My Akita is now 5 months, and is still does pretty well with people and other dogs (though he prefers not to be touched on the head by strangers). I’m just wondering when I should start being extra cautious. I do not want an aggressive dog, and hopefully his friendliness with go with him on through adulthood. However, it’d be helpful to know the age range at which Akita’s usually will start showing signs of dog or human contempt. I’ve read up online, but there are many different ages thrown out there. Right now Rusty (my dog) will play with dogs at the park, and I don’t have to worry too much. But I’d love a time frame on when I can should take my attentiveness to the next level.
im by far not a expert but some dogs will always not like some strangers hands over there head eyes ears ect,either tell peoples leave the dog approach them first,or get a clicker n learn to reward for good behaviour like if a stranger approaches
I really don’t think there’s a hard and fast timeframe, each dog is different. I think my boy was around 8-9 months old the last time I took him to a dog park to run free and play with other dogs. He just wasn’t going to be submissive and got into it with an unaltered male Akita who just slightly older, both quickly up on hind legs grappling and making scary sounds. I think this was accentuated because it was another Akita. My dog was already nurtured. I’d had this issue before as well with unaltered dogs expecting him to submit because he was altered, but he stood up for himself. He was able to interact with other dogs after this, but on leash, and play with female dogs, but I kept him on leash, although dogs he played with weren’t leashed. Just wasn’t worth the risk of what could happen. I would say now is the time to raise your attentiveness and watch his body language around other dogs, particularly of the same sex. All my Akitas have been fine around people, and the 2 I have now really love attention from random people, they seem like they expect it. They have almost never show aggression towards a human and will let strangers come up to my truck and pet them when I’m not there. My female is a huge flirt and tries to draw people in. My male has shown aggression a few times towards someone I was passing on my dirt road, before I had the female, and it was someone I didn’t trust, so I was fine and even happy with his behavior in this situation. They are after all guard dogs. My previous Male Akita was much more in guard mode in the truck and his demeanor let people know to stay away, he wasn’t overtly threatening, he just gave off an air off stay away. He was also around 120 lbs. Hope this helps a little. Bottom line is you have an Akita, you should always be on alert.
Mine were fine with people, although they never went up to be fussed by complete strangers but will be quite happy with people they knew. The aggression with other dogs started when they reached 10/11 months.
