The Shiba Inu History

Hello, my name is Christopher, I'm a student of UTD. I will be blogging about the Shiba Inu, since I have one and thinking of getting another one. The Shiba Inu was bred to hunt and flush small animals, such as birds and rabbits. Despite efforts to preserve the breed, the Shiba nearly became extinct during World War II. All the dogs were bred from the only three surviving of the Shiba Inu bloodlines, these bloodlines were the Shinshu Shiba from Nagano Prefecture, the Mino Shiba from Gifu Prefecture, and the San'in Shiba from Shimane Prefectures. The Shinshu Shibas possessed a solid undercoat, with dense layer of guard-hairs, and were small and red in color. The Mino Shibas tended to have thick, prick ears, and possessed a sickle tail, rather than the common curled tail found on most modern Shibas. The San'in Shibas were larger than most modern shibas, and tended to be black, without the common tan and white accents found on modern black-and-tan shibas. When the study of Japanese dogs was formalized in the early and mid-20th century, these three were combined into one overall breed, the Shiba Inu. The first Japanese breed standard for the Shiba, the Nippo Standard, was published in 1934. In December 1936, the Shiba Inu was recognized as a Natural Monument of Japan through the Cultural Properties Act, largely due to the efforts of Nihon Ken Hozonkai (Nippo), the Association for the Preservation of the Japanese Dog.
In 1954, an armed service family brought the first Shiba Inu to the USA. In 1979, the first recorded litter was born in the United States. The Shiba was recognized by the American Kennel Club in 1992 and added to the AKC (Non-Sporting Group) in 1993. It is now primarily kept as a pet both in Japan and abroad.

Source: 
Kennel saijoto Shiba's. History of the Shiba. Retrieved 
http://www.saijoto.dk/english/diverse/history.htm