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Trying to adopt a new Akita

Melensdad

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
Contacted the Midwest Akita Rescue Society to see if we can adopt this pup. She is a few months old (pics show her a bit younger). Has an eye problem that requires corrective surgery. Not sure we will get her because we also have Walter our little dog and we have to convince them that we can manage both. We've had an 8# Maltese and a 90# Akita that were best friends so we don't see an issue but they might?

Anyway, waiting to hear back from them.
 

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Good luck Bob!

I'm seriously disappointed with most of these places. They want every dog they have to live in their idealistic world but I don't know if any of us pass muster.

My mutt and I are partners. I don't know if I'll ever be half the person she thinks I am but I take awesome care of her.
 
bczoom said:
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I'm seriously disappointed with most of these places. They want every dog they have to live in their idealistic world but I don't know if any of us pass muster.
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And that is the rub.

We could go to a pet store and buy a dog and have Walter at home waiting for the new pup. We could go to several different local rescue places and basically do the same thing.

But some of the breed specific rescues can be VERY picky.

And Akitas, known to be tough to handle, tough to train, and very territorial dogs, have unique problems when introducing them. Which is EXACTLY WHY we want (need) a young dog. An older Akita would likely come into our home, eat Walter and then proceed to eat the 2 small dogs owned by my sister-in-law next door. But bringing in a pup eliminates that problem because the other dogs are 'established' and the new Akita pup comes into their territory. We've already done this. We know how it works.

So we have a bit of a fight with the Akita rescue group over this? Not really sure what they will say. Given that this is such a young dog we are hoping there is little to no problem. I'd expect, with good reason, for them to push back if this was a 2 or 3 year old dog. But a pup, aged in months, I'm hoping is not going to cause much of an issue???
 
If they're getting into a pissing contest for a dog who's eyes aren't even straight, that organization has issues. My guess is you're the only person looking at the dog. If you walk away, the dog may just be put down. Fucking people. Rather hold "their" standards and not let that pup come home with you may result in the killing of the dog. Grrrrr.
 
I am pretty sure that M.A.R.S. is a no-kill group.

This pup has extra eyelid skin that needs to be surgically corrected. In the photo it looks like her eyes see different directions but really its the eyelid that is covering part of the eyeball. Once corrected I suspect that she would be pretty easily adopted.

All that said we need a young Akita because of the territorial issues exhibited as the dogs age.
 
Good luck Bob. I know that you love the breed.

I know what I went went through with the labradoodle rescue group quite a few years back. They were locked in to the mindset that they were placing dogs in small suburban homes with little back yards and no fenced front yards. They couldn't get their heads around the fact that I lived on 13 acres with a fenced 4 acre yard. Of course my fence is a 4-rail wooden fence and they "required" a Cox fence or some such nonsense. They also wanted to make an unannounced inspection of the property and the house. I told them, "Sure, come on, but if you end up getting shot as trespassers, it's not my fault". Then they wanted to delve in to my financial standing. That's when I told them that my finances were none of their business. If it wasn't for one really nice lady, I don't think that the adoption would have gone through which would have been a heartbreaker because she has been an outstanding dog.

I understand that they have to be careful where they place their dogs but some of them approach it with the fervor of a religious zealot, which in a way they are.
 
We had our 'home inspection' and interview with a representative of the Midwest Akita Rescue Society yesterday.

Near as I can tell we passed with flying colors :punk:

The woman, and her teenage daughter, drove down from Evanston, IL, which is a northern suburb of Chicago. She brought down a series of questions. I think we had answered most of them on the phone? But she had to ask them anyway.

Showed her the fenced yard, she was impressed with how large the "dog yard" is (apparently the size of a typical lot in her suburb). She got to meet Walter and we addressed all the questions about the prior Big Dog/Little Dog relationships we've had in our house, apparently to her satisfaction. Talked about vacation boarding. Talked about training. Past experience with this breed. Blah blah blah

She is a volunteer for the M.A.R.S. organization with no authority beyond making recommendations or not. She told us she would enthusiastically recommend us to be adoptive parents for the breed. She was not sure if we would be able to get "LUNA" which is the pup we hope to get. She didn't know if we were 1st in line for that pup or not. If we are 1st its a good bet that we will be able to adopt her. If we are NOT 1st in line then we will wait for the next puppy to become available.

If we get to adopt LUNA it will not be until AFTER she has her eye surgery. She is scheduled for her next Vet appointment in April. So hopefully we can get her in May?
 

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Congrats Bob! - Sounds like things are progressing.

Is it a good thing or bad thing that you wouldn't be receiving this pup until April at the earliest? (Is it best to bring them to your home as a puppy or a bit bigger)?
 
bczoom said:
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Is it a good thing or bad thing that you wouldn't be receiving this pup until April at the earliest? (Is it best to bring them to your home as a puppy or a bit bigger)?
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Its best to introduce them to other dogs that they will be living with at the youngest practical age.

That said, tomorrow is better than April/May. BUT, by my estimates she will likely be maybe 6 months old in May, and Akitas are known (we saw all 3 of ours do this) to become protective & territorial at roughly 3 years of age. After age 3 its much harder to introduce an Akita to something it might normally consider to be its prey.

That said, if we get this Akita, she is coming into the home, which is coming into "new" territory and it is not established as the guardian of that territory. At 6-ish months old its guardian/territorial instincts will not even have kicked into her mind. It is Walter the 12# Silky Terrier who will be the dominant dog in our scenario and the territory is already her territory, so the puppy, even a 6+ month old puppy that is going to weigh 30-40# will be the subservient dog in that situation. Snowball, our 8# Maltese was the dominant dog in the house despite the fact that Misha was every bit of 85# and could clearly bite Snowball in half!
 
Sadly it has become more difficult to adopt a pet than a human child. You could introduce them on neutral ground, like at the dog park if you have one nearby. Hope you get her.
 
I'm glad that it went well and that the interviewer was nice and friendly. Those people do good work for the most part and spend a lot of time and effort to place their dogs but some can be a bit fervent.

She's a good looking pup. I'm sure that she will bring a lot of joy.
 
zekeusa said:
Sadly it has become more difficult to adopt a pet than a human child. You could introduce them on neutral ground, like at the dog park if you have one nearby. Hope you get her.
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Some of the breed specific rescue societies are very particular. Especially for breeds like Akitas, which are generally fairly rare, and also known to be discarded by careless owners. Other rescue groups are often as simple as filling out a form, paying a bit of money and walking away with the dog of your choice.

No dog parks out here where we are; I live in too rural of an area. Besides, she is currently located about 100 miles away so not easy to do logistically.

I think right now its up to the vet who does the surgery and if he/she does a good enough job that the dog can leave foster care. But right now we are pretty positive about being able to get her.



EastTexFrank said:
I'm glad that it went well and that the interviewer was nice and friendly. Those people do good work for the most part and spend a lot of time and effort to place their dogs but some can be a bit fervent.

She's a good looking pup. I'm sure that she will bring a lot of joy.
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The fact that we have far more Akita experience than the woman who came to interview us was a big bonus :smile:
 
We were approved by M.A.R.S. to get an Akita.

Still not sure if we will get Luna. That may end up being up to the veterinarian and his surgical skills? She may remain in foster care if the vet is unable to correct her issues? Not really clear on all that. What we know is that we are on the list for her, and apparently we are 1st in line. Just not sure she will ever be released for adoption. Don't know why/how/what will really determine that.

But M.A.R.S. did say we'd also be alerted if another puppy were to come available in the event that we can't get Luna. So we know we will be able to adopt, we know it will be a puppy, we just don't know if it will be Luna or a future pup. I guess that is mixed news, mostly good.
 
Got 2 updates about Luna the pup we are trying to adopt.

I'll skip posting the 1st because, if you care to read this, it pretty much lays it all out. Nothing is anything we didn't suspect or were otherwise alerted to. Put it provides some additional details about her eye issues, which are more than I've portrayed here, but not insurmountable.

There has been literally nothing done about her eyes beyond the initial visit. I was a little frustrated that there was no action at that point, but the specialist was pretty clear about waiting. My regular vet also knows the specialist and co-signed on both his competency and his recommended course of action.

As for any progression of vision, it would be difficult to know because I have no baseline for comparison. I can only say that she seems to be developing normally compared to other pups I've had. She seems to see OK (the same) in low light conditions, has some vision at distance, seems to do better with stuff directly in front of her, and better with things at eye-level than extremely low or high. She can recognize her people at a distance of about 30 feet (tested by staying downwind) and walking towards her. All of that combines to suggest that there is loss of peripheral vision. That is more consistent with (retinal issues) problems other than cataracts, but again we'll see the expert in a few weeks. Specifically it was her retinae that he could not address because of her young age. He was evasive and reluctant to predict anything.

It is very difficult for me to distinguish if her responses are cued by vision, smell, hearing or habit.
Dropping cotton balls from above that fall through what should be her field of vision suggest that her effective vision could be something around 40 degrees on the right side and possibly nothing on the left. If that sounds like a reasonable proxy measure for vision then it remains static.

The only behavioral thing that is different than any other pup is that she is not comfortable jumping down off the bed even when I provide an intermediate step. Her proficiency coming down the household stairs is likely a practice effect rather than ability to see the step below or perhaps because as she got bigger could reach down and feel the next step. It was clear at the beginning, when she was much smaller, that it was a challenge and was too scary. Her dismounts from the sofa are normal.

I have known about three dozen Akitas in my life and Luna is without a doubt one of the smartest I have ever seen. That makes some of this amateur diagnostics a little trickier. She's simply adapted quickly to everything we've thrown her way.

She was trained to ring a Christmas decoration of jingle bells to get us to take her out to pee and that took barely two days. For better or worse, now she rings it just to check the weather. She's been a rock star at the standard K9 problem-solving stuff. My oldest makes up for the deviation as he's easily fooled by a cardboard box.

Sounds like you would have no problem addressing her enthusiasm, but I did want to make sure that was presented at the start. I think she's great and do wish it were practical to keep her, but it is not. Also not everybody wants a project; and between her high native intelligence and vision issues I think she's going to be a handful--but the fun kind.

I have a couple of places where I can safely let my boys run off leash and recently have introduced Luna to that circus. Once given freedom she wanted to stay between the boys, bouncing back and forth between them for what I assume is reassurance or perhaps just a way to navigate. When it is just the wife and me, she did the same thing between us. At this stage she is content to walk freely but stay reasonably close--- we'll see what happens when she hits adolescence. For now it makes exercise very pleasant.

Checked the calendar and she's in for surgery on March 30 (8 am) at Orchard Valley Animal Hospital in Aurora.
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bczoom said:
Good luck Bob!

I'm seriously disappointed with most of these places. They want every dog they have to live in their idealistic world but I don't know if any of us pass muster.

My mutt and I are partners. I don't know if I'll ever be half the person she thinks I am but I take awesome care of her.
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+1 - F*ck breed rescues. They are usually just hoarders with unreal views of pet ownership. Too much anthrpomorphism going on with pets these days.

 
Luna is scheduled for surgery on Thursday. Hope to hear something on in about a week on how she did, what was done, if she will need more surgeries, etc.



PBinWA said:
+1 - F*ck breed rescues. They are usually just hoarders with unreal views of pet ownership. Too much anthrpomorphism going on with pets these days.
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I think it depends upon the breed.

Some breed rescues like Golden Retriever, Poodle, Sheltie and Labrador rescues may be unnecessary because those breeds, and many others, are pretty easy going breeds. The dogs can fit into many homes, many situations.

Other breeds are known problem breeds. Akitas are often considered a problem breed.

Akitas can be extremely aggressive toward other animals, its rare to find a family with more than 2, and almost always those are different sexed dogs. 2 female Akitas, even if fixed, don't seem to get along well. Ditto 2 males. There are many exceptions to this, but its often a gamble to bring 2 of the same sexed Akitas together without keeping them in separate runs. The breed is also known for hunting small animals. Cats seem to disappear from the neighborhood when an Akita move onto the street. This is one of the reasons why we are ONLY interested in adopting a puppy Akita. In fact if Luna can't be adopted prior to her 9th month then we will probably pass on her and wait for a younger pup. Because we already have Walter we need the new dog to come into the house and NOT automatically presume its the ALPHA animal, bringing in a puppy assures that.

Akitas, at roughly age 3, become pretty set in who/what they will allow into their house, onto their property. The guard instinct is very very strong with the breed. They are very territorial.

They are also known for being a breed that is very difficult to obedience train.

So I'm going to respectfully disagree with you on the need for SOME of the breed specific rescue societies. Sadly there are too many people who see a "beautiful" dog, do no research on the breed, get in over their head, and then abandon the dog.

Over the years I've talked several people out of buying an Akita. They had no clue what the breed was about, only that the dogs are big and beautiful.
 
Melensdad said:
Sadly there are too many people who see a "beautiful" dog, do no research on the breed, get in over their head, and then abandon the dog.
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I totally agree with you on that point.

About 4 years ago when we were looking to adopt a second dog we went to the local rescue kennel where, coincidentally, my S-I-L is chairman and chief do everything. There was a beautiful, young Pyrenees female in there. It turns out that I knew the breeder and kennel where she came from. The breeder was getting out of the business and gave the only puppy he had left up for adoption. While I went home to think about adopting her an older couple came in and took her home. When I went back to pick her up she was gone and I took home our "East Texas yellow dog" instead. About a month later I went in to the rescue to talk to my S-I-L and there was the Pyrenees back in there. She said the older couple returned her because, "They didn't realize that she would eat so much". Now, I ask you, why in the f**k would you adopt a growing dog that will reach a 100# or more if you can't afford the freekin' kibble!!!! I felt so bad and angry because they had deprived that dog of a good and loving home with us.

On the "up" side we got our Gypsy who is a wonderful pet and companion and my constant sidekick but I still feel bad about that Pyrenees.
 
EastTexFrank said:
I totally agree with you on that point.

... About a month later I went in to the rescue to talk to my S-I-L and there was the Pyrenees back in there. She said the older couple returned her because, "They didn't realize that she would eat so much". Now, I ask you, why in the f**k would you adopt a growing dog that will reach a 100# or more if you can't afford the freekin' kibble!!!! I felt so bad and angry because they had deprived that dog of a good and loving home with us...
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And this sums up the reason why, in the case of some breeds, a 'breed specific' rescue can be a very good thing.

Want to adopt a big dog that requires a lot of care ... the breed specific rescues tend to provide a realistic education to prospective adoptee families about the needs of some of these breeds.

So as for the fact that the Midwest Akita Rescue Society seems like it was putting me through the ringer for trying to adopt Luna, they don't know me, they don't know that I am experienced . . . now they do and they are enthusiastically willing help us out in our quest to adopt an Akita. But I support their weeding out process for exactly the reasons outlined above.
 
Don't know who named her Luna.

But she had surgery yesterday.

Came through surgery fine, she can be ours in a week or so. She may need another surgery eventually.

We are out of town now so I'll learn more in a few days.
 
Luna was here for a 3.5 hour play date with Walter. Luna is absolutely a sweetheart and beautiful. Walter was a bitchy little girl who barked and growled and snapped. She scared Luna. Luna tried to play, Walter chased her away. She got on the ground so she was ‘smaller’ than Walter but Walter barked. Luna tried to get close to us to get rubbed but Walter barked. It was pretty funny but Walter was establishing the ground rules.

Overall we all think they will be fine together. They seemed to be fine as long as Luna was not getting too much of our attention. Like I said, Walter was bitchy!

Oh and Luna's coat is stunning, especially in the sunshine. She has Dark-red/brown & black & gray stripes on her body. Its called 'brindle' and some are pretty but some are not. She is beautiful. And a pure black face, white tail, and spotted legs. Photos don't do it justice.

Oh, we should be able to adopt her the week after Easter.
 
We do NOT get to adopt Luna :sad:

They didn't like our in-ground pool.

Could have said that the last time they were here. I got an email today telling me that was an issue. Why wasn't it an issue the first time?

And they felt the big dog/little dog dynamic was not right, despite the fact that Luna is living with 2 Akitas + 1 cat.

WTF
 
EastTexFrank said:
Oh Bob, I am so sorry to hear that. I know that you had your heart set on Luna.
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I'm pretty bummed. Here I thought we'd be taking in a dog that would be very difficult to adopt. Give it a good home. But that is clearly not to be.

She is a sweet girl. She is going to need multi-thousand dollar eye surgery in a few years and that will scare away most adoptive dog-parents.

I guess I could have sent back a nasty reply, or begged, or whatever to the bad news email but none of what I would have written would have made any difference. Just replied with "thank you for your consideration" and hit SEND. I can easily find a puppy Akita, there are plenty available right now for purchase. Just tried to adopt one. Got bit in the ass doing it. So I'll move on. Oh, I'll be bitter about that too, but I'll still move on and get a playtoy pup for Walter when the time is right.
 
Unfortunately, you never can tell what will happen when dealing with those organizations but I think that you handled it very well.

As I said earlier, of the two ladies that came to inspect our place when we were trying to adopt the labradoodle, one was super, super nice and the other ... not so much. She was the one that wanted to see my bank account and investment portfolio. (I think not)

I can't remember our in-ground pool being overly much of a concern. I think that it might have been mentioned but they were much more concerned about the 4-rail board fence around our property. They really wanted a "containment" fence of wire mesh of some sort. What an eyesore that would have been.

You try to do the right and humane thing and sometimes, for reasons outwith your control, things just don't work out. I'm so sorry for both you and Luna. She wouldn't have found a better home.
 
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