KumaAkita

Depends on how hot it is Nah, he lasted more than 3 mins on Australia Day... He was just soooooo slllllooooooowwww lumbering behind the faster doglets! I could sense him saying "ah, f*** it. It's too hot for this sh*t"

And if you put an Aussie in the mix, they'd run straight through the middle of the formation body slamming dogs as they went, thoroughly mortifying the BCs and kelpies. :D Absolutely! Wondering why all the other dogs were being so serious Whereas an Akita would chase for about three minutes, before getting too hot and realising that the other dogs are much faster. Upon that realisation, he would go stand in the shade gathering pats from the humans or hunt down some water to drink splash around in.

I was asked if Kuma was a Labrador. Close, but no cigar.

KTB you can read my dog's thoughts can't you? I say "stand", he rolls over and gives me a look that says "yeah, make me. I dare you" I have often contemplated shaping exercises with Kuma, given Wuffles' results with Satch, I'm pretty sure that it will be a bust too! I am doing more "on your mat" exercises with Kuma. He does it once, then wanders away. Oh well, more work, more work. I think we all have coordination issues with clicker, leash, treat, command, footwork. It's something that comes with practice (at least I hope it is). Tell Mr KTB not to worry too much about clicker stuff. I sent Mr KumaAkita went off on the LLW Course the other night with treats/clicker/dog on lead... I asked how he went with the clicker, get it sorted? Nup, didn't use it. But yes, those BCs were incredibly quick witted and picked up the commands so quickly. Noone stands a chance when comparing to an animal like that! It was just so funny, this couple thought that Magical Clicker was all they needed! Oh and KTB - is the dalmation in your class Louis?

Don't ask me why, but I was just thinking about our first Sunday at Obedience, the class that was For Humans and No Dogs Allowed. The chick giving the lecture owns BCs (her dogs are Pepper?? Rosie?? something like that...) and she was talking about clicker training. Anyway, the video they played made it look really easy, and she did some IRL demos with her dog who picked it up soooo quickly (in true BC fashion). There was a couple sitting next to us and they turned to each other and said "we need one of those clickers, that will solve everything!" - they dropped out of beginners because they couldn't get their little doggy to "down"... I'm still there, battling on with a dog that is Pretty But Stupid.

Well I'm a bad doggy mamma then... Kuma gets bones - unsupervised - soft lamb flaps only, but he doesn't chew them. He sucks the meat off and leaves them to rot in the yard. I always leave his collar on when I'm not at home... his new one has velcro, so I reckon that if he gets caught on something that'll release before he chokes... plus, there's not much you get into trouble with when you sleep all day! He had his kong around the yard, but it was always ignored, so it was gifted to a colleague at work who as a Lab and a Bull Arab. They love it! Oh well, I hang my head in shame and the appalling way I treat my dog! Wuffles: Deep breath lady! Your wedding will be just perfect And I'm sure Miss Ava's heeling was not as bad as you make out. I am always disappointed with Kuma, but have had people tell me how good he does!

Ok, so I kinda missed week 5... I have a photo or two, but all the pics I took this week are craptacular. Will get back on track this week. Promise. Some great photos in week 5. I love Bob snoozing on the couch... Halo look adorable as would be expected Jazz is just intense - great shot! Ava is beautiful and dutiful as always Hmmm... great shots one and all!

The people you run into wandering around Gungahlin town centre! hmm... my hair is very red today, going to take some time to get used to it! Seems a few interesting weekends were had! Lilli_star: on the bone thing! Wow... good work getting it dislodged... musta been scary KTB: at the tunnel. It looks like Hoover has put his paw out of the tunnel wanting a treat! For training treats, Kuma's like Satch... I have to mix it up to get him to work. We use the nature's gift training treats, cheese, cabanossi, frankies, chicken, I've also used the 4Paws balls - chicken and pasta ones. He liked those but they were gross to dispense... In other news, Kuma is now just eating plain ol' kibble all on its own at meal time. No need for wet food or other additivies. YAY! We are going to move him to adult food once this bag of puppy is done. He'll be about 18mths old by then.

That's interesting... last night did not feel like 31* out at BDOC. The breeze was quite strong! What I have found lately is that Kuma has perked up at around 7:00 pm at night wanting to play and I capitalised on that and did a bit of clicker training before we went back last night. Just covered the basics again to make sure he hadn't forgotten! Usually on Sunday mornings he peters out really quickly in the sun and is only interested in the first few minutes before he is too focussed on being hot. For example, last night he drank about 1/5th of his water bottle at training and before Christmas he would drink the whole lot in the first half of the session. Rav - those photos are awesome! I particularly like the one where Radar went in too deep! Whoops! Wizzle - that's one weird-arsed phobia! I don't actually have any... my OH on the other hand... clowns, dwarves and snakes. I never actually owned a furbie... I was a cabbage patch kid kinda girl. We weren't really a "toy family" - my parents focussed on educational toys. Nerd Alert.

My favourite is when people come up to me and say "oh, my dog's not good with big dogs, it will do him good to have yours beat him up a bit". Sure... an Akita is the right dog to do that to Kuma is a mild mannered, neutral temperamented dog and I'd like to keep it that way. He won't start anything but it wouldn't take much for him to finish it - and then I'd be in hot water. One of the dog parks we frequent is rather small, about the size of an old suburban back yard (which is huge in comparison to mine! ) We will always ask the owners of the dogs already in the park if they are comfortable with us coming in. We always say he's really gentle, but understand if people have issues with a big dog playing with the smaller dogs. We would walk away if someone had an issue.

You could also try a halti of some description. I use one with Kuma - I started when he was younger and quite headstrong and would pull like a train. It was almost an instant change in walking style using it. I still use it, but he no longer pulls. I use it on the off chance that he sees something that he might like to chase - it gives me a bit more control. Makes walking him more pleasurable!

Foxyboi - check out ezydog stuff, they're doing a range of limited slip collars (called checkmate). They're due for release soon, but look good. We had a Rogz martingale - it was craptacular. The Chrome wore off in a matter of weeks. We've also had a Blackdog limited slip, it was too narrow for Kuma's neck and was starting to rub his fur. Probably would be ok for a Shiba neck. Look for a good quality limited slip collar - there are many versions out there. The internet is your friend! Great photos, he's looking sooooo cute. Oh and re obedience - BDOC is actually quite cost effective. I think once you pay your membership, classes are about $20 per term. If you talk to them, they'd probably work out a payment system. Minxy - Good to hear Kyojin did ok yesterday. The are sooo funny when a bit groggy, eh? Kuma stumbles around like a drunk. He will probably keep himself fairly quiet today, what with all those stitches. Poor little poppet. Cleoj - it was a "big dog convention" yesterday. Which for us was fantastic! We had started out with one instructor but Cassie was without a class so ours was split in two. Either way, neither of the instructors said "oh, an Akita... well... um..." which is what's happened last few classes. It was so handy having the OH there too, it meant that we could take turns and make it interesting for Kuma. KTB - it was cooler last night, but it was also cooler in general... so not really a good indication. What worked out best for us is that there were less people on the ground. Sure, there wasn't the beginners classes on the field, but even still there were less people on the field. Only having 5 dogs in our class was great. Even if we get a few more next week, I doubt we'd end up with 15 in our class like we did last year. Have a great day all

We are just home from obedience. Kuma did really well! We have a small class of five dogs and the instructor is a girl my OH went to school with. Mr KumaAkita actually came and enjoyed himself... Judge the rottie and Merlin the Berner were there. Merlin is HUGE, looks like a big man now. Judge is still flighty. Hope Canberra doggies stayed safe in the storms and everyone else is finding a cool spot to spend their days

ha! I had just popped in here to do the same thing Bejlkier!

Ah, just call your dog what ever wanna call 'em. They're your pet after all. Kuma means Bear in Japanese - Akita's are of Japanese origin. It fits him - and there are many Akitas called Kuma. Steve or Fluffy didn't fit. We've had many weird names during our pet ownership. Nigel the Cat - he belonged to our neighbours and managed to move in with us. So he was Nigel No Friends Tranq the Cat - he was one of those crazy cats that would be a mile a minute down the hall and fall asleep halfway like he'd been hit with a tranq dart. Big Man Fred - dunno, my sister named him. He always had the full name, never Fred. um... oh gold fish called Harry, Barry, Gary and Larry. They were replaced with Wayne, Dwayne and Bruce. Dad's yellow Lab was called Reginald D'wight Le Blonde the Third. Or Reg for short. He was the runt of the litter and therefore commonly known as Reg the Reject.

They would be a tough dog for a noob owner. They are smart but independent and stubborn. I have spoken with breeders who have told me they are even more primitive than the Akita... Meaning heavier on the spitz mentality. I love them, they have spunk. I would love one so I could have a mini me to Kuma ;) there is one at our obedience and he's a classic. I'm sure there will be others who can tell you about what they're like to live with.

I guess it would be safe to say I won't be getting a poodle anytime soon!!

Haaa Rav - your dad sounds like a softie! Astrid has him wrapped around her paw Her face in the pool is a classic "what the hell do you call this!!???" Mars and Pepper are looking lovely - seems like they've settled into your new place quite well! tee hee heee... you had a dream about my doggie ;) Goodness! :yikes: hope that Mr Clastic is ok! Lemme know if you need help with your doggies... they can visit with Kuma if needed. My mum did the same thing when we were kids. She's a real klutz - which she passed onto my sister and I. She worked in a deli when she was a teenager and managed to slice her finger on the meat slicer. Yuck. Hey! We were at the OBD Markets too!! Just for a few minutes, before OH got the irrits and decided there was too much whacked out hippy crap and even more whacked out hippy people for his liking we ended up leaving after a quick tour of the building. Note to self, next time leave OH at home. We don't seem to have that issue - I'd say 99% of people ask if they can pat him before approaching him. Maybe because he's a bit bigger??? Don't worry - there were dogs in our bronze class that we didn't know from beginners. He'll be just fine ;) We're going on Thursday nights, I think it's too hot for Kuma to do Sunday mornings. There are some crazy threads on this forum... some people get seriously heated over things Oh well, we're all Entitled To Our Opinions. heeee... you dreamed about Kuma too!! How funny! * Nothing much happening around here - too hot to do much else. We went for a bush walk on Saturday morning around Aranda (Black Mountain Tower area). We followed the fire trails most of the way, so the path was wide and reasonablly clear. Pretty steep area, but we did ok! We were out for about an hour and covered about 6Km. When we were heading up the last hill to get back to the car, OH had Kuma with him on lead, and I was lagging behind (little legs find hills hard ) and Kuma was looking back at me with this "WTF are we doing?" face... priceless. Hope you're all staying as cool as possible! Edited coz my hands and my brain don't seem connected today...

We had an issue with our boy barking at night, even if we were home. Happened just as the weather warmed up and Kuma would let us know when people were coming and going. Not so fun. He's now crated inside at night. Much better for all of us really... I have read people on this forum who have set up a webcam and filmed their dogs whilst they're away - just to see what they get up to during the day. Most report loads of sleeping I'd just crate him while you're out, and perhaps think about making it permanent all night.

Awesome pics! I think I may have to invest in a bubble machine - I bought a bubble wand from BigW on special for $1. My photos are craptacular, because I'm holding the bubble mix between my knees, blowing bubbles with the wand in my left hand and taking pics with my right. Kuma loved the bubbles (well, same as Charche - Die bubble, Die!) and most of my photos are blurry and contain a fuzzy Akita Butt.

We went for a visit out at Yass Pets - they seemed ok. We had a wander aound the yards and had a good chat to the owners. They'd had an Akita out there before so they knew the breed and how they work. She was very forthcoming about how they would exercise our boy, and that they would be choosy as to which dogs they exercise him with. We are going away soon, so will be booking him in for 2 weeks. It will break my heart, but that is just what we have to do. There's another one in Yass that I have not heard good things about... but - as everyone says, you need to check these places out for yourselves.

Japanese Border Collie!! We reckon Kuma's about as big as a sheep and would probably just push them over... He's had a frollick in OH's Pop's paddock with about 20 head of beef cattle a few months ago. He rounded them up in a circle and didn't really know what to do next. Silly bugger. This morning I ran into a lady with a 4 month old chocolate Lab x Kelpie. She was in despair because he's naughty and has chewed all her plants. "he will grow out of it though, right???". Um, yeah, Labs eat everything... I asked if she's doing obedience - and pointed her in the direction of BDOC. Cute little thing that looked very much like a lab with Hoover-style ears. Given how a simple play in the park on Wednesday tired Kuma out (he's still sleepy today), I don't think he's right for the cut and thrust world of agility or flyball. We'll stick to obedience for a while.

So Kuma is 74cm at the withers and weighs in at 47.3kg. Satch is about 1-2 cm shorter and about 10kg lighter - wuffles can correct me if I'm wrong... It was an absolutely fab morning. Dontcha just love it when your doggies embarrass you? Poor Max and his fixation with your SIL

Howdy All... my week 4 is rather unoriginal... the obligatory paw shot: W4/52 Soooo Tired by shibburd, on Flickr This is from yesterday... we had a play date with a few DOLers and their doglets. After much chasing in the morning sun, Kuma spent the remainder of Australia Day in a cool spot on the tiles sleeping. Wags - Riley's coat is sooo shiny!

Kuma is still buggered from yesterday. He slept ALL day yesterday, put himself to bed early last night, took some prodding to go for a walk this morning. He walked beautifully this morning, short leash right at my side. No sniffing and peeing... He was too tired. He didn't eat his breakfast and opted instead to have an early morning nap! My big fit lump of a dog :D