Shiba Inu Training  

Shiba Inus are feisty little power balls that are strong and compact. Though they typically weigh in at less than 25 pounds they can be a handful if not properly trained. It is important to train your Shiba Inu as early as possible.

As soon as you bring your Shiba home you can begin some initial training. The Shiba is a smart dog but also has a mind of its own. It often prefers to do things on its own terms rather than yours. This is why it's important to start training at an early age to establish leadership.

The Shiba makes a great guard dog and is very protective of its family. However, they can also be territorial and somewhat aggressive at times. This can be especially true when it comes to food. Teach your Shiba from a young age to allow you to handle his food dish. If you don't do this important step you may have problems later on.

Training begins of course with housebreaking. This is easily mastered by the Shiba. Many breeders recommend using a crate to train your dog. This is helpful in dealing with the Shiba. One thing they need to learn early on is to go to their crate. This can be important later when company comes or when a conflict arises. The owner must always establish leadership from an early age. When there are children in the home this can present a training challenge. The puppy will look to the children as though they were other puppies and play rough. The children need to learn to give the puppy his space when needed.

The most important thing you can teach your Shiba is to socialize well with others. The Shiba can be somewhat protective of his own space and when someone or something enters his zone he may act aggressively. One way to minimize this reaction is to start training socialization skills from an early age. Teach your puppy to walk on a leash. Once they can comfortably stay on the leash you can begin to expose them to various external stimulus. This can be other dogs, other people, traffic and general noise. Training such as this helps your puppy to learn to treat others well.

The key to good Shiba training is praise. The Shiba loves to please his owner and will do almost anything to be in their good graces. Praise works better then other forms of training because rewards help the dog without punishing it. Another helpful thing to teach your Shiba puppy is to "drop" things that are in his mouth. Shibas like to chew so it can be important throughout his life to make sure that you can retrieve anything in your dog's mouth without a struggle.

Leash training may not be as easy as it seems with a Shiba. They don't take well to being restrained and often overreact to the leash. To start you'll want to get your puppy used to having a collar around his neck. Make sure that you don't keep the collar too loose or he'll chew right through it. Once used to the collar start gradually spending some time with him on a leash. Allow him to learn how far he can go before he gets to the end of the leash. Finally, introduce the concept of walking with you while on the leash. He'll soon understand the concept and be willing to go on the leash if it means spending time with you and getting exercise.