Quote:
Originally Posted by DougLikesBMW
Exactly the type of dog I want to get. They seem so cool. And your pictures just confirmed my choice.
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They aren't without faults though.
They generally are not off-leash dogs and they are escape artists. My dog escaped while we weren't home and it took the dog catcher over an hour to catch her. We were really lucky she didn't get hit by a car (I've read that's one of the most often ways Shibas die). We also had to buy a gate that goes in front of our main door just for safety. We've trained her to stay when we open the door, but if we have guests or just happen to not pay attention, she will bolt out the door and it takes forever to try and catch her.
Of course they can be trained, but by nature they aren't the type of dogs that just want to please their owners like labs so it takes a lot of work. However training them to do simple things like sit, down, and tricks are really easy if there's a motive. They are extremely smart, but in that sneaky selfish way. My dog can open all the doors in the house. She can even open her own crate from the outside if we put food in it and lock it.