Updated photos of my JA Cyclops + Video!
Still, not sure if he's actually an JA or if it's an AA or mix of both, lol.
Anyway onto the questions...
He's about 6 months now, I have been taking him on a few strenuous hikes, is that okay for him that age? I heard it's not good to take dogs hiking with you until they are follow grown because of their joints or something?
I take him out to eat every morning with me with somewhere that has outside seatings, but he stops and poo's while we're walking from the parking lot to the restaurant every time.. and I BELIEVE the reason why is because when I was potty training him I did it in my patio, which has wood and maybe he's confused? He doesn't pee or poop on the carpet. But while we're walking somewhere he'll just stop and poo out of no where. How do I fix this?
At this age, has he stopped teething? I let him bite my hands sometimes because I believe he's still teething, so I don't know when to stop him from biting my hands.
Last thing, do you trust your Akita off leash? Eveytime I let him off leash he seems to run away and I have to chase him, lol
Thank u
Comments
RE: hikes,
I was advised to focus on walking on uneven terrain. Walking long distances on pavement, according to some can lead to problems. The hip joint area will continue to develop for some time, and keep long walks to
RE: bathroom habits,
My dogs (both senior shiba and younger JA) are fed first thing when they wake up and will always go #2 during their morning walk a couple of hours later. Perhaps you get it into a new habit of walking your dog until he poos and pees first, before taking him to eat? Also, how many times are you feeding him a day now? At 6 months, he should be on two meals a day. When he eats should help you predict when he needs to go potty.
RE: teething,
Teething for us started around 4 months and continued until about 6 months. The last teeth to come out were the molars in the back. Open his mouth and feel for them. JAs are mouthy, mine still likes to chew/bite my hands and I don't mind. It's easier for me to keep strangers away when I tell them my dog is mouthy and might bite, LOL~
RE: Off leash
I don't trust either of my dogs off leash, their prey drive is too strong and we live on a busy street with squirrels everywhere. We don't believe in dog parks either so the only time they go off leash is in a fenced yard or daycare. We have friends who trained their shiba to go off leash and come back by hanging out w/ retrievers, but we unfortunately never tried it. We also live in a county (Santa Clara) where there is leash law in effect, and max length for our city is 6'
Since you are in my area I can describe it a little easier.
He will poo before I take him out, then when we get to Santana Row, he'll poo randomly while we're walking. I believe he is confused. Because I trained him to poo outside on the patio, so he thinks it's okay to poo anywhere on cement? I'm not sure..
And as far as hikes, how is missions peak? (in fremont) I took him a few times. It's all uphill but dirt, does that affect his joints?
And I feed him twice a day, two scoops for every meal.
I've been to Mission Peak in Fremont but w/out my dogs. I think it should be fine but please make sure you carry water since there is little or no shade for most of the trail. Also watch out for fleas and ticks. One reason I stopped taken the dog to open space reserves on the Peninsula is that they always come back w/ bugs :-(
RE: the poo poo,
He's still a pup. They can't hold it when they have to go. I don't think cement or grass matters, but it is awfully embarrassing to us owners when they go #2 in a high end establishment like Santana Row. I sympathize w/ the clean up afterwards. #1 is usuallu due to scent/markings-- do you plan to neuter your boy? It helps with the random peeing...
My dogs will sometimes poo multiple times on their morning walk. It's usually when they don't "empty" all the way the first time, and the subsequent output are usually a bit runny or soft stool. Does that sound familiar? If so, it's probably not a case of him getting confused, but just he didn't completely empty his bowels the first time.
May I ask what you feed him? It's possible the food is too rich/not enough fiber. My JA doesn't process most kibble well so I mostly have her on raw/dehydrated raw. You would think raw meat is super rich but I think it's mostly the water content that helps her digest better
I am also wondering though, what do you mean by "He will poo before I take him out"? I.e., is he already pooing on the patio before you take him out?
That will help you find out if it's a full JA or a tweenie.
If he is confused, how do you tell him that it's not okay to poo on cement/sidewalk and for him to poo in bushes/grass only?
My dog also barks really loud when someone comes in or out of my house. (other than that he doesn't really bark) is there any way to fix this? I leave him in my room in a crate and I have a room-mate. He goes to work around 6AM and when he hears the door open he barks so loud that I wake up.
The food... I changed it a few times to try and find the perfect type of food for him. I always buy the expensive name brand stuff, I am not at home at the moment so I can't tell you what it's called but I switched it recently to some outdoor food, food that he would find in the wild, with grains and such...
Also, when can I start feeding him regular dog food instead of puppy food? I heard somewhere that people started doing that at 6 months for their akitas, but other people tell me it's bad.
Dogs are opportunistic carnivores, meaning primarily meat eaters but will eat whatever scraps they can find. However, they're not going to choose grains, speaking of which, do not naturally occur. Grains are a man-made invention. If i was to give Toki a bowl of wheat, he would look at me with a wtf look, haha. i would recommend switch him over now. I think that, (for the most part), puppy food versus adult food versus all life stages are b.s. marketing schemes. (though, yes, there are small differences, such as calcium levels are lower in puppy food [too much calcium is bad for growing bones], ect...) Also, if you think about dogs in the wild, what does the puppy eat when mom's milk runs out: whatever mom eats. I would switch puppy over around 4-ish months, personally. hehe, mine too. Good luck.
On a real note, i've found that socialization works best so you can show them what is a threat and what isn't. Given you have an akita, they will be more grumpy when someone comes into their house. They're protective. Toki has met people at the house he didn't like, but on a different day he would see them again outside, and he liked them.
Two things. One, unless they have tummy issues, most Japanese dogs try to go #2 far away from their home. My dogs will go #1 in the yard but avoid going #2 in their yard. He's quite old to be going #2 on your patio.
Two, your pup is not confused, he's just not empty. Unlike tiny puppies, most dogs need a good decent walk to empty their bowels completely. He's randomly pooping at the destination bc that's the first chance he's got to eliminate outside your house and car. Instead of letting him go potty on your patio before you take him on a car ride, consider walking your dog for at least 20 min around the neighborhood and praise him when he goes #1 & #2 on grass
Also consider switching him to adult food.
Re: barking,
I have no input. It seems like a natural dog behavior.
His feet do not look JA to me, they look more AA. JA tend to have tighter feet, smaller toes. Same with the ears. They look a tad big for a JA to me. His hind legs also don't look very Akita (either one). He has a few characteristics that look JA, so he might be a tweenie.
But I am not an Akita person, I don't even have one. So I could be way off on my observation.
I've been hiking with my Shiba since he was like, 5 months old? But he's a smaller breed. Either way, don't take him on any strenuous hikes until he's at least a year, then you can amp up the mileage and terrain.
I wouldn't do anything off-leash without a lot of recall training, and when he had a good recall, only in areas where it is legally allowed. Or only do off-leash in fenced-in areas.
I had a dog who would not come when called and would try to get us to chase her. She wouldn't flat-out run away, she would hang close but too far to grab. It was a game to her not to get caught. That is not a good thing for your dog to get into the habit of, so try not to let him off until his recall is good.
I dunno about larger breeds, but I only feed puppy food to about 4 months or so, if I do feed kibble. I feed mainly homemade raw/whole foods.
Not all AA most likely, though he's young so it's hard to tell. Muzzle shape isn't quite right for AA as far as I can tell (they have slightly shorter, more blocky muzzles for lack of a better word), and I think the stop is a bit more sloped. I'm super bad at describing what I'm seeing in technical terms though so don't hold me to it! I'll post a pic of my AA boy below, though, to give you an idea of the difference in head/muzzle shape.
I think he's just growing into his ears. I remember that stage!
And a well bred AA should not have GSD type ears. They are still supposed to be close to triangular, not too big. They may, though, be slightly larger than JA ears--I'm not sure. I do know young Akitas have to grow into their ears, and I do see a lot of not so well bred AAs that have bigger ears and a more rangy look, though. Years ago I had a BYB AA who people asked me repeatedly if she was a JA. She didn't really look like a well bred JA either, but her look was more JA than AA. I don't think she was a tweenie either, just not so well bred, but this was way back in the 80s so who knows?
Anyway, here's a pic of my AA, Oskar, as a point of comparison in head/muzzle shape. he was also 6 months old, so he was still growing into his ears, too, (and I have to admit they look a bit GSDish in this pic, but they don't so much now, and of course a GSD at this age would have even larger ears!):
Oskar looks handsome!!!
@dennis_sly you're pup is handsome as well :P He looks like he is beginning to go thru his gangly phase. He will fill out later in a lot of months down the road.
Another thing to consider is the shape of the eye. AA tend to have round eyes and JA tend to have very squinty eyes. Now, that is certainly not to say that some JA have round eyes and some AA have squintier eyes, but the breed standard for JA def calls for "squinty eyes", for a lack of a better term, (and sorry if it isn't politically correct, i've never been one for that). There are actually very close specifics for it and they differ so much between the original 6 nihon ken, but "squinty eyes" will work for now, lol.
https://www.facebook.com/akiho.la?fref=ts
Updated w/ breed standards re: eyes:
JACA: http://www.akita-inu.com/breedstandard.htm
Eyes should be relatively small, equally triangular in shape and slightly raised at the outside corners. They should be deep set, and dark brown in color – the darker the better. Eye rims should have very dark pigment, almost giving the appearance of eyeliner.
AKC: http://www.akc.org/breeds/akita/breed_standard.cfm
Eyes--Dark brown, small, deep-set and triangular in shape. Eye rims black and tight.
Donna Bennet is also my fave AA breeder, and I should have just waited for one of her dogs when I got Oskar, but I didn't (But I still plan on getting a puppy from her one day!) Well, Oskar's looks are very true to breed standard, so at least for purposes of this discussion, he is a good example of the breed. (since we're not talking about his health issues, just his looks). And for reference, he's 110 pounds as an adult.
I was looking for another pic of Oskar as an adult to show how his ears look now, and found this one that also shows how very different his muzzle is shaped compared to a JA. So here is Oskar from this past winter (he was 2 years old):
There's a pretty big difference in appearance between dennis_sly's handsome boy and my AA, which is why I was thinking probably not AA....
Oh, yeah, that poster nails it too, on the differences.
I wonder if JAs have longer tails? I could be totally making that up, but in some pics, JAs seem to have longer tails. Oskar's is longer, proportionately, than a Shiba tail (which is pretty short when they uncoil) but his tail doesn't look as long as some of the JAs pics I've seen.
If he is "pure" JA (I'm thinking he's 75 percent or more), he may not have been bred according to the JA AKIHO conformation, which might explain his skinny face, lighter coloring and taller ears. It's tough not to compare him to the dogs found online, but you have to remember that these are mostly the ones from champion pedigree lines and they've been all fluffed out for the photos.
Anyways I love your pup and hope the training goes well.
I have a 5 months old JA too and we've taught him to poo when we say it's okay. Unfortunately, it means keeping a strict feeding and pooping schedule. We've never given him free pooping areas, ie the backyard. We know when he has to poop and we take him to the park for his business, and that's where he goes.
Good luck!
Even with show champion parents, most of the time only 1 or 2 pups in any given litter would be show quality, the rest are pet quality. Sometimes the breeder with keep the show prospect with them longer to see how the pup develops, and they turn out to be pet quality [ex, teeth don't come in right, under/overbite, coat's the wrong texture, weak hocks, too soft/aggressive temperament, etc] Very rarely does the reverse happen, that a pet quality dog mature into show quality.
So, just b/c a given pup doesn't conform to the standards [such as my midget long coat JA], it doesn't mean the breeder wasn't following conformation standards in breeding.
The reverse is also true, b/c a breeder is producing beautiful, show quality dogs, doesn't mean the breeder is following the code of ethics and giving the moms a break in between heat and testing for genetic defects.
and I actually meant I have food with no grains lol, it is taste of wild.
Also, some repro vets and breeders are now thinking a resting heat between breedings may not be the best way to go for a bitch after all. So even things like that are not always set in stone.
Anyway, he's a pretty boy, regardless, and I will look forward to more pics as he grows!
Perhaps using resting heat is a bad example, but I hope my point comes across that following code of ethics and conformation standards doesn't guarantee the offsprings will all be show stock. Show prospects are rare.
No, I don't. I'm a member of AKIHO LA branch, and used to be a member of Shiba Inu Fanciers of Northern California. I used to go to local AKC shows to check out the show shibas but not anymore. These days I drive down to LA for AKIHO related events and BSA in March.
What comes to mind are some kennels from eastern Europe that I've seen, and their dogs have a common or similar look, ie close set eyes and big ears, I'm reminded of this JA here. This trait or look wouldn't do well in akiho Imo but they're still beautiful dogs.
No more cringing :-)
As soon as I got out of the parking garage, walked out... crossed the street he stopped in the middle of the street and poo'd.
We ate... he was very nervous and crawled under the table and moved around a lot.
As soon as we left, I was walking to the car and he stopped in front of a store and just poo'd.
I have come to the conclusion that my dog poo's randomly when I take him out because he's scared.
He flinches when he's around a lot of people or a loud motorcycle or car passes by.
How do I fix this? I hate that he randomly poops everywhere because he gets nervous when I bring him out.. sort of like he's dealing with the fight or flight mechanism.
I researched this.. and people said that I need to socialize him...
Mind you, he's almost 6 months and I've brought him to the dog park a lot AND i've brought him to go eat with me almost every morning and still do. And he does interact with other humans considering almost everybody stops and asks what kind of dog it is or if it's half huskie/half wolf (lol).
There hasn't been ONE occasion that I brought him out and he doesn't poo while i'm walking him in the middle of the sidewalk with people walking by because he was scared or nervous.
What can I do to fix this????
Sorry, not much of a helpful story, but it reminded me.
I do wonder.... do you think he has gotten in the habit of pooping on concrete, so much now he thinks it is okay? I'm wondering if you are at the point were you'll have to retrain.
As far as the socialization goes, ehhhh..... it is hard to say: he is a 6 month old puppy. Since you seem to take him out a lot, i'm inclined to say maybe he is going through a fear period or maybe, but hopefully not, he might just be hardwired to be shy.
Since i'm not sure if you already give treats, give him something high value every time he sees a stranger. They don't even have to pet him, just give him the treat if he looks at them. And if you're not already, take him to other a bunch of other places. Hardware stores, bookstores, cell phone centers, petsmart, malls, ect... I think that it is super good of you to take him with you in the mornings, so i commend you!
Yeah, I take him to petsmart and etc. He still flinches/moves away when people try to touch him but for the most part he's distracted by the treats laying around haha.
And, at first I thought it was because he had gotten into the habit of pooping on concrete, so I have been re-training him to go outside in the bushes/grass for 2 weeks or more now and it still is happening so I have come to the conclusion that he is just nervous around large crowds of people and moving cars or motorcycles.
I feel so stuck on what to do
Socialization means we visit new things *together*, your attention is on the new things and on your dog- you can't 'check out' of it and enjoy breakfast and the newspaper while your dog has questions about all this new stuff, you must be there with him to answer his questions and show him things are more than okay, in fact things are fabulous! (I get chicken slices when kids on bikes go by? Awesome! Big bearded guys are gentle and just pass on by? Kids in the park will throw my ball to me? Cool!)
You must be willing to cut things short when he's not having a good time. It doenst do him any favors if you introduce him to a lot of situations and he decides they all check off in the "Scary" column. Introduce him to various situations at his pace, and make sure he decides those situations are neutral-->safe -->awesome for him. He doesnt have to go to a cafe with you every day if he hates it or is so anxious he craps. But you can still help him- dial it back, do shorter less intense outings and make sure he has a good time based on what *he* thinks is a good time.
Think of socialization not as "well he tags along where ever I go" NOR as a list of hits to check off but as teaching him HOW to learn about his world. The most important thing is for him to get in the habit of trusting that you wont let anything scary happen to him and if he sees something with you, you will show him that its safe or keep him safe he needs more time to think. If he learns this skill you can check off the list items within his own time. He'll feel comfortable, knowing he can trust your call on new things/people and there's plenty of time to meet people with umbrellas, rollerblades, big beards and floppy hats.
There are so many places we don't go to anymore since we got Saigo (i.e. restaurants, pubs, etc). Now we just eat on the go and we take Saigo to: friends houses with dogs/doggy parks/doggy meets/puppy classes/dog friendly places, etc.
Here is a suggestion: Have strangers offer your dog treats. This way he associates good things with strangers. We do this all the time with Saigo, especially with kids. So far, he's been amazing.