An alarm company salesman meets my Shikoku...

cmpteki

While relaxing at home this evening we hear the doorbell ring; which prompts Yoshi and Kimi to perk their ears and head for the door, quickly followed by my wife and myself, as we are not expecting company and decide to be courteous and answer...

Yoshi likes to bull ahead whenever a door opens; I have been working with him on it, but this time, decided to simply hold his collar, from behind...giving him the natural instinct to pull towards the door. My wife swings the door open and a fellow in an orange shirt sees Yoshi straining while I am holding his collar...to his credit, he managed not to bolt, but he did stand well back from the door, and pass his literature to us from arms reach.

His first words...not 'Hi, I am from XYZ company'...but 'Are those wolves, they look like wolves...' I assured him they were dogs, then had Yoshi sit right next to the door facing him, while Kimi paced back and forth across the threshold, watching intently. Instead of an overly pushy demeanor, he kept looking back at the Shikoku, and then attempted to sell us on a system, though he was a...tad...distracted. I politely told him we already had a basic security system in place, and that the dogs were a great backup...and ya know...for once...I let Yoshi go ahead and grumble...he thanked us for our time and went on his way.

Now; for those who will point out that my training methods should be consistent regardless of who pops over...that may be correct in a sense, but my goal is for Yoshi to be quiet when I ask a friend or relative into the house...and...well, this just was not someone I wanted to invite into my home.

I felt I had to share this experience, as I found it quite humourous; obviously this individual had a belief we were harboring wild animals, and was understandably nervous...either way, as soon as we closed the door my wife and I both laughed our a.... ..er... butts off.

Losech

Haha! Yeah, I'm similar in how I want Conker to be quiet if someone is invited in, but go ahead and make noise if they are still outside. And lots of people are convinced Conker is a fox, but that doesn't really make him scary like a wolf might.

BradA1878

We got kicked out of a dog park in GA because Ahi was a "wolf". Stupid people.

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Zinja

My apartment complex called animal control because the maintenance man reported a fox in the neighborhood, but the manager knows us and said it was only my shiba.

Asheaka

Lol! Yesterday I was looking at Shikokus on the school computers and the girl next to me goes "Oh, my friend has one of those!" and I was like "Are you serious!?" and she said "Yeah, he has a Siberian Husky!". Then when I told her it was a Shikoku she said "How can you tell them apart?" and I so weirded out yet another of my peers.

Actually, I was also reading a dog encyclopedia in another class and I looked up the Kai Ken and when I found the page there was a Shikoku, a Kishu, and a Tosa, all with the correct pictures, and the Kai had the correct description but... the photo was of an Ibizan Hound.

I remember I used to get the "Is that a wolf!?" reaction to Ramm, who was a German Shepherd. The best, however, was when I was walking Bear last night. These kids were walking like 50 feet behind us, and when we stopped for the light, they got near us and they were murmuring to each other about how he looked like a wolf from the side. He's a Cane Corso...

@brada1878 - That's so stupid... Aren't people who take their dogs to dog parks supposed to know things about dogs? I bet they wouldn't kick out Huskies or Malamutes. Did they have officials kick you guys out or was it just the patrons? Sorry if I make no sense; as I don't know a thing about dog parks. I've never had a dog who could be taken to a dog park.

Saya

Asheaka not all dog park goers know much about dog breeds couple thought Saya was a Alaskan klee kai. lol

She gets mistaken for a husky a lot and when I say shiba inu they're like I didn't know they come in this color I thought it was just red..

I've met shikoku two times same one mind you, but I don't see how people can think of shikoku as a wolf dog..

Authorities aren't experts on it either remember the 11 year old shiba being released in the wild because the shelter said it was a coyote? I mean come on a coyote would act different and not be so friendly.. Even one raised as a pet would be wild with strangers.

CrimsonO2

As much as I'd love for everyone to know what a Shikoku is, Kurenai often gets mistaken for wolf, coyote, fox, or Siberian Husky. And while I think there's no way she would be considered one, @Calia (Beth) showed me that there are 17 color classifications for Siberian Husky and that to an inexperienced eye, a Shikoku could look like a juvenile agouti Siberian Husky. Granted, I think the agouti coloration on a siberian husky is rare, but the wonders of the internet can show a lot of image examples if you google search "Siberian Husky agouti" and click on images.

Have a look for yourself. Obviously, again, from initial glance, it would be tough to discern the difference between the two.

Siberian Husky Agouti


Shikoku (Kris' Sachi)



Jesse

Zinja

At first glance I thought that Husky was a Shika before I read the post. I've never seen that coloration on a Siberian before. Maybe in Alaska when the dogs were bred for strickly working.

My AA is constantly being mistaken for a Husky.

What bothers me are the people that believe whole heartedly that Siberian Huskys are big dogs. I went to a dog park with Sasuke and someone just got a Siberian Husky puppy. She said the reason why she got him was to protect their Austraian Shepards and ward off introders in their apartment. She also claims he will be 80lbs... Boy they're in for a big surprise.

cmpteki

As far as Huskys go, that is a great looking dog; though coloration that close to a Shikoku does not appear to be typical or consistent across the Agouti images on the net. If the ears were turned forward the more notable differences would be obvious; regardless, great example.

What is interesting to note; I have never had a Husky owner mistake the Shikoku for a Husky, they always ask what breed, or what breed mix. This may just mean the Husky owners I have met in my area are more educated about their breed, though I have run into people walking a Husky while waiting for the ferry, and again, they ask what the Shikoku is. I even had one couple recognize the breed name and exclaim they had only ever seen one on the Internet, and had almost opted for a Shiba.

An 80lb Siberian Husky would have to be bred from monsters...50-60lbs would be more the norm.

Calia

More often than not, people ask me if Tetsu is the product of breeding Tikaani and Miyu together. When tell them that each do is a different breed, people will usually ask if a shikoku is "one of those shiba mixes".

shibamistress

Love that story! Guess you don't need the security system!

I thought the husky was a Shika too! In Alaska, I've seen a lot of agouti huskies, but understand what we call huskies aren't siberian huskies, though they may have that in their lineage somewhere. Huskies often means sled dog mix, and that coloring shows up often enough. Also, a "husky" might mean it has malamute in it somewhere too, so in Alaska, while most of the "huskies" are sprint dog size (40 pounds or so), some are bigger because of the malamute mix.

Honestly, I still have to remind myself that a malamute is not a husky, simply because we called everything "husky" growing up in AK, and of course none of those "huskies" were pure bred anyway!

(On a side note, my mother, who has the worst memory in the world, just had a fit the other day about how mushers are "now" breeding huskies with hounds to get smaller faster sled dogs. I had to point out that they've ALWAYS done this. She seems to believe there was some golden age in Alaska--that she witnessed--that people had teams of all Siberians. This was never true while she's been in AK (1975) and while occasionally teams of purebreds show up, most of them are not even from AK)

Sorry for the husky digression!

Zinja

^^ Is that where "Alaskan Husky" comes from? Do they do the same type of breeding in Russia? Or are they more selective in their breeding by trying to keep a "pure" Siberians?

Araks

That's a really funny story It sometimes amazes me how the average person is sometimes so clueless when it comes to dogs.

shibamistress

@Zinja...Alaskan huskies aren't really a breed...they're sled dogs, which are usually huskies mixed with a variety of other dogs that will be good runners. They're working dogs! (and honestly don't make good pets, though the shelters in Fairbanks are full of them, and they are usually undersocialized, skittish dogs.)

The breeding of Siberian Huskies is totally different since they are a recognized breed now...

Calia

The Siberian Huskies in the show ring today all derive from a specific line (Innisfree) that pretty much set the show standard. If you check the pedigree of any Sibe from show lines, you will see a good chunk if dogs from that line for several generations during the mid 1900s. A lot of the people who worked with the Sibes, didn't really like the show lines as the dogs were stockier and not quite to their idea of standard. They continued to have racing lines, some would eventually be mixed with other breeds (like greyhounds) for greater speed while others were made into their own breed. The Seppalla is one such breed, named after the musher who imported and raced this line of dogs. The Seppalla line was actually very popular and if you follow the show line dogs pedigree to the "beginning", you'll see that they are related to one of Seppalla's (the musher) dogs.

The majority of huskies in Alaska today (@shibamistress, corerct me if I'm wrong) are bred for racing and not so much what they were originally used for (carrying medium loads, such as the tribes recent kill, long distances). The goal with the Alaskan Husky is to have a dog that can run fast and be able to maintain their speed for long distances. Some racers will even breed in angled hips (like German Shepherd Dogs have) to give more spring in their gate and tire less. There are racing lines of pure Siberian Huskies, which look thinner and leggier than their show counterparts, but the majority of them seem to be located in Maine, Colorado and a few other states near those two.

ayk

I think the Seppalla Siberian project is dead?

http://www.seppalakennels.com/

Saya

So sad.