Author Topic: Akita Mixes  (Read 16689 times)

Offline SadiesMom

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Akita Mixes
« on: June 06, 2005, 01:22:31 pm »
My husband and I adopted a puppy from the humane society who we now think is an AKita mix. She is only 5 months old, and we're not buying Akita coffee mugs yet, but we are seeing many of the phycial charateristics in her of the Akita breed. My questions would be the following.

Sadie seems to be very dominant in her personality. There are a cuple local pups she has grown up with and loves to play with ocassionally. However, she demands to drink from the community water bowl first, and then will dump it with her paw, and carry it away so no one else may drink. Is this something which I should be worried about?  ???


Also, I have taken her many times to interact with young children, and she does very well, she is very people friendly, but there is one girl who lives nearby that Sadie seems to always howl and bark at when she comes near. She has met this girl several times, I cannot understand why she acts this way towards her.

Lastly (for this post) cats. How can I get her to stop trying to chase them? She will be very good and leave them alone and then suddenly chase them around the house. She does not attack them, just runs around after them and tries to play with them like she does other dogs. Any help?

Offline jabear

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Re: Akita Mixes
« Reply #1 on: June 06, 2005, 01:35:20 pm »
I can't wait to see pics of your puppy! Sounds like a beautiful girl. As for the problems, I am not sure I can be of much help. I think the water bowl think is funny and wouldn't stress over it if she isn't mean to the other dogs in the meantime. Have you tried setting up 2 water bowls so she can have one and the others have their own as well? What about making her sit & stay and let the others go first, that way she learns patience and sees them exhibiting the preferred behavior.

With the girl that she doesn't like, maybe she senses something strange or doesn't like the smell omitted. My dog is finicky too and in our old home barked at this one lady everytime he saw her. She never did anything to him but we figured he had his reasons for not liking her and just blew it off since he is not normally like that.

Good luck with the cats too. Bear doesn't chase too often anymore but given an opportunity he would do it in a heartbeat. We don't own any so he only sees cats and the in-laws.

Let us know how things turn out!
Hugs,
Jaime
  Mom to one handsome black Bear.

ann

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Re: Akita Mixes
« Reply #2 on: June 06, 2005, 04:38:08 pm »
i have a akita mix dakota he's going on 10 years old and is very domanent..and he is very selective on who he likes ..its in the breed to be weary of people and they can be very protective...k eep taking her places and get her used to as much as you can ..about the water thing i'd keep your eye on it and maybe put a leash on her and let the other dogs drink first sometimes...i bet she's a cutie

ann

Offline rpeeples

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Re: Akita Mixes
« Reply #3 on: June 23, 2005, 09:19:16 pm »
Sadie seems to be very dominant in her personality. There are a cuple local pups she has grown up with and loves to play with ocassionally. However, she demands to drink from the community water bowl first, and then will dump it with her paw, and carry it away so no one else may drink. Is this something which I should be worried about?  ???


-->  So long as the other dogs are not objecting to this I would leave it alone.  Dogs do not exist in a democracy and if in their "play pack" she is the alpha and the others are okay with that - leave it be!  Trying to mess with it can generate confusion which can lead to aggression.  As to in general - -if she is showing a tendency to be dominant (and that is VERY Akita like) then you will have to be cognizant of the potential for problems with dogs who do not know her and/or are not willing to be submissive to her.  Dominance to people is not necessarily linked to dominance with other dogs but it is wise to also take measures like a nothing-is-for-free program to start avoid dominance issues. 



Also, I have taken her many times to interact with young children, and she does very well, she is very people friendly, but there is one girl who lives nearby that Sadie seems to always howl and bark at when she comes near. She has met this girl several times, I cannot understand why she acts this way towards her.


--->  If there is one person/child she objects too when she as a rule gets along with that type of person -- THERE IS  A REASON!  I have learned to trust my dogs when this occurs.  I would simply not push any and even avoid any interaction b/t them. 

Lastly (for this post) cats. How can I get her to stop trying to chase them? She will be very good and leave them alone and then suddenly chase them around the house. She does not attack them, just runs around after them and tries to play with them like she does other dogs. Any help?

--->  Boy this brings back memories as my last Akita pup, Inori, was like this!.  Akitas in general differentiate mine from not-mine very well so likely she will never offer to hurt the kitties inside -- outside or strange cats may be a different story. As to stopping chasing -- to some extent that is normal play and to some extent it likely has a hunt-chase component. Learn her preliminary behaviors so you can catch her before the chase begins.  Teach her a good "leave it" command and use that.  And praise/treat when she STOPS chasing or fails to initiate chase (ie sees kitty & does not chase).  I finally had to teach a MINE command which means leave alone always and then spend a million hours saying MY KITTY NO THAT IS MY KITTY!  Now they live in relative harmony to the point my two recent adopted kittens sleep curled up w/her. 
Rachel Peeples, DVM
Heart of Dixie Akita Rescue
hodakitas.org

Offline ReesKujo

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Re: Akita Mixes
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2006, 11:55:34 am »
I've owned two Akita/Shepard mixes as well as many pure breds.My current one is a purebred I rescued.I did notice with both of my mixes though that when it came to personality and temperment they were very much Akita's.They were slightly more tolerant then Akita's but other then that they had total Akita personality traits.

Offline schelmischekitty

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Re: Akita Mixes
« Reply #5 on: November 08, 2006, 01:11:20 pm »
i agree with everyone on the one person she doesn't like, my dog likes everyone, with only one or two people, and i trust him.  the cat thing, i went through.  i started by putting him on a leash and holding a treat, telling him wait when he'd go to grab it, and also closing my hand when he did.  when he learned this, i would toss the treat, and when he'd go for it i'd pull his leash and tell him "leave it," and work up  eventually to where i'd get him excited, throw something, and say leave it.  when he gets treats down, try toys, then go to petsmart, and walk down the treat isle and use it, and just tug the leash when he goes to get something.  make sure you praise him when he does leave it, no matter what!  praise / treats is what life is all about.  this works wonders too when you're around other dogs (once they learn "leave it") now i have him trained to "leave it" and he automatically does "look" and looks at me, and away from whatever he was going after, whether its dogs, food, people, or anything else.  worked wonders for me, i can have him off leash with chihuahua's now and when they bark he looks at me automatically.
steffanie in atlanta

aiden (4), tristan (2), & maya (born sept. 17th)
axle-140ish-lb akita (4)
peanut-5lb, 11 months chihuahua
[img width= height= alt=Image Hosted by ImageShack.us]http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/3339/alltogethernowme6.jpg[/img]

Offline ozzysma

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Re: Akita Mixes
« Reply #6 on: November 09, 2006, 12:13:33 pm »
my last dog a chow akita mix had a couple of kids in our neighbor hood he did not like at all and i could not understand until i caught then teasing and bugging him with sticks through our fence. so there could very well be a reason.  he also never forgot them either. patti

Offline Leah...

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Re: Akita Mixes
« Reply #7 on: November 09, 2006, 10:20:58 pm »
I wish i could help you more, but my akita mix (with wolf  ::)  ) is afraid of cats, small dogs and anything that could be either. we have FINALLY (after almost 7 years) gotten him to sniff a stray cat or not freak out when a maltese comes running up and bounces on his rear. YAAAAAY!!! i think getting a puppy helped. (not that we got the pup for him!) as for your situation, i think the best thing to do is ALWAYS have something FAAAAAR more interesting than a kitty around when the cats are. i like to use a long handled cooking spoon covered in peanut butter, butter, or squeazy cheese and lure him away from the cat and let him have a good lick of the yummy. then (on a leash) let him go back to the cat, and lure him away again. that way he learns that there is always something better coming, if you don't chase. don't let this become a game of poke the cat, come for a treat. cats get very irritaed at that!  ;D

hope this helps, Leah
Leah
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Offline ReesKujo

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Re: Akita Mixes
« Reply #8 on: November 16, 2006, 12:08:59 am »
I agree with her not liking the one child.Akita's are very select on who they like and if they don't like someone it's uaually for a reason.I totaly trust my Akita's judgement when it comes to who he likes and who he doesn't.Akita's also tend to only like kids in their own family.As for the cat chasing it sounds like she's just trying to play.But remeber that may not be the case with strange cats as most Akita's have a high pray drive.As for the water bowl problem,she apparently is the dominant one so I would try seperate water bowls and prevent her from drinking from the other bowls.