I have a 2 year old female Akita named Raiden. I have bringing her to the dog park to socialize very frequently since she finished her puppy shots when she was very young. She is rather big for a female (around 110 lbs) and gets along with almost every dog except very dominant dogs. She lives with another tiny 10 lb dog and they get along fine.

The problem is that Raiden is a noisy player. When she plays with other dogs she "talks" a lot. Unfortunately, since she is a large dog with a deep voice people mistake her "talking" for growling and aggressive behavior. She has never tried to hurt another dog in that way but people with their dogs at the dog park freak out when she plays with their dog. Even when I explain to them that she's just playing no one believes me.

Since I am a college student, other adults just think I am another dumb college kid with an aggressive, misbehaved dog which is just not true. I had to stop going to the dog park because I'm afraid that one over protective owner will try to sue me or something ridiculous like that.

Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do to help this? I know my dog misses chasing and playing with other dogs but I don't want to get into any tiffs with anyone at the dog park. Any suggestions? Thank you.

You never know and the thing is no matter how behaved your dog is if something happens the akita/pit bull/german shepherd/any large dog will get the blame even if its the other dogs fault. I have never taken my akita to one but my last akita we went a few times she was more interested in walking with us and ignoring other dogs but i can't tell you the amount of times another dog would come and jump on her (mount her) or try to jump on my daughter which usually resulted in a verbal grunt on her part and most of the times the owners were no where to be found or would give us a dirty look if they were around. It wasn't worth it to us.

Most of the people where I live only bring their dogs to the park as their only form of exercise. Therefore, the dogs are out of control, usually untrained and do not listen. With our akita, we take him to a doggy day care once a week. It has really helped with his socialization. The people who run the place are a very nice couple who work closely with the local dog trainer in the area and have anywhere between 20-50 dogs a day. They have experience with akitas and do not allow any dogs with behavioral issues or who do not listen to come to the facility. They also have an acre for the dogs to run. I am not sure what your situation is financially but if you can find a place that is run well and has experience with akitas, I would highly recommend it. Also, our dog is so tired when he comes home that he sleeps pretty much from the moment her gets in the car until the next morning.

No dog park. That is one of the reasons it's not a good idea....even if your dog is PERFECT, there still could be a misunderstanding, and it will always be your fault, because you have the Akita.

Do you know of any dogs she could go on walks with, or maybe play in a more controled area?

I think its great that you are socializing your Keeter, but I will say that dog parks can be a nightmare. You are right it only takes one bite and you are sued or stuck paying a bunch of vet bills, and not only that your dog now has a bite record, and or your dog gets hurt. either way you loose, and trust me if a toy dog attacks your Akita and she only bites once in self defense. Its going to be your dogs fault. There are to many people at those parks that are clueless to there dogs behavior, they will call aggression cute because there dog is small. most will even encourage the bad behavior not knowing what there doing. A lot of people are there for themselves and could care less to what there dog is doing.

Most Akita's will not put up with being dominated by another dog no matter what the size. Josey for example, will get alone with pretty much any animal "minus birds, there lunch" as long as the other animal does not try and exert its dominance over him. Josey will not back down an inch, and he will not start such behavior either or he will be promptly delt with. I consider Josey to be very socialized and he has never gotten near a dog park.

I have also witnessed first hand people who bring there aggressive dog to the park to have a show, or test them, and not in a good way. I seen this when I had my Rotty and I took him to my first and only dog park. Here comes a car load of trash and an aggressive pit bull. I didn't know anything about dog behavior at the time but I knew what was going on that day and I will never go to another one again. It took several of us calling the police to get the dog under control and out of the park. Do yourself a favor and keep away.

There are other ways in my opinion to socialize. Try finding some friends that know dogs and have well balanced dogs and set up doggy play dates. Your dog will still get socialized but without all of the idiots getting in the way. You will be much more at ease and so will your dog. Remember if your on edge so is your girl. I think its always a good idea to find a well trained and socialized dog to help socialize your dog with anyways. Kinda defeats the purpose when both dogs are out of control. Nikki also brought up a good idea that I didn't think of and I'm sure there are other ideas out there that can help you.

Once again this is just my humble opinion.

that Akitas are judged before anyone really knows them.   I know my Akitas love to play but a Dog Park would be out of the question.  Even the nicest Akita can take only so much from another dog that has bad manners.  Running loose and having no immediate control is the worst scenario you would ever want your dog in. 

As a warning ...it takes Akitas years to get to full maturity and sometimes after being great with dogs they become less tolerant after about 2 years of age....so as suggested I would find other ways to entertain and have playtime.

Julie

Hey everyone! Thank you for the thoughtful advice. I have decided that Raiden will no longer go to the dog park but will have play dates with other large dogs with GOOD manners somewhere else!

on the play dates and O yes send pics.

I agree with all the other peoples comments.
Dog park people are crazy.
The little dogs are the worst.
Their owners are under the impression that their dogs can do no harm.
But those little butt heads cause almost EVERY problem.
I have only seen a big dog cause a problem once, but his owner was on it within half a second.

The lesson here, like others have said, dog play dates.

Glad to have you on board - you know what your talking about!

The problem is that most of our breed cannot play well with others at dog parks so the owners are just expecting that. Are there any other dog parks you can go to? Maybe a new park would have a different crowd of people. A friend of mine has a littermate to my boy Cash and she gets to go to the dog park all the time. I wish my pack was well behaved enough to go there!