KumaAkita

oh Siks3, I'm so sorry to hear about this. Hope you can find the little guy a safe place to live out his life, what a heartbreaking decision. Have to admit this is my biggest fear and the reason we will be a one dog family... my boy won't start a fight, but it wouldn't take much for him to finish it. And to the breed typists out there deep breath folks, the OP knew what they were getting into when they got an Akita, it's not a decision taken lightly. Thankfully it's still a fairly specialised breed and most come from good breeders who work hard on temperament and breed betterment - and as much as I'm aware, they're all pretty particular about what kind of person ends up with their animals.

No problem at all... like others have said on this thread, it happens and it's not like you were encouraging him. I think because Kuma has such a neutral temperament, many dogs try to push him one way or the other to see how he'll react. Then if they don't get the reaction they were after, they keep pushing. That's why we put him back on lead, I don't want it to escalate to the point where he becomes aggressive. That's so funny. "going to the farm" was always the euphemism for being put to sleep. It seems that accidents don't happen any more - society has now bubble wrapped kids so people won't sue, dogs can't be dogs unless they're almost human. I find it sad. Niques: I love the flying James sequence - when he misses the ball, that had me in stitches! KTB: @ Hoover tucked in bed! And poor Elbie! His face is priceless I was talking to the OH about when we move Kuma onto Adult food. We've come to the agreement that it will be around the 18 month mark. I bought two more bags of food the other day, so probably when then run out. He doesn't eat anywhere near the amount on the packet and he's not skinny... he's funny about his food, and has only really eaten breakfast each morning over the weekend. I have also sneaked him plenty of treats

Kuma has grabbed all his squeaky toys and put them into a pile. He is currently taking turns at squeaking them. It's a squeaker symphony at the moment

thanks to all for coming, it was a great day. Glad the weather held out and didn't pizzle like it is today! I didn't manage to get my camera out, so no photos from me. Kuma is enjoying his stash, I'll try to get photos before they're all well and truely munched on. I'm just nursing some savage sunburn now, had my phone fixed and all's well. Enjoy the rest of your weekends.

ha ha you beat me to it Clastic It's sunny! Hope the weather holds, because it is just beautiful at the moment. Look at those biscuits! OH just asked if I'd like him to make tatie salad, I said Nup, Wuffles has it under control! I haven't wrapped Ava's present, still have to go to Woolies and get the other bits and pieces, oh and make a zucchini slice... OH has gone off to wash Kuma this morning, so hopefully we have a fluffy puppy when he gets home. I was giving him a brush with my fingers earlier, if I stopped he'd come back, lean on me and lift my hand so I'd keep brushing. He is losing SOOOOOOO much fur. Here's hopin' that most of it comes out at "in the wash" I'd better get my butt into gear!

Kuma used to hate having his paws touched, but we've slowly worked on the desentisation by gently touching and rubbing his feet. He's so much better now. Last night I was actually rubbing his legs and his feet trying to get his dead hair out, he now seems to love it. I think you have the right idea by starting again with the desenitisaiton and work back up to trimming. I also think you have had another bright idea by leaving that old vet behind! Can't wait to see new photos of your little man

well... it's Friday! It's been a long week and I'm looking forward to the weekend :D very chuffed about the comment from your friend... that's the guy with the Toller? We played Guess The Breed... I really love that big squooshy fat labrador, with the squooshed face in his halti. I think the lady thought we were laughing at him... I often rely on this site Accuweather for my weather information, it's pretty accurate. Hopefully it is right for tomorrow! I find BOM a bit confusing (tho I may just be a big spethial )

morning! Last night was fun! We were so proud of our little boy, he was calm for most of the time, he was Led Astray by Miss Ava who kept taunting him nah, it was great... Wuffles - how's Ava's ear? Still wet? Kuma developed a soft spot for Ava's ear and by the time we all left her right ear was saturated. Oh, and Satch really does exist. He is not just an Enigma. He is an adorable boy and I can see that he and Kuma will have fun playing off lead on Saturday. He does the lean ;) We saw our old classmate Judge the Rottie. He seems to have gained confidence (and size :D ) and is a much more relaxed dude. They moved to Thursday nights and found their classes to be really great. We discussed on the way home that we might try the Thursday night classes in Term 1 next year, if it's still too hot, we can drop out. We realised that Kuma missed coming to class, he seems to really enjoy hanging out with the other dogs and got loads of attention. So glad the OH came with me, I think I would have struggled to hold him for some of the time - he gets really excited and tries to pull out of his skin. I took photos, but they're all pretty crap! This morning we met a French Bulldog called Frank. He's just turned 1 and is just soooo awesome. Kuma played really well with him too! He basically let Frank sniff away, then went to a drop and let Frank jump on him! All he did was bomp him on the head once or twice, not in a mean way, but more of a "oi, stay right there!" way. It was really cute. I was so happy... Kuma didn't try to jump on him once! hmmm... think that's about it! Have a great day everyone

Anyone mind if I add some more??

Not an expert or anything, but I would think it would be the same as it is for humans. I've had a light sedation to have a gastrocopy (camera/tube shoved down your throat) and I basically fell asleep, didn't feel anything and woke up thinking the procedure hadn't happened at all. Good luck to the OP in getting this under control, poor puppy with sore ears.

Took me a minute to work out where bodies started and heads finished... great photo!

When I was a kid, my brother got a doctors certificate saying that he got severe hayfever when mowing the lawn. Gave it to my parents and got out of mowing the lawn ever again. We had an acre block and a ride-on lawn mower. I loved it... ETA: HEY!!! I just noticed we're on page 100 we sure can talk !

Read the book - it is easier than watching the movie. You don't see the big sad eyes. That's what killed me. Just be prepared to be devastatingly upset for a while, have loads of tissues on hand to mop up spilled tears and make sure Kyojin is in the mood for cuddles after! I can say that I know the story, just don't need to see the movie

DON'T DO IT!!! OH had IQ'd it and I only made it to the part where Gere dies (no loss there ) and was blubbering to the point of sobbing. Had to go and hug my boof-dog. Couldn't watch the rest. I deleted the film - I can't watch the rest of it. We did laugh at all the Shiba Inus tho... they were cute

Yes, the forum is full of Woe Betide! What Do You Mean You Can't LLW? Rehome or PTS Good to hear that LLW for all of us is relatively similar. I just want no yanking on the lead. Assessments are tonight. Kuma's not going for his, but we'll head down for a bit of a giggle. We won't go back until Term 2, 2011. It'll be too hot in Jan/Feb/Mar for him.

We'll probably be doing ours really early as I'm meant to be helping out so if you just want to see KTB and the others there's probably not much point being there before about 7! I can't decide whether to take Satch with me or not, he won't be doing the assessment but he likes meeting and greeting. The only problem is that he hates being tethered and will scream the house down while I'm trying to work with Ava or help out Cool, I'm happy to hold onto Satch if you need me to. ;)

Thanks Wuffles, we will aim to get there around 6:30 - 7:00 and see how we go.

Stupid double post... oh well, there's a first time for everything!

1. Thanks - we're kinda doing it ourselves. My hubby works in construction so he's been doing dodgy deals with mates to do stuff for us. It's awesome knowing people who own bobcats. It sucks digging it out by hand (which we did at Easter...) 2. Thanks again! I'm sure we'll have an awesome time 10% of the house value..!?!? Our garden will be a patch of dirt for a long long while.. we haven't even gotten anything organised for the curtins/blinds yet. The plan is to just have fabric until we do........ classy. Don't worry, we've been in since February and have had dirt since then! We won't be spending that much on our garden - we just want to turf so we can keep the dirt down. We didn't have curtains for the first few weeks, but the OH got a deal from somoene. Ask us about it on Saturday, I'm sure he can work something out. Think we managed to get curtains for our whole house for around $400-$500 * I had an awesome walk with Kuma this morning. He was just gently plodding along loosely. I was super impressed with my boy! I think it's just coz it's getting warmer. He's such a funny puppy, he loves to give my OH a face wash. If OH is lying on the couch, Kuma will HAVE to lick his face clean and munch on his beard. It's soooo funny. I tried to get video last night but he moved when I went to get the camera. *note to self, make sure you have camera on person all the time Oh and can someone tell me what time I need to be there tonight? We're not doing the assessment, but we're going to come along and say hi anyway!

He's thinking "man I'm hot!"

Thanks for the well wishes The Ark - much appreciated! @ Saxon... cheeky little monkey! I'm sure he'll be well excited when the time comes. I do hope he's not put off by big boofers... Kuma is a bit rambunctious when he's excited, harmless but exuberant. Like Wuffles said - we don't really need any more food, but bring along anything you like! I don't think anyone would say no to a bit more! Lets agree that there will be no photos of humans posted to the forum or on Facebook (without prior approval!) Lest anyone be mortified! But there will be photos. Oh yes, there will be photos. I'm really looking forward to it - should be a real hoot and a holler!

New photos from me! Kuma in one of his favourite spots - at the end of the hall on the cool tiles You may recall my photos of Kuma as foreman, well we've started the project. The walls have been built and the trees planted (with additional excavation done by Kuma). We now need to render the walls, lay turf, plant more little shrubs... the list is endless! We were told a the nursery other day that we should spend 10% of our house value on the garden. I think the OH nearly fainted ETA: Don'tcha just love our chicken wire fence??

This was about three/four weeks ago - the first day we noticed he had started to blow... OH washed him, but just in the ensuite shower and only had my hairdryer. Not Kuma's favourite thing in the world. Guess we'll be off to the dog wash this weekend!

Firstlly, I'm not a breeder and have nothing to do with breeding and would never consider breeding, so my question/thought could be well and truely off the mark. Please don't flame me. The pharmaceutical industry - the largest export industry in Australia is self-regulated, whereby pharmaceutical companies elect to join an organisation and in doing so agree to a stringent set of rules. It is a very tough code, which governs how member companies can ethically promote their prescription products. The main aim of the Code is having ethical relationships and transparancy (no more drug company sponsored holidays for doctors...). This Code has a complaints mechanism, which is arbitrated by an independent Committe. The fines are HUGE (then again, so is the company income). These complaints can come from other pharmaceutical companies, health professionals and members of the general public. Companies who get fined take a big hit to their public image, which does more finanical damage. This Code also has a monitoring arm, which reviews sections of the business on a monthly basis to ensure compliance. I wonder if there is something like this would work for animal breeders? Or is there something like this now and it's a toothless tiger? Government regulation would not work - too costly and time consuming for them to even bother about. However, a proven system would keep them at bay. Surely people like PETA would value that there is an ethical system that prevents (or at best limits) dodgy behaviour? Just a thought. *returns to lurking where she doesn't belong*

Kuma's blowing his first adult coat. It started about 3 weeks ago and it seems as though he'd really like it to stay there! I go over him with the rake every day, and get a signficant amount of coat out, but he seems intent on keeping the fur on his pants. He's got "bald" patches where his undercoat is completely gone, and others where he is still in full coat. He goes into a zen mode when I brush him Poor bugger must be itchy as anything. Since this is our first real experience with a full blow - any tips from the experienced? What should I expect?* *other than sh*tloads of hair!!