SHIBA INU 101: PUPPY BASICS you NEED to KNOW 🐶🐾

Here's my take on Shiba Puppy 101: going through the basics of training, crate time and more when you get your lil fluff of joy.
disclaimer I am no dog trainer or professional. I am sharing based on my own experience and sharing through my lens.
PUPPY SOCIALISATION | VLOG | come shopping with us
• PUPPY SOCIALISATION | ...
RE-SOCIALIZING my anxious SHIBA INU 😰 part 1
• RE-SOCIALIZING my anxi...
RE-SOCIALIZING my anxious SHIBA INU 🫠 part 2
• RE-SOCIALIZING my anxi...

[@Roy-tf7fe]

The advice at the end is spot on: Shibas are VERY loving (to the point of getting quite angry with others when the others want to share you), but each and every one is a different personality, more so it seems to me than many other breeds. They want to be part of your pack. But two things are important: 1. Every one of them has a unique, different personality. Think people here, literally. All dogs do, of course, but some breeds are MUCH more similar in personality to each other than Shibas ever turn out to be. Regard them like you would your children. You love them unconditionally, and (until they are teenage daughters) they love you unconditionally. But they aren't necessarily going to be a match for you like an automatic best friend thing anymore than your kids will want to be around you day and night because you match each other so well. 2. They need time to be dogs. On walks, be sure to let them have their head (to the extent that a HARNESS (it's almost criminal to take a Shiba outdoors with only a collar) and leash allow) and to smell anything they wish, etc. Most other folks are walking dogs on leashes, so all the good smells are going to be near the walking area anyway. Use a 6' leash, not those 4', stay at my foot kinds. Let them put down some teensy dribble over some interesting smell. This is their social media. If you have appropriate moments, or places (like dog parks, enclosed ones!), then let participate with them as a buddy, but wait until they have been dogs in each place. You know how people meet whilst walking dogs and both utterly ignore their dogs while standing and gabbling to each other? EXACTLY that happens with Shibas when they meet other dogs or messages left where others have peed or pooped. Let them. If you have more than one, and they snarl about at each other, for the most part let them get it out of their system because I can promise you, no matter how they seem after you break it up, it did NOT go away and will flare right back up. Working it out (or at least "through") seems likeliest to me to give them better mental health. They WILL get right back to it endlessly if they don't work through it. And like your children, keep loving them endlessly no matter how much you get aggravated. They do respond to that. And they are so freaking loving... honestly, I cannot imagine how so many folks come to say they are standoff-ish. Some yes, due to their personalities or that of their owners, sure, but this is like people going on about "red-headed Irish women" being fiery and impossibly demanding. Just them? Not red-heads in any other place in the world? And why not red-headed Irish MEN? And to some extent, it seems those women are, but I have no scientific basis for that, just experience with a couple. It seems to me it has to be more of a "they, and everyone else, are taught that they are so, and it's got a certain amount of pleasure to it, the being able to be very rude and everyone just accept it like it's in your DNA. Or watching fails videos and seeing children fall and go boom. Then get up with no reaction, look to the 'rents, and if the parent laughs, they smile and laugh, but if the parent is all "Oh poor baby!, Are you hurt? Are you hurt?" you immediately see the child wind up and scream and cry like someone is amputating his leg right that moment and without anesthesia to boot. Learned, not natural. Two of our Shibas hated getting their nails trimmed and fought such pretty hard. But their two puppies did not. Not ever. Calm, cool , and collected. The difference? My wife and I split before the puppies were about six months old and they never saw mom and dad go ballistic. Not ever. Never learned that only Satan clips nails. These are two puppies who solved the leash between the legs problem like mom and dad, one like mom, one like dad, in their earliest walks when it was just them, no mom or dad walked alongside them before we observed this. So DNA showed through meaning the non-shared reactions to nail clipping clearly a learned thing. I strongly think a lot of presented Shiba behavior is learned from parents or by reacting to owners' reactions with accepted behaviors strengthening and becoming more pronounced. "My Shiba might be all wild about baths." And so he is since you are jacked up expecting a horrid reaction. In that case, I think the keying action is they often seem to do the Shiba crying/howling/whatever you call it during things like baths though they are completely responsive at all times, move as desired, don't leap out of the tub, etc. So clearly not actually bothered too much by the bath or grooming, just doing what seems ok to him. And smiling and being biddable at all times. But WE react as if they are going wild and being terrified and they catch on. Dogs are learning machines and if the one they look up to for learning things is tense and nearly crazed, that's what they learn. If that is you, it's you. If it's the next age layer of dog in the household, then they learn from them. There's no alpha-male/female stuff. Puppies look to year or two old dogs to learn from. And so on up the chain. Stop learning from the current idol and he loses his shine and you move on up an age layer. YOU need to be that individual doggie looks to. YOU need to keep intriguing him, teach new tricks, go new places, always be the confident rock he can ease back to. And don't teach him anything you don't want him to learn! I always say after 20 years with Shibas: "You can teach an old dog a thousand new tricks. But you can NEVER unteach him an old trick." It is essential that you stay ahead of his needs. They truly are closer to children than to many other breeds of dogs and you need to consider that in how you live with him. Shibas have no natural bad features that I've ever observed, but they do have some behaviors that suck but look strongly to be taught, on purpose or quite without knowing. Don't do too many of the latter, and never do the ones you hear about that you would find hideously bothersome. Don't push poor doggy into becoming a monster of a red-head, and for no good reason at all. And remember too that he isn't a golden retriever. He needs to be a dog on a regular basis, not a version of a human. And oddly, in that he actually will be more like a human, an individual with a strong personality, and capable of real, and vast love. For you. As different as each was from each other, all of our Shibas have always loved the living daylights out of us. So much so that I cannot have another now that only the two puppies are still alive and live with my wife. For the simple reason that I am old and cannot countenance engendering love on their scale only to die leaving them thinking I just ditched them. It's sad having no Shiba in my life day to day, but that would be so much sadder.

[@lorivargas4602]

My puppy should be home by tomorrow, and I am very nervous, but ready to train him. I just found your page and I’m going through all your videos. Thank you so much this is so helpful.

[@SSaaNNddYY77]

I came on special to tell you that my baby was born! He's about 2 weeks old and won't be ready until Jan. I'm so excited!

[@WinterWalker2]

The teach dog safety of the crate seems to work at any time. Initially, our little Yuki did not like to be closed or restrained anywhere to the point of trying to panic escape and even risking injuries. So we put more effort into learning to behave in the room and we knew she can be left alone in the room outside of crate. Over time, I started to regularly put snacks into the crate and she was more and more often checking inside for snacks. Our shiba also started to nap inside it sometimes. Now she is 12 months old and she realizes that if she is not happy with something or scared and hides in the crate, we won't pull her out and thus she is safe. She really started to like her crate and slept 50 % of the time in the open crate. The advantage is also that due to her good feeling about the crate now, we can close her inside it for a while when needed urgently and she won't be as stressed as she used to be. It seems that everyone must try all kinds of different approaches as what is not initially working at all may change over the time and with increasing puppy age. I really like to watch your videos to get inspiration to how to fix some behavior of our Yuki which Aoki does not do. It also feels great if there is something our Shiba does not do which I see Aoki regularly engaged in. Keep up with the nice videos.

[@aokiandanais]

love this!! Thanks for sharing. Aoki goes into his crate and sleep door open and he likes to do so when I work in the office. it's so lovely to watch him get cozy in their and just chill and snooze!

[@draeci]

Yout words about pressuring yourself and worrying about perfection have made me realise that I need to give myself some slack. 😅 I'm just finishing week two with my puppy and I've had Covid the entire time, which has made me feel like I'm not measuring up... But he's currently sleeping blissfully in his pen, after a day of play and two weeks of sleeping right through the nights... I don't think he's too worried.

[@ultragiggsy]

Hi Anais. I have been with my shiba named Mori for 2 weeks. She is now 12 weeks old and i can’t say that the journey has been a joyful one. Potty is top of my concern. She keeps peeing in her crate and i broke down in tears at one point.your videos have kept me sane. I admire what you have done and aredoing with Aoki,p. I wish my Mori will turn out like Aoki. Please keep uploading.

[@boyan8940]

I have a 12 week old pup! Just in case it hasn’t been said before, take them out more frequently to potty. Get them to empty out their bladder as often as possible and you’ll reduce the chances of them peeing in their crate. The more you let them potty inside, the more it will reinforce that behaviour

[@aokiandanais]

Hey!! Thanks so much for sharing! Puppy journey is challenging and definitely pushes your limits. Agreed with Boyan. Keep track of the time. Take Mori out every hour if you need to. Then increase the time as you go. At night take her a few times out if she has to but avoid waking her up as sleep is restorative for young pups. Potty training can take a while for some and for other pups, it can be easy. If ever Mori has incidents inside. Don’t beat yourself up. You can’t be perfect and it’s ok. Keep us posted 🫶🏽 sending you both positive thoughts!

[@acivilright]

@ultragiggsy it gets better. Have definitely been there, tears and all. My Shiba is almost 7 months. What everyone else said. The more active my dog is, the more frequently we go out to pee. After work ends for me, that means every 45 minutes to an hour until bedtime. It's the only way I was able to reduce the accidents indoors.

[@Roy-tf7fe]

Something to have checked immediately when any dog does not "crate train" in the sense of toileting in the crate, not as a VERY occasional thing, but much of the time is whether they process protein properly. One of our Shibas had this issue and we tried and tried but it never got better. He eventually almost died because of it. For years we fed him proper food which had about 10x the amount of protein he could tolerate. An offhand remark to a vet who was treating him for a grass blade cut (he liked to take the blades and drag his mouth/teeth along them where all five of the others did the bite and chew approach) brought it all out. After two operations for things it turned out no one had any good reason to think he had, and going six months having his interstitial spaces fill with fluid and being drained about every six weeks. And being pushed each such visit to end his life. Guilted eventually when "logic" didn't work. But we figured as long as he was happy day to day, he didn't qualify for the slaughterhouse. The upshot: he could not not process protein. Not ever. Tiny amounts, but tiny in the sense of 1-2-3% and dog foods usually aim at 38-40%. This caused him to always not be able to hold toilet things inside waiting for a normal opportunity. His whole 14½ years. Hence the peeing and such in his crate. And having to go outside 6-7 times a day, not, say, twice. It wasn't, as vets said, a Shiba being difficult, a Shiba wanting to fight back against something by doing something he figured aggravated one or both of us, a Shiba being clever in wanting to go outside and seeing a way to achieve it. He simply could not process protein to speak of and needed a diet with a small amount, but almost no, protein. After that vet visit, we got a checkup that confirmed that and a prescription for a low protein food, one with 4% protein. On the shelf, but cashiers always checked with their vets records before letting you buy it (had to have the prescription registered with them and only buy when they were in office, so not after about 7pm). The interstitial fluid issue went away immediately, just a couple weeks for the current fluid to be reabsorbed (I think "resorbed" might be more accurate). He was spryer and over the next year gained approximately four pound going from 14 to 18 pounds. Not as big as anybody else, but much nearer. He lived eight years after all the operations and fluid drainings and recommendations to euthanize him. Not the 16-17 years three of the others lived, but not 6½ years either. (Two of them, puppies of two of the others, are still alive at just over 13 years. Not related to this little guy though.) Those years were also happy ones for him, except the last month during which he declined some, then very, very much. The knowledgeable vet said he would likely eventually suffer brain damage, probably had already, but that it would worsen and at some point he would not really know anyone and his brain would actually be shrinking by that time and there'd be a lot of pain with that. That was his guess due to how long, six years, he had been severely "over-proteined." Lord, even knowing protein was the cause of the interstitial fluid, the operating vvets who pushed euthanization didn't even bring up or prescribe the low protein food. He might have gotten the other two years and died in his sleep, happily dreaming, like the others who are gone if we had known when he was a lttile puppy, months old, and not crate training well. I sound, I can tell, like a person that one specific thing happened to and now everything in life is some reflection of the same thing. But it would have been so simple and cheap to have had any of the previous vets just drop an offhand remark from simple, yet good knowledge of his profession. And he would have had a much nicer early life, and maybe a longer one at the end. I'd suggest that if you haven't seen a solution to this problem, and not just that she lasts somewhat longer now, though not as long as your knowledge of other dogs suggests she might be expected to last, that you look into this. The food didn't cost much more than other canned food at that time, so probably not now either, and if this is it, she could have a far nicer life. Yours would clearly be nicer too, but for her, it'd be like a miracle. And also, not some dufus recommending some vitamin or essential oil or crystal to be attached to his collar. Just a vet visit presenting the above, seeing a trained doctor, not a moronic idea to avoid real medicine. Checking it could be as simple as the vet giving you a prescription for a couple weeks duration, to see if there's any effect. Not even blood tests and such. You know, or blood tests and such, but who knows? It would surely be pretty cheap and easy. Any vet should be able to evaluate the thought, even if said vet would have never thought to consider it himself. Good luck though!

[@LJSheffRBLX]

cool video keep up the amazing content

[@aokiandanais]

Thank you 🥹🥹

[@_ssjdre]

Hi, I’ll be getting a Shiba pup in a couple weeks and was wondering if you had any recommendations for puppy kibble starting out?? Your videos are very helpful btw! 🙏

[@aokiandanais]

Am so glad that our videos are helpful to you!! Thanks for watching! :) I used a couple of brands only before switching to raw: Open Farm and Acana. Aoki liked both

[@olyalya6020]

Hi Anais! Thank you for sharing this video! ❤I wanna get a Shiba puppy, though I’ve got a grown up cat, how are they with cats? By the time the dog encounters my cat he’ll be around 4-6 months

[@aokiandanais]

shiba pups want to play when they are young. both my friend and I have/had cats and poor them, kitties would be stressed with the high energy and playfulness haha! My cat went with his dad when they move out so I can't really share more but I highly recommend separating them as much as you can and supervise when they are together - which I know... is a challenge!

[@pokerclaudio01]

Hi guys! I agree so much on the last point, I noticed it a lot after meeting other pawrents 😅 Could I ask for advice on how you dealt with humping and peeing inside to mark? my pupp turned 5 months and even though he's potty trained all of a sudden he started marking curtains, thanks a lot!

[@aokiandanais]

I wish I could help share my experience but I did not have issues like that unfortunately :/ Aoki rarely peed inside (although incidents did happen a few times but not to mark) Did you contact professional yet? They might be able to help! LMK :)

[@soler00]

Im getting a female shiba soon, are they harder to train than males? Sadly i cant get a male shiba cause we have a female dog and we dont want them to reproduce

[@mauriciopereira3980]

Hi, I live in Florida USA and got a puppy 2 weeks ago, she is now 16 weeks old and I would like to change her food. What do you recommend for food and treats? Thanks.

[@aokiandanais]

Congratulation on your new pup! I would recommend transitioning to raw food if it works for you. Aoki has been eating raw for 9 months now. It's been great! keep an eye out for allergies or intolerances. as for treat, i usually go towards single ingredient treats like beef liver, duck foot, beef lung....

[@mauriciopereira3980]

@@aokiandanais which raw food are you giving him specifically? if I may ask 🤗