Big Paws Only Dog Forums
Akitas => Akita Discussions => : Ron_G April 26, 2007, 11:18:55 AM
-
I have an eight year old male Shiba, whom we have raised since he was a puppy. He is our second Shiba (the other died of old age before we got this one). Our adult son got a Beagle last year and he plays well with our Shiba. Our son just got another Beagle puppy and that started my wife and I thinking about getting another dog.
We are thinking about getting an Akita female puppy. My concerns are two:
First, is there likely to be a problem with having the two dogs in the same home? Our male is neutered and we will have the female spayed. Our Shiba is pretty sociable. If he doesn't want to play, he will just go off by himself. Normally, however, he loves to play with our son's dog.
Second, our son is getting married in August. He and his wife will soon have children. Will the female Akita pose a threat to our future grandchildren? We plan to socialize the new pet with friends and family, but we once had a lovable St. Bernard who would literally try to kill anyone outside of our nuclear family who tried to come in the house.
I realize there are no guarantees, but any thoughts/advice will be most gratefully received.
Thanks,
Ron
-
with our akita, when he was growing up he was very pushy. if he wanted to play with another dog, he would NOT take no for an answer, and would instigate until either the dog gave in and played or it started a fight. he is very friendly, BUT, he can be super duper unfriendly if he doesn't like you for whatever reason. he was very well socialized (every day we went out to meet new people!) but he still picks a few people he doesn't like and he will not tolerate them. at all. strangers alone in your yard? forget it.
as for kids, i have two sons (1 and 3) and he absolutely LOVES them and will take anything they can dish out at him, but he is only 4 months older than my oldest also so he grew up with them. if you well socialize them with kids, they are awesome family dogs. the problem, they can be very protective of the families' kids, even towards their friends if they are too rambunctious, or if they start to "play wrestle" or something. my 4 year old akita will pull my husband away from me by the arm if we're playing too rough for his liking. on a side note to that though, with us my akita and i have a very special bond, and have been through a LOT together where as my husband has been deployed more than home regardless of the fact we've been married longer than i've had axle.
since you mentioned that your shiba is older, you may want to think about any health problems he has, esp. arthritis or HD. akita's are infamous for "stepping" or "stomping" dogs when they're playing and since they are a big puppy it can cause problems for dogs who already have senior related problems.
overall, if they get great training from puppy-hood (they're very stubborn dogs) they can be GREAT pets! they're extremely smart, sometimes too smart for their own good! be prepared for a ton of shedding, and make sure you research your breeder. axle came from a BYB and is in awful physical condition, cross eyed with HD, and skin probs. if you do get one, please post pictures! i miss seeing axle as a puppy, and our akita / chow mix i never got the chance to see her small!
here's a pic of axle at 3 months of age and one now. here are his stats, he is bigger than the AKC standard though.
32" at the shoulder
140lbs
4 years old
-
Thanks for the feedback. Our Shiba, Goro, seems to be enjoying a second puppyhood and is running me into the ground. Your Axel sounds a lot like my Goro: stubborn, willful, loyal, dominant, and having his own agenda.
If I can figure out how to attach images, I'll post some pictures of my buddy.
-
if that's the case, and your dogs are puppy friendly, i'd go for it if it's what you want! i would try to get a more submissive puppy though, so it won't be as "stompy" towards goro. btw, that is such a cute name! how did you come up with it!
p.s.- to add pics, hit the "additional options" tab you see when posting a message. then you'll see "browse" and you just find your file. if it doesn't come up, chances are it's too big of a file, and it needs to be downsized to under 400KB.
-
Here is a photo of Goro as a puppy.
-
he's adorable! i LOVE their faces!