Top 3 Favorite Shiba Training Tips
/Upon getting a Shiba, we've received a ton of great and not so great advice from people. Here's our Top 3 Great Advice:
1. Get a martingale collar for your Shiba. Shio has the fat neck and little skull syndrome. Just like a greyhound. When we had a regular collar for him, he would slip out whenever he decided that he didn't want to walk and freedom is dangerous for a little Shiba if he runs away from you!
2. Never let him run out the front door without your consent. We are lucky when it comes to the fear of Shio running out the door because we live in an apartment building. The furthest that he will be able to run is into the hallway. However, J and I have a friend who used to have a Shiba and lived in a gorgeous house in San Fran. One day, his Shiba ran out the front door and was hit by a moving vehicle. Motivated by this story, we trained Shio to never run out our front door when we open it unless he is invited to come out with us.
3. Work on your recall command from day one. If there is only one command that any dog should know, it's his recall. Not that ours is perfect, but we worked on our recall for months and months when Shio was a puppy. We've tried several different techniques and will continue to work on it. What has worked the best for us so far is calling his name and giving him one super delicious treat that he only receives when he comes to us when called. Then we also work on the squeaky toy recall which has saved us many times... the only drawback to that is that we have to remember to bring a loud squeaky toy whenever we go out. We always always always make sure to make it a fun and happy experience for him to come to us when we shout his name. I used to make the mistake of saying his name when he was doing something wrong but no more of that! Only awesome things will be associated with the word "Shio!!!".
It's amazing that J and I will spend good money on toys that we think Shio will love but the ones he loves are the cheapest toys in his toy box.