We had a shiba owner here a couple of years ago and I just loved her posts. Her name was lovemyshiba. She had, as I recall, three other dogs and her shiba was the least affectionate. I think possibly, as someone else posted, it may just that this breed is quite independent and it is actually just part of their *wiring.* I hope that your little girl will recover from her illness quickly so that her little personality may shine.

I just did a little search myself and found a link from one of her threads.
http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthre...ht=lovemyshiba
From here you could go to "view all posts by lovemyshiba" and gain some insight into the shiba breed. It would be nice if she would come back since it seems she hasn't posted since July of 2005.