I hate to tell you this....your not a dog. Don't wait until your in the game a while to stop this behavior. I have dogs that wouldn't bite you, but would hit you in the face so hard you'll have to sit down for a while. proper correction techniques are here on the board. Use those before you get hurt. Don't mean to sound like your Dad, just have seen the silly growling women before, in the E.R. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Thanks guys!
it sounds as though I am on the right track.
I want to change this behavior ..so giving a command...and a sharp correction when being an ass..hopefully will solve this problem in time.
Has anyone ever have a problem like this before?? What do you thinking the chances of him turning around are?

I did say you don't do that kind of thing to a strange dog, or in fact dogs you don't trust. I don't know--I've never been bitten before, and I work around dogs all day long, not to mention been almost literally raised by them (only kid, parents gone all day long, pack of dogs in the house). It's not just a matter of me saying growl at your dog and you going and doing that and getting bitten--I just say what works for me, and what works for me isn't necessarily the same for the next person. They might not be able to interpret dogs as well, they might use the wrong language to tell the dog what is supposed to happen next.

But of course, you're right, there are a lot of different correction techniques available. What I mean in full is that when you don't want a dog being aggressive, you don't give him a slight correction--you go all out on him until he realizes that YOU are the only one with the right to be aggressive in this situation, and he better shut the hell up because he's not running the show. A slight correction is acceptable, when you're heeling, and the dog sits crooked; but when the dog shows fangs, and lunges at someone, he has to understand that he NEVER, EVER does that. If he has to believe that you've stopped caring about him for a moment and that he's about to be thrown in the meat grinder, let him--let it sink to his head that aggression is wrong, unacceptable. The way this is, I've never had an aggressive or possessive dog in my life. They just don't think about that sort of thing in my household.

By the way, don't misunderstand me and make you think I'm suggesting you don't have the dog on a leash or anything of that sort. Especially with a powerful dog, something like a prong. Help you lift the dog off it's feet, or keep it away from you. I was thinking of what I do with puppies and didn't realize the topic creator had an Akita, sorry. What I did mean was that snarling has a better effect than simply saying "No!" in a firm voice, unless you can do a "No!" that sounds like a snarl. Or unless the dog has been taught "No" effectively.

The fact is all of the posts on this thread missed the point. The original problem is an adult dog being possessive of a puppy. This is a handler error - I wrote an article on How to Introduce a New Pup Into a Home with Existing Dogs. http://www.leerburg.com/introducingdogs.htm Its in my list of training articles.

When people get new pups they should not allow their pup near their adult dogs - I wont go into all the reason here but I will say that if we make mistakes in how we live with our dogs we have problems. This is just one example.

So if you want to fix your problem - change the way your living with your dog. Get two dog crates and use them.