[reeskujo]

A few pics of Seigi playing with hubby!

[Lunareclipse]

I soooo want a dog that plays ball. Where am I going wrong? Can I borrow your dog for a few hours?

[reeskujo]

Originally Posted by Lunareclipse

I soooo want a dog that plays ball. Where am I going wrong? Can I borrow your dog for a few hours?

Luna to be honest we just got lucky with Seigi...fetching a ball and bringing it back is so not in the Akita personality! Generally they'll watch throw and then just look at you as if to say"What you're the one that threw it and you think I'm gonna get it"? and then just walk away...lol I was completely surprised that he not only does it but he'll do it for as long as you're willing to throw the ball!...We give up long before he does...lol

[nattiej1976]

Originally Posted by reeskujo

Luna to be honest we just got lucky with Seigi...fetching a ball and bringing it back is so not in the Akita personality! Generally they'll watch throw and then just look at you as if to say"What you're the one that threw it and you think I'm gonna get it"? and then just walk away...lol I was completely surprised that he not only does it but he'll do it for as long as you're willing to throw the ball!...We give up long before he does...lol

lol, kato will play it for a little while, but get board with it quickly enough......he learned from a friends dogs, who would play for hours and hours, Kato would go out with them the first 5 or 6 times and then he would hang around our end of the field and look at the other dogs like they were idots...........i swear he was saying to them in doggy language, "they keep throwing it away, they obviously dont want it, why take it back to them?"

[Lunareclipse]

My dogs don't even LOOK at a thrown ball. MY kid plays fetch better than the dogs do. Have you seen the video?

[lange]

Kuma doesn't play fetch unless Wrigley wants the toy I threw. She's in it for the tug of war with him.

She plays "block it" with me & my son. It's more prey drive driven. I say "ready" and she positions herself & stiffens, eye balling the ball. Then we fast roll the ball past her to the other person across the room. It's like playing keep away. She tries to block it. If the other person gets it she'll stay in the middle for the next roll. It's her favorite game. She only brings the ball back to me so that she can get praised & belly rubs (and sometimes treated) for blocking it. But she doesn't DROP it for me. I have to man handle it out of her mouth. LOL But it's all part of the game. You should see how PROUD she looks when she manages to block it. Soo cute..

Sometimes she'll even play soccer by herself. She'll just kick the ball around with her paws. She's half cat after all..

[reeskujo]

Originally Posted by lange

Kuma doesn't play fetch unless Wrigley wants the toy I threw. She's in it for the tug of war with him.

She plays "block it" with me & my son. It's more prey drive driven. I say "ready" and she positions herself & stiffens, eye balling the ball. Then we fast roll the ball past her to the other person across the room. It's like playing keep away. She tries to block it. If the other person gets it she'll stay in the middle for the next roll. It's her favorite game. She only brings the ball back to me so that she can get praised & belly rubs (and sometimes treated) for blocking it. But she doesn't DROP it for me. I have to man handle it out of her mouth. LOL But it's all part of the game. You should see how PROUD she looks when she manages to block it. Soo cute..

Sometimes she'll even play soccer by herself. She'll just kick the ball around with her paws. She's half cat after all..

Oh Seigi just loves the soccer game!!!!...he will also take the balls outside in his kennel,throw them in the one of many holes he's dug,run around in a circle,go back and get the ball from the hole and start all over again...That's one of the great things about Akita's they're really good about finding ways to entertain themselves...Even if it's not one we prefer like Seigi's favorite of playing in the mud when the rain has filled the holes he dug...lol

[lange]

LOL Kuma HAS to walk through a puddle if she see's one. She pounces on rain drops too. Strange strange girl..

So is digging an Akita trait? I know they usually dig when their bored but she seems to dig whether or not she's bored. She digs things up to chew on. She's also tearing up my climbing roses?!? WTH?..They have THORNS!!..you would think they would protect themselves...nope. One of my roses is now half it's size.

[reeskujo]

Originally Posted by lange

LOL Kuma HAS to walk through a puddle if she see's one. She pounces on rain drops too. Strange strange girl..

So is digging an Akita trait? I know they usually dig when their bored but she seems to dig whether or not she's bored. She digs things up to chew on. She's also tearing up my climbing roses?!? WTH?..They have THORNS!!..you would think they would protect themselves...nope. One of my roses is now half it's size.

Oh yeah...digging is so an Akita trait...I swear sometimes I think their digging back to Japan with the size of the holes I've seen...Seigi has about 7 of them in his kennel that he's dug in about a 3 month span.

[nattiej1976]

Originally Posted by reeskujo

Oh yeah...digging is so an Akita trait...I swear sometimes I think their digging back to Japan with the size of the holes I've seen...Seigi has about 7 of them in his kennel that he's dug in about a 3 month span.

Kato has only one..................but it huuuuuuuuggggggeeeeee! he goes back to the same one over and over, we let him go with it, as it is his outside sleeping pit, he digs it out after the warm afternoon sun to cool it down again. He wont sleep on proper puppy beds tried them all, no interest, he just loves his hole

[lange]

LOL@digging back to Japan!

I don't remember reading that Akitas dig when I researched them. I'm glad I didn't or it may have put me off because of the hubby.

You're lucky Nattie! Kuma has probably dug about 10 all across the yard. Some deeper than others. I blame the squirrels too! SOmetimes it seems like she's trying to get to whatever they've buried. I once watched a squirrel leave a slice of pizza in one of my flowerpots.

[fairydogmother]

Originally Posted by Lunareclipse

I soooo want a dog that plays ball. Where am I going wrong? Can I borrow your dog for a few hours?

You have guarding dogs, not retrievers. Guarding dogs do not fetch, they think it is beneath them. And be careful what you wish for because my lab/pit and chi/Jack are fetching fools; they will fetch all day long or until your arms fall off and then they will pick those up and bring those back to you also. lol

[reeskujo]

Yes guard dogs they are but there are a few Akita's I've known and had that surprisingly will play ball with their owners. Especially those that don't have other dogs at home to play with...The reason they don't retrieve is more because that's not what they were bred to do and many of them are much more content to lay around with a chew toy...it's not because they think it's beneath them as dogs do not have that type of thought proccess.

I'm just glad that he enjoys it so much since it keeps hubby busy to...LOL...I will say though that I've had a few that loved it as puppies but as they got older quickly out grew it when they figured out that you were just going to throw it again...lol

My breeder told me that she has a few all though not many in her clan that enjoy it,Seigi's parents being two of them...I guess that's where he gets it from.

[Lara's mom]

Lara is absolutely ball obsessed!!! I could chuck them around the clock and she'd still be begging for more!!! Please send shipping information.

[Lunareclipse]

Originally Posted by Lara's mom

Lara is absolutely ball obsessed!!! I could chuck them around the clock and she'd still be begging for more!!! Please send shipping information.

Does that mean you'll take Buster for a week while I play fetch with your puppies?

[fairydogmother]

Originally Posted by reeskujo

it's not because they think it's beneath them as dogs do not have that type of thought proccess.

Then you should see how my adult Pyr looks at me when I throw a ball for her...lol She has absolutely no interest at all in chasing anything unless it is running from her in fear of it's life.

My Pyr puppy will chase a ball, however the motive behind it is not to fetch the ball and bring it back, but rather to keep it away from my Lab and then to eat it.

The one thing that all 4 of my dogs agree on is rawhide chewies!

[Yogi]

In my case it is worse. Miniature Pinschers are terriers and the back yard is an open invitation to seek out anything buried. It is literally a mine field out there. Especially with Amie, if she is not bringing objects for me to play fetch with her, she has half her upper body in a hole she is digging so all you see is her backside and dirt flying everywhere. Nearly everyone of my Pins digs. Makes for interesting days in the summer when I mow. Poor mower spends half its time partially buried in holes.

[lange]

Originally Posted by Yogi

Nearly everyone of my Pins digs. Makes for interesting days in the summer when I mow. Poor mower spends half its time partially buried in holes.

LOL That is funny! A few weeks ago I almost broke my foot while I was running in the yard, I hadn't notice one of the holes.

[Lunareclipse]

Originally Posted by Yogi

In my case it is worse. Miniature Pinschers are terriers and the back yard is an open invitation to seek out anything buried. It is literally a mine field out there. Especially with Amie, if she is not bringing objects for me to play fetch with her, she has half her upper body in a hole she is digging so all you see is her backside and dirt flying everywhere. Nearly everyone of my Pins digs. Makes for interesting days in the summer when I mow. Poor mower spends half its time partially buried in holes.

Get a goat and then you won't have to worry about mowing.

[Yogi]

Originally Posted by Lunareclipse

Get a goat and then you won't have to worry about mowing.

Oh yeah, I can see this now...a goat in the back yard and me opening the kitchen door and letting the dogs out....that would really go over well...

Originally Posted by lange

LOL That is funny! A few weeks ago I almost broke my foot while I was running in the yard, I hadn't notice one of the holes.

In my case, there are far more holes than flat surface areas to even consider running. Heck, even the dogs spend most of their time airborne when navigating through the back yard.