I made many mistakes with my Shiba when I first got him, but one thing that I did from the start was try to socialize him to other puppies and dogs.
Shiba Sephy seems to really like interacting with other dogs but greetings do not always go well.
After carefully observing how Sephy meets dogs, I realized that he does not like new dogs sniffing his butt.
Butt sniffing can actually be taken as a dominance move – the one getting his butt sniffed is submitting to the dog doing the sniffing.
This actually makes a lot of sense. The sniffing dog has all his teeth near to a vulnerable part of the other dog, while the other dog has his teeth farthest away from his hind area.
The dog being sniffed is putting himself in a vulnerable position, thus dogs only allow butt sniffs with dogs they trust and are comfortable with; or as a sign of submission.
For example, my Shiba has no problems with my Siberian Husky doing all sorts of things to him. He is also very tolerant with his regular playmates … but strange dogs poking their noses up his butt is a big no-no.
I really do not blame him.
Nowadays, I make sure that during dog greetings, my Shiba’s buttockal region is well protected. By using body blocks, I keep the other dog away from my Shiba’s hind area.
When greeting other dogs, I try to stay calm and interrupt the greeting as soon as I notice any signs of stress or discomfort on either dog. I walk away to create space and call Sephy to me. Creating space is important so that neither of the dogs feel crowded or trapped.
When Shiba comes, he gets treated, and then he can go back for another short greeting if he wants.
The butt sniff is not for every dog.
Protect your dog from other dogs if necessary. Make dog greetings a fun and low stress affair by staying calm, creating space, using positive interrupts, and body blocking unwanted butt sniffs.
By consistently making dog greetings into positive events, we help our dog build self confidence and associate other dogs with fun and rewards. This will make our dog into a social butterfly, improve his quality of life, and allow us to take him to more places without worrying about dog-to-dog aggression.
That reminds me of Monk. 🙂
As for good etiquette that is something that is very much set by our human society – which we then place upon our dogs. There also seems to be a strange and unrealistic expectation that a dog should like all other dogs, and if he doesn’t there is something wrong with him. Probably comes from Lassie and other television shows.
My Siberian I sometimes bring her to daycare. My Shiba does not really enjoy the daycare situation, so what works best for him are one-on-one play sessions with friendly dogs at home, or just regular meetups with friendly neighborhood dogs.
I don’t let him meet and greet all dogs, just the ones who are not dominant. Shiba does not get along with dominant dogs, and vice versa.
I thought I was the only person who had a dog that didn’t like getting his butt sniffed. To me it’s almost like a person who doesn’t like shaking a stranger’s hands for fear of germs. I guess it’s normal behavior, but it doesn’t seem like good etiquette.
If we are at the dog park, my dog will readily go up and sniff another dog’s butt with no hesitation. He has no qualms about sniffing another dog. But if another dog tries to sniff his butt, he runs from it, prompting the other dog to chase him, prompting my dog to go on a full on sprint. The other dogs see this helpless little mutt sprinting like a gazelle, prompting them to get their prey drive mojo going and soon every dog in the park is chasing after my dog. It’s funny, but not a good situation.
Where do you take your dog for socialization?
I’m glad you liked them! :] I wish I could take more photos, but since I’m usually the one playing with him, its hard to multi-task with a camera in hand, haha. And you are absolutely more than welcome to link to Roush, he would be honored! :]
Thanks for the pictures Sarah! I love them. Roush is such a cute fella and he has really grown.
The one where he is sleeping on his back is too precious. Also liked the pictures where he is playing and doing that cute play bow.
Can I link to Roush on my blog? Thanks! 🙂
Thank you so much! And here is a small collection of photos I have of Roush. I dont have too many, but they are cute none the less. :]
http://s906.photobucket.com/albums/ac264/roushssarah/
Hi Sarah,
I am so happy to hear that things are going so well with Roush. Congratulations to the both of you! Please give me a link to some pictures of Roush when you get the chance. I feel like I know him already from all your stories, and would like to see him in all his glory 🙂
Haha – that is a great behavior. Sephy does that sometimes, especially during winter time when he gets more hungry. In the summer he is just too lazy to move his Shiba butt – lol.
When my puppy senses anything food .. sound, sight, or smell .. he follows me everywhere. Its not usually his food he smells, but it definitely provokes his curiosity anyways. So I am going to try to recalls anyways. Sometimes Roush can be stubborn when his name is called, so I am wondering if maybe recalls would also help with that, haha. I will try this and I will for sure let you know!
I am very pleased to say that after talking with you these past few weeks and getting a better grasp on little Roush’s aggression and ways to curb it, I definitely feel like I have made great progress! :]
The movement commands have been phenomenal! Since we have started these, he hasnt even growled once! I am mixing up his meal-time routine; command – feed – touch paw – feed – touch chest – feed – command – feed, etc etc. His body language also tells me that he seems a lot more relaxed also. He still keeps his head back and chest out, but his ears arent yoda-style anymore and he no longer drops his tail. He has also only curled his lips less than 3 times!, haha. :]
I still feed him by hand and I will eventually, slowly start allowing him to eat my handfuls from his bowl, while still doing commands and touches to see how reacts when he has access to his bowl.
Just to see how we progressed, I also allowed him a food toy this afternoon. I was very impressed. He allowed me to approach him AND put my hand near his face to take the toy away .. and not once did his lips curl or growl. I sensed he was tense a little bit, but he did not react to his emotions. And well, since I took it away I had to put more goodies in it for him. :] It was a very positive experience and I was so proud of him.
His bite inhibition also seems like it may be getting better. Before, when he bit me he didnt care if I controlled his resources or if he was biting the hand that fed him. Last night I was doing a fun little “training” session with him to get him moving around and see if I could teach him something new. I use tiny bits of swiss cheese for this, its his absolute favorite. At one point I may have provoked angst in him when I touched his paw, and he bit me. Instead of biting to break skin, almost the second his teeth hit my skin I could feel him kind of pull back .. and for once, I dont have a single mark on me. I dont know how much better it will get, I also dont know that I want to test this.
That is really interesting. Sephy doesn’t do that with new dogs either but he does do it to my Siberian especially when we come home from our walk. Guess he wants to know what she has been up to and whether she is ok.
How is Roush doing wrt. food guarding? I had another thought today, one thing to try is to mix the touching – brief one touch to paw – feed – brief one touch to chest – feed – brief one touch to chin – feed – brief one touch to body – feed. At first keep it really brief and before he has a chance to react, he is eating. This way, he will have some good successes for a while – then you can slowly increase the touches. You can also mix-up the number of touches once he is comfortable with the single touch.
Also the recall thing would be interesting to try. Let me know how it goes – this is something that I would like to learn more on.
I love this article! My little Roush is the exact same way!, haha. He very much dislikes other dogs anywhere near his behind. Usually if there’s a dog behind him and he senses a butt sniff coming on, he spins around to face the other dog and it usually escalates to a high energy chase ((if they’re in my backyard)), haha. But if he gets caught off-guard and a dog manages to sniff that little butt, he just tucks it in and does his little spin-around, haha. Its so funny to see.
With dogs he’s unsure of or not familiar with, his meet and greet usually consists of standing tall and stout until he’s comfortable with the other dog, and then he tries to play. He LOVES other dogs.
He also is never the one to do the butt-sniffing .. and I dont blame him! :]