Thanks for your comments. I think you’re definitely right on that one. I try to intercept him immediately now before he steals a ball or stop him as soon as I can. Basically, I call him quite sternly and hold up a finger and, if he chooses to look at me, he will eventually stop. My boyfriend will give him a flick on the nose (I don’t) but just the threat of it seems to let him know I mean it. If he does not look at me, however, he will actually run off the beach up to the path and jump on people as if to show off the ball… arghhh.

I will probably see how it goes. If he continues to do this or has a conflict I will definitely keep him on lead. For now, I just leave a leash on trailing behind him so he will be easier to stop. The threat of going back on the leash may also be helping.

Thanks again.

I am happy he is feeling good again and super Kudos to you for getting him there so quickly. When you have some time, maybe you can list out some of the things you did – e.g., identified all recent changes (Greenie) and reverted things back to previous routine, etc.

I think this would be very helpful for everyone.

Btw. are you a web designer? The example sites on your main site look really good. The ice cream one made me want to go out and get some.

Have a good weekend and definitely take more pictures!

If that doesn’t work you can see his “thank you” picture here. http://www.colleenrcallahan.com/photos/reptar.jpg

You have a very lucky Shiba because you are doing all the right things from the start. Poor Shiba Sephy had to go through all sorts of things while we were learning the ropes in the beginning.

With other dogs, I have recently noticed that Sephy doesn’t like them smelling his butt which is a dominance move. Now I make sure they don’t mess with his back region and greetings go a lot better. Also I only let him meet friendly, non-dominant dogs. Don’t think Shibas like dominant dogs

Nice neighborhood to have so many friendly dogs. Wish there were more around here.

He is on day 4 of his antibiotics and is drinking plenty of water, with the help of ice cubes to make it fun. So far it’s been two days without any serious potty mistakes in the house. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that all will be well when I go home today.

I am so glad to hear that Reptar is getting back into his groove. Ice cubes are a great idea! When summer comes, I was also thinking of freezing water in a Kong for Sephy and Shania.

This may be a silly question but there is no way to non-mark him for going inside if we don’t catch him in the act, right?

Yeah it would only be when you catch him in the act. It is easiest to keep most areas closed off when he is alone. Sephy used to hang out in the kitchen and I put up a baby gate to create a small enclosure space for him there.

Hugs to Reptar and give him an ice cube from me.

How is Shiba doing?

The horrible thing is that when he doesn’t want to do something he doesn’t react to treats at all.

Yeah Shibas can be pretty stubborn when they don’t want to go something and often when they are stressed, they will shut down and not respond to anything at all.

My Siberian was like that with loud noises, especially with the garbage truck. When the truck came she would get really afraid, go into a panic, and want to run home at high speeds.

What worked best for her is to expose her to the things slowly. Every garbage day I would do obedience exercises with her inside the house so that she is focused on me and getting rewarded for doing work. Then we slowly moved closer and closer to the door. Then we did exercises with the door open, etc.

One thing you can try is to use puppy pads for now. Only bring it out during potty time and place it close to the door. Then make it into a fun game where you combine commands with the “Find-it” game. In the “Find-it” game, throw a very good treat – only a very small piece (my Shiba loves cheese) – some distance away from Shiba and say Find-it. He will likely go get it, at which point praise him well for being so clever and keep going. After he is into the game, start throwing the cheese closer and closer to the door, and let him go on the pad if he wants. The pad is just a temporary thing so that we can keep sessions short and fun and have been be successful.

Once he is comfortable with that, you can move the pad outside the door and repeat. Then keep moving the pad closer and closer to the outside together with playing the “Find-it” game.

This way, going outside becomes a fun and positive experience rather than something that he is afraid of.

Re: dog park – yeah I stopped taking my Shiba to the dog park after a very short time. He was starting to pick up bad behaviors etc. What worked well for Sephy are smaller dog play groups – just one or two other dogs in a more structured setting.

What is Shiba’s name btw?

He also gets along pretty well with strangers and even behaves well with vets.

So, no dog parks for him. I have a neighbor who brings a Plott hound to a local playground. I am attempting an approach in which they get used to relaxing within about a 15 ft diameter space over a period of time before being brought to within nose-touching distance of each other. Perhaps his aggressiveness will ameliorate a bit.

When he busted out of his crate, both times, he went to the bathroom on the floor in two different rooms. Those rooms are generally closed off to him so I understand his need to mark that space. This may be a silly question but there is no way to non-mark him for going inside if we don’t catch him in the act, right?

He is on day 4 of his antibiotics and is drinking plenty of water, with the help of ice cubes to make it fun. So far it’s been two days without any serious potty mistakes in the house. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that all will be well when I go home today.

The day before the first incident took place, we gave him a greenie (1/2) for the first time. We stopped giving him the greenies this past Friday night when we realized that this was the only change in his routine/diet. Perhaps his stomach cannot handle the greenies.

We thank for your feedback, tips and support! Always very helpful. Reptar says thanks for the hugs!

The dog park (we have been 2-3 times) is good and bad. He is very timid. He does ok with 1-2 dogs, the smelling and stuff but absolutely no interaction (playing, aggression, etc.) As soon as 3 or more dogs approach him he goes into submission and runs for the fence (which I think he could get out of if he tried).

The biggest issue we have is taking him out to potty. We use a 16ft retractable leash (more freedom) but he doesn’t like to go out (we have tried the dreg leash also). The horrible thing is that when he doesn’t want to do something he doesn’t react to treats at all. So I try to bribe him, etc. to go out but I still end up have to practically drag him out of our stairwell (first floor so no stairs) then he sometimes gets better and explores and does his business but sometimes he just locks up and doesn’t want to do anything. He has a harness with the leash attachment between his shoulder blades. This issue is one we need to fix in order to make bothe of our lives better (a dog has got to pee and I prefer not taking 45 minutes to coax him into it).

On a good note he is pretty much crate trained in only a few days, though it still takes a little coaxing. He isn’t protective of his toys or food at all (my 14 month old daughter can take stuff from him w/o issue). He occasionally nips but nothing bad and normally just with new people, this goes away quickly after they introduce themselves.

That is all I can think of right now. Any suggestions for socializing him or potty/leash training him? It seems like he is a little different than some of the traits you explain about Shibas, but I guess they are all their own individuals. Thanks for any help.