Shiba Inus like myself, who usually spend most of their time inside the house and sleep most of the time, tend to not get enough exercise. On days when my master is off, he takes me on outings, but on weekdays I don’t get much exercise except for morning and evening walks.
I think there are many benefits to playing, not only for exercise, but also for communication with my master, skinship, and to relieve the desire to chew.
Since there seems to be a variety of things that can be simply called “play,” here are my thoughts on the subject of play.
Shiba Inu is moody.
I have heard that Shiba Inus seem to be moody and their playing style is more messy than other dogs. It is true that I, too, sometimes suddenly turn my back to my master and sit down while playing with him. Usually, I sit down within 10 minutes of starting to play.
Also, when I am sleepy, I will not respond to anything you do. Even if you flick a toy at me, or even if you call my name, I don’t seem to look at you very well.
If Shiba Inus are forced to be held or touched, they will not play, but even start to fight. My master was surprised when he was not used to it yet.
Training and a playful environment are important.
First of all, I think that the dog needs to be trained to some extent.
I was never trained in any way, but my master often held and petted me from the time I was born, so I have a lot of skinship with him, and even now, I am not so resistant to being touched. This depends on the relationship with the master.
As for an environment where he can play, in our case, it is like this.
- Keep objects off the floor.
- Keep cords, power supplies, and other items that can cause electric shock out
- Play on carpets
- Make room for light tossing of toys
Keep objects off the floor.
As you can roughly imagine, my master do his best to keep things off the floor so that we don’t step on them, bump into them, or get excited and put them in our mouths when we are playing.
Keep out cords, power supplies, and other items that can cause electric shock.
This is also to prevent catching feet, tangling, or chewing on cords, as well as to avoid putting things on the floor.
Once, I chewed through the cord of a fan, and although it was not serious, I was very careful because it can cause electric shock in some cases.
Play on carpets.
We have wooden flooring in our house, but when my master play with me, he asks me to play on the carpet. My feet slip on the flooring, and it is dangerous because I cannot stand on the flooring when I play tug-and-tug, or I fall down when I am chasing after him.
When my master took me in, he put carpet tiles on the flooring so that I could play on it without slipping. Now I have a regular carpet instead of tiles.
Even if it is difficult to lay carpet tiles or carpets, there are flooring waxes that prevent pets from slipping, so Shiba Inu may be able to play on the flooring if it is coated with such waxes.
Make room for light tossing of toys.
I would like to have at least enough space to throw a rope or a ball to fetch it. As for distance, 3 meters may be enough. The wider the space, the better, but a moderate space is good because even if you have a toy thrown to me, I may suddenly stop to pick it up in the middle of the game.
Being careful when playing.
It seems that besides training and the environment in which we play, there are other things that need to be taken care of when playing with a Shiba Inu like me. I will briefly summarize some of the things my husband has taken care of.
- Do not overexcite
- Don’t let Shiba Inu bite you
- Don’t play with anything but toys
Do not overexcite.
Sometimes when I am playing with my master, I will suddenly put my ears back and run around. I think it is because I am so excited that I can’t stand still. Other Shiba Inus seem to do the same thing and call it “Airplane Ears”.
“Airplane Ears” is when Shiba Inus are happy, so it simply means “I’m having fun!” Don’t worry, it is an expression of emotion. However, if it becomes normal, it can cause accidents and injuries, such as running around, bumping into something, or falling on the flooring. So, my master watches me for a while when I start to run around with my ears up.
Don’t let Shiba Inu bite you.
When I become engrossed in play, I will sometimes bite the hand of my master holding the toy. Also, I often go up to the hand rather than the toy because I find the hand movement amusing…. This is simply not only painful for the master, but also leads to injury, so he is very careful.
It is dangerous if it becomes normal for me to bite my master in the course of play. Please note that the biting is not that strong when Shiba Inus are small, but when Shiba Inus are as young as one year old, they can cause quite a bit of injury.
Don’t play with anything but toys.
For example, if my master uses a cushion to play with me, I will eventually learn that the cushion is a toy and when I want to play with it, I will suck, pull, and swing the cushion around, eventually breaking it. Also, if I play with electrical cords, I may eventually think that the electrical cords are toys and chew on the electrical cords of the appliances you are using, which may lead to a serious accident.
I would be happy if you would be careful about which things I can chew on and which things I can pull on, and only use toys when I plays with them.
how to play with Shiba Inu.
Let me show you how I usually play. I don’t do anything difficult or expensive at all, and it’s a simple skinship with my master, so please give it a try. I am sure your Shiba Inu will be delighted!
- pulling
- fetching something you throw
- Tummy flopping
- Running together
Pulling
It is a favorite game of not only Shiba Inus but also other dogs.
In my case, I often use hemp ropes, but cowhide ropes, rings, and recently, a toy called a puller are also fun and easy to pull.
When I want to play, I sometimes takes the hemp rope to my master and asks to be pulled.
fetching something you throw.
The rope throwing is usually done at the same time as the pulling game. The rope is thrown by my master, I go to pick it up, returns with it, and the pulling game begins. After playing tug-and-tug for a while, I hand the rope to my master and ask him to throw it again. This is repeated many times.
Throw it, take it, go back, pull it, throw it… After about 10 repetitions, I go for a drink of water. This is the usual way to play with my master.
Tummy flopping
When I get tired after a series of pulling, throwing, and retrieving, I sit or lie down near my master. Then my master will massage my stomach, and I will lie on my back and let him do the same. This is the so-called “heso-ten” state.
It feels good to have the hair on my chest ruffled.
Running together.
This can only be done outside, but during a walk, my master runs with the leash. I run after him. I can’t run as fast as I want unless I go to the dog run, but it’s difficult for me to go to the dog run every day, so I enjoy running after my husband.
Communicate in various ways to play.
There are many more ways to play, but I can’t list them all here.
As I mentioned earlier, it depends on your relationship with your Shiba Inu, so what I have written here is only for my own reference.