Ive had her for two months. Akita lore tells us that the dogs acted as babysitters while the mothers worked in the fields, Do you believe this? Some dogs will be happier (and humans safer) if we find other ways to express our love. They become dependent on your judgement and rely on you for cues about their environment. The demands of such activities have shaped our selection for less dog-aggression in our Akitas, and I think this is perfectly acceptable and somewhat desireable. Obviously, they need to try a different training method that takes into account a slower ability to generalize. If you don’t have children, you may not feel so strongly about this. Akita females go into "heat" approximately every six months, and have a gestation period of between 58-63 days on average. Just like children, dogs can and will do things for your attention even if the attention they receive is negative. Akitas, on the other hand, take much longer to go from the specific to the general. Hokuto’s attitude to Mr. Yoshida is distinctively different from his affection for Mr. Yoshida’s wife and three children. This attraction is very different from the protectiveness of guarding and herding dogs. He is now terrified of all dogs. They certainly were pitted against similar dogs. A medium puppy might be appropriate for the family with three brash youngsters but not for the one with two girls who hide behind their mother through the whole interview. Hi, I'd love to know how affectionate your Akita is and how they show it. Not only does the dog need to get out and see people, people need to come to the dog’s house and see him. A few people seem not to mind living with an animal that might inflict serious injury on them. Owners of a less-forgiving puppy should be encouraged to find a training class with positive training methods. You may also be battling a dominance problem, which is covered in another section of this discussion. Simply stated: Don’t use any dog for breeding if it has bitten a human. She’s been dog-aggressive since puppyhood, and I’m sure had she been put in a pack situation, she’d have inflicted a lot of damage on other bitches. He also points out that food rewards may not be enough with Akitas and that sooner or later you will have to resort to some type of physical correction. They hadn’t bought a poodle. Force-training is not only ineffective with this type of dog but may well sour him on training altogether. Has your dog ever slipped out the door and headed off? For these dogs, obedience training is a godsend. Just as some people cannot learn a foreign language, a few of these people will never have a clue about their dog’s real personality. Thus, he becomes an active participant in his own training. Except when hunting or fighting, they are rarely risk- takers. Leslie Bair says, “[M]y daughter, Heidi, was four…when she walked across the living room past the slumbering Kuma. Because of this participation on his part, the dog isn’t resentful or sullen because you are making him do something. Two of this litter attacked people, the other was with a very active, very assertive family who loved him dearly but kept him well in hand. Certainly, Akitas today seem less dog-aggressive generally than they were twenty years ago. With no real attachment to the tester, many Akita puppies just stalk off. There are many ways that Shibas can show their affection and it will vary based upon each of their own unique personalities. This is probably a displacement activity, a face-saving advantage which gives him something to do while he makes up his mind. At the top is the pack leader, the CEO. We’ve all seen dogs react poorly to loudspeaker announcements, falling chairs, or other unexpected sounds at a show. Therefore, when you pick a trainer look for someone who is willing to combine methods. Guarding is a primary duty of the European guard dogs commonly seen in Schutzhund work–Rottweilers, Shepherds, and Bouviers. I was so alarmed, I was frozen to my spot and could only watch as she gently turned her head and gave him a big lick.’ Lucky me and lucky child! On his first day at their house as a six- month old puppy, Leslie “awoke to find Kuma’s imposing muzzle about two inches from my face and two dark, unfathomable eyes staring at me. She’s trained herself by observing our responses to her actions and carefully fitting her behavior into an acceptable mode with little or no formal instruction from us. Josey and my son will lay around on each other all day long. The working representatives of this group have served as sled and pack dogs and hunters, and guards. They certainly don’t seem to need others in the way wolves do for example. An unforgiving puppy is not a good choice for the former; he may not be tolerant of rough play that accidentally hurts. Never try to reassure a distrustful dog by petting him and telling him, “It’s okay.” First, it’s not okay and secondly, you’re not allaying his anxiety, you’re rewarding it and, thus, encouraging it. Don’t you think your dog will see this is an attack on his child? He was crate-trained, and at my urging, she agreed to keep the dog crated whenever visiting children were over at the house. This can be accomplished with careful attention to dominance body language and dominance behaviors by all the members of the family. He says the most stable dogs can be unreliable around strangers because the culture in which they were bred far longer than they have been here does not select for that trait. The problem is that dogs learn by repetition, so as a trainer, you have to balance the two by mixing a variety of exercises, using short training times, and by keeping training a manageable challenge. It's not an aggressive act either, and while it can be painful when they pinch skin, they are showing affection to you! Then, their play can become more active. Compared to training a Border Collie, training an Akita is an uphill climb. Almost all the males and some of the bitches with her behind them had some oddity of behavior, although it was by no means the same from dog to dog. Minimum of hips, eyes and thyroid clearances on all of our dogs prior to breeding. The Akita Inu Hozonkai L.A. Dogs that stereotype quickly are easy to train. Dogs taken to training classes are socialized to strangers outside the home. In that case, you’ll have to avoid that dog like the plague because if your’s has a chance, he’ll get in a fight. While the child sat on the floor watching tv, the dog brought his chew-toy over and dropped it near the child. Then you teach him sit in front, then sit when he is away from you. To train them, you must first gain their trust. I asked her if he bothered any other children, and she said, “No, only this boy. The average puppy approaches the tester with his tail up. He attacked. I do not allow barking and the minute Magnum starts to "talk" during play time, it ends. We have back-door garbage pickup, which means the garbage men have to come inside the gates. If your face is being bitten, however, this distinction will be of little concern to you. The sun was behind them, so they appeared in silhouette to me and were so lifelike, I thought they were real. He may yawn repeatedly, which is a sign of stress. Here, dogs that get into trouble usually do so because the trainer has a major lapse in judgement. One of the reasons I think this method is so successful with Akitas is that it challenges them–no boredom here! They were not eager to meet strangers but tolerated them. You may have none, but puppies that you sell may well be around children all of their lives even if your dogs are not. To some extent, their sense of loyalty is the fount from which other traits arise. Hard-mouthed dogs have a slightly different jaw structure, so few Akitas have the same bite strength as a German Shepherd or Rottweiler. His poise in the face of new situations is based in part on inherited traits and in part on the ability to handle stress. “[They] show their affection by being with you,” Hughes confirms. One of the characteristics we consider “smart” in a breed is the ability to consistently repeat a learned behavior. Again, the dog is acting as a protector of a lower-status member of his pack. He can be mildly fearful but should be able to allay those fears in a short time. I’ve heard this story so many times, I now tell puppy buyers never to let their instructors take a dog once it is an adolescent or older. 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