We just added a rescue Shiba to our pack. There has been some debate as to whether she is just poorly bred or a mix of some kind. I'm pretty well-versed in the Shiba standard, and from my eyes, she just looks like a badly bred, puppy mill Shiba. Her ears are too big, but she has urajiro (lighter in some places) in the appropriate places (hard to see in the pics). Her snout is too long. Her stop is not terrible, just looks off since her snout is too long. Her eyes, while big and on a poorly shaped face, have the something close to a proper Shiba tilt.
It's still hard to judge her tail since she's still very anxious, but when she's happy and in a good mood, it has a slightly top-curled saber look (still acceptable, but less than ideal) with a bit of fluff. Stance is Shiba, although she's a touch taller than standard.
My suspicion is a puppy mill cast-off rather than an outright mix. I've seen a few other puppy mill Shibas from the same area and they look very similar to her - large ears, snouts a big oversized, saber-style tail.
And if you were wondering...personality is total Shiba, down to the cleanliness, lack of barkiness (other vocalizations used!), stubbornness, etc.
Yep, it doesn't matter but it's nice to have people confirm the rescue's suspicions. You see, she was posted as a terrier mix until a person with a Shiba spotted her picture! I think someone thinking they were bringing home a terrier would have been a little surprised by some of her Shiba manners :D
Terrier mix???? WTF? She doesn't look anything like a terrier! I think I would have said mix, because the ears are SO big, but I could also see a badly bred Shibas too.
And sure, it doesn't matter, but it's intriguing nonetheless. If she were my dog, I'd wonder too.
I'm seeing a lot of big ear and non fluffy tail shibas in New York, I'm wondering if there is a huge puppy mill supplying all these puppies to the puppy stores....
Is it just me or do Juliet (who is lovely, no matter what she is---congrats!) and the puppy mill dog Inu Ryuu put up a picture of look more like foxes than normal Shibas do?http://obeytheshiba.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/OBEYZIM
I think my baby is a mill pup also. I hate to admit it but I got her from petland two yrs ago when I didn't know anything. I was stupid but I do love her nonetheless. But she constantly has medical problems..right now she has a skin infection under her nose and is on antibiotics :( she doesn't look bad thouh I don't think. Just like other red shibas. What do you think?
When she was a pup, Sry about it being dark
http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff466/beeguiles/Photo0351.jpg
And a recent picture
http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff466/beeguiles/IMG_6802.jpg
She is a cute girl :) If she's from petland, then it's more than likely she's a puppy mill dog, but that doesn't change the fact that you love her :) The important thing is to be educated for the future.
My husband calls the big ear look "American BYB/Puppy Mill Shiba" since that's the look we see on alot of puppies people get from pet stores/etc. I asked Ham's breeder about it and he suspects that it's because they tend to keep on using over-sized and badly proportioned females to get large litters, but then breed to a more standard Shiba male.
And seriously, I love when people derail threads. More discussion is always good. I is not center of world!
Okay hamlet that's good to know. I've been on other forums and people got so mad if you changed the subject or interjected in their thread. Very annoying haha. Araks: I most deff know she is from a puppy mill bc petland gave me all her paperwork and I traced it back and was not very happy at what I found..but yes now i am more educated and if I ever get another shiba, I deff want to get it from a rescue organization.
I adopted both of my two shiba inu from someone else so I can understand the urge to know where they really come from.
My first male shiba is from a byb. The breeder has no idea what standarnd shiba breeding is and constantly breed cream shiba inu. Saku's mom is a cream. Although he has normal sized ears and right marking, he has very thin and coarse coat. He almost have no undercoat. When I took him to the vet, the vet said he will never grow up to be one of those plush-toy looking shiba right in my face, but I still bought salmon oil for him hoping that he will have at least softer and shinning coat. He is very healthy otherwise and has the best temperament I've evern seen in a dog.
My female shiba is from a reputable breeder. She has all the right conformation to be a show dog with beautiful coat and everything but has anxiety issue so bad that she would pee herself if left alone. Anyway, it does't matter where they are from, it matters where they are NOW ;)Saku & Mina's mom
