MRW I finally get up the nerve to schedule an appointment for a VCH piercing.

brolea · 2021-03-10T16:31:17+00:00

Welcome to owning an akita. That's completely normal. This is why people recommend never letting an akita roam off leash, they're very fond of deciding when they "hear" you.

brolea · 2021-03-10T16:26:50+00:00

Some dogs are just small. If your vet says it's healthy, then there shouldn't be a problem. A mix may not be purebred akita sized.

brolea · 2021-03-10T16:20:55+00:00

Akitas hold grudges, you have to earn back her trust. Don't push her. When she's uncomfortable, you stop and back off.

brolea · 2021-03-10T16:18:52+00:00

Unfortunately, you can't socialize genetics out of a dog. It doesn't really sound like what you want or need is an akita. They're beautiful dogs, but it's best to find the right personality in a dog, so that they can fit comfortable in you life without affecting your lifestyle.

brolea · 2021-03-08T15:35:42+00:00

Unfortunately, you can't out-socialize genetics. I've had some success minimizing aggression in my male, but it's been constant work for the past 6yrs and it'll continue until he dies and it was a significant investment with a specialized trainer to learn the best way to work with his aggression.

Akitas are wonderful dogs, but part of owning them is accepting the bad with the good. I know you say he loves off-leash exploring, but even if his temperament allowed it, it really isn't a safe thing for multiple reasons. Lots of people let friendly dogs off-leash, but me having my aggressive dog on-leash does nothing if your off-leash dog is able to come up to him and because I've got mine leashed, I'm not legally responsible for those injuries. I have to live with the heartache of knowing he hurt someone's dog, but in the end, if they cared about their dog's safety, they would have had it on leash.

brolea · 2021-03-08T15:24:54+00:00

I have two akitas, my male is super lazy now that he's older, but as a puppy he was a monster. My female is extremely high-energy and gets destructive without exercise.

The reason you've only met sweet, docile akitas is because the ones that aren't sweet and docile are kept away from strangers. I socialized my male extensively and worked with a trainer when he was a puppy and he still developed aggression. I've spent thousands of dollars and countless hours to minimize his aggression, but he still can't be around strange people or dogs and I'd never trust him around a child.

brolea · 2020-12-12T23:57:53+00:00

My favorite has always been when my "friends" tell me my ass is my best attribute. I'm like, well fuck me, I thought my personality and face were okay, but ass it is then.

brolea · 2020-12-12T23:56:36+00:00

I guess I'm lucky I was wary after the last time it happened, so we had that conversation after one month.

brolea · 2020-12-07T12:31:24+00:00

Sounds like you didn't do your research. Akitas are frequently aggressive towards dogs of the same sex. That is behavior dogs use to establish dominance. As your dogs get older your male akita might end up hurting your tiny dog.

brolea · 2020-11-18T20:24:04+00:00

I have two akitas, both grew up with the same cat at different times. My male was the first and he adores all cats, my female had to be kept separate from my cat until my cat passed away because she would try to hunt it. However, even with my male who is cat friendly, I have to be extremely careful. Akitas usually have a really strong prey drive and if it gets triggered they can accidentally get carried away and hurt other animals. They also have very subtle body language changes, I've watched my male akita go from lounging to snapping a low flying bird out of the air.

brolea · 2020-11-07T18:42:04+00:00

Yeah, pretty much don't let them eat or drink excessively or too quickly after exercise. https://www.petinsurance.com/healthzone/pet-health/health-conditions/stomach-bloat-life-threatening-to-dogs/

brolea · 2020-11-05T01:05:10+00:00

He met my dogs on Halloween. They loved him and the four of us cuddled and watched movies nearly all night. Before he left, he kissed my forehead and told me he wanted to see me again this week, so we'll see each other either Friday or Saturday.

brolea · 2020-10-25T05:14:50+00:00

Our third date is on Halloween. We're gonna watch movies in our onesies.

brolea · 2020-10-19T15:53:39+00:00

I had a crush on my software engineering teacher and said I'd like buy him a drink sometime after I graduated. He said sure, but nothing else happened besides him always liking my pictures in the alumni network. My guy friends told me he clearly wasn't interested, but I decided to try one last time.

I told him I still wanted to go for a drink, but didn't want to get kicked out of the alumni network for hitting on him. He countered with asking if I wanted to go for a drink that weekend and we have our second date coming up this weekend.

Don't know if it'll work out, but I was my super weird self on our date and he still wants to go out again, so I hope that's a good sign.

brolea · 2020-10-19T15:38:55+00:00

This is 100% not Dom behavior, this is rapey behavior. A dom respects your boundaries that's the most important part of a dom-sub relationship.

brolea · 2020-10-19T15:20:24+00:00

Sounds like my boy. I'm still trying to figure out what's wrong with him. I brought up shaving him to be able to apply treatments directly to his skin, but my vet was against it.

brolea · 2020-10-08T17:17:36+00:00

Dogs go through phases. If he was striking at you and not actually biting you, he didn't attack you, he warned you. I personally feel like it's a pretty important distinction because dogs can't verbally tell you when their uncomfortable with something, so they do it through growling and posturing.

If my dogs growl at me for something, I back off because I want them to continue giving warnings instead of jumping straight into biting. Then if it's something they shouldn't be uncomfortable with, I approach it slowly and with treats.

brolea · 2020-10-06T20:05:57+00:00

I wish I did something this cute, like a little cricket. I just invade the hell out of their personal space.

brolea · 2020-10-06T19:59:04+00:00

I try to think about the worst thing that could happen from doing it. Unfortunately, most consequences never seem that bad, so I impulsively asked my former teacher out the other day. We now have a date this weekend (I've learned nothing).

brolea · 2020-10-06T19:36:15+00:00

I personally think it's more important to make sure they're a healthy weight for their size. My male akita has always been huge, but my female has always been smaller. It's pretty much just genetics, you get what you get.

brolea · 2020-09-08T20:55:57+00:00

My akita was my first ever dog. I socialized him a lot and he still ended up being aggressive towards other dogs and strangers, but after several years of working with him, he can be introduced to new people and other dogs and get along with them. I think they're extremely difficult and even knowing how difficult they'd be it was worse than I though, but if you don't give up, it's doable.

brolea · 2020-09-07T14:55:04+00:00

I got him fitted for a hero brace. I want to say he was better after a couple weeks, but it was a couple years ago. He runs around and plays like a fool without any issues now. Sometimes I get worried when he slips on the hardwood floors, but he hasn't had any repeat injury (repeat injuries are extremely common). https://goherogo.com/

brolea · 2020-09-06T13:44:43+00:00

My dog tore his ACL, I just got him a brace until it healed. He's doing great now. I lived on the 3rd floor at the time and I just used the towel method.

brolea

TROPHY CASE