shiba inu

[geck123]

i have a friend who wants to give me a year old,male shiba inu,but i'm reluctant to say yes after reading about them.my biggest concerns are for the safety of the reptiles.it is a hyper dog,and i'm concerned it will be attracted to the geckos at night.trying to climb the rubber maid shelfs they are stored on.the second big concern is pulling the heat lamps off of the snake cages by running behind the cages.i like the looks of the dog,and want to give it a better life-the kids aren't holding up to their side of the deal-but i'm afraid it will be too hard to train.does anyone have experience with them ?

[SarahW]

I'd say that you need to treat it like it's a new kitten in the house and find a way to block the geckos off in a room that the dog can't get to, or utilize baby gates to block off the part of the house they're kept in. Crating is going to be a big tool for you to use.. Whenever you absolutely cannot be in the house to watch the dog, he needs to be in a crate to keep him from ruining your stuff.

With hyperactive dogs that have a lot of energy by nature/breed, the best thing you can do to keep the dog happy and occupied is to tire it out. A couple suggestions would be to get a bike attachment and bike with him, or train him to use a treadmill so that he can get his energy out if you don't have the energy to keep up. A tired dog isn't going to misbehave, at least in theory!

[dcarter]

Jason, I also would block the geckos off, crate the dog, and use dog gates when your not home. My dogs have never shown an interest in the reptiles, but just to be safe its not a bad idea.

[geck123]

the dog is crate trained,but i hate keeping an active dog locked-up in a crate,and from what i've read you have to with this breed.the information i've read says they are great climbers,and i know from experience it can jump,so baby gates wouldn't work.keeping the dog tired out isn't a problem as long as i can keep up with it's energy !!

i think the best thing to do is to keep it for a couple days,and see how he does.thanks for taking the time to reply,and i'd still love to hear from others,especially those that have experience with keeping them,or know someone who has.from what i've read normal dog behavior,and the expectations of the results from normal dog training,are out the window with this breed.

[dcarter]

You know my crazy white dog Skeeter is an amazing climber and jumper so we have dual gates installed in the kitchen one on top of the other- she can't get over it. When its nice she stays in the yard and when its not the kitchen gates work well with her. We use our crate rarely now since she's grown out of pottying and chewing when we leave, but at first the crate really isn't mean. She still will go sleep in hers during the day with the door open