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.
I need help and not sure if this is where to ask my question. I have a Shiba who is my handsome man. His name is Neeko. I have had him about a year and he is great, when I got him I or someone was home alot of the time. I recently decided to go back to school and the kids are back in school as well. He is great in his playpen (as he hates kennels) but since our time away he has been jumping out of the pen. I dont mind this other than he eats my shoes, my couch and anything else he can find. Ok maybe not eats but tears it to shreds. I get that this is seperation anxiety along with bordom but what can I do. I CANT AFFORD to put him in doggy daycare or get a dog walker. My husband says he should go to a new home but I dont want him to. But is that what is best?
Hello Michelle,
It is difficult to say what is best, especially without having seen the situation firsthand.
With Sephy, he really did not like being alone especially when he was young. We slowly trained him to get used to it and slowly lengthened the time when we are away.
He is a lot more Zen now and knows that we will come home after some time. There were a few times that we left him home for about 5 hours and he did really well. But this does not happen too often.
Some possibilities to consider –
1. Get home during lunch break to take Neeko out for a walk and for some play. This will help to break up his day.
2. Get a neighbor to drop by and look in on Neeko.
3. Slowly train Neeko to get used to relaxing in a crate.
4. Slowly get him used to being alone. I started by leaving Sephy alone for very short periods of time and slowly lengthening the time period.
http://shibashake.com/dog/separation-anxiety-dog-why-how-reduce-dog-stress#desensitize
I have also seen some people use time-release toys to keep things a bit more interesting.
Good luck. Let us know how it goes.
I got a 9 week old shiba inu at the beginning of August. We initially had some problems with him growling at us, trying to bite us, not liking to be patted or picked up. I had a dog behavior consultant (trainer) spend 2 hours with us and she said he needed to get used to our touch so constantly treat him as we touched him. Things got better. However, the other day he bit my 13 year old son and me on the cheek. I am assuming I need to establish myself as more of a dominant figure, but I don’t know how to do that. I have been going to puppy kindergarten with him for the last 2 months. I don’t know what else to do, and the kids and I feel like we don’t even want him anymore.
Hello Carol,
Yeah, I had a lot of issues with my Shiba as well. Shiba Sephy was extremely stubborn, mouthy, and high-strung. I put a lot of work into him and he is a lot better now, but certain things he was born with –
1. He is still aloof and mostly enjoys his own company. He will sometimes ask for tummy rubs and affection but a lot less so than my Sibes.
2. He still pushes his boundaries from time to time although not as often as before.
3. His instinct is still to use his mouth but he is very good about redirecting himself nowadays. When with people he will redirect into a lick instead of a bite.
Some things that helped me with Sephy –
1. Following the NILIF (Nothing in Life is Free program). This just means Shiba *always* has to do something for me first before he gets anything in return.
2. Setting up a very fixed structure and routine. Shiba Sephy has lots of rules.
3. Using a drag-lead but only with a regular flat collar. This helps me control him more easily while inside the house and stop him when he misbehaves.
4. Properly using time-outs for serious mis-behaviors.
5. Bite inhibition training.
As for pack leadership, here are some things that helped with Sephy –
http://shibashake.com/dog/pack-leader-to-an-aggressive-dog
I found that it was very important to set Sephy up for success so that he does not keep practicing bad behaviors. In particular, Sephy is pretty high-strung and he can go rear-brained very quickly. I make sure to always have a lot of calming breaks for him, and I also *very slowly* desensitized him to touching, handling, and restraint so that he learns not to see it as so much of a threat. I don’t overly restrain him and I don’t do rough play with him.
Shiba Sephy does not trust very easily but once I started observing him and understanding his needs and boundaries, things got better.
Truthfully, it was very difficult in the beginning and I put in a lot of time and effort. I am not naturally a very patient person but the whole ‘Sephy Experience’ really made me a lot more patient and Zen about very many things. If you are interested, here is the story of Sephy and Me –
http://shibashake.com/dog/my-shiba-inu-story
Hello,
I like your page very much because it is helpful. Although we have no Shiba Inu yet but is thinking of keeping one. We live in Tokyo and the owner of the house doesn’t want any pet on their premises. I talked to the owner this afternoon and he will think about it and will get back to me by Saturday this week. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he would finally say “Yes”. My daughter and myself love to have Shiba a few years back but we have no luck to convince the owner of the house to allow us to have one.
Again your site is very helpful especially for people like me who is a beginner (just in case and I hope so).
Thanks and best regards,
Hello Cherrie,
Thanks for your very kind words.
Hope the owner of the house gets back to you with a positive answer. Good luck! 😀
Hi there! Your site has been so helpful with training our new 10 month old shiba. I’ve really been debating the training method to use with her and after reading your experiences it really inspired me to think of alternative/positive methods first! I would hate to break her trust or have her lose her sweetness because I was too forceful.
I was just wondering…what do you mean by non-mark ack, ack? Do you just literally say “ack ack” or what does that mean? Also, does Sephy willingly go into time out or do you have to carry him into the time out area?
Thanks so much!
Hello Anh,
The ack-ack is just a non-mark. It is used to communicate to the dog (in a consistent way) that she is doing something undesirable. This is similar to a mark (e.g. Good) for when a dog does something desirable.
Sometimes people use “No” as a non-mark but I don’t usually use that because “No” is a common word that I also use in conversation with other people. As a result, it may confuse my dogs and they may think that whatever they are doing is wrong when actually I am just talking to a friend. That is why I use/say Ack-Ack because it is unique and I don’t use it anywhere else. You can use anything as a mark or non-mark as long as it is unique.
I lead him into the time-out area using his drag-lead (only with a flat collar). I would not recommend carrying because Shibas are already not the most accepting of restraint and hugs. Carrying a Shiba to time-out may further cause her to associate the carrying action with a “punishment” so she may not want to let you carry her any more in the future. In general, it is best to try and make restraint, hugs, and carrying into a positive experience for the dog.
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training#draglead
Hope that makes sense. Let us know how it goes.
Thanks so much for the response! I see what you mean now, saying Ack Ack is just another way of saying No. I wasn’t sure what non-mark meant.
Hey
Just had a quick question for you. My shiba is about 9 months old and he’s getting to the point where he’s too big for the small side of a dog park but not quite big enough for the big side. He does the same thing too that you talk about; he like to be “too” playful with much bigger and aggressive dogs. How did you handle that? It just seems like he thinks all dogs want to play with them and their growling and rough handling of him just makes him want to play with them even more. any advice? will he just grow out of that phase or should i just never take him to the big side again.
Hello Tommy,
I used to take my Shiba Sephy to the dog park but I have stopped taking him. There are many reasons for this, one being that he was learning a lot of bad habits at the park. The more chaotic and unstructured nature of dog parks just did not suit Sephy’s temperament.
When we did go to the parks we go to the large dog section. Sephy is a big Shiba – he is over 30 pounds, so small dogs easily get overwhelmed by him.
In the big dog area I have to supervise him pretty closely so that he only plays with the more relaxed and less dominant dogs. As you say, there are some dogs who do not want to play with other dogs, and may get aggressive when another dog comes into their space.
I know that if that happens Sephy will not back down, so it will not be a good outcome. This is another key reason why we stopped going to the enclosed parks. All it takes is one dominant and aggressive dog …
Here is more of our dog park experiences and reasons why we stopped going –
http://shibashake.com/dog/enclosed-dog-parks-good-or-bad
But each situation is different and it also depends a lot on the dog park and the people who frequent the park.
Please help! I adopted a 5 year old Shiba rescue without knowing all of her history. At the time, I knew she had some trust issues after being shuffled around. She lived in 6 different homes within a 6 month span (mine being the 6th). Mine is the 4th “forever” home. Everyone so far has given up on her. The first home, she bit a child. The second home, she pulled down a woman, injured her hip and ran away from her. The third home, she got away from her owner and killed the neighbor’s pet chicken.
Since living with me, she’s bit me 5 times. Once over a dead animal part, another when I accidentally woke her up when I twitched in my sleep (she used to snap badly when she slept on the bed and got woken up. I stopped letting her on the bed as much, but she jumped up while I was asleep the time she got me good), and the other three times have been based on fear aggression towards other dogs redirected back towards me. Two of these times warranted hospital visits.
I absolutely love this dog regardless, but I’m starting to wonder if I’m the best fit for her because it seems her aggression is worse when I cannot walk her 2-3 hours a day. I aim for 1-2 hours most days during the week because of work. When I first got her, I read Cesar’s Way and tried to implement what I learned. I’ve been watching the dog whisperer. I have consulted a behaviorist before she started biting, but when Roxy bit me the first time, it took her days to call me back. I consulted a referred dog trainer, but he wants me to pay $1500 for her to go into intensive boot camp, which should work, but I will still always need to monitor her. I had a Reiki practitioner come out, but she bit me the very next day.
I have only had her 4 months, but I’ve spent thousands on her already (medical, behavioral, new things), and before I take a $1500 leap, I want to know what my options are. What else is out there, particularly for Shibas?
It’s at the point where most people I know are telling me to get rid of her. Some even suggest I put her down, but I could never bring myself to do that.
At this point, I’m desperate and reaching out to any avenue I can! I tried emailing Cesar Millan and other rehab groups within the past couple of weeks.
Please help!
Dear AnneMarie,
Big hugs to you. I too went through a difficult period with my Shiba and he wasn’t even a rescue. In fact, with my Shiba, I was the one that caused a lot of his behavioral problems.
I started with Cesar Millan’s techniques based on the recommendation of my breeder and a vet tech. I mostly did collar corrections (under the direction of an aversive based trainer) and alpha rolls on Shiba Sephy. To make a long story short, things seemed to work at first, but only for a very short time. Then, things started going downhill. My Shiba got more aggressive and the collar corrections I was doing was not having much of an effect anymore. I also noticed that my Shiba did not trust me much.
I was using a prong collar at the time, and a trainer recommended that I switch to a choke chain.
After looking up choke chains some on the internet I decided that it was too risky to use on my Shiba. I also considered using shock collars for a very short while but really decided against it after seeing some of the research that has been conducted on it. Shiba Sephy is a tough little guy and I did not want to keep escalating the force of my corrections. It seemed like there had to be other more effective methods.
I called up all the trainers around my area and luckily I found one who recommended 3 different books to me –
1. Bones Would Rain from the Sky by Suzanne Clothier,
2. The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell, and
3. The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson
All three books are great but it was really Suzanne Clothier’s book that made me think about dogs and dog training differently.
In my experience, Cesar Millan’s more aversive methods only made my Shiba more aggressive and less trusting. I think this is because Shibas are a very dominant and stubborn breed. When I tried to force Sephy with brute force he would just fight back with all that he had.
http://shibashake.com/dog/shiba-inu-training-secrets
Another thing that helped me with my Shiba is visiting the various Shiba forums and seeing what other veteran Shiba owners said.
http://www.shibainuforum.org/forum/
Sorry for the long introduction but I wanted to let you know where I was coming from with my Shiba. I also went through some of the things you described –
1. Accidentally woken up
My Shiba Sephy is the same way. One time he was sleeping under me while I was on the couch. I reached down to touch him and startled him awake. He got really stressed and air snapped before he knew it was me.
I have found that in general, it is best not to startle dogs awake. When they awake suddenly, they are not necessarily aware of who startled them awake and whether they may be in danger. Nowadays, I make a lot of noise before I approach a sleeping Sephy. This ensures that he is mostly awake and not in a deep sleep. Then I give him some time to orient himself, then I go pet him.
I also don’t sleep next to Sephy for this reason. Sephy is also not allowed on furniture. He was wild as a pup, and would cause 10 kinds of trouble while on furniture. For the safety of everyone, we decided to have a no-furniture rule.
2. Protecting dead animal parts, food, and toys
Shibas are partly bred to be guard dogs so they have a pretty strong protection drive. I have seen many Shiba owners describe food aggression or resource guarding issues with their dog.
The main reason why dogs become aggressive with food is because they have learned that when someone approaches them, it is usually to take away their food or toy. Therefore, they feel that they must protect what they have from people. The key to helping a dog with food aggression issues is to help her associate people coming near her to be something positive, rather than have it be a negative event where she fears that she will lose the thing that she holds dear.
3. Boot camp
This was also something that I considered for Sephy initially but I decided against it.
a) All of the boot camps that I looked up practiced aversive dog training which was not something I wanted to continue with Sephy. They are risky and even when they ‘work’ they do not really build the type of bond that I wanted with my Shiba.
b) Boot camps are mostly interested in making a dog obey no matter what. Quality of life for the dog is not really a consideration. For me, quality of life for my dogs is very very important.
c) Boot camp gets a dog to obey the trainers at boot camp. When back in his home turf, the dog may start to regress back to his old behaviors.
d) Shibas have a very strong, stubborn and independent spirit. I absolutely did not want to break my Shiba’s spirit.
Finally, I also do want to say that even though I had a lot of problems with my Shiba Sephy, he never really caused any serious bite damage. I got him as a puppy so most of the problems that he had were due to initial inexperience and mistakes on my part. Your case is much more advanced.
Some possibilities –
1. Get in touch with a good reward based trainer and see what he/she has to say. Preferably find one that has had experience with Shibas. I went to a lot of trainers and the ones who are not really familiar with Shibas really could not handle Sephy very well. This also includes aversive based trainers.
http://shibashake.com/dog/finding-a-dog-trainer
2. Talk with the rescue group that you got her from and see what they suggest.
3. Talk to Shiba owners in online Shiba forums. The nihonken forum link above is a good place to start.
With Sephy, setting up more rules and routine at home helped a lot. When he was young I set up a baby gate so that he stays in the kitchen when I am too busy to supervise him. I also think that using a basket muzzle for safety can sometimes help – but this depends a lot on how the dog reacts to the muzzle.
Here are more of my Shiba Inu experiences –
http://shibashake.com/shiba-inu-tips-information-care
Let us know how it goes with Roxy.
hey my shiba does not get along with other dogs
Yeah Shibas can be very particular when it comes to meeting other dogs. They are usually very protective over their personal space and do not like other dogs invading their space uninvited.
Here are some of the dog-to-dog socialization experiences I had with my Shiba –
http://shibashake.com/dog/socializing-a-shiba-inu-to-other-dogs
Hello, our shiba inu, Yuki is only 10 weeks old, though, she keeps peeing on the carpet and not outside, how do i get her to pee outside instead?
Hello Annie,
Shibas are usually pretty clean and will quickly learn to potty outside.
With my Shiba Sephy, I set up a very fixed routine for him, and took him outside after every nap session and play session. I also fed him at very regular times so that his poop schedule was also more regular.
Then every time he pees outside, I praise him very well and reward him with yummy treats and a fun game. Very quickly he learned to go to the door and alert me whenever he needed to go.
I also supervised him very closely so that if it looked like he was about to go inside I would quickly take him out. If he is in the middle of pee-ing inside, I non-mark him (ack, ack), interrupt his pee, and take him outside.
In this way he learns that potty outside = a lot of rewards, potty inside = undesirable and no rewards.
Here are more of my experiences with potty training.
Thanks for posting these articles! I’ve really enjoyed reading through them — very helpful.
My wife and I recently (3 weeks ago) adopted/bought a 5.5-month-old Shiba Inu. We were really taken by the breed, heard all the warnings about how they are difficult, gave up the idea for 9 months, but then circled back and gave it a try. We found a family in our area who was selling their pups.
Our dog is named Kitsu and she is not living up to the stereotypes — she’s not dominant, but very FEARFUL of new people and other dogs. She’s come to trust and enjoy the two of us, her new owners, but whenever someone comes over, she runs for cover under the bed, couch, or into her crate, even our friends who come by often. On walks, she tries to escape whenever a passerby gives her any attention (if they totally ignore her, she watches them but mostly keeps moving). Any recommendations on coaxing our shy shiba out of her shell? We try to socialize her to other people and dogs, but it’s hard to tell if we are helping her face her fear or traumatizing her even more.
Related second question: Kitsu will sometimes walk with us very well. But all of the sudden, she’ll resist and wont keep walking. She’ll sit down and force us to drag her (btw, we’ve gotten mixed advice on if pulling her along is good or bad). The best we’ve found to do is pick her up, carry her for a half-block, and then put her down again — most of the time she’ll walk again. But this happens frequently.
Bonus question: We’ve had a new problem the last three days: she’s taken to urinating around our apartment — and only in her “den” spots (her crate, under our bed, and under the couch). Any ideas about this?
Anyway, would love some advice if you have any. Thanks!
Kyler
Hello Kyler,
My Sibe puppy Lara is also more of a fearful puppy. I think some of it has to do with her age. She is particularly afraid of loud noises and also of people on skateboards and bicycles. The other day, she saw a deer and both deer and Lara ran away in opposite directions. 😀
What has worked with her is to slowly desensitize her to the things that she is most afraid of. For example, with the loud noises I would first find a recording of it on the net. Then, I set aside some training time and play the same sound very softly on my stereo. During this time, I also engage her in obedience commands with rewards. This helps her to focus on me, and also helps her associate the sound with something positive and non-scary.
Desensitization can work in a similar way with meeting new people. One common technique is to use distance. For example, have puppy on leash and ask a new person stand a certain distance away from puppy. Far enough away that puppy is calm and not reacting to the person. Also make sure that the person is totally ignoring the puppy – no talking, and most important of all no eye-contact. Eye contact can sometimes be seen as a threat by our dogs.
When everything is calm and good, get puppy’s attention and reward her for staying calm and attentive. Then walk one step closer and repeat.
This helps to teach puppy to associate new people with something positive. It also trains puppy to focus on us which can come in very handy during times of stress. I always make desensitization sessions short, fun, and very rewarding so that puppy will associate it with very positive feelings.
When puppy is near enough to the new person, we can even have the person throw puppy a treat (still no eye-contact). This further helps the puppy learn that people = good treats.
Hmmm, this is more difficult to say. It will depend on why Kitsu is stopping. It could be because of fear, or because she wants to rest, or because she wants to smell the air, or because there is something interesting in that spot, etc.
When Lara is afraid during walks she will usually try to run away. When she does that I start talking to her in a calm voice. I keep talking to her calmly and that seems to help her some. I also move away from whatever she is spooked by but in a calm fashion. She usually calms down after a short amount of time and we continue our walk. I also try not to do too much with her in a single walk so that she views it as something positive and fun. The more successful walks she has, the more confident she will become.
With Sephy and Shania they usually stop when they want to look at people and smell the wind. They actually like lying around for pretty long periods of time watching cars, people, and smelling all the interesting scents. I usually let them do this and when it is time to go, I ask them to get up and we go home.
Some trainers may suggest pulling the dog along and making the dog confront his/her fears. This technique is known as flooding. It may work, but it can also be risky.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flooding_(psychology)
With my dogs I prefer to use desensitization techniques and build confidence through positive experiences.
It could be submissive urination –
http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/submissive_urination.html
It would depend on what actually triggers the urination.
Our biggest problem with our Shiba, Kaiko, is that he will not come when called. If he has the opportunity to escape the house house he will take off and not stop! I am so afraid he will get run over! He thinks it is a big fun game! The last time he did it which was Sunday, we decided to basically ignore him all day. He knew we were upset with him, tail down most of the day. Help!
Heh, yeah Shiba Sephy does not come when called either. Part and parcel of the whole “Shiba gig”. 😀
Here are some of the things I do with Sephy to prevent escapes –
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-escape-why-dogs-run-away
I have a two year old Shiba which is weighing in at around 17 lbs. When we are not home she is in a safe room with toy and her crate (which she loves). When bored she takes to scratching the sheet rock. I tried using hot peppers on the wall she just finds another spot. Any suggestions?
Hello Kevin,
My Sibe puppy Lara also likes scratching and biting at my kitchen cabinets when I tether her in there. A couple of things helped to stop that behavior –
1. Supervision. I made sure to tether her when I was around to supervise so that I can teach her that I did not want her scratching at the cabinets. When she does that, I would come over, non-mark her, and get her to do something else. If she starts up again as soon as I leave, then she goes to timeout. This way, she learns that scratching at cabinets is not something I want her to do.
2. Alternative digging spot. Some dogs really like to dig. Siberians especially are really into digging. Therefore I let puppy dig in the back, non-landscaped area of my backyard. I did a bit of training with her so that she understands that she is not supposed to dig in the front. Now she has a lot of fun digging in the back. My other Sibe keeps my yard clear of gophers and such, so she earns her keep and gets to have digging fun as well. 😀
Another thing I considered was to get some old carpeting and then mount that up on a wall or some other structure. Then teach puppy to scratch on that as an alternative to the cabinets. However, puppy has stopped scratching on the cabinets, so I haven’t tried out the carpet idea yet.