How to Buy a Mame Shiba (Mini Shiba Inu) from Japan — and How to Tell a Real One

Published October 14, 2026 · Last updated October 14, 2026

For anyone who wants to bring home a Mame Shiba from Japan (also called the mini Shiba Inu in English). This page is not an advertisement for our kennel. It is a guide to checks you can use with any kennel in Japan. We cover, in this order, how bringing a puppy home from Japan works, why checking matters, what to check and how, and who to buy from and how. Please ask us the same things you read here.

Can I buy a Mame Shiba from Japan?

Yes. We have sent puppies to families in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The steps are: inquiry, a place on our free priority list, puppy introduction and contract, your country's import paperwork, and handover. We ask for payment only after you have decided on a puppy we introduced and signed the contract. Joining the priority list itself costs nothing.

Here is how it actually works. We send puppy introduction pages to families on our priority list. The page below is one of them. It shows the date of birth, sex, coat color, vaccinations, the parents' DNA tests, and a video. When a family looks at the page and applies, saying "We would like this puppy," we read that puppy's microchip, weigh it, and send a video showing its current condition. The video below is one of these. Because it shows the number being read, the family can see with their own eyes that the puppy on the introduction page, the puppy in the video, and the puppy that arrives are the same dog.

An example of the puppy introduction page we send to families on our free priority list: date of birth, sex, coat color, vaccinations, parents' GM1 test, and a video.

We take care of all the procedures needed on the Japanese side (the veterinary certificates, the application to the Animal Quarantine Service, and the departure inspection). Your country's entry requirements (the documents needed, waiting periods, and which airports dogs can enter through) differ from country to country and can change, so please check them yourself with the authorities in your country and let us know. Being clear about who does what makes everything easier. Preparation takes a few weeks to a few months. Between the contract and departure, we send you videos of your puppy.

Since August 1, 2024, dogs entering the United States must be at least six months old (a rule of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Until then, we can keep your puppy at our kennel. While we keep it, its daily training and its time with other dogs and people continue. You will find an estimate of the costs on our export costs page.

Why do I need to check before I buy?

Let us be honest. In Japan, there are sellers who sell ordinary Shiba Inu as Mame Shiba. In our experience, it is not unusual to meet a dog that was brought home as a Mame Shiba and has grown to more than 10 kg (22 lb) as an adult. That is the size of an ordinary Shiba Inu. In Japan, you would notice something was wrong by comparing your dog with the Mame Shiba you meet on walks. Overseas, there are no Mame Shiba around to compare with. There is no way to notice until the dog is grown.

It started when Shiba Inu puppies became harder to sell. According to the registration figures of the Japan Kennel Club (JKC), Japan's largest pedigree registry, Shiba registrations fell from 9,958 in 2021 (7th among all breeds) to 4,582 in 2024 (13th) and 3,598 in 2025 (16th). That is a drop to about one third in four years. These are registration numbers, not sales figures. Still, I think they show how many fewer Shiba Inu puppies are being born. Meanwhile, the Mame Shiba remains popular. Sell a dog as a Mame Shiba, and it sells. That opened a gap for ordinary Shiba Inu to slip in.

There is one more thing. With the Mame Shiba, the smaller the puppy, the higher the price it sells for. So some sellers make puppies look small: cutting back their food while they are growing, or presenting them as younger than they really are. We wrote about cases that made the news in Japan on our page "Smaller is not better." Here, in the next chapter, we cover only the things you can check for yourself. There are four.

How can I tell a real Mame Shiba? What should I check, and how?

There are four things to check: the pedigree, the parents and adult dogs, the amount of food, and where the puppy grows up. Start with what paper can tell you, then move closer, to living dogs and to daily life. A kennel that raises its dogs properly will be glad to answer every one of these.

Check 1: The pedigree — who issued it, and what does the breed line say?

Start with the pedigree. In Japan, Mame Shiba pedigrees are issued by KC Japan (The Kennel Club of Japan) and the Japan Mame Shiba Association. In 2008, KC Japan looked into how our kennel managed its breeding and confirmed that size had been fixed over many generations, and then recognized the Mame Shiba as a breed. KC Japan says this on its own website. Check which of the two issued the pedigree, and look at the breed line. A dog that is not a Mame Shiba is listed on its pedigree as "Shiba." "Mame Shiba type," "Mame Shiba size" and "small Shiba" are sales terms; they never appear on a pedigree. A puppy described that way is, on paper, a Shiba Inu. Check the contract for the same thing: does it say the breed is "Mame Shiba," or has it left an escape route by saying "Shiba"?

Next, ask whether the parents' microchip numbers are on the pedigree. In Japan, since June 2022, the law has required breeders and pet shops to microchip the dogs they sell. If the breeder applies, the parents' numbers are printed on the pedigree. Whether they are included is up to the breeder. If they are, you can use the pedigree you receive to check that the puppy really was born to those parents. If they are not, ask how the kennel manages its microchip records. Our pedigrees show the numbers of the puppy and both parents, and the heights of the ancestors over three generations.

Check 2: The parents and adult dogs — ask for a video call showing the whole kennel

A pedigree on paper does not guarantee how big a dog will be as an adult. So look at the parents, and at that kennel's adult dogs, with your own eyes. Even if you cannot come to Japan, you can ask for a video call. Do not decide from photos and videos alone. With photos and videos, the seller chooses what to show. On a video call, you can say, "Please show me over there." That difference matters a great deal.

What you should be shown is the whole kennel: the parent dogs, the retired dogs, the littermates, and the room where the puppies are growing up. Are all the dogs there really Mame Shiba, or are ordinary Shiba Inu mixed in? The adult dogs will tell you. Every puppy is cute. But the time you will live with the dog as an adult is far longer. How big a puppy will grow is shown by its parents and by that kennel's adult dogs. If you are shown only part of the kennel, ask why. A proper kennel can explain.

Check 3: How much food — ask in grams and calories, from puppy to adult

"How much does this puppy eat a day? How much will you recommend feeding as an adult?" Ask for the amounts from puppyhood to adulthood. Grams alone are not enough; ask for the food's calories too. The right amount depends on the calories in the food, so only when you know the calories can you tell whether the puppy is really getting enough. At our kennel, with a food of 315 kcal per 100 g, we feed about 100 g (3.5 oz) a day at four months, and about 100 to 155 g (3.5 to 5.5 oz) for an adult weighing 4 to 6 kg (9 to 13 lb). If you are told an amount far below this, ask why. A healthy Mame Shiba does not grow big even when it eats well. There should be no need to cut back food to make it look small.

Check 4: Where the puppy grows up — until what age, where, and with whom

Finally, where does the puppy grow up? We do not hand over puppies at two months old. Some serious breeders overseas keep even Western breeds, such as Golden Retrievers, with them until about four months of age before sending them home. Knowing that, I came to believe that Japanese dogs, of all dogs, should not be sent out at two months, but only after proper training. We raise our puppies at our kennel until they are over three months old, most until about three and a half months, among their mother, littermates and adult dogs. If a puppy bites too hard, its mother scolds it; playing with littermates, it learns how hard is too hard; it is held by adults and children who visit; and it greets calm adult dogs. This is so that the period when dogs learn from dogs is spent among dogs.

Whichever kennel you buy from, ask: "Until what age, where, and with whom will this puppy live?" Then look during the video call. Does the puppy struggle when held? Does it bite hands? That is the answer to how it spent that time.

Who should I buy from, and how?

My answer is simple. Whenever possible, choose a puppy whose birth kennel you can deal with directly. Overseas, some people get a Japanese Mame Shiba through a local broker, or as a resale of a dog already brought over from Japan. In that case, too, the four checks in Chapter 3 are the same. On top of that, ask for the name of the Japanese kennel where the puppy was born, and ask whether you can have a video call directly with that kennel. If you cannot find out the birth kennel, if you cannot be put in touch with it, or if the original pedigree will not be issued in your name, stop and think again.

Not every broker is bad. To be honest, even we sometimes work with an agent who handles the local procedures in countries with very strict import rules, such as Dubai. The difference is whether the party that chooses the puppy with you and signs the contract is the kennel where the puppy was born. Even if an agent handles the paperwork, we would like the people you ask about the puppy to be the kennel where it was born.

When you sign the contract, check one more thing: the puppy's microchip number. Ask to be given the number, and to see a video of the number being read with a scanner. When we sign a contract, we give the family the puppy's number and post a video of it being read on YouTube for them to watch. This makes it plain to see that no switch can happen. The video in Chapter 1 is one of these. When your puppy arrives, read its number, and you can confirm for yourself that it is the same puppy you signed for. A scanner now costs only a few thousand yen. If a kennel does not have one, that too is an answer.

If you buy from us, I, Nishiyama, handle every inquiry and puppy introduction myself. When you visit us in Japan, Miwako, who looks after our overseas families in English, will show you around the kennel and explain how to raise your puppy. If you cannot come, we will show you the inside of our kennel and the parent dogs by video call. Please ask us for everything in Chapter 3 at that time.

A word from my father

Finally, here are the words that my late father, Masanobu Nishiyama, who started this kennel, wrote for people bringing home a Mame Shiba, just as he wrote them.

If you search online for Mame Shiba breeders, you'll find many websites. By checking just these two points — the kennel where the puppy was born and the organization that issues the pedigree — you greatly increase your chances of finding a genuine Mame Shiba.
Mame Shiba are still rare. Take your time, and do thorough research before you bring one home.
As someone who has spent his life making the name Mame Shiba known, I write this on behalf of all the breeders working sincerely with these dogs. I hope you find a wonderful puppy to share your life with.
— Masanobu Nishiyama, Sesshu Hozanso

Please ask us everything written here. We will show you the pedigree, the inside of the kennel, the parent dogs, the amount of food, and where the puppies grow up — all of it. Checking before you buy is not only for your own sake. When you can tell the Japanese kennels that raise their dogs properly from the rest, you are also helping to protect the Mame Shiba as a breed.

About the author

Tomoyuki Nishiyama, second-generation owner of Sesshu Hozanso, a kennel dedicated to Mame Shiba. I have lived with dogs for more than 50 years and am the author of INUDŌ: The Shiba Inu Code. Everything on this site comes from my own experience.

• The book (Amazon)
• Shiba Inu training
• Instagram
• YouTube

Frequently asked questions

Can I bring home a Mame Shiba from Japan if I live overseas?

Yes. The steps are: inquiry, a place on our free priority list, puppy introduction and contract, your country's import paperwork, and handover. We handle the procedures on the Japanese side; you check your own country's entry requirements. Preparation takes a few weeks to a few months.

Is a "Mame Shiba type" or "Mame Shiba size" puppy a Mame Shiba?

On its pedigree, it is a Shiba Inu. There is no breed called "Mame Shiba type" or "Mame Shiba size" on any pedigree. A dog that is not a Mame Shiba is listed as "Shiba" in the breed line.

How much does a Mame Shiba cost, and how much is shipping from Japan?

You will find the puppy prices and an estimate of export and transport costs on our export costs page. The documents and flights needed differ by country, so we give you a quote once we know where you live.

I live in the United States. From what age can I bring a puppy home?

From six months of age. Since August 1, 2024, the United States has allowed only dogs at least six months old to enter (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Until then, we can keep your puppy at our kennel.