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Shiba Inu — BetterBred Breed Page – BetterBred.com
BetterBred Breed Profile

Shiba Inu

Temperament: Independent and spirited, with strong prey drive. Shibas are intelligent and deeply loyal to family but aloof with strangers. Known for their cleanliness and fastidious nature, they can be easy to housebreak. They are long-lived and sturdy - and the most popular companion dog in Japan.
Height: Males: 14.5-16.5 inches (37-42 cm), Females: 13.5-15.5 inches (34-39 cm)
Weight: Males: 18-24 pounds (8-11 kg), Females: 15-20 pounds (7-9 kg)
Life Span: 13-16 years
Outlier Index ?
0.36
Born before 2016: 0.34 Born after 2024: 0.36
Avg Genetic Rel. ?
0.00
Born before 2016: 0.00 Born after 2024: 0.01
Internal Relatedness ?
0.00
Born before 2016: 0.00 Born after 2024: 0.00
Shiba Inu
#NameGender OIAGRIR
1 Shizen no Tamashii Miharu no Tsukiakari F 0.30 0.09 -0.12
2 Redstory Filadelfia F 0.44 -0.04 0.00
3 Donten ni Warau go Yukiko Kensha F 0.42 -0.01 -0.15
4 Choshi no Hebihime Go Tamashii to Hokori F 0.35 -0.02 0.11
5 Chiisana Gacho Go Tamashii to Hokori M 0.47 -0.01 -0.07
6 Grumpy Lion Le Rendez-Vous M 0.35 0.00 -0.01
7 Shizen No Tamashii Kyouka Suigetsu F 0.31 -0.02 0.07
8 Densetsu No Odoroki Go Ukiyo Sou F 0.21 0.07 -0.13
9 Entaku No Kishi Go Yukiko Kensha M 0.44 -0.01 -0.13
10 Vivi Nami la Vallee des Loges F 0.29 0.02 0.11
The Shiba Inu is the smallest of the six original native Japanese spitz breeds, historically used for hunting small game in the mountainous regions of Japan. The breed came close to extinction during World War II and in its immediate aftermath. Three distinct regional lines survived - the Shinshu, Mino, and San'in - and all modern Shiba Inu trace back to a combination of those three. Japanese breed preservationists played a central role in the breed's survival, and the Shiba Inu today is the most popular companion dog in Japan and has gained wide popularity internationally.
View Official Breed Standard →
Shibas are broadly a healthy and long-lived breed - the longest-living dog on record, who died at 26, was a Shiba Inu. The most common concerns are ocular genetic disorders (including glaucoma and progressive retinal atrophy) and allergies. Hip dysplasia is uncommon and when present tends to appear before age two. Luxating patella and dental issues occur as in most small dogs. GM1 gangliosidosis is a serious Mendelian disease in the breed, and a DNA test is available.
VGL has reported Shibas carrying an average of around 7.24 alleles across the 33 STR loci, with an effective allele count near 3.46. Those are respectable numbers for a breed that came through such a tight 20th-century bottleneck. The usual pattern applies - a subset of common alleles dominates, and rarer alleles deserve deliberate preservation through thoughtful pairings. VGL testing has found Shibas with observed heterozygosity essentially equal to expected, giving an inbreeding coefficient near zero. That is a good breed-wide signal, particularly given the severe WWII bottleneck and the small number of surviving founder lines. Individual IR values still vary and breeders should continue prioritizing less related pairings.

Average metrics by birth year for dogs with recorded birthdates in the BetterBred database.

A 3D genetic map of enrolled Shiba Inu dogs in the BetterBred database, based on allele-sharing distance across 33 STR loci. This is not a complete picture of the breed — it reflects only dogs whose owners have enrolled them. Drag to rotate · scroll to zoom · hover for dog names (public profiles only).

Historical founders — oldest 25% of enrolled dogs     Current gene pool — most recent 50% of enrolled dogs
Building plot… this may take a minute for larger breeds.

The Dog Leukocyte Antigen (DLA) region controls immune function and is the most polymorphic portion of the canine genome. Every dog carries two sets of DLA haplotypes — one from each parent — which almost never recombine across generations. Frequency percentages reflect how often each haplotype appears across all allele copies in the breed, not the percentage of dogs carrying it.

Class I Haplotypes

HaplotypeFrequency
1054
33.9%
1191
26.0%
1091
22.5%
1198
5.4%
1109
2.5%
1195
2.2%
1192
1.9%
1197
1.3%
1160
1.3%
1194
0.6%
1196
0.6%
1133
0.6%
1193
0.3%
1081
0.3%
1281
0.3%
1019
0.3%

Class II Haplotypes

HaplotypeFrequency
2106
34.5%
2018
25.6%
2067
21.5%
2015
5.4%
2109
2.5%
2108
2.2%
2111
1.9%
2098
1.3%
2001
1.3%
2097
0.6%
2105
0.6%
2110
0.6%
2032
0.3%
2016
0.3%
2071
0.3%
2083
0.3%
2107
0.3%
2129
0.3%

Class I & II Combinations

Class IClass IIFrequency
1054 2106
33.9%
1191 2018
25.6%
1091 2067
21.5%
1198 2015
5.4%
1109 2109
2.5%
1195 2108
2.2%
1192 2111
1.9%
1197 2001
1.3%
1160 2098
1.3%
1133 2110
0.6%
1196 2105
0.6%
1194 2097
0.6%
1281 2071
0.3%
1081 2032
0.3%
1193 2106
0.3%
1191 2083
0.3%
1019 2016
0.3%
1091 2129
0.3%
1091 2107
0.3%
1091 2106
0.3%

The Canine Diversity Test from UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory is the foundation of BetterBred’s breed management tools. Testing your dog adds to the breed database and gives you access to the full suite of breeding analysis tools.

Order from UC Davis VGL →
OI
Outlier Index

The Outlier Index (OI) measures how unusual a dog’s allele combination is relative to the tested population of its breed. A higher OI means the dog carries alleles at lower frequencies across the breed — genetic variants that are underrepresented in the population as a whole.

Dogs with high OI are genetically valuable because they carry diversity that most other tested dogs don’t share. Breeding them thoughtfully into the broader population helps redistribute lower-frequency alleles rather than allowing them to become even rarer over generations.

The breed average shown here reflects all dogs tested in the BetterBred database. The senior and youngster comparisons show whether diversity is trending up or down in recent generations.
AGR
Average Genetic Relatedness

Average Genetic Relatedness (AGR) measures how similar a dog’s DNA is, on average, to every other tested dog in the breed. It reflects the dog’s mean kinship — how closely related it is to the population as a whole.

A lower AGR means the dog is more genetically distinct from the majority of the breed. Dogs with low AGR carry alleles at lower frequencies across the tested population, making them higher-priority candidates for inclusion in a well-managed breeding program.

AGR is conceptually related to mean kinship used in conservation genetics for managed species populations. A declining AGR average in younger dogs suggests the breed is successfully redistributing genetic diversity across generations.
IR
Internal Relatedness

Internal Relatedness (IR) measures how much identical genetic material an individual dog inherited from both parents. IR is a useful indicator of inbreeding: lower IR generally reflects lower inbreeding, and it is widely used and reported in the scientific literature.

A high IR is not the cause for alarm it might appear. Elevated IR can often be resolved in a single generation by pairing with a dog whose ancestry is less represented in the breed. It is a signpost, not a sentence.

BetterBred reports IR for reference, but it is not our primary breeding guidance tool. OI and AGR together give a more complete and actionable picture of a dog’s genetic value to the population.

AGR tells you which dogs are genetically unusual relative to the population. OI tells you which dogs are most valuable to preserve. OI specifically weights mid-frequency alleles, identifying dogs whose ancestry is underrepresented in a way most likely to benefit the breed.