Adopting an Akita

Question
We have the opportunity to adopt a two year old male Akita named Oso. He would be coming from a home with children into our home that has four children. from my understanding, his current owners are being ddeployed to an area that does not allow dogs. The owners close frined who is my brother in law asked if we would like the dog. They are currently in Colorado we are in Washington. We have never seen/met this dog and I really do not know much about its behavior other than it is a sweet dog but it has been kept in a garage for the most part over the past month. I guess I just need to know if this would be a good idea to take this dog in that we do not know at all with children ranging from 4 to 15. I also babysit four days a week and those kids are 2, 4, and 8. Please help/advise. I do not want to see this beautiful dog go to a shelter but I also do not want an aggresive animal with all these kids.

Answer
Hi Erin,

That is certainly a tough question to answer.
If said dog has been good with his current family and is also good with children, I see no harm in bringing him home.

Dogs adapt. I'm sure he will as well. Just make sure to give him his own personal space to settle in. Perhaps keeping him in the backyard for the meantime, rather than inside and constantly around your family. Remember he is a big dog, you have little children and there is another pecking order to sort out.

Praises, pats, treats and toys. Make him feel welcome.
Also make sure that he is neutered. This will most certainly help his calmness.

Any signs of aggression toward your youngsters, and you make sure you nip it in the bud immediately. Either that, or he is taken away from your family


I'm more worried about if your youngers have never 'owned' a dog before, and how they would go about it. The last thing a confused dog in a strange environment needs is screaming and his fur being pulled! lol

And so a sit down and a talk with your children that he may scared, confused and needs some alone time to adjust will be beneficial to him, and to the rest of you.


Be calm, quiet, loving and gentle around him, and he will soon put his trust in you all.