Has anyone attempted to raise a Kai puppy in an apartment? Good or Bad Idea.

edited August 2012 in Kai Ken (甲斐犬)
Hey guys, My wife and I are thinking about getting a Kai puppy but are worried he or she would destroy the appartment. Just wondering what other people think of the idea. Thanks!

Comments

  • edited August 2012
    Well... Kai puppies are a handful no matter where you have them! But their not as bad as other breeds, that's for sure! We got our kai pup early May and having a backyard where he could run and burn energy was a life saver. But you can just play with them inside the house, and it'll get them tired just as well. It's really no biggy. Our pup left his breeder potty trained, but he back tracked when he came to our house (which is common). Not having a yard could make re-potty training difficult... but maybe it was just our pup! :)

    He did love to chew on sandals and shoes, but never became destructive with furniture. Just replace the object you want them to drop with a toy. Taking him to puppy class HELPED A TON! "Leave it" and "Drop it" became the magic words!

    Once the pup has all his shots, daily walks (+ play time) is essential! You should be fine though :)
  • Do not forget about crate training, too!
  • edited August 2012
    All puppies are a handful. You just need to become a handy man to fix the repairs or you'll get charged on move-out.

    I raised my Shiba Inu in an apartment and he would tear up the carpet when left alone. I also had to make sure the carpet stays nice and clean when he had accidents. Upon move-out, I had to superglue pieces of carpet in the blank patches.

    My Kai has separation anxiety and would gnaw at the door frame, which I already repaired. I'm still working on crate training but it'll help out immensely once she has it down.

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    Don't forget blinds too. You'll probably need to buy new blinds or use clear gift wrapping tape!

    There are a lot of apartments with dog parks where you can let your pooch romp around. Frequent exercise will help!

  • Oh man he really did a number on the door frame! Thanks for the advice guys. We have a ton of trails around us our kai if we got one would be on them a lot with us. My wife and I have schedules that somewhat overlap so we would have someone around most of the time and we would have the puppy in a crate when we are not. I also worry about the puppy howling when we are not in the house being that it's an apartment. So did you dog like to eat the blinds? Weird.
  • If you crate train your puppy it should be fine being left alone. If your apartments allows dogs they should expect doggy noise... I'm sure they'll understand if the puppy starts crying. Doesn't late long anyway. They get tired after crying for 10-15 mins and then they get use to it. Not a lot of people are home during work hours, anyways.
  • edited August 2012
    The blinds were broken from a combination between the cat and the dog.

    The cat would jump onto the window sill and bend the blinds to squeeze into the side. The dogs would try to stand on their back legs and paw at the blinds to view the outside.

    Eevee, at 5yo, is difficult to crate train because I've seen her start biting her paws when she's antsy. She also continues to chew on the crate and has broken the welding on a few corners. I've read cases where dogs will bleed from their mouths and paws, so we're taking the crate training slow.

    Another apartment advise: make sure the entire apartment is clean before you leave. My friend was allergic to dogs and broke out in hives her first day of moving in :(
  • We will definetly crate train the right away. Hopefully our puppy would take to it quickly.
  • If the puppy is crate trained then that will make it much easier. I just raised a litter of puppies in my 2 bedroom apartment. It can be done, you just have to be willing to put in the time to make sure they get enough exercise.
  • We are in a condo with no actual yard. We do LOTS of walks and head out to the trails several times a week. The biggest thing for us is that we will need to replace the blinds when we move. Kaiya likes to perch herself on the back of the couch and look out, but since we are on the ground floor, we usually have the blinds at least down, but not closed and thus they are bent from her pushing two sets apart.

    Shes actually a great apartment dog and if we did have a yard would still have to walk to potty because she will not potty anywhere that she perceives to be "her area" which includes yards at friends houses, the yard at day care and within about 100 ft. of our door. The yard would solely be to run around or just hang. Kaiya was 18 weeks when we brought her home so she was a bit older and 100% house broken (thank you Peggy :) !)
  • I have two kais in a condo. I have no problems. We spend time at my parents house and my sisters. I see ups and downs in both situations. Just make sure to exercise them regularly and you will be fine.

    I think my dogs have a better life in the condo because I feel so bad that I take them out constantly. They have a much fuller life than my friends dogs with yards and homes.

    I also think my Kai's are more social than most from the apartment environment.
  • Get tons of bitter apple. Spray it on everything. Really.

    I can't add anything else, but raising a pup in apartment can certainly be done :)
  • I don't think a puppy is any more likely to wreck an apartment than a house with a yard. Either way, you have to crate train them and keep an eye on them. I have not had a kai in an apartment, but when we got out shiba, Tojo, we lived in a tiny apartment. When he was a teensy puppy, he had a doggy litter box in his area, but we still mostly took him outside for pottying. He housetrained fine. Sometimes he would go out on the balcony for #1 and squirt through the bars onto the ground below, lol.

    It has its ups and downs. We had to walk him multiple times a day for pottying, which got us outside and exercising, plus, he was really used to other people, noises, and all that.
  • I'm not seeing the correlation between chewing more and being in an apartment. I do see a correlation between not properly stimulating your pup's mind with games/toys and not exercising the puppy with excessive chewing. I don't think that just because a dog is in an apartment it will chew. A puppy chews out of boredom which can happen in a house just as much as an apartment. I have a puppy at home right now. The only time she's chewed is when she got out of her expen while I was at work. She also chewed at my mom's house yesterday when yep she got bored and we missed her morning walk due to a car issue I had to deal with before work. She's also just teething and didn't make the right choice.

    Yes you have to walk your dogs more. That's a great thing! You should be exercising a minimum of 30-45 minutes a day. Your dog will need more than that. But a dog needs more than that in a home as well. I do walk a lot with my dogs. They get 45 minutes in the morning and an hour and a half to two hours at night. I'm also trying to keep them in hiking condition all year round. I'm outdoorsy. I like my dogs to be in shape and ready for a hike.
  • The benefit to having a house&yard isn't really that the dogs exercise more just by letting them outside. Mine either lay around or try to get back in if I let them out by themselves (except Sage who goes into "Guard-goyle" mode- sits as high as he can in the yard and watches everything, ready to sound the alarm or bluff-chase.)- Having a house with a yard DOES make it very convenient to have a place to go with your dogs to play or train together that you know is clean and escape proof, but I think since you have trails and stuff near your apartment, that's pretty convenient! :) The best thing you'll be missing about a fenced yard is that when you have to get up to let the dog out when its dark & cold out and you're only wearing a bathrobe, you dont have to fuss with getting dressed, finding collars, leashes, shoes, etc. You just stumble to the door and open it. As long as you are committed to daily exercise and exploring together, keep your shoes and leash by the door, and stick with good training of house customs you'll do fine, I think.
  • Thanks for all your comments. They certainly help as we decide. The being forced to get outside and walk a lot would be a benefit for sure. We were 7 times a week strength and circuit training people before job changes and we've gotten a little lax with our exercise regime since we don't have the motivation of doing it together like used to. A puppy would be motivation to get out because it's not just you walking/running the same trail, its exploring and playing with your dog. A little more fun :)
  • I feel bad for dogs that never get to be off-leash. Exercising and eliminating on leash is fine but really not the same. (Oh and dog parks are evil, so don't start me on that.) I am considering rehoming Gojira with a friend who will be moving to an apartment, but she'll still be nearby and coming over to my house and our mutual friend's house where she can run around as much as she likes.
  • @poeticdragon Kais can be trained off leash. Koda is an off leash dog. I rarely have him on leash, accept on busy streets. I think you find places for them to go other than dog parks. Maybe it just works because I hike all the time with my dogs.
  • ditto Juno, but I always leash her in 'civilization' or even just crossing our dirt road for a good habit.
  • I would definitely like my dogs to be off leash dogs for the most part but I would make sure they are comfortable with a leash as well. Ana and I have thought about it and we think it would be a good Idea to get a house first that way we can let our dogs run around more right away. As hard as it is to not run out and get a Kai we think it will be better in the end. We also have been looking into the Shikoku too and want to get one. We were thinking of trying to import from Japan down the road to help bring in a new blood line with the hopes of teaming up with a breeder to help support the Shikoku population and depending on how the Kai is doing we could do the same or at least keep him intact to breed. Not for money but to make the breed more available. We would eventually like to get a male Kai and and a female Shikoku.
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