Hello! I’m excited to introduce myself and my new pup. I have a 12 week old Akita puppy, her name is Aspen and she is a handful! This is my first Akita and I have so many questions about her behaviors. I’m hoping to get some good advice for some issues we are having! She is the cutest girl and can be so sweet, but when I heard Akita’s were stubborn, I didn’t realize I was in for such a little sass. She’s goofy and playful, with a ridiculous amount of energy. We are currently in a power struggle. She wants to be in charge and do what she’d like all the time. She has started to get very nippy with me and my husband when she’s frustrated. She is a play biter, but the frustrated nipping is a bit different. For example, when it’s time to come in from outside, she growls and gets upset. I have to pick her up while she’s biting at my hands and face to get her back inside. I wondered if this was normal and how we can stop this behavior. We are also having trouble potty training. Little Aspen lived outside in a small shed with her siblings and had a large yard to play in. As far as we know, she had never been inside and was a little startled by our apartment. At first, she peed everywhere. Puppy pads were no help because she just eats anything she can get her mouth on. We thought she may have a UTI with the number of times she was peeing. The vet gave her a clean bill of health, which was great! But still the peeing. Now she has 2-4 accidents in the house. I watch her closely and take her to potty every hour, but she is still peeing where she’d like and isn’t letting me know she needs to go. She isn’t phased when we tell her no and put her outside, more annoyed than anything. We crate trained her, and she has NEVER had an accident in her crate. She has never pooped in the house either. Any suggestions? When we got her at 9 weeks, she had fleas everywhere (no ticks). We called the breeder and he told us to use baby shampoo and apply frontline. She hated her first bath and isn’t a fan of bath time for any reason now. The problem we are having is itchy skin. She is constantly itching or biting her skin. It seems to bother her a lot. Is there something that can help with this? She absolutely loves outside. Everything goes in her mouth, and some of it in her tummy. She loves digging little holes in the grass and sticking her nose in the mud. We are having trouble with her eating rocks and gravel. I watch her closely outside and get as many rocks out of her mouth as I can. The other night I woke up to her vomiting in her crate. On closer inspection, she had thrown up a larger rock (a bit bigger than a quarter in diameter) with a couple of small ones. I find some in her poop from time to time as well. She loves to eat sticks as well. I’m worried she’ll get ahold of something and get a blockage! Aspen is extremely smart and very aware of her surroundings. Sit, down, and come are pretty much there. Although, she doesn’t always come if she thinks there’s not something good in it for her. Any help/advice would be much appreciated here! She loves big cars and machinery. She’s is in love with the rain and thunder. At first new people were so scary, but now everyone is her friend and she sits patiently waiting for everyone passing by to say hello... and then gets upset if they don’t haha. It’s been a real journey getting to know her and watching her grow! I’ll attach some pictures of our beautiful girl.
Hi there , My cattle dog cross bull Arab pup was a pebble eater. I would try to take them from him which he did not like , which then he would do it and I could see he was becoming possessive and sneaky about it , and I knew then I would end up with a naughty puppy relationship. so I stopped even though it really annoyed me and I was worried, none of the pebbles were huge. I swept everything and got rid of as much pebbles as I could, and used distractions. He eventually stopped by himself. It was also a bit of reverse psychology type stuff as though it would be with a human child.
Sounds like normal puppy behaviour, as for the biting Puppies like adult dogs, learn through repetition, it takes time /patience the goal is not so much to stop them from biting, but to teach them bite inhibition/ bite control. Whatever method you choose, the more consistent you are the faster they will learn. http://www.crickethollowfarm.com/biteinhib.htm Stop carrying her most puppies don't like it, the easiest way is to keep her on a line/long lead when outside, then when you call her gently tug on the line still calling her, when she comes in give lots of praise. As for the odd accident indoors it’s not unusual for puppies that age, just look for the signal when she is about to go and take her strait outside. Make sure you clean area with biological washing powder or vinegar mix, to eliminate odours. As for itchy skin I would go back to vet. Eating stones, puppies eat anything and everything, you have to watch them constantly work around the command leave it, again when she is outside I would keep her on lead so you can keep an eye on her, work on redirecting her with ball or other toy until she hopefully grows out of it.
Aspen is adorable.. Bless her! I think is fine and no need to panic. She just needs some attention and slight training on her toilet regime, basic commands (easy for a baby like her) and to boost her self esteem more. I am sure you are going to be an amazing mum to her
Thank you for the vote of confidence! She’s a sweet crazy girl and we are still getting to know her. We are working on the training, she’s too smart for her own good!
Thank you for the advice! She is doing better with the rock eating, still tries to eat most everything else, like a puppy does. It she’s passing up the rocks more frequently. The accidents are getting better, but still happening. Mostly in the evening when there’s a lot going on in the house. It seems behavioral at this point. The biting got much better, and has recently worsened to very hard and painful biting. We are working with her on this, but still a bit frustrated. Thank you for the resources!
About 13 weeks old? She'll be heavily teething. Puppies start to lose their teeth at 16 weeks (give a few days either side). Although patient and persistent training does work, it works even better once they get their new teeth and aren't bothered with sore gums. Try giving her ice cold stuff to chew on. It does help a little
