Shiba Inu breed guide

Sturdy and muscular, Shiba Inus have a bold, confident personality to match. A Shiba Inu can never be considered reliable off lead unless in a confined area and no amount of obedience training changes that.

Letting a Shiba Inu off lead is playing Russian roulette with its life, since an open door may be enough.

Shiba Inus live 13 to 16 years. The most common health condition in Shiba Inus, as in most breeds and humans, is allergies, which show up as skin irritation and itching and cannot be tested for in breeding dogs, so dogs with active allergies should not be bred.

Most dogs with allergies can lead normal lives with products that treat the symptoms and allergies usually do not appear until a dog is older.

Shiba Inus shed a lot. It is said they shed twice a year, though some owners quip that it lasts six months at a time and unless the dog is a long coat the coat does not mat, so infrequent brushing does no harm but brushing or combing during heavy shedding cuts the hair around the house.

Most Shiba Inus are fairly energetic and love walks. They are not so hyper that they climb the walls without daily exercise, but owners should be dedicated to exercising them, especially without an adequate yard.

The Shiba is an ancient breed that has been around since 300 B.C. and takes its name from its history as a hunter in the rugged mountains of Japan: Shiba means brushwood, referring either to the mountain brush or to the dog's reddish color and Inu means dog.

The first documented Shiba to reach the United States came with a military family in 1954. By the end of World War II the breed was nearly extinct, but it survived Japan's wartime deprivations and is now the country's number-one companion animal.