Shiba Inu - WikiHQ

The is a breed of hunting dog from Japan. A small-to-medium breed, it is the smallest of the six original dog breeds native to Japan. The Shiba Inu was originally bred for hunting. Its name literally translates to "brushwood dog", as it is used to flush game.

The Shiba Inu is a small, alert, and agile dog that copes well with mountainous terrain and hiking trails.

Appearance

The breed's standard colors are red, sesame, black sesame, red sesame (sashige), black and tan, or cream. All have a cream to white ventral color, known as . Urajiro literally translates to "underside white".

Other than the urajiro areas, the cream color is considered a "major fault" by both the Japan Kennel Club and American Kennel Club. It is not intentionally bred in a show dog, as the required markings are not discernible. However, a cream coat is acceptable according to The Kennel Club (UK) breed standard.

Shiba Inu have a double coat; the topcoat is stiff with guard hairs and the undercoat is soft and plush.

File:Shiba Inu 600.jpg|A sesame Shiba Inu

File:Shiba inu blacktan.jpg|A black and tan Shiba Inu with urajiro markings

File:Redshibaurajiro.jpg|A red Shiba Inu with visible urajiro markings on the muzzle, cheeks, ears and throat

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Temperament

thumb|right|A Shiba Inu puppy

The Shiba Inu is considered an alert, affectionate, and independent breed with high intelligence but also somewhat stubborn and strong-willed.

The terms , , and have subtle interpretations that have been the subject of much commentary.

thumb|A Shiba Inu puppy and an adult

A survey of experts classified the Shiba Inu as having "high aggression, high reactivity and medium trainability". A possible explanation for this and other observed behaviour is that the Shiba Inu is more closely related to the wolf than domesticated dogs from other countries. Due to the high intelligence of the breed it requires a lot of exercise and stimulation. Insufficient exercise may lead to anxiety which leads to undesirable behaviours, notably the "shiba scream". The Shiba Inu has a reputation for being "aloof" and early socialization as a puppy is key for the dog to get along with other people and animals.

A survey in Japan found the Shiba Inu to be more likely to engage in destructive behaviour, refusal to walk whilst on a lead, engage in mounting behaviour, and tail chasing. The Shiba Inu was also found to be less likely to bark at noises whilst inside the house.

History

thumb|A fragment of a [[Jōmon period dogū with pointed ears, unearthed in Aomori Prefecture]]

The Shiba Inu has been identified as a basal breed that predates the emergence of the modern breeds in the 19th century. Dogs with a similar appearance to the Shiba Inu were represented in dogū made during the prehistoric Jōmon period of Japanese history.

The Shiba Inu was bred to hunt and flush small game, such as birds and rabbits. Shiba lived in the mountainous areas of the Chūbu region. During the Meiji Restoration, western dog breeds were imported and crosses between these and native Japanese breeds became popular. From 1912 to 1926, almost no pure Shiba remained. From around 1928, hunters and intellectuals began to show interest in the protection of the remaining pure Shiba.

Despite efforts to preserve the breed, the Shiba nearly became extinct during World War II These bloodlines were the Shinshu Shiba from Nagano Prefecture, the Mino Shiba from the former Mino Province in the south of present-day Gifu Prefecture, and the San'in Shiba from Tottori and Shimane Prefectures.

The Shinshu Shibas possessed a solid undercoat, with a dense layer of guard hairs, and were small and red in color. The Mino Shibas tended to have thick, prick ears, and possessed a sickle tail, rather than the common curled tail found on most modern Shibas. The San'in Shibas were larger than most modern Shibas, and tended to be black, without the common tan and white accents found on modern black-and-tan shibas.

In 1954, a military family brought the first Shiba Inu to the United States. It is now primarily kept as a pet in Japan and across the world. According to the American Kennel Club, the Shiba Inu is the number one companion dog in Japan. In the United States the breed ranked 42nd place in registrations for 2024 with the American Kennel Club.

Health

thumb|Closeup of a Shiba Inu

A study in Japan on patella luxation in small breeds found the Shiba Inu to have the second highest rate of the condition, with 35% of the Shiba Inus surveyed being affected. Three genes belonging to the breed were associated with glaucoma, as found in an analysis of DNA sequencing. Another study from Japan reviewing cases of dogs presented for ophthalmologic examination found the Shiba Inu to make up 33% of all glaucoma cases whilst only making up 2.7% of the total population used in the study. The Shiba Inu is predisposed to canine atopic dermatitis. An auto-immune disease common in Akitas Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada-like syndrome is known to occur in the Shiba Inu.

Lifespan

A review of cemetery data in Japan found that the Shiba Inu had a life expectancy of 15.5 years, greater than any other breed. A 2024 UK study found a life expectancy of 14.6 years for the breed compared to an average of 12.7 for purebreeds and 12 for crossbreeds.

Sanin Shiba Inu

The Sanin Shiba Inu is a variety of Shiba Inu. It comes from the Inaba Inu of Tottori Prefecture and the Sekishu Inu of Shimane Prefecture, and both are endangered due to the increase of western dogs. In the early Showa period, Masumi Ozaki, a former landowner in Tottori prefecture, started preservation breeding to prevent the loss of local breeds.

However, as World War II grew more intense, the breeding projects became difficult to maintain. Due to the use of dogs for fur by the military, the number of dogs decreased from 50 to 20. In 1947, the two breeds were bred together to create the foundation stock of the Sanin Shiba Inu. The numbers were still low but the dogs were protected by the Ozaki family, who carried on the preservation activities. In December 2024, a man by the name of Kantaro Inagaki began to document his walks across Japan with a Shiba Inu named San-chan.

The breed is often referred to as Shibe in memes. According to Jamie Cohen, an assistant professor of media studies at Queens College of the City University of New York, the Shiba Inu breed has had a significant presence in online culture since at least 2010.

References

External links