r/akita

Hi Akita family,

I have a 6 yr old long haired American Akita (F), who we love so much. She’s never been a problem, has always loved people, largely indifferent to dogs, but has been our child more or less.

Well last year we had an actual human child, and they are our whole world now. Our Akita was really good with them for the first six months, curious, sniffing, but more or less ignoring them and leaving them be.

Well once our child started crawling, things changed. Within a 2 week period, our Akita snapped at our child 3 times. No clear line through any of them. One of the times could have been resource guarding (waiting by the fridge for dinner), the other time kiddo was a barrier to her going outside, and the last he just crawled towards her - random and out of the blue.

Safe to say, we’ve taken this seriously, and now the two of them are no longer allowed on the floor together. If one of them is roaming, the other is physically separated.

And we hate that. Apart from it being a constant worry and a logistical pain in the ass, it feels like it’s depriving our pup from the life she could be having - not locked away somewhere but involved with the family, which I know is big for the breed. We have gates and play pens that help create a physical barrier while sharing the same general space but it’s not always sustainable.

We reached out to a local trainer but pretty quickly got the vibe that they were not compatible. Their idea of a productive training was yelling real loud at the dog and using physical negative training (hitting/shock collar). Whatever your ethical opinion is about that, I think those of us who have Akitas know that it does nothing but erode trust. They are stubborn, obstinate animals and don’t react the same as… golden doodles.

But this issue is really weighing on us. I cannot bring myself to even think about doing Akita rescue. I had a hard time even typing that sentence. And yet… this is my kid we’re talking about here. I’d do anything for my kid. Is there any hope?

So, I have a few questions:
- anyone been here before? Specifically with a child safety concern like we have?
- anyone know training resources for this issue?
- and I may as well ask - does anyone know someone who has experience working with Akitas in DFW?

I heard this might be a better subreddit to ask for advice on this; My Yorkie is 10 years old he’s about 7 pounds and we just moved in with my mom’s fiance who has a large Akita she has got to be at least 115 pounds she’s huge and a bit overweight. She is 5 years old and has a lot of energy but unfortunately my mom’s fiance doesn’t seem to have her trained very well. The first time I played with her she was literally chewing on my arm, left bite marks and has left scratches and she does not listen to any firm reinforcement from me. She’s very sweet and so far her and my Yorkie coexist pretty well, however she loves to try to play with him every time she sees him and he immediately tries to set a boundary by snapping at her and walking away. I think she thinks he’s playing because she will continue to try to play with him and in fact get more exciteable when he does this. Only problem is sometimes I’ll see her try to nibble at his leg and he’ll snap at her, I know what her “playful” nibbles and little taps with her paws feel like so I just am worried that one day they’ll be home alone and something bad will happen. My moms fiance reassures me that it’s nothing to worry about and kind of makes a big deal out of it every time I yell “STOP” at his dog because I want her to kind of lay off of him sometimes. Am I overreacting, does anyone have advice for this situation?

Edit: thanks everyone for the advice I’m definitely planning to keep them separated whenever unsupervised as this has been my gut feeling from the start. My Yorkie has been attacked before by a different dog and I would hate to lose him this way so for sure better safe than sorry thanks for the help 🙏

Hi Guys, just two quick questions.

Does your dog react when you ask him to go for a walk ? Ours just never gives a hoot about it. She likes it once we're outside but until then she seems like she's zoned out

SECOND QUESTION

As soon as something takes longer than two seconds she immediately lays down. Like she has absolutely no desire to stand or even sit. We checked with the vet but all is okay. Does your akitas do the same ? 😭

Neighbors puppies are cute but I noticed the mom and dad don’t have the big round bear face that I see in other Akita’s is that normal? I don’t wanna spend 3000 if the breeding is off.

Has anyone tried to low noise desensitisation with their pup. Mine doesn’t mind the loud noises of fireworks but he doesn’t like seeing the lights.