Over protective Akita

reeskujo · 01-26-2006

I have a two year old Akita that I rescued a week before he was to be put down.He's very obedient,responds to commands right away and is very sweet natured and lovable even with my 3yr.old grandson.This is the kicker.When my husband is home and I walk him I have no problems with aggression,when he's not home and I walk him if you even walk in my direction he growls.I correct his behavior and he stops right away.I can't let anyone in my house when my husband isn't home except family and friends.I know from experience as I use to breed Akitas it's very normal for them to protect the weeker sex when the stronger one is not home.I'm still going to continue to correct him as I don't want him to learn aggression is acceptable.Heres the kicker,I posted this on another forum and couldn't believe the responses,lke I can't control my dog,maybe I should put him down and definitley contact a behaviorist. personallyI feel that this is not atypical behavior when it comes to this breed and if he stops the behavior when I correct him apparently I can control him.What do you guys think?.

kitten2469 · 01-30-2006

I have a 3 year old Akita, I would say that the behavior you are experienceing is normal and yet not. My dog is protective of me however he doesn 't act any differently whether my husbands home or not. My husband wanted Samson to be more protective of me b/c of the area we once lived in. But even then, I could answer the door, and our friends could come and go in the house (sometimes without even knocking- we also had roommates) and all Samson would do would be to say hello and want to get petted.

I think you are handling it correctly by scolding the aggressive behavior, but I would be careful. I know that you said you used to breed Akita's, so you already know they have a built in dominance. You need to make sure to establish that you are the boss, not him. And you can say who comes in and who doesn't.

Just some advice, helpful or not, I don't know. Just sharing my experiences with the same breed. they are wonderful dogs, but can be a handful, and should know WHO's BOSS.

reeskujo · 01-31-2006

Fortunetly he's very good about family and friends coming around even when my husband isn't home it's just strangers.I've been working with him quite a bit lately and bought a harness to walk him with.It gives me more control over him when I walk him since he's so strong.He' obeys what he's told very well so he's really coming around,of course akita's having the stubborn streak that they do it's just a continuos thing keeping them in line.You can't give thm any slack.

kitten2469 · 01-31-2006

Well good luck with him. Sounds like your are working very hard to kick a bad habit, and with Akita's it is deffinatly a constant battle. The best advice I can give at this point, is to start socializing him again. Once you have the negative behavior more under control. Sounds like you could start pretty soon. But if you take him around to people and make him sit, and then let the people pet him. He should eventually get a bit more used to being around strange people. Always keep a hand on him, not to be controlling, but to let him know that your still there and that its ok that this stranger is petting him.

The end result should make him a bit tamer when you take him out among other people. Don't have any concerns about breaking the protective drive. No matter what you do, an Akita will always protect those they love, WHEN the time calls for it. In alot of the read-ups I have found they say, you should never train an Akita to be a better guard dog. By nature they are a guard dog and don't need any additional help or stimulas. I think its reason's like this that there have been Akita attacks at all. That and don't keep the breed chained in the back yard. They are people dogs- but then again you know this already, as an owner.

Best of luck, hope it all works out.

reeskujo · 01-31-2006

I've also read that about not training them to guard or attack.In fact one Akita site said that since it's so natural to them you could have a killing machine on your hands to do so.I've owned many Akita's but this is my husbands first and we constantly argue when I tell him I can not allow Kujo to behave like that just because my husbands not home.My husband of course thinks it's great that Kujo is so protective of me because of course he worrys about me when he's not home but I have to continuosly tell him how dangerous this breed can be when not kept under control at all times.When we got Kujo from the rescue his nails really needed cut.I waited a couple of weeks so he'd feel safe with us and then cut them.The first time he tried to bite me and I grab him On the side of the neck where he has so much skin and firmly told him no.I waited a few minutes and tried again,this time he stood up and tried to bite me.I immediatley took him to the floor by the scruff of his neck and again firmly told him no.Now when I do it he just lays there and doesn't pay it any mind.My husband was stunned he'd never seen anyone do that with a dog especially with someone as tiny as me and a dog as big as Kujo.I told him if I wouldn't have done right then and there my control over him and my alpha status would've been gone.Finally one day my vet who I've taken my Akitas to for years told him he needed to listen to me when it came to training Kujo as I knew what I was doing and he knew Nothing about Akitas.He still gives me problems though.I think it's a man thing but I don't give in when it comes to his training and what behavior I won't allow from him and it's paid off because when issues come about as they tend to with most Akitas I can usually get him into check pretty quick.Definitley not a breed for first time dog owners.

kitten2469 · 01-31-2006

Yeah, you deffinatly handled the nail situation good. I have never owned an Akita before, by my Husband has. So I'm in the opposite situation. And I have to say that I have been stubborn about a few things, but my husband has been very dilligent in keeping Samson in check. MH has put Samson down a couple of times when he didn't wanna listen. And every now and again, Samson will try and growl at MH and gets immediatly put down for bad behavior.

He's never growled at me, which is a bit unusual, except that he considers me mommy. I'm the one that takes care of him, grooming, nails, bath, food etc. But I have been forced to correct him in other situations, so he knows that I won't tolerate his negative behavior. The worst problem I have with him, is that he doesn't like to listen to me when I let him out. We have woods behind our place and Samson loves to play in them. So when I get home I now have to let him out on a leash. Where we used to live, we had a fenced in yard and he was forced to listen to me, b/c I would chase him down. With the woods its a little bit hard. But otherwise, he's a very good specimen for the Breed.

Deffinatly keep fighting your husband on the aggression issue, b/c one day he could be playing around with you and Kujo could mistake the situation for something its not and try to attack him. My husband and I are always wrestling around (playfully) and Samson always gets up to see whats going on. But he knows by now that were just playing. So I'm hoping that when we have kids he'll be fine. He's already used to hearing me sqeal all the time. :-)

Akita's are not the easiest breed to deal with, but once they know their place I think they can be wonderful pets.

I do have to ask, have you ever had an Akita that bit anyone as a puppy, but then was fine as an adult? Samson had a small altercation as a puppy (about 6 months of age) with one of my nephews. Needless to say the family has been hesitant ever since. Samson is over 3 years old now, and is very calm and careful around the kids. He doesn't bump into them or anything like that. And I know for a fact that Samson really didn't know what happened, his reaction when he bit my nephew was total shock and confussion. (He's a very expresive dog). I'm just curious. Everyone says they don't trust him, and that I shouldn't trust him with our kids when we have one. Everyone seems to think that we shouldhave gotten ride of him. Any help as an ex-breeder would be appreciate.

reeskujo · 02-01-2006

I have had pups that have snapped at my kids,but they were corrected right away and taught that behavior wasn't exceptable and were finre as adults.However a golden rule with Akitas is to never leave them unattended with a child under 12.Most Akitas do very well with the children that they are raised with but still may not be acceptable of other children.My grandson is 2&1/2 and not to long ago he bit Kujo on the head.Thank God all he did was bark at him but I still corrected him right away.Now the baby can pretty much do anything and Kujo just goes with the flow,however he's not very fond of kids between the ages of 6-11 and I will not leave him and my grandson alone together.Most Akitas with good socialization do fine with kids but alot of them just don't know matter what you do.It's always better to introduce them slowly and on neutral territory as they'll be less territorial over an area that's not theirs.Alot of Akitas have a hard time dealing with kids because their noisy.Akitas tend to do better in a calm enviorment.Kujo hates alot of noise and hustle and bustle.He behaves fine but you can tell it's agitating him.The best advice I can give you is like I said introduce him to children slowly in neutral territory,immediatley correct any inappropriate responses to a child and do not leave him alone with one until your sure he can be trusted.Don't keep him away from kids though because if he's not socialized with them while he's young you may never get hm to take to them.I hope this helps you some.

kitten2469 · 02-01-2006

Yeah needless to say the accident was not a fun one. Samson was repremanded for the behavior, eventhough MH and I don't think he did it on purpose.

My husband, my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, nephew and father-in-law were all the room. I was on the floor with Samson, and he was chewing on a chew bone. Zach (my nephew) was only 6-8 months old, he was crawling on the floor towards Samson and was making a barking noise. (at this time Samson was sharing our house with his half-brother- who was always stealing his toys). So needless to say, I think Samson thought Zach was his brother or another dog and he was warning him to stay away from his toys. Instead he ended up biting Zach. We got lucky that he didn't do alot of damage and Zach doens't even have a scar.

SO Samson was dealt with, and his half-brother was given to the Akita rescue (he was someone elses who lived with us- mind you he didn't leave b/c of this event- the other roommate moved out and I couldn't take care of 2 akita's). So after he turned a year, it was just him and the cat in the house. He's very gentle with food, and we made sure to train into him tolerance while he's eating and chewing on a toy. We even used to take his food or toy away, make him sit and then we'd give it back. So he knew that if his food bowl or toy was being touched it wasnt a bad thing. And he's been great. The cat used to be adle to eat out of his bowl while he was eating and he didn't even care (we had a weird cat).

Ever since, we have watched him very carefully around the kids. Zach is now 4 and likes to be around Samson, but we always tell the kids not to get into Samson's face, and we always tell Samson (no face). I'm better now at teaching the kids how to pet Samson, and where to pet him. And that if Samson gets up to move, they need to leave him alone- he wants quite time. But screaming kids don't seem to bother him. Like I said Samson is used to hearing me scream around the house, when my husband's being honery.

So I'm hopeing that a good introduction when the baby is born and then always having Samson around while I'm pregnant willhelp. But I will deffinatly watch him around the baby, probably for a very long time. But it would be this way no matter what dog I had. I'll have to watch the cats too, its just how it is.

Thanks for the advice, if you don't mind I'd like to keep your e-mail (or get your e-mail) in case I need any further advice. My husband has had alot of experience with the breed, but not when it comes to kids.

reeskujo · 02-01-2006

It sounds like he was trying to warn your nephew to stay away like you said and being he was a pup didn't know better not to bite but I think you handled it right.Sounds like he's well behaved and tolerant of most things.I really don't think he was trying to hurt your nephew he just didn't want his stuff touched.Just be cautious with him and don't leave him alone with any kids until your sure.If my e-mail isn't in my profile-not sure if I put it in or not let me know and I'll give it to you.I'll answer what questions I can for you.

kitten2469 · 02-01-2006

Well like I said, we've been trying to explain that Samson was only protecting and warning around Zach, but most of the family doesn't wanna hear it. They like Samson, they just don't trust him. He's tryed to test his dominance with some of the other faimly memebers (i.e. that low base growl) so they just leave him alone. We try to tell them, that they either have to let hm know they are the boss, or get one of us. But they don't wanna listen.

But overall everything is fine. You e-mail wasn't on the your profile. But I think mine is. If you wanna just send me a normal e-mail.

Thanks for all the help. Good luck with your own little monster-of-joy.