And people also have to realize its not the breed of the dog its the teacher because having a dog that comes from a long line of fighting dogs can easily be a house pet if trained properly (my best friends dog is a perfect example of this).

and the breed of dog means nothing it could have parents that are lazy lethargic to lazy to get up great Danes and that puppy could decide to rip the house apart or worse.

But then think of humans and how ones parents mean nothing if they are not raised but them(dogs are not raised by dogs they are raised by their owners), their parents could be priests, school teachers or complete plain and simple do good-er’s and that dose NOT prevent you from being a serial killer or a murder, think about that.

before you blame a dog, always look to the teacher(owners).

I have found over the last 23 yrs, that the level of intelligence in dog-owners in general has gone down but the level of intelligence in the Akitas has gone up — why do you suppose that is? As people get less and less inclined to do things “right” they ruin more and more dogs — just look at the vast numbers of dogs being dumped today in the shelters — the numbers are so high they are staggering! 23 yrs ago, when I had 2 Akitas in rescue, I cried thinking I could never find homes for TWO OF THEM! Today, we never have less than 22 Akitas in our care at any given time with a huge waiting list of Akitas needing to come to us — and I am only one of dozens of Akita Rescues — we can’t begin to handle all the Akitas in need nor find qualified homes for them. Why is that? Because people want what they want the minute they want it without doing any research, without knowing what they are getting into and when it turns out to be a bit of work, they are done with it — lost their interest, give up, throw the dog outside and pen it or chain it up. No wonder we have dogs attacking people…you can make a dog go crazy when you treat it like that.

I have owned two boarding kennels and have handled all kinds of breeds — we have never been bitten by a boarding Akita but have been attacked, bitten, mauled by every breed of small dog you can name — yet that is OK, because they are “small dogs”. Well a bite is a bite, a dog is a dog and if you want to brand Akitas as vicious, get in line behind Shih-Tzus, Lhasa-Apsos, Mini-Doxies, Jack Russell Terriers, Pugs, Bulldogs, Chihuahuas and many others I could name — because they all have more bites per breed than the Akitas do nationwide. I get tired of human error being blamed on the dog. Put the owner on trial but stop killing the dog — allow someone with knowledge and understanding to help the dog — in most cases the dog was doing its JOB and it was the human at fault!

If you own an Akita, make sure you train it, keep it healthy (hypothyroidism & LYME disease have been known to make any dog act aggressively)and make people LEAVE YOUR DOG ALONE. Its YOUR dog, not theirs. When you have company over, don’t expect your Akita to tolerate the company — especially CHILDREN. Put the Akita in a safe place, crated, behind a locked door if necessary. I don’t take chances with kids and I have had as many as 5 Akitas at a time living in my home without incident. I don’t trust people to know how to handle my dogs so I just don’t allow them to. Its not that I don’t trust my dogs — my 3 yr old granddaughter lives here now with 3 adult Akitas with NO incidents — its the humans that visit that don’t know how to behave themselves!

I wish you all luck with your Akitas and please seek help if you have issues — do NOT wait for them to ‘resolve’ themselves!! Don’t do your Akita that disservice….thank you!

I get what you’re saying. I made the connection when you used “the playground bully” as an example. For whatever reason, parenting and discipline (or lack there of) has been a huge topic in the last month. I understand the concept of surprising someone (child or animal) with punishment for actions they’ve never before been accountable for. Its not fair to allow a child to grow up without boundaries and expect that same person to magically regard the law on their eighteenth birthday.

I also see my mistake in labeling an Akita as an “aggressive breed”. You are right. Kudos to you for summing it up so concisely and I quote “Aggression is a trait that any animal or human will exhibit when afraid or threatened by a situation.” Place a person in a dog’s shoes and in the face of a jury of piers we (in America) would call that Self Defense.

My errors acknowledged, may I suggest that we agree that the Akita is, as you said, “….a particularly dominant breed.” The American Kennel Club seems to imply that (and much more) in their breed profile. But is there truly no difference in the predisposition of an Akita or German Shepherd or Rotwiler than that of a…. Schnauzer? There is an overwhelming amount of data (Example: http://www.dogsbite.org/bite-statistics.htm) that would suggest that “Not All Dogs Are Created Equal.”

And if you could, wouldn’t you keep an Akita out of the hands of someone less prepared to deal with a more dominant dog? Is training an Akita just as easy as training a yellow Lab? So don’t you think the dominant breeds, the independent breeds that require more-than-average attention from their owners are better off on a dangerous list? Because they are dangerous – in the wrong hands, in inexperienced and unprepared hands, a dog is going to do what he/she feels is necessary and THAT is often determined by a combination of breeding and training.

You know where I’m going with this. I choose to look at the Aggressive List as a positive thing. It helps ensure that the person standing at the end of an Akita’s leash knows what their doing because, for goodness sake, why would you own a dog you weren’t ready to take responsibility for? The Akita owners I’ve met in Seattle have had to carefully instruct me on how to approach their dog: with a mixture of humility and caution. They bought their dogs knowing that SHTF (crude acronym), their dog is one of few in the entire city that’s going to fight and not take flight no matter what the situation: burglar, earthquake, war, Armageddon… Haha.

You make a number of very good points with a very well written post but I have to argue the last point of the aggressive list.

Aggression is a trait that any animal or human will exhibit when afraid or threatened by a situation. A number of dog breeds have been unfairly labeled as aggressive by the media and other ill informed people.

The Pit Bull is an example, first of all, most people don’t even know what a Pit Bull is. Secondly the breed has been generalized into an aggressive killer because of a group of people that abuse the dogs to make them fearful and thus aggressive to everything. These people do this to make them aggressive in the fighting ring, this does not reflect on the breed but on the scum that abuse a small number of these dogs.

Akita’s are a particularly dominant breed, they will become master of their domain if not shown adequate leadership. They will then challenge all that do not show respect to them. This is not the dogs fault but the fault of the dogs person for not providing the right upbringing. The situation is not at all unlike the playground bully that was never taught that he must respect all people and that there are consequences for bad manners and or behavior. The bully was not taught how to interact in society and usually his parents will rationalize his behavior. Once he finds himself as a mature adult in the real world however, he either learns some real life lessons very quickly or he finds himself in big trouble with society in general and spends his life in and out of societies correctional institutions.

My Sarutobi was lucky enough to be given up by his first person who couldn’t handle him to someone who was willing to invest the time and do what needed to be done to teach him those at times unpleasant life lessons.

The only way a dog can control a situation is by what WE call aggression. If you really look at what is called an aggressive attack you will usually find that someone ignored a dogs signals until that simply became impossible. The dog will make eye contact with a stare that could burn a hole through you, then he will raise his hackles, then his tail will drop, then his lips will bare teeth, then he will growl, then bark and if you have managed to ignore all these signs he will bite. Unfortunately most people miss everything but the bite. My guy wasn’t aggressive, he was protective. On walks he would protect me from other dogs, he would protect his treats from being pilfered, etc. Since no one ever showed him his place in society he lived in his own society and people mistakenly labeled him as aggressive.

No dog should ever have to wear that label and ESPECIALLY not as a means to help people to understand their culpability in this situation.

The very last thing I want to do in this post is make people feel like I’m not understanding the gravity of their argument. My heart aches whenever I stumble upon a battle between man and animal or beloved-child and beloved-pet.

I am a horse trainer. I know that dogs and horses are vastly different in psychology but I think that there may be similarities in how horse trainers and dog trainers approach their animals.

A good horse trainer will always consider their horse a lethal weapon in the hands of an ameteur. I treat my horses with respect. Absolutely never will I forget that he/she has the capacity to end my life or cause serious injury.

From what I’ve read about the trainability of the Akita Inu – it is a dog that requires a job (sense of purpose), and needs strong leadership or he/she will assume leadership for the pack (family).

All horses are dangerous. I don’t care how “bomb proof” that 25+ year old mare is at Horse Camp – she can still spook and kick an innocent child.

Likewise, I believe that all dogs are dangerous. Special attention needs to be taken to breed and function before a family invests in a family pet. Just like horses, some dog breeds require greater skill to train and I believe that the Akita Inu is one of them.

The public needs to realize that your dog is firstly an animal, then a breed, and then a pet, your precious Cocoa. No matter how good and loyal they are they still require constant training. Being a horse/dog owner is a lifestyle. Not a hobby that you leave out in your garage to fiddle with once every fortnight. You, the owner, are responsable for that animal’s actions. So how now, brown cow?

I’m talking from experience. My childhood dog, a 98lb German Shepard, bit a little boy at the park. It was my fault not the dog’s fault. I thought dog training ended when the vetrinary office printed out my certificate of completion, “Dog Obediance Level II.”

I was eleven years old and I still feel terrible.

Akitas need to stay on the aggressive list (I’m speaking from America). They need to stay there so that people who are not prepared to devote their time into constant training will not doom a beautiful dog. Its like waving a hand gun around without respect for its power and potention to cause harm.

I think the issue here isn’t Dog vs. Man – its public awareness and education. Educate people on how to treat their animals with the proper respect. Teach people how to practice saftey so as to prevent disaster.

Neither child nor animal should suffer from our ignorance and laziness as parents/adults.

I have an eight month old male akita. He is a handsome animal and normally quite obediant considering their independent nature. In the last month though, he is starting to test boundaries!! I put this down to teenage years, but wonder of the best way to assert my authority. He definately does not like to be told off – he will sulk and ignore me for hours. The behaviours he is showing include: cocking his leg at me (not urinating or humping), a lot of play biting that gets rougher, becoming very boisterous when seeing other dogs and quite aggressive attacking behaviour if another dog growls at him. He has been to obedience classes since he was ten weeks and seen many other dogs. I have been telling him off and being very severe in making him sit and wait for things etc. Does anyone have any other advice???

Jaz

Buddy and I are soon starting training classes, but having a bitch also we have decided to neuter buddy A.S.A.P. At the moment he is only 16 weeks old, does anyone know how soon I can get this done?

I would also like to say how nice it is to hear some positives about Akitas, since getting buddy we have had only negative responses. The same has been said about staffies, I lost my other staffie a week before Christmas, she was always loving and loyal and never aggressive towards any one or anything.

We have started basic commands in doors and buddy responds well from what I’ve read I’ve gathered the main thing is consistency?.

Wish me luck guys.
I’ll keep you posted.

Di

Thanks very much for sharing your story and experience in training an Akita. You have posted some great videos on YouTube. Wolf knows his commands. I recognize the yawn that sometimes occurs just before obeying. I think, this is tension. Akitas can be so stubborn and when they don’t see the logic behind a command and they have to obey just because they are the dog and you are the boss, then they will obey when trained but I do sometimes see the tension. Great training but don’t ask him to sit down too many times just because. I sometimes do this with my Akita Kensho to make it clear who’s the dog. Usually after he has been challenging me. Which he still does on occasion, though it gets more rare as he gets older. He’ll turn four next summer.

All the best and I wish you a happy life with Wolf,

Barbara