Is an Akita Right for You?

Nine years ago I brought home two little teddy bears. Their little ears weren't even standing up on their own. They toddled around on wobbly little legs and we bonded over chew toys and exploring in the yard. A little girl and a little boy became our companions, one a lover and the other a fighter. We named them Aie-dog and Katsu. They became inseparable from each other and learned the ways of their pack which included four children, two adults, kitties and an assortment of rodents throughout the years. They loved to share my yogurt and when the peanut butter jar was placed on the floor to lick and lick. They grew into those wobbly legs and filled out healthy and strong. Long hikes in the mountains and camping trips have always been their favorites and when I walk Katsu he stays close to make sure I am always safe. Katsu is our protector - he watches over the children and me and does not like it if adults play too rough. Aie-Dog is our diplomat always nudging new friends to say hello. They have their routines and rules, which they both follow better than my own children at times. Now on their ninth birthday I look at my babies and see gray is settling into their teddy bear faces. Katsu has to get a running start up the stairs and I worry for his hips. Aie-Dog cleans his ears and face while we watch the Animal Channel together and I smile when their ears perk at the animal noises. They snuggle on the floor with me and I am grateful knowing my faithful friends were a good choice.

Akitas are classified into two different sub breeds, the American Akita and the Akita Inu (Japanese Akita). My two dogs are of the American Akita category and you will be getting more information on them since I know this breed first hand. The standards of these dogs when considering them as show dogs are different but all in all the breed has many similarities. Akitas have a pretty neat story. Their breed comes from the mountainous regions in Japan. The dogs helped to hunt boars, deer and bear.. They were trained to corner prey until the hunter could come to them. This trait is still exhibited in the dogs to this day though luckily I have never had to come home to Katsu cornering the meter-reader in the yard. (I rarely leave the dogs in the yard alone - only when I visit the neighbors.) The American Akita is a mixture of the Akita Inu, Mastiffs, Great Danes and German Shepards. They are best known for their loyalty and I can vouch for that trait. My dogs became very attached to my grandmother and though she visits only once a year, when she "comes home" the dogs greet her with kisses and gratitude.

I do want to say one thing. Even though my dogs are papered etc... When thinking of adding a dog to your family please consider rescue. I will never, ever outright "buy" another dog. There are too many in need of forever homes. Please consider this.

Weight and Height: My two Akita's are on the smaller side. I would say Katsu (male) is 90 pounds and Aie-dog (female) is 75 pounds. Katsu stands at about 26 inches at his shoulders, whereas Aie-Dog is 25 inches at her shoulders. They both are pure muscle. We keep them on a diet of Nature's Recipe as our veterinarian recommended. When we switched from regular dog food to Nature's Recipe - which has no animal by-products - the difference is remarkable in their muscle mass, coat health, energy, less pooping, etc... By all means look into Nature's Recipe or other non animal by-product brand.

Coat: Katsu has long hair and throughout his life many people have asked me if he is part wolf. His hair is course and thick and the plume on his tail is gorgeous. Katsu is gray with a black mask, white undercoat and tail. Aie-dog is a short hair and her hair is much softer and thicker than Katsu's. Aie-dog is a brindle with a black mask, white undercoat and tail. Both dogs blow out with the change of the seasons. Their hair comes out in big gobs and a fresh coat comes in. On one specific occasion my sister and I decided to take the dogs hiking during a blow out. After the hike all four of us were hot so we rolled down the windows and the car turned into a tornado of dog hair. We were picking hair out of our teeth for a week. The dogs still don't live it down. During those couple weeks they need a daily brushing and I am still trying to figure out if people would buy pillows made of this thick undercoat. I can fill a large trash bag after they are done. The best brush I have found that makes our grooming experience a good one is the Kong Zoom Groom. They both practically purr with the massage this brush gives. Another brush I use - gently - is the Furminator but I must caution you - this brush is kind of sharp and you have to be gentle. They both are very religious about keeping clean and Aie-dog pays special attention to Katsu's face. It is quite the experience to bathe these guys since neither like water. I have seen pictures of Akita's in water fully enjoying themselves so I don't think this is breed specific. We have a local wash your own dog facility that I have found called Wag-n-Wash and we visit about once every 2 months or so pending tree-sap and mud that ends up in their coats during our camping and hiking expeditions. I also have to be very careful with ticks because their coats are so thick I can barely get to the skin beneath.

I do believe that dogs are a reflection of their owners. I have to tell you that I have never had any dog obedience training, didn't take my dogs to classes. In fact Katsu and Aie-dog are the first dogs I have ever owned. You may see I have made mistakes but together we figured it out and I have learned a lot.

When we bought the dogs they came from separate litters. Katsu was bought from a guy we found on the internet and we eventually learned our little puppy came from a puppy mill. Sadly, we have seen some effects from this. Please, please research who exactly you are buying from. Aie-dog came from a family breeder in Denver and once again, her background shows through in her demeanor. Our dogs had one litter of puppies before we fixed them. Looking back at what I have learned, the toll it took on my female dog, the attitude my un-neutured male had, I would have never even considered trying to breed them. I must say we did take special care when picking out the owners for our litter of puppies. I still feel guilty and wonder if the homes we found for them remained good.

Like I said before our dogs are very loyal. They must be in the same room as I and when I sit down they must sit at my feet. We tried buying them dog beds but they absolutely refused to lay in them because they wouldn't fit where I was sitting at. As a matter of fact they much preferred to rip the beds to shreds. Aie-dog enjoys a good blanket to curl up in and Katsu loves to lick my kitchen floor. I actually "rinse" my floor now after mopping for fear of chemicals in his body. If a stranger comes to the door Katsu feels that he needs to stand in front of me until I give body language that this stranger is a friend. Even then he reserves all judgement for at least 5 - 6 visits before he considers this person a friend and stays pretty close to my side. After he has made friends with my friends he is friends for life no matter how much time has past between visits. Kids make him very nervous and I am on constant vigilance around any kids that don't belong to his pack. He does not like the quick movements and the funny noises they make. Also since he is nose to nose with them he feels he is more dominant. He also does not like men. Recently on a camping trip my friend Ty was rough-housing with his kids, wrestling around on the ground. Katsu knows Ty and his children, as they come over to the house quite a bit. While Ty was play-sitting on his daughter she was laughing and squealing as children do. Katsu was having none of it. He ran up to Ty, growled and licked his hand. It was basically saying, "hey there - I may know you but I won't have you hurting that little girl - this is your warning." For the rest of the camping trip Katsu reserved judgement with Ty. My reaction? Well I am his pack leader so I had him come and lie down by me. Ty is a dog man and he was actually pretty proud of the warning lick Katsu gave him and probably pretty grateful it wasn't a nip. Katsu has nipped once - my adult neighbor was having a water war with my daughter last summer. He lunged toward my daughter with a glass of water. Katsu thought he was attacking her and grabbed his pant leg. It was another - hey there, don't do that. So I must tell you - these guys are protective. Would it be different if we would have had obedience training? More social training? I don't know. I want you to learn from my story.

Aie-dog on the other hand is a bundle of furry love. Mailmen, meter-readers, salesmen and mass-murderers all deserve her love. She greets all of them with a wagging tail and wiggly butt. She will snuggle, nudge and love anyone as long as they are willing to give her attention. She is the dominant dog over Katsu but she still knows who is boss (me). She doesn't mind other dogs if they leave her alone but will not tolerate other dominate dogs and especially female dogs. She loves to sit next to me as I rub her back and her ears quiver with joy.

Both dogs have been pretty easy to train. They never fail to the key words we have given them. Even when they are on squirrel patrol through the back yard they both will come to my call. If I don't want them to do something a word is all it takes to make them stop. Potty training was a one-time deal for Katsu. Aie-dog took a little more time but now she is at least embarrassed if there is an accident. For awhile if she was upset with me she would go and poop in my closet but I think we have that problem taken care of. Leash training was tough for us but I found the Gentle Leader dog collar works amazing. It is like a horse harness. They love walks. We found last winter they will pull us on sleds. When we hike in the mountains we can take them off the leash because they come to our call. Both dogs are quite bored with fetching games and I usually end up fetching the ball more often than they do. They love to play chase (I have to chase them) and hide and seek.

As puppies neither dog were socialized with other dogs so I have to be really careful with them around other dogs. We don't go to the dog park and if we are on a busy hiking trail they stay on the leash. If there is one thing I could change it would be this as I would love for them to have fun with other dogs. When my daughters were younger and shorter I really had to supervise Katsu as he thought he was more dominant. I think this had to do with the him not being neutered and my lack of understanding how to socialize him. When we did neuter him we worked with him more with the kids and his attitude has changed quite a bit. Before we did this he was really starting to get more aggressive with people walking by the yard and his whole attitude in general. Hindsight? I would have done it when he was a puppy. I will never, ever actively add to the puppy population again. Like I have said, these guys have taught me a lot in the past nine years.

I want to leave you with some questions to ask yourself when considering the needs of an Akita:

• Do you want a dog who may at times be stubborn and has a personality more like a cat than a dog? My dogs get bored after two throws of a ball.
• Do you have the time to socialize your dog? Going to dog parks and puppy classes are very important to any dog's emotional health.
• Kind dominance is a big deal with these dogs. Do you have the time to train them correctly? An untrained Akita is a dangerous Akita. Learn how to train your dog correctly.
• Do you have enough room for a larger dog? My dogs are on the smaller side of this breed and they are still BIG.
• Do you have a secured area for an Akita? These dogs should never be able to roam a neighborhood. I am on constant vigilance with my padlocked gates in my yard.
• Don't tie up your dog. Please.
• Will you have a lot of time to spend with your dog? Akita's are loyal and intelligent. They need attention and they need to be a part of your family.
• Akita's need to be with you all the time. They lay by your feet where you sit, they follow you everywhere, they have to be in the same room - even the bathroom! Keep this in mind. If you don't have time, space or energy for a constant companion an Akita is not the right do for you.
• Find someone who owns an Akita. Meet their dog. Ask questions. Research. Read forums, blogs and dog sites. One of my favorite Akita web sites is: http://akitas-4-u.com/
• Even though my dogs grew up with kitties I have been on constant vigilance for the last 9 years. When they think I am not looking their body language is in a very alert "get the kittie" mode. Please consider this if you have a smaller animal in the house.
• These dogs do not get along with same-sex dogs. Whenever I have had a problem it has been with a dog of the same sex.
• My Akita's talk to me. They howl, grunt, moan, and make all kinds of different noises besides barking. They have trained me to know when they are hungry, upset, afraid, and on alert from different types of vocalizations. It is always fun to come home and hear: Broauu-woo-woo-woo. Translation: "Hi Mom! Is it time to eat?"