Hi All,
I'm quickly taking in A LOT of information on pet ownership and specially, AKITA ownership.

Currently, Kuma is doing well so far by learning to be obedient. But I still have a concern about integrating him well into our new family (Newborn Daughter of 2 months and wife).

My wife is home raising our daughter, but will most likely go back to work in a year.

The way I see it, if no one is around, then no harm in having Kuma out back. But when we're home being active, have Kuma inside with us.

But right now, my wife is strictly consumed by raising our daughter, and so, given Kuma still being a puppy, he tends to be an obstacle for her at times while getting around in the house, and we just choose not to risk my wife having an incident. When I'm home, Kuma is inside, and he certainly knows his place to keep his distance from our daughter. (1) Eventually, contact will be okay, but when??
(2)If we were to have Kuma inside while my wife is home, what shall we do with Kuma? He currently is pickin up "place" and so he settles on any placemat or pillow bed that we command him to. but being a puppy he still wanders.

What's the ettiquette on running errands with your dog? I've never done anythign like that, so I'm reluctant to take him along to the bank while he waits in the car, or to pick up laundry, etc. (3) Is it better to just leave him at home?

Sorry about the long post, but would really appreciate any feedback good or bad.

Thanks in advance!

We do almost exactly that, when we are not home Kato is confined or crated, but when we are home he is inside or out.....whichever takes his fancy at the time. Usually inside but will take a wander out for half an hour to have a romp and terrorise the neighbours :mrgreen:

What we did to make it clear as to our expectations inside with Kato, which worked really well for us, we got an extra long lead for the first few weeks of his time with us, which was permanantly wrapped around one of our waists. We did this to passively teach him who is boss in the house, and force a follow the leader scenario, it also allowed us to correct any poor or unacceptable behaviour quickly and easily because we were always close at hand. We still, even though he is older, go through this same exercise every now and again just to keep reminding him of expectations around the home.

He now will generally follow somone around the house, but never usually underfoot because he is a few feet behind you, rarely jumping around infront of us. I suppose this has been our biggest expectation of him, to remain behind us, as we are alpha we are always up front, always first through doors, first up or down the stairs, first to sit, eat and initiate play also always first to finnish the game and be in control of the wrap up of it all.

Dont get me wrong, he certainly is not perfect, and we do have to remind him quite reguarly what we expect of him, and he will challenge us quite often too.......the will of the Akita........you will know what I mean in a few months time :twisted:

Have you enrolled into obedience school, if not I really would encourage you to do so, this might be a good opportunity maybe for you to keep an eye on bub, and let your wife be involved in this side of things. Reality is whilst your dog is young, training practice should only be done in 10 min intervals, a few times a day. She could very well become involved by taking 10 mins every now and again when bub is sleeping, and when you have come home ready for the daddy games.

As far as introduction to your baby, mmmmmmm, I am not keen myself on the idea of big dogs and very young children and babies, however you need to make the best of the situation, and hope that it all turns out well. I would suggest that meeting pup and baby should be done soon, if you isolate dog and bub from each other for too long, I could imagine it possible that your younger adult Akita will not recognise your child as a member of his pack, and could run into a spot of bother so to speak. Our experince has been that as a young pup Kato was very very sociable, but as the months went by, he became less tolerant of new people particuarly children and new dogs. He is just a dream with our daughter, and he loves and protects her like you would not believe, but has no more room in his heart to love any other children, just his own, and we noticed this intolerance of strange children from about the age of 7 months old.

In your situation, given that your little person, is always going to be much smaller than your Akita, always err on the side of caution, never ever trust him fully with your little one regardless of how close they may become. Toddler years inparticular be watchfull of, given by the time your baby is a todler, you will have a young adult Akita. The odd, clumsy movements can unsettle any dog, but particuarly the lover of calm and easy movement, Akita. They can react poorly or misinterparate odd or sudden movement and flip into a self protection mode. Be watchfull for eyeballing, small children use their eyes sooooo much as a means of communication, to humans this is a positive way of communication, but imagine being a dog, eye to eye to a little person, flapping their arms and squeeling and showing teeth (smiling) can be perceived by the dog as a massive threat and could react as a threatened dog would.

I dont want to scare you, but moreso ask you to be watchfull of this one, you may be considerably blessed and have no worries what so ever, but I do want you to know about some of the pitfalls too so you can be prepared, and can begin training of tolerance now before the boat is missed.

Please never ever hesitate to ask questions, it is the best way for you to learn, places like this have certainly been a great port of wisdom for myself too. Some of the information you get you may not agree with, or like the idea of, and that is OK, but you may also get perspectives and thoughts that you have missed yourself, or didnt even imagine to think of.

Good luck with it all, please keep us posted on your progress.

Many thanks for your response.
I will be practicing the long lead thing in my house. I have done it while taking out the garbage, and it worked well. Kuma stayed along my side while I walked around the front yard.

I also think I will use the crate more for when we leave for short periods of time.

I am enrolled in obedience training. I am reluctant to say because some may not approve of the method of using a remote training collar. After amounts of research, we thought it was best for us.

In any case, he's obedient without that collar, and continues to look for my direction.

Kuma has already been aquainted with our baby, as I've allowed him to sniff her out while my wife held her many times, and as I held Kuma as well. It's interesting, because he'll sniff, then just kinda glance at both of them, and then go for my wife's toes to lick. he'll lay down next to us and spread out...way out. He's a funny character.

I have a lot of nieces and newphews, and so I am concerned about his socialization. I'm doing my best diligence to make sure Kuma knows his place in every situation.
I also plan on having him neutered since I won't be using him to breed.
In three weeks, he'll be set to go walking and parks, etc...after having completed a set of vaccines. Can't WAIT!

The few times I've taken him out, or to the Vet for his shots, I get nothing but compliments! I think Kuma his developing a big head...

Now...another question. Kuma has managed to get his jaws on my patio furniture. Any ideas on preventing anymore destruction, and him becoming a termite? I'm hoping when the evening walks begin, that will stop...but if not?

Thanks again.

Hello,
Our friend has an Akita and says that they are great dogs and I think that they are considering what other people think and have said about them. I can't wait to get one!!
Does anybody know how much they are abouts??
Tiana

Our trainer kept saying that Kuma is going to be a great dog. For reasons that he definitely has his own personality and strong willed. And I've seen that develop in four months. She also raved about how obedient and smart he is; to have learned so quickly!

Yes, Akitas are strong willed and stubborn, and protective, but they're also very very smart. Strict obedient training is a must and early!

Originally Posted by dogs_180

Hello,
Our friend has an Akita and says that they are great dogs and I think that they are considering what other people think and have said about them. I can't wait to get one!!
Does anybody know how much they are abouts??
Tiana

Hi Tiana

I have seen such variance in the prices for Akitas, your best bet would be to find a couple of good breeders and ask them for prices.

Good on you for considering an Akita, my only pre purchase consideration I can recommend to you is to please use a really good sound breeder. True for any breed really, but with an Akita you cant afford risking buying a pup from parents whose nature are poorly, you want to be able to meet and interact with both parents and know that you are getting a pup from physically and tempramentally sound parents, otherwise you just dont know what you could end up with.

Originally Posted by KumaSan

Our trainer kept saying that Kuma is going to be a great dog. For reasons that he definitely has his own personality and strong willed. And I've seen that develop in four months. She also raved about how obedient and smart he is; to have learned so quickly!

Yes, Akitas are strong willed and stubborn, and protective, but they're also very very smart. Strict obedient training is a must and early!

Yep!!!!!You have an Akita Quick learners, personality plus, willfull and stubborn.

You mentioned in the other post about furniture chewing, this still causing problems? Kato is not particuarly destructive, however did go through a stage where he was getting stuck into the bamboo fence arounnd our swimming pool, I made a paste of cayene pepper and water and painted where he was chewing and that was enough to stop him in an instant.....you can also buy bitter apple sprays from pet stores which can work well too.

Another alternative might be to redirect this chewing into something else, unfortuanately puppys are so likely to chew, and it can then become habbit if left for too long.......Old bits of leather can be quite favoured by a dog who is teething (probably why they like getting their mouths around our shoes) just make sure it is quite a large peice, so pup cant try and swallow it and check it reguarly to make sure that it is not breaking up, kongs and other toys that can be filled with treats are a great chew distraction too, you may find that you will have to buy several toys to find one that he might particuarly like over the furniture. Empty coke bottles with a bit of water, or beef stock has been a favourite chew distraction here.........the only problem now is that if you are not watching he will pinch a full bottle of soft drink thinking its a toy.
Pull him up when he is chewing on what he is not meant to, give him an alternative and praise him when he uses the chew items he is meant to.

Do we get to see some pics of Kuma??? Would love to see him.

Thank you so much nattiej1976 that was a great help!!!
Tiana

Originally Posted by nattiej1976

Yep!!!!!You have an Akita Quick learners, personality plus, willfull and stubborn.

You mentioned in the other post about furniture chewing, this still causing problems? ...

Do we get to see some pics of Kuma??? Would love to see him.

here's one pic: http://www.i-love-dogs.com/dog-pictu...o/1893/si/kuma

but i'll get more. he's twice this size nowadays.

He still manages to get some chewing on our patio furniture, but i never do catch him. I tried "repellent" from the pet store...but that didn't seem to work.
Please pass on the cayenne paste recipe. He has a few toys, and has done well with them, but haven't found one that he'll chew on for a while on his own. I am close to getting a Kong... so any particular one? the one you fill with treats?

Originally Posted by KumaSan

here's one pic: http://www.i-love-dogs.com/dog-pictu...o/1893/si/kuma

but i'll get more. he's twice this size nowadays.

He still manages to get some chewing on our patio furniture, but i never do catch him. I tried "repellent" from the pet store...but that didn't seem to work.
Please pass on the cayenne paste recipe. He has a few toys, and has done well with them, but haven't found one that he'll chew on for a while on his own. I am close to getting a Kong... so any particular one? the one you fill with treats?

No real recipe, its just pouring some of the pepper in a bowl and mixing a little bit of water to it until its runny enough to beable to paint on things. Worked a treat for us, it was just way to hot for somones tongue, Chilly powder would probably do the same too.

Get the Kong brand, they are good quality, your cheap 2 dollar shop ones are luckly to last a week before a dog destroys it. (im only telling you that from trying them. it cost me a forturne replacing them before i finally relented and bought the good quality one )

WOndering how you manage the shedding of your akita?

I have the furminator, and another brush, and attempting to brush at least once an evening.

thoughts?

Originally Posted by KumaSan

thoughts?

Our neighbours hate us, thats one thought...........oh no thats fact, ive watched clumps of fur come off in the wind and land on their washing

I dont think there is much more you can do really, but brush at least every other day. One of the most cosmetic downfalls to an Akita.

I use the same sort of grooming tools as you and they seem to strip the worst of it out. You would not have had a full blow yet with Kuma, im guessing anyway (only because Katos first was not until after 12 months old) dont want to completely assume? But a brushing for less than five minuites and I can fill a shopping bag full of fur.

it almost seems like a waste of a lovley soft down when i put it all in the bin.

Originally Posted by nattiej1976

...

I dont think there is much more you can do really, but brush at least every other day. One of the most cosmetic downfalls to an Akita.
...

I sort of figured... i'm starting to just pick up fur balls as i go, just so it won't be so bad when i sweep.