MnV - Hello and Welcome..... Akiko is adorable. Ben has been telling me all about you, and your quest for an Akita-Inu. In fact we were talking about you guys last night BTW I love her eyes -just the right amount of sassy.
This post has a lot of great advice - and Ben, Jim&Carroll are fantastic sources for advice. The only thing I would add: Place with her feet and nails as much as possible. This will pay off later when you go to trim the nails. The same can be said for brushing the teeth.
Hey "JackBurton", good to hear from you. Same here, we've known you from Ben for a while.
We haven't try doing anything with the nails yet because the breeder trim her right before we got her. We'll definitely start playing the her feet and nails to get her used to it.
Looking back at our "quest" to get Aki is quite surreal. We don't even know how we gone through it all.
We also got some get together with friends set up for this weekend to socialize Aki with different people and places.
Probably gonna get flamed. Ah, just gonna "keep it real."
Vanessa brother's dog Milou was here tonight. I was afraid Aki gonna hurt the smaller size dog, so I have her on leash. Vanessa's bro could care less about Milou, he said dogs play like that, but I was still cautious.
I stopped the play after a while because I think it's too much stress physically on Aki that is only a 3 month's old puppy vs Milou who is 1 and 1/2 year old. We also protect Aki from that hyper dog that keeps on wanting to play more. I think Aki just got her first shot of adrenaline rush. After that play, she was very calm. We felt our bond with Aki deepens as she experiences more things. It's a good feeling. Overall, we believe Aki had a good experience and we are very proud of the way she carried herself.
Firstly, some fun time with our nephew Ethan on Friday night.
Last night, while we were out for a family dinner, Aki made an accident in her crate. It was only 2 hours that we were gone, and she potty before that. Wonder if it's anxiety or tantrum that caused her to pee. We were not too thrilled about that because she is almost potty trained now. Both of us are going back to work full time next week... pray that Aki is gonna do well by herself at home.
Thanks McYogi. That's what having a new pup can do for you. I've never recorded, edited, or posted any video before. We are learning so much new stuff by having Aki.
A friend asked us to go to her neighborhood town square today to take some pictures of Aki. She has one of those Nikon D60 camera. We're very impressed by the quality of the picture produced by that camera. A lot of people come up to Aki asking what breed is she. She is super well socialized with strangers. At one point, a couple with a 16 months old baby girl were playing with Aki on the lawn, and they are totally comfortable with Aki close to their baby. Aki even licked the baby. She's quite gentle with baby and compatible with small children.
On our way home, we bought a 30 ft leash for her to run around next time at the park. She weren't able to run too much today because she's on a 6 ft leash. We also bought her a bullystick that she absolutely loves. We've never seen her that food/threat driven before!
I never had any reason to edit videos before my pups either! I'm really enjoying it, and it's great to teach yourself a new skill. I HIGHLY suggest the Nikon entry-level digital SLR (I am a new owner of a D40) and if you check out my picture thread on the Shiba forum you'll see how much practice I've already had.
The 30 foot leash is a great idea! A great way to utilize that extra length is to wait til she's off playing far away, not paying any attention to you, and then work on "Come!" It's a really easy way to integrate training into a fun and everyday activity.
That's great Aki is getting all the time with kids while he is young - he's gonna be a great with kids later! He's very handsome, his colors and mask are striking.
Thanks for all the positive encouragement. This week is tough... none of us is gonna be with Aki. She's gonna be on her own in the morning. I hope she'll do OK. Can't wait to see her at home this evening.
Our outing with Aki and friends on Sunday. Wifey made a nice slide show of it.
Thanks folks. We still have so much to learn and so many books and dvds to read and watch.
Questions:
1) Aki is quite independent. Normally she would respond to us about 50% of the time.
She is most responsive in our daily ritual stuff, for example:
a) We taught her to wait patiently as we prepare her meal. She has to stay in place until we give the OK for she to eat. She's performing that well.
b) Going outside for walks. She is taught wait patiently too at the door, not crossing the threshold. She is doing that great too.
c) For treats, she will sit and wait for it too. She can perform Sit and Down well when is lured by treats. LOL not threats.
She doesn't respond well to a casual "come" command. Is that common? How long it would take for an Akita to respond well to a simple "come"?
2) She's still misbehave when Vanessa and I are not around. She sneaked into Vanessa mom's closet and peed there yesterday when Aki was left at home with her. We believe she knows we always not happy with her peeing in the house. She only does it now when we are not around.
She still whimpers at night in her crate. We can't ignore her because it disturbs others in our house. She will quiet down once I disagree with her behavior.
Other than those issues, we really have no complaint. It breaks our heart sometimes that we have to tell her NO for some undesired behaviors.
Appreciate any similar experience or advice. Thanks.
On peeing when you're not there: simply make sure she is still taken out on the same schedule and given the same supervision by whoever is watching her. The routine and scheduling of the potty breaks makes it pretty fool-proof.
She can perform Sit and Down well when is lured by threats. You meant "treats" I'm sure, but the typo was pretty endearing
She sounds like she's doing well. Keep up the good work.
Free puppy playschool on Saturday morning. Then we visited a Dog Ranch. Then we went to a puppy off leash park. She wanted to be the star in the puppy park. Almost everyone was asking what breed is she.
Today we went to a niece's birthday and did some more socializing.
I think she has a busier weekend schedule than we do.
The slideshow is so cool. I think you guys are doing a great job. Few thoughts on some of your numbered items:
#2 Peeing in the closet - Well IMO and I could be wrong but maybe the world is a tad to big right now. I tried to limit Kaeda to certain rooms in the house. As she got older I would open up a new room. I did not do that at first, and suffered from many random peepee marks. Akita are really smart dogs - and just like you and me the like to misbehave.
LOL @ the wimper at night. Kaeda would do this every night, except cross out whimper and add full blown crying. To the point where I spent one night in a sleeping bag next to her. Then I moved to the couch, she would know I was there but could not see me. Finally I moved back to my room. It will stop over time.
She will start following the come command as she gets older. Keep up the good work.
Cute video! In the beginning it seems like Aki was trying to be the Collie pup's guardian. lol (at least I think that was a collie pup) At any rate, Aki's a lovely girl.
Good observation Kati. We didn't even notice that. It seems like Aki was trying to protect the other smaller dog. I'm clueless about the breed, but it's very cute.
Cute video! She surely had her dose of socializing there, hehehe. Keep it up!
About the recall, I guess it also depends on the dog, but the trick is to practice a lot, in all situations. Practice in the house mostly, at first and always treat. If you're using a clicker, of course click and treat.
This was Kuma at 3 and a half months after 2 weeks of training.
You can hear the clicker in the background (please ignore the silly guy making weird voices :-P) It took a few months for me to drop the clicker on the recall, and even when I did, it was a gradual thing.
As with anything dog related, it takes a lot of perseverance. The Sit and Down too, loads of practice, at anytime. Make sure she has it down very well at home, or somewhere without distractions before starting to do it outside.
About the peeing in the closet, I agree with Sean.You might want to limit the rooms where she's allowed when you're not there, and maybe even when you are. Kuma and Nyx still stay limited to the entrance and kitchen when we're not home, and at night, to that and the bedroom. And it took Kuma a couple of months to be allowed in the bedroom, only after he started to hold his bladder.
Thanks for the help, folks. We'll continue to work harder.
We signed up for Basic Obedience starting Nov 7th. We've shown our blog to the trainer, and she noticed Aki has strong dominance tendency in her play session. She advice us to work harder in setting rules, training, and lessen up the affection. I don't know if it's paranoia, but she warns us that when an Akita grows up to be 70 to 75 lbs, it's gonna be hard to control if not trained properly at a younger age.
Comments
This post has a lot of great advice - and Ben, Jim&Carroll are fantastic sources for advice. The only thing I would add: Place with her feet and nails as much as possible. This will pay off later when you go to trim the nails. The same can be said for brushing the teeth.
We haven't try doing anything with the nails yet because the breeder trim her right before we got her. We'll definitely start playing the her feet and nails to get her used to it.
Looking back at our "quest" to get Aki is quite surreal. We don't even know how we gone through it all.
We also got some get together with friends set up for this weekend to socialize Aki with different people and places.
Vanessa brother's dog Milou was here tonight. I was afraid Aki gonna hurt the smaller size dog, so I have her on leash. Vanessa's bro could care less about Milou, he said dogs play like that, but I was still cautious.
I stopped the play after a while because I think it's too much stress physically on Aki that is only a 3 month's old puppy vs Milou who is 1 and 1/2 year old. We also protect Aki from that hyper dog that keeps on wanting to play more. I think Aki just got her first shot of adrenaline rush. After that play, she was very calm. We felt our bond with Aki deepens as she experiences more things. It's a good feeling. Overall, we believe Aki had a good experience and we are very proud of the way she carried herself.
More blog entries at http://iloveakita.blogspot.com/
Last night, while we were out for a family dinner, Aki made an accident in her crate. It was only 2 hours that we were gone, and she potty before that. Wonder if it's anxiety or tantrum that caused her to pee. We were not too thrilled about that because she is almost potty trained now. Both of us are going back to work full time next week... pray that Aki is gonna do well by herself at home.
She looks like she's having fun! I love puppy antics.
A friend asked us to go to her neighborhood town square today to take some pictures of Aki. She has one of those Nikon D60 camera. We're very impressed by the quality of the picture produced by that camera. A lot of people come up to Aki asking what breed is she. She is super well socialized with strangers. At one point, a couple with a 16 months old baby girl were playing with Aki on the lawn, and they are totally comfortable with Aki close to their baby. Aki even licked the baby. She's quite gentle with baby and compatible with small children.
On our way home, we bought a 30 ft leash for her to run around next time at the park. She weren't able to run too much today because she's on a 6 ft leash. We also bought her a bullystick that she absolutely loves. We've never seen her that food/threat driven before!
The 30 foot leash is a great idea! A great way to utilize that extra length is to wait til she's off playing far away, not paying any attention to you, and then work on "Come!" It's a really easy way to integrate training into a fun and everyday activity.
Our outing with Aki and friends on Sunday. Wifey made a nice slide show of it.
Questions:
1) Aki is quite independent. Normally she would respond to us about 50% of the time.
She is most responsive in our daily ritual stuff, for example:
a) We taught her to wait patiently as we prepare her meal. She has to stay in place until we give the OK for she to eat. She's performing that well.
b) Going outside for walks. She is taught wait patiently too at the door, not crossing the threshold. She is doing that great too.
c) For treats, she will sit and wait for it too. She can perform Sit and Down well when is lured by treats. LOL not threats.
She doesn't respond well to a casual "come" command. Is that common? How long it would take for an Akita to respond well to a simple "come"?
2) She's still misbehave when Vanessa and I are not around. She sneaked into Vanessa mom's closet and peed there yesterday when Aki was left at home with her. We believe she knows we always not happy with her peeing in the house. She only does it now when we are not around.
She still whimpers at night in her crate. We can't ignore her because it disturbs others in our house. She will quiet down once I disagree with her behavior.
Other than those issues, we really have no complaint. It breaks our heart sometimes that we have to tell her NO for some undesired behaviors.
Appreciate any similar experience or advice. Thanks.
She can perform Sit and Down well when is lured by threats.
You meant "treats" I'm sure, but the typo was pretty endearing
She sounds like she's doing well. Keep up the good work.
Aki got a busy weekend socializing.
Free puppy playschool on Saturday morning. Then we visited a Dog Ranch. Then we went to a puppy off leash park. She wanted to be the star in the puppy park. Almost everyone was asking what breed is she.
Today we went to a niece's birthday and did some more socializing.
I think she has a busier weekend schedule than we do.
#2 Peeing in the closet - Well IMO and I could be wrong but maybe the world is a tad to big right now. I tried to limit Kaeda to certain rooms in the house. As she got older I would open up a new room. I did not do that at first, and suffered from many random peepee marks. Akita are really smart dogs - and just like you and me the like to misbehave.
LOL @ the wimper at night. Kaeda would do this every night, except cross out whimper and add full blown crying. To the point where I spent one night in a sleeping bag next to her. Then I moved to the couch, she would know I was there but could not see me. Finally I moved back to my room. It will stop over time.
She will start following the come command as she gets older. Keep up the good work.
About the recall, I guess it also depends on the dog, but the trick is to practice a lot, in all situations. Practice in the house mostly, at first and always treat. If you're using a clicker, of course click and treat.
This was Kuma at 3 and a half months after 2 weeks of training.
You can hear the clicker in the background (please ignore the silly guy making weird voices :-P) It took a few months for me to drop the clicker on the recall, and even when I did, it was a gradual thing.
As with anything dog related, it takes a lot of perseverance. The Sit and Down too, loads of practice, at anytime. Make sure she has it down very well at home, or somewhere without distractions before starting to do it outside.
About the peeing in the closet, I agree with Sean.You might want to limit the rooms where she's allowed when you're not there, and maybe even when you are. Kuma and Nyx still stay limited to the entrance and kitchen when we're not home, and at night, to that and the bedroom. And it took Kuma a couple of months to be allowed in the bedroom, only after he started to hold his bladder.
Koda hates those round things that move. I can't get him near them.
We signed up for Basic Obedience starting Nov 7th. We've shown our blog to the trainer, and she noticed Aki has strong dominance tendency in her play session. She advice us to work harder in setting rules, training, and lessen up the affection. I don't know if it's paranoia, but she warns us that when an Akita grows up to be 70 to 75 lbs, it's gonna be hard to control if not trained properly at a younger age.
Regardless, we have always wanted to enroll Aki to a formal group training setting. Her website is here http://www.happytailsobediencetraining.com/.
She spent a lot of time on the phone with me asking me about Aki and giving some very good advice even before we meet. I appreciate that a lot.
She's going to weekly Basic Obedience class and socialization at any events we can find.
She's such a flirt with older and bigger male dog; we gotta get her spayed ASAP.
Aki introducing herself to the pack.
Aki continues to prance around and initiate play.
Aki met a Chihuahua.
Aki plays with a Hound Dog
Aki got knock-outed by Decker
Here's Aki with Cooper, her new boyfriend Cooper, 90 lbs 1 1/2 year old Bloodhound (thanks Chrystal) she met on Saturday 11/21/2009, LOL!
Aki playing tug with Cooper
The romance continues
Aki is super cute and what a good player! I like the shading on her back...
People told us the darker the shade when she's a puppy, the more vibrant the red color when she grows up.
Either way, we'll still love her.
Aki got to experience her first snow day.