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Mika
as long as they- think they're- the boss
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 | | Barked: Sat Oct 24, '09 10:15pm PST | |  | |  | | Could you and your Mommy or Daddy help us
out a bit? I know you come from a multi-Akita
family.How were you introduced to your siblings? Mommy until now has kinda been a one akita at a time person but,decided to add
another 'cause they were so happy w/me.
My baby brother Kai will be joining us in 3-4wks.
Mommy already knows 1st akita 1st with food ,toys etc..and introductions on neutral territory does your mommy have any other advice that will help make accepting each other easier? Thanks,Mika&Kai |  |  | |  |
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By-Tor
949652 |
 | | Barked: Fri Nov 6, '09 10:38am PST | | | | | | Hey guys. Exciting stuff huh? New family member! Lots of work in store for all.
Introducing a puppy to a non-aggressive adult is usually not a big deal as the puppy will instinctivly be submissive. So its a bit easier than introducing two adults. Firstly I would like to say that when Tyson was little I made sure that I only introduced him to dogs that I was certain had good manners and would not be aggressive. Getting attacked by a dog at such a young age is a great way to set your pup up for a lifetime of aggression issues. My method of introducing was pretty simple. Puppy meets one new dog at a time (no letting the whole pack out to meet him at the same time). I did not introduce Tyson to any new dogs on his first day home, I spent a few days just building a bond with him.
We'll use Ty's first meeting with By-Tor, my other Akita, in this example(he was a 3 year old intact male. Tyson was 11 weeks.). By-Tor is hanging out in the front yard. I pull up in the car with the puppy. I tell By-Tor to stay back until the pup gets out, because I don't want the puppy to be over By-Tor's head when they meet, as this is a dominant position and would instantly make By-Tor reactive. So the two are now on the ground, By-Tor is dragging a leash as a safety measure but I don't hold it because I don't want either dog to feel restrained. Dogs are allowed to sniff but NO dominant posturing is allowed. That is, no T-ing off, no stiff necks or tails. I am the leader. Only I can decide when to use aggression. And I say no aggression is allowed for this meeting. So there doggies! (this attitude truly works). It is generally best to keep things moving. If the dogs stop and sniff for too long they tend to get more tense. One of them could feel cornered and snap, one could be too pushy, etc... So I kind of 'jolly them along'. I use a happy, relaxed voice and relaxed body language to communicate the attitude I want them to have. "Oh, look at you boys! You're such nice doggies! This is fun!" and I walk around and encourage them to walk with me. They will still be kinda checking each other out, maybe even playing, but they will be moving forward which is a pack behavior and will start building a pack bond between them. Moving forward=good. Stopping and getting tense=bad. Remember this.
That sounds like a good first meeting to me. Dogs are seperated before either gets too tired or annoyed with the other, and then the intro is repeated at a later time until eventually it is no big deal and the dogs are comfy with each other. It is ok if this takes a few days or even longer. You are setting the stage for a whole lifetime relationship so make sure its a good one.
It is a super great idea to take them for walks together. A baby puppy can't walk too far and you wouldn't want to walk him in public areas anyway, but you can just leash up and walk them together around your yard every day. Great for bonding.
Once they are comfy with each other you can start leaving them loose together for longer periods. But I highly recommend you don't leave them loose together when they aren't supervised. Crate one, or both, if you can't be there. A puppy can easily be damaged by an adult dog, even in play. Or the adult could get annoyed and attack the pup. Or the adult could have way more energy than the pup and make the pup play longer than is healthy for it. Its just not a good idea.
While Kai is little he will likely have a 'puppy pass' with Mika. Well socialized adults are usually very tolerant of pups, letting them climb on them, take toys, be rude, and just do lots of stupid puppy things. But this will start to change, sometime around 6 months. Mika will start expecting him to behave with more restraint, show more respect. She may start disciplining him more firmly for bad behavior. This is also the time when Kai will be starting to come into his own. He is getting more confident, becoming an individual. He is less likely to take a correction from Mika. he may sass her back and say 'you aren't going to correct ME!" This is where a fight could start. This happened to By-tor and Tyson. By-Tor has corrected Ty before, Tyson submitted, all was well. But as Tyson entered his teenage phase there were problems. By-Tor snapped at Tyson for something, Tyson actually glared at him, said a dirty word, and snapped back. By-Tor is extremely alpha, a very dominant dog towards other dogs, and he was not about to take lip from some young pup, and it instantly became a fight. I do not allow my dogs to just 'work it out'. Especially a bad idea with Akitas. As I said before, I am leader, I decide when and how to use aggression. Aggression is not allowed between pack mates! It took me just one loud verbal correction and both dogs were on the floor, submissive. Just a note, I have a lot of control over my dogs. My husband can not get this kind of respect. I'm the boss, they all know it, even though By-Tor weighs as much as I do! So if your dogs ever do get in a fight, move in on them with all the powerful rightous alpha rage you can muster, but be prepared to physically part them if that doesn't work. Grab a tail, drag that dog into another room, and slam the door on their faces. Haven't tried that yet but it sounds good in theory. Don't ever reach for the collars or heads, you could get bit. It only happened twice with my boys, within a week, and both times I was able to stop them within seconds so there was no damage and no lasting bad feelings. They are both neutered now, hormones have cooled a bit, and they are fine with each other. But I don't take anything for granted. And I would not ever leave them together unsupervised. I value them too much to take that kind of risk.
Anyway, what I was trying to say is that when Kai hits puberty there may be some shifting of rank. It may be fast and bloodless and you hardly notice, or it may be a big messy deal, but you as the leader need to be aware of it and in control of the situation. I would err on the side of caution and not leave them alone together until Kai is mature. I know this is hard for many pet owners to accept because "we're a family! we should all be together" but the truth is dogs are dogs and will act like dogs and you need to understand and respect them for what they are. Dogs.  Sane male dogs aren't that likely to attack females but I don't know your dogs, I've never met them, so I prefer to offer safe advice. It may be that Kai will be submissive to Mika, and will always be submissive to her. Love stuck. You know, typical boy? Or it may be that Mika will instantly yield to Kai from day one (as our Lab Jasmine did to Tyson). Or maybe Mika will be most dominant for a while but when Kai gets older you will just one day realize that Kai is now dominant and she is now submissive (this happened with Tyson and and his friend Roper the border collie). So it isn't necessarily 1st akita, first in line. I will allow whichever dog is most dominant to be most dominant. Trying to force a more dominant dog to submit to a less dominant dog is asking for trouble. The dogs feel unstable rankings-wise which causes even more tension. But if you feel one dog is being unreasonably, rudely pushy and aggressive then you as the leader can step in and correct that.
Do not allow them to be around each other around food or edible chew toys. Again, you're asking for trouble. You do not want your puppy getting bit or snapped at. Feed them in seperate rooms or in their crates. If they eat at the same rate, they can be fed in the same room but under supervision and with plenty of space between the bowls so neither feels too concerned. If one eats much faster than the other that one is likely to go over and check out the slower dog's bowl which could trigger a bite or result in the slower dog being driven off its food so that its not getting enough and the other dog is getting too much. Non-edible toys are generally fine to leave out, dogs don't seem to be quite as guardy over these.
Make sure to spend some time with each dog individually every day. Kai needs it so that he learns to look to you, and not just Mika, as his friend and leader. Mika needs it so she can feel secure and know that she's still your special girl, even though you have a new pest...I mean baby brother!
Might I suggest some puppy books? I can highly recommend both My Smart Puppy by Brian Kilcommons and Sarah Wilson and Building Blocks for Performance by Bobbie Anderson. The first book is a really good general training book for teaching your puppy simple games step by step that help him learn to trust you, respect your space, etc.. and eventually become real commands as the pup matures. And it is helpful for behavior issues and questions as well. The second book is geared for those who want to compete with their dogs but it is a great book for building a super bond with your puppy and just maximizing your relationship. It doesn't really teach you how to train a sit or down, but it gives lots of good theory and raising practices and training tips and ideas.
Well, that all for now. Let me know if you have more questions. If I think of something to add I'll post again later. Good luck, and have lots of fun with the little munchkin!
-Alanna and
By-Tor (the BIG Dog)
Tyson (the Lil Teenage Pain-In-The-Butt Dog)
Jasmine (the Sweet Perfect Girl Dog)
Holly (the Crazed But-We-Love-Her-Anyway Dog)
p.s. Here are links to pics of By-Tor and Tyson during their first meeting. Sooo cute!
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c348/super_cow82/Dogs/02- 23-09_1259.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c348/super_cow82 /Dogs/02-23-09_1301.jpg | | | | |
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