CONFIDENC

Some dogs are born with confidence. They accept new surroundings,

people, and situations with aplomb and react, if not positively to change, at

least without anxiety. Unfortunately, bold and fearless do not describe

most Akitas. As puppies, they are very careful and quite cautious. Few I've

seen are ever reckless. Akitas generally look before they leap.

I think of this breed as being born forty and then getting older. Except

when hunting or fighting where they become relentless and totally focused

on their task, they are rarely risk-takers. They seem stodgy and resistant to

change, a tendency that can cement itself in the older dog. Anything that

tells them their caution is justified reinforces the reaction. Consequently,

unsocialized, unexposed dogs frequently are anxious when put in

unfamiliar circumstances. The dog's anxiety level is proportionate to the

number of strange things in the environment and their magnitude. In the

worst case, the dog may have a panic attack.

Building confidence is very important to those of use who are showing and

should be important to pet owners as well. A self-assured dog can go to

the veterinarian, stay at the boarding kennel, accompany the family on a

cam pout and even pack some of their equipment, go to dog shows, and

compete in obedience trials. His poise in the face of new situations is

based in part on inherited traits and in part on the ability to handle stress.

Managing Stress

Puppies encounter stress and learn to deal with it from the moment they

are born. To enhance this ability, puppies must encounter manageable

stress and must deal with it on their own. From the outset, you should pick

up each puppy and handle it. At first, this will be when you weigh them

after birth. In addition to putting them on the scale, you should hold the

puppy, stroke it, and talk to it. They cannot hear you, but they can feel the

vibrations from your speech. Individual handling should increase in

amount and duration as the puppy grows. Walk about the house with it.

Different rooms have different smells, temperatures, and sounds.

This should continue when the puppies' eyes and ears are open.

Individually, each can be put on the floor and allowed to walk about and

explore outside the litter box and without the security of mom and siblings.

You will have to monitor the puppy's reactions. He can easily get into

trouble. He can be mildly fearful but should be able to allay those fears in a

short time. Any stressful situation he encounters should be mild enough

for him to overcome.

In so doing, the dog is learning not only to handle the particular situation

he encounters, he is learning to learn. That is, he is developing a set of

mental tools that allow him to evaluate and react suitably to new situations.

The more successful he is at this, the more confident he will become.

To help this process along, the puppy needs to gain experience. He must

be taken out into a world larger than his whelping box. As he grows, this

world should expand from the back yard to the front, then to the

neighborhood, then to training classes, shows, and other areas where large

numbers of dogs and/or people gather. Here, he will learn to take cues from

you and other humans and dogs.

The world is full of many things frightening to youngsters who lack the

experience to evaluate whether something strange presents a real threat.

To determine whether fear and perhaps flight are justified, the youngster

will look to his mother, his siblings, and to you.

Discouraging Fear Responses

So, what do you do when the dog gets into trouble? It can happen

anywhere. I've had puppies and young dogs go bananas over a mailbox or

garbage sack. One of the worst panic attacks I've ever had was when one

of my Shepherds encountered a bronze statue in a neighbor's front yard.

She walked up and sniffed it, then freaked out.

Back to my veterinarian's advice, abject terror can only last for so long. An

animal has only so much adrenaline, and as the supply decreases, the

panic does too. Until this happens, reason is not the animal's strong point,

but once adrenaline is depleted, the animal calms considerably. Your best

course is to do nothing until the dog's flight response begins to shut down.

You can talk to the dog, but make sure you are not sympathetic. The tone

to strike is as if someone has told you a mildly amusing joke. If someone

else is with you, you can both talk in a normal tone until the dog calms

down.

Throughout, keep the dog as close to the problem as possible. In severe

panic attacks, you may have to back off, then reproach. Tell the dog in a

no-nonsense voice, "This is nothing to be afraid of. Look," then touch the

object yourself or walk up to it. Let the dog see you're not afraid.

Eventually, the dog will approach it. Then you can praise him and tell him

he's very brave. As young dogs and puppies deal successfully with fears,

they will become generally less fearful. Each time they conquer a problem,

they gain confidence in their abilities and in you.

Obedience Training

Very few Akitas are actually "spooky." Instead, they are cautious and

careful. When these characteristics are coupled with a lack of confidence,

the dog can become very unhappy when he is in a strange situation. For

these dogs, obedience training is a godsend. Confident dogs can reach

into their bag of tricks and find a way to deal with the unusual. The

structure provided by obedience training gives the less confident dog a

prescribed method for handing stressful situations. As he does so, his

confidence in his abilities increases, and he becomes less anxious.

TRAINABLE

Of course, to accomplish all the foregoing tasks, an Akita must be

trainable. Personally, I think trainability is an innate characteristic of all

dogs and that all dogs are trainable. Puppy Aptitude Testing helps match

people to dogs and dogs to training methods, which is one reason I

strongly advocate its use.

Some combinations of people and dogs just do not work well together,

such as a dominant dog with a shy, timid person. Likewise, a very

dominant person may overwhelm an omega bitch. Occasionally, you may

encounter the people who Ian Dunbar describes perfectly as "dog dim." A

short conversation will tell you that they haven't got a clue as to why dogs

do anything nor do they have a clue about how to get them to do anything!

If they are otherwise suitable, they can learn a lot provided they will read or

watch videos. Appropriate material, such as a good training book or video,

can provide a basis for understanding their dog. It's a good idea for you to

provide this material for their review before they pick up their puppy and

for you to question them closely to make sure they understood it. These

owners will require a disproportionate share of mentoring to stay on track.

Just as some people cannot learn a foreign language, a few of these people

will never have a clue about their dog's real personality. Fortunately, dogs

are very adaptable and better at understanding people than we are at

understanding them.

Training Classes

When we discuss training, I caution new owners that an Akita is not going

to sit at your feet with shining eyes that beg you to tell him what to do.

Compared to training a Border Collie, training an Akita is an uphill climb.

Does that mean they are not trainable? Certainly not!

On the other hand, finding a suitable training class and utilizing it

successfully can be difficult for a newcomer. As I mentioned earlier, my

sales contract contains a clause requiring the new owners to attend a

training class with the dog. I encourage them to attend puppy classes and

give them information on trainers who are in their area. To sweeten the pot,

I rebate $50 of their purchase price when they give me a copy of their

graduation certificate. Although everyone doesn't graduate, they all do

attend class, so at least they have some foundation for working with the

dog.

If you have some grounding in obedience training, another approach is to

offer classes yourself. For extra incentive, you could rebate part of the

class fee for graduation with a puppy you bred. A trainer with whom you

are on good terms might discount her rates for your puppies in exchange

for referrals. However you manage it, the new owner should leave your

house with the clear understanding that his puppy must be trained and the

determination to do so.

Training Akitas

Before I send them off, though, I talk to the new buyers about training

have an Akita and not a Border Collie. After all, back in the days when dogs

actually did work for people, they performed different jobs which required

very different skills. I wouldn't ask my accountant to wire my house nor

would I go to a plumber for brain surgery.

Herding and gun dogs are the telephone operators of the dog world. We

think of them as "smart" because they learn behaviors quickly and will

repeat them endlessly and eagerly. If you take a retriever duck hunting, you

expect him to go after the last duck just like he went after the first. What

would a shepherd do if his helper suddenly decided that running back and

forth around the sheep was boring?

Although these dogs are capable, indeed must be capable, of independent

decisions, they are not particularly "independent" dogs. They must be what

shepherds describe as "biddable;" that is, when the master gives a

command, the dog should hasten to obey it unless he has a compelling

reason not to. In that case, sooner or later, he will communicate it to the

owner.

Looking at the way an obedience trial championship is obtained, it's hardly

a surprise that most of the dogs achieving it are herders or gun dogs. Even

breeds not classed in these groups such as Papillons and Poodles have

that background. Poodles were originally retrievers and Papillons were

bred down from spaniels.

Akitas are shown in the working group, but where do they fit in the

obedience picture in terms of working traits? To determine this, you have

to look at function. The forerunners of the breed were used to hunt large

game in the mountainous territory of Dewa Province on the Japanese

island of Honshu. Accompanied by a hunter, they located, followed, and

held or tackled bear, elk, and boar--activities which make them a hound.

Evaluating them in terms of appearance, they obviously derive from "spitz"

or "Northern Dog" ancestry. These dogs have certain common traits: short,

erect ears; mesocephalic heads with oblique-set eyes; double coats; and

tails that curl upwards in some fashion. Representatives are found

throughout the Arctic and northern temperate areas and include the

Pomeranian, Keeshond, American Eskimo, Samoyed, Alaskan Malamute,

Greenland Eskimo Dog, Siberian Husky, Norwegian Elkhound, Norwegian

Buhund, the Russian Laika, the Karelian Bear Dog, the Korean Jendo, as

well as all the native Japanese dogs. The working representatives of this

group have served as sled and pack dogs and hunters, and guards.

Obviously, the Akita fits nicely with this group of dogs. Like the Elkhound

and Karelian, he is a hunting or hound/spitz type dog. Characteristics

which suit them for their jobs do not necessarily produce a stellar

obedience performer. Hounds must be flexible in their responses. After all,

the prey sets the pace and determines the course, and the hunter must be

adaptable, ready to abandon one strategy in favor of another.

In common with the northern/hound types, he is physically tough with a

high pain threshold which was probably increased through selective

breeding when he was used as a fighting dog. From both his function as a

hound and his heritage as a northern dog, he has a core of independence

that makes him unable to always do what you want. This doesn't mean he

won't do it, just that he might not.

Boredom: How do these idiosyncrasies translate to training? Akitas, like

many hounds, have a very low tolerance for repetition. Once boredom sets

in, and it does so quickly, the dog looses interest, which means repetition

is not the key to successful training. The problem is that dogs learn by

repetition, so as a trainer, you have to balance the two by mixing a variety

of exercises, using short training times, and by keeping training a

manageable challenge.

Therefore, in class, when your Akita has done two great figure eights,

instead of doing three more, praise him and go on a couple of other

exercises regardless of what the rest of the class is doing. Of course, you

need to discuss this with your trainer first so she doesn't think you're being

uncooperative.

Even as early as seven weeks on the PAT, Akita puppies show little

persistence. They often attack the mop but abandon the attack after a few

seconds, while Rottweiler puppies in the same situation may have to be

pulled off of it. The Akitas will chase a ball that rolls in front of them but

quickly loose interest in favor of some other activity.

Variable behavior : They also tend to vary their behavior rather than

stereotyping it quickly. When we test puppies, one of the things we do is

put them on a box, stand in front of them, and call them. In most herding

and sporting breeds, done a second time, the puppy tends to repeat what

he did the first, even if it is falling off the box backwards! Akita puppies

may jump off towards the tester once and to the side the second time. They

might jump off once and refuse a second time; jump off to the side and

explore their surroundings the first time, and go right to the tester the

second.

One of the characteristics we consider "smart" in a breed is the ability to

consistently repeat a learned behavior. Dogs that stereotype quickly are

easy to train. A resistance to stereotypical behavior does not make a dog

dumb; it makes it more flexible. Akitas tend to try more than one approach

to any problem; just because they did it one way first does not mean they

will do it the same way next time.

For the obedience trainer, these traits present a real challenge. You have to

work harder to reinforce correct responses and learn to shrug off those

times when your dog adds a new wrinkle.

Generalization: Another problem is the Akita's slowness in generalizing

from a specific learned behavior. For instance, when you begin teaching

the sit, your dog may be beside you in the heel position. Then you teach

him sit in front, then sit when he is away from you. A German Shepherd will

quickly learn to sit anywhere because he generalizes well. He is able to

make the connection that the same action is called for regardless of where

he is spatially. He will seem to understand the concept of "sit," so to speak.

Akitas, on the other hand, take much longer to go from the specific to the

general. Instead of expecting the dog to grasp the concept, you may have

to break the exercise into many component parts and teach each as a

separate step and then, chain them together. Some Akitas seem to have an

"Aha!" experience and suddenly get the point, while others never have a

clue.

They may have more trouble with some exercises than others. In

discussing this subject with a friend who is training an Akita in Open, she

said she thought it applied to the problem she had with teaching the

quarter turn. In this exercise, the dog and handler stand in a heel position

with the dog sitting. The handler then shifts her position, in place, a quarter

turn to the left. The dog must get up and reseat itself in the proper heel

position.

All the class Goldens learned to scoot into position without ever really

getting up, while Teresa was still trying to teach her dog that when Teresa

moved, the dog had to move too. Obviously, they need to try a different

training method that takes into account a slower ability to generalize.

Independence: Sooner or later, everyone runs up against the Akita's

independent steak. Hound independence is expressed in passive

resistance. The dog won't openly defy you, he just won't cooperate. He may

lag while heeling or move a foot on the stand. If you're in the conformation

ring, maybe he continually moves while you are trying to set him up even

though he's not unbalanced or swings his rear out away from you when

you stop. You can put a stop to this by introducing some variety and

perhaps some levity into your training routine. Sometimes, passive

resistance is the end result of boredom, so shorter training sessions will

help.

Northern-dog independence, however, runs more to outright defiance if the

dog is determined enough. Again, all of us have seen this with Akitas. Has

your dog ever slipped out the door and headed off? He'll come home when

he is ready or when he's enticed by something more fun than cruising the

neighborhood.

I had one Akita who liked certain crates. He didn't just escape from crates

he didn't like, he demolished them, just to make his point. I never could

discern what characteristics made an acceptable crate, so I have a varied

collection of broken ones, courtesy of Max. However, if he liked a crate, he

never made any attempt to leave it. One was so flimsy, if he'd inhaled it

would have broken apart, but he stayed in it peaceful and content. This is

Northern-dog independence--my way or the highway!

Training Methods

The next question that arises is "what kind of training should I do?" When I

first started, mumble, mumble, years ago, everyone used the same basic

methods for training. Over the ensuing years, learning research has

supplied additional tools for working with dogs. Plenty of books on dog

training are available, and most areas have more than one type of training

classes available. To a certain extent, how you train will depend on the

methodology of your trainer.

The method I first learned has now garnered the rather unappealing name

"force training or jerk and pull (j/p)." Here, you put the dog on a lead and

choke collar (we didn't even have pinch collars when I started) and gave a

command. If he did it, you gave him lots of praise. If he didn't, you gave him

a quick jerk with the leash to get him to do whatever you were working on

and as soon as he did it or was in position, gave him lots of praise.

Back in the dark ages, no one even considered training a dog until it was

six months old. This, of course, made the dog harder to train, both because

he'd been learning on his own all along and because he was that much

bigger than a puppy. So, maybe part of the "force" was because the dog

was just harder to work with.

Finally, some enlightened people, Dr. Ian Dunbar among them, advocated

working with puppies. The age to start formal training then halved to three

months. This type of training goes by the more attractive terms of "lure" or

"food training." It is grounded in the surety that puppies will do almost

anything for a food treat or a favorite toy.

Using natural actions, the puppy is persuaded through use of the lure to

perform. For instance, if the lure is held slightly behind and above his head,

he will have to look up and sit to get it. Likewise, held between his feet, he

will tend to go down to get it. The lure, coupled with a command and praise

teach the dog. When the command and action are firmly associated, food

rewards are decreased and eventually ceased.

Bill Bobrow one of our most successful obedience trainers cautions that

older dogs may not work all that well for food rewards unless they are

encouraged to do so as puppies. This applies also to baiting dogs in the

conformation ring. He also points out that food rewards may not be enough

with Akitas and that sooner or later you will have to resort to some type of

physical correction.

His comments reminded me of a young male I was working on the downstay.

As his hormones have kicked in, he's become increasingly reluctant

to down in the presence of adult males. A few nights before at class, I had

given him a down command along with one of his favorite goodies. He

started to go down, taking the treat in his mouth. Then he stopped,

pointedly looked at the adult male next to us, looked right at me, spit out

the food, and sat up. I got his message. There and then, I decided it was

time for a different training technique.

Much to my surprise, I found an even newer technique which uses food too

but couples it with what psychologists call an event marker. The first

people to introduce this training method to the world of dogs came from

dolphin training at marine exhibitions. While they use whistles with the sea

mammals, with dogs most use a clicker (those toys we used to call

"crickets").

The seminal book for this training method is Don't Shoot the Dog by Karen

Pry or. In it, she discusses the basic principles governing what is now

commonly referred to as "click training (c/t)." While it shares many aspects

of lure training, it relies on the dog's figuring out what you want him to do

rather than your forcing him to do them. Thus, he becomes an active

participant in his own training. One of the reasons I think this method is so

successful with Akitas is that it challenges them--no boredom here!

Because of this participation on his part, the dog isn't resentful or sullen

because you are making him do something. Instead, he's figuring out what

to do which is made easier for him because correct behaviors are marked

with a click at the instant it occurs. He keeps working because he is given

a reward which can be food, play, or verbal praise and a pat.

Almost everything you'd like to know about this training method can be

found on the internet. I've got several excellent sites linked on my web

page. Vendors at most shows carry video tapes and other equipment, and

seminars are held all over the country by Karen Pryor, Gary Wilkes and

other excellent trainers.

Akita trainers I've consulted and my own experiences lead me to think that

while clickers, food rewards and lure training are effective tools when they

work, expecting them alone to carry you through a complete obedience

course may be unrealistic. Therefore, when you pick a trainer, look for

someone who is willing to combine methods. Above all, try to find

someone who understands that not all dogs have the same temperaments,

abilities, or tendencies, someone who recognizes that one training

technique may not work all the time with every dog and who has more than

one to offer.

Unfortunately, not every area has enough trainers for you to pick and

choose, in which case, you will have to get additional help. Through the

dog training books at your local library, you have access to some of the

finest trainers in the world and a plethora of training methods. The internet

offers information on web pages as well as many e-mail lists dealing with

training. Don't ignore these resources. Don't forget to talk to other Akita

people who have trained their dogs in obedience. They've already been

down this road and can offer you constructive advice.

Untrainable Akitas?

With humor, understanding, and persistence, you can train almost any

Akita in basic obedience. For every person who thinks that Akitas are not

trainable, I'd point to my house dog. She has never had an obedience

lesson, came to us at the age of three from life in a kennel run, and moved

seamlessly into our household. My kids and I talked about this today and

we can think of three unacceptable things she's done in all that time. She

stole a steak off the counter--once and she's run out the door twice.

Like scores of other Akitas, her training has been so effortless, that we can

easily say, she's had none. She's trained herself by observing our

responses to her actions and carefully fitting her behavior into an

acceptable mode with little or no formal instruction from us. Even though

she has no CD, she is a very trainable and well trained dog! I think this is

very typical of Akitas and one reason they are so easy to live with in a

house.

Fearful Akitas

Although Akitas are naturally careful and cautious, few fall into the fearful

category which may be the one exception to trainability. Fearfulness may

be the result of an inherited temperament and/or severe and early abuse.

Very fearful adults are very hard to deal with. To train them, you must first

gain their trust. They become dependent on your judgment and rely on you

for cues about their environment. While they may be confident with you,

with someone else they may revert to their previous behavior until that

person also establishes a bond with the dog. A few dogs may extend their

trust to people generally, but most will not.