Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Shiba Inu originated from the prehistoric Jōmon period in Japan, with artifacts showing dogs resembling this breed unearthed in Aomori Prefecture. These early canines were bred to hunt and flush small game such as birds and rabbits in the mountainous areas of the Chūbu region.
All subsequent dogs were bred from only three surviving bloodlines including the Shinshu Shiba from Nagano Prefecture, the Mino Shiba from former Mino Province in south Gifu Prefecture, and the San'in Shiba from Tottori and Shimane Prefectures. The Shinshu Shibas possessed solid undercoats dense guard hairs and small red coloring while Mino Shibas tended to have thick prick ears and sickle tails rather than curled ones.
The breed's standard colors include red, sesame, black sesame, red sesame, black and tan, or cream. All coat variations feature a cream to white ventral color known as urajiro which means underside white and is required on the sides of the muzzle cheeks inside the ears underjaw upper throat legs abdomen around the vent and tail.
A study in Japan found the Shiba Inu had the second highest rate of patella luxation with 35% affected. Three genes belonging to the breed were associated with glaucoma as found in DNA sequencing analysis and another study showed the breed made up 33% of all glaucoma cases despite being only 2.7% of total population.
The American Kennel Club recognized the breed in 1992 adding it to the Non-Sporting Group in 1993. The first recorded litter was born in America in 1979 following decades of importation efforts after a military family brought the first Shiba Inu to the United States in 1954.