Someone who loves an ill-reputed dog breed will jump to its defense.
Someone who loves Shiba Inus usually does the exact opposite. Their favorite dog doesnât have a public relations problem.
It needs one.
Most people who look at these dogs see a cute, surprisingly soulful dog â especially since theyâve become a viral web sensation. But the people who own them know theyâre no walk in the park.
âOur club is trying to increase public education about the breed because, quite honestly, theyâre not the breed for everyone,â said Kim Hoberg, a Shiba breeder and president of the National Shiba Club of America.
If owners arenât prepared to implement a strict training regimen, Hoberg said, Shibas are âthe devil in disguise.â
So thank heaven for Masako Yamamoto. When Southern California Shiba Inus find their way to animal shelters, the dogs sometimes end up in Long Beach with her, where she sends them to more Shiba-ready homes.
Yamamoto runs Saving Shibas, one of a handful of Shiba Inu rescues in the U.S. Her tiny nonprofit picked up 18 of the dogs last year from animal shelters as far away as San Diego and Las Vegas.
Yamamoto said owning the Japanese breed isnât for everyone, but for her itâs worth the howling, the digging and the antisocial behavior.
âI love all dogs and Iâve had many other breeds, but thereâs something â I think the most rewarding part is when you actually get a tough cookie and youâre able to make it appreciate you and be loyal,â she said. âThatâs the crĂšme de la crĂšme. Youâve cracked the hardest nut.â
WOLF IN DOG CLOTHING
Letâs say someone buys a cute and playful Shiba thatâs allowed indulgences like jumping up on the couch. They donât socialize the dog to make it comfortable around strangers and strange dogs â âfive new places a week, 50 new faces a week is the rule,â according to Yamamoto.
This Shiba gets older and acts aloof or mischievous. Scolding doesnât work, and in fact it seems like she doesnât care what her owner thinks anymore.
After a year or two, the owner decides this isnât what they signed up for and they give the dog up. Lots of the dogs Yamamoto takes in through Saving Shibas are âowner surrenders.â Other dogs, which arenât socialized properly, might nip at toddlers.
âThey start to see you as an equal,â Yamamoto said.
Saving Shibas is one of about 16 active rescue groups in the country that connect abandoned or stray Shiba Inus with foster homes, according to fundraising group Shiba Prom.
Shiba Prom is solely involved with this breed because, once in a shelter, the dog can require special treatment, according to Chairwoman Martha Silver.
These dogs are often antisocial and bear pain quietly, she said. A Shiba thatâs scared or nursing a wound or a sore might quickly make a bad name for itself at the pound.
âRather than deciding that the negative behaviors make the animal less desirable for adoption and placed on a list for euthanization, the staff call a Shiba Inu rescue and allow them to evaluate the dog,â Silver said in an email.
Thereâs a good reason why Shibas arenât naturally a sit-and-stay type of dog. Their genes are more similar to wolvesâ than any other common breed, according to a National Geographic article from 2012.
Itâs not that Shibas are impossible to own or train â itâs just that you need to contend with their instinct for hunting and pack behavior.
âYou have to be a strong alpha owner. They will test you, sometimes they wonât take no for an answer. You have to constantly stay on them â âno, no, no, noâ â until they get it,â Hoberg said.
TRAINING IS CONSTANT
The difference between a trained Shiba and a newly rescued foster was clear on a recent walk with Kokomo, a rescue, and Yamamotoâs own pack of three Shibas: Bravo, Winnie and Yumi.
Yamamoto had plucked Kokomo out of a San Diego animal shelter in December. The roughly 5-year-old stray acted like many other dogs in a park, yipping and pulling on his leash when he wanted to do something.
His boisterous behavior would have seemed nearly normal if not for the preternatural calm of the three more settled dogs. They hardly made a peep besides a bit of scratching at the dirt, and even that was snuffed out with a tsk from Yamamoto. The dogs seemed content to gaze into the distance like wizened sailors looking for land.
This sense of harnessed energy is apparently typical for trained Shibas, which often remind people of foxes and cats. Yamamoto is an old hand at fostering that respect, which you have to earn, she said.
Her experience with Shibas goes back 28 years, when her father picked up two dropped off near LAX after an international flight.
âIt was on Motherâs Day. How could I forget?â said Chieko Yamamoto, Masakoâs mom and the dogsâ caretaker when Masako is at her day job.
Masako Yamamoto realizes âit really could have been a bad, bad situationâ because they didnât know what they were getting into. Luckily, the familyâs sheltie and Russian wolfhound took those Shibas under their wings.
Yamamoto started fostering Shibas five years ago when a local rescue that knew she was interested in them called and asked her if she would try it. She did and kept at it, funding expensive surgeries through crowdsourcing site Indiegogo, until she filed for 501(c)3 status in 2011.
Now Yamamoto receives support from the corporate stewardship program at her employer, Toyota, as well as Shiba Prom and others. The money pays for food, veterinary bills, travel expenses and anything else that can come up.
But Saving Shibas comes with a pretty great reward. One of Yamamotoâs three dogs, the serene Yumi, is adopted. She had the 12-year-old for two years and sheâs as sweet as can be.
More than that, though, Yamamoto gets the sense from her and other dogs sheâs rescued, even two or three years after sending them off with another experienced owner, that the dogs are grateful.
âSome of them really seem to understand that youâve saved them,â Yamamoto said. âThey have this great appreciation towards you.â
Contact the writer: 714-796-2390 or aklein@ocregister.com
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