How to Train Your Akita Dog

Akitas are intelligent dogs, and they possess certain traits, such as protectiveness and a territorial nature. These traits can make them a challenge to train when coupled with their size and high energy level. Fortunately, you can train an Akita to behave properly and obey your commands if you follow the appropriate steps. It takes firmness and consistency, but if you are willing to put in the required work, you will end up with an obedient and well-behaved canine family member.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

1. Start your akita's training as early as possible. Suki-Na Akitas warns that an adult akita can weigh up to 125 lbs., making it much harder to control. If it learns good manners while it is still a small puppy, this will carry over as it grows, and it will be much easier to handle as an adult.

2. Create specific training goals for your akita. Basic goals should include things like housebreaking, coming to you on command, sitting, staying and lying down. Your akita should also learn to not jump on people, and to be sociable with humans and other dogs. It should allow you to handle its toys and food willingly, without showing aggression. Although you may want to teach it other things, those are the fundamentals of being a good canine citizen for a large dog like an akita.

3. Work the training goals into your akita's everyday routine. Hold frequent but short training sessions, as young dogs tend to have a short attention span. Throughout the rest of the day, enforce the rules of good behavior consistently. Akitas are very intelligent, so if you let them get away with misbehavior at certain times, they will soon learn that you might give in if they push the issue. If you insist on obedience 100 percent of the time, your akita will soon learn to respect you at all times.

4. Continue to work on the basic behaviors for the first four to six weeks of the training process, then add in new tasks. Suki-Na Akitas says that, because of their intelligence, akitas need to be challenged so they will not get bored. The basics should be mastered within six weeks, so you can move on to tricks or more complicated behaviors.

5. In addition to your training sessions, make sure that your akita is getting adequate exercise. Akitas are very energetic dogs, so they don't do well if they are crated or confined for long periods of time, or if they never get a chance to run and play. Take your akita on walks or out to a dog park. Combine these exercise periods with reinforcement of your training basics, such as walking properly on a leash and behaving appropriately around other dogs and people.

Tips & Warnings

• Use a proper balance of praise and correction with your akita. According to Suki-Na Akitas, you need to use correction to maintain the dog's respect, but you don't want to punish it so severely that you break its spirit. Only use correction when necessary, and rely on praise as much as possible. Akitas have a desire to please you, so they will respond well to positive reinforcement.

• Because of their size and dominant nature, akitas must learn to respect humans before they are fully grown. You may think puppy behaviors like mouthing your hand or jumping up on your bed are cute, but they send a bad message to the dog. It learns that using its mouth, acting aggressively and putting itself on an equal level with you are acceptable behaviors, and this will worsen as it grows. Insist on respect early on, so your akita will have the proper attitude by the time it matures.

Resources

• Akita training tips