Shikoku Obsession and Questions

Comments

• yo_eddy

  March 2015

  Funny you saw they were hard to housebreak; my wife said Yuki was the easiest dog she ever had to housebreak. One incident which was our fault as we brought him in before he had finished his business.
  
  We have four cats. He is OK with them but not great. For the most part he leaves them alone or just wants a sniff. If they run he may chase. If he is already worked up over something he has pinned them down for a nibble. We are still working on that. He has never hurt one. They have their own space and plenty of escape routes. I'm still waiting for one to give him a claw as that might end the fascination.
  
  Not sure about the lizard and snake; my guess the snake would be relatively boring, but both would likely warrant an investigation by a puppy.
  
  I would guess no fence would be possible if you plan on having the puppy leashed when outside. I would not let a Shikoku out without a fence. It is handy having a fenced yard though.
  
  
  
  
• CrimsonO2

  March 2015 edited March 2015

  Shikoku love to dig. So even a fenced yard, I would never leave them out for long periods of time unsupervised (more than 5 minutes). Their primitive looks alone would have them either shot first or stolen once lost.
  
  And the only times where my Shikoku were difficult to house train was because they had medical problems (urinary tract infection).
  
  Jesse
• emi802

  March 2015

  My shikoku pup (now 8 months old) was also the easiest dog ever to house train. He never peed in the house on purpose. He did it a few times as a puppy when he got too excited from playing with my roommates that he couldn't control his bladder and peed on the spot. He also always looked super sad afterwards too. He would go straight into his cage and mope. We also just moved a couple weeks ago and he hasn't peed in the new apartment once. It's possible to keep a shikoku without a yard. We live in an apartment, and he's been fine with it. We do take him out every day for a bit of a run though--we also run around in the apartment with him. They definitely need to get their energy out.
  
  He's talkative only when he plays (gets growly) or when he wants to greet another dog (gets whiny). Otherwise, he's pretty quiet.
  
  
• roninshiba

  April 2015

  Our Shikoku, Kiyomi, was so much easier to house train compared to our Shiba, Kuma, but he was a year old when he came home with us and he was previously a kenneled. Kiyomi had a few accidents in the house the first couple of weeks, but looking back at it, we missed the warnings. After two or three weeks she was very predictable and she learned to go to the door or scratch the door to let us know she needed to go out.
  
  Kiyomi goes out in our back yard often and she investigates everything. She also loves to hunt lizards. She's caught a fair amount. She basically will chase anything so, not having a fence would be difficult without being on leash. When we go to the parks in the mornings & evenings she's always trying to get to the squirrels and birds, ie: she pulls hard on her leash whenever she sees them.
  
  Kiyomi is very quiet at home. She howls when we come home from someplace, but that's about the only time she howls. We go to a local dog park a couple of times a week and there are a few Huskies who will start howling every so often. She has never joined in with them. Don't remember her howling any time other than when we come home. If we're not in the room when she wants to go out, she will bark to get our attention. She wimpers when she is waiting for me to take her out in the morning. She is quite vocal and loud when she plays. People not used to their play style will think they are mad or fighting.
• Kaja

  April 2015 edited April 2015

  When you say it said "they are hard to housebreak, noisy, disobedient, will pee all over everything, chase everything and if they want something... they will get it no matter what!" -- that reminds me more of what people sometimes consider stereotypical wolf hybrid behaviour. Certainly not like the shikoku! It may be referred to sometimes as the 'japanese wolfdog' but it certainly is no wolf dog. Of course, I suppose completely untrained dogs might act this way too...
  
  Anyways! Kaja was super easy to housebreak. She had a couple accidents but they were all my fault, or she ate something weird. As for the fence issue, I encounter that from time to time when I'm visiting people. The solution is simple for me: Long line. We either play with it dragging behind her, or if she just needs to pee I bring a long line with me and supervise her from the door. For you, since it's your house, you could easily set up one of those solutions that works similar to a laundry line. Leash on the line = almost full access to entire yard. I've seen other people do it a couple times and it works for them, supposing it's sturdy enough and there aren't too many obstacles to get wrapped up in. For this though I always feel safer seeing the dogs in a harness as opposed to attached to a collar.
  
  I believe it'd be fine if you raised it with the other pets, though it might be a rocky start. Of course I don't have experience with this directly so I won't say yay or nay. We only have dogs here.
  
  Shikoku aren't cheap, and there are only a handful of breeders. People are quite protective of the shikoku, and you should also expect to pay prices that go hand in hand with pure breds. I believe different breeders would have different rates, though. I'm not keen on posting what I paid, I think you should contact your closest breeder to find out from them. I do know that sometimes people wait 2+ years for a pup, though. I was fortunate and got Kaja quickly because someone backed out. Alternatives for finding yourself a shikoku would be to consider homing one of the retired breeding dogs. From what I've seen, it happens once in a while?
  
  I've never met another shikoku, all I can go off of are my own experiences + what I've read. I'm sure other people on the forum will be very helpful and can offer more insight