My son and I live with my parents. They have a 9 month old Akita that they treat like a human member of the family. It is not trained and has the run of the house. What can I do?

Hello,

I was just searching your web site. and I was greatly impressed about your knowledge of dogs and your willingness to help people with problems they face with their own dogs. This is exactly why I am writing you. I seem to have a problem with my parents 9 month old purebred female Akita. I am not sure how much knowledge you have of this breed but from what I can tell on your web site, you definitely know more about dogs than I do. Here is the problem:

At this moment in time, myself and my 3 year old son reside at my parents house who has an Akita who is now 9 months old. They have had her ever since she was 6 weeks old. My son and I have been living at my parents house since they have had this puppy. My parents don't really understand that this puppy is just that - a puppy. They treat her like she is a little kid ( for example, the puppy really has run of this house). I have tried to explain to them that this puppy really needs to be put in her place and be treated like a puppy and not like a human being. Don't get me wrong I understand that she is part of the family but they take it to the extreme. This puppy doesn't listen to anyone, doesn't come when called (they have to coax her by either whistling or pretending they have a treat in their hand to get her to come to them), darts out the door when she has her leash on (she goes to a doggie daycare 4 days a week), and the most important of all (and the reason I am composing this e-mail to you) she has shown either aggression or dominance (really don't know how to determine which one she has) towards my 3 year old son. We now have to keep my son away from this dog permanently because we really don't trust her enough from biting him. The way we keep him away from her is that we consistently tell him to "leave her alone she is very tired" and when the puppy is by someone else in the house and my son is also their with them, the person has to shelter the dogs nose and face from my son's because we really don't know what would happen if we didn't. She has previously nipped a little boy while she was lying down by my mother and she has also growled and jumped on my 5 year old nephew while she was eating. My son rarely gets to pet her or even play with her anymore and he is a boy who absolutely loves dogs. My son and myself have a purebred German Shepherd who is absolutely wonderful with him and it is hard for him to distinguish the difference between my dog and the Akita. The German Shepherd is not in the same house as the Akita, she is in a different city right now.

So basically my dilemma is how do we get control of the situation or is it even possible with the puppy. Are there things we can do to minimize this behavior in her or is it to late? She is just fine with the other members of the family. She just seems to be this way towards my son. Now she does make an effort to go up to him and not totally avoid him but we still tell him to leave her alone. I would be very interested to hear what your suggestions are on this situation.

Thank you for any advice you can shed on this. I anticipate your response.

Gloria