The people you meet with your Nihon Ken

bmass49

Before I got my shiba, I had never even heard of them. And even when I had him and was on the shiba forum it was probaly a month before I learned about the Nihon Ken. So I would say not a ton of people around my area know what they are and I always get asked "what is he?" when I say Shiba Inu they get this look like "uh.. you had to have made that up" and usually say "is he part chow? he looks part chow" its so frustrating especially for me as a person who still has so much to learn about the Nihon Ken which makes it hard for me to address this.
But every once in a while, you accidentally run into someone who knows what they are. I was at Petsmart last night (for beginner class with Azriel) and we were practicing loose leash walking around the store. A man walking a Poodle of all things walks up and says "what a beautiful shiba inu you have" I must have gotten a weird look because next he said " i have had two. They are such great dogs. Stubborn, but worth the work" I went on to tell him the above scenario and his wife looks at me and laughs. "we know the feeling. Ive had multiple chows. shiba is NOT a chow" we all laughed and then parted ways so Azriel and I could get back to class. Its so weird to meet the two opposite ends of the knowledge spectrum..
So I was wondering if you have had any expreiences like this and how you handled them? Please share! : )

Saki

I have a black and tan Shiba and most people say: Oh look, a mini German Shepherd! Or they ask me what kind of mix this is. I just tell them that it is not a mix, but a pure breed, a Japanese breed, a Shiba Inu. And yes, most of people respond: uh!

Myabee09

I know the feeling! Most people either ask what mix my Shiba is. Now that I have a Kai, the people who already have met my Shiba assume the Kai is a Shiba mix. So frustrating sometimes!

I just say what they are, don't repeat myself and acknowledge their praise of my dogs. I try not to be rude, but not super friendly either or I'll be stuck all day explaining my dogs.

The people in my area who don't own a Shiba themselves are always excited to see my pups. One lady screamed, ran up to Mya, and grabbed her face while kissing the top of her head. I'm so glad Mya is sweet and loves the attention. I did inform the lady afterwards that her actions were not a great idea and to ask permission first before even petting a dog, much less cramming her face in their face.

bmass49

@Myabee09 that middle section about trying not to be rude but not overly friendly about it is so hard for me. I am excited about my pup and love to share what i can, but Like you said i dont want to be stuck trying to explain everything for the whole day (not that i am overly knowledgeable and even have that much to talk about)

maru

Most people I've come across just sort of stared at my shiba in confusion then asked me if it was a fox or some kind of mini-husky. I usually just laughed it off and told them that she was a breed that came from Japan and were used for hunting back in the day. I feel like stating one simple fact about them usually satisfies most people's curiosities. Sometimes I'd answer while continuing to walk to suggest that I had somewhere I needed to be. And if not, my body language/tone normally says "I'm really in a rush". Also I like to think that that bit about hunting might make people shy away from smothering them with affection Hm, maybe I am kinda mean lol.

bmass49

HAHAHA @maru thats so funny that you say it like that for that specific reasoning. Makes me laugh. Usually when i say they were used for hunting they look at my little guy and say "isnt he kinda small for that?" i try not to be rude but honestly hes only 19 weeks. give the guy a break : )
and i dont think youre mean at all. Just smart about how to handle those situations you dont like to be in.

maru

@bmass49 look on the bright side! at least all these interactions are giving your lil pup a chance to socialize and meet strange people even if you have to deal with silly questions haha. also...it is fun to hear people try to pronounce shiba inu...my favorites are "shina ibu" or "shibinu"

bmass49

hahaha. That is so true.
Me"shiba inu"
them "shina inu"
me "ShiBa inu"
them looking more confused"shibinu?"

thank you for that great laugh.
and yes. socialization is great. he needs to work on greeting so it is definitely good for him.

Kuma123

It happens ALL the time with my Akitas. Rarely does anyone get the breed right. People usually go straight for their faces to pet so I have learned defense extremely well. When I see it coming I maneuver my body to block the 'stranger' until I see my dogs reaction and the persons manners and then I give the go ahead for a scratch behind the ears or a back rub I have found this keeps the stress down for my dogs. I started this because of an incident with a woman, her grown daughter and one of my girls (AA). We are checking out at the pet store and they enter and head straight to us. That's fine. But they rush my dog with their hands reaching in all directions and all the while screeching quite loudly about how beautiful my 'wolf' is. That few seconds that it took for this to transpire seemed endless and my dog kept her cool while trying to escape (we were pinned in by the crazies and the register) so I had to speak up and put these people in their place for the sake of my dog. I was thrilled with how she handled herself given the high stress rush of attention situation. I was appalled at these humans behavior! Toddlers treat my dogs better than these women did! I did verbally correct the humans and told them to back off ( I was pissed but I managed to stay calm and I wasn't too rude). So, from that point on, I learned to be better at preventing this and be even more cautious. I was lucky I had that particular dog with me..... if I had one of the other girls with me..... it would have ended much differently. My dogs are first and most important. I still try not to be rude, I am just not as tolerant now.

We get guesses such as:
Wolf
Wolf mix
Husky/ Husky mix
GSD
Collie mix (this one was the other day and I was baffled LOL As you can see in my signature pics my dogs do NOT look like Collies haha)
Malamute
And the list goes on.
When I say 'Akita' I usually get the response 'OH! Aren't those mean? Are you scared of it?' or "Oh, Ive never heard of that" or (and this is my favorite!!!) 'Are you sure?' HAHAHA!

shibamistress

The first day we got Leo, our Kai Ken, someone said they'd seen "one of those" on the discovery channel. They thought he was a hyena.

rikumom

@kuma123,
I can totally relate!!

Kuma123

@rikumom, then you've had to deal with the crazies, too, I guess? I feel for you!

rikumom

The craziest situ:

I had my midget long coat JA Meichan with me at BSA this March, a bunch of shiba owners snapped pictures of her, which was fine. Later she was napping outside the crate and a shiba owner asked of she could take a picture of my pup. I said sure, she plopped down next to Meichan and proceeded to rub her head, woke her up and man handled Meichan to face the camera. I was pissed.

Kuma123

Ugh! That was a very rude awakening for poor Meichan

I love how people assume the dog will be happy to get an overly rough/in your face pet from them.... I want to say to them: "Excuse me, but how would you feel if I grabbed your face roughly and screeched at you the whole time? Oh, you wouldn't like it??? Neither does my dog!!" LOL If only I could..... hahaha

MapleTwinkie

I've had a few people's dogs try to bite Saigo.
Saigo loves meeting other people and dogs but I always ask the owners if it's okay.
Invariably, there will be the odd dog that it's NOT Okay and they end up taking Saigo down.
Then after they're always like "omg Bobo never does that..."

Losech

@Kuma123 I've done that once before...

With Conker the general rule is "No." Unless it is taking a picture from a distance he deems acceptable. No petting, no treat giving, no ooogy woogie babytalk crap, and certainly no grabbing of any sort. And no boisterous "friendly" dogs either.

rikumom

Today a bunch of us were walking our shibas and the lone midget long coat JA on Stanford Campus. Two teenage girls caught up to us and asked if they could "play" with Meichan.

We're walking as a group people.
Walking.
And what made you think my fur kid is a toy to be "played" with?

Lil Meichan just trotted on happily to catch up with her Oppa Riku... she made it clear she didn't want to stop and get molested...

Kuma123

@Losech, "no ooogy woogie babytalk crap" LOL Too funny- love it! I know what you mean, though, I only have one Akita that I allow to be petted by strangers (if we give them the go ahead first).

@rikumom, people are just crazy. It seems a lot of people see animals as play things or something.

rikumom

...
Invariably, there will be the odd dog that it's NOT Okay and they end up taking Saigo down.

@mapletwinkie, adult dogs sometimes will try to discipline and put puppy in their place for no better reason than they can... it's probably more a dominance thing than trying to harm Saigo...

@Kuma123, I agree...

MapleTwinkie

@rikumom yeah I don't think they're trying to hurt him either; the reason I ask the owners is to find out if their dog is good with puppies. I don't want to annoy the dogs that aren't.

rikumom

@mapletwinkie, new dogs/puppy interaction is hard to predict. Just be careful.

Crispy

TK (Shikoku) doesn't meet people. He likes to eat people instead.


We (my SO and I) have him wear a head collar so people don't approach him anymore. If they try, I block them. If they pursue it, I WILL in their face about it. The head collar does a lot to help, though - even though we don't actually use it (still clip the lead to his collar). Many people think it's a muzzle, which is a benefit in my case.


People are always wrong about his breed, of course. Except one person... talk about a shock! Most people guess: Husky, GSD, Akita, coyote, wolf, ooorr... he's London's puppy.

bmass49

loving all the posts thanks so much for sharing everyone!
@Kuma123 When I say 'Akita' I usually get the response 'OH! Aren't those mean? Are you scared of it?' or "Oh, Ive never heard of that" or (and this is my favorite!!!) 'Are you sure?' HAHAHA!
this is the most frustrating for me I think. Its like they think we dont know what our dog is and they actually do..
@looseh no ooogy woogie babytalk crap
probably another one of my biggest pet peeves. I still dont even understand why people talk like that to a baby let alone a dog.

Kuma123

@bmass49, it is frustrating! And they have the audacity to look at us like we are the crazy ones?!?! The saying 'I like my dogs more than I like most people' is soooo true for me LOL

bmass49

@Kuma123 haha. me too. except im not only a dog person. I love most animals more than most people : ) my boyfriend says im antisocial, i say no im not. I just dont like people. Simple as that

Kuma123

@bmass49, I'm the same way lol We have all sorts of critters and I love all animals! People..... not so much lol Now there are some exceptions but for the most part I cringe when a human heads straight towards me but then I'm all smiles and love when a dog (or other animal) head my way

A lot of us on the forum have pets other than dogs such as snakes, birds, lizards, etc. Here's a link to a thread about it with pictures of some amazing critters!!

http://www.nihonken.org/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/7915/what-pets-do-you-have/p1

bmass49

@kuma123 i just checked it out. I will have to get some pics of my stuff and post it soon! thanks for the link
i find it interesting the variety of people we can meet on here. i think that is part of my problem. i dont like most of the people in my area, but i love going somewhere new and meeting new people. im kind of funny that way

shibamistress

I've posted this elsewhere, but when Oskar (American Akita) as a puppy, people asked me if he was a malamute, and they still do. But my favorite Oskar questions/comments? "Oh, that's a echinachea!" And "isn't that an Ikea?"

bmass49

i will never get tired of laughing at the reactions and questions people get/come up with. HAHAHA

Kuma123

@bmass49, you might eventually get tired of the repetitive questions/comments lol It can get quite frustrating answering the same ones over and over.

rikumom

@kuma123, Me think @bmass49 is cut out to become a breeder down the road :-)