She has even cornered a raccoon and held at bay until we figured out what all the commotion was about and allowed this victim to escape. Our backyard is fenced and has many bushes for Aiko to patrol. The squirrels have wised up to her wicked ways and give her a wide berth. This is her nature when outside but inside she is more of a cat. She gets along with our cat and they even take naps together. She has steady supply of chew toys that she rips apart with a strong neck shaking action to liberate the squeaker inside. If you should fall asleep on the living room couch Aiko will curl up next to you. Not exactly cuddling but more like she is guarding you while you sleep. When Aiko wants something she will get your attention by poking you with her front claws. Just like the book says, do not let The Shiba of it’s leash. Last week she unlatched the front gate by pushing down on the lever and got out on the street and just took off. I was barefoot so I grabbed my keys and hopped in the car and hauled after her. Some six blocks away I overtook her and gangster parked the car and hopped out. Luckily at that moment she stopped to pee. With the command to stop, stop, stop, Akio froze and I picked her up like lawn ornament and took her home much to the amusement of our postman who witnessed these shenanigans. There that unpredictability about this dog but also an intelligence too.
My dog almost killed a possum in the back yard until I saved it (don’t ask how long that took….)
It’s quite fascinating to read this description of Shibas. I live in Japan and Shibas are obviously common…so much so that little of the advice given here really applies to the breed and many of these traits don’t seem to be an issue.
Most people live in small apartments or homes without yards, and there are very few homes with yards which would be considered big enough for the breed (though mkstbhomes, yard or no, are surrounded by 3-5 foot privacy wallstatement with open drives). Many of these dogs roam the neighborhood, much like the elementary school kids do, without incident. You frequently see owners with their Shibas out for walks, though dog parks and socialization really aren’t a thing where we live. Many people adopt them from local shelters as they are the most common breed available. I won’t say that I’ve never seen a Shiba that wasn’t outgoing…we have one little high strung Shiba in our neighborhood…but for the most part they are pretty even tempered and we’ll mannered.
I have to wonder if this is a difference in cultural norms (as in, are we as Americans that much more stressed than our Japanese counterparts that we are stressing out the breed?) OR is there that much more of a difference in early obedience training?
Looks like I have something new to research here!
As an owner of a Shiba living in Japan – I can attest to the accuracy of the article. Our Shiba now is our 2nd (my father in law is a breeder) and the 1st was about the most handsome dog you’d ever seen – but so independent. Truly the lone wolf. Shibas are not that common here or nowhere near as common as you’d think. In fact they were almost extinct post war and only saved through energetic programs. The dogs you see walking with their owners are generally well behaved as they can be trained very easily for basic commands. Unfortunately many spend their lives chained or caged as they cannot be left to roam freely or play freely (with a ball or frisbee etc) as they will just run away.
Re the point about stress – that would just be a casual observation as Shibas can be easily stressed (esp males) by cramped conditions and lack of walking / sniffing for imagined prey. Definitely not a human cultural thing. In fact some of the Shiba breeders here deny their dogs dna and keep them in extremely stressful situations. Sad to see. I’m glad I live in a semi-rural environment and our lovely little girl (8yrs) seems to enjoy her life – but we gotta work on it.