When I first got Shiba Sephy I was constantly embarrassed by him.

Being a Shiba Inu, he is not very interested in being a model citizen, and more interested in doing whatever he wants.

I took him out on five 30-45 minute walks every day, but he was still a very wild, hyper thing inside and outside the house.

Shiba Sephy - A terror that flaps in the night.

The worst was his leash biting.

Don't let that sweet innocent Shiba look fool you.

If I tried to stop him from doing something during our walks, he would redirect his frustrations onto the leash and sometimes onto me. Several times, he jumped on me and did kill-moves on my jacket sleeve.

This was all very entertaining for my neighbors.

Many of them would watch from their windows, or even come out of their house to get front-row seats during our leash-biting dance. Many of them also offered free dog training advice; much of which was conflicting and inaccurate.

It seems that everyone is an expert when it comes to someone elses’ dog.

Needless to say, I was very embarrassed by Sephy’s behavior.

Because I was embarrassed, I got frustrated and angry with him, which made him get even more Shiba crazy.

Shiba Sephy pretending to be a model citizen.

Finally, I decided that this path of embarrassment only led to bad things; for both Sephy and me.

Rather than be worried by what random strangers thought about my dog parenting skills, it was more important to do what was best for Sephy and help him live a happy, low-stress life.

Once I put my ego into cold storage and started to focus on my dog, things improved significantly. I also realized that most of my previous spectators had problem dogs of their own, and were probably just as embarrassed as I was.

When it comes to dog training – it is best to gather information on your own and make up your own mind in terms of what makes the most sense for your dog.

It is human nature to be affected by what others think of us.

However, when I start to feel that way, I consciously refocus on the well-being of my dogs and let people on the street think whatever they want.

Whenever I start feeling embarassed, I consciously refocus on the well-being of my dogs. They are the ones that matter most.