drjeffrock

Glad to hear that Zebra is getting better. Out of curiosity, who is your vet?

[quote name='Kaleb124']WOW things sure changed around here over Christmas!!! ....I had surgery and was down and out for nearly a month. But I AM BACK!! I am also a fellow Akita owner. I have owned Akitas for 14 years. They are my ABSOLUTE favorite breed.[/quote] I agree. I love all animals, but Akitas are top dog imho. What kind of surgery are you recovering from, if you dont mind my asking?

[quote name='Debbie']Jeff, I owned an Akita/Rott female for 15yr. (she passed). She was the love of my life !! She was my constant shadow, loyal and true till the end. She would let kids climb all over her and tolerate alot from them. BUT, she was also very dog aggressive. That was her only flaw. I love that dog and to this day I get teary eyed thinking about her. It took 8 months for me to want to get another dog. Now we have 2 Jack Russells and a Lab/Rott. Just couldn't live without the love of a good dog !! :wink:[/quote] I know how you feel Debbie. I get a little teary-eyed when I think of the future after Kira passes away.

[quote name='Edgar'][quote] Guilt for example is no "Natural" emotion. Rather its hammered into you by the people and environment around you. [/quote][/quote] :laola: Exactly!

I would start out with checking thyroid levels. No doubt, behavioral training is a must. Since the dog has already bitten someone, it knows that it got a response from its action (even if its a negative response.) I was thrown into somewhat of a similar situation when my APBT bit one of my neighbors. I would try to find a certified behaviorist in the area, and work with him/her. If the behaviorist tells you that the problem can be completely solved, I would search for another trainer. As mentioned previously, this will take lots of time, money and effort. In my case, I decided that I was going to do absolutely everything possible before even considering putting my dog to sleep. Dex has progressed nicely since he started training. I wish them the best of luck! Kaleb- It's nice to see someone else on the board with a keeter. I was starting to feel a little lonely :oops: LOL, I am just kidding.

[quote name='DeafAussieLover'] but when she is in trouble she will crawl past you as low the ground as she can and hide. lol[/quote] LOL, these stories are great. Kira will just come right up to me with her ears pinned back, and try to give me her version of a kiss (sticking her forehead forward to be kissed.) LOL @ Dexter. He still is trying to figure out right from wrong. He def. does the Zoey crawl, or gets into his kennel to get away from us, hahaha.

Over-all favorite breed? An Akita of course! Other breeds I like include: Briards, APBTs, Dobies, Dogo Argentina, St. Bernards.

[quote name='DeafAussieLover']Jeff-- wow that is amazing! i wish we had beautful parks like that around here!! lol here i have to make sure i'm not in the shooting range, gernade range milssle range, or land mine range.. *sigh* the downfalls to living on base... hehe[/quote] :o And I thought I had it bad in L.A. with all the thugs and broken glass everywhere, lol.

[quote name='StarFox'] Jeff- I'm about 5 miles outside of Pasadena. Runyon Canyon? Nope don't think i've ever been there. Where is it located. [/quote] Hey Starfox- Runyon Canyon is a huuuuuge dog park located in the Hollywood Hills. It sits on over 25 acres of land. The bottom part of the park is on-leash. As you hike up, it is off-leash. Here is a pic of my girlfriend, and a couple of her friends after walking up maybe 20% of the way to the top. It is amazing. On a clear day you can see from Dodger Stadium to the Pacific Ocean. I dunno if you are familiar w/ Hollywood, but to get there you just go north up Fuller Ave. Fuller is located a couple blocks west of La Brea Ave. [img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b3d933b3127cce8a81ebcffaef0000001610[/img]

Hi. Sorry to hear about your troubles. I would say, it's time for some tough love! Get your dog used to the crate. My Akita used to hate being in her crate. She would cry, chew on the plastic (its a varikennel) and just howl when we were gone. While you are getting your dog used to it, there are a couple things I would do. Do not pay any attention to your golden when you first come home. If you come home and immediately start fawning over your dog, it will just get your pooch more and more nervous about you leaving. Also, exercise is very important. My pittie bounces off the walls when he is not exercised. Is it possible to get up earlier and exercise your dog b4 work? Also, I have a 2 or 3 minute rule. If either of my dogs is crying in their crate, I ignore it and will not let them out until they have stopped whining for a couple minutes. Now, they love their crates, and see them as a place to chill out and get away from us and each other. Good luck, and let us know how your golden progresses.

[quote name='StarFox']Oh where to start..Ok about a month ago I noticed that I could see Zebra's breath. Just like you can see your own when it's cold outside. Except I could see his breath INSIDE! :o Ok it does NOT get that cold in my house! I live in Los Angeles for crying out loud, it bearly rains here! I would say that the house is anywhere from 60-70 degreese at night. At first I thought I was seeing things then my dad and my mom saw it too. It's not that cold in my own house that his breath could be seen! So what is it? Am i just going insane, i'm starting to think so. :oops:[/quote] Hahahahaa, oh come on Starfox :roll: Hey Starfox- That is too funny. It has been a little chilly here (L.A.) but its not that bad!! I did notice the breath thing also though. Where are you located? Do you ever go to Runyon Canyon?

Hi DAL- I am sorry to hear what happened. :( Don't beat yourself up over it too much. Sometimes things happen in the blink of an eye. When Dex bit my neighbor I was so upset, and choked up over it. Now, we just take it one day at a time. Some days Dex makes a lot of progress, other days he takes two steps back. Good luck, and please let us know how Cody's training goes. Give Cody a kiss for us, he is not a bad dog! :wink:

[quote name='Mutts4Me'] I do hope you stick around. I'd love to have an Akita owner in regular attendance on the board, and you sound like great dog owners, too :) .[/quote] Rest assured, I am going nowhere. I like this board due to the people, the layout, and all the beautiful different breeds that are represented here. Talk to you soon. -Jeff

Hey Jody- Great pics, thanks for sharing. Your Kira is a very pretty girl. I dont know the first thing about agility, etc. but I am def. impressed by the pics.

Ya, I def. feel you guys. People see my girlfriend and I walking our dogs, and they will cross the street quickly. Unfortunately my pittie that I adopted bit a neighbor of mine a couple months ago. We are seeing a behaviorist, and Dex is doing much better. In fact, he does not even pay attention to people on walks. He does get a little riled up when he sees little kids screaming or other dogs. It is extra tough for me to promote our breed positively as Dex has already learned that he can get a response from biting someone. Needless to say, I dont let complete strangers come up to play with him. No doubt, APBT's are some of the sweetest dogs when it comes to humans. I know that it is far from the breed standard to be anything but little love bugs (towards people.) I think Dex' previous owner abused/neglected him. So, it kind of sucks when people want to play with him and I have to say "Sorry. He is still learning to be a good boy."

I am going to play devil's advocate here and say that if you want a dog that will protect you at all costs, an Akita is the way to go. They are loyal to their owners and need absolutely no training to protect their owner.

[quote name='abker17'] And a BC mix named Abby. Actually we think she might have some Akita in her, I've done a bit of research on the breed and her personality seems a lot like that of an Akita's. She also has a short coat, and a distinct curl in her tail. Whatta u think? [/quote] It is possible. Abby is a cutie. I would not be surprised if she had some akita in her. Cute pic!

That is very, very sad. A cop actually pulled over once to talk to me about my Akita. We were chewing the fat, and he told me that many newer cop cars have a safety feature that keeps the air conditioning on for the k9 in the car at all times.

[quote name='Mutts4Me']As I mentioned earlier in this thread, Akitas are my dream dogs. I've researched them for years and am absolutely in awe of them. I'm not sure I'll ever actually have one, though. But I must say, I'm very impressed with the Akita/APBT combo. An APBT is another breed of dog I would love to own, but both breeds' tendencies toward dog agression have me worried (since I'll always want a multi-pet home), and I was actually surprised to see the two being kept together. From the pictures, it looks like they get along great :D Do you have any other pets?[/quote] Hey Amber- Your sig is too cute! Before adopting Dexter we carefully thought it out. Kira is very dog-aggressive, but not disobedient. She behaves well on-leash, and will even ignore most dogs that go by her or walk up to sniff her. We decided that we would have to get a male puppy. Many people will argue till they are blue in the face that you can have dogs of the same sex with no problem. To each their own, I felt it would be much better to have 2 dogs of opposite sex. We took precautions when we brought Dex home. First off, we introduced them at a neutral park so Kira would not be to upset. We fed them seperately and did not leave any toys/bones on the floor. We made sure to give Kira that "extra" attention at certain times, yet let her know that we had a new member to our pack. There has been one incident since we have had both dogs. The 2nd week we had them, we were all playing in my back yard and I turned my head for a split second, and Kira snapped at Dex and bit his face. Dex yelped, and walked away. Two seconds later as a little blood is trickling down his face, we walks right back up to Kira as if to say "Hey, I am not mad Sis. Let's play!" I think it was just a little dominance display by Kira to let her know that she is alpha over him. Now (8 months later) they are like 2 peas in a pod. Dex loves his big sister like no other. All I have to do on a walk is say "Kira" and he starts crying, wanting to go home to see her. Still though, the dogs are never left unsupervised at home for more than 5 minutes. We leave Dex in his crate, and let Kira have free reign of the house. This is something that will never change. All it takes is one little thing and you come home to a tragedy. Dex is quite the handful, I wont go on and on about him, but we are working with a behaviorist, as he bit one of my neighbors. Before that he had never shown any signs of human aggression. My neighbor is a dog-lover, and was so cool about the situation. He did not call animal control or anything like that. I did give him some money for his jeans. It drew blood, but was not very bad. I told him I would happily pay for him to see a Dr. but he did not want to. Dex is great with people now, but he is still a work in progress. I think his previous owner abused him when he/she clipped his ears.

[quote name='abker17']U're dogs are gorgous!!!!!!! :loveu: Ehhh now I want an Akita! :bigcry: So many wonderful dog breeds such short life to have all the ones I want! *Sigh* Life is painful sometimes. :wink:[/quote] Haha, I agree. Thanks again for the compliments. My dogs egos are going to get even bigger than they already are. Do you have any dogs?

Hey there- My girlfriend and I have a 7 year old Akita named Kira and a 1 year old APBT named Dexter. Kira (female) is the love of my life, lol. I am an Akita snob, like most other Akita owners, haha. They are a breed matched by no other, imo. Kira is dog-aggressive but doesnt misbehave while on her leash (which is always.) With regards to keeters, I usually post at [url]www.akitaforum.com[/url] Lots of great people and keeters on the forum. Talk to you later. -Jeff Here is a link to a few pics of my Akita and APBT: [url]http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b3264f0a25c6[/url]