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.
I am interested in your “mouthy” comment. It is very true that Shiba’s are very mouthy, so much so that our puppy is beginning to nip people upon meeting. I wonder if you have any advice on how to “tame” this behaviour. He (Monty) also leaps up at people, which can be quite scary for some. But of course the Shiba only reads the scary reaction as more play and continues the assault! I had one couple actually try to kick Monty. It was like they had never seen a dog before!
Here are some things that helped with my Shiba –
1. Ask people to ignore him – no talking to him, no touch, and no eye-contact. The last one with very important but difficult for people to follow.
2. As soon as he jumps, non-mark him (No or Ack-ack) and move him away from the people. Ask him for a Sit. If he complies and is calm, then you can try the greeting again after a short time.
3. Initially my Shiba would escalate his behavior and start biting the leash or redirecting on me. When he does this I leave and end the fun walk.
This way he learns that jumping and biting means he doesn’t get to interact with people at all but being calm will get him attention.
The most difficult thing in terms of people greeting is that people will try to push the dog away, or otherwise engage with the dog physically when they are jumping and biting. This usually just gets my Shiba even more excited, and any kind of physical interaction is a reward to him. As a result his jumping and biting behavior was just getting reinforced.
I also got some friends to come over to help with my people greeting training. This way I was sure that they would follow all of my instructions, and I had full control of the environment.
Make sure that jumping and biting = they don’t get to meet at all; and only let them interact when they are calm and have all feet on the ground.
I love the Shiba 500 comment! That is exactly what we call it when mine runs around the front yard in cirles! She is so energetic. We love the dog parks, she is very friendly with other dogs. At 42 pounds I now walk her on a front lead harness. It works well. She is now 8 months and I took her to get her nails trimmed….oh boy….for the first time ever she FREAKED!! THey had to put the cloth muzzle on her even though I was sitting right there. I guess I will be doing it from now on. WONDERFUL dog though…I love her!
lol – yeah Sephy is not big on nail clipping either.
I now do nail grinding and it is a very significant improvement. I don’t have to worry about clipping into the quick, and Sephy will actually lie down nicely and let me do it in return for some mackerel.
Hello, I have a one year old Shiba. She is the love of my life. I have never had a dog quite as special as my Shiba. We actually named her Shiba because from day one that was the only name she would respond and react to. I have a question – I know that generally Shibas are never supposed to be off a leash. My Shiba has ran out of the house 5 times through one of her sneaky escape routes. She runs for a few blocks and I run after her until she gets tired and sits down for a rest, that’s when I grab her. Do you have any suggestions on how we can get her to stop or to obey my commands as im running after her? I always have this fear one day she will run too fast or too far and I won’t be able to keep up.
Hello Maria,
Shibas are big escape artists and they are not usually great on recall 🙂
Here are some things that helped with my Shiba –
1. Drag lead
In the early days I left a drag lead on my Shiba. Only use a flat collar for this and only do this when you are around the house in case the lead gets caught on something. This way I don’t have to play his chasing games.
My Shiba loved doing anything to get attention and then having people chase him. When he got naughty, all I had to do was step on his long drag lead and instead of getting to play chase he gets a time-out.
2. Chasing reinforces the escaping behavior.
To a Shiba having people chase them is a fun reward. This encourages them to escape more often because Escape = chase = lots of fun.
Therefore you want to do everything you can to prevent the escapes and instead play chase games with your Shiba in the backyard. This way she learns that doing what you want = fun chase games.
My Shiba loves playing the flirt pole and the water hose game. In the flirt pole he gets to chase around a squirrel-tail toy and in the water hose game he chases around a stream of water.
In the early days I also crated my Shiba when he was alone in the house.
3. Recall training.
What worked well for me was to decrease the number of escapes (chasing episodes) and increase the number of recall successes. So while you are preventing the escapes, you can also start training her on recall. Sardines worked well for me in recall training. You can also throw in a fun game. She will quickly learn that
Going to mommy = Fun chasing game 🙂
4. Door Manners
It also really helped to practice door manners with my Shiba. Every time before we go for a walk he has to come to me and Sit nicely while I put on his collar and lead. Then he does a stay while I open the door. He does not move until I give him the Break command.
Make sure you can body block her if she breaks from her Stay. And if she does, the door closes and she doesn’t get to go for the fun walk. Then just keep practicing.
She will quickly learn that rushing out the door = no fun walk and Sit/Stay = get to go for fun walk.
Hope this will help you too. Let us know how it goes 🙂
just a quick not to offer hope to others that read that you cant take your shiba off a lead.
Well we have had dusty a while now and after getting her over the panic of having a lead on we are now able to take her to the park and let her off her lead. I would not do this in a small park or near cars/roads.
Dusty is great for about 30 minutes then she starts to get a little over excited and want to chase birds or becomes very aloof and is hard to get back. we them put her back on the lead for 15 minutes before allowing her off again. its working great. we have been working very closly with the trainers on her recall prior to doing this.
Lowerlifeform : I know what your saying about the cuddles. we are very lucky and Dusty loves a belly rub or a cuddle during the day, she does become a little less keen at night time unless we are eating. I wish you luck in your challenge
That is awesome Brendan!
Btw. please give us a link to some Dusty pictures when you get the chance. Would love to see one with the belly rub 🙂
Shibashake
if you provide me a address to send the pics to i would love to share them.
I feel that i must have got one of a kind in my shiba as when we did her nails it was so funny it was as if she was a lady in a nail shop she just sat there and gave us her two front paws.
One of the odds things with her is that when every you give her a bone from the butchers she is sick.. Anyone else have this problem.
With regards to the letting of the lead, i would suggest alot of work with a trainer on recall and follow their advice. Dusty is great but i would never let her off her lead walking the streets ect as she can be fickle at time. I never chase her but call and then walk in the other way. she wants to know what i am doing so soon come running after me.
LOL! Yeah Dusty sounds like a very balanced and well-temperamented Shiba. Did you get her from a local breeder? Or did you have her shipped? Did you visit the breeder prior?
Sephy was not very well socialized by his breeder so he is a bit neurotic 🙂 Also, I could have done a lot better when I first got him.
Anyway, write to me here when you have the time.
I got her from a local breader, there is only 4 that i could find in the UK. she was about 2 hours away from where i live.
We visited twice and she stood out as not being to forward but not shying away to much.
she cost us £950 ($1700) and we had to sign an agreement to say that we would not breed her.
she is fantastic the only things she does that are a bit naughty are she likes to chew the sofa if not watched, likes to eat the lawn and is not very keen on little kids. She is ok but if there are 2 or more at a time she gets very shy and scared. She is fine with adults tho.
Love the happy noises she makes when ever i get home for work or if i have just left the house for 10 minutes you would think i had not seen her for a week, she is a treat to come home to.
B
me and my fiance are sooooo interested in this breed and seems to fit our lifestyle and personalitys perfectly. we have both grown up with different dogs and animals such as birds, ferrets, cats, iguanas, and dogs. i would appreciate any input or advise from current Shiba owners to a new couple wanting to adopt one to join our family!! thank you
jimmy
Hi James,
Shibas can be great dogs but they are definitely on the higher maintenance side, especially in the beginning. They tend to be more stubborn than other dog breeds, and are also more prone to mouthiness. As a result, they need to be closely supervised when interacting with children and seniors.
They are also a hunting breed and will often go after cats and small critters.
I had a lot of problems with my Shiba initially. He was extremely mouthy and he was very good at using his many Shiba skills to manipulate me. I had to go through a lot with him, and put in a lot of time, but ultimately he taught me a lot about Shibas, dogs, and life 🙂
Also check out the nihonken Shiba message boards. There are many knowledgeable Shiba owners there.
In the beginning I visited many message boards and got a lot of useful information from other Shiba owners who have gone through similar Shiba problems.
It also helped to see that my Shiba was just being a regular Shiba and was not some mutant devil Shiba 😀
Two paws up to you for adopting a Shiba in need!
HELP!! I feel I am the lower life form here. My 2 shibas could care less about me(unless i have a porkchop hanging around my neck). I give them a healthy lifestyle; good puzzle games, long walks, trip to mickey Ds’, but they never want to play, cuddle, get pet,or hang out with me. They dont want anything to do with me unless it involves food. A friend of mine suggested smearing peanut butter all over myself of which I am serious considering… any suggestions???
Yeah Shibas are an aloof breed. My Shiba is not really into getting too much affection either. When he gets too much unwanted attention he will get up and walk away – as if to say “Talk to the butt” 🙂 My Sibe really loves attention though, so they make a really good pair.
Also dogs may sometimes see hugging and cuddling as a dominance move. When dogs interact with other dogs, the gesture of putting their paw over the shoulder of another dog is sometimes used to show dominance.
You can enhance the hugging experience for your dog by slowly desensitizing him to it, and tying the hugging experience with positive rewards.
Here are some ways to help your dog enjoy hugging.
My two 15 year old Shibas(boy and girl) and what’s been helpful for me when taking them for walks (we stopped going to dog parks years ago where they made scene after scene because of the boys’ dominance issues)is when your about to meet with another dog assert your dominance and tell him to sit down (let him know you mean it) stand where you are between the two dogs line of sight. It seems they arent aggressive when they know that I am there acting as the dominant one to protect them. After 15 years they still look like puppies and get lots of attention, however they better than ever at being shibas! 🙂
Never a dull moment, It feels like it’s one thing after another with my Shiba. I am currently having trouble with my shiba. The problem is that he seems to be having trouble with little big man syndrome. He was kicked out of day care because of his mouthy nature and I tried to keep socializing him at a dog park, but he has been been starting fights there as well. He growls and shows his teeth…I haven’t seen him bite any other dogs yet, but he does alot of snapping at other dogs. What do I do?…I have tried some of the dog whisperers tactics but they don’t seem to be working with him…HE IS RELENTLESS…His manners with people also leave something to be desired…he doesn’t bite people, but it seems that no matter how much exercise he gets…he is still an endless supply of energy. he goes for long walks and he walks on a treadmill several times a day but he is still always bouncing around…PLEASE HELP!…I want desparately to fulfill his needs but he just seems to be soo hyper all the time….I would very much appreciate some new ideas…One of the great things about him though is that he is extremely mentally challenging and I can’t imagine life without him…and no matter how obnoxious he is I can’t be mad at him. He is the most adorable dog, but he is driving me nuts.
Hi Meg,
What you describe sounds eerily familiar 🙂
I have tried putting my Shiba in 3 different daycares, and only after doing research on them and checking each of them out. He didn’t like any of them. Spent the whole time whining, and wanting to play too rough. Ultimately, I think the whole experience was just very frustrating for him as well as for the people at the daycare – lol.
I have also tried enclosed dog-parks – which I do not do anymore because the environment is too unstructured for an excitable Shiba. He started practicing bad behaviors and also became a lot more mouthy.
What worked best for my Shiba in his younger days was to have nice neighborhood dogs come over for visits and do one on one playgroups that I supervised. One of my neighbors had a lovely dog that she found abandoned on the road. Her dog – Kai – is extremely social and friendly. Kai was best friends with my Shiba. Whenever we walked by her house, my Shiba would sit by the gate and wait for Kai to come out and play 🙂
I also took him to my nearby SPCA to play with social dogs there – one on one.
Another thing you could try is to find a dog walker that does group dog walks at hiking parks (not enclosed parks). My Shiba did that for a while – but the walker wanted to start using a choke chain on him – so it didn’t work out in the end. Only use a dog walker with a lot of experience. It is better if the walker is also a trainer or linked to a trainer. Otherwise – he/she will not be able to handle a Shiba.
Some of Cesar Millan’s techniques worked well on my Shiba but some of them made things a lot worse. In particular, what Cesar says about energy and being calm and assertive is very true and absolutely necessary for a Shiba. My Shiba is extremely sensitive to my energy so I always stay calm with him.
Techniques that didn’t work out include alpha rolls and leash jerks. Those made things a lot worse for my Shiba.
http://shibashake.com/dog/3-dog-training-techniques
Here are some things that helped when my Shiba was younger and also very hyper. My Shiba also loves playing the flirt pole and the water hose game.
My Shiba got a lot more calm after over 1 year. Nowadays I just walk him in the morning, and he is good for the rest of the day. Most of the time he is too lazy to even play with my Sibe. She has to really convince him before he will awake from the royal Shiba nap 🙂
Dusty has also started puppy classes and the trainers are all so impressed that after two weeks she knows sit and lay and is also toilet trained. Do have the odd accident but such is life and happily they tend to be round my parents house when she is playing with their black labs
Dusty has recently taken to eating the grass which is so funny she comes in with mud all up her nose. When we first got her she was red and white but as time goes past she is getting more black (dad is black and white) she looks so cute also makes everyone think she is a husky puppy and not a fox which is handy as i was starting to getting some funny looks walking around with a puppy that looked like a fox on a lead lol.
lol Brendan. I love your stories of Dusty!
Yeah my Siberian has started eating grass as well because she wants to follow her older brother 🙂
The other day while Shiba was poking around in the grass, he caught/found a lizard! It was his first one – he is usually pretty lame about catching anything. The funny thing was, once he caught it he didn’t really know what to do with it.
He just let it go – probably because he was grossed out by it. Can’t get the royal Shiba paws dirty 😀
Nice website. I’ve had my male Shiba for 7 months now and he is the best puppy I ever had. Loves to lick you, sleep with you, and is very friendly with everyone including other dogs. I’ve done the socialization from day one and put him in the fetal(on the back) position anytime he acts up. I do recommend a puppy training class for new owners. Worked like a charm. He basically learned all the simple commands after 3 weeks! Very smart dogs! I am amazing. btw, the Shiba 500 is the funniest thing ever! lol
Sorry had to make a correction. He basically learned all the simple commands after 3 weeks! Very smart dogs! I am AMAZED, not amazing =)
Hi Jason,
You are also pretty amazing for bringing-up such a well-adjusted Shiba. 🙂
Yeah they are so extremely smart. I just wish mine would use his smarts for Good rather than for Chaos 🙂