Texan lookin at getting a Kai
Hello I'm new to the forum. I'm am looking at getting a Kai and I would like to know as much as possible before I start looking for pups. I have always had adult shelter dogs and I currently have a 8-9 year old mutt that looks like a small lab/shepherd. Sweetest dog I have ever had but she's rather lazy. Looking into a Kai as a hiking/ possible hunting dog. Any info or references to books on Kai Ken would helpful. Also wondering if anyone has taken their Kai to work and how well they do with noise if they are raised with it.
Comments
Welcome!
Jesse
I adore my Kai Ken, but he's not quite a "go anywhere, do anything dog." He is very friendly with other animals, but is very wary of strangers until he gets to know them. Because of that, I only bring him to work on the weekends when my building is empty. He wasn't socialized to it at a young age though, so YMMV.
As far as noise goes, he was more noise sensitive than my lab as a puppy, but that's not saying much. I picked my lab puppy in part because of his interest in loud noises. It took me 3-4 months of consistent work to help my Kai overcome gunshyness. I think both of them would be pretty stressed in busy loud environments though.
however, not every kai (or dog for that matter) is the same, socialization at a young age is very important.
He's more leery of people coming into our home or my parent's house. He doesn't like holidays with the family over and usually just hangs out in the backyard. I've learned that greeting people outside and then bringing them into my home with Koda usually makes him feel comfortable with them and he's quick to become their friend when I do this. I would never ask a Kai to be overly friendly but I do expect them to be polite to people.
There are Kai's that will completely flip out on strangers coming into the home and are unable to even leave their home. I can't stress enough that it is so important and a lot of work to socialize a Kai properly but if you are willing to invest the time you will live a great life with a breed that is so easy to fall in love with. I will always have a Kai in my home.
I got Koda knowing I wanted him to be a therapy dog partly because I wanted to see how well a Kai would do with their innate manners and sensitivity. Secondly it would create opportunities for him to join me at work. We went to work right away socializing Koda. I tried to introduce him to as many new sights, sounds, people, etc. as I could and make everything a positive experience. We worked on it every day! He pretty much dictated my life for the first two years of his and thankfully it all paid off. I'm really lucky that I live in a pretty dog friendly Bay Area suburb. Plus I enrolled him in an autistic child support dog program and he got a service dog jacket that allows him to go anywhere. He he. But most people just know him now.
Koda has worked in a preschool setting and is now visiting adults in a mental institution. He does well with loud sounds, children screaming, and well crazy adults yelling and fighting. With that said, he does not do well with fireworks and thunder. He gets so scared its sad. And he was fine with fireworks at eleven weeks old. He also needs a quiet home to thrive.
Ok that was long. Let me know if you have any questions.
@shishiinu HA. There are plenty of hogs here, I didn't realize we had the largest population, I just thought it was normal? Anyway, hogs terrorize the city folk here in dallas. I am rather amused by it because they are something I grew up with when I lived out in the boonies south of houston, where people are used to hitting hogs with their trucks (on accident of course) and taking them home and eating them. Backstrap is nice
Each Kai is differant. Some are very outgoing and are afraid of nothing and love everyone and some are more quiet and reserved.
The biggest thing I would stress is socialize a lot and it does not stop, because they are no longer a puppy but it is an ongoing process their whole lives and if they decide they dont like everyone thats ok, as long as they mind their manners. I just tell everyone they are in training and if they want to see you they will come to you.
As far as hiking etc they love these kinds of actvities, but be aware the need extensive recall training if they are going to be off leash, as they are a hunting dog and if they see game they will be after it.
There's a long thread on here I started two years ago when I first was training Tyson. I've been bad about updating it, but it chronicles my experience taking a versatile big-game dog and teaching him to hunt for the preverbal needle in a haystack (or Bobwhite in a CRP field). :-)
Going to work with me got her acclimated to vehicles, burly guys, noisy machines, men with goggles, 2way radios, skis, snowboards, beards, hats, hard hats, trucks, ATVs, bobcat, ladies with crackers, other people's friendly dogs. Because she had time off from exposure in her crate, it never was at an intensity or duration that overwhelmed her. Small doses of new things in a pleasant familiar environment. I have also taken her to a couple of shooting events, and she never startled at shotguns, although she was not directly under them. (the same exposure would have freaked my greyhound mix and shell-shocked my other dog though.)
I also hike with Juno, and find her to be just as reliable as my 9year old greyhound/gsd mix- both are very prey-aware and chasey (and esp. in the case of the older dog, bite-shake-kill-consume-y as well). I think you need to set appropriate expectations for them- for example, my sister and I both like to hike with our dogs, but she expects her labrador to stay in sight, on trail, make mileage and not chase anything, and the lab can do this beautifully. I expect to be able to hear my dog's bells and for them to walk with or orbit around me, check in with me and for us all to check out poop, tracks, feathers, dens, etc as we go, I expect them to come to me for help if they get quilled by a porcupine, and my dogs can do this. I think my sister would not relax and enjoy my kind of hiking if she couldnt see her dogs and the werent acting 'obedient', and I would find it suffocating to attempt to control my dogs to the level it would require to keep them on trail, in sight and not-exploring. I dont want to nag or be a drill sergeant at them. So it depends on what you expect, what distance you are comfortable with in your offleash dog, and the nature of the individual dog as to whether a kai is good hiking buddy for anyone. We have a deal that works for our relationship.
Juno came to me with an ideal puppyhood, and has been groomed for offleash work since the word go. We leash-hiked for the first month or so then began to mix in the check cord. She began dragging a long orange check cord in the woods at 4 or 5 months of age, and has exceeded my expectations for reliability in the forest- recall practice, 'find me!,' and rewarding the hell out of auto-check-ins. She had my older dog Reilly to follow, and she knows what our custom is. She checks in on her own, knows we are a group together that she belongs to. We hike several days a week for short hour-longers on familiar trails, and then do longer hikes/snowshoes etc. on weekends. Its a regular thing and she knows what to expect- her desire to explore freely and trek with me is exercised frequently, so when we go out she is excited but not exploding. She knows hiking is something we do together not something to ditch me and do by herself. She has a lot of respect for customs, and knows some things are just not done- ie: we dont cross the river, we do stay together, we go right in the house when we come out of the woods, seeing mom for a quick collar check means we get a treat and keep hiking! Great!
We dont hike the popular trails with lots of people and dogs on them- because, well, we hike to be in the woods, not with people- but when we do meet hikers or hunters or dogs in the woods, she has been polite, curious, and comes along away from them when we've said hi and need to walk on. She has also been comfortable hiking joined by a friend and her dogs, or a friend and no dogs, or my daughter and her giggly friends, so she is adaptable, but I dont know if she'd do as well on busy trails where the social stimulation is more frequent. I think that, like me, she is busy enjoying the woods and doesnt care for a lot of people interrupting that. We dont go into town that often, so she is not a city dog and gets a little nervous- Juno's a mountain dog.
Since she is small, strong and nimble, she can climb rocks and steep areas that Reilly would balk at because Rei is long and tall and very chesty (top-heavy). The kai scrambles well! I have also taken her canoeing, which her small size makes much smoother than bringing the big dogs
@kaikenone Koda is actually of the two the one that I would say is not naturally as outgoing. Mei is by far more outgoing. But Mei was not socialized, and therefore has some social anxieties. But hers are towards other dogs. Not that she's mean to them, but that she was never taught manners. She doesn't know how to initiate play without going all out like she would with Koda. This can scare other dogs. She knows she scares them, so she shies away. Out in areas with lots of dogs, she will retreat to hunt on her own. Hunting/Tracking calms Mei down. She's a natural at hunting! Mei is also quicker to give strangers a chance and will jump on them and hug them around their waist. She is very trusting even after what she went through.