How to train an Akita not to be aggressive?

Your Akita is too aggressive to other dogs or persons and even with intentions to attack. Do not worry because below, you will know how to get your Akita ready to be around strangers without being aggressive.  

The correct way to train an Akita not to be aggressive is with correction, redirection, and reinforcement. For this, you need to use verbal correction and simple physical gestures with the help of the prong collar. It is required to be consistent with the training every day if you want the best for your Akita.

Fear and anxiety

Akita is a large breed dog that is powerful and big, being intimidating in some situations. If a dog of this size decides to be aggressive, it can make you, as an owner, a little creeped out, afraid of losing control of the situation at that moment, expecting the worst to happen. But it does not mean that the Akita is a very aggressive and dominant dog. This dog breed is by nature very loyal, which has served as guard dogs in feudal japan. Also, when trained correctly, they are entertaining, loving, and respectful.

The most frequent reason for an Akita to develop high levels of aggression is related to the absence of a consistent leader capable of choosing what is best for the dog, making sure for the Akita what is a threat and what is not. This lack of leadership forces the dog to be consistently aware of what can be a threat to him or not, so every time he thinks there is a potential threat, he will use aggression to deal with the problem, which causes fear and anxiety.

The importance of a leader

You must be a leader capable of giving your Akita guidance and direction. When the dog gets comfortable with your leadership, he does not need to worry about threats anymore because he knows you have control over what is happening. You have to restructure the relationship whit the dog where he must follow your words.

The Akita is known for being a guard dog because the breed will be reactive to any situation that seems strange to him. He is also a dog that tends to be more independent, so you can not eliminate the reactive habit for complete. In a circumstance like a stranger get into your house, we should expect the Akita to be aggressive towards the potential invader, but only if you have total control in saying "stop" and your dog listens to you right away.

Reinforcing good behaviors

Suppose you are in a situation where your Akita starts to be aggressive with another dog, so you indicate to him to stop that behavior and make sure that he does not need to worry about the other dog, and yet he does not listen to you. If it did not work, you need to reinforce the correct way to behave. The right way to train is with verbal correction and the prong collar. Before we continue, let's talk about the prong collar.

A controversial training tool

After your first look at the prong collar, the first thing that comes to mind is that it will hurt the dog. But wait, it is one of the safest collars because the collar design protects your Akita trachea. The prong collar distributes any physical pressure from the leash away from the front of the neck and pushes it around the muscle tissue, protecting the trachea and the larynx.

Most people use the collar very loosely and in the wrong position. The collar has to be fit up high, behind the ears and the jawline. Another benefit because the collar is up high, you have more control over the Akita head, which results in less force to have the same result as the traditional way.

Here are more details about the right way to fit and the correct type of collar, which will be better for your Akita explained in a video. And here, you can check some good deals for the prong collar.

Note:

Many people do not like to use a physical approach even when it is a simple gesture, as described below. But a powerful dog like the Akita can easily hurt or even kill another dog or hurt someone, and the dog can end up in a shelter, which makes this training very important to be as efficient as possible.

Correction, redirection, and reinforce

The training is pretty simple. With the help of the prong collar, every time your Akita start to be aggressive, with a pop on the leash, because the idea is not to start a tug of war, but only to indicate a command with a simple gesture, you will symbolize to your Akita: "Hey, I see it. You don't need to worry." And the other important tool you have in your hands is verbal correction. Together with the pop on the leash and verbal correction, you have powerful training tools. This way, the Akita can understand more easily what you want. Once you have corrected the behavior, it is time to redirect the dog to the heel position, away from what the Akita thought could be a problem. So first comes the correction, then redirection, and last but not least, you can reinforce that good behavior with the: "Hey, good boy!".  

The most crucial thing you can do to make good progress is to be consistent with this training every day. With the correct exercise and keep the training constantly, you will notice that less and less pressure needs to be on the leash. The correction will be more often verbal than physical using the leash. If the verbal correction alone is not working, you will need to go back to that physical approach on the leash. And start again, making the transition from the physical and verbal correction to only the verbal correction.

It is hard to say how long it is going to take to correct the aggressive behavior. Your Akita will not learn the first time, so be very patient and keep believing in the process. With the consistency of the training, you will see how better your dog will start to act around a stranger. If you want to create more scenarios where you have more opportunities to train in a similar situation with a stranger, you can use a fake stuffed dog that seems realistic. According to Taming the Wild, a stuffed dog can be very efficient for reactive dogs and allow you to focus on the training. Here is a video explaining more about it.