Living with a Shiba Inu

“What kind of a dog is that? It looks like a little fox!”

Shiba Inu owners hear that question and comment every time they go out with their dogs. Indeed, I’ve even been asked if Kudo is a fox. The second time I was asked, I spun an unlikely yarn about the zoo renting foxes out by the hour, and suggested the person go take one for a spin.

Although Shibas are showing up more frequently in the United States, they’re still an unusual enough dog that people remark upon them. Walking Kudo in a public place always brings many questions, a number of them about what it’s like to live with a Shiba.

Well…

A Shiba Inu is not a black Lab. Labrador Retrievers seem to start each day asking themselves how they can please their owners. A Shiba wakes up asking herself what her owner will do to please her.

Resources
The American Kennel Club maintains a wonderful website containing information on all its recognized breeds, including the Shiba Inu. The AKC notes the Shiba “may seem slightly aloof at first, but it is typically an inquisitive, good-natured, bright and active dog.” Elsewhere, they call Shibas “spirited.”

Other websites and books are devoted to the Shiba Inu, and provide similar descriptions. Laura Payton’s excellent book, Shiba Inus: A Complete Pet Owner’s Manual, (Barron’s Educational Series, Inc., 2003) provides good information on the history of the Shiba, what to consider before purchasing a Shiba, how to select a good breeder, preparing for the new puppy, bringing the puppy home, feeding, health, and activities. If only Shiba owners did it that way.

Prior to getting Kudo, I did some research on dogs to get a sense of what breed might do best living in a city condominium that has no yard. Then I found an AKC breeder I trusted, and got the puppy. My guess is most people don’t buy books on several breeds, then make their selections. For whatever reason, you’ve gotten a Shiba and are now trying to find out more about them. Many months after I’d gotten Kudo, I found what is quite possibly the best web site on what it’s like to live with a Shiba. Ralph’s Site is full of real-life experience and good counsel. I wish I’d found it before I got Kudo.

Smart with Good Memories
Shiba Inus are amazingly bright. They were bred to hunt independently, making and acting upon their own decisions. No matter what you think you are going to train the Shiba to do, the Shiba has already figured out a better way to do it, and will happily show it to you. And show it to you again. And again. Further, they have memories that will astonish you. While I may be able to divert Kudo’s attention from the wounded bird under the tree, she’ll remember right where it was a half-hour later when we head back home from our walk. She’ll remember it tomorrow, too, and look for it.

Housetraining
When I first got Kudo, she was eleven weeks old. I had never had such a young puppy, and knew nothing about housetraining a pup. I thought one was supposed to train a puppy to “go on the paper,” a phrase I’ve heard all my life. So I put some newspapers down on the kitchen floor, and encouraged her to go there. Quickly she understood that peeing on paper was something to be desired, but she didn’t necessarily want the paper in the kitchen. With her very sharp little puppy teeth, Kudo would tear off a strip of paper, dart into the living room with the strip, place it carefully over the carpet, and pee. Of course the piece of paper was one-ply thick and about the size of a Post-It Note but, by golly, she had done her business just as I had taught her.

Silly me. It isn’t necessary to use the intermediate step of “go on the paper” with a Shiba. They are very clean little dogs and really prefer to go outside, given the chance. A rough rule of thumb is that a puppy can hold it one hour for every month of age. That is, a two-month-old puppy can hold it about two hours, a three-month-old puppy can hold it about three hours, and so forth. (Puppies should always be given the chance to go immediately after waking from a nap, or shortly after eating, or after a vigorous play session.) Skip the paper training and head right outside from the beginning. You and your carpet will be much happier. And, for the inevitable accidents, get a spray bottle of Nature’s Miracle, or another stain and odor remover, to keep the carpet from smelling like an approved place.

The Pack
Although Shibas are very independent dogs, they seem to recognize their families as their packs. The pack is made up of whoever was there on the day the Shiba arrived. It is very difficult to add anyone to the pack after that and have that member accepted. Shibas are fiercely loyal to their packs but aren’t particularly welcoming to anyone else. My son and daughter-in-law, who live only 90 miles away and are fairly regular visitors, are greeted with some suspicion on each arrival.

Kudo isn’t merely aloof, she’s imperial. Even offering her a treat, if you haven’t passed her tests (she has yet to explain to me what her tests are, by the way), won’t get her near you. If you’re a man and it’s dark out, she will woof you away. If you’re a child, she won’t like you no matter what time of day it is, and you could have a T-bone steak in your hand. You’re going to get the “Shiba scream” just by occupying space somewhere near her.

Exercise Needs
Shibas are active little dogs, and need a fair amount of exercise. Indoors, they’re not hyper, but do need some play. Our daily exercise consists of a four-block walk after getting up, a noon hour of unstructured play with other dogs at a local off-leash park come rain or shine, a six-block walk in the late afternoon, and a couple of two-block walks in the evening. Additionally, we play living room fetch with a tennis ball or a squeak toy for fifteen or twenty minutes during the evening.

It's MINE!
Kudo is very possessive about her toys. At the off-leash park she is quite content to recognize tennis balls as the property of the community, but any tennis ball I bring into the park for her is hers and she will growl any challenger dog away. Moreover, she doesn’t like tennis balls after they become too dirty. Indeed, the reason I bring one into the park for her is she’ll play only with clean ones. Once a tennis ball has had enough park play that it becomes dirty, she turns the ball over to the community stock and will not play with it any longer. Some days she will play fetch with the ball, but often she prefers to have me throw the ball which she will run after, then stop as if pointing out its location, and wait for me to come get it. Then she wants me to toss it again.

Kudo has been in only two dog fights, and both were over her tennis balls. In each case another – and bigger – dog has challenged Kudo for her tennis ball. Kudo has given a warning growl and the other dog has attacked her. Although she weighs only seventeen pounds, she was going to stay in the fight to the finish and give as good as she got. Fortunately, in each case, the other dog’s owner and I were able to separate the dogs quickly, and no harm was done. But I was quite amazed at her refusal to back down in the face of an overwhelming size disadvantage.

Around the House
At home, Kudo is not a lap dog, and never will be. She likes to be near me, but not on me. In the den, which houses my stereo, radio, television, and computer, she usually sleeps at the foot of my chair. Sometimes she’ll sleep next to me on the sofa while I watch TV or read. The only time she ever wants to be on me is when I stretch out on the living room couch to read. Then she’ll jump on my tummy and want to play. I never can resist. On the other hand, she’s very aware of my every mood. If I’m sad, that information seems to travel swiftly to her and she’s on me in a flash with kisses and tail-wags. Kudo’s kisses brighten even the gloomiest day.

Escape Artists
Because Shibas were bred to hunt in the brushwood in the mountains in Japan, they can get in and out of very tight spaces quite easily and quickly. Further, when a Shiba is on the hunt she is completely focused on her target. Moreover, a Shiba is incredibly fast. Those three facts together mean a Shiba must never be off-leash outdoors except in a securely fenced area. A Shiba with a squirrel in her sights simply will not hear you call and will run into the street, without noticing the traffic, faster than you can grab her.

General Training
Shibas are smart and learn quickly. They respond best to positive reinforcement and don’t respond at all well to heavy-handedness. You need to establish youself, and all other humans in the house, as above her in the household pecking order, but that is best done with consistency. Shibas will always find the weakest link in the discipline chain. Some days Kudo reminds me of my son when he was two years old and spent about one day a month testing me to see if all the no-nos were still in place. He always seemed relieved to discover they were all still there, and so does Kudo. But those days that she decides to test them all are a trial. I must remind myself, each time, that a set of rules that is not enforced is no set of rules at all. Shibas can be mouthy – she will literally pull on my pant leg, for example – and NO BITE yesterday must mean NO BITE today. Fortunately, she seems to retry all the no-nos less frequently as she matures.

Feeding
How Often: New puppies should be offered food three times a day and allowed to eat what they want in fifteen minutes' time. After that, remove the food dish and don't allow access to it until the next scheduled feeding time. Adult dogs can be fed either once or twice a day.

Food Aggression: Shibas can become possessive, and even aggressive, about food. Because I had read that early on, I practiced "pester the puppy" from the beginning. Whenever Kudo ate, I petted her, took food out of her dish while she was eating it, took food out of her mouth while she was eating it, and put it back in the dish. Every time she let me take food from her, I told her what a good girl she was. Kudo has never become food possessive or aggressive.

What to Feed: Passions run high regarding what to feed dogs. Many say that commercially prepared pet food is fully nutritious and can be given safely. I fed Kudo Science Diet kibbles when she was very small and and later added Alpo moist food until she was about ten months old, and she got along fine on those products. For all I know, they're perfectly good. But about the time Kudo was hitting ten months of age there was a lot of news about downer cows, and governmental assurances that meat from such cows wouldn't go into the human food chain. At that point I became concerned that it would go into the pet food chain instead, a fear I've never substantiated nor disproven. I found a local company, Darwin's Natural Pet Products, which makes a fresh frozen concoction of meat and vegetables. The food can be served either raw or cooked. Because Kudo's vet had a conniption fit about raw food, I chose to cook it. I loved doing business with that company because their food is nutritious and they have wonderful customer service but, for reasons known only to herself, after about four months Kudo suddenly turned her nose up at it, and I researched how to make her food myself. There are any number of web sites showing how to do it (Google "BARF" which stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food) and decide, with your dog's vet, whether you need to cook it. She still gets some kibbles in the morning, and has now transitioned over to Flint River Ranch for those.

How Much: An adult dog should eat about 2% of its body weight a day, depending on how active it is. Kudo gets a little more than that, but she also gets a lot of exercise. I give her access to the kibbles in the morning. Sometimes she eats a little of it, sometimes she's not interested. I give her the main meal in the afternoon. From the age of 10 months until two years, she ate about eight ounces a day. When she approached age two, she cut herself back to about five ounces a day. At age three, we dropped it to three and one-half ounces a day. I watch her weight carefully.

Health Concerns
External Parasites: Fleas and ticks seem to love the taste of dog. While we don't live in tick country, fleas are a constant. Following our veterinarian's recommendation, I use Frontline (which says it kills both fleas and ticks) on Kudo once a month and have never seen any indication of fleas on her, despite our daily play sessions with other dogs at the off-leash park.

Eye Problems: Ideally, before you get your Shiba, the puppy should be checked for eye disorders common to dogs. At the very least, have your Shiba's eyes checked at your first veterinarian appointment.

Hip Dysplasia: Usually the bane of larger breeds, some Shibas have developed hip dysplasia, although symptoms may not show until later in life. Hip dysplasia is a degenerative joint disease, causing weakness and lameness in the rear quarters and ultimately leading to painful arthritis. Although obesity is a contributing factor, the best protection against your dog aquiring it is that your dog's parents did not have it.

Patellar Luxation: In this condition, the hind leg's patella (kneecap) luxates (displaces). This condition is common in Shibas, and is heritable. Even dogs whose parents did not have patellar luxation are not immune from aquiring it, and puppy examinations pronouncing them free of it do not guarantee it won't show up later.

Neither of Kudo's parents has patellar luxation, and Kudo's puppy examinations did not reveal it. However, when Kudo was 18 months old, I began to notice an odd skip-hop as she would sometimes hold her right rear leg up. This would happen only in certain gaits (fast walk/trot/slow canter) and on uneven terrain. It never showed up, regardless of gait, inside. At first I simply assumed she had strained something in vigorous play at the off-leash park. But, when after a week it was no better, I made a vet appointment.

There are four grades of patellar luxation; Kudo's vet found her to be at the Grade II level, not terribly affected. We began treatment by giving her a combination of an anti-inflammatory and glucosamine treatment to see if her body would strengthen itself. If the treatment did not work, she would need surgery to correct the problem. For the first month, she was to be kept as quiet as possible, a real challenge for a dog with her energy.

After three weeks of the anti-inflammatory and glucosamine treatment, Kudo saw the vet again. He found that she was much improved. He stopped the anti-inflammatory medication and continued the glucosamine. He added to her activity level such that she could have longer walks that had some periods of running contained in them. Over a month, her activity level was allowed to increase; however, she was still not to play or roughhouse with other dogs.

After another month, she was examined again. The vet then rated her at Category I, the least affected, and saw no need to consider surgery unless she later worsens. Kudo will be on glucosamine for the rest of her life, a small price to pay. Following that visit, she was allowed to resume play at the off-least park, starting at fifteen minutes a day and gradually increasing to her full hour. She is relieved to be back in the park, and I'm relieved to have her there. She chewed up parts of three chairs during the period of restricted activity.

The Veterinarian
Getting puppy shots, and later the booster shots, is vital to your dog. Given that Kudo is around other dogs all the time, I'm an absolute fanatic about making sure her shots are current. I also take Kudo into the vet fairly often, just to keep her from being afraid of the place. We go in, say hello to the receptionist and whatever vet or vet tech wanders out into the waiting room, weigh Kudo, and usually collect a doggy treat. I also take her to the vet for nail trimming. While Shibas are famous for putting up a fuss at having their nails trimmed, Kudo never has. I don't know if that's because I've always touched and massaged her paws since she was little, or if I just got lucky with this particular dog. Whatever the reason, I'll take it!

We Moved!
In the summer of 2006, I bought my dog a yard. Fortunately, it came with a house.

After a couple of years of urging by my son and daughter-in-law, Kudo and I moved to Bellingham, which is 90 miles north of Seattle. We now live in a three-bedroom house with a wonderful back yard, fully fenced. Kudo is now The Empress of the Back Yard, patrolling it daily for squirrels, birds, and anything else that might look or smell interesting. She and I play fetch with the tennis ball, and she runs all over the yard with it before bringing it back for another toss. Kudo has finally gotten used to my son and daughter-in-law, now that we see each other more frequently, and she greets their arrival with welcoming tail wags. We are enjoying our new home, and it is a delight to me to see Kudo enjoy the yard.

Funny Girl!
I swear Shibas have a sense of humor. Kudo’s play, especially in the house with me, is just plain funny. She purposely shoves a tennis ball under a chair, looks innocent while urging me to get it out, then nibbles at my fingers or in my hair when I'm pulling the ball out. When I’m cooking, she brings a squeak toy out to the kitchen, nudges it under the stove, insists I stop what I’m doing and retrieve it, then casually nudges it right back under. Whee!

The above, I hope, should show you a Shiba is a handful. But you’ll never be around a dog that is as loyal, smart, beautiful, and just plain fun as a Shiba. Whatever it is that she costs me, she brings me so much more!

October, 2004
Updated December, 2004
Updated January, 2005
Updated March, 2005
Updated January, 2007