Schutzhund?

[i__never]

Does anyone compete with their Akita in Schutzhund trials or have you ever even heard of an Akita participating in this sport? I have a 12 week old puppy that i'd like to get into some kind of sport and i'm really interested in Schutzhund, so i'm curious to see if anyone else has any experiences with the breed competing in this sport.

Comments

[satankat666]

I can't say I had heard of the sport, so definitely not heard of akita's in it. I would say it'd probably be quite difficult training an akita up for it since they're not the most trainable dogs, though I have heard of at least one akita doing agility. You'd need to see how your puppy develops and put in a lot of time and effort to train her I should think.

She's a beautiful puppy. For now put in plenty effort training and socialising her anyway:) See how she goes and hope she doesn't get to the teenage stage and decide to ignore everything you say:p

[galorette]

Wow, what a beauty your dog is.

My first instinct is "Oh my God, don't go there" -- I'd be worried about the protection phase of the trials and training (I'm one who wishes my Akita were *less* protective of me.). This is under the theory that it would be easier to teach a dog, especially one with no history of trauma who you've raised from a pup, that it is never to bite than it is to teach the dog that it is okay to bite sometimes, but only when you say, and only on the arm. Of course I realize that the idea is to make sure that the dog can be both protective and controllable while being so... but you don't want to awaken something that's more than you want to handle.

While an Akita doesn't have the same working drive that a Shepherd does, I don't doubt that you could successfully train your dog for Schutzhund. My guy, at least, loves having a job to do, whether it's skijoring, packing or just being my running buddy, and the physical activity makes him a very happy dog.

[i__never]

Yeah, that's something i've thought of, while I don't want her thinking that it's okay to bite and be aggressive the whole point of the sport is teaching the dog control and discipline, and i'm very willing to put forth any effort to make sure she was trained appropriately. I've just never heard of the breed doing the sport and i've been wondering if maybe that's the reason or if their stubborn behavior and the fact that other breeds are much easier trained for it makes them less than ideal for Schutzhund.

[galorette]

I'm glad you're thinking of it. Of course, you can start her in obedience and agility training, and see if that kind of intensive learning is something you both enjoy.

Do you think your girl is stubborn? I'm not sure I always agree with that characterization of the breed. I find Caboo quick enough to learn; more easily motivated by food (clicker-training is wonderful, too) than mere joy of working like the Corgi I grew up with had, but he's never willfully obstructive.

If you get over the bite-inhibition concern to your satisfaction, I guess it doesn't matter if she is less easy to train than dogs more commonly used in Schutzhund or agility or whatnot -- you're not shopping for a dog for the sport, but a sport for the dog at this point. I think you could get there in the end -- I believe in Akitas :-)

Whatever you decide to do, I'd be fascinated to hear how her training progresses!

[i__never]

The plan is to just start out with one class and work our way up. She just finished a puppy class last week and I guess is still a little too young for the basic class, so i'm debating on whether or not to go through puppy again just for the socialization, but at the same time we've been doing TONS of socializing. I've considered agility or competetive obedience and may still go with that. The CGC is what i'm aiming for first after completeing basic and intermediate obedience classes (currently training my Shepherd mix for the CGC).

She doesn't have too much of a stubborn streak yet, though i'm afraid to see what happens when she becomes an adolescent. She likes to test her boundaries with us sometimes, but other than that she listens very well.

Either way i'm sure we'll be pretty active in this community so i'll keep you posted. :) As soon as I can get to my computer i'll post some updated pitures of the little monster.