I have a dilemma

[The Frymarker]

I need your opinion, mostly dog owners.

Well last night our puppy of 16 weeks, Rainy bit my 3 year old son in the face.
It all started with my husband feeding my son ice cream, the dog tried to get in there as well and my son went to grab him and pull him away. Next thing we know he has a gash inside of his mouth and a gash outside on his chin.

Now usually my son and the dog wrestle around and she nips at him. But this was more of a full fledge bite.


She some times growls at him as well when she doesn't want to be disturbed.

I am having a hard time deciding on whether or not to bring her to the animal shelter.

Is this just a puppy thing or do you think it will amount to something bigger and better?

I am not an avid dog owner so any opinions would be appreciated.

[beam]

I can't tell from the picture exactly what kind of dog it is, but let me ask you this. How young was it when you got it? My dad, who has breed and bought dogs, says that too many people get their dogs too young. They need development time with their mom and siblings. Most dogs that are take too young are biters.

Absolutely no sooner than 6 weeks
Best time would be around 7 weeks

[The Frymarker]

Hi Beam,

Actually I don't know when exactly it was taken from it's mother. I got it from the animal shelter at about 8 weeks.

She is a very stand-offish dog, she doesn't like strangers and she doesn't like other dogs.

From what we can gather from the groomer, she thinks that it is a Akita shepard mix.

[synreal]

from the akita club of america website:
"The personality of the Akita is very complex. While temperaments vary, most would agree that the Akita is very intelligent, extremely loyal, and can exhibit aggressive tendencies."....."Akitas are VERY food possessive" - http://www.akitaclub.org/web/info/breedinfo.html

first off, i love dogs, but akitas can get to be real big, real quick and could easily get to be over 100 pounds before your son turns 6. they (as a breed) need to be broken and you have to exhert dominance over them from a very early age, otheriwse you could be in for trouble. this takes quite a bit of work and needs to be started/done at and early age and kept up for life.

most dogs (if properly introduced) will protect children as their own, but some never take to a child and can easily become a potential threat. a friend of mine (and tato's) had a gorgeous wolf for years (a real one, big, white and loving) who would never hurt a child in the house, and would pull the arms off of anyone who attempted to harm her "family", but sadly this isn't the case with all members of the dog family.

i think the breed is gorgeous, akitas probably aren't the best dog on earth to half around a young child if you are unsure of the animal's history.

//edit//
i wish your son a speedy recovery, and my thoughts are with you during this time of difficult decisions

[Devil]

Spend lots of time with the dog...you have to condition it to get along with people, and your own kids...pet the dog...play with the dog...run it walk it...when it bits...(hopefully not again) punish it...punishment subdues the undesirable action...but to reinforce it...it has to be constant...and don't beat the dog for punishment...maybe hold it's mouth closed and firmly say...bad...bad dog...if that doesn't work...get a stick...and smack it's butt...the worst thing you can do is overpunish it...then the dog becomes violent and even more of a recluse...you have to make the dog know that you and your family and other people are it's "friend"...most all dogs at least growl when you try to take food away or play with it while it's eating....etc...but if you smother it with love...it will learn right from wrong...also...start to bring more people in around the dog...don't put it up if you have good friends over...it needs to get used to the "aliens".

I had a full-blooded chow that my dad found behind a dumpster behind his work...my brothers were very, very young ...and everyone warned us about chows...but she was the sweetest bestest thing in the world...(besides my other old dog that lives with my parents now...)when we moved 2 years ago...we gave china to a co-worker of mine...but I still love her...she was wonderful!
(I miss her!!)

If you bring it back to the shelter...it will only further it's problems with people...

Yet if you constantly have a problem...your child might be too young to have it around...so...maybe later on...

[The Frymarker]

Thanks Syn actually I was just looking that up myself.

I have noticed one thing that she knows that there is a pecking order or persay the alpha dog.

She knows to listen to me and knows that when she does something wrong she is in big trouble.

She never thinks about biting me even if I do take her food away. I have tested this several times and I keep up on it.

It is making me sick, I phoned my husband and told him.

I have become so attached. The dog follows me every where, she is sitting under my chair right now.

Do you think a training collar would help?

[The Frymarker]

Devil one thing it has is I am home all day.

We are still house training her, she has a few accidents, especially when we go out.


I am used to cats, I have had them all my life and still have them now. The cats really don't bother with the children.

[synreal]

if you have ever used a prong collar before, it may help. but be careful not to just put it on during training sessions (akita's aren't dumb and will act like an angel when the collar is on and disregard you when it is off). if you decide to use one, put it on (and leave it on) whenever you interact with the dog (take it off if you have to leave the dog alone)

4 months <i>should</i> have been plenty of time for the dog to bond to the child, but i don't have personal experience with training your specific breed. i think almost any dog can be trained to be people friendly, but there are LOADS of warnings regarding the breed. any dog that can significantly raise your homeowners insurance due to its agressive/violent nature should be given a close look before it is allowed around children.

[The Frymarker]

Thanks Syn,

I was thinking of getting a hunting collar. That uses various sounds.


Yes 4 months would we have had her for 2 months. I am assuming that between her and my son, not so much my daughter who is 2, she is trying to establish who is top dog.

[MrMag]

well i know from personal experience that puppies really like to bite. mine and my friends dogs have bitten me when they were puppies, but never again after that. but my other friends dog never bit when it was a puppy, but now it putsa holes in people.

i say give it some time, but if your dog begins to stalk a family member, get rid of it.

[ShooterJM]

I have an akita shepard mix.

You're probably in for a tough time. Akita's in generally don't have good personalities and for some reason the shepard blood seems to drain intelligence. Anyway, as a puppy (1 year) our dog latched on to my arm when I went to refill his dog dish. Took a year to get him out of the habit of biting and lunging at peoples necks. FYI Bad dog didn't work. You HAVE to establish yourself as the alpha. Now he's a great dog who's still protective, but not a menace to people.

[The Frymarker]

Actually she is very intelligent, infact we have had people say they can't believe how docile she is.

I think she knows something is up as well. She was just licking his face earlier and has retreated to a corner in the house.


In someway I think she knows what she has done, and knows that she is in big trouble.

I think I just have to find the best way to train not only her, but my son.

Since Syn pointed out that food is a really big issue with the breed I think that she is going to have to go to another room when there is food around.

[ShooterJM]

Let me rephrase. In comparison with most dogs, they're still intelligent. In comparison with a pure bred akita, they're not.

Duke used to do that too. He'd do something wrong, then cower, try to cuddle. And then do it again 5 min later.

Food is a big issue, but it's something that needs to be taken care of. What happens if your 2 yr old grabs a kibble out of the dog dish? Duke used to lunge at people (and latch on to my arm. When I say latch, I mean latch, punctured skin in many places.)

Again, the alpha dog role is key. Even the little things, don't let your dog go in the house in front of you. Make him wait and be the last one inside. If you're the only one that establishes dominance, in his mind he's still above your kids.

Do you progessive punish? ie verbal, verbal + slight physical, etc

[The Frymarker]

she gets yelled at and a smack on the rear if she really doesn't listen.

[ShooterJM]

Good job. Akita's are great, they just take extra work.

One thing to watch for is him taking your hand in his mouth. Don't punish him unless he bites down. Generally he's just trying to lead you somewhere. Like his dish, or leash or a toy or something. Also, akita's don't bark much so if he starts to bark, there's a reason.