advicve?

edited May 2008 in Shiba Inu (柴犬)
hi everybodymy name is ciaran. me and my girlfriend have recently bought a shiba. sky is his name. mad is not the word for him.but sure i think everybody on this site can relate to that. anyway we will be looking to get another dog when sky is about 1 years old. we are wondering what dog to get and if there is any idea of a particular dog that goes well with the shibas temperment.
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Comments

  • edited November -1
    Another shiba. Or really any high energy dog of the opposite sex.
  • edited November -1

    another shiba? do we dare.haha. ye we were thinking a different breed but ye of the same size and energy levels

  • edited November -1
    when we are ready for another dog, we have it narrowed down to Kai or Basenji as a match for the wrath of a shiba
  • edited November -1
    My Shiba and Boxer get along REALLY well.  The boxer is female and we got her first, we got the our male shiba inu after.  Boxers are a handful.  Very boisterous and energetic.  They need lots of exercise, probably around the same amount as a Shiba.  And you should definately train them not to jump up at a young age.  They are super affectionate and love cuddling too!
  • edited November -1
    Welcome Ciaran!

    I would recommend an Akita or a Kia - not a Shikoku.

    Akita and Shiba seem to do really well together, they don't match each other's in energy but an Akita's cool attitude seems to help calm Shiba down a bit. I have noticed this with our Shiba and Akita and our friend's Shiba, Huku, lives with an Akita and they do great together.
  • edited November -1
    Perhaps a terrier?
  • edited November -1
    Brad, are your Shikoku too high energy for your Shiba and set them off? Is a Kai a lot less energy than a Shikoku?
  • edited November -1
    I think Shikoku and Shiba can be mixed, but IMO, *most* Shiba and Shikoku don't do well together.

    What tends to happen is a Shikoku goes to play with a Shiba, since Shikoku play super rough and *most* Shiba don't really like that, the Shiba gives one of their over-the-top corrections. The correction sets the Shikoku off and in seconds you have a fight.

    The big problem is that Shiba are mostly talk, and Shikoku [once set off] are happy to finish the job.

    Having said all that, one of Ahi's best buds was a Shiba named Huku... but Huku had grown up playing with an Akita... so Huku played well with Ahi but not really with our Shiba.
  • edited November -1
    oh, and yes, our Kai seems to be less energy than the Shikoku. I mean they can hang with a Shikoku all day, no problem, but they don't seem to posses the never-ending energy supply that our Shikoku do. I mean Loa NEVER stops!

    I think a Kai would do great with a Shiba... Kai are really gifted at dog-to-dog interaction (at least Kona is anyway).
  • edited November -1
    Your Shibas don't play super rough?
  • edited November -1
    Interesting. I have never really seen Shiba play. I know that Kuma's play style is very, very similar to my Siberians (ie, a lot of hip slamming, chest slamming, grabbing tails). My Siberians played well with other Sibes, but often not well with other breeds of dogs because the Sibes were too rough. I could easily see Kuma playing well with the Sibes I used to own (who sadly all have died now).

    Good to know about Shiba. I didn't realize that they didn't like physical, fast play (in general of course - always exceptions to the rules).
  • edited November -1

    Edgewood - I have to disagree with Brad, the Shibas I know (the majority) play really, really rough.  Just like you said, hip slamming, chest slamming, grabbing tails, biting ankles, etc.  Many times at the park when Nemo was still allowed to play with other dogs, a lot of the other dogs got very frustrated by his play style.  As soon as he was with a Shiba or Husky or whatever, they were like peas in a pod.

    I can't count the number of times I have heard other owners say "I've never heard him make that noise, before, or make that face" when their dog was playing with Nemo.

  • edited May 2008
    actually that surprised me most of all when we had a male-male-female dynamic in our house for a week. Our male-female shibas play extremely rough, lots of noise, lots of slamming, lots of teeth on scruff of neck pulling, it looks awful, but is clearly their play. When the male shiba added to it, I think he went above and beyond and it turned into fighting. We have a friend's female Cairn terrier that will not get into the middle of my male-female shiba play because it gets too rough for her, and Cairns (well this cairn anyway) are not afraid of things "bigger" than themselves and gives hell to most dogs at the dog park!

    shibas really do have their own individual set of rules of engagement.
  • edited November -1
    Shibas play rough relative to other breeds - but not as rough as Shikoku.

    Our Shiba play rough with all the normal ankle biting and hip slamming, jumping off furniture and all that... but Shikoku take it to the next level and past a [our] Shiba's comfort zone.

    I have watched Ahi at many Shiba meetups and at dog parks and time and time again she played to rough for the Shiba and the only dogs that would play with her were labs, huskies, malamutes, shepherds and Akita oh and some Chow mixes.

    In a lot of ways Loa plays even rougher than Ahi.

    I have seen the pics of Nemo, and he does appear to play rough... so maybe our shiba and the Shiba I have come in to contact with at the meetups are not the norm... maybe dirty south shibas aren't so tough?
  • edited November -1
    You, know... I went and looked at videos of our pack playing... and maybe it is not the Shikoku's roughness as much as their need to dominate during play... for example, in this clip ahi is being rough, but no rougher than a Shiba (i don't think), but notice she is constantly dominating Hilo:





    I mean, I may be way off, but I would assume this type of activity would set your Shibas off, I know it would set-off ours.
  • edited November -1
    I've posted this one before - but its another good example of a Shikoku's rough play:





  • edited November -1
    I think it's safe to say that Nemo would have not taken kindly to Ahi's constant pounding on his head and trying to stay on top of him.  Very few dogs are allowed to get on him like that, probably just Whiz and Takara, his two good friends who are smaller than him.  Turi and Fin can't even do that, he'd take it up a level if they did, or just reverse the situation and get on them like Ahi is on Hilo.  If a dog that was a stranger tried that on Nemo, oh boy...

    The best part of the video is the ehdn when you pan down to Kaia and she is just sitting there like "pet me dad, pweeeeaasse.."
  • edited November -1
    awwww!! Kaia!!!

    I can see the difference in Ahi's manor of play and for that reason, wouldn't take a Shikoku and expect its playmate to be only a shiba - even if their play style is similar, perhaps the size difference plays a major factor? And perhaps your pack dynamic works because you have your dogs in pairs for the most part to make the play time more size appropriate.. very smart.

  • edited November -1

    I'm sure size plays a big part! Really, that could be the number one issue.

    As for our pack, we have tried to match ages and sizes. Our original intent was for Hilo to be Ahi's main playmate, but his health issues cause him to be less comfortable playing rough so that didn't work out... that is why, i think, he and Kaia do well because they both have health issues (Kaia has osteoarthritis) and would prefer not to be to rough.

    We added Lao for many reasons, but one of them was to give Ahi a playmate... and we added Kona at the time we added him so that Loa and he could play as well as Ahi. Its worked out nice - hopefully it will stay nice.

  • edited November -1
    I would say that Kuma plays a lot like Ahi, a lot of jumping up and on top. That is also how my Siberians played, a lot of jumping on the back of the other dog.

    A friend's Boston Terrier really doesn't like Kuma's play style, so he has to resort to playing with me or our cats (obviously not rough). It will be better when I get another Shikoku.
  • edited November -1
    You keep talking about Lao but you share no pictures! I wanna see Lao damnit! :P
  • edited November -1
    damn dyslexia!
  • edited November -1
    I agree totally Brad about the dominating.  First time Niko was introduced to Ahi at Ahi's house Ahi put Niko right on her back.  She has never been put in that position, she is usually the one doing it.  Niko FREAKED!  She is a ROUGH player but as Brad stated it is a whole other level.  Niko never gets scared but she did not expect Ahi to straight out of the gate dominate.  I love Ahi but have never since seen Niko like that.  She takes down a 120 pound rott that puts her whole head in his mouth...
  • edited November -1
    I have a shikoku puppy growing up with my Shiba right now. I think our situation works though. Moto plays ROUGH he has been playing with a 50lb pit for some time. Miko is going to only be slightly bigger than Moto (or so it sounds from other Shika parents)
    I will let you know how we progress.
  • edited November -1
    Sasha, on the other hand, dislikes playing rough. She usually just runs in a game of chase with hardly any contact. Might not be so compatible with Shikoku after all. Could a Shikoku adapt to her play style?
  • edited May 2008
    YES! Ahi is amazing at altering her play-style to fit the situation... but it always ends up getting to rough tho they eventually learn their limits. If you got a Shikoku as a puppy your dog would be able to set the rules early and therefore shape the puppies play-style.

    Shikoku are amazingly smart dogs, like really smart... like the kin of smart that will freak you out.
  • edited November -1
    Maybe it's the videos I've seen of Ahi 'rough playing', but I think she's really gentle. Mika and Keigo are super rough. I just took a video yesterday....
  • edited November -1
    There's not one aggressive bone in Bubba's body...though he seems a bit of a magnet for some bad dogs to try and beat him up.
    I don't know what shiba's are suppose to act like. He likes to play with big and small dogs from, Great Danes to chihuahuas.
    Those are actually in my neighborhood.
  • edited November -1
    Barbara - I'm sure your Akita play rougher, if Hilo could walk with more confidence I am sure Lani and him would give the Shikas a run for their money when it comes to rough play.

    ----

    Luis - That's good! Most Shiba have a "tude"... Good socialization! (by the way, looked at your art - its very cool!)
  • edited November -1
    Thanks brada. Hopefully get more stuff in galleries this year.

    I want to get another shiba in the next few years right now I have to work on Bubba.
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