Shiba Inu

The Shiba Inu is an ancient dog; however, it was not given the name “Shiba Inu” until some time in the 1920s. The Shiba Inu of old was a hardy dog, able to traverse hills and mountainous terrain that men could not travel. He had excellent senses and became a proficient hunter. He was used to flush out birds and small game, but he was also used to hunt wild boar. The Shiba Inu was declared a natural product of Japan by the nation in 1936 under the Cultural Properties Act. During and after World War II, the breed diminished almost to extinction. Distemper was a major cause of this decline in the dog’s population. Three variations of the Shiba Inu were interbred in order to give a comeback to the breed: the Shinshu Shiba, the Mino Shiba, and the Sanin Shiba. In 1954, United States service members brought the dog to America. The first litter of Shiba Inu was born in the United States in 1979. The AKC finally recognized the breed in 1993. The Shiba Inu’s name is descriptive of the dog itself; the word shiba means small (although some argue that it means brushwood also). The word inu means “dog.”