My dog is better than yours and she knows it!

[Knottedfortune]

You know I actually hated her when we first met about 3 years ago, she was only a few months old when my family brought her and she seemed timid and apprehensive about us so I thought she was going to be a coward and forever hide from the men of the house. (Not that we're cruel, just large imposing people)

Turns out there was just a whole lot more going on inside that fuzzy little head of hers than I originally thought.
See what I'm used too is big angry pig dogs or dopey Labradors with their thoughts and emotions damn near lit up in neon lighting above their head, but akitas are a fucking weird dog man! Smart enough to be deceptive, patient, always ready despite being always asleep and I swear to God she plots ahead of time if inconvenienced.

For example, the first couple of days I got home and I thought she was hiding somewhere after hearing my car and that she was scared of me.
Turns out the moment she heard me turn up she'd run around and collect all her bully sticks and go to the dark end of the hall where neither she nor the sticks could be seen, she knew she was black and just jumped into the shadows with her feed so she didn't have to share.

Eventually she figured out I don't want her chew shit but her initial reaction had me both impressed and a little scared, her eyes glow bright as fuck and all I could see atthe end of the hall one night was her bright eyes and big ass teeth floating in the black!

 

[Knottedfortune]

In hindsight, she came from a large litter and she is the smallest of the bunch (only 30kg at 3 years) so she probably learnt to eat in hiding as a survival technique because as I spent more time with her she ended up worrying less and less about her food where now she needs to be prompted or she'll forget to eat her biscuits.... I may have spoiled her a bit.

 

[Knottedfortune]

Given some thought she's actually come a very long way since I first got her, or at least i have a better frame of reference for how she's gonna react with certain people.

For example, my youngest sister (9yo) ran full tilt and spear tackled the poor bitch right in the barrel while she was sound asleep, a big loud grunt was made and she span around with her teeth out at 100mph and I thought she was about to rip this kids face off (I too was close to doing this), but she stopped once her eyes landed on the kid and she just let out A MASSIVE SIGH and lay her head back on the floor... the child was educated FYI.
Re-reading this I remember just how bad this really could have went, like most people would react to the same situation with and immediate back hand let alone a sleeping gaurd dog. She has no problem biting people who even just irritate either of us but the kids allowed break my ribbs with her face that's all cool.

Won't let the vet place antiseptic on a little scratch without removing her hand but you'll let me layer peroxide into a gash with a trowel and not even flinch!

It's like she comes with a 10'000 page list of rules that everyone has to follow but me and my family. (Somehow this even includes extended family like aunty's and uncles she only seen twice)

 

[shelter]

How beautiful she is in this photo. If I'm not mistaken, She's an American Akita. The akita is a particular race not to put between all the hands. But when you know how to take the time to understand them, they are absolutely wonderful dogs.

 

[Knottedfortune]

How beautiful she is in this photo. If I'm not mistaken, She's an American Akita. The akita is a particular race not to put between all the hands. But when you know how to take the time to understand them, they are absolutely wonderful dogs.

Thank you but she's actually the original Japanese akita.
I'm not sure if the American variant differs much but you're spot on with how odd they can be.
Training my girl has been more like a collaboration between the 2 of us as aposed to me simply taking command of her.

Even now when we walk if I tell her to get on the path, she'll sometimes walk on the curb just to test the boundaries, she's always looking to do what she wants weather it's right or wrong!

 

[shelter]

Oh yes on this photo where she is bigger we recognize the akita inu indeed
I had an akita mix with a character that might be similar. And my god that I fell in love with it... I had never known such an attachment. We were very fusional

 

[Knottedfortune]

They're just as smart as they're loving too, they're quite literally famous for how it thanks to stories like hachiko and you can really see it when you have one in your family.
Especially when im sick, she seems to know pretty much straight away and wont ask for walks or anything, she even brought me one of her bones once! A nice gesture indeed but not what i wanted dumped on my good linen haha.

 

[Knottedfortune]

I'm not sure what the mix is by looking but you can still see the akita in there pretty well.
That big old fuzzy neck and pointed ears just eat away at the heart!

what was the bond like? Was he protective like my girl (or all akita) is?
Her violence often surprises people when a fluffy dog thats been asleep for 5 hours suddenly try's to rip their hand of for starting a fight in the house.

If its not too much heart ache, id like to know about him.

 

[Knottedfortune]

No stress if you dont want to by the way, i have no problem over sharing about girl.

I mean really just look at her, shes not even doing anything and im already butter because of those eyes!

 

[shelter]

He was not really sociable with most people and could be very aggressive... He was not with me, hence the very strong bond we had. I was able to approach him from day one without any problem. We were extremely close and his character with humans suddenly made him very protective of me, yes. I was really his female dog for once and it was a huge pleasure that he saw me like that. I don't really know how to explain it but I love it. For his breed, he was probably crossed Beauceron, he has the color and the double dewclaws typical of this breed

 

[shelter]

oh yes, I totally understand, I could also stare into a dog's eyes for a very long time. they have beautiful eyes. she is beautiful, I hug her

 

[Knottedfortune]

Haha akitas are definitely a no nonsense breed when it comes to those they love and a quick goodle let me see that beauceron share some similarities with them, especially with the protective and calm traits.

I thinks thats what contributes to how dangerous they can be. For example my girl will lay down like a fuzzy door stop (in public and at home) and just sleep until i make a move, and to the average person she just appears as a cute soft lump (and she is). She will tolerate strangers petting her and hoards of children fawning over her, but the moment and adult gets to loud or aggressive with me or my family she will get more than a little mad, a friend of the family went to tackle me at a barbecue one day (all i good fun) and she did not take that lightly, the moment her grabbed me she latched onto his ankle and pulled him flat on his ass!
He was surprised because he never seen my baby make a sudden movement before and didn't take her seriously.

It sounds like your loulou was more on the offence where my girl was defensive, that make sense given their gender, he wont take chances with his female where as my girl somewhat expects her man to take a bit of charge.

 

[shelter]

Ah yes I see, it's not so bad because the aggressive side towards strangers was sometimes complicated especially when I received people at home. But besides that I spent the most beautiful moments of my life with him.

I find it adorable that your girl refers to you to point out certain situations. It shows the bond that unites you.

And yes it is possible that it is linked to the fact that it is a male and a female. I must say that mine was still particularly dominant. He sometimes knew how to show that he was the one who wanted to make decisions hihi

 

[Knottedfortune]

Oh the home thing is something that'll never go away, its their space and they will hate anyone new coming near it.
Ive seen most akita owners just put them in another room or in the back yard when guests arrive.