I was really very proud of Tiger today. The video's don't really do it justice, as is the way with these things by the time my brother got his camera out they went back to just walking, but its great progress in such a short time.
In relation to moving, I will imagine that most of you on here are in the US or Europe. I dunno what your house-buying process is like over there, but I will explain ours and why we are in moving Limbo.
In the UK, a mortgage is the only way to buy a house unless your rich. You stump up maybe 15% of the money (which for us is EVERYTHING we have), then a bank or building society lends you the rest. Then you have to pay a solicitor, somewhere in the realms of £1000 to oversee the sale. They do a bunch of 'searches' which are basically little surveys of the house, such as, has there ever been coal mining near the house, is there any limestone, has any building been within building regulations, do the owners have papers for any building etc etc etc. Thats basically to tell the bank that the mortgage is a good investment and the house isn't going to fall down in 2 years time.
If a search doesn't come back in time for your move (a good solicitor can chase it up and get it sorted in about a month), you can take out an 'indemnity policy', a sort of insurance against anything being wrong with that particular search. The solicitor will happily set this up for you, for a fee.
So, after a rather long answer to your question, our move has been put back by another week, as three searches aren't complete and they need a week to set up the indemnity policy. So, each one of those is between £50 and £200, and the solicitor charges a £50 fee for each. Bolt on the additional rent for this place and we're around £1000 over everything we budgeted for.
imagine that, a system where, if the solicitor doesn't get everything done on time, he can charge you money to make it all ok. Why would anyone try to finish their work on time?
Anyway, back to the dogs, We're taking them out to the same place next sunday so hopefully he'll remember Bailey and they can be friends!
And with any luck we'll be in the house by then. I hate solicitors
Well that's very frustrating (the house). Here (in Canada, and I believe in the US too) every house has to be inspected (and filed and finalized) by a certified home inspector before any money changes hands. Then after that the "closing date" (i.e. the date where ownership of the house changes) is decided. So you can buy a house and set the closing date for right away, or 6 months later if you want. But either way, the house ownership and moving dates are decided before anyone signs anything. So you don't end up in your kind of situation here (unless of course the process of building your house takes longer than expected). It's very odd the way your system works. Kind of a$$-backwards. But oh well, I guess life is like that sometimes. I really really hope that everything runs smoothly from now on. I'm sure you can't wait until it's over!
Did Bailey and Tiger fight a bit before the walking started?
dunno if it made international news, but we suffered the so called 'credit crunch' over here last year, where our economy went kaput. Before last year, lenders were basically giving money away to anyone, regardless of whether they had realistic prospects of repaying it. If we'd have moved last year, we would have marched into a bank, demanded a 110% mortgage (i.e. the cost of the house +10%), paid the solicitor and the decorating of the house with that money and not a question would have been asked. Because its this year, we had to pay a huge deposit up front and pay for the solicitor ourselves, which opens you up to this kind of financial abuse. Your system sounds loads better. No wonder so many brits emigrate to Canada, especially as last I heard that for the price of a 2 bedroom terraces house over here you can get a spacious new build over there.
Tiger did what he does with every dog he see's at first, which is to try and get close to them. He doesn't bark, he just jumps, but for some reason i let them get close enough and they had a little jump and paw at each other but there were no teeth on display.
Then we put them in the cars and drove to the woods, when Bailey went off the leash Tiger seemed to want to follow him, but when Bailey returned Tiger didn't seem fussed by him, after that they could walk together fine. I wrote it up on the blog a little clearer, but basically Tiger seemed to want to copy Bailey, so when Bailey went to sniff a rottweiler, Tiger sniffed the rottweiler and gave her a little kiss.lol
We had a credit crunch in the US too. The world economy just sucks right now. We also had to pay a big deposit (or down payment) on our house, but we have the house and it was worth it .
Tiger looks great by the way! He is walking really nicely with Bailey. I'm sure once you have your behaviorist and get to live with Tiger full time you will figure each other out pretty well and live a happy life together
hehe actually our problem was our sellers didn't want to move for another month!
At the end of the day, you're poor, but you have a house / apt (that hopefully you love) that's all your own, and that's a great feeling (next to having a dog of course).
hehe Kristin, he does. What he really likes is to watch it fall to the ground and then put one paw on it as he slides about the laminate floor!
Irene, we exchanged contracts today so we'll be in for Friday! We pick up the keys at 12. I am beyond excited! We really only took the next step to house ownership because we wanted a dog, though I am absolutely in love with our house what I'm really excited about is the huge back garden and a full time tiger!
You guys are going to be great together, just remember Tiger is going through A LOT right now and needs an adjustment period, but from what you guys have written and the steps you are willing to take to help Tiger, I foresee a HAPPY wonderful future for your family!
Congrats on the house, it's always so exciting to finally have a plce to call your own. We're in the process of getting a house and should hopefully be in it by November. It's a handyman's special, but has a lot of land to work with and eventually expand on. NY has all these stupid rules that actually make it more complicated than most any other state so I feel for you.
Kristin, I'm most worried about him settling ok without having a personal butler 24 hours a day (Johns friends been on holiday from work and is home most of the time) but I'm really excited to continue his training and help him make some doggy friends. I hope to have a pack of two one day, as if life isn't stressful enough without the one
Irene, you get tax deductions for owning a house?
hehe Beth, I hope your house buying goes a lot smoother than I did. It'll be exciting to build your own dream on your own land though!
To help encourage people to buy their first house, the government will give $8,000 to first time home buyers that close (exchange ownership) by the end of November. We hope to close by then and use that money as a cushion in case one of us gets fired
It's definitely going to take some adjustment on Tigers part to get used to a new schedule. Just remember, be consistent with him. Don't deter from your schedule, get him used to it and understanding it and he will be more comfortable.
I would expect the first two weeks to be the hardest, but once he adjusts to his new life he will realize how good he has it!
we found that, whilst house hunting, you just see dive after dive until you find the house you're going to buy, which seems too good to be true compared to the other houses, so I'd say your house in NY is the one for you. The only thing we need to do in out house except for some cosmetic paintwork here and there, is to raise the fences on two sides to at least 6ft. I've seen Tiger jump 4ft, but I don't think he could get much higher. We agreed a price whilst the market was at rock bottom, its inflated a hell of a lot since then.
First job is to get Tiger registered with our vet and change his microchip to our new address.
Yaaaaaayyyyyyy!!!!!!! I'm soooo excited for you guys! I agree wit Kristin when she says that she is predicting a very positive future for the three of you. It's really positive that Tiger seems to be trying to mimic what he saw Bailey doing. That's great!
he is looking so well. he really is a lovely looking dog. btw i noticed you said that dogs can't go into pet shops over here. they can, if its a small store just ask the owner if they mind, but large super store like pets at home allow dogs in of course they must be on a leash and under control. and congratualtions on your new home.
wow, really venus? That's worth remebering! Thank you! I know that our local pet store doesn't allow pets, but it's not only a pet store so that must be the reason.
Today we had Johns mom and his brother over to help us pack the remaining of the flat up and to clean the floors and cupboards and so forth. She brought her Staffie Amber, when I'd cleaned my various sections I decided to take some pictures of their dog. I'm not a fan of staffs, something about the body type and the way they walk isn't what I like, she has an adorable face. However, Amber is Tigers new cousin, or sister or whatever, and her brindle is very cute. She's incredibly puppy like when she plays, though I can't remember how old she is. She may well still be a puppy.
We gave her Tigers squeaky tennis ball because she loves it and Tigers indifferent. Either way, because I want to try and get into photography I have a Sony DSLR -A200 and thought I'd follow her around trying to get some snaps. I've only ever photographed Bands before and I'm having difficulty catching Tiger because he's always so excited by the flash or whatevers caught his attention. Despite the fact she's just hanging around the flat I think some of them came out pretty good.
haha Beth, I thought it might look like that which is why I extended the title. We're picking Tiger up tomorrow after my staff meeting then collecting Johns brother (in the photos), his Lurcher friend Bailey and Simba/Nunez (a lurcher and a rhodesian ridgeback) friends to go for a nice long walk before he meets his new home. Got the advice for the exercise before change from the FOA rescue guys
WE HAVE THE KEYS! Unfortunately it would seem the lady who lived there before cancelled her phone/internet lines so we have to pay to have them reinstalled instead of just transfering. Due to other funds being (supposedly. Psh) more important than that we'll be offline for a bit don't do anything interesting till I'm back!
And we promise so much spam when we return that you'll wish you had a fridge filled to the brim with eggs to accompany it.
So, we're moved in. Settled and with Tiger. We've had good and bad experiences, I'll start with the most recent and the worst. I took Tiger out for his morning walk, we recently changed his choke chain (which was matting his fur at the neck despite the fact we only used it for his walks and removed it in the house) for a half choke, which had the much desired effect of removing some of the pulling (much more effective than the choke) whilst not being so bad for his fur/bones etc. He pulls a lot on the walk for the first 15 minutes or so, depending on the environment. He pulls hard every time we see a dog, no matter how far away they are or what energy level they are. We read in Karen Pryors book that for most animals a 15 minute or so excitement/adjustment period is to be expected and if the behaviour changes without correction of the animals own consent then it's best to just ride the wave.
Thats fine because on my walks (he's harder to control for me because I don't have an awful lot of strength) I tend to stick to pavement till he's calmed down and then move to the fields near our home when he's easier to handle. If I'm walking with John, John takes him for the first half of the walk. I get the easier half. Phew.
Anyway, the new collar, I hadn't noticed, has two links. One is not as secure as the other. I attached his lead to the wrong one and half way through our walk it snapped, he bolted, I ran. I remembered all the advice from members here about trying to sound excited in my calling, running in the opposite direction whilst his attention was on me and not running to him. I was doing fine and nearly had him when someone screamed from the other side of the field "GET THAT DOG ON A LEASH! NOW YOU SILLY B****". Tiger turned, saw the dog, bolted towards it. I sprinted after it but anyone who's been in this situation will attest to the speed of a dog when it senses freedom.
The man who shouted had a year old puppy and a 10 year old son (approx ages). The son, cried, screamed and ran. Tiger is not human aggressive, he loves to play. He chased. I poured on the gas even though my legs were screaming in pain and I had tears streaming down my face. I shouted to the boy to stop running because the dog assumed it was a game. He stopped. Tiger stopped. Play bowed. Stood, jumped, stopped etc. I told the boy to hold still, I was so close. The man (holding the other dog) screamed again, similar phrasing and told me I was stupid for letting a dog like Tiger off the leash, I shouted that the leash had snapped, he needed to stay calm so I didn't spook tiger but all the shouting had spooked his dog who started barking. Tiger, in his excitement of the chase, hadn't even noticed the other dog. He bounds up to the other dog, barks and play bows before being latched onto by the jaws of this dog half his size. This at least gives me the chance to grab his collar. I tell the guy to get his dog to let go. "I can't. He's a fighting dog. Now that he's tasted blood there's nothing I can do. If your dog dies its your own fault". I contemplate kicking the other dog, who hasn't a scratch on him as Tiger has still failed to retaliate. The other dog releases, I pull Tiger away but the other owner doesn't respond quick enough and he latches on again. Tiger just stands there. Theres blood all over my coat, jeans, both dogs. I tell the man I'm going to pull on Tiger and he's to pull on his dog (bently or barkly or something) as soon as he releases for a better grip. We get them apart and he checks out his dogs muzzle, NOT A MARK. I explain I'll be happy to pay for their vet bills if they give me their details. They refuse. Confused, I give him mine and say if he changes his mind to call me. Mid run, before I'd seen the other dog, I'd called John to help me corral Tiger. He turns up just as the dogs release. I walk Tiger away, calling the vet.
John spoke to the guy, who refused to give his details. John asks what breed of dog he is, suspecting it's a Tosa pup (which is a banned breed in our country) "it's a fighting breed from Japan. You've probably never heard of it, a Tosa." John exclaims he hadn't realised Tosas were biters, more pushing, jumping in their fights (something I didn't know) where the man admits to a kind of training for dog aggression. We leave. Called the police and explained the situation, we kind of assume the man wont call the police because of the illegal nature of his dog. We took responsibility and blame for our dog being off leash, explaining how and why. The man says if the gentleman does attempt any kind of law suit then it wont result in much because there were no human injuries, no serious bites. Even if the man does attempt to do anything, it will result in the seizing of his dog.
It is frustrating to me that I let Tiger get in this situation. I should have caught him. I should have known that part of the collar wasn't the correct way to put the lead. I should have tried to explain to the man what he was doing wrong whilst I was chasing. So many ways I could have done everything differently. I at least managed to make sure his son didn't get bitten.
We have finally managed to find a muzzle to fit Tiger. We've tried at least 6 different sizes in 3 different styles of muzzle, the akita head is not one readily designed for. The muzzle is more for our ease of mind than Tigers. I do not see any aggression in him, even now. But I know that if I walk him now, scared of every dog approaching then all I do is reinforce fear and/or aggression. I haven't walked him since, I'm too scared. I've let him down and I can't let go of it. He's reacting the same way, it'll sound strange (and I admit to noticing this before the attack, but it seems to have been compounded by it). Tiger is attached to John and only John. The first night he sat by our bed. The second night he sat on the landing. The third night he got into my spot on the bed whilst John was in it, when I asked him to leave he ignored me so I tried to lure him off with a treat and when that failed I tried to push/pull him off. He bit me, not hard, more of a correction. John got him off the bed in the end. Now that John has done his first set of night shifts Tiger will sit by the front door waiting for him to come home. He wont take a treat from me, he will only allow minimal fussing. When I come home his interest is minimal where as when John comes home it's like he's been gone a year.
I'd known that Akitas were like this with strangers and we knew Tiger had issues with women but I'd assumed that he'd see me as part of his "pack" and treat me like it, if not below John a little. It's making it all the harder for me to not be scared to walk him.
In other news, before all of this I'd taught him all manner of obedience commands in a short amount of time. We have a solid sit and a solid leave it. He does not like to do down but will do if the reward is high enough. His Leave It command is so solid that it is the only command that works on the walk (after the initial 15 minutes). John hadn't wanted me to teach him anymore but I've been working on "hug" so that we can control his jumping, we're using 'shaping' training to teach him "floor" (as in, stop jumping up at me) and he has a pretty decent "sit pretty" though I don't think I'll continue with this one as I've been told by a friend that for bigger dogs it can be distressing to their joints. Before the fight, he was more responsive to me than he was John in terms of obedience. We've had a lot of success with "voice modulation" and clicker training though when I was training him I couldn't figure out how to hold the treat, use the sign (we have different hand signals for sit, down etc) and click the behavior so I didn't bother with the clicker unless it was the two of us training together.
He had some major break throughs with his dog reactiveness/excitement before the fight, too. We've noticed he copies the level of excitement from the dog he's meeting. From this we found calm, older dogs to introduce him to and had roaring success. A ball-obsessed Collie paid him no mind at all which gave him the opportunity to sniff/greet like a dog is supposed to, unfortunately a mastiff-type pup, filled to the brim with excitement, ran upto him during this and received a correction for getting into his face, but the correction was just right and the owners understood. He has an anatolian shepherd friend, too, that guys a beaut. It took some walk-bys but they responded well after that. He has a distrust of retrievers, I think it's their excitement.
We met a new friend, too. He was in the war (faulklands I think he said) and rescued a JA when he was over there, unfortunately he couldn't afford to bring him back when he was sent home but found a good home. He had a daughter with him whilst we chatted who kept running in and out of Tigers face. I was about to explain that Tiger would snap if she continued and how to properly greet a dog when her dad shouted at her the exact same thing I'd had in mind. He asked if I could teach her how to greet a dog properly, I agreed it'd be good practice for Tiger. He held Tiger close to his side (Tiger fell in love with this guy, I think it was the belly rubs and the ear scratches. The man had big hands!) and I took the girls hand in mine, offering it to Tiger to sniff. He licked her, she pulled away screaming "eww" and Tiger jumped up. He caught me in the fact but it's my own fault for having sat so close and at least he didn't bump her, she'd have a black eye! I told her dogs lick and she'd have to get used to it if she wanted one/wanted to pet this one. She agreed and we tried again. Tiger sat there and let her stroke his head. All in all a roaring success. We got him to sit and called her a dog whisperer (behind her I was making the sit command, I'm lucky he even did it for that. He is not usually so responsive outside). I took Tiger back and we continued talking about dogs whilst the girl played. She ran up behind tiger, poked him hard in the back before I could stop her and ran away squeeling, Tiger jumped up at her, missed by an inch and the girl started to cry. Her dad just told her it was her own fault, she knew not to sneak up on a dog and that he wouldn't blame either me or the dog at all. I had to agree. Poor girl was just excited/scared but I tried to teach her. After that came a stone throwing incident (we failed to watch the girl who'd decided to play 6 or so feet behind us. She threw a fairly big stone that narrowly missed Tigers face and decided it was best if we parted ways. The man shouted a lot at his daughter and swore she'd never have a pet for as long as she lived under his roof. I certainly hope she learns something before she gets a pet of her own. Tiger didn't seem fussed. A bit enamored with the guy to be honest. I felt bad for him again that I'd lost concentration and allowed a little girl to nearly blind him with a stone but I wont let it happen again. It is not up to me and tiger to educate the masses and I wont be putting him at risk again.
One last tale before I go and upload the few videos/photos I have. I walked my friend to the bus stop at around 10pm, it being late and a new area I took Tiger to bolster my confidence. On the way home a group of 10 or so lads walked behind us, hoods up etc etc. I was nervous which is, Im sure, why Tiger decided to turn, bark, walk on. Turn, bark, walk on. I thought that it would make them back up (they were crowding us) but instead they got closer and closer and started telling me to let my "guard dog" off the leash to see if it could take them, saying they'd simply stab him. I'd had enough, called John and asked him to come get us. I stood under a lamppost near the shop hoping for witnesses should anything happen. John appeared, Tiger jumped up in excitement. The lads disappeared across the road. I haven't left the house past dark, with Tiger or not, since.
I'm sorry this is such a lot of information. I'm genuinely upset/worried about Tigers seeming aloofness towards me. We'd seemed to be bonding so well. I was feeling confident about my choice of attempting to qualify to be an obedience trainer and now I'm terrified I've scarred him for life with my incompetence. I'm aware that this fear is potentially whats made him react to me this way and I also realise an Akita with a preference to men over women was always going to prefer John and stick to him but it's a little disheartening. I'm hoping it gets better.
Spam to follow. Despite the tone of this post, everything had been going well up until yesterday. We were a happy family and have become those crazy dog people that refer to themselves as "mommy" and "daddy" to their dog and prefer to take him out for a walk or groom him (I've filled two carrier bags with fur thus far.) than go to the pub with their friends. I just hope I can get over this stupid thing I have stuck in my head. Thanks for your time guys
After having watched these short videos back I despair at how boring they are, but here they are nonetheless. I promise as soon as the house is sorted I'll get real spam.
As you can see, John bought Tiger a dog bed (which I'd thought to be too small but John fits in it ok, and loves it) and he is not interested at all. I told him he wouldn't be. He does love to chew that vet bed though.
"he's been weird all day" at the end of the video is where the beginning of his "aloofness" started, for some reason he didn't jump at all which is something he usually does when John comes home but he had just woken up.
I love it when he sleeps like this. So cute. I got closer to try and show how he sleeps with his tongue just out but it woke him. You'll notice he doesn't respond to his name. This is because I didn't have any cheese on me. You get used to it, lol.
very dull indeed but I remember someone asking if other dogs move in their sleep, before I got the camera out he was full on running against the floor but, of course, as soon as I hit on he changed to just a little kick. Ah well.
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I was really very proud of Tiger today. The video's don't really do it justice, as is the way with these things by the time my brother got his camera out they went back to just walking, but its great progress in such a short time.
In relation to moving, I will imagine that most of you on here are in the US or Europe. I dunno what your house-buying process is like over there, but I will explain ours and why we are in moving Limbo.
In the UK, a mortgage is the only way to buy a house unless your rich. You stump up maybe 15% of the money (which for us is EVERYTHING we have), then a bank or building society lends you the rest. Then you have to pay a solicitor, somewhere in the realms of £1000 to oversee the sale. They do a bunch of 'searches' which are basically little surveys of the house, such as, has there ever been coal mining near the house, is there any limestone, has any building been within building regulations, do the owners have papers for any building etc etc etc. Thats basically to tell the bank that the mortgage is a good investment and the house isn't going to fall down in 2 years time.
If a search doesn't come back in time for your move (a good solicitor can chase it up and get it sorted in about a month), you can take out an 'indemnity policy', a sort of insurance against anything being wrong with that particular search. The solicitor will happily set this up for you, for a fee.
So, after a rather long answer to your question, our move has been put back by another week, as three searches aren't complete and they need a week to set up the indemnity policy. So, each one of those is between £50 and £200, and the solicitor charges a £50 fee for each. Bolt on the additional rent for this place and we're around £1000 over everything we budgeted for.
imagine that, a system where, if the solicitor doesn't get everything done on time, he can charge you money to make it all ok. Why would anyone try to finish their work on time?
Anyway, back to the dogs, We're taking them out to the same place next sunday so hopefully he'll remember Bailey and they can be friends!
And with any luck we'll be in the house by then. I hate solicitors
Did Bailey and Tiger fight a bit before the walking started?
Tiger did what he does with every dog he see's at first, which is to try and get close to them. He doesn't bark, he just jumps, but for some reason i let them get close enough and they had a little jump and paw at each other but there were no teeth on display.
Then we put them in the cars and drove to the woods, when Bailey went off the leash Tiger seemed to want to follow him, but when Bailey returned Tiger didn't seem fussed by him, after that they could walk together fine. I wrote it up on the blog a little clearer, but basically Tiger seemed to want to copy Bailey, so when Bailey went to sniff a rottweiler, Tiger sniffed the rottweiler and gave her a little kiss.lol
Tiger looks great by the way! He is walking really nicely with Bailey. I'm sure once you have your behaviorist and get to live with Tiger full time you will figure each other out pretty well and live a happy life together
Best of luck!
At the end of the day, you're poor, but you have a house / apt (that hopefully you love) that's all your own, and that's a great feeling (next to having a dog of course).
Irene, we exchanged contracts today so we'll be in for Friday! We pick up the keys at 12. I am beyond excited! We really only took the next step to house ownership because we wanted a dog, though I am absolutely in love with our house what I'm really excited about is the huge back garden and a full time tiger!
You guys are going to be great together, just remember Tiger is going through A LOT right now and needs an adjustment period, but from what you guys have written and the steps you are willing to take to help Tiger, I foresee a HAPPY wonderful future for your family!
Congrats again, and well said Kristin.
Congrats on the house, it's always so exciting to finally have a plce to call your own. We're in the process of getting a house and should hopefully be in it by November. It's a handyman's special, but has a lot of land to work with and eventually expand on. NY has all these stupid rules that actually make it more complicated than most any other state so I feel for you.
Irene, you get tax deductions for owning a house?
hehe Beth, I hope your house buying goes a lot smoother than I did. It'll be exciting to build your own dream on your own land though!
I would expect the first two weeks to be the hardest, but once he adjusts to his new life he will realize how good he has it!
we found that, whilst house hunting, you just see dive after dive until you find the house you're going to buy, which seems too good to be true compared to the other houses, so I'd say your house in NY is the one for you. The only thing we need to do in out house except for some cosmetic paintwork here and there, is to raise the fences on two sides to at least 6ft. I've seen Tiger jump 4ft, but I don't think he could get much higher. We agreed a price whilst the market was at rock bottom, its inflated a hell of a lot since then.
First job is to get Tiger registered with our vet and change his microchip to our new address.
and congratualtions on your new home.
We gave her Tigers squeaky tennis ball because she loves it and Tigers indifferent. Either way, because I want to try and get into photography I have a Sony DSLR -A200 and thought I'd follow her around trying to get some snaps. I've only ever photographed Bands before and I'm having difficulty catching Tiger because he's always so excited by the flash or whatevers caught his attention. Despite the fact she's just hanging around the flat I think some of them came out pretty good.
I hope all goes well with the introduction to his new home. Spam us when you get time!
And we promise so much spam when we return that you'll wish you had a fridge filled to the brim with eggs to accompany it.
Thats fine because on my walks (he's harder to control for me because I don't have an awful lot of strength) I tend to stick to pavement till he's calmed down and then move to the fields near our home when he's easier to handle. If I'm walking with John, John takes him for the first half of the walk. I get the easier half. Phew.
Anyway, the new collar, I hadn't noticed, has two links. One is not as secure as the other. I attached his lead to the wrong one and half way through our walk it snapped, he bolted, I ran. I remembered all the advice from members here about trying to sound excited in my calling, running in the opposite direction whilst his attention was on me and not running to him. I was doing fine and nearly had him when someone screamed from the other side of the field "GET THAT DOG ON A LEASH! NOW YOU SILLY B****". Tiger turned, saw the dog, bolted towards it. I sprinted after it but anyone who's been in this situation will attest to the speed of a dog when it senses freedom.
The man who shouted had a year old puppy and a 10 year old son (approx ages). The son, cried, screamed and ran. Tiger is not human aggressive, he loves to play. He chased. I poured on the gas even though my legs were screaming in pain and I had tears streaming down my face. I shouted to the boy to stop running because the dog assumed it was a game. He stopped. Tiger stopped. Play bowed. Stood, jumped, stopped etc. I told the boy to hold still, I was so close. The man (holding the other dog) screamed again, similar phrasing and told me I was stupid for letting a dog like Tiger off the leash, I shouted that the leash had snapped, he needed to stay calm so I didn't spook tiger but all the shouting had spooked his dog who started barking. Tiger, in his excitement of the chase, hadn't even noticed the other dog. He bounds up to the other dog, barks and play bows before being latched onto by the jaws of this dog half his size. This at least gives me the chance to grab his collar. I tell the guy to get his dog to let go. "I can't. He's a fighting dog. Now that he's tasted blood there's nothing I can do. If your dog dies its your own fault". I contemplate kicking the other dog, who hasn't a scratch on him as Tiger has still failed to retaliate. The other dog releases, I pull Tiger away but the other owner doesn't respond quick enough and he latches on again. Tiger just stands there. Theres blood all over my coat, jeans, both dogs. I tell the man I'm going to pull on Tiger and he's to pull on his dog (bently or barkly or something) as soon as he releases for a better grip. We get them apart and he checks out his dogs muzzle, NOT A MARK. I explain I'll be happy to pay for their vet bills if they give me their details. They refuse. Confused, I give him mine and say if he changes his mind to call me. Mid run, before I'd seen the other dog, I'd called John to help me corral Tiger. He turns up just as the dogs release. I walk Tiger away, calling the vet.
John spoke to the guy, who refused to give his details. John asks what breed of dog he is, suspecting it's a Tosa pup (which is a banned breed in our country) "it's a fighting breed from Japan. You've probably never heard of it, a Tosa." John exclaims he hadn't realised Tosas were biters, more pushing, jumping in their fights (something I didn't know) where the man admits to a kind of training for dog aggression. We leave. Called the police and explained the situation, we kind of assume the man wont call the police because of the illegal nature of his dog. We took responsibility and blame for our dog being off leash, explaining how and why. The man says if the gentleman does attempt any kind of law suit then it wont result in much because there were no human injuries, no serious bites. Even if the man does attempt to do anything, it will result in the seizing of his dog.
It is frustrating to me that I let Tiger get in this situation. I should have caught him. I should have known that part of the collar wasn't the correct way to put the lead. I should have tried to explain to the man what he was doing wrong whilst I was chasing. So many ways I could have done everything differently. I at least managed to make sure his son didn't get bitten.
We have finally managed to find a muzzle to fit Tiger. We've tried at least 6 different sizes in 3 different styles of muzzle, the akita head is not one readily designed for. The muzzle is more for our ease of mind than Tigers. I do not see any aggression in him, even now. But I know that if I walk him now, scared of every dog approaching then all I do is reinforce fear and/or aggression. I haven't walked him since, I'm too scared. I've let him down and I can't let go of it. He's reacting the same way, it'll sound strange (and I admit to noticing this before the attack, but it seems to have been compounded by it). Tiger is attached to John and only John. The first night he sat by our bed. The second night he sat on the landing. The third night he got into my spot on the bed whilst John was in it, when I asked him to leave he ignored me so I tried to lure him off with a treat and when that failed I tried to push/pull him off. He bit me, not hard, more of a correction. John got him off the bed in the end. Now that John has done his first set of night shifts Tiger will sit by the front door waiting for him to come home. He wont take a treat from me, he will only allow minimal fussing. When I come home his interest is minimal where as when John comes home it's like he's been gone a year.
I'd known that Akitas were like this with strangers and we knew Tiger had issues with women but I'd assumed that he'd see me as part of his "pack" and treat me like it, if not below John a little. It's making it all the harder for me to not be scared to walk him.
In other news, before all of this I'd taught him all manner of obedience commands in a short amount of time. We have a solid sit and a solid leave it. He does not like to do down but will do if the reward is high enough. His Leave It command is so solid that it is the only command that works on the walk (after the initial 15 minutes). John hadn't wanted me to teach him anymore but I've been working on "hug" so that we can control his jumping, we're using 'shaping' training to teach him "floor" (as in, stop jumping up at me) and he has a pretty decent "sit pretty" though I don't think I'll continue with this one as I've been told by a friend that for bigger dogs it can be distressing to their joints. Before the fight, he was more responsive to me than he was John in terms of obedience. We've had a lot of success with "voice modulation" and clicker training though when I was training him I couldn't figure out how to hold the treat, use the sign (we have different hand signals for sit, down etc) and click the behavior so I didn't bother with the clicker unless it was the two of us training together.
He had some major break throughs with his dog reactiveness/excitement before the fight, too. We've noticed he copies the level of excitement from the dog he's meeting. From this we found calm, older dogs to introduce him to and had roaring success. A ball-obsessed Collie paid him no mind at all which gave him the opportunity to sniff/greet like a dog is supposed to, unfortunately a mastiff-type pup, filled to the brim with excitement, ran upto him during this and received a correction for getting into his face, but the correction was just right and the owners understood. He has an anatolian shepherd friend, too, that guys a beaut. It took some walk-bys but they responded well after that. He has a distrust of retrievers, I think it's their excitement.
We met a new friend, too. He was in the war (faulklands I think he said) and rescued a JA when he was over there, unfortunately he couldn't afford to bring him back when he was sent home but found a good home. He had a daughter with him whilst we chatted who kept running in and out of Tigers face. I was about to explain that Tiger would snap if she continued and how to properly greet a dog when her dad shouted at her the exact same thing I'd had in mind. He asked if I could teach her how to greet a dog properly, I agreed it'd be good practice for Tiger. He held Tiger close to his side (Tiger fell in love with this guy, I think it was the belly rubs and the ear scratches. The man had big hands!) and I took the girls hand in mine, offering it to Tiger to sniff. He licked her, she pulled away screaming "eww" and Tiger jumped up. He caught me in the fact but it's my own fault for having sat so close and at least he didn't bump her, she'd have a black eye! I told her dogs lick and she'd have to get used to it if she wanted one/wanted to pet this one. She agreed and we tried again. Tiger sat there and let her stroke his head. All in all a roaring success. We got him to sit and called her a dog whisperer (behind her I was making the sit command, I'm lucky he even did it for that. He is not usually so responsive outside). I took Tiger back and we continued talking about dogs whilst the girl played. She ran up behind tiger, poked him hard in the back before I could stop her and ran away squeeling, Tiger jumped up at her, missed by an inch and the girl started to cry. Her dad just told her it was her own fault, she knew not to sneak up on a dog and that he wouldn't blame either me or the dog at all. I had to agree. Poor girl was just excited/scared but I tried to teach her. After that came a stone throwing incident (we failed to watch the girl who'd decided to play 6 or so feet behind us. She threw a fairly big stone that narrowly missed Tigers face and decided it was best if we parted ways. The man shouted a lot at his daughter and swore she'd never have a pet for as long as she lived under his roof. I certainly hope she learns something before she gets a pet of her own. Tiger didn't seem fussed. A bit enamored with the guy to be honest. I felt bad for him again that I'd lost concentration and allowed a little girl to nearly blind him with a stone but I wont let it happen again. It is not up to me and tiger to educate the masses and I wont be putting him at risk again.
One last tale before I go and upload the few videos/photos I have. I walked my friend to the bus stop at around 10pm, it being late and a new area I took Tiger to bolster my confidence. On the way home a group of 10 or so lads walked behind us, hoods up etc etc. I was nervous which is, Im sure, why Tiger decided to turn, bark, walk on. Turn, bark, walk on. I thought that it would make them back up (they were crowding us) but instead they got closer and closer and started telling me to let my "guard dog" off the leash to see if it could take them, saying they'd simply stab him. I'd had enough, called John and asked him to come get us. I stood under a lamppost near the shop hoping for witnesses should anything happen. John appeared, Tiger jumped up in excitement. The lads disappeared across the road. I haven't left the house past dark, with Tiger or not, since.
I'm sorry this is such a lot of information. I'm genuinely upset/worried about Tigers seeming aloofness towards me. We'd seemed to be bonding so well. I was feeling confident about my choice of attempting to qualify to be an obedience trainer and now I'm terrified I've scarred him for life with my incompetence. I'm aware that this fear is potentially whats made him react to me this way and I also realise an Akita with a preference to men over women was always going to prefer John and stick to him but it's a little disheartening. I'm hoping it gets better.
Spam to follow. Despite the tone of this post, everything had been going well up until yesterday. We were a happy family and have become those crazy dog people that refer to themselves as "mommy" and "daddy" to their dog and prefer to take him out for a walk or groom him (I've filled two carrier bags with fur thus far.) than go to the pub with their friends. I just hope I can get over this stupid thing I have stuck in my head. Thanks for your time guys
As you can see, John bought Tiger a dog bed (which I'd thought to be too small but John fits in it ok, and loves it) and he is not interested at all. I told him he wouldn't be. He does love to chew that vet bed though.
"he's been weird all day" at the end of the video is where the beginning of his "aloofness" started, for some reason he didn't jump at all which is something he usually does when John comes home but he had just woken up.
I love it when he sleeps like this. So cute. I got closer to try and show how he sleeps with his tongue just out but it woke him. You'll notice he doesn't respond to his name. This is because I didn't have any cheese on me. You get used to it, lol.
very dull indeed but I remember someone asking if other dogs move in their sleep, before I got the camera out he was full on running against the floor but, of course, as soon as I hit on he changed to just a little kick. Ah well.