About Shiba Stuff

I’m John Madden. Ten years ago I drove to Ocala and brought home two shiba inu puppies named after Star Wars characters. Roughly nineteen nervous breakdowns later, I started this site.

This is Luke and Leia. They are twins, they are now ten, and they have spent every one of those years confounding, confusing, delighting, and occasionally terrorizing me. They are the reason I have any business writing about this breed.

How I got here

I lost my dog Bullet to cancer in February 2016, the day after I lost my sister to the same disease. A month later, my friends staged what amounted to a benevolent intervention: it was time to be a dog daddy again. I knew I wanted shibas. I knew I wanted a brother and a sister, in honor of my sister. I knew I wanted to name them Luke and Leia. The rest was finding them.

The full story of that search — the puppy mills I refused, the stillborn litter, the Craigslist ad that turned out to be the real thing, the morning I drove to Ocala to bring two tiny puppies home — is over here, on the blog.

What I’ve actually learned about shibas

Ten years and two specific dogs is not the same as ten years and a clipboard, and I think you can tell the difference when you read someone. A few things that have permanently rewired how I think about this breed:

• They are escape artists. I have run down the middle of a Tampa street in flip-flops, in traffic, chasing a young Luke for ten blocks before he decided playtime was over. Every door in my house has a gate. Every harness recommendation here is filtered through that morning.
• Their teeth are not like other dogs’ teeth. Leia had twenty-seven teeth removed in a single dental, including her canines. Her brother needed one. Same household, same diet, same brushing schedule — it is largely genetic, and there is no amount of brushing that fully insures against it. I will tell you the truth about this on the dental-care posts, because I wish someone had told me.
• They get senior weirdness early. Luke was diagnosed with idiopathic vestibular disease a couple of months ago. He still tilts. He still wobbles. He also still face-plants off the bed — which is why there are now stairs next to it that he never uses, and his sister always does.

How I write recommendations

Two rules:

1. I own it, or I have specifically tested it for shiba-relevant criteria. If I haven’t, I’ll say so.
2. I will not pad a list with stuff I don’t believe in to push more affiliate clicks. A short honest list is more useful to you, and frankly converts better anyway.

Affiliate relationships, plainly

Shiba Stuff earns commissions through Amazon Associates and the Chewy partner program (via Impact). It costs you nothing extra, and it does not influence which products I recommend — the recommendation comes first, then the link. The full version is on the Affiliate Disclosure page.

Get in touch

Reach me at john@shibastuff.com. I read everything; I reply when I can. PR pitches that don’t involve shibas get archived without ceremony.