Akita Inu with other dog/cat
We are thinking about buying Akita but I'm not sure how smart would that be given the fact that we already have an older small sized dog living with us, as well as an old cat. Is it possible that the new akita puppy will get along with them and there won't be any problems? What are your experiences? We have a large fenced yard as well but the fence is not very high for akitas.
Comments
Jesse
EDIT, Here is a comment i made in your other thread, just in case this is the one where more of a disucssion takes place ill repost it here, incase it helps you:
"I posted in your other thread as well on the issue of small animals. maybe i should keep it all in one, but oh well, ill post here anyway. I have believe it or not had success with even an invisible fence for my old akita when i was younger, but i would never suggest going that route after having had the experience of actually owning one for it's entire life, never. I think a smaller sized fence, such as a 4 foot, for an Akita is not ideal not only for the fact that the Akita could jump over it, but also others can come into easier as well, (which was the real problem for an electric fence, not that my akita ever broke the electric fence it just didnt stop others from comming in). A six foot fence is really ideal for an akita and probably wood over chain link as well, as said not just to contain the akita but also to keep others from comming into it's terrirtory, such as even a child sticking it's hand over a shorter four foot fence. If you decide on an Akita without upgrading your fence i would NOT suggest ever leaving it alone outside by itself, and even supervised i would have it leashed with something like a four foot fence. I am in the process of upgrading my yard to a six foot wooden fence, however it costs like six grand, so until i have one i keep her on leash outside and just take her for longer walks through the neighborhood or even take her out to parks to get some energy out. Lucky for me mine is pretty lazy and is happy to be in the house most of the time, but that depends because while some akita's are defnitely lazy some need a good fenced yard to run in. So this is definitely something to consider before getting your Akita. However when i was younger i also lived in an apartment while in college with my akita and she was happy in the apartment just going on two 45-60minute walks everyday and just being taken to the bathroom regularly, but again she was a less active akita. And if i were you unless you upgrade your fence, i would keep an Akita on a routine as if you lived in apartment with no yard, as opposed to taking my chances having the Akita run free in a yard that is not totally secure. But that's just my experience. "
Where are my guinea pigs going?
Young bantam chicken door guard
The day after we got Haru
The baby bunnies have to come out of their nest sometime and then the humans must be alerted that the baby bunnies are active
Why can't I lick the parrot?
Why can't I lick the chicks?
But I think what is in question is the "typical" traits of the breed and how much individuals vary from what is typical. Neither breed of Akita has been bred for hunting or selected for prey drive for decades. Many breeders in the US select away from it because it makes them better pets and show animals - the only real "purpose" the breeds have right now. Others have neither selected for nor against prey drive, which is why you'll still find dogs who are more drivey than others.
In general, I think an Akita raised with other animals can do fine with them - better than the other Nihon Ken breeds. My understanding is that the small and medium NK all have more prey drive, even the Shiba, than an average American Akita or Japanese Akita. But remember to always look to the parents and find out how much prey drive they have and how they get along with other animals, since both nurture and nature play a role.
That said, I've introduced three adult dogs who never knew cats to my own cats and had no problems. All were outdoor kennel dogs their whole lives up until I got them, and the oldest was five years old. Do they want to chase cats? Sure, if the cat decides to run. If it runs, a dog will chase it. That's just their nature. So to some extent, you need to have cats who understand this fact that can be calm and collected - or at least know to jump to higher ground rather than run - in the presence of dogs. Our cats and dogs completely ignore each other 99% of the time, the other 1% is when the cat gets jealous of the attention we're giving the dogs and demands attention for itself... at which point our dogs actively avoid the cat.
When doing introductions, choose a place where a cat doesn't have a wide open area it has to cross in order to get away from the dog. Give the cat a high spot it can retreat to like a cat tree. In fact I recommend that introductions start with the cat up in its tree for the first few days/weeks, and let the cat come down to investigate the dog at its own pace.
I've seen Akitas that are like our shiba who no matter how much I work with her I would never trust her around a loose animal. No amount of training would make it safe enough. I don't think this is actually a difference in prey drive. My akita and most dogs I've had have possessed something other than prey drive. A desire to please, a desire to protect, a desire to learn.... I can turn protection in to a tool that stops prey drive. Azami is very protective of her small animals and even more so the babies. Haru has none of that. She has nothing but prey drive and food desire. There's very little to shape into something else. We have to rely on humans will punish me if I touch that and that isn't an effective training method. It's entirely useless for unsupervised situations.
I think it is incredibly unrealistic to expect ANY nihon ken (and probably any dog breed) to get along ok with prey animals without training. So getting a dog an expecting that, as above, is really unrealistic. And as for Akitas having a desire to please (ie. are they biddable?), well, they are more biddable in my experience than probably any of the other NKs (except perhaps Kai, but it's different with Kai), but they are certainly not biddable in comparison to say, a retriever. But if I wanted a retriever (biddable, probably going to be ok with prey animals after a training), I would have got one. I don't expect my NK to be livestock guardians.
(And one other thing regarding food drive: food drive is a GREAT way of training--a dog with food drive will be easier to teach, so people who have dogs with that should use it, not denigrate it!)
So regarding Akitas and other animals: I have two Akita and had another one quite a bit in the past. Neither of my current Akitas has a particularly strong prey drive in comparison to the other NK but they will catch and kill rabbits etc in the yard if they can. They do not live with cats. They do live with somewhat smaller dogs (Shiba and Kai Ken, but they don't interact much with the Shiba). The big thing is to talk to your potential breeders and tell them what you are looking for, and what your family is like, and they'll know if their dogs might likely fit in or not (they'll be able to tell you what the prey drive of their dogs tends to be like, if they are sharper or not, etc). A puppy is going to be a lot easier to fit in than an adult dog, because a puppy will just grow up with the smaller dog and cats, and should be ok, if you spend time with slow introductions, and a lot of reinforcement for positive interactions.
The biggest thing is to make sure your older dog has a place to get away from the puppy and that all interactions are slow and supervised at first. (And how small is the dog? I'd worry about a very small dog getting injured with rough Akita play). S/he may not even like puppies, so you might be in for very slow intros. indeed (my adult male Akita does not like puppies, so it took several months before he was allowed to interact freely with the puppies we brought in).
Fencing: I have stock fencing (wire) which is five feet in some places, but only four feet in a couple of places. My dogs don't try to get out. I do know some Akitas are escape artists, though, so it's also something I'd talk about with your potential breeder (from listening to breeders talk, it seems escaping can run in families--more than one breeder has said puppies from a dog that tends to escape also tend to escape, though I have no idea if that is learned behavior or something else!) Ideally, a 6 foot privacy fence would be good, but a slightly shorter fence could work. (I will say privacy fencing--which we don't have sadly--is ideal, because Akitas can be fence fighters, and we've had to come up with all sorts of odd things to block our Akitas from seeing other dogs, since we can't afford to the get the entire 1/2 acre re-fenced at the moment)
I think if you lay down the rules when the akita is a puppy you won't have a problem when they grow up. Just make sure the cats have places to get away from playful puppy teeth
My cat and the akita are still figuring each other out. Most of the time they just ignore each other, but sometimes Tanuki (akita) will throw her a toy or try to get her to play tug with him.. which makes her run and hide. And sometimes she'll try to cat-rub up against him and he'll be like "amagad, she's close to meeeee. This is so cooool!"
Amagad, you're so big!
I love you, Mr. Shiba!
Now, our non-akita (shepherd mix) is VERY drivey and will catch/kill ANYTHING outside. We got her as an adult, and teaching her to respect the cats took awhile. Even now, she will chase if they sprint. (Which they don't do, b/c they know better)
Gryph, our current akita, came into our house as an 8-weeek-old puppy, so he's grown up with four (dog-savvy) cats and a smaller dog (our shep mix is about 35 lbs). He isn't aggressive with the cats, but he is a bit...much for them at times. In the "I want to love you to death" sense. But again, they have the sense not to run (and an avenue o escape if they do). I don't know that I'd trust him with a small kitten, however.
Outside, though, BOTH dogs will chase anything (although Gryph's not really fast enough to catch much, but Sadie is, and he will happily take seconds). They get "these particular cats inside this house are a no-no", but anything else...not so much.
As for the big dog small dog thing, when he was younger, he had no issues with small dogs, but was either afraid of or would get aggressive with bigger ones. We've not really been to dog parks since he hit puberty, tho, so...grain of salt and all that. But in our home, Sadie is 100% the alpha bitch. She checks him down easily, despite him being 3x her size. He gets along well with her,, even though she is pure evil
We also have a farmer fence (wire), and while some dogs are escape artists, this has been fine for us. Gryphon seems to lack a sense of his size/rear end, and (thus far) has never attempted to climb anything or get on furniture or scale a fence or anthing like that. In fact, we still have to lift him in and out of the car (and at 105 lbs, that's a lot of lifting.).
So there you go...another "it depends"