Hello from Missouri!

[cdalton92]

Hello Everyone!

My name is Christy and I am married (20 yrs this year) with two children--our daughter is starting college this fall and our son is in 8th grade. We just recently adopted a young Akita from our local shelter. My son fell in love with her. He recently lost his boxer/brittney spaniel due to being hit by a car. He wanted a dog that is protective and makes us all feel safe. (We live on a farm and when hubby is away for military it gets a little unsettling.) We have never owned a dog like this one. I feel bad for not doing more research on the breed before adopting, but now that we have her I don't want to give her up. I would like to see her mesh with our family and will do what we need to make sure that happens.

As I said, we live on a farm and have other animals. We have a cat that is supposed to live outside, but he sneaks in every once in a while. I'm allergic to cats so he always ends up back outside. We also have a female lab who is 7, a Shih Tzu who is 5, and a beagle/terrier whose age I'm not sure about. We adopted her in March from a friend who had a baby and couldn't keep her (the dog, not the baby). So far, the dogs do not get along with Kita. I'm worried that Kita is going to hurt the smaller dogs.

In my free time I like to read, travel, and spend time outside. We usually take a family trip to Colorado or Florida, leaving our pets in the care of my parents who also live on our farm. I'm getting back into running--yes, I like to run. I use to take lessons in fencing, and not the kind you build to keep cattle in. I loved it!!!

I will appreciate any help anyone can give so my son can keep Kita.

[haranka]

welcome christy

[jamielvsaustin]

Hi Christy! While I'm not familiar with Akita's, it's common for PBs to not get along with other dogs, so lots of people here have some sort of crate and rotate situation going on in their house-myself included. We have two resident dogs, one foster and two cats. All of the dogs are separated by rooms or baby gates and the cats have a room (and a couple of tall towers) that the dogs are not allowed in. We keep their food and kitty litter in there as well. Originally we used a baby gate to keep the dogs out, but then they got used to and for the most part stay out of there...everyone once in a while someone will sneak in a get a "kitty treat" out of the cat box.

Each dog gets the same amount of time out, and the way our house is set up, they can always see us-even if they're not the ones hanging out in the living room with us. The two resident dogs take turns sleeping with us at night, and I don't think the foster ever will, but we switch him out at night between a bedroom (we call it the arts and crafts room) and the living room.

The only animals that are together when we leave the house are the cats, and they're in their room. The foster is in the A&C room, Trooper (male resident dog) is in the living room and Bailey (female resident dog) is in the master bedroom.

It might seem overwhelming at first to adjust to a C&R lifestyle, but I promise it becomes almost second nature


Good luck!

[Leslie H]

Welcome.
While typically Akitas are very different than APBT's temperamentally, there are many rules and ideas for managing multi-dog households that you may find useful. The search funtion can be very useful.