Rough Play = Bad?

[Tengu]

So I've had my akita mix for a two weeks now (hes 8 wks old), and he was quiet for the most part, until a friend came over and played some rough and tumble type games with him, now all he wants to do is snap at everything that passes by, and chew on my hands, feet, clotes etc. Yelling at him when he did this used to work wonders, but now its entirely useless. Hes usually tolerably gentle when hes biting, but sometimes he'll make a mad dash for my feet and throw his paws over them and bite at my ankles. This, although not the worst, is pretty painful at times. I used to just nudge him away, but he turned it into a game and just runs straight back. If he gets really persistent with it I just put him behind a fence until he calms down (he'll whine cuz Im guessing he just really really wants to play).

So basically, Im wondering if this is normal or acceptable behaviour for a male akita pup, that should more or less fade with age, or should I be working to get him to play other games. It seems like all he wants to do is play fight and chew things.

 

[hrbib21]

Dogs, like children, imitate what they see or experience. I'd stay away from the rough play until he's older, if at all.

 

[CreatureTeacher]

FIND NEW GAMES!!

Your pup seems to have embraced rough play just a little too quickly and enthusiastically. He needs to stop receiving any kind of encouragement for this behavior. When your pup wants to play rough, kennel him for 5 minutes, and tell your friend I'm very upset with him.

Akitas tend to be aloof by nature, and you don't want to teach him that biting people is okay. Most puppies practice exploratory biting, which is normal. But when it turns into the best game he's ever played it's time to put a cap on it. You need to learn to distinguish normal puppy biting from potentially troublesome biting. Ask yourself, "If this dog weighed 80 pounds, would this behavior be acceptable?" If not, don't let it continue! Withdrawing your attention is the best way to curb undesirable behavior. Don't yell or even look at him. Just put him somewhere else and ignore him.

 

[Love4Pits]

Im going through the same thing with Pakak right now and have gone through it before. Yeah it is pretty much expected with a young pup especially when they get older and get more comfortable in their new surroundings. Its definatly not acceptable and just work your best at correcting it what you are doing already is a good idea with putting him behind the gate for punnishment. The sooner he learns that play time is play time and any other time is different and that rough play is not acceptable the better. Atleast you are aknowledging that it can become a possible problem some people just write it off as a cute puppy behavior that will fix itself and then come learn that its not so cute to have a large year old puppy trying to rough house with you and then becoming injured its not to cute anymore.

Lol I definatly know what your going through with the foot attacking Pakak has only been here three days and has been attacking my feet since day one. Im working on correcting that with his crate pretty much the same thing with your gate.

 

[MoparStar]

Being so young, your puppy is missing the play fighting that would occur in a litter. Just like anything else that you don't want your puppy to bite, you have to provide something he CAN bite. In my experience, this is checked efficiently by giving your puppy some stuffed animals. Not the little squeeky doggy ones, A BIG ol' bear from the fair, or salvation army. Make sure it is sturdy and not the type stuffed with styrofoam balls. The animal should be at least as big as your puppy. Whenever he gets rough with you, AAACK! him and shake the animal. He should get the hint.... Switch animals often and discard them when they develop holes. Dogs are dogs. As much as we like to endow them with human reasoning, they are animals. They NEED to chew and run and rend and dig and bark and attack things. To deny them these is to deny them their very being. Give him an appropriate outlet for his behavior and you should see an improvement.

 

[Tengu]

*Phew*

Thanks guys, I'm trying to use a lot of positive reinforcement as well, so I give him lots of praise for just licking my hands or rolling over for a belly rub (he LOVES this..lol). Otherwise his training is going pretty well, he'll sit on command (read somewhere that its good to encourage dogs to do this before play, feeding, walks etc) and come when called. Im really taking this seriously though, because I know how unmanageable akitas can become. Especially males. I'll keep at the training and let you guys know how it works out.

 

[CreatureTeacher]

Excellent, MoparStar! Couldn't have said it better myself!

Oh, and P.S. Tengu...neuter him if you haven't already!!!

 

[smkie]

I have to throw in my 2 cents worth..i think it is extremely important to not play tug (rough tug) with a very young puppy..i have seen people get the small puppy go the extreme where they become angry..there is a cut off point that should happen long before that happens. Gentle tussles are ok but not shaking, slinging or lifting off the ground..play should be in short bursts.. Our daddy dog was instrumental in teaching the pups when rough was too rough, and we had gentle dogs. Too rough of play..too young can cause aggressive behavior when they grow up.

 

[Tengu]

Hmmmm...I kinda have a problem with neutering. It always seemed unethical, IMHO. Would doing that just reduce his aggression a bit, or is it critical for all but the most experienced owners?

 

[smkie]

My dog Bronki was an intact male that produced no puppies..but he did get cancer. That is a consideration to be thought over. He wasn't aggressive, nor did he hike his leg in the house. I found out later that his father had testicle cancer and it was found in time. My vet said that to prevent the cancer a male dog should be neutered before the age of 5. i had never had a neutered male before, my male dogs that i grew up with were not neutered and produced no puppies,now I have Victor and i agreed when I adopted him that I would make sure the procedure was done. He is no different than the intact dogs that i had, he behaves the same so I think the uncomfortable feeling is more in our minds, then it is in the dog's. The number of animals killed each year make it a necessity to consider the procedure necessary..i always had the girls fixed, and if I have another male, I will do the same. That is my experience.

 

[Rose's Gal]

Hmmmm...I kinda have a problem with neutering. It always seemed unethical, IMHO. Would doing that just reduce his aggression a bit, or is it critical for all but the most experienced owners?

I think it really depends. But if I was you, I'd neuter him ASAP. My reasoning behind that would be with a male Akita, I'd rather play it safe than sorry and neuter him before any problems could develop. THey might not, but then they'd might. Also, with Akitas I know that they can have serious dog aggresion problems. Neutering him might help lesson this. It really just depends if you want to handle a adolecent, unneutered, Akita. I'm sure other people can give you more advice on the matter.

 

[Renee750il]

Sorry, Tengu, we're all pretty much in agreement here on the neutering. I've had males that were (including a GSD/Akita mix) and males that weren't and the ones that were neutered missed a lot of uncomfortable - even miserable - times when there was a female in season in the vicinity. The health advantages are also something important to reckon with, not to mention the accidental puppy problem, the dangers of an intact male roaming and getting injured or killed . . .

It doesn't change their personality at all. The only difference is that they pay more attention to you than to other dogs. That's a real plus, especially if you have a dog that other people might tend to think of as aggressive. Akitas are always getting looked at sideways and if there's any trouble will get the blame.

 

[Gustav]

We had Gus neutered, and it really calmed him down!! He used to be really edgy before, he would pace around and if there was a noise outside he used to go mad!! But since he was neutered, he is so chilled out, I have to wake him up to walk him now!!