Tumblr has this ongoing obsession/love affair with this breed, but as a professional dog trainer and general animal lover, seeing the number of people who enthusiastically declare their desire to own one makes me cringe. I’m not comfortable enabling or reinforcing any of the idealised idolatry of this breed—and it’s not because I don’t like Shibas, but because I do.
I love Shibas. They’re quirky and cute and smart, and yes, they have precious catlike mannerisms and clean habits and soft faces and endearing little eyes.
But Shiba Inu are not good dogs for beginners. They are difficult dogs. They are even potentially disasterous dogs—disasterous for the Shiba, disasterous for its owner, and disasterous for others.
Shiba Inu are difficult dogs to train—they’re stubborn, frequently dog-aggressive, easily bored, and very, very, averse to confinement.
They’re not good dogs for people who don’t have a lot of time to devote to their dog.
I don’t mean “time spent sitting on the couch and chilling with their dog.”
I mean time. They need your attention. They demand your attention. They hate being ignored. (Side note: it’s not okay to ignore or neglect ANY dog. Do not get a dog if you will not give it time and attention. Not even a chihuahua. Actually, especially not a chihuahua, but I digress.)
As others on the internet have noted, even an experienced dog trainer can have trouble teaching a Shiba even basic manners. I don’t mean ‘sit,’ ‘watch me,’ and ‘down.’
I mean things like ‘don’t destroy the house with your teeth’ and ‘biting is not an acceptable way to interact with people.’
And that’s not even touching the potential aggressiveness—dog-aggressiveness, leash-aggressiveness, resource guarding…
They also scream. Just like a potential owner should think seriously before adopting a hound because they bay, someone contemplating a Shiba (or a Basenji), should hear the Shiba scream—and I mean hear it—before even considering taking one into their home.
If it sounds to you like I’m making it sound worse than it is… well, I’m not.
Just like I wouldn’t recommend, say, a Komondor to someone looking for a first-time dog, I wouldn’t recommend a Shiba. And I personally feel kind of ill-at-ease with the level of Shiba-veneration and romanticisation that goes on around me, because so many bloggers just want a Shiba so bad and when they move out they’re gonna get one and they’re just so perfect! and people and dogs will suffer.
Remember when 101 Dalmations came out, and hundreds of families rushed out to obtain Dalmations of their very own—and discovered shortly thereafter that Dalmations were not the easygoing dogs they thought they were? That Dalmations were protective, intense, high-energy guarding dogs not unlike the German Shepherd or doberman?
Those dogs ended up at shelters or rescues (not to mention abandoned, neglected, or put down) by the truckload. This kills the man, okay? It kills him.
I’m not saying it’s not cool to reblog Shibas—hell, reblog all the dogs of any stripe (or spot?) you like!
I just don’t feel the need to aid or abet Tumblr’s ongoing fixation on a breed that so few have any real clue about living with.
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