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.
I’m confused now, I always thought the ideal greeting was a quick and mutual butt sniff and then moving on. My dog would always great face to face causing a face off. I’ve been incouraging him to sniff butts instead of meeting dogs head on with seemly good results. If greeting face to face and also face to butt is out, what is left?
My rescue just got into a fight at the dog park over a ball… Another owner was trying to get a ball out of the other pitbull’s mouth, and my dog ran over and started antagonizing the other dog, and a fight broke out. Needless to say, I’m a little bit traumatized. I want to socialize her, but I’m also scared that she’ll be aggressive again. What would you suggest?
My dog is kind of like this too… She doesn’t mind the vet probing her butt when she needs a temperature though with dogs and even people, strangers or even sometimes my family and I she won’t wajtbus even behind her sometimes and would turn around. It kind of frustrates me though because she does well with small dogs and some dogs her size but bigger dogs are a big no to her and if they dare try to sniff at her butt, she turns around quickly and lightly snaps the air as a warning. If it’s smaller ones she would only turn around and that’s all. It only frustrates me cause she probably wants personal space or such, but she never ggeto socialize and play with bigger dogs because of this and it’s a problem here since at the dog park, there’s of course way more bigger dogs than her >~< just today she snapped a warning and ended up triggering the other dog and started a fight, luckily no one got hurt and they watched and sniffed each other after for a couple seconds then walk away. Just sucks xD
It's also because she was never brought up socializing as a pup since I got her from the shelter. I've tried with my older brother and father but they would make it worse and seem like she needs protection from other dogs and make her behavior worse so I stopped going. I was going to go alone at the time, but I mean… I was 16 then and now I'm 17? Kind of scary xD but it is my dog and she does need the exercise so I started bringing her again this year. Sadly I can't get another dog since my mother is allergic to animals so I'm lucky I even got my dog in the first place and I don't have friends here since they all moved xD even if they were still here they didn't have any dogs :/ ugh…
where do you live?
my dog (3 years shiba female) puts a little twist to the actual butt sniffing…
she’s a bit dominant you know…
In the woods for a walk we sometimes meet some dogs. they can be big or small, male or female, so I don’t exactly know which dogs she’s looking for, but she sniffs a butt then takes a little bite. Nothing deep, but enough so the other dogs starts a fight.
Have you ever heard of that situation?
Cheers.
I haven’t seen Sephy do anything like that before, but I usually manage him very closely during greetings. I set up clear dog-to-dog interaction rules for Sephy, so he knows what are acceptable social behaviors and what are not. In this way, I control the greeting, set Sephy up for success, and make sure he does not practice undesirable behaviors.
Yesterday my Max, 9 year old Shiba, dropped his tail (lost the curl) and it has not come up now for over 24 hours. I can’t figure out any injury, I have done all of his favorite things and he continues to enjoy them (played with chase toys, favorite treats, taken him to his favorite places). He eats, drinks, acts well in all situations. My husband Iwho he bonds with the most) has been gone for 4 days. Could this be a sign of sadness that he is gone, despite his pleasure with all the other things that I do with him?
My Shiba gets stressed when things do not go according to his routine. For example, he fusses when my partner comes home from work later than usual. He will go to sit by the door leading to the garage and wait for the sound of the car.
However, the only time I have noticed his tail losing its curl is when he comes home from the vet, after being sedated. I think he feels more vulnerable, not very comfortable, and not himself.
When in doubt, I always give my vet a call and see what they say.