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This is a forum for bonding with your fellow Dogsters about the traits, quirks and idiosyncrasies of your favorite breed. Please remember that there are absolutely no animal sales or requests for studding or breeding allowed on our sites. All posts and interactions should be in the spirit of Dogster's Community Guidelines and should be fun, friendly and informational. Enjoy!
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Loki
Love me! |
 | | Barked: Wed Feb 20, '08 11:12am PST | |  | |  | | This isn't really a fun topic, but I am curious about getting some truthful answers. I'm interested in seeing if others have had the same triggers as Loki.
(1) Has your Shiba EVER displayed any aggressive behavior? (anything ranging from baring teeth to severe biting)
(2) If so, what are the triggers?
(3) Have you successfully changed the behavior or have you decided to avoid the trigger?
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(1) Yes, Loki has bared teeth, taken snaps, and also bitten us enough to break skin. But it has actually been a few months since Loki has bitten us. So, we have improvement!
(2) With Loki, his triggers are:
Nail cutting
Putting the Harness on
Late at night when we disturb his deep slumber & are trying to move him off the couch.
In the past, being picked up & general handling.
When I try to take away random food/bones that he finds on the sidewalks.
(3)
With nail cutting, we now use a muzzle. It's using a tool to manage the problem, but not really teaching him to behave better.
With the harness, I've been moderately successful using slow process of positive reinforcement.
With disturbing his sleep, we now use a pillow to move him off the couch. Again, this is using a tool to manage the problem, but not really teaching him to behave better.
He used to not like being picked up, but we just kept doing it a lot. My husband particularly likes to give Loki hugs. I don't think Loki really enjoys it, but he's definitely tolerates it now.
With food on the sidewalks, I just avoid. The situation doesn't occur that often. My trainer says that I should set up items for Loki to find and then take it away. And I should start with toys and gradually move up to bones. Eh, with my work on the harness now, I don't have time for this one yet. |  |  | |  |
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Sarah- Smartypants
But I don WANT- to go back to- school! |
 | | Barked: Wed Feb 20, '08 12:17pm PST | | | | | | sarah has never growled or bared teeth at me or my daughter, but she has nipped a child that was teasing her, and she did the growl/bare teeth/snap at a teenager that was getting getting to huggy with her and crowding her.
She also goes balistic if someone knocks at the door, or rings the doorbell, or if someone gets close to the car when she's in it.
She also has a pretty short fuse on her butt timer (see prior threads). if another dog gets too close to her butt its not a pretty sight.
Oh, well, guess she'll alway be an only dog. | | | | |
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Ronin
I'm a dedicated- napper. |
| | Barked: Wed Feb 20, '08 4:04pm PST | | | | | | Ronin has only ever bared his teeth at me. He sometimes growls & barks at inanimate objects that are out of their usual place. He's very observant. Half the time, I'm not even sure what has been moved (in a neighbors yard that we walk by, or a park we walk through).
The growling & barking at inanimate stuff, I don't care about. I think it's funny....and probably not even really aggression. He's just warning me that something is different.
When he bares his teeth at me: This is an occasional form of play for him (that I'm not a fan of). At some point in our walk he will inevitably get rowdy & start wrestling with the leash. If I leave him enough slack he will get his legs, including his hind legs, tangled up, so that I have to unwrap him. He responds like a cornered weasel, baring his teeth & snapping at my hands while I try to roll him over to get the leash free.
To try to end the behavior: Now, when he starts "playing" with the leash, I keep it as short as possble without lifting his front feet off the ground, and completely ignore him. I won't even look in his direction until he stops goofing around. As soon as he stops I praise him & give him as much slack as he wants to run around & sniff stuff.
He may be naughty as can be, but, luckily, he has a very sweet (if mischievous) nature. | | | | |
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Tetsuya
The best smile- is a shiba- smile!
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| | Barked: Wed Feb 20, '08 4:43pm PST | | | | | | Tetsu has growled, bared teeth, and attempted to bite at the clippers when clipping his nails. (That is why it is done by a groomer now with a muzzle on). He has also barked at other dogs when on leash. | | | | |
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Tikka
This is me- ignoring you!
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| | Barked: Wed Feb 20, '08 5:30pm PST | | | | | | Tikka only bares her teeth and growls at other dogs when they attempt to butt sniff. Like Sarah she does not tolerate it. It's a relatively new behavior that I'm working on. I don't think other dogs mind it as much, but it unnerves their humans and the dog park is not that fun anymore.
Tikka's behaviors are more the shut down type, rather than aggressive type.
What I'm wondering is....it seems that this is much more of an issue with male dogs...is this true? It seems that male Shibas are more dominant and/or aggressive than female Shibas on average??
Sorry, Loki's mom, I can't be much help.  | | | | |
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Loki
Love me! |
| | Barked: Wed Feb 20, '08 5:44pm PST | | | | | | The reason that I'm asking is because I want to see if Loki's behavior/temperament is "normal" for shibas. If it is, then I'm much less inclined to get a second shiba & would rather go with a different breed. If it is not, then we may add a second shiba in a year or so.
I love all the other aspects about Loki, and I would love to get him a canine buddy. I love how he is independent & I love how cat-like he is.
So I'm glad to hear that many of you don't have as many issues as me. | | | | |
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Winnie
You obey ME!
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| | Barked: Wed Feb 20, '08 7:26pm PST | | | | | | Hi Loki
I know we've pmailed each other on this topic, but I thought I'd post for any others who might have similar experiences. Winnie has had similar *issues* as Loki, and whenever I would read about Loki, I would keep thinking about their similarities...!
(1) Has your Shiba EVER displayed any aggressive behavior? (anything ranging from baring teeth to severe biting)
Yes, baring teeth, biting and severe scratching. This happened in the first 4 months that I had her, and I haven't seen this behavior for about 5 months now.
(2) If so, what are the triggers?
Putting on the leash, choke chain, collar or harness. She's VERY head-shy and would run away from letting us put it on. We tried treats, and every other positive reinforcement idea, without any luck. We even tried putting it on, and leaving it on until she got used to it. She completely went on "strike" and hid under the bed for 10 hours and wouldn't come out. (She guilted us to taking it off.) If we tried to hold her while we put it on, she'd have her aggressive "fit".
(3) Have you successfully changed the behavior or have you decided to avoid the trigger?
I had to change the behavior.... I got tired of having scratched up arms and bite marks on my hands. I saw a trainer with proven experience in changing/understanding animal behavior.
My trainer first started out working with me. He asked me to start treating her like a dog. Don't step around her, just walk (w/o looking at her) and if she's in my way, shuffle and run right into her. Never let her on the sofa or bed, push her off and say "no". I eat first, then she eats. I walk out the door first, then she goes. Everything was about me showing her my dominance. (It's amazing how much I accommodated her!) Of course, now that we've got most of the issues worked out, she's a little bit more spoiled now~ but don't tell my trainer!
And then we started on teaching her to submit. I would carry her and once she started to squirm, I hold tighter. Only when she calmed down, do I let her go. Once this became very easy, we started on working with her front paw. If she squirmed, I held tighter. Once she calmed down, I let her go. Then, I'd add the other paw, or lengthen the time that I played with her paws. Then, I'd add in the back paws, ears, etc.... pretty soon, she'd just sit there and let me do my thing, and she didn't squirm.
After about the 3rd session, we started on working with her while I held her on her back (like a baby). Feet straight up in the air, I'd hold her until she was "like a sack of potatoes". All of these little lessons were and are things that I still do at least twice a day.
Finally, for the collar, on the 4th or 5th session, as I had her on her back (like a sack of potatoes), my trainer had his left hand on her neck (right under her mouth) in a firm grip. With his right hand he slipped the collar on her and then took it off quickly. The second time, he put it on again and she began to flail, bite, claw/scratch and bite at the collar and he started his "blast". He held tighter with his left hand while yelling and swinging the collar (sometimes hitting her in the face)... 
But, she stopped and was frozen (and had pee'd on me)! And he loosened his grip, quickly put the collar on, and quickly took it off. And we set her down. I had TEARS streaming down my face, just from the stress of it all. BUT, it worked, and I'm so glad that it only took that one time for us to "blast" her. From that evening, I practiced putting the collar on ALONE, over and over and over again... and never had any aggressive fits since.
She still doesn't like me to put on the collar, but she doesn't fight me any longer.
I apologize for the "Gone with the Wind" version of this! I'm not recommending that everyone try this at home. Definitely consult with a behaviorist~ and if you don't know of where to find one - ask your vet, your local shelter or any local rescue for recommendations. Aggression issues are difficult to overcome with basic obedience training.
Hopefully not many of you will ever have to experience it! AND, out of five different Shibas, Winnie is the first one that I've ever experienced this with...Edited by author Wed Feb 20, '08 7:39pm PST
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Janie
Sleep now, take- over the world- later |
| | Barked: Wed Feb 20, '08 7:36pm PST | | | | | | Yesterday, I was home sick and Janie was sleeping up on the bed with me. It was the 2nd time that I had ever seen her "dreaming", she was kicking her feet and doing a low bark/moan. It was so cute! But she was about to fall off the bed and have one of those rude awakenings, so I had to interrupt her slumber and shift her over. As soon as she woke up, you could tell she was all disoriented and must have not differentiated her dream from real life because she immediately started barking/growling like CRAZY. And then she looked out the window and continued her behavior for probably 2 minutes...I had to shut the blinds and move her onto the floor and even still she kept barking for another min or so. It was a weird episode so I thought I'd share...but as for real aggression...
Like many Shibas here, Janie is too rowdy to be in the small dog section of the dog park and she much more enjoys playing with the big boys. Being the little instigator that she is, it always ends up that there are a whole pack chasing after her. 95% of the time she enjoys it, but when the number of dogs goes above 5 ish, and the play too intense and she is tired, she will start to bare teeth and curl her tail down. That is our cue to step in and "rescue" her.
Beyond that, we've never really experienced any kind of food/treat, leash/harness, or nail cutting/bathing aggression. If she is upset, she will just let out a sharp bark, scream, or try to run away. As hyper as she is, I guess we sort of lucked out that she is a mellow shiba. | | | | |
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