Adopt a Akita

Bruno and his companion, Eva, were taken on a humane hold by animal control when neighbors complained they had no food, water or shelter.  The owners signed them over to AC.  Bruno seems to be quite good with people when they have visited him.  Bruno would be best as an only pet in a home with no small children !!

Bruno is now in a foster home.  Here is their comments about him.

First a couple of "health" comments: He's eating well now. At the kennel he had a tendency toward runny eyes; this seems to have resolved. We've noticed some stiffness when he's been lying still for a while - stiffness when he begins to stand, and sometimes a limp for a few minutes. This goes away once he's up and moving, and he does not seem to be in pain but wondering if he has some hip/joint discomfort.  

Overall - adjustments to the household - both dogs and people - continue. We've made no attempt to introduce Zoe and Bruno, and our house set up makes keeping them separate pretty easy. Bruno enjoys his "house time", and loves attention, but is perfectly willing to curl up and chill if the house is quiet. He tends to put himself to bed fairly early - he'll go into his kennel and curl up on his blanket usually between 8 & 8:30. However, he is awake and ready to go out around 5:00 a.m. -- and he is not quiet about it! We are trying to make a point of engaging him later in the evening in the hopes he'll sleep a little later in the morning. 

He is quite curious, and at this point has few boundaries with respect to "people things". He loves soft things (plush blankets and throws, hats, yarn . . . ) and will wander off with them given the opportunity. I have discovered that he can open my "yarn box" - he's learned to flip the lid - so I now know that I have to put that up out of reach! He does not chew on furniture, which is a good thing. He listens to "no", so it is not difficult to get him to leave something alone. I am watching Jodi's "toy" reviews on Facebook with some interest, as he totally destroys plush toys in a matter of minutes. We don't like to leave things in his kennel that he might destroy and then choke on, but would be interested in ideas for "safe" chew toys to leave with him during the day, as he really must be kenneled when we are gone during the day. Both dogs have been loving it this week because Stephen has been on vacation and has been home all week!

 

He does not seem to much like stairs - he'll go down into the basement sometimes (he has a blanket down there too), but needs to be encouraged to come back up. He has not gone up the stairs to the 2nd floor from the kitchen.

 

Other comments: He is affectionate and seems to like people; when there were too many people in the living room on Christmas Eve he wandered over to the door and let it be known that he'd rather be outside. He is not terribly vocal - he doesn't bark much (except first thing in the morning when he wants to go out!) - he will bark when a delivery truck comes up the drive. He typically does not bark when someone he knows enters the house (he now knows all the "regulars") -- very unlike Zoe!  

Some observations on the "other dog" awareness: As noted above, we have not made any attempt to introduce the dogs. They are both clearly aware that the other one is here. Bruno is pretty disinterested - doesn't tend to pay much attention if he can hear Zoe in the next room. When he first got here, Zoe would whine at the door if Bruno was in the house - that has become much less frequent. She has actually been very gracious - she does not bark or fuss when it is Bruno's house time. She is getting much better at self-distracting; on the few instances where Bruno has been in his yard and Zoe has been out on her run, she will go out to the end and look. She has not been barking at him, and will quickly wander back up on to the porch. If she does seem to be staring, she is very easy to distract with a verbal "come back", but tends to self-distract more often than not. Have to admit that we don't have this particular situation very often, so it may not mean a whole lot yet.  

With the holidays and the cold we haven't gotten out. We will be taking him to a local "dog wash" fairly soon, and will get him out for a walk off the farm so we can see how he does. I would like to do some obedience training with him, but don't want to start a class in January - will research the options further on that. We do basic obedience work with him in the house, but I do want to see how he does in a "class" setting with other dogs (and I like obedience work!)