Has anyone had any experience with blending Shiba Inus and huskies in an already existing pack? One of my husbands coworkers is going back to university a few hours away over the summer (he’s a co-op/intern currently) and he has a young Shiba Inu who he isn’t 100% sure he has housing for during the summer. Of course husband said we could take him since we have dogs of a similar size (I’ve never heard of a 60 lb shiba but that’s besides the point).

I’ve heard they’re big into resource guarding and can be stand offish to the point of aggressive behavior, but I don know anyone with firsthand knowledge. Mia and Luka would be fine with him I’m just concerned about if the shiba will be ok with them.... or, even more worrisome, the baby. I don’t want to turn him down just yet but am suggesting the dog come over for a meet and greeet, then maybe a sleepover weekend as a trial, but not sure yet...

I don't know about Shiba's at all, I know they exist but that's about it. I do think, however, no matter what breed of dog you bring into your house, your pups house, the chance of aggression goes up regardless of how well behaved your dog is, what breed is being brought in, how well they know each other, etc. I seem to remember a post in here about a husky and another dog who were the best of buds outside the home, but once brought into the Huskies household, they saw different sides to their own dog as well as the other dog. I've personally seen it even between family members dogs being brought to a get together at ones home. My best advice is to not concentrate so much on if the two breeds get along, but instead maybe make sure none of your pups toys are laying around your house, maybe even the dog bed (if your pup has one) , feed them in seperate rooms, etc. Basically just supervise them at all times. Depending on the length of time the Shiba stays with you, they will probably learn to happily coexist with each other, I'm just thinking you don't want to start off on the wrong foot by skmething as simple as your pups toy laying around that he may object to being handled by the Shiba, and have that stay be super stressful on you and your pup.

As long as the sheba is well socialized as any dog should be and you set your boundaries early with it there shouldn't be any more issues with it than there could be with any other breed. They have similar stubborn tendencies and energy levels to huskies so shouldn't have any issue keeping up with your other dogs demanding pace and exercise levels. Start by introducing on neutral ground, see how they do together and go from there. As Jimmy said, just make sure all things of value for dogs are picked up. Crate when you aren't with them to supervise and in general just keep everyone tired as you see how they do.

That’s pretty much the plan so far. We’ve introduced other dogs that way and they’ve been fast friends.

Crating is another of my concerns. This dog apparently has never been crate trained which I think will be a huge problem. We just don’t have time to train a dog right now-it’s the only reason we haven’t gotten a third husky yet. Plus with baby safety concerns and not being able to leave him alone unsupervised without crating....!

I just feel like we’re gonna have to bail on this guy and o hate to do that to the poor dog.

I would request that the guy attempt to start crate training on his own now so it isn't a huge shock when you do take the dog in. At least then he will be aware of the obstacles if the dog doesn't take well to it and some of it will already be started. And if the guy ends up not liking crate training then you can firmly tell him then that he needs to find someone else because if it comes to your house it must be crated.