Choosing a dog trainer can be a critically important decision when you have an Akita. Before making a selection, you should observe the trainer working with his/her class and look for the following:

Trainer Should:

- Teach you how to train your dog
- Explain clearly how each exercise must be done
- Watch & critique you when you work with your dog
- Have complete control of the class at all times
- Have significant experience training large, aggressive breeds
- Be able to smoothly perform all exercises he teaches you
- Have an organized lesson plan with written instructions
- Have a specific, logical reason for every technique he recommends
- Be courteous and professional when dealing with students

Trainer Should Not:

- Show breed prejudice or characterize certain breeds as always being very
...hard or very easy to train.
- Take dog away from you to train it without you there
- Allow aggressive dogs to go uncorrected in class
- Be unfairly harsh on dogs (verbal or physical)
- Contradict himself when giving instructions
- Show fear or reluctance in handling dogs

**Remember: The listing above describes your ideal trainer. If you cannot find one who meets all of the criteria, then choose one who comes close.

Also, please remember that a student to trainer ratio greater than 5:1 will decrease your trainer input significantly. This can be especially frustrating if you are a novice student and you need lots of feedback from the trainer. Your dog will learn new exercises more quickly if you minimize the distractions while you are training. Thus, large classes will usually be more distracting and slow the learning process. Once your dog understands the exercise, distractions will be helpful for "proofing" your dog.

I have found that the "method" a trainer uses (e.g. Benjamin, Monks of New Skete, Wilkes, Koehler) will not necessarily be a good indicator of whether the trainer is a good choice for you and your dog. I say this because every dog (and handler) has a different personality and your trainer must be knowledgeable enough to accurately read you and your dog so that the recommended training techniques will be something you are comfortable with and which will be effective with your dog. If you are going to the best trainer in the world but you don't like the techniques, you will not use them consistently and then you are in deep poo poo with your Akita. Above all, consistency is critical with Akitas!

Five Important Principles Of Akita Training

1. Your Akita must respect you as a consistent, effective leader if you are
going to get reliable behavior. Either you will be in charge, or the Akita
will be in charge.

2. Your Akita can love you but not respect you.

3. You need to have a well-defined, consistent set of rules for your dog's
behavior (e.g. no jumping on people, no aggression, gentle with mouth)
and you MUST enforce them consistently.

4. If your Akita respects you as a firm but loving and fair-minded leader, there is almost no limit to what you can teach him to do.

5. There is a huge difference in the behavioral expectations of an Akita
raised as a "kennel dog" vs. one raised as a "house dog".

More Training Tips from Martin Moss

-Training Akitas is not cut-and-dried. They do have different personalities and you must tailor your techniques to the individual dog.

-Absolute consistency is mandatory if you want your Akita's true respect (and even then, they will push the envelope).

-Akitas respect psychological strength. They are born masters at reading Humans for strength and weakness. You have to learn to read people and dogs in the same way your Akita does……….otherwise your Akita will
train you.

-Each dog must be specifically taught which behaviors are acceptable and
which are not. I don't wait for situations to occur on their own, I set them
up at a time and place when I can respond correctly and promptly. This
is related to the age-old Obedience technique called "proofing". I find
that the more I "proof" my dogs (i.e. set up situations to test their reaction
and praise or correct accordingly), the more eagerly and reliably they
work for me.

-When I had one Akita, I did not add a second until the first was very well trained. I did not add the third until the second was very well trained, and so on. Akitas are so observant, the young ones can and do learn by watching the older ones. So, if your older dogs aren't responsive and well trained, you'll have a harder time training the younger ones if you want them to follow a different set of rules.

-Akitas have a strong sense of self-esteem and they are sensitive to little things that communicate your level of commitment to them. This is really noticeable when I work with families who are having trouble with their Akita puppies. Most new Akita owners don't realize that dogs interpret many things somewhat differently than Humans and because of this, they try to treat the puppy like they would a Human child. This usually results in the puppy instinctively rebelling at some point. Once we get the family members to start sending the right signals to the puppy, a lot of the problems subside.

-Akitas are very adaptable in their thinking. If you are going to live with and train one for reliable behavior, you have to stay one step ahead (which can be hard if you're not detail oriented and as stubborn as a mule).

-If your Akita respects you as a strong leader, they'll let you handle most
things and they will tend to be more secure. If they don't respect your
ability to take care of any unwarranted surprises, they will tend to take
over in situations where they are worried (even if it's something non-
threatening like another dog walking across the street). This will cause
them to act more insecure in daily life.

-Many people confuse the idea of love with respect. These are vastly different things to the Akita and it is entirely possible for your dog to love you but not respect you.

- Akitas are always testing us to see if we are consistent and effective
leaders. They are masters of minutia and can observe even the slightest
change from the norm.