Many months ago I saw a beautiful dog in the Denver airport, it had the cutest, fox-like face, was a pretty red color, and was very expressive. I never knew what breed it was until I took the time to look it up today. It turns out it’s a Shiba Inu, a breed originating from Japan.
Via Wiki (the source of ALL knowledge):
The Shiba Inu (柴犬? also called the Shiba Ken) is the smallest of the six original and distinct breeds of dog from Japan.[1]
A small, agile dog that copes very well with mountainous terrain, the Shiba Inu was originally bred for hunting.[1][2] It is similar in appearance to the Akita, though much smaller in stature.
Inu is the Japanese word for dog, but the “Shiba” prefix’s origin are less clear. The word shiba usually refers to a type of red shrub. This leads some to believe that the Shiba was named with this in mind, either because the dogs were used to hunt in wild shrubs, or because the most common color of the Shiba Inu is a red color similar to that of the shrubs. However, in old Japanese, the word shiba also had the meaning of “small”, thus this might be a reference to the dog’s small size. Therefore, the Shiba Inu is sometimes translated as “Little Brushwood Dog”. [3]
The dogs are small, usually weighing between 17-23 lbs. They have a doublecoat, a straight outercoat and a soft, dense undercoat that sheds twice a year (ick). They are apparently very intelligent. Some compare them to cats as they tend to maintain their coats. They can often be seen licking their paws and legs much like a cat. They generally go out of their way to keep their coats clean, and while walking will avoid stepping in puddles, mud and dirt.
The breed is relatively new to the US is actually one of the oldest dog breeds, dating back to the third century B.C. They are very popular pets in Japan. The first Shiba Inu was brought to America in 1954 by an armed service family. The breed was recognized by the American Kennel Club in 1992.
Here’s a YouTube video of some in action and one of a super cute puppy.
I’m not sure I’d ever want a Shiba Inu because of their shedding, but the breed sounds really interesting and I’m sure I’ll look into them when I can get a dog.
In the meantime one of the versions of NintenDogs has a Shiba Inu in it. Maybe I’ll get that to play on the DS.
I did end up getting Nintendogs… but not the Shiba Inu version, I went for the Dachshund version instead. However, you can unlock all the breeds on all the versions.
By: audreyln on June 5, 2008
at 9:55 pm
[...] 118 hits… whoa. And I thought it was only my Mom that read it… 70 of those hits were to a post I did over a month ago on theh dog breed Shiba Inu. On Monday/Tuesday there were 50 hits to this post (out of 64 total page views) and there were 94 [...]
By: Apparently People Really Like Shiba Inus? « Audreyln’s Blog - Acoustic Entropy on June 25, 2008
at 9:31 pm
jadore les shiva
By: julie on July 11, 2008
at 12:03 pm
the Shiba is really cute adn I also love thier fox-like face.
If you are interseted in the Shiba, welcome to my blog and I’d like to share our Kotaro’s life with you.
sincerly regards.
By: japanshiba on October 20, 2008
at 12:40 am
soo cute can i hav it lol jk but he or shes so cute
By: Anonymous on April 11, 2009
at 3:16 pm
i want it its too cute but tat dog is like 2 times bigger then mine lol mines a pomarian yorkey!!! i want it its soooo cute !!!
By: carter blum on April 11, 2009
at 3:18 pm
I love my Shiba Inu. He is a good looking chap and has a lot of personality.
But the Shiba is a very challenging breed to take care of. Mine was trying to kill me during the first few months :)
By: Shiba Inu on May 29, 2009
at 12:41 pm