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.
Sorry this may be a long post, lots of new things for us in the first week.
The dog park (we have been 2-3 times) is good and bad. He is very timid. He does ok with 1-2 dogs, the smelling and stuff but absolutely no interaction (playing, aggression, etc.) As soon as 3 or more dogs approach him he goes into submission and runs for the fence (which I think he could get out of if he tried).
The biggest issue we have is taking him out to potty. We use a 16ft retractable leash (more freedom) but he doesn’t like to go out (we have tried the dreg leash also). The horrible thing is that when he doesn’t want to do something he doesn’t react to treats at all. So I try to bribe him, etc. to go out but I still end up have to practically drag him out of our stairwell (first floor so no stairs) then he sometimes gets better and explores and does his business but sometimes he just locks up and doesn’t want to do anything. He has a harness with the leash attachment between his shoulder blades. This issue is one we need to fix in order to make bothe of our lives better (a dog has got to pee and I prefer not taking 45 minutes to coax him into it).
On a good note he is pretty much crate trained in only a few days, though it still takes a little coaxing. He isn’t protective of his toys or food at all (my 14 month old daughter can take stuff from him w/o issue). He occasionally nips but nothing bad and normally just with new people, this goes away quickly after they introduce themselves.
That is all I can think of right now. Any suggestions for socializing him or potty/leash training him? It seems like he is a little different than some of the traits you explain about Shibas, but I guess they are all their own individuals. Thanks for any help.
Hi Luke,
4 paws up to you for helping a Shiba in need.
How did he do with the walk at the dog park?
I would go slow with him. In the beginning I just focused on gaining my Shiba’s trust and made sure not to expose him to situations that would be overly stressful.
Sounds like you are doing the right things with him. Several things helped me greatly with my Shiba –
1. The NILIF program – This means Shiba has to do something for you first before he gets anything in return including any food, affection, freedom to the backyard, etc.
2. Using a drag-lead in the house (only with a flat collar). This allowed me to more easily control him when he decides to get into mischief.
3. Time-outs – For serious offenses, especially biting on people and any kind of humping he goes to time-out. I put him in a very boring room (laundry room) where he has nothing to do and doesn’t get to be with people. This way he learns that if he bites people, he doesn’t get to be with people.
4. Setting him up for success – This is one of the most important things for Shiba Sephy. In the beginning I would push him too far too quickly, which forced him to frequently resort to aggression. I found that it is best to go slowly with him. I do challenge him – but only in situations that I am confident he can handle and be successful in. In this way, he doesn’t practice aggression, and he gains confidence and trust with each successful task.
Here are some of the things that helped with Sephy in the beginning –
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training
Here is one on potty training –
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-potty-training-facts-and-myths
Make sure to always supervise closely when he is interacting with children. Shibas are a primitive bunch and have very strong prey drive. This may sometimes be triggered by fast movement, which is common with children.
A BIG WOOF-WOOF to you for fostering a dog in need. 🙂
My roommate has a 6 month old shiba inu female name Mia. She can be so awesome sometimes but some serious issues have developed with her and we would like any help and advice we can get with her. First she developed a fear of the outside when on a normal morning in the backyard on the leash doing her business a truck was emptying a dumpster and she freaked out started screaming and bee lined for the house and since then we are lucky to get her to do her business outside before she starts freaking out wants only to run inside. Next she is very aggressive with people, our 4 year old Cat is always getting bitten and attacked, and tears everything she can get at apart. Then when right after we got her fixed she started peeing on the carpet. I mean like i said she can be awesome but we would like to be awesome more often. Thanks in advance.
LOL – I love that saying! Would probably apply to almost all Shibas.
Re Fear of garbage trucks –
My Siberian was also very afraid of garbage trucks. What worked for her is to slowly desensitize her to the noise and then ultimately the truck. Every garbage day, I would stay with her and engage her in doing commands with me inside the house.
In this way she learned to ignore the noise and focus on me since she was getting good rewards.
Once she was totally comfortable with that, we started moving closer to the door and did commands there and so on. Very soon, I had her on a leash and left the door open while we did our fun obedience sessions.
Nowadays she pretty much ignores the garbage truck.
Make sure to go very slowly so that Mia never gets too stressed and is unable to focus on you. If she gets stressed and bolts, then you have moved forward too quickly, so move back and repeat the exercise.
To speed up training, you can also tape the sound of a garbage truck and slowly use that to desensitize her. First start with very low volume and then very slowly increase the sound while repeating the exercise above.
Re aggression –
What helped with Shiba Sephy is to provide him with a consistent set of rules and a consistent routine. There is no biting on people and I also do not allow him to bully my other dog (who is a three-legged dog).
He is also not allowed on furniture, no chewing on carpets, etc.
For serious offenses, he gets a warning (No or ack-ack) and if he continues with his behavior, he goes to time-out.
Following the NILIF (Nothing in Life is Free) program also helped a lot with Sephy. This just means that Shiba must do something for you first before she gets anything in return including all food, all toys, affection, freedom to the backyard, etc.
In this way Shiba learns that the best way to get what Shiba wants is to first do what you want 🙂
Here are two articles that may help –
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training
http://shibashake.com/dog/pack-leader-to-an-aggressive-dog
Just started foster care for a shiba yesterday. My wife is still a little scared of him after reading all of this stuff on the internet. He was lost in the city is not neutered and is about a year old (vet checked teeth). We have a one year old and he seems to do fine with her. He is still working on house training. He does a few things for treats but ignores us completely when we call him. I almost have to drag him on the leash sometimes to get him to go outside to do his business. We are planning on walking him around the dog park today to see if he is okay with others. Any suggestions or ideas? We live in an apartment and are working hard to make him apart of our family in case this becomes permanent. Thanks.
My Shiba has terrible aggression towards our Pug. She just recently bit our Pug so badit split her ear open. I don’t know what to do I love my dog but she’s very aggressive and has even snapped at me. Please help
Hi Brian,
Shibas are very independent and stubborn dogs, and they need a lot of structure, routine, and discipline.
I think it may be best to look into getting a good Shiba trainer who can help you set up some rules and boundaries for your Shiba, as well as help retrain alternative positive behaviors.
http://shibashake.com/dog/finding-a-dog-trainer
Some things that may help –
1. When he starts barking, non-mark him and give him and alternate command.
2. If he ignores you, then move him away from the other dog. Keep moving until he is more calm. As soon as he is calm, you can stop and let him watch if he wants to. Make sure he doesn’t become too fixated with the other dog, by getting his attention from time to time.
3. If he starts acting wild again, non-mark and repeat.
4. If he escalates his behavior and redirects onto you (e.g. leash biting), non-mark and end the walk by marching him directly home. Do not pass Go and do not collect $200 😉
This way he learns that –
barking at other dogs = don’t get to be around other dogs, and
escalation of bad behavior during walks = walk ends.
Hey i have been trying neutral experiences with my dog Hank, and he seems fine with other dogs. However, when a dog steps somewhere Hank just peed, Hank goes crazy and starts barking at the dog. I’m not sure how to get him to stop this bad behavior. Any suggestions? Thanks
Congratulations Martin! That is indeed a very amazing achievement especially for a Shiba. 🙂
Sephy will work for cheese up to a point. Other dogs and new people are much higher priority for him so he will always choose those over cheese or anything else.
Hi Robert,
I know what you mean. My Shiba used to be very reactive to other dogs as well. He would want to go meet them and sometimes gets into trouble because other dogs may not want him getting into their space or want to deal with his craziness.
What has helped a lot is to just create as many neutral experiences as possible for him so that he learns that –
see another dog = we just pass by calmly and nothing happens.
Here are some of the things I tried with Sephy when we meet other dogs during our walks –
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-to-dog-aggression
our 4r old shiba has just been awarded the gold citizen from the kennel club uk. Her training was simple….treat her like a dog …we walk her off lead with a instant recall….cheese in the pocket works wonders..she also jumps over obstacles on command. shes is an absolute pleasure to work with and have around
Hey i have a quick question about my shiba. He’s 6 years old, and doesn’t have that many bad habits. The only problem with him is when we pass by other dogs he immediately becomes aggresive and starts to bark and try to jump at the dog. I don’t know if he’s trying to fight the dog or just play rough. Any suggestions?
Hi Mahogany,
Congratulations on your new Shiba puppy!
In terms of the biting, I know what you mean. My Shiba was extremely mouthy as well, and he drove me nuts in the beginning.
Some things that helped me a lot –
1. Putting him on a drag lead.
The impulse for most people is to push back when a dog jumps on them or mouths on them. This actually just made it into a fun game for my Shiba and he would bite even more. By using a drag lead I could quickly control him and take him to timeout without having to chase him around and without having him mouth all over my hand and arms.
2. Following the NILIF program.
My Shiba works for all of his food either through interactive food toys or by doing stuff for me. He also needs to do commands before I do anything for him – e.g. opening doors, getting toys, getting tummy scratches, etc.
3. Calm and consistency.
Consistency is very important with a Shiba. If Sephy gets away with something once, he will definitely try it out again and again. Set some rules and be very consistent about enforcing them. Timeouts worked very well for me for serious offenses.
Here are more things that helped when Sephy was a puppy.
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training
I also had a lot of problems with Sephy wrt. leash biting. It was probably the worst issue I had to deal with.
http://shibashake.com/dog/train-your-dog-to-stop-biting-on-the-leash
Finally – this article on pack-leadership may also be helpful.
http://shibashake.com/dog/pack-leader-to-an-aggressive-dog
Hello. I have had my Shiba for two days. She is doing beautifully with potty training but the chewing thing is out of control. Not so much the things in the house but our clothes when we are wearing them like socks and pants. I don’t pull away and she seems to get worse. She bites on her leash. I want to start her on the right track. She even tries to bite the older dog. He is big but he will not rough play with her. I have bite deterrent spray and do not jerk away. I will try the constant calm mood. Any other advice that you can offer will be great.
We are first time dog owners. We are also first time shiba inu owners. We made a huge research before adopting a shiba inu and were well aware of all their personality traits. None the less, we have a problem with our 4 month old puppy that we don’t know how to handle. He is very scared of humans and new situations. He does well with animals (we have a cat) though. When meeting someone new he tries to run away. If he’s not trying to run away, he turns his back on us and completely ignores the situation. We don’t comfort him when he behaves that way. We’ve been exposing him to new situations and he is going to puppy training. Still, we would love if you have any shiba advise/suggestion for us. Thanks for creating this web site, it’s very useful!
Mari & co.
Hello Mari,
That sounds great. You are definitely doing all the right things.
My Siberian used to be afraid of loud trucks – especially the garbage truck. What helped with her is to do desensitization exercises with her and the garbage truck. Initially, we would look at the truck from inside the house and I would reward her for staying calm while inside the house. We would also do some obedience commands.
Then when she is totally comfortable with that, I put her on a leash, opened the door and left the door open. Then I repeated the same exercise. Then we start moving closer and closer to the door, then we started doing it outside etc.
You can do a similar exercise with your Shiba and people. Have a friend or neighbor help you out with this. Have them stand a certain distance away from your Shiba in a quiet and calm environment. The person should read a book and totally ignore your Shiba.
Put your Shiba on a leash and reward him for staying calm, you can also do some obedience exercises so that he has something to focus on. If all is well then walk one or two steps towards the person and repeat. In this way, your Shiba will learn to focus on you when he is stressed or fearful. This will also help him gain confidence.
Don’t move toward the person too quickly. If your Shiba starts to show any kind of stress, then you have moved forward too quickly, so move back a bit and repeat. Make the sessions short and fun, and always try to set him up for success so that he gains confidence.
Once he is close enough to the other person, you can even have them throw him some high priority treats. Make sure – no eye-contact, no touching, and no talking. If he wants to go up and smell them – let him do so but make sure the person is completely ignoring him (no eye-contact is very important).
Once he is ok with that – then you can start doing soft talking and so on; then move on to a little eye-contact, turn away and so on; and finally brief touching – but only go slowly so that he always has positive experiences with people and learns to enjoy his time with them.
How is he in puppy class? Are there many people there? Does he avoid the people and just play with the dogs?
Thank you so much! That is very helpful! At puppy class, he behaves similarly. He doesn’t play with the other puppies (there are 3 others). He just goes, smells them and returns calmly to our side. He doesn’t mind the humans there, he just doesn’t care. I think he’s used to them by now. We’ve noticed that he seems to accept humans that have other dogs with them more easily. It’s almost like he is thinking “okay, you have a dog, you know how this works, I accept you a little bit more, but not THAT much either”.
This weekend we took him for the fist time to the dog park. He got put in his place right away by other dogs. The rest of the dogs “harassed” him. He behaved real submissive and although we wanted to “rescue him” from the situation we let him deal with it in it’s own dog way. By the end he was really happy but he always wondered, run and played with other dogs close to where we were.
So as you can see, it looks like he’s pretty selective of his friends, dogs AND humans.
So glad to hear that your Shiba did so well at the dogpark 🙂
I used to take Shiba Sephy to several dog parks, but we were not able to find one that really worked for us. Sephy is always trying to make friends with dogs that don’t want to have anything to do with him.
One of my trainers said that Sephy is like that awkward guy at the party that tries to talk to you even when you are just trying to get away. Guess maybe he can’t understand why other dogs don’t recognize his awesomeness. Poor Sephy 🙂
Hi Mike,
Yeah it was pretty bad with Shiba Sephy as well, in the beginning. First 6 months were the worst though. Things improved bit by bit after that.
After about 1.5 years, Shiba Sephy really calmed down a lot.
Two things that made a big difference for Sephy –
1. Controlling my own energy and not letting him get my goat as much. 🙂
2. Switching to reward training.
It will get better.
Life was so much better before we got our shiba. It’s been 5 months of hell! We’ve spent so much money on him and we’ve been miserable ever since.
I wasn’t sure if it posted a recent picture, so here is the link again.
Before we got our shiba Sam, we had our pug Fred. Sam grew up with fred and used to play with him all of the time. When Sam was about 2 we got another puppy..a shiba-sheltie named clyde. Clyde grew up with sam as they are closer in age. Sam only picks on fred now! For example: she will run around chasing and biting is tail and legs. Or when they are in their pen and I run upstairs I will hear her screaming at him…and I know she’s biting him too. She does the same thing to clyde when she gets riled up. She gets way too imtense playing and she will start snapping and screaming at him. Meanwhile he comes over near me and cowers while bearing his teeth. We give her time outs when she gets into things. Also, my brother showed her a laser pointer and ever since she’s been chasing shadows on the floor and lights on the wall. Its so bad sometimes that at night she has to sleep in her play pen. She screams at clyde when she’s in there someTimes too!! I need a behavior-ist. Any advice in the mean time? Thank you!
Hi Christen,
My other dog is a three-legged Siberian so I am very careful not to let my Shiba overwhelm her. Whenever they are playing together, I will always supervise and step in as soon as I see my Shiba escalating. What helped the most is to interrupt him before he escalates into Shiba-intense levels 🙂 I found that it was better to stop him earlier rather than later.
If you stop them early, then it is easier for them to calm down. After I stop my Shiba I will do some obedience commands with both dogs. This way they can get rewarded for doing something else, they get to work together, and it also gives them an outlet for their energy.
I only use the timeout if my Shiba will not stop and redirects his craziness onto me. He also goes to timeout for humping.
Once I started stepping in and ‘redirecting’ my Shiba, he learned that if he gets too rough, fun play stops but if he plays nice he gets to keep going.
In the beginning, I only let my dogs play when I had time to supervise. Other times, they are separated – my Sibe stays in a pen and my Shiba stays outside. Consistency is important here so that Shiba will learn that [rough play]=[no play] rather than [rough play]=[maybe no play]. Shibas love challenging maybes 🙂
Now they are older and are good about regulating themselves, so they get to play whenever.
More exercise will also help. The more I walked my Shiba, the better behaved he was. I also hired a dog walker for a period of time so that he got to walk and socialize with other dogs.
Another thing to try is to make them do work for you together – e.g. synchronized obedience commands. Do they go on walks together?
As for the laser pointer it is probably best to stop it altogether. Laser pointers can often encourage obsessive type behaviors in dogs. This is because they are encouraged to chase something insubstantial that they never really ‘catch’.
Some fun chase games that my Shiba like are the flirt pole and the water hose game. Make sure that you institute strict rules when playing games with a Shiba – for example, no getting too intense, no jumping on people, no nipping on people, do commands before the game starts, take short breaks throughout, etc.
Great pictures Scott! You can really see how she has grown.
Akiko is too cute for words.
Maybe I will get a creme Shiba next but I am not sure if I am ready for 2 Shibas in the household 🙂
Would love to see more pictures.
Hey:-) Here is an updated pst on Akiko. She is 15 weeks now…the experience has been awesome thus far.
Congratulations on getting a Shiba Peter:-)
Hello, Thanks for this great blog.
My wife and I just got a new creme female Shiba Inu puppy -Mara. She is about 3 1/2 months old and we have her going to puppy training class every Saturday. She has been doing very well around people and even the dogs in our training class. I have a few questions for you.
1. Mara has a favorite stuffed animal(ducky) that she carries around in her mouth and she does little whimpers for awhile. she does this about twice a day and it is kind of sad like she misses something . Any ideas on what this could be ?
2. I think this seems to be very common from all the reading on this blog. We have our hands full with the bitting all the time. We have been giving her time outs in her crate, but not much improvement also we have been giving her tons of toys. if you have any other ideas i would love to hear.
Thanks for the great blog .
Eric
Hello Eric,
Congratulations on your new Shiba puppy!
In terms of other methods –
Some people suggest using a spray bottle. That didn’t work too well for me because my Shiba would just attack the spray bottle. There are various ways that people suggest to hide the bottle but it never really worked out for me. My Shiba just got even more wild after being sprayed.
Other people suggest doing leash corrections or even muzzle slaps but all that ever did was make my Shiba lose trust in me.
What worked best for me is to do timeouts in a different (not the crate) but really boring place. I use the laundry room. The advantage there is that I close the door and Shiba has nothing to do, nothing to see, and it is totally boring. He really does not like time-outs.
In general you want to maintain the crate as a good and safe place. Some place that they want to go in. This will allow you to crate them when you are out or during the night. Also the crate still allows them to see interesting things, and they are still in the middle of all the action.
When I let my Shiba out of timeout I usually ignore him for a while. He will just want to go off and sulk anyway. What does Mara do right after she comes out of timeout? How long do you generally do timeouts for?
Another key thing that helped me a lot with the biting is to stay totally calm. It can be difficult to do, but the more nervous or angry I got, the worse my Shiba would behave. Just stay calm, non-mark (Ack-ack), and if she continues, calmly say timeout and remove her to timeout with her drag lead.
The NILIF program also helped me a lot. Rather than giving her all the toys at once, only give her one or two and cycle through them so that she doesn’t get bored. Make sure she does commands for you before she gets anything in return.
I also make my Shiba work for all of his food.
Here are some things that helped when my Shiba was a puppy.
Hmmmm, not sure about this. How long have you had Mara? Is the ducky from your breeder? Is there are particular time of day or event that triggers this behavior? My first thought is that she could be missing her litter-mates.
Mara is very quiet and calm, almost pouting after she comes out of a timeout. Soon afterward she is back to biting again. The timeouts vary, but they are generally not more than a few minutes.
As for the ducky, Mara usually whimpers with the ducky in her mouth after coming out of her crate. We’ve had her for almost 2 months. The ducky was something my wife and I bought for her before we picked her up from the breeder. It was one of her first toys. She carries is around like a security blanket, but also plays with and bites it.
That sounds a lot like Sephy. He sulks when he comes out then after a bit he tries biting the curtains or whatever again to see if he can get away with it 🙂
I just ignore him when he comes out. Then when he goes for the curtains or books or whatever I non-mark him and body block him away from the area. Then I get him to do something else – e.g. obedience commands, chewing on toy, etc. If he refuses and goes back to curtain chewing, I say time-out and put him in time-out.
Shibas are stubborn – so usually a fair amount of consistent repetition is needed before they will give up the ghost. Even now Sephy will test the waters now and then – mostly with trying to chew the rug. He only does it when I am home to get a reaction – such a scamp.
Hmmm, my Siberian had a blanket from her breeder that she really loved but she lost interest in it after a couple of weeks.
I think as Mara gets used to her new home she will become less interested in the toy. What you are doing now sounds great in terms of socializing her to new people.
Puppy training class is great coz she gets to meet and play with new puppies too. As she meets more new people and does more new activities with you, I think she will become less dependent on the toy.
Just make sure she doesn’t start guarding the toy. You can play the object exchange game with her or food exchange game to discourage guarding.
Hope this helps. Let us know how things go.
Hello, We have just gotten our first Shiba named Spartacus who is 14 weeks old. However, I have been working with trying to get him to walk on a leash and wants no part of it. I love going on walks and they are suppose to love going on walks also. Do you have any ideas or tips to try and get him to WALK?????
Congratulations on your first Shiba!
In terms of leash walking, what helped with my Shiba is to fasten the leash onto the collar, and just let him drag it around. This will help him get comfortable with the feel and weight of leash.
Make sure to supervise so that the leash does not get caught on anything. And only do this with a flat collar.
You can also play the Find-it game with him while he has the leash on.
Fasten the leash and bring out some of his favorite treats. Throw one a small distance away and say find-it. Once he gets it, praise him a lot and throw another one and so on. This way you get him moving around and playing something fun with the lead on inside the house.
Once he learns to Find-It you can throw in some recalls. Walk a few steps away from him and call him (e.g. Spartacus Home!). Praise him a lot for coming to you, treat him, and then do a Find-It, then just keep repeating.
Then you can move on to holding the leash and playing the game, then holding the leash and playing the game outside. He will quickly get used to the leash and see it as something really positive.
We have had or shiba for three years and he is a great dog, very friendly and very social. A couple of issues have arisen. One he has become very skiddish. Any load noise such as fireworks, lond bangs or load screaming gets him upset and he will lock himself in rooms and cower. Our female shiba doesn’t seemed fased at all by the noise, we cant seem to calm his nerves. Any Suggestions? He aslo seems very depressed alot of times. He gets regualr exersize and plenty of toys, and a friend but he constantly needs attention and affection, and becomes very “mopey” when not petted or attended to. He is healthy ann has all is vaccinations, what can be causing this depression?
For the loud noises you can start to desensitize him to them. Create a taping of the noises that scare him. Then play it at a very low volume. Make sure you start at a very low volume.
Praise and treat him for being calm in the presence of the noise. Do some obedience commands with him and continue to praise and treat.
Once he is comfortable with the low volume noise, slowly increase the volume and repeat the exercise. Do it slowly and over many short but rewarding sessions.
This will help him associate the noise with positive, non-stressful experiences, and eventually, he will become more confident in terms of handling the noise.
If he gets spooked, then you have increased the volume too quickly, so start again with a softer volume. You may also want to put him on a lead during these training sessions so you have more control. Make sure not to push him too far too quickly though. The key to desensitization sessions is to make them short and fun so that Shiba learns to associate the scary event with something positive, low stress, and calm.
Not sure about the depression. Hard to say without observing things in real-life. Sometimes my Shiba gets depressed from the weather – if it is too rainy. He also gets depressed when he has digestive issues or when there are big changes to his routine.
Congratulations Peter!
I think that describes the Shiba very well! After 3 years, my Shiba definitely understands all the house rules, but the attitude is still there – lol.
Gotta love that Shiba attitude – they are a very entertaining dog breed 🙂
Just brought home a 12 week old red male shiba, He is already showing signs that he understands my home’s culture but he definitly has some attitude. I didn’t realize that they are this strong, luckily he doesn’t mind the leash but holding on to it really lets you know that they have some power. My wife and daughter are really enjoying him and I believe we have already started trading trust with each other. He is a blessing to my home already.
lol – she is totally adorable! That is a lot of snow for this early in the year.
My dogs have never seen snow. I think they would both love it. Ice – probably not so much 🙂
Thanks for sharing your video.
Here you go. I uploaded it on YouTube:-)
Hi Scott, I would love to see the video! Can you please post us a link to it?
Yeah video embedding doesn’t currently work in the comments section. I should look into getting a plugin for that 🙂
Well, I guess it didn’t work…
Thanks again for the suggestions. I will look into upcoming classes. Here is a video of shiba-Akiko out in the snow this morning.
lol – love the squeaky toy alarm system. I know what you mean though. When my Shiba is quiet is when I know he is really up to no good 😀
You could consider enrolling Akiko in puppy class. Try and find one that lets the puppies play and socialize during class breaks.
Both my dogs went to puppy class and they really enjoyed it. Shiba Sephy really loved playing with the other puppies. We went to SIRIUS puppy class, and then later we went to some classes at our local SPCA.
I have had really good experiences with the SPCAs in my area. They have pretty good trainers there, their fees are very reasonable, and they have some really fun classes. Agility could be something fun that you could do with her later on.
Make sure that the puppy class checks everyone on shots and such. For safety, puppy class usually requires at least second round of shots – if memory serves.
Another possibility is to look for puppy play sessions in the dog training centers or daycare centers nearby. The daycare center in my area organizes free weekend puppy play sessions – and that was pretty fun as well. The great thing is that the sessions were well supervised and all the dog owners were very good about making sure their dogs played nice.
Again make sure they check that all puppies are up to date on shots, and that they clean the facilities well. You don’t want her to pick anything up from adult dogs.
Would also be a great time to start with leash training – just in your backyard though.
Lol:-) She is far from innocent… I have to keep my eyes on her at all times. I give her a squeaky toy that she loves because she can easily make it squeak. If I don’t hear it squeaking than I know she is up to no good lol. What should I be doing with her at 9 weeks? I don’t know any other dogs or children to socialize her… She can already do the normal sit, stay, come, down routine:-)
Wow you have a super Shiba! Mine is more like a hellspawn 😛
Did you get her from a local breeder?
Sure will:-) The vet did her nail cutting for us this time, so it went very well. He also gave her a booster shot and she didn’t even flinch. She was too distracted with her treat lol.
Hey there,
So I have an 8 month old intact shiba male and on Friday I brought home a 2.5 year old intact shiba female. The female is so aggressive towards my male, her lip comes up when he is just walking by. I don’t know what to do. I want them to get along and possibly breed them since they are both gorgeous dogs. They each are fed in different place and sleep in different places in their own crates. She won’t play with toys or anything, she just sits and acts depressed. I don’t know if it’s because she misses her old owner or what, but I’m getting worried about her. Whole reason I got her was so my male had a companion….What do I do???
Hello Kristen,
I do not breed dogs, and therefore have little experience with unfixed dogs.
One thing that really helped me a lot when I was having troubles with my Shiba is visiting the Shiba breeders that lived nearby. They were very helpful and let me know what to expect from my Shiba and what were normal Shiba behaviors.
They may be a great resource for you as well. I used the breeder directory at the National Shiba Club
http://www.shibas.org/breeders.html
The nihonken message board can also be a great resource –
http://www.shibainuforum.org/forum/
A professional trainer with Shiba experience can also help you troubleshoot some of these issues.
Thanks Scott! She is beautiful. Hope you will post more photos of her as she is growing up 🙂
How did the nail cutting session go?
You are welcome to post the link on your blog:-) Yea, she was very calm through the cleaning process. I think that she is going to get her nails cut tomorrow so we will see how that goes. Thank you for the compliments on her.
Thanks Raras 🙂
Scott – Your Shiba is absolutely beautiful! Can I link to your photos on my blog? Love that bliss shot where she is on her back.
I am impressed that she looks so calm while you were giving her a bath! Was she calm from the start?
whoaa!! thanks for your tips! your tips will be my guide when I owned one someday.
Here are some pictures of her. Her name is Akiko and I picked her up last friday, the 16th.
Thank you for the tips:-) It is so hard not to react to the screams, but I am doing just that. She has always stopped eventually lol. I put her crate next to the bed last night and she slept most of the night. I still had to get up to take her out, but at least she was willing to go back to bed afterward. It has been a tough week, but I can already tell that it is going to be a great ride with her. She is so adorable:-) We go see the vet for the first time on Friday… Any suggestions on what I should be asking him?
Hi Scott,
Congratulations on your new Shiba puppy. She will definitely keep you on your toes 🙂
As for the Shiba screaming – make sure not to let her out of her crate while she is screaming. If you do, she will learn that screaming gets her what she wants. In general, don’t give in to the scream. Just ignore it, or leave the area. This shows her that screaming means she gets left alone. When she stops, praise her, and come back to be with her.
Shibas can be extremely stubborn though, so the screaming could go on for a long while. One time I put my Shiba in daycare and he screamed the whole day while he was there – lol.
He also used his screams to good effect with my dog walker.
Shibas are really smart and if they sense that they can manipulate you with screaming, there will be more screaming than ever. So never reward the screaming behavior – always wait for some quiet before letting her have anything. And you can slowly extend the amount of quiet time required.
You could also try letting her sleep in a crate in your bedroom. That is what I do with my Shiba and it helped a lot. He really just wanted to sleep with his people.
I finally took the plunge and decided to get a Shiba Puppy…I am a first time pet owner, so I definitely didn’t know what I was getting myself into. First off, thank you for all the tips, I spent a few nights reading through the blogs and articles posted:-)
I have a cream-colored female who acts like a true Shiba pup. She is 8 weeks old. I am having an issue at night. I was told that she slept well in her crate, but whenever I put her in it (night time or when I leave the house) she screams and boy is it a terrible sound lol. Are there any suggestions on what to do now while she is still young? Thanks in advance:-)
Hi Jenn,
One thing you can try is to slowly desensitize your Shiba to being alone. First, get her used to the ritual of your leaving, then get her used to you leaving for very short periods of time, then slowly extend the time that she stays alone.
Separation anxiety and desensitization
Also leave her with some fun toys to chew on, such as frozen kongs or rubber chew toys with cheese. There are also Kong dispensers which will drop out kongs based on a timer – which may help keep her occupied.
I like the desensitization exercises best though. That and keeping to a fixed schedule has helped most with my Shiba.
I have a one year old Shiba female who does not like to be home alone. She is crate trained, but regardless, she will find away to tear up the carpet.
We are new owners to a pet and am trying diligently to break her from this. I have left her roaming in the house alone and she got into the curtains and other things. Other then the dependency she has on us she is a great dog.
Hi Matt,
Sounds like Wylie is learning all those behaviors from the other dog. In general, it is necessary to apply the same type of discipline to all the dogs that are living together. If not, one will see the other getting away with all kinds of things, and will start to copy those behaviors as well.
It will be difficult, I think, to establish yourself as the leader, when your dog sees that the lab/pit can do whatever he wants.
What does your roommate think about you helping to train his dog? It would be even better if he participates in the training as well.
Hi, i have a 3 year old male named Wylie. I have had similar problems as everyone on this board at one point or another, but through it all, he really has become a good dog and hes my best buddy. Last year i moved in with two roommates who have a lab/pit bull mix, he is not very well trained he constantly whines and growls and barks and is very aggressive with Wylie, but Wylie seems to love it. In the last couple of weeks wylie has begun whining constantly, especially when he is downstairs and the other dog is upstairs. I have tried to start separating them more and more to assert myself as Wylies “pack leader” because it has gotten to the point where he only wants to go upstairs and wont play with me or anyone else…I have tried to do things like shortening his leash on our walks, remaining calm and assertive and trying to have more of a routine for him etc.. but i cant figure out why he keeps whining and its really frustrating me. I have tried everything from using a squirt bottle to removing him from the room to positive reinforcement when he stops whining but hes too smart, he knows if he stops he will get what he wants and then when he gets it he just starts whining again and tries to go upstairs… any thoughts??? Thanks!
Hello Yoshi,
I am not a supporter of choke chains. Here is why –
http://flyingpawsdogtraining.weebly.com/damage-by-choke-chains.html
In my experience, most vets know very little about dog training. I have met one or two who know how to handle dogs, but most of them probably know less than we do about dog training.
You do want to stop your Shiba from biting and such though. Here are two articles that may help. They talk about some of the techniques I used with my Shiba when I first got him and he was truly a terror on four paws 🙂
Stop Puppy Biting
Puppy Training Tips
Hello Brandi,
So great of you to rescue a Shiba.
In general, you want to show Akira that it is unacceptable to be overly aggressive with your male Shiba. However, you also want to be careful and make things positive whenever she is with male Shiba so that she associates positive things with his presence.
Here are some things that may help –
1. Desensitize Akira to your new Shiba – Have her on a lead and have her be engaged with you doing obedience. Then someone else brings in the other Shiba. You call Akira and treat her, and give her some good attention whenever the male is in the room. Have the male Shiba leave, then the treats and attention stop. Have him come back again and repeat. In this way, the male Shiba is seen less as competition for your attention, and more as a source of good things.
2. For now, try and set Akira up for success so when you give male Shiba attention, make sure Akira is getting attention as well.
3. If Akira still goes for your male Shiba, you do want to teach her that it is unacceptable behavior. After you say No, engage her in obedience commands and try and get her to do something else. If she will not listen to you, and goes back for more, then do a time-out. This teaches her that if she cannot behave with the family, then she does not get to be with the family at all. Later on, after she improves, you can just ask for space (i.e. she can’t go near the male until she behaves) rather than do a full time-out.
4. When you can’t supervise, it is best to keep them separated so that things don’t escalate. You want to try and set Akira up for success as much as possible, and reduce the number of aggression incidents.
Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.