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 have been reading a lot about Shiba Inu’s and I really wish I had this information before I got one. I love my Shiba (3yrs, male), but I really feel as though they should stop marketing this breed of dog, as a domesticated animal. First of all, they haven’t been domesticated that long and their idea of proper behavior, as many other dogs adapt to home life, is so different. Shiba’s are not really meant for structured lifestyles because they do what they want, when they want. Their aggressive behavior is not manageable. And even though a lot of experts say that they need aggression training, I find that to be a lie. Shiba’s are like substance abusers. You can tell the person to stop using drugs, but unless they really want to, then they won’t stop. You can train a Shiba in aggression all you want, but if they want to be aggressive, they will be aggressive. This goes with any behavior of a shiba inu, mainly because they are sooooooooo STUBBORN!!! I got my shiba neutered thinking that it will stop his aggression, or even minimize it, which I find to be one of the main issues with shiba’s, but it did not help that much. It’s very unfortunate that a lot of information is not given to people in regards to the real characteristics of dogs. A lot of time when you research a dog/animal, it seems as though you only get the good information about them or their mildly destructive behaviors. You never get the real info about who they are, and that can be very detrimental. I suggest that if there is anyone out there that really knows the good and bad of dogs, to put that information in a book, website or some form of resource, so others can obtain that information when thinking of getting a dog. I truly don’t know what I am going to do with my Shiba at this point because I am attached to him and I don’t want to let him go, but unfortunately they may have to be an option, because I’m currently not a believer that training will work. To have to pay all that money during a time like this for training that may not be effective, doesn’t seem to be appealing. If anyone has any other options that have really worked for you in regards to aggression with shiba’s, please let me know. Thanks.
Dog aggression is very contextual, and rarely come out of nowhere. Are there certain things that trigger aggression? Have you ruled out potential medical reasons where your Shiba might actually be in pain, thus in a bad mood all the time?
You should record videos of these instances and show a trainer. Even better if the trainer can observe in person. They will offer better insight in terms of the severity and how to proceed with training.
I adopted a 3yo male rescue Shiba in May 2021. He was abandoned due to “aggression”. Surprisingly he never bit me once. I practice calm energy with him at home. I am always gentle with him and let him have alone time. He comes to me and leans into me, or paws when he wants some affection. He is now comfortable with me carrying him and bathing him.
Yes they are cute but not when they are mixed with another breed mine is mixed and she goes after my small animals (cats and my baby morki)
Sorry if have bad spelling.
We got our at pet smart I think it was my dog is know 2 so dont remember.
I have been poking my head into your page since 2012 and have confirmed so much through it. I don’t know if you’re still active or not but I do appreciate the time and effort you put into this. I love this especially, “He will sit there and wait until I have the acceptable number of dog treats in my hand, before going into his crate.”
I have a 7 y/o Shiba female who has really shown me that this dog may be legally ‘owned’ by me, she is definitely a partner in this relationship. We negotiate almost everything!
I really enjoyed reading all letters! I have a 2 year old red Shiba, TULI and he is and does everything I read in all the letters. The first year was very busy. This little guy has so much energy and even I sit with him every evening for few hours and play. We take him 3 times for daily walks 30-60 minutes each time. He plays great with all other dogs and loves people. He takes any opportunity to escape, ears going back and his little legs go. Down our street lives a friend who always has a treat, that’s were I always go and pick him up. He is our whole families joy and I could not see my life without him.
My shiba Molly is 3 yrs old. She is the best dog. I had a fit when my son brought her home. I knew he was looking for a dog and i was ok with that. My only request was please make sure the dog has poodle in their mix.. I can’t stand dog hair. When he brought Molly home I have never heard of this breed nor did he. Can you believe someone would buy a $1,200 puppy without knowing a thing about the breed. Even if the dog was free I wouldn’t bring the dog home until I did some research. I quickly learned about the shibas and I was scared. I signed her up for classes fast she was only 9weeks old. I fell in love with this dog. She was tough for the first year.But going to daycare a few times a week and classes really helped. She loves people and she is great with kids all tho I watch her closely when around kids.My best friend has a baby doll cat that my dog loves. The cat loves her to .IT is a male cat almost as tall as Molly. When they see one another they rub noses and lick each other. I love everything about this dog except the shedding they shed all year long but twice a year they blow there whole under coat and watch out..That is why I wanted poodle mix in because of the shedding.Even though I hate the shedding I would not trade her for anything. She is the best.I would love to see a shib a nd poodle mix . Did you ever hear of that mix?
We have a beautiful Shiba Inu before we knew anything about her we bought her!!!! Love Her!!!
Problems with her is just one House breaking She peed on the floor we scoured it with great dog mess cleaner. we can put her out side for 3 or 4 hours walk her and she will wait and come in and go straight to that spot and do her business! Grrrrrr so aggravating!!!!!!!! Solution a Boot holder a pad and a piece of carpet put it next to the kitty litter and her new magical spot to do her business!!!! we are trying to phrase it slowly to outside.
AND YES THEY DO BARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know the way lol i am shiba owner too. She is crazy and brave. stood up to a squirrel.lol
I guess I am lucky! My Shiba – Dallas – is the best! I had heard that they can be stubborn and need to know you are the head of the pack so we took him to obedience classes. He can do many tricks and is so entertaining. He is very quiet – unless he sees something and just like Sephy he barks a little until I acknowledge it then he is quiet. He can not be off leash – he will bolt. He didn’t use to get along with other dogs much – until we moved into an apartment where he got to meet a lot of other dogs. It still takes a few introductions for him to feel comfortable with some dogs but I don’t worry about him like I used to. He is so sweet and smart! He is the best! He is very cat-like – if someone wants attention from him – he is a bit aloof – if they aren’t paying attention to him he wants to greet them! He can be very affectionate – and will even hug me by putting his head on my shoulder when he sits next to me. Sometimes he just wants me to talk to him. If I talk to him he just stares at me. If I look away he makes tiny woo noises until I look at him and start talking again.
So I would suggest – you don’t just feed a Shiba – they require training and exposure to other dogs and people. And lots of love!!!!
I have a 3 year old male Shiba, Leo, that all of a sudden gotten every agressive towards human. But at very unpredictable time, very sporadic. almost as if he is picking and choosing. He has met them before a few times, so it’s no stranger. He would go up to them, aggressively sniff then tuck really hard at their close…I can see in his eyes that he is “hunting”. HELP!!!
Hi. We have a black and cream Shiba that is just beautiful and we love him out of our minds. We adopted him from a wonderful lady that was going to a retirement facility and could not keep this angel. I know that sounds strange being a Shiba, but he is just great. We have two homes and he is happy in both places. No fenced yard but gets walked at least 3 times a day. He will be six next month and he plays and runs, but does not like most other dogs. We have a trainer we are working with but have not accomplished that. At a play park he was playing with a dog and I gave the other dog a treat and Niko also but then he went crazy He has had an ear infection for at least 2 months, even more and lots of money later still has it. He won’t let me put meds in and runs when he sees me coming. Any advise. Sorry about my rambling.
Wow my Shiba Inus were not like this!!!! They were sweet affectionate and polite and respectful in manner. They were not defiant to me, but did learn very quickly. They were great hunters and saw them calmly watch and jump straight up to snatch a bird out of the air. They were dogs my mom bought with the intent to resale but became very attached to me so when she sold them I cried. They never ever barked and when they saw me crying cried back to me. They escaped their new home to come back to me several times. My mother still would not let me keep them and sold them further away so they couldn’t find their way back. I’m shocked to learn that all shibas are not so sweet, affectionate and loyal as much as mine were. I miss them and was hoping it was the breed but must have just been those two sisters that loved me so much. Wish my mom would have let me keep them 🙁
Our Shiba Inu (Shio) 1 1/2 years old, is just starting to show some serious aggression, and your website helps my husband and I to calm down and get more stubborn than our dog. We’ve both had stubborn, smart dogs in the past, but Shio definitely challenges us. We didn’t stress the bite inhibition enough when we first brought him home and he is definitely going for the kill shot when we try to put his harness on him now. Otherwise he is a sweet little clown, that loves to make us laugh. Thank you so much for this blog. It really has helped us a lot as we branch out into our first “primitive breed.”
I don’t know if I lucked out or not but my 6 month old Sammy is extremely calm for a Shiba. He barely barks and never barks at strangers. He only barks if I’m holding him back from greeting them. I joke that if someone broke in our house he would probably think the robber is here to come play with him. I could probably count the number of times he has had zoomies in the house on my hand. He is content without daily walks ( he does not have this pent up energy I need to vent ). Just indoor play is fine. I also do not recall any furniture or belongs destroyed or damaged, just damage to his toys over time. Lately he is becoming more affectionate and attached. He tries to stay somewhere and lie down close to his humans and yet he does not show signs of separation anxiety when no one is home. So I think my dog is a bit of a shiba oddball. He is not entirely different from the average shiba, he does share some common traits.
Glad for you’re insight into this breed. Tells me that this is not the dog for me. Thank you
My Shiba is 13 years old. Other than a little slower you would never tell. Vet said she has a heart of 4 year old dog. I have to say as much as I love dogs, I am not a more than 1 dog at a time owner. As beautiful as they are, I have to say that I will never own one again. They say dogs love unconditionally. Not mine. Completely conditionally. Try to pet her and you would think she was being pet by Edward Scissorhands. Spends time in any corner as far away from any human being as possible. Just when I think she is coming over to show the slightest affection, after 2 pet strokes she runs to the back door. Meaning….I want to go out. Let her back in, won’t see her again. For the first 11 years she never showed aggression. Now, I guess she is crankier with age. When she would be outside and I called her in, No problem. Now…If I call her and she doesn’t want to come in, she pretends to not hear me. Completely ignores everyone. If I approach her to be a little more firm with her, she bares teeth and growls. My elderly mom that I care for, as much as I told her please don’t give her table scraps, she would occasionally do it without me knowing. Now my dog climbs on her legs, doesn’t matter if she is eating or not, and gets in her face for food. I move her away, yell NO, just comes right back. This will continue for hours until I have to put her in another room. If a dog spends no time with their human, no matter how hard you try to spend time with them and try to give them love, and the dog shows not an ounce of affection, it defeats the purpose of having a dog. I should have known this would happen the day I got her at 7 weeks. A room of about 10 Boston Terriers and my one Shiba I was picking up from my breeder, she was the only one that ran away from every person. All the Boston puppies wanted attention and love. Sorry to be a downer. But I need to let people know this is a possibility. If the negative Shiba traits are extreme, you will never feel like you have a pet to love.
Could this be put on Facebook for people to read?
Please just link to the article. Thank you very much.
I’ve noticed that my Shiba girl “experiments with her barks/grumbles” when she’s not getting what she wants, do you ever notice Sephy doing that?
For example, if a regular bark doesn’t work, she’ll go “Rrrrr, bark!” That doesn’t work? Let’s try a longer growl-bark! “Rrrrrrrrr… Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr… Bark!” Still not working? How about a noisy yawn! Nothing?! “Aroooooorooooo!” What, I’m still being ignored??? “Bark! ….Bark! ….Bark!” Maybe if I whine, they’ll notice me! 🙁
Typically she does this if, say, my dad locks her out of his room and she wants in, hahah. Although sometimes she’ll get noisy (again, usually at dad) when she’s not getting her fair share of food. Don’t worry, we’re careful what we feed her. Obviously no chocolate ice cream for her, but some pepperoni and cheese from a pizza or her own baked and cut-up chicken breast with no spices won’t hurt! I’m not sure why but ever since getting a Shiba, we’ve been really clumsy, constantly tripping and dropping cheese on the floor. 😛
Also, how does Sephy fare at the vet? I took my girl to the vet the other day and she was extremely stressed, like always. You wouldn’t understand, man, they stole her blood like a bunch of vampires (heartworm test), and injected her with some evil vet poisons that made her lethargic (vaccines), and stole her poop that she graciously left on the floor since she was so terrified (fecal test), and stuck a thermometer up her glorious floofy butt (to check her temperature), and her nails got chopped off (nail trim), and that evil vet poked and prodded her (general check-up)! And the worst part is that her own dog daddy *paid* them for such a wicked torture session! She hates her flea/heartworm treatment (Revolution) so I figured I’d wait a few days for her to relax before “mistreating” her some more, hahah. Do you know how hard it is to have a slightly wet spot on your back?????
Great article—and spot on! I enjoy your blog and writing style. I am a TV news writer with a 13 year old Shiba Inu. He can’t seem to figure out “doggie puzzles” (even ones with treats!!) and he loooves to snuggle, probably because when we got him cuz he was so cute and we loved petting and holding him!
Your Shiba is adorable and I hope you get to enjoy s long time with him. I dread the day Coda says goodbye
My Shiba-Poodle mix does the “head stand, booty up in air” move as well. One time he got so into it that he did a full on somersault!
OMG you have a shiba poodle mix would love to see a picture of your dog and how is the shedding? My dog is a full shiba and I love her but the shedding is terrible. I just left a post asking if any ever heard of a shib a poodle mix
We have a Shiba Inu we found him running around tried finding his owners but never did. We had never even heard of the breed until he came into our lives. He has turned out to be my daughter’s dog. He’s very laid back, gets along with our other dogs, and yes it’s really hard keeping him in. He’s really good at running out the door. He looks for my daughter when she’s gone to work and we noticed when she’s visiting her dad that’s when he tries getting out the most. Anyway, my question is, I’ve noticed with soft things like blankets and bedding he doesn’t chew on them but kinda sucks on them, he doesn’t destroy anything. But was wondering if anyone had an idea why he does this?
This is a great website
I have a 6 month old Shiba and recently he seems to be getting very mouthy. However, it gets to the point where he will draw blood or actually uses force when biting down. He especially does it to my husband when he sits on the couch or in the mornings when I’m still in bed after he gets up. He bites anywhere he can, hands, face, hair.
Is this him being aggressive or just trying to communicate? How can we get him to stop biting with so much force?
My puppy used to be very mouthy bit less so now. For us if its play bite we would stop all play and leave every time no exceptions. Other times or situations we would time him out into his carrier every single time it happens. I was told anytime to correct unwanted behaviour is be consistent every single time. Do not let it go every odd time as they would think they can get away with it.
Where can you find a reputable breeder?
This list is a good starting place –
http://www.shibas.org/breeders.html
Does this Shiba need a lot of room? We would like a good guard/family dog in our 750 square foot RV. It is a very large RV, 42 feet long. We are a retired couple, so the dog will have our attention 24/7.
Hello, I am a new Shiba Inu owner and a first time dog owner. I am hoping you have an email that I can maybe email to get some help from you. You seem to have a lot of knowledge and I am stressed and it is day 3…I have tried researching, but nobody seems to know as much as you. Please let me know if there is an email I can ask you some questions.
THANK YOU!!
Just lost my 16 yr. Old Saki. My Shiba was perfect and even spoke..I love you. Where can I adopt a male. I live in New Jersey.