Since Shibas are a healthy, hardy little breed, they seldom need trips to the vet except for routine vaccinations and an occasional teeth cleaning. Your new puppy should be taken to the vet of your choice within a few days of purchase. Most breeders require this as a condition of the puppy's health guarantee. The vet should check his overall condition, his heart for possible murmurs, and have you bring in a stool sample for a parasite examination. A puppy should already have had a least one vaccination from the breeder prior to his sale. You can set up a continued vaccination schedule with your vet during this first check-up.

Puppies should have a complete set of vaccinations before exposing them to situations where many other dogs have been. These vaccinations are against distemper, hepatitis, kennel cough, parvovirus and coronavirus. Often the first shots do not contain a vaccine against letospirosis (lepto). Lepto has frequently been fingered as the "bad guy" in vaccine reaction and vaccine manufacturers had a difficult time combining it with coronavirus vaccine into a single injection.

Since puppies are much more likely to be exposed to coronavirus than lepto, many breeders and veterinarians prefer to wait until the puppy is three to four months old before giving an injection with lepto. Several Shiba puppies have experienced anaphylactoid reactions to vaccine on their second injection even when it did not contain lepto. This is the same severe allergic reaction some people experience when stung by a bee. Epinepherine must be administered immediately, so a veterinarian should be warned of the possibility of a reaction. A puppy should remain in the waiting room of the vet's office for 15 to 20 minutes after his injection to ensure there is no reaction. Rabies shots are given at four months of age.

Rabies is the only vaccination required by law. All others are for the puppy's health.