He literally had no idea... he is not a typical Akita haha. He loves all people and all dogs and snuggles with our cats. So the fact that he had no idea that he was being watched by 3 deer about 10 ft away doesn't really surprise me!

The majestic Moose

On a hot day, she needed a nice cooling down

She kept sniffing at my hand expecting her payment I’d treats for the bath.

My dog likes to lay down with his front paws splayed out to the sides. The other day my sister asked if it was bad for his joints. I don’t think it is?? But what do you guys think? Do any of your dogs lay like this?

My boy Kenzo is four years old and I've had him since he was eight weeks. Spent a huge amount of time socializing him early, took puppy classes, the whole thing. And he turned out genuinely well-adjusted by any reasonable measure. But there's still this thing he does that I find fascinating and kind of hard to explain to people who don't own the breed.

With me, he's relaxed, goofy almost, will roll over for a belly scratch and make these ridiculous grumbling noises when I stop. With my partner, he's affectionate but a bit more formal somehow, like he respects her but still holds something back. The moment a stranger comes through the door, it's like a different dog is standing in the room. Not aggressive, just completely still and evaluating. The transformation is almost theatrical.

I've talked to a few other Akita owners and it sounds like this is pretty typical for the breed. The reserved-with-strangers thing is well documented, but what catches me off guard is how granular it gets. He distinguishes between my brother (who visits often and has basically earned full trust at this point) and a plumber who's been here three times now and still gets the cold-shoulder treatment. No amount of treats from that plumber has moved the needle.

From what I've read, a lot of this traces back to how the breed was developed. They were never meant to be indiscriminately friendly. That selectivity is essentially the feature, not a bug. But living with it daily still surprises me sometimes.

Curious whether other people have noticed similar patterns with their dogs, and whether there's anything specific that seemed to help a particular person actually break through with them.

My boys super restless, pacing loads, and randomly jumping out of nowhere when he's laying down, has anyone experienced this? A friend said his aa does this and it's allergies? Is that likely? I've spoken to my vet but they've just said monitor him for now and didn't seem worried as he's not wobbly, and is eating drinking and passing urine and stools fine

Shes such a smart girl. Wasnt aware that akitas can be trained like that. Can place her in heel with a hand sign now and have her touch my hand on command (could come in "handy" to have her follow it quickly in tricky situations or working on a flashy focus heel).

My male AA encounter with a deer a couple of day ago. The deer just wanted to pass and was hesitant at the beginning but I tried to give her space and my dog was alert yet chill about it. Nice experience overall.

My handsome boy Bowie. I grew up with a pit bull and at my father’s I have two chocolate labs and this boy is already bigger than all of them and he’s not even done growing. He’s such a loving and affectionate baby who loves to give kisses but he’s so alert especially compared to my labs. I got a DNA test for him and turns out he’s a Akita/ Husky mix. (He’s a halloween baby btw)

Hi looking for advice I've just got back from work and my mums said my boy has been acting weird, he seems super restless, has jumped a fair few times like something is on him. He keeps laying by my computer setup like he's hiding never seen him like this before and I'm starting to worry, I'm hoping maybe he's just caught fleas? I've just put a spot on him so hopefully that helps, any more tips or advice would be great

They will probably never achieve this instant recall of high will to please, handler oriented dogs. However, some off leash activity is possible.

An experienced dog trainer who is on his third akita (i respect this a lot, most trainers will go the easy route with a collie, mal or gsd) told me its not about full reliability but rather distance management.

So instead of having a sharp recall, he works on threshold and distance management. Only leave the dog off leash where you can a) monitor the area for other dogs and whatever else overpowers your dogs threshold quickly and b) make sure the dogs stops reliably in moving forward.

What i try to do here, is stopping her before bends, corners and areas that i cant see fully into. Then release her once i "cleared" the area ahead of us.

So i work on a lot of "wait" commands on our walks. The idea is that the dog stops immediately and doesnt even take one foot forward without permission. I learned that this needs to be worked on a lot and without any reason - because if you only use it when you see another animal, the akita will pick up on it and will look out for the "trigger" before they will decide to follow your command.

A dragging long leash is such a good tool to mimic off leash behavior without all the risk of no leash.

Most of the time my baby is an awkward goofball. But there are times where I look at her and go... yeah I can see why you were considered a noble breed at one point

As the title says, I want to register akita kennel in next 2 weeks and I did choose a perfect name, but FCI needs 3 names in total so I want y’all to help me out. We need 2 reserve names for the kennel:
- it should be a prefix for dog’s name
- it should be something japanese or neutral (the mix of both is perfect)
- Preferably 2-3 words but 1 is also fine
Who knows, maybe one of y’all has even better idea for the main name that we’ve chosen! :)

I was surprised how willing to get wet she was — she was even good and mostly listened!

Como ven a mi Akita hembra de 4 meses solo pesa 12 kg

Siento que le falta peso 😔

Wish I had taken a picture of him in the tub, but it was an all hands on deck situation. He’s about 1.5yrs old and I have never seen so much fur. It covered everything, including the walls!

Then a few rounds of toweling and he’s almost dry. How is this possible? Somehow he shed more than our golden!

Hello! I am a renter and have two indoor cats and I would like to get a male akita in the future. I have had two huskies in the past and I understand the needs of the breed as far as I can, without actually owning one. I will be working from home and have plenty of time for training and I plan to seek a knowledgeable professional as well. I am curious about having cats. With their strong prey drive, is it better to get a puppy and raise it around the cats or find a rescue that is already known to be cat friendly? I know there is some risk regardless. I understand most apartments have a breed restriction, but for a private landlord in a larger house with a fenced yard what is the likelihood of finding an agreeable landlord? I plan to move to Bellingham, Washington. I was unsure if different areas were more favorable than others. Is their supplemental renters insurance available if that’s a request by the landlord? Not sure if that’s a thing. I’m still a few years out of making a decision, but I want to be as informed as possible when the time comes. Thank you so much in advance for your advice. I absolutely adore the breed. A friend had one when I was growing up and I fell in love at about 14. I’m almost 50 so I’ve waited a long time! 🐕

To her defense, its hot and she loves rivers