What is the temperament of your Nihon Ken?

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  • Breed characteristics are important to identify. Know what to expect and whether the breed is right for you before you buy one! You can say all dogs have a different personality, but really how many Kai act like a stereotypical Golden Retriever? They have distinct personalities, yes, but within a certain range determined by selective breeding over generations.
  • @kimputai - Certainly there are poor examples of every breed who doesn't accurately fit their breed description, but that doesn't mean they have lost all breed traits.
  • Saya loves kids.
    Saya meeting a family with their kids while at the farmer's market. :)
    Photobucket

    Coarse not all dogs love kids for various reasons..

    I'm lucky my young cousins love dogs and listened to me when told how to behave with her as a puppy. She also met some pre schoolers once when she was very young she loved the attention.

    Saya is aloof and independent when meeting strangers, but she does show interest and will go up to people if they show interest in her. If people don't make a fuss she stays by my side and behaves well. Some people she isn't so into not sure why, but even if they show interest she won't make an effort to go to them, but doesn't mind it if they pet her.

    I took her to farmer's market which is crowded situation so it offered a lot of positive experience with people of various age, race, and gender.

    In home with guests she is much more friendly and goes nutty over greeting them usually after a bit she had her fill of excitement and she calms down and chills with the group sometimes yodeling and making friendly growls at people.

    She tends to love kids bit more and will go up to them.

    I do think getting a shiba from a good breeder can help, but each dogs do have their own personality and some are bit different and some not..

    Saya's my first shiba so I can't really compare her to past ones..

    She loves to be on top of the couch and will go on other things next to the couch like the cabinet and so on.

    Saya is prey driven of coarse she chased two adult wild rabbits at age of 9..

    Currently her total of rabbit she bagged is 9.. She has killed one vole which she didn't eat she hates mice and wants just kill them.

    She listens well and she has done good in the yard and have left rabbits alone when told to. Cats on other hand she is still learning. Maybe the neighbors cats will learn to stay away once chased enough.

    She is pretty quiet and only alarm barks if she sees something off in the area like when she saw a skunk in the trail by the pond. She would do a low alarm woof and she's alerted me to opossum in the tree by staring at it and not moving she didn't bark just looked at it.

    She is picky with dogs she plays with after a bad experience at the dog park she became that way, but once she trust the new dog she does fine with it, but coarse not all the time is the cause some dogs she just doesn't like.

    I find her pretty calm and chill and only time when she gets overly excited is when greeting my mom, guests or someone she likes she calms down though.

    She also knows not to be rough with elderly she is calm with them and knows not to be too excited.
  • edited November 2012
    @slkblaze Naga is nice, but it does bring to mind a serpent from WoW lol. As for your Shiba continuing to approach when breaking up a fight, that's the same exact way mine was. There were two incidents at the dog park and then one incident on walks where other dogs would keep bumping into him on purpose, after repeated warnings from him, that eventually evolved into fights. We'd each pick up our dogs, but Tsune would lock in on the other dog and go right back at it the second he was given the freedom. The walk incident he slipped his collar after another dog charged him and were separated, upon slipping his collar he ran right back up to the other dog (still in the owner's arms) and jumped up to latch onto it's butt lol. Didn't help that the other dog was constantly charging him on walks due to the owner never locking his extendable leash or making an effort to control. Shibas seem to instinctually refuse to back down while in the moment. Tsune also barked at strangers exactly like yours, except more of a deep masculine bark. Although (@poeticdragon) I'm sure in person Taki's bark sounds deeper, it's only recently with high quality audio newer iPhones that the bass in sounds is correctly recorded. When recorded, mine's sounded more high pitched, but in person it was more of a "roh roh roh" mid-sized dog sound rather than a "rark rark rark" high pitched small dog park. I'm not a fan of small dogs yappiness WHATSOEVER and my Shiba's was not small dog bark at all, or I'd have probly rehomed him sooner LOL (jk).

    @poeticdragon Very interesting to read about your different Akitas, all with very honest descriptions.

    @jellyfart Interesting to hear that he's not a big attention seeker, although thinking about it makes it seem to fit him. He's always been described as cool and collected, so it'd make sense that when getting attention he's cool and collected.

    I'm sorry ahead of time for the essay, I blame my fingers for not knowing how to condense.

    Tsune (rehomed Shiba) - Absolute nut about going out for exercise and was always ready for an adventure. Didn't matter where we went as long as I was with him and it involved being outside. He trusted me right off the bat for the most part, hopped right up into the car even though his first owner wasn't coming with, slept the entire car ride. He wasn't affectionate at first, just stayed with me as his bodyguard. Then he dropped his guard one day and was the biggest lovebug, literally flying down the stairs when I got home (hopped off to the top stair, one step in the middle of the stairs, landed on the landing, jumped from there half way down the second flight, then from midway down the second flight to the floor) with ears back and tail going nuts, slept against my side every night, and let me do just about anything to him, baths included with no Shiba screams.
    He was very biddable for treats and picked up commands by the second 10-repetition session. The second I went into "lesson" mode, his butt would hit the ground and he would be at perfect attention, no panting, no being distracted, eyes locked on me, and not moving, then the second I gave the command he'd have it executed in a split second. BUT as a side effect he was extremely mischievous (but goofy) when bored. If bored during the day he would roll around on the bed until hanging upside down half off the bed and stare at me until we went for a walk. If he was bored in the morning and I wasn't waking up in time these are the escalating steps he would take:
    1) Hop on bed and stare at me
    Not waking up?
    2) Make a few "harumphs" while staring
    Not waking up?
    3) Lick face a few times
    Not waking up?
    4) Give wet willies until I got up
    And if I pushed him off the bed after the wet willies?
    5) RIP OFF ALL THE BLANKETS
    He would literally bite the corner of my comforter first, pull that off, then get the top sheet in his mouth and pull that off onto the floor, leaving me to the mercy of the fan and be forced to wake up hahaha. He was a lovable little douche.
    Off-leash: Completely unreliable, it was his ticket to Tsune's Great Adventure. Big door bolter. I chased him down at least eight times in four months. Usually the only way to get him would be to catch up and bribe him with a hotdog, or he'd have found another dog he wanted to play with and that owner or myself would leash him while distracted. Needless to say, he kept me in great shape lol.
    Kids: He was good with them and let them pet him, as long as he could sniff them first
    Strangers: Outside the house, he was good and would let people pet him, if not he would just stay out of arm's reach and sniff/look at them. Inside the house if there were visitors he would go full throttle house alarm exactly like @slkblaze's video, but inside where it echoes.
    Other dogs: Tolerant while off leash, preferring to chase other dogs and run with them, no wrestling or intrusion of privacy though, otherwise there would be problems. Especially if another dog charged up to him or repeatedly made "rude" contact with him.


    Ren (Kai Ken): Extremely sweet and "soft" temperament. I attribute the "softness" to lack of confidence around strangers, which we're working on and the more we work on it the more adventurous she is with strangers. Probly the sweetest dog I've ever met, she's a giant softy, rolling over on her side to grab my hand with her paws and lick me to death. Loves her 1-on-1 time with me and is excited for every car ride, since she's figured out that it means we're going to do something fun and exciting (dog park & hikes for the most part). Extremely athletic and ridiculously fast, most morning "walks" consist of walk outside, empty out, then sprint a lap around the neighborhood as fast as possible, then back inside for breakfast. She's very aloof with people, observes first while making up her mind, accepting brief touch upon completing inspection. Does not like loud noises while indoors, does not like very loud noises while outside (ok with loud barking and voices outside, but it does make her a bit edgy). She's also very intelligent and very food motivated, when not being over-stimulated by too much going on in the surroundings at once or made nervous by strangers she can't see. She's also picked up commands by the second session, except for "down" which took 6. I suspect it's because our "lesson area" has been the kitchen, she does "down" on the first prompt in my room but doesn't like to do it in open/public, probly because she feels vulnerable not being able to instantly react/run.
    Off-leash: So far, 100% reliable in terms of staying relatively close to me. She doesn't wander off more than 100ft when in open areas, such as the dog park and our hiking area. I'd say 75% recall when it comes to the "come here" command, she may not listen to the command right away but if I pretend something is really interesting and exciting, or if I start jogging away from her and call her then she'll come right away. It's more of a her liking to be the first to sniff everything ahead of us and will stay 15-25 feet in front if I'm not matching her pace..
    Kids: She seems to like kids but hasn't met too many. When we're in the car and there's a kid looking at her in "omg puppy!" mode, she'll stare at them and give short excited whimpers
    Strangers: In the house, want's nothing to do with them whatsoever. Whether it's family or friends she'll do low growls from her crate (under my desk when she can get there now that it's blocked), preceded by a few sharp "boof boof... roh!" as she stands up and walks into it. Out of the house, she'll get excited if it's an average-short sized male, female, or any other dog but still be aloof and inspect them from a distance. If it's a large man or any construction/working men she's on alert and will give a bark or two, not wanting to be near them. She did go up on her own to sniff @Yandharr though and he's a pretty tall dude!
    Other dogs: She loves my sister's 55lb 9 month mutt puppy and they will wrestle/slap fight/chase eachother for over an hour at a time. Strange dogs she'll sniff if they come up, but so far has preferred to watch other dogs play at the park, but has played with Keanu while he played with another dog. She also seemed to warm up to @Hinata23's ChoCho the second time we met up, doing a few minutes of exploring with her, sniffing things after ChoCho sniffed them.
  • Thanks to all of you for stories shared. All dogs are as unique as their owners who own them, but do carry certain personality and temperament traits that are passed on through the ages. Each Nihon Ken breeds may have the same base genealogy at their root but are different in their own way. As different as the the regions they are from.
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