Owning a Shiba Inu seven months in

Booker is seven months old now and is still quite a handful. We knew that choosing a Shiba Inu for a dog would be a challenge. But she’s been amazing. I’ve grown up around dogs and don’t consider my house a home without one. Sander’s family brought Snowy into their lives around 10 years ago and Lucky two years after that. They are Friese Stabij mixes and are pretty common in the Netherlands.

When choosing a Shiba, I knew I wanted a pup who had the potential to be high energy and wind down quickly. That’s Books. She’s ecstatic to meet new dogs and is finally accepting human strangers. She loves playing rough, dirty and even after some occasional scolding by Snowy. She has never once bitten Booker and the same goes for Lucky. They know little Books well enough now and they know how to deal with her. A common technique is to push their butts in her face like a knight would use a shield.

We discussed the idea of getting a shelter dog. In the end we didn’t want to take the risk of not knowing what the breed was. I know this is up for debate but we didn’t want any surprises, for example, a dog who grew too big and needed a yard. We live on the third floor of an apartment/flat complex with one bedroom and one living room. Even a medium size dog would run out of room. Shibas are pretty damn tiny. Even now we’re surprised with how small she is. I would someday like to get a shelter dog but we need the room first.

What did we expect with Booker? Shiba Inu are faithful and charming dogs . They’re curious about everything and pretty much fearless. Booker is always alert, even when she’s sleeping she knows when we talk about her.

Booker’s very confident, she lays on the ground, ears alert and refuses to budge until the other dog is close. She picks up commands very but executes them when she feels like it. It took us months for her to roll because she’d look at us and seem to say “I need more treats please.”

She’s stubborn and quirky too. Her sleeping positions always make us laugh because no regular dog would do what she does. For this and a few more reasons, Shiba Inu are not good first time dogs. They need an experienced and firm hand to keep them under control. She still bites to show affection and we’re working on it. More like nibbles but not everyone likes when a dog comes at you with love nibbles. She also needs to wear a harness when we walk. After a few months of walking so well on her leash, she became impatient and began to pull. She also has bursts of running and the leash is only so long. Having her on a harness prevents her from choking herself when she does get energetic.

How is she doing now? Booker is learning the world around her, still afraid of bikes and unsure if car rides are good. Most of them now are to parks but she’s still too stubborn to sit on laps or sleep next to us. She’s independent and prefers sleeping across the room from us. I’m not sure if she wants to keep an eye on us or not.
This is getting better though. If I move into our computer area, she follows me and gets comfortable. But she’s always out of reach!