Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Things You’ll Need:
Step1
Keep your Akita's weight down. This should not be difficult, since Akitas eat less than most dogs their size. Keep your Akita's food dish separate from other pets' dishes. Akitas are very possessive of their dog chow.
Step2
Take care when introducing a new baby to an Akita. If children are in the home before the Akita moves in, she will accept them as part of the pack. But if the Akita is there first, she may need time to adjust to new children. Akitas may not tolerate visiting children, and boisterous play can incite an Akita's protective instincts.
Step3
Be careful with your dog's diet. Akitas need an ultra-premium, all-natural dog food and should receive a digestive enzyme with each meal.
Step4
Learn about the health problems associated with this breed: bloat (Akitas are among the top 10 breeds that bloat), hypothyroidism, autoimmune diseases, epilepsy, cruciate ligament tears, patella luxation, skin and eye disorders and hip dysplasia.
Step5
Be prepared for an annual or biannual shed fest. This dog's undercoat is thick and lush and will be shed entirely once or twice a year. You can knit more than one sweater with the fur your dog loses. The shedding period lasts a few weeks.
Step6
Brush your Akita weekly when she's not shedding and daily during shedding periods. Brushing keeps the coat oiled and is part of a bonding ritual.
Step7
Bathe the dog infrequently. Akitas are very clean dogs and groom themselves like cats.
Step8
Make sure to trim the dog's nails once a month, especially if you have an older Akita. An active Akita on concrete will keep its own nails trimmed.
Step9
Remember that Akitas learn easily and respond well to a firm and consistent trainer.
Step10
Allow your Akita to come inside; Akitas do not do well as outside dogs. As a rule, they are not destructive and can be trusted with a doggy door.
Step11
Remember that this dog is very social and needs plenty of time with its owners.
Step12
Get ready to enjoy your dog for 10 to 13 years - the average life expectancy of an Akita.
Comments
Anonymous said
on 8/30/2006 My Akita is my most faithful friend ever. Once you build a trusting relationship with these noble creatures, they will be there with you every step of the way. They do require one on one time with owners, and don't like to be 'left out' of family time, even if it's just watching the TV. They just like to be close to the ones they love. So having them outside is like punishment to the poor things.
Another tip, great escape artists! The strange thing is, mine only really escapes the back yard to sit on the front porch and make sure the house and everyone in it is OK. They can climb fences like cats!
Anonymous said
on 8/9/2006 My husband and I have 3 dogs and four cats. The oldest dog is a three year old American Akita, the middle is a 3 year old coyote mix and the youngest is a two year old long haired Japanese Akita.
First, owning an Akita has been the greatest joy of my life. They are clever, funny, regal, stubborn and silly. Obedience training is a must, as is early socialization. All of our dogs get along well with the cats, and see us as the "Alpha" parents.
However, having had the most dog and human socialization of the three, our oldest Akita, Sable, is extremely dog aggressive. She cannot be off leash ever, whereas up until a year or ago she was wonderful at the dog park, etc. Nothing happened to make her aggressive, that is just her temperament. Also, she is fairly protective of us around strangers, but seems to sense when a person is "OK", even if she hasn't met them. She is slightly more aggressive when her "sisters" are around, as she has always been protective of them, and the only problem between them was a fight over a rope toy (between her and the mixed breed).
Our long haired Akita, Rowan, has the sweetest temperament anyone could ever ask for. She is occasionally food aggressive, but has not once had a problem with our other Akita. She has never had any obedience training but is wonderful on leash and at the dog park. She sees me in particular as her alpha, so whenever we play- and this is true of any Akita- I make sure that I end up in the dominant position.
We don't have children, though the Akitas don't seem to mind them too much. We are looking into getting an Alaskan Malamute in a year or two and, considering the temperament of our oldest Akita, we know we have to get a male, as close to 8 weeks as possible, so that she doesn't feel threatened. Anyone looking into getting a new dog who already has an Akita should take that advice- same sex dogs don't do well unless raised together, and there is nothing more terrible than to see your Akita violently attack another dog because he- or she- feels threatened.
Anonymous said
on 8/8/2006 I first met an Akita in 1976 at a dog show. My daughter and I were sitting ring side watching a group of females being shown. Suddenly a female closest to my daughter leans over and gives her a slurp on the eye!
I discovered two things then and there. First, my daughter was deathly allergic to dogs! Her eye immediately began to swell! Second, I liked Akitas!
Twenty years later after my daughter left home, I got Kogumo Mukai [little bear by the well], aka Mookie.
He is now an eight year old male and I've treasured every minute with him. A day doesn't pass that he doesn't make me laugh.
Some things I've learned over the years are:
1. The breed responds extremely well to intelligent, psychological handling; like Caesar Milano the dog whisperer. They don't like to be physically pushed or physically forced to do anything.
2. They will like or dislike whatever races they are exposed to positively or negatively. For example, my dog doesn't like white males. That is because he had a negative experience with a white male in a kennel. He loves all women regardless of race or age. Conversely, he doesn't like young black males wearing hooded sweatshirts. That is because as a puppy such a person frightened the puppy trying to sneak into our yard to steal him.
3. My Akita is in an aggressive dog period. But there are logical reasons why this is so. One, the breed is aggressive. Two, as a puppy I didn't do a good enough job socializing the him with other dogs. We took him to my wife's third grade class to spend the day with her kids. So he got used to kids as a puppy. Three, my Akita has been attacked while on his leash by other people's dogs running loose. This has happened nine times, as we walk the neighborhood twice a day. My guy absolutely will not permit any thing to threaten me. I suspect his aggression is sometimes a result of my own anger and attitude toward other dogs let loose by irresponsible owners. I don't want him to fight because he always destroys the other dog and I don't want him hurt.
4. My Akita is never alone with my grandchildren. Not because he is vicious. He is very protective of them. He considers my grandchildren an extension of his pact. And that is the problem. The only pack leader he accepts is my wife and myself. He is inclined to nip or whatever any child who in his considered dog opinion usurps pack social structure. Plus he was there first and I think he thinks he is the biggest baby in the pack. Whatever. He obviously loves the grandkids. But our instincts say be careful. Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. We treasure the dog and our grandchildren too much to have an accident.
5. The dog will bark. But he is not an excessive barker. I would say he barks sparingly. I know he will not bark before going after any perceived threat to his pack or territory. I have never trained him to be an attack dog. He doesn't need it. I have, however, trained him on the "out" command to release whatever is in his mouth. The reason for this is obvious.
6. The dog is extremely easy to train. But the training must be intelligent. I describe it as getting inside the dog's head. For example, when first introduced to a lease my Akita literally flipped out at only eight weeks old. He would not tolerate the thing on him period. No way no how. And walking on leash was out the question. So I forced it on him, but distracted him with cooked chicken in my hand. Walking a few feet away I enticed him with the food. He came - grudgingly! But he came. At only eight weeks old he was smart enough to understand he was selling out!
7. The only difficulty with this Akita was his teenage years, between two and three. Like any teenager he was inclined to want to have his own way. And he wasn't difficult, I just stayed inside his head. I enjoyed the dog tremendously.
8. I will never have any other breed. The intelligence, integrity, nobility, independence, and character of these dogs makes for an animal companion and friend without equal.
9. The dog is loving, very loving, and vocal. But he does not love like, say a golden retriever. This large dog is dignified, reserved, kind of cool. I have learned to understand his vocalizations. He doesn't growl, so much as he communicates! Because, what I thought were growls of anger; might in fact be growls of pleasure because of being rubbed! A growl might be the response to the question, "Do you want to go out?" This is a very intelligent breed. I've never known anything like it.
Anonymous said
on 6/30/2006 I am the proud owner of a bear-like Akita with a great personality. He has accepted two dogs that we socialized with him from an early age, but is aggressive with dogs he does not know. He is the perfect house dog in many ways, but needs tons of affection and patience when he is in one of his stubborn moods. We have brought our young daughter up to say "NO" when he plays too rough and he always responds in a positive way. We also made sure our neighbors children socialized with him as soon as he came to our home. We believe that it is our responsibility to ensure public safety and not our neighbors.
Anonymous said
on 3/6/2006 I have a very loving and loyal Akita Inu. Her name is Yuki and she is almost 2 years old. I brought her home at 5 weeks old (I would not suggest bringing them home until they are at least 8 weeks old). At the time I brought her home, we had a 4 month old Toy Poodle and over time the Poodle got used to Yuki. Yuki has been a most loving dog in the world, very smart and harmless. She loves to play with other dogs, as long as she is off leash. We have been taking her to the dog park since she was 3 months old and she has never had a problem with another dog (unless that dog was mean to Kodi, the Toy Poodle).
I've been amazed at how patient and smart she is. I am still teaching her and she is still learning. She knows sit, stay, down, up (stand on her hind legs), roll over, shake, and come. She loves kids, I have been, again and again, amazed at how patient she is. She lets the kids pull at her ears and tail, climb all over her and ride her back. She does very well with a lot of people. We just had a Super Bowl party and had close to 50 people over. She was fine with all of them. I would recommend the Akita to anyone. The biggest thing that you need to do with a Akita is to love them. They need to be trained (they are party of the working dog class and they need to do something for you). They need to be socialized (good socialization is key if you want your dog to play with other dogs and be completely nice to other people). Never hit your dog and never try to train them to protect you, they will automatically protect you, your family, and your property.