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.
Hi Shibashake,
Thank you so much for this site – your articles and personal experiences have somewhat prepared us for our little monster shiba puppy, Luna. I have to admit, after raising four high energy puppies (non-shibas) into excellent dogs, I really didn’t understand what all the fuss was about with Shiba Inus. That is until we met Luna. Sigh… She is the most gorgeous tri-colored (Black) shiba but such a brat! She shows absolutely no remorse, no fear, no submission and she wants what she wants = ) Of course, she is also super smart, funny, and melts us each time she meows (yes, she meows..).
We are learning the hard way and will most likely need to hire a dog behavior specialist (something I have never done). She appears to have no problems meeting and playing with people but she does bite everything and everyone. We keep spraying her with breath mint each time she bites, and it seems to work until the next time… at least she continues to have minty fresh breath!
The question I have for you is regarding grooming. I noticed that she is starting to shed, so I brought out our furminator (the one for small dogs) and used it on Luna. Now she has bald spots all over her formerly beautiful fur! Actually they are not bald spots, but her top coat is gone in spots and only the undercoat shows. Needless to say, her fur looks just terrible. She’s less than 4 months old so she is not blowing her puppy fur just yet. I don’t understand what happened! We generally brush her with a regular grooming brush and did not have any problems. I used the furminator once, and some areas were fine and others, were less so… the irony is that she didn’t mind the furminator at all. Fur kept coming out in batches and I could have kept combing more fur out, but I noticed that some areas started looking grey and short =(
My husband says that the fur will grow back and that I shouldn’t obsess – but her fur is looking uneven and splotchy. Ive used this furminator on our other dog (boston terrier) and haven’t had any problems. Could you tell me how you used the furminator on Sephy? Did you experience this patchy fur issue with him? I’m so sad that I ruined her coat =(
Hello Jody,
Congratulations on your Shiba puppy! Luna sounds totally adorable.
I did not start using the Furminator on Sephy until after puppyhood. He did not shed much until after he grew up. The fur will grow back though, so no worries. 🙂
Here is a post on the Shiba Inu forum of someone who went through the same thing with their Shiba-
http://www.shibainuforum.org/forum/discussion/5874/puppy-shedding/p1
Hope this helps. Hugs to Luna.
Hello,
I have a 6 year old Shiba who we have had problems with since day one! As a puppy we took him to dog training, we kept this up for 3 months once a week. Outside of dog training, he would be walked every day, but not trained constantly every day. He was kept outside on a chain for the first year as we didn’t have the fence built, although he was allowed inside at night. He has always been very dominant and aggressive towards anyone who is trying to make him do something he doesn’t want to do or simply someone who is doing something he has not approved. He was attacked by another dog whilst out on a walk (the dog that attacked jumped it’s fence to have a go at Basil) within the first year we had him, and as a result had puncture wounds around his eye, but other than now having a slight droop to his eye has shown no signs of this affecting him.
At about a year and half, due to family circumstances he went to live with my Dad and Step mother, since moving in with them, he has become an escape artist, he does always come home within a few hours, and at first we would spend hours looking for him, but now we just leave him to it. In the early days we had a ‘dog whisperer’ try and help with training him. He would snap and bite at my step sister when she walked past him (who was 9) if she went into an area or on furniture he was not allowed on. Eventually thanks to the dog whisperer we managed to show him that my step sister was further up the rankings than he was by allowing her to squirt him with a water pistol at her own pleasure, this seemed to work and the biting towards her stopped. During this time he also had the company of a lovely obedient Border collie who wanted nothing more than to please and have cuddles, she was made the higher ranking of the two by feeding her first etc. His behaviour did improve slightly. Unfortunately this year we lost the Collie to cancer, in the last few days she was in a lot of pain and he didn’t leave her side, followed her everywhere. After she died, he became very mopey and whiney, so it was decided he was lonely and they got a new puppy. They were introduced on mutual territory at a friend’s house where neither of them had been before, and seemed to get on ok. The new puppy is a border terrier and is showered with love (he is not allowed her toys etc.); she is showing signs of being as obedient and loving as the collie. They have had no problems getting on. However over the last 2 weeks he has taken to whining all night outside in his kennel, keeping everyone awake – they think this is because the Puppy gets to sleep inside! He is becoming more dominant and to be honest everyone has lost interest in him and fed up. He is my dog, but is living with my Dad while I am overseas so there is not much I can do from here for him. I know neither of the dogs get walked much, although they have the run of the garden all day and he is only in the kennel at night. The vet has suggested giving him the chop to make him less dominant. He is a picky eater and generally won’t eat much of his dinner (they get fed a small amount in the morning and night only), yet he will get very defensive of his bowl if anyone goes near it, especially the puppy – they get fed at the same time in the same room. After having a quick read on here making sure he gets a walk everyday would be a big help as well as maybe re-introducing some training, however I feel this is something they won’t want to do if he shows no sign of immediate improvement and will give up on him. Is there anything else you can suggest? As I said everyone has had enough of him and he is on his last legs with them.
I love him a lot and i know I am slightly biased towards him. I do slightly feel as if he is neglected in the family because he is arrogant and does not show any love towards us… But I have no idea how to change this, and help my little boy!
Hello Haley,
With my own dogs, I have found that what worked best is to be totally consistent and fair with their training and rules. When I got a new Sibe puppy, I made sure that she follow the same rules as the other dogs. Otherwise it could create confusion, that can result in various behavioral issues. In addition, it could also create competition among the dogs that could lead to aggression.
Here is more on my experiences when I got a new puppy-
Introducing a second dog.
Hello! I’ve been doing a lot of research on the Shiba Inu, and I’ve come to love it so much. Recently my Shitzu passed away from old age and I’ve been really quite lonesome without a dog. I was thinking about getting a Shiba within a year or two.
Currently I’m a college student, so I’m planning to wait till I have more time to spend and train a puppy. I live in a large house with a medium-sized backyard, but there’s a trail near my house that I go walking at. There are no little kids here and we have one slightly crazy old grandmother, but everyone in my house is pretty much an adult. We’ve had a whole bunch of dogs before, but if I do end up adopting a Shiba puppy, it will be the first dog that I have personally raised. I know it’s quite a long time to worry about getting a Shiba (I always do over-researching on things like pets or colleges;;), but I was wondering if my home situation sounds fine (I don’t want to bring a Shiba into the wrong kind of environment) and if there are any tips for a (hopefully) new-Shiba owner. Like are they noisy? And what should I do if they are noisy and unleash the Shiba scream (I heard it when I was young and it scared the youth out of me for awhile).
That is a really good practice. I didn’t do enough research before getting my Shiba and it was not good for us in the beginning. I could have saved myself and my Shiba a lot of pain if I had been more prepared.
Sounds like you have a great environment. Sephy loves to go hiking and playing with us in the backyard. The only thing is that Shibas tend to love routine and may get really stressed when there are large changes in their life. Sephy is pretty high strung about changes, so I try to keep things as stable for him as possible. Shibas misbehave most when they are stressed.
In terms of noise, Sephy is actually a pretty quiet dog. He will bark when there are people or dogs close to the house to alert us, but he stops after we go and check things out. He did do a lot of Shiba screaming when he was young, but after we switched to using reward training techniques and learned how to properly train him, he got a lot better. I haven’t heard him Shiba scream in a long time.
Sometimes we will have howling sessions with all our dogs. It is pretty fun and I think the dogs like it. 😀
Good luck with college. What are you majoring in?
Hi:) I have a 7 and a half month old male shiba inu Tuffy.He’s been with me since he was 9 weeks old, we live in NY and he was shipped to us from a breeder in AK. Tuffy being a shiba does what tuffy does,lol we have been applying training consistently with him from day 1. He is a really good dog but true to his breed so very stubborn and suspicious of everyone and everything (yes that includes every car, every shopping bag, every garbage bag on streets, every person walking on street hell even the wind and leaves rolling by). So my problem is… Tuffy being an escape master , he always tries to run away , lately he got a little better but still if there’s a loud bang, a loud car driving by , fireworks etc. he will take off like a bat outta hell. I worked really hard with him on walking, we live across a huge park , and that’s where I take him for walks everyday. He loved going to the park running ( on leash) and playing with other dogs, BUT here comes the issue, he got neutered 2 weeks ago, and now every time I take him for a walk he pulls on the leash, get’s scared after a little bit , pee’s and run’s back towards home, he doesn’t even want to do his business , he just wants to be out of there, if he see’s another dog he looks interested but then when the dog comes nearby he run’s away and doesn’t want to play. I have also started noticing that now the anxiety of moving objects and sounds is way worse then before, even leaves and trees rustling with wind scares him out of his pants. I don’t know how to fix this issue, it took me months to get him accustomed to his “walking” routine, and now we are back to square one, which is really frustrating as even though he is potty trained, he does not want to do his business in home anymore, it has to be out,yet he is afraid of everything outside.it really makes me sad, and sometime cry because I really want him to be able to enjoy his walks and play in the park and not be so afraid all the time. Anyone got any suggestions please:) Thanks.
Hello Maha,
My new Sibe puppy Lara was also pretty anxious when we go on our walks. Some things that helped with her –
1. First we only went on very short walks and very close to home. This helps to get her outside and also helps her build confidence because every walk ends well and on a positive note.
2. Luckily, our area is next to a quiet hiking path so I would just take her there. There is usually no one around and it is very quiet. This also helps her build some confidence. Another possibility is to drive to such a location.
3. Now Lara is used to going to the quiet parts, so sometimes we will venture into the more noisy areas. Usually though, we go to the quiet parts first, which helps to build her confidence, then if she is up to it, we explore a bit of the new areas at the end. I make sure not to overdo it though because I want to set her up for success.
4. Together with the walks, I am slowly desensitizing Lara to the things that she is most fearful of, e.g. sound of coyotes, garbage truck. We are currently working on skateboards. Here is a bit more on the desensitization process –
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-to-calm-a-fearful-reactive-dog
This article on dog anxiety may also be of interest.
Hope this helps. Big hugs to Tuffy and let us know how it goes.
Hi, I have a 8 month old female shiba who is just getting out of her first heat cycle (I had planned to get her spayed but some financial problems have come up) and she has become extremely aggressive towards the other female dogs in the house. She has grown up with them and haven’t had problems with this before but now she will bite the other females if they come near her and she wont let go and has broken skin. The other females our chihuahuas and quite a bit smaller than her and if this keeps up I’m worried I’ll have to find another home for before she attacks them again. Can you give me any advice to resolve this quickly,please?
Hello Juli,
I am not a breeder so I have not experienced what you describe above. Based on conversations with my Sibe breeder, she usually keeps her un-spayed female separate during the heat cycle. From what I have read, hormonal changes during the heat cycle may cause irritability, nervousness, and pain, which can cause changes in behavior.
Here are some general things I do with my dogs to help them get along-
http://shibashake.com/dog/second-dog-introducing-a-second-dog
I’ve been reading your articles since I even before I brought home my 8-week old shiba puppy Akira three months ago. She has quite a few un-shiba like quirks – a social butterfly, and doesn’t mind cuddles and hugs. She’s not that difficult to train either. However, she keeps jumping on all dogs especially big dogs and is quite intrusive; the type that Sephy would hate. I’m having a difficulty determining whether she’ll grow out of it or whether it is something I have to train her out of. She’s still a puppy so I think most of the big dogs tolerate it for now, but it’d be great if you would give me some advice. Thanks!
Hello Jessica,
Congratulations on your new Shiba puppy!
Actually, Sephy is like that as well, especially with certain types of dogs, e.g. German Shepherds. In particular, he gets in the dog’s face and tries to initiate play. However, he only does this when he feels like it, and only with certain types of dogs.
At the same time though, he does not like any new dog sniffing his butt. 😀
With Sephy, I focus on creating neutral experiences with other dogs. We pass by other dogs calmly, and without any greeting. This gets him into a more calm mindset, and teaches him to ignore other dogs rather than getting over-excited and losing his mind, which was his default mode of operation.
Sometimes, I let him meet dogs that are calm and under good control of their owners. However, I always keep greetings short and call him back to me after a very brief period.
I also did a fair amount of desensitization work with him with other dogs.
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-to-dog-aggression#desensitize
I am a big proponent of setting our dogs up for success, so I carefully manage things and only expose Sephy to experiences that I know he can handle and will result in a positive outcome. The more success he gets, the more confident he becomes.
Some people believe in “letting the dogs work it out for themselves”. I think this can be very risky, because a strong correction from another dog can create a lot of stress. This can cause a dog to become fearful or it can cause dog to fight back, which will encourage aggression.
I only let Sephy play with non-dominant, playful dogs, that like his wrestling type of play style. I also keep play groups very small (usually only one on one) and very highly supervised.
Here is an article on some of our experiences with dog-to-dog aggression –
http://shibashake.hubpages.com/_srec/hub/How-to-Deal-With-Dog-to-Dog-Aggression-Aggressive-Dog-Bite-Biting-Dog
Big hugs to Akira. She sounds totally adorable!
Hello, I had a few questions about training my new shiba inu puppy. It’s a little difficult to train him because I need to take him out on a leash to potty and I dont feel like I have much control at that time. So far, he’s started to learn that when he pulls, he wont get anywhere, but he will sit down or lay on the ground. Once that happens, he wont get up for anything, he wont come when I call his name and he wont come over for treats. So I either have to pick him up or try to force him to stand up by pulling up on the leash and lifting him with his harness. I don’t really think this is working at all though and I just got a no-slip collar hoping that will work more in my favor to train him. I dont feel comfortable pulling him up with that on though because I dont want to hurt his neck. He also bites the leash a lot when he is laying down or getting frustrated. Do you have any suggestions on what I can do to fix this?
Yeah, Sephy does the lying down thing as well. Some things that work with Sephy –
1. I scrape my foot on the concrete sidewalk very unexpectedly. Sephy does not like this sound and usually gets up.
2. When he is in his lying down mood, I stop him before he lies down. When he wants to lie down, I just keep moving on.
3. If the first two fails, I lift him up on his front legs by his chest and then I just get him moving. Sometimes he will do an alligator roll in order to prevent me from lifting him. When he does this, I just put brief upward pressure on the leash. He really does not like this so he gets up.
I had *a lot* of issues with Sephy and leash biting. Here is more on our leash biting experiences.
What ultimately worked best with Sephy, in terms of leash biting, is to put my hand very close to his collar so that I have good control over him, and get him on a fast, quick march home. At that point we do not stop for anything, and he goes right home.
This teaches him that leash biting = end of fun walk.
If he continues to leash bite once we get him, I put him in timeout.
Once Sephy realized that his leash biting hijinks only ends the walk, he stopped doing it. I tried many many things before I found something that worked for him. Different dogs may respond differently, so try things out and pick the technique that works best for you and your dog.
Let us know how it goes.
I have to say that I love your description of a Shiba’s attitude, because you nailed it! Sumo is my 6 (almost 7) year old Shiba. He is my best friend and every day I look forward to coming home to my goofy guy. I have been in animal care for a long time so I knew that when I got him, socialization would be key. Well he loved to dog park and meeting new friends, up until about 3 years ago. My friends German Shepard grabbed onto Sumo’s tail, totally unprovoked. Out came the Shiba scream and panic on my end. He recovered from a pretty badly bruised tail after about 2 weeks, but has never quite recovered from the trauma. I notice that he specifically get very cautious around German Shepards (go figure)but even sometimes he gets that way with other dogs. He has a best buddy who is a Golden Retriever and they still get along fine and even with my friends very shy dog he is fine. But I hesitate to take him to a park because I don’t want him to get in an altercation or to stress him out. I tried the park and a couple times he was okay but you can tell he would rather just be on the outside looking in and walking around exploring the area. Any suggestions on how to get him to be a little more relaxed with other dogs? Also he has been a counter surfer his whole life and no matter what I try I cannot break him of that. Thank you so much and again you have a great site and Sephy is a one lucky pup!
Hello Cait,
Yeah, that has been my experience with Sephy as well. I took him for a few months but it was really hit or miss in terms of the mix of dogs. Sephy was also learning and practicing bad behaviors at the park.
http://shibashake.com/dog/enclosed-dog-parks-good-or-bad
Ultimately, what worked out best for Sephy was to have one-on-one, highly supervised play sessions with friendly., playful dogs.
In particular, I took Sephy to our local SPCA and we had one-on-one playing/training sessions with the dogs there. It was great because they always had new, playful dogs, and we also did some dog-to-dog training together with the SPCA trainer.
What helped with Sephy is doing desensitization exercises with him so that he is not as reactive to other dogs.
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-to-dog-aggression#desensitize
Here are more of our experiences with other dogs –
http://shibashake.hubpages.com/_srec/hub/How-to-Deal-With-Dog-to-Dog-Aggression-Aggressive-Dog-Bite-Biting-Dog
With Sephy, I am usually around to supervise him, so when he jumps up to counters I give him a warning. If he ignores that, he goes to timeout. He doesn’t have the opportunity to steal anything off the counters so it is not very rewarding for him.
Another possibility is to use a sound or sonic scat mat. These emit an unpleasant sound when they are stepped on.
Sofa Scram Sonic Dog & Cat Deterrent Repellent Mat Trains Dogs and Cats to Scat!
I have never used those before though. I am not sure if a Shiba may just decide to attack the mat. 😀
[** Note there are also shock scat mats which are risky and dangerous for a variety of reasons. I would not use those.]
I have a 14 month old female Shiba and a 4 year old rescued Sheltie. They get along great as the Sheltie lets Kota do whatever she wants. They both sleep in kennels and are kenneled when alone. Recently, Kota has decided she does not like her kennel and cries all night. I have tried ignoring her so she does not “win”. I let her outside just in case she has a tummy ache and then put her back in her kennel. But after 3 weeks of no sleep I’m getting frustrated. Any suggestions?
Kota Bear is also a runner but we have her micro chipped and just make sure nobody lets her out without her lead. I figure its our fault not hers if she gets out as we know that about her.
Is her crate in your bedroom?
My Shiba really likes to be with us when he is sleeping at night. He used to cry at night, but after we moved him to the bedroom his whining stopped. My Sibes are a lot more flexible and prefer to sleep outside during the warm weather.
Very rarely Shiba Sephy may fuss if he wakes up from a bad dream. In these cases I let him leave the bedroom, but once he leaves I close the door so he doesn’t get to come back no matter what. In this way he learns that if he whines, he doesn’t get to be in the bedroom with us.
Hope this helps. Hugs to Kota Bear and Sheltie Bear! 😀
Hi! My fiance and i rescued Cody (our shiba) about 9 months ago. He is almost 2 years old now, and we are his 4th family he has been in (and last). So he has been through a lot in his young life. He is a perfect boy, we never had issues of chewing, destroying or accidents. However, It seems to me that he has never been socialized with other dogs. He becomes extremely aggressive (biting, growling, lunging) at other dogs. He also shows this towards kids, though there has never been any incidences. I tried getting a trainer, but his aggression issues haven’t improved. We try taking him on walks with treats and when he sees other dogs we use a “watch” command, for him to look us, to cut that obsession and aggression he gets and keep walking. It works ONLY when we have treats (thats a shiba for you i guess). Aside from his dog aggression, he also shows toy possession only with strangers (we put all toys away when people come over). we can get close to his food, take his toys and chews away from him without a problem. But when other people come over, he will growl if he thinks they will take his stuff.
Would you know of any good books, or if you have any tips for us with these two issues? I sometimes find myself giving him excuses for his behavior because he has been through a lot, but i think that after 9 months there has to be some sort of step in the right direction.
Thank You!
Hello Stephanie,
What sort of exercises did the trainer suggest? How did Cody respond?
With Sephy, I found desensitization exercises to be helpful. He used to be very dog reactive, and would get really excited and wild when we saw other dogs. Here are some of our dog-to-dog experiences. There is a section on desensitization at the end.
Desensitization exercises can also be conducted with people. In fact, it is easier with people because there are many more calm people that I can get help from than there are calm dogs. 😀
Here are some of my experiences with food and toy guarding.
In terms of books, I listed a few that I have read in the first article. They are more general books about dog aggression, reading body language, and helping a dog stay calm. For specific issues, I found that getting information from various Shiba forums can be quite helpful.
http://www.shibainuforum.org/forum/