minxy

Poor lonely Akitas

Well there you go :D

That should mean giving birth. Thanks i was a little confused after looking the term up, i guess i will sit tight until i hear Well, I thought so since it's called a whelping box etc. But I see people use the term all the time for both pregnant and giving birth so I'm not sure Now that I think more, from what your breeder has said they probably mean pregnant so then you can go on a waiting list etc. Maybe?

Lol yea I realised that the post I copied missed Akira out, so I had to do a couple of edits. And I still forgot Halo, whoops!

Akita: Kyojin Cavalier King Charles Spaniel: Bree, Ingrid, Jersey, Lacey Finnish Lapphund: Vienna German Coolie: FlashBazil, Latte Golden Retriever: Onslow, Matilda-Rose Griffon Bruxellois: Mocha Siberian Husky: Akira

It's shocking that people do that isn't it. My friend has a 11 month old BC pup. When she got him the breeder told her that he had previously been adopted by someone else, but they had returned him after something ridiculous like 4 or 6 hours (something like that, it wasn't even overnight) because they hadn't bonded with him and he was too full on for them!

That should mean giving birth.

Yea, I think what he means is that she was glamorizing having a dog and carrying it around in a handbag as an accessory more so than a companion etc.

I don't have kids, but I would recommend telling him before so that he can say goodbye. When I was in year 8 I went away to school camp. My rottie had been really sick with cancer for quite some time and while I was away, my parents had no choice but to put her to sleep. It was in no way their fault that I didn't get to say goodbye, but I still wish I'd had that chance.

Daisy is super cute!!

Did they give you a referral to a specialist? If not, ask for one. You'll probably need to get x-rays done so that the specialist can determine what grade it is, and whether it needs surgery, or whether there is potential for him to grow out of it etc. My boy is going through the same thing now and the specialist said there wasn't any point giving him any sort of supplements or anything like that. He said there was no harm in doing so, but that it wouldn't do anything. Which I suppose makes sense, since luxating patella means that the groove is too small, so that's not something that can be helped with supplements.

I used Dogtainers when flying Kyojin from Canberra to Brisbane. They were always lovely on the phone to me, and were about half the price of Jetpets. Sometimes you just get unlucky.

We've just sold our Jeep. Kyojin used to either go in the backseat with his seatbelt or harness (seatbelted) on, or in the cargo area. As long as it's closed properly, you cannot open the boot while the keys are in the ignition, let alone turned on. For now we have a sedan and a hatchback. He goes in the hatch as we don't want him on the seats of a brand new car, so he gets harnessed in the hatch instead. When we replace the hatch next year we'll be buying another 4WD, so he'll go back in the cargo area. I also only have the windows down enough so that he can have a good sniff, but can't try and climb out. Realistically though, he'd never be able to jump out anyway.

The only way to find out what the lump is and whether it is cause for concern or not, is to see your vet. It would be very difficult for anyone on here (and irresponsible) to try and diagnose a lump that we cannot examine, online. Best to go for a checkup as even if it does turn out to be "nothing", that's exactly what you want to hear!

My first dog (as an adult) is Kyojin. Akita's are never recommended for first timers. I can definitely see why, but at the same time, I couldn't imagine an easier dog to own! The challenge would be if you don't know how to be in charge, 100% of the time. The thing with Akitas is that you're not supposed to let them get away with anything, not even once. So right from the very first second he stepped foot in our house, we laid down the rules with him and made sure that anything we asked him to do, got done. And anything he did that was inappropriate was sorted out immediately. I was expecting him to be a challenge, but he's been far easier to train and live with than any of our family dogs. You just need to be firm and consistent. I think what makes him much easier than we expected is that he is generally very eager to please and is hugely food orientated as well. This isn't always the case with Akitas though, so I do think we have gotten lucky with him. I'll be interested to see what it's like when we have another Akita one day.

Oooh I didn't know you could get bigger than a 48! I'll have to look into that

Deciding on an Akita was such a simple decision to make. I've had a number of dogs growing up, but mainly Rotties. While I do love Rotties and would love another one one day, I wanted something different for my first dog as an adult. I wanted a dog that was independent but still super affectionate, a dog that is incredibly intelligent, one that is calm and laid back and not requiring loads of exercise, one that doesn't shed much or smell (I prefer a coat blow over a dog that sheds all year round), a dog that barks only when there is something important to bark at and I only wanted a large dog. Once I discovered Akitas I knew I had to have one! It fit everything I could possibly want in a dog. I was originally looking at Huskies (which is how I came across Akitas) but they weren't quite what I was after.

Kyojin absolutely loves playing with dogs, and I think it's great for him to interact with other dogs. Now that he's an adult and getting really big I'm more cautious about which dogs he plays with. I've seen a few attempts from other dogs to start fights (either with other dogs at the park or him)and because he's so much bigger than every other dog we meet, I know exactly how things will end up if a full on fight breaks out. So I no longer take him to dog parks other than the one at the end of my street which I have only ever seen a max of 3 dogs in the park at any one time. This means it's much easier for me to speak to the owners first and we always introduce our dogs to each other slowly to see how they behave around each other and stay close so we can intervene if need be. Usually though I would prefer that he socialises with family or friend's dogs instead.

Certainly hasn't been in my boy's case. He was desexed at 7 months of age and at 12 months now he's quite a big boy, much bigger than expected for his age. And is still growing quickly. Don't most people say that when you desex a dog earlier that they actually get bigger than they otherwise would be if they were entire? Or at least lankier or something. I've heard theories for them being either smaller or bigger, so I'm not sure. He was always bigger than his age though, even before he was desexed, so it hasn't seemed to have any effect at all

Certainly hasn't been in my boy's case. He was desexed at 7 months of age and at 12 months now he's quite a big boy, much bigger than expected for his age. And is still growing quickly.

Yup, I love our clicker! It's so useful for when you really need to be super accurate with your timing. Even trying to say such a simple word as "yes" can sometimes be hard to say at the exact moment it's needed. (And I feel much less silly clicking rather than saying "yes" constantly )

Kyojin has just turned one as well and also still sits like a puppy - he also has really bad luxating patellas as well, so maybe that is what is causing both our dogs to still sit this way?

Thanks guys, some great suggestions so far

A lot of people use those mini garbage bins (like your green and yellow ones) that come in lots of different colours. You get them from cheap and junky stores like Crazy Clarks etc.

Are there exercises that I can do to work on Kyojin's recall without requiring too much walking from him? He's not allowed to run, or free play. But as this has been the case for a few months now and will be for possibly another year, I'm worried that I'm not able to do enough training with him and recall is something he needs work on.