I sure wish one would show up on my doorstep tho! :O

 Quote: Becky Niedbalka

Candi, I thought Akita's were very head strong? I admit I have not thought about the breed in a long time, I knew someone who had one, and could not handle its bouncy pushy attitude and rehomed it south (tho I would not have allowed half the things she let that dog do go on period!) Mind you the dog was very young, a year I think, and she had no clue on training anything..
Up here you don't just "get" a dog. You have to research south, and make double sure you are not getting ripped off. My best animals have come from farms, and unwanted litter leftovers. They were awesome. My favorite was the pyrenese/golden mix. She was much like Dot, and died way to soon.
I will def look up the breed tho! Heavy winter coat would be an asset for me!
Everyone's opinions matter to me, different views are what I want, no one will ever have a poor opinion in my book. In my chats with you all, I value all and every opinion and story!

LOL, after becoming "old & weak" I had to scale down from Basenjis to an Easier breed, so I got my AKITA

With the help of Ed Frawley's extensive DVD collection, training "shock & awe" Shaka was a BREEZE -- That was long before I ever heard of Michael Ellis, but Leerburg still did NOT promote old-school "yank & crank" methods, to which Akitas do NOT respond well at all ... Shaka graduated at the Top of all her Classes in my obedience club, against strong competition from various Herding Breeds (thanks to Ed once again) !!! The Key to training an Akita properly is establishing & maintaining Mutual Respect in your all-round relationship, given that you do NOT get one from some "back-yard greeder" producing problem dogs.

Another Idea: have you also considered a Karelian Bear Dog ??? They are less of a handful than an Akita

http://www.bearunoffkennels.com/

JMHO but if your leadership skills are up to snuff and your consistent in your training I don't think the "breed" is a concern.

I've owned numerous different breeds, mutts and half a dozen different terrier breeds over the yrs and never found one to be "stubborn", "bull headed", "hard to train", etc.

All the definitions people have made about different "breeds".

Both my GSDs were/are WG over Czech but TOTALLY different in training.

Well........a couple of my terriers were nucking futs but never hard to train.

Train the dog in front of you, not the breed!

Words of wisdom as always Bob
Terrier..oh, we had a time with our boy Bandit.. Boy he hated the cold..he was so good in the summer. I felt so bad since we had 7-8 months of cold. Glad I did that for him, tough for me, but glad he is happy.

Maybe I can convince the man to bring me a present a furry one I did say before Dot, that I was done with puppies, and he did exclaim, why, because they were a dream! (which they were not, we had the crate haters major here and house training in -30c with a wc of -45 was a pain!!) We shall see..I think he prefers I get a pup, to a job, since than I would have to get a car, to get to said job, and a sitter..expenses are cheaper with pups! Plus he gets his wood split and stacked for fun!
(Edited for spelling!)

"Train the dog in front of you, not the breed." Wonderfully put, Bob!
Of course it makes a lot of sense to choose an individual from a breed which fits our own possibilities, temperament, fitness, climate where we live etc. I'd never buy a Bernese mountain dog for this climate here in Brazil, nor a Poodle or other very furry creature.

I am the less experienced of you all here, but this experience I have made. When we bought our Pits, we didn't do this because we wanted to have Pits, it was just that we wanted dogs and accidentally a litter of Pits was here and we fortunately never had any prejudices against the breed

When I found later those other two dogs who were near to death, we had no idea about their breed, nor about their individual temperament. Our 4 dogs are all so completely different and so we had from each one to learn different skills. They are all fabulous dogs, though far from perfect, I guess because their handlers are far from perfect. In this sense I agree fully with Kelly. We get the dogs we need. Not only we are teaching them something, they are teaching us a whole lot too.

Whether there is something higher in the universe which provides this or whether we are equipped with a 6th, 7th ... sense, which assumes this job, no one will ever know. But there is no doubt - we've got exactly the dogs we need.

I wish to you, Becky, from all my heart, that you will make the same experience with your new puppy. Yes, train the dog in front of you and you'll make it. IMHO in the long run with Jazz too.

Honestly Christina, I don't have the heart to work with Jazz anymore. After a year of training, exercising and living with him, and getting not even a glance in return unless someone else is around, I just don't want to waste my energy on a one-sided relationship.
And after 13 days of Jim caring for him, he is exhibiting the same attitude towards him. Last night he had diarrhea again, after we left him behind to go cut wood. He luckily waited til Jim got home, but today is giving the stink-eye to Jim. I laugh since at least it is not to me anymore!

And to clarify that, I still feed him and let him out etc! I just don't work with him anymore I don't write him off as a pet in the house, just as my personal companion

 Quote: Becky Niedbalka

And to clarify that, I still feed him and let him out etc! I just don't work with him anymore I don't write him off as a pet in the house, just as my personal companion

Understood Becky!

I did have one dog that, for me wasn't even fun to train but she was still a part of my household.

She was as passive as a dog could get and I could be heavy handed back in my Kohler days so I just let her be a pet for my then young first daughter.

Her brother on the other hand was a dog I always felt was waiting for me to make a mistake so he could take me out.

He was NOT my daughter's pet!!!

Oh Jim is getting his run for his money..Jazz is testing his patience better than I can. I ran it by him, me getting a puppy or a job..he had to think lol..
I am leaning job at this point..we will see, I have til sept..I cut off holidays this year, and will see how far Jim gets with Jazz before we decide with anything. If he can get him more relaxed and happy, I can work with that and a pup. But if he stays in his zone, I think I am better of getting a job, and doing something rather than staying home and risking my life nd the homestead. I can always bearproof before I leave and hope for the best rather than cut wood and have a dog blocking my way to the house, when I say let's go! Lol

Sorry might be getting too personal there, I know this is a dog forum. Apologies!