The Shiba Inu is a very beautiful dog. However, behind that foxy face, is a dominant, stubborn, intelligent, and extremely mischievous personality. This can make them a challenge to care for.
Indeed Shiba Inus are not for the faint-hearted, and they are not recommended for first-time dog owners.
Despite this warning, my heart was already set on a Shiba Inu puppy. I had a lot of free time then, so I thought I would be able to handle one little dog. After all, how difficult can a small puppy be?
Little did I know, a Shiba Inu can be a major pain in the ass!
Even dog veterans have problems with their first Shiba. In fact, many experienced trainers were unable to handle my Shiba Sephy.
Here are the Shiba Inu training secrets that helped me turn my devil dog into a model citizen. Well, maybe not a model citizen, but a fun citizen that I truly enjoy living with.
1. There are No Miracle Cures
When I first got Shiba Sephy, he was a big challenge.
Some of his favorite daily activities include biting my hands, running crazily around the house, biting on curtains, vicious leash biting, jumping on me and others, humping my leg, and much more.
I was desperate to get him under control, and did a lot of research online and off-line. I read a lot of online articles and bulletin boards. I called local dog trainers, watched all the dog training shows on television, and read a lot of dog training books.
During this time, I found something that looked like a miracle … a 10 minute Shiba online training program. According to this advertisement, there were some special “Shiba words” that will magically turn a Shiba into a Lassie. Yeah right!
Luckily, I did not succumb to my desperation, and did not buy this product.
The fact is, there are NO “miracle cures” for training a Shiba Inu.
The secret of Shiba training, is simply to exercise extreme patience, and find humor in our Shiba’s antics. Use reward obedience training, and always be firm but fair.
A Shiba will probably never be a Lassie, or perfect dog. However, if you are looking for a dog with a big personality, who will always make you laugh with his sneaky and roguish ways, then the Shiba Inu is for you.
2. Use Passive Resistance
The best way to deal with Shiba Inu misbehavior is through passive resistance.
Shibas get bored easily and do not like being ignored. They really enjoy their freedom, and also like being close to their human pack. We can control a Shiba best by controlling these most desired resources: our attention, and his freedom.
If we actively try to stop our Shiba either through physical punishment (e.g. alpha rolls, leash jerk) or active restraint, he will fight back. This encourages him to practice rough play, and biting on people.
If we back away, or become fearful of our Shiba, he will learn that he “wins” by showing dog aggression.
If we over-correct our Shiba by exerting too much physical force, or by correcting him too frequently, we will lose his trust, and it is difficult to regain a Shiba Inu’s trust.
What works best with a Shiba is NOT to engage in a physical competition, but rather to engage in a mental one.
There are certain resources that Sephy really enjoys including walks, treats, toys, and his freedom.
When I want to take him on his walk, I go to the door with his lead, and call him to me. Initially, he would dally and not really want to come, because he wants to go walking on his own schedule. I count to three. If he does not come, I leave and go about my own business.
After a short time, Sephy will amble over, and pester me to take him on his walk. This is done through begging, and whining. I ignore all this bad dog behavior. When I have a break in my schedule again, I repeat the above exercise.
A Shiba will quickly learn that to get the resources that he wants most (e.g. go on walks), he has to do it according to our rules, and our schedule. It is important to practice the Nothing in Life is Free (NILIF) program with a Shiba.
Set a Shiba Inu up for success, so that we can reward him frequently, and keep him interested in doing what we want.
Another Shiba favorite is to steal something he is not supposed to, and then run away with it, thereby engaging a fun chase game.
A Shiba Inu is very agile, and it will be difficult for us to catch him. I always try to keep an eye out for my sneaky Shiba, and stop him before he steals an object. I also put a drag lead on him, so that I can easily catch him by stepping on the lead.
Note: Use a regular flat collar with the drag lead, and not an aversive collar. Aversive collars such as prong collars or choke chains, should only be used during supervised training sessions. Cut the loop on the drag-lead, so that it does not catch on anything in the house.
3. Rules, Rules, Rules
Shiba Inus are naturally dominant. If we do not provide them with rules, that we consistently enforce, they will take over the house.
It is best to enforce those rules as early as possible. This ensures that Shiba does not develop any bad habits later on, that will be more difficult to break.
Some of Shiba Sephy’s rules:
1. No Biting
The most important rule that I place on Sephy, is no biting on people. Shiba Inus are a very mouthy breed. Their instinct is to use their mouth in a wide variety of situations, including when they are excited, frustrated, and fearful.
They also have large teeth, and can accidentally hurt children and seniors. If Sephy starts biting on me or on others, I no-mark the behavior (Ack, ack). If he continues, I put him on a time-out.
It is also important to teach a Shiba bite inhibition. In this way, when he loses control of himself and does bite, he will not cause much harm.
2. No Food Aggression or Resource Guarding
Prevent our Shiba Inu from guarding resources. Shibas have a don’t back down, don’t surrender attitude. Therefore, the best way to teach them not to guard resources, is to use reward training techniques.
Show them that people and other dogs coming near them, while they are eating or playing with their toys, is a good thing. Prevent stealing, and practice exchanging objects. This teaches them that giving up something, does not mean it is gone forever.
If we use physical force to grab a toy away from our Shiba, he will likely become more possessive over his objects. He will also lose trust in us, and may use aggression to protect himself, and his belongings.
3. No Rough Play
I do not play rough with Sephy. He gets to wrestle with my other dogs, but no wrestling is allowed with humans.
I also do not play any dominance games with him, for example, no Tug-of-War. The few times that I did play Tug with Shiba Sephy, he followed very strict rules during the game. However, when I took him out for walks, he would start playing tug with the leash (leash biting).
4. Socialize Our Shiba Inu
Shiba Inus can get aggressive to unfamiliar things including objects, dogs, people, and environments.
They are also naturally stubborn, and may become aggressive when forced to do things that they do not like.
Socialize our young Shiba to many sights, sounds, and smells, and he will be ready to handle new things as a confident, and well-balanced adult. Make sure that new experiences are always positive, and at worst, neutral.
Some things to consider while socializing our Shiba Inu:
1. Shiba Inus have an extreme play style, that many dogs may not like.
When he was young, I used to take Sephy to enclosed dog parks. During this time, his favorite play partners were larger dogs, and young Pit Bulls. Shibas like doing wrestling and rough play, which can easily overwhelm other small dogs.
Choose our Shiba’s play-mates carefully, so that a fun time can be had by all.
2. Shiba Inus dislike handling.
Socialize a Shiba to touching and grooming, as early as possible. Pair the touch and groom sessions with very good treats, so that he will associate handling with positive experiences.
Do not use physical force to do any grooming. This will make it into an unpleasant experience, and our Shiba will fight us every step of the way.
Instead, groom gently, and make it short, fun, and rewarding.
3. Shiba Inus do not generally like people petting them from above.
Petting from above can be seen as a dominance move by dogs, and Shibas may see this as a threat.
We can slowly desensitize our Shiba to this move, by pairing head petting with good food rewards. At the same time, instruct people to approach from under our dog’s head, and scratch his chest.
5. Control Our Own Energy
An important thing to remember while interacting with our Shiba, is to control our own energy.
Shiba Inus are especially sensitive to the energy of their owners, and the people around them.
When I first got puppy Sephy, he was extremely mouthy. In particular, he would resort to biting when I stopped him from doing something unacceptable.
This made me become afraid of him.
The more afraid I became, the worse Sephy behaved. As soon as I got fearful, he would start to hump my leg, grab my clothes, jump on me, or bite my hands, arms, and legs.
Anger and frustration will also elicit extreme Shiba behaviors.
In the early days, I had a dog walker take Sephy out for group walks at the park. When the walker tried to stop Sephy from doing something disruptive, he would object, and try out one of his Shiba moves, including alligator rolls, leash biting, hand biting, and of course the Shiba scream.
The dog walker naturally got embarrassed when Sephy screamed like he was about to die. There were other people around, and some of them thought that she was mistreating the poor dog. Sephy easily sensed her embarrassment and frustration. From then on, the Shiba scream was his favorite weapon to use against her.
With a Shiba Inu, it is important to stay calm at all times.
If we lose our cool, Shiba will sense it and continue to use this weakness against us.
The best way to handle a misbehaving Shiba, is to stay calm, and remove him to a quiet, lower stimulus area, as soon as possible. If he continues with his bad behavior, he gets his freedoms revoked with a time-out. Remember that fear, anger, frustration, and other extreme emotions will only make the problem worse.
Once I was able to control my fear and remain calm, things improved significantly with my Shiba.
Sephy will never be a model-citizen, but nowadays, he is actually very fun to be with. He is goofy, he is funny, and he usually stays out of serious trouble.
Shibas can be a big challenge to live with, but they are well worth the effort. They have a great personality, and they are always up to something that will make us laugh.
I love my Shiba Inu.
He is one of my best buddies, and whenever I see him, I just have to smile.
Maria – She might also be one of the other Japanese breeds. Several of them have personality traits similar to the Shiba, but are larger (40-50 lbs or more). Some still have the foxy coloring, but others are black or white or mottled.
Yes the water thing is weird. She doesn’t like to swim either. I don’t know for sure that she’s mixed with lab, but she’s mixed with something. She bigger than your typical Shiba (about 50 pounds) and her features are a lot “softer” than a pure.
The only place I have pics of her online is FB… you can look me up there or I can e-mail a couple to you if you’d prefer (unless there’s a way to upload them here.)
I’m really enjoying reading of your adventures in puppy parenting!
Hello Maria,
What is your FB URL? I tried looking for your but there are too many hits. Thanks!
Hello Shibashake!!
I just found your website and just wanted to say hello. I have a 5 year old Shiba/lab mix (I think, I rescued her when she was 1.5 years). I immedietly thought she must be Shiba because of the way she looks, but after reading all your behavior stuff there is no doubt that my baby is predominatly Shiba… everything you say is right on. For example I had had her about a week when I came home from the dog park one day in a FL DOWNPOUR!!! I was trying to get to my door quick, so I cut tried to cut across the little bit of lawn. Well Kali wasn’t having any of getting her feet wet, and she planted and started backing up… she ended up slipping out of her collar and taking off. The first of many Shiba chases!!!!
Anyway, it’s good to know others out there understand my pain (and pleasure). She is the first dog I have ever owned, and is just great!!
Hahaha – that definitely sounds like a Shiba! Sephy has also slipped out of his collar a couple of times by backing up. I now use the Premier no-slip martingale collar and it is great for preventing collar escapes. It is interesting that she favors her Shiba side so much, since Labs tend to like water.
Big HUGS to Kali. Do you have any pictures for her up on the web? Would love to see her.
We’re having a barking issue with Kiba.
I have a home office and sometimes I need to work from it. We have it blocked off with a baby gate so Kiba can’t get in and maul stuff, but so we don’t have to close the door which causes the room to get very warm.
If I’m in the office and Kiba wants me to play with him, he comes to the door and barks and howls. We’ve tried anti-marking and time out to get him to stop, but as soon as we let him out of time out, he’s back at the baby gate, barking and howling.
It’s like he doesn’t connect what he’s doing with the time outs at all.
I’d like to note, that when he does this, he’s not alone in the house. My husband has been in the livingroom, with treats and toys, willing to play. Kiba just won’t go play with him, he wants me to come out.
Any ideas?
Several possibilities –
1. Try putting up a curtain so he can’t see you.
2. Have a play or walk training session in the backyard so that he is not there when you first go into your office.
3. Have your husband start feeding and training him more. This will help to create a stronger bond and set him up as another go-to person for Kiba.
4. Keep repeating the non-mark and time-outs, and try lengthening the time-outs of subsequent sessions. I usually have a very short initial time-out for Sephy, but if he keeps repeating, I start leaving him in there for longer and longer.
5. Have your husband do the time-outs etc., and you just totally ignore him. No talking, no eye-contact. With Sephy, he will sometimes start with his Shiba moves just to get a reaction from me – even if it is a negative reaction. The worst thing for him is to be ignored.
With Sephy, it took a whole lot of repetitions before he gave up. Shibas are extremely stubborn. 😀
Also I have noticed that Sephy is extremely effective at sensing my feelings. If I get upset at something that he does, it is also a response, and he knows he can start using it to get what he wants. Once I was able to be Zen about his vocalizations, he stopped doing it. For example, he will sometimes whine a lot when he wants to come in or go out of the house into the backyard. I just ignore it – totally.
He has learned that I don’t care if he whines and he only gets let in when I am ready. Nowadays he knocks on the door once with his paw and waits there. Sometimes he gets impatient and knocks a few times for which he mostly just gets ignored. Sometimes I tell him to stop doing it – but only once. This lets him know that I have heard him, but I am not ready at the moment.
Make sure never to give Shiba anything when he is whining, even something like eye-contact. If you do, he will likely do it even more and with even more GUSTO!
Good luck! Let us know how it goes.
Hi Colleen,
Reading about other folks’ challenges with their dogs is always interesting. (My Fred is a big handful.) Every time on this site that I see the name Reptar, I have to confess I get a huge belly laugh. Where did this name come from? Makes me think of a huge leathery semi-dynosaur/canine mix. I’m sure your dog is the love of your life, as mine is, but pray tell how this name came about. ~Kim
Tell Shania thanks, it helped! A week and 2 days without a problem! Reptar has had the house to himself for approx 7 hours a day and all evidence has pointed to him hanging out on the couch or the bay window (tons of dog hair on the blanket on the couch)! I shouldn’t jinx myself however, I am very proud of him. Although the new house, the adjustments, coupled with the new freedom is going to straight to his head. He has even more of a big dog attitude. We’re going to be doing lots of work and keeping his mind and little body plenty busy.
As for his crate, as we’re adjusting to the new place, I’ll try some supervised crate sessions. His nose and mouth are still heeling and very tender so we’re going very slowly as a even a locked door right now causes anxiety and tension.
Things are good. Same state, new city. Not too far from where I was but a just a new place. Slowly getting settled as this thing with Reptar seems to have taken over a bit. I think we’re both having some separation anxiety. haha. Guess the “apple doesnt fall too far from the tree” after all.
So, we’ve had Kiba for over a week now and he’s still super mellow. He’s comfortable from what I can tell (isn’t nervous around us or guests), but he only gets hyper for about 1-2 hours a day and sleeps or cuddles the rest of the time.
Of course, when we let him out in the back yard, he becomes jet powered pup and runs around like a mad thing. I love that he pounces like a kitten when he plays!
Thanks! I guess only time will tell if he’s ill. I guess it takes 4-14 days for symptoms to appear. 🙁 I hope he is not sick.
I don’t remember puppies having this many things to be scared about when I was younger. 🙂
I may have done a bad thing!
I brought Kiba with me to work today so he wouldn’t be in the house alone (and he is too little for doggy day care). I took him to a grassy place across the street to potty and discovered poop from other dogs! I’d already let him down and now I’m scare he may get parvo. He’s already been very calm (at least when he’s not in his crate at night!) so I’m worried he’s sick. 🙁
He was vet checked when we got him and has had his first vaccines…
What should I do?
-Andrea
Hi Andrea,
I had a similar experience when Sephy was young. I was out walking with him when he was 3/4 immunized and we met a friendly dog from an equally friendly neighbor, and I let Sephy meet the dog, smell his butt, etc. Later I got really worried about parvo. It turned out that Sephy was ok; it was just limited exposure, for a very limited time, and in a clean neighborhood, so the risk of infection was very low. However, for a while there, I began to look at everything through “parvo lenses”. 🙂
Try not to worry too much. Just make sure he is still eating well, pooping well, and not showing any clear signs of sickness (e.g. vomiting). Also, no harm giving your vet a call and see what the nurse says. In the beginning I called up my vet a fair amount. 🙂
Hugs to Kiba.
Friday I got home from work to find Reptar was not able to escape from his crate thanks to the zip ties, however I also found quite a large amount of blood on the floor and in his crate. He tried to escape the crate and tore up his nose. Poor little boy. We decided to compromise on some terms. He will go in his crate in the morning when I leave but I promised I wouldn’t lock the door and he promised he would be a good boy. Today’s the first full day of our compromise. We did some test runs this weekend and things seemed to be OK. Wish us luck!
Good luck! Shania promises to send lots of positive vibes and virtual licks to Reptar. 😀
Let us know how it goes.