If you are having behavioral problems or trouble training your Shiba, there are many skilled training professionals and training centers in your area that should be able to help you.

Although it is important to catch problems early, the benefit of dogs is that they live in the "now", not the "yesterday", and you can retrain and rehabilitate a dog of any age.

It is best if you find a training center that is familiar working with primitive dog breeds and uses positive reinforcement training methods.  Methods such as alpha rolling (putting the dog on its side or back) or corrective collars such as choke, prong or shock collars may seem initially the "quick fix" to many problems but they can have long term negative effects on your dog's behavior.

Find an accredited trainer or certified behaviorist that does not use these adversive methods.  Besides, no one gets a dog because they are looking forward to punishing it--at least, I REALLY hope they don't!

Shiba Scout Rescue's Stance on Training

But dominance is NOT a personality charecteristic!!! 

It will change depending on the situation. 

For example, now Dog #2 is in his crate and Dog #1 walks over. Dog #2 growls at Dog #1 to say, get away from my crate, and Dog #1 walks away.  We would say that Dog #2 is dominant in this situation over his crate or resting place.

A much better way to describe the previous scenarios is with the term "Rescource Guarding".

Resource guarding means simply that the dog is guarding something valuable to him/her, such as food/water bowls, treats, chews, toys, a resting place, the car, even their person. 

In the first scenario reguarding Dog #1 chewing on a bone, when he growled, he was resource guarding his bone.

In the second scenario, Dog #2 was resource guarding his crate.

Resource guarding is a natural behavior, we all do it, even us humans.  We don't just let anyone get money from our bank account and we lock our cars and houses at night.  These are the things that are important to us and thus don't just let anyone have them, and in some cases we will fight to protect our resources.

However, if the behavior escalates to actual aggression, that DOES NOT mean that you have to use negative/aversive methods of training in order to achieve a well mannered dog.

In fact, studies have shown that such methods will usually make the behavior worse, or bad behaviors will come out in other ways.

MOST SITUATIONS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH SO CALLED  "DOMINANCE"!!!

Now Dog #1 is laying on the couch and Dog #2 jumps on the couch and lays down next to Dog #1.  There is no dominance here because there is no conflict.  The couch is a resource but since there was no confrontation the situation is null and void and thus doesn't matter.  It doesn't make a difference that one dog got up on the couch first because that dog did not then try to keep the other dog away from or off of the couch.

A lot of owners will think that because their dog gets in the trash, pulls on the leash or gets on the couch when they get up or are not in the room are being "dominant".  These have nothing to do with "dominance", or even leadership on the dog's part.  This is simply from a lack of training on the owner's part. 

The dog gets into the trash because yummy smelly things were thrown away in the trash and no one is watching.  Once the dog learns that yummy things come out of the trash can, the dog is going to repeat that behavior because it gets the dog something awesome. 

The dog that pulls on the leash is just excited to get where ever it's going, even if it's simply to go forward.  If the owner keeps walking then the dog learns to ignore any pain or pressure on its throat because it is being conditioned to the walk feeling this way.  And frankly, we just don't walk or run fast enough ;)  It is not about being ahead of us, they are just excited and most owners teach their dogs that pulling gets them where they want to go.

For the dog that gets on the couch, the couch is comfy, much comfier than the floor, and probably comfier than most dog beds.  And the dog has associated that if the person comes in the room they get in trouble when they are on the couch, so they get off.  However, the dog has also associated that when no one is around that nothing bad happens when they are on the couch and they are thus getting the reward that they seek.  The dog is not purposely trying to be sneeky in order to be on the couch.  They just know that in situation A they can be on the couch and in situation B that they cannot be on the couch.  It has been scientifically proven that dogs are not cognitive enough to do things out of spite or to be purposely stubborn.

Why Victoria Stilwell and other experts are opposed to the submission techniques exposed by 'Dog Whisperer' Cesar Millan

New Study Finds Popular “Alpha Dog” Training Techniques Can Cause More Harm Than Good

http://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/new_study_finds_popular_alpha_dog_training_techniques_can_cause_more_harm_t/

Articles on the Negative Behavorial Side Effects of Shock Collars

http://www.ehow.com/about_5192214_shock-collars-safe-dogs_.html

http://www.learningdog.com/articles/article/864436/7096.htm 

 http://r-plusdogtraining.info/shock.htm

Applied Animal Behaviour Science 85 (2004) 319–334

Training dogs with help of the shock collar:

short and long term behavioural effects

Matthijs B.H. Schilder a,b,∗, Joanne A.M. van der Borg a

a Department of Clinical Sciences of Companion Animals, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

b Department of Ethology and Socio-Ecology, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Accepted 23 October 2003

Abstract

"Behavioural effects of the use of a shock collar during guard dog training of German shepherd dogs were studied. Direct reactions of 32 dogs to 107 shocks showed reactions (lowering of body posture, high pitched yelps, barks and squeals, avoidance, redirection aggression, tongue flicking) that suggest stress or fear and pain."

http://www.ust.is/media/ljosmyndir/dyralif/Trainingdogswithshockcollar.pdf

The Dangers of Choke/Pinch/Prong or Shock Collars

Long term use of choke collars can lead to reduced blood flow to the brain resulting in stroke or headaches and can lead to damaged tracheas and collapsed airways.

http://www.dogremedies.com/dangers_choke_pinch_shock.html

The Dangers of Invisible Fencing

Long term health effects of invisible fencing can vary. For one, many dogs are so upset by the shock that they start to refuse to come outside.  Repeated shocks to a dog can lead to changes in the dog’s system, such as the heart and respiration rate. It can also lead to gastrointestinal disorders and long term urinary problems and seizures.

http://www.petsbest.com/community/Article/Long-Term-Health-Effects-of-Invisible-Fences.aspx

Nakimushi is a perfect example of physical/dominance training gone horribly wrong.  Naki came into our rescue nearly two years ago for severe food aggression resulting in a serious bite wound with his original family in Minnesotta.  Naki had been previously corrected for any of this unwanted aggression by being "alpha rolled" after his family had watched the Dog Whisperer on TV but this just made his behavior much much worse.

After months of retraining and rehabilitating Naki with positive reinforcement methods and putting these methods to the test with a couple of different foster parents, Naki found a wonderful forever family who after utilizing these methods themselves have been able to turn Naki around into a wonderful family companion. 

Here is a testimonial from Naki's adopter, Rod, who had a minor setback with Naki over the 4th of July weekend but used his knowledge received from Shiba Scout Rescue and our director, Beki Myers, an accredited dog trainer, to rectify the situation.