We take STARR with us as much as possible to get her socialized and to keep her that way. She loves kids, since the breeder that we got her from had 4 kids and the oldest was about 10, and the kids took care of the pups. There was supervision from dad. STARR was bred for size and temperament, she's about 90# at 14 months, and is 28" tall at the shoulder. Her size seems to intimidate adults more than kids, and when someone's kid wants to pet her when we are walking her downtown Ann Arbor we make her sit. Unfortunately for right now the weather is hot and I can't quite take any strain from her pulling (due to my liver xplant incision not being completely closed yet) she hasn't had many walks downtown.

Just take the dog with you, let it meet and greet people and animals as it will. Just don't allow it to jump up on anyone, even if they call it up. STARR only stands up on me. She was less than a year old (10 months by the date) in this picture:

 

Finally took a few more recent pics of my Kuma.

At 2 months, 28 lbs:



At 3 months, 50 lbs:




Doesn't he look dignified?


I wonder how big he'll be at 6 months.

 

Wow that White GS and your Akita are ING huge! For 2 months old that looks big to me, i hope mine doesnt get so big so fast. Even though i understand dogs grow very fast. By the way was your Akita bred to be larger? Did you ever fix the poopin problem?

Oh and i did a little research on the Akita, and they use Akitas to be foster parents to young lion and tiger cubs, since they arent scared of anything and have really tough skin.

 

Fix the pooping problem? I wish! To be honest, he plays in the back yard during the day, so he poops there. At night, he poops in the house, so I have to clean up 1 or 2 piles every morning. Hopefully when he grows older, he'll let me know when he's about to poop. For now, I put newspapers all over the room where he thinks is his toilet.

Yes, my Akita is a purebred. I don't know if he was bred to be bigger, but his dad is about 135 lbs and his mom is 110 lbs. I think he'll grow up to be at least 140 lbs. Great! Then I'll have to feed him like I feed 10 men. Even now, he eats more than I. He can chow down a whole chicken in minutes. I don't think I can do that.

Yeah, he's not really scared of anything, even me. But sometimes he's scared of me because he knows I would bitch-slap him, and I have; not hard but enough to discipline him. Am I making him more aggressive? No, not really! I don't beat him, I only discipline him when it calls. Give me a Siberian tiger and I'll discipline it into a pussy cat in days. But I wouldn't know how to train it to poop properly. Again, I don't beat animals, I just know how to properly discipline them.

 

I woud reconsider the GS again. For 800-1000 I could have bought 3-4 of mine. Mine has papers and is of true German lines. His grandpa is actually still in Germany. All papers and everything and he was bred to be rid of all the comon issues with them (hips and uniballers). I only paid $250 for mine.

Right now he is about 6 years old and weighs 95 lbs. He is full with muscles and has held his own up against other dogs and coyotes.

We however cant have him around kids since he is so hyper. He might knock them down being playful. Our Rott on the other hand cant be around kids because of our Vet. He let his daughter hurt him so now he hates kids and has to be closely monitered around them.

 

Why did he even have to go up against other dogs and coyotes? Coyotes? Where the heck are coyotes? You live in the forest, jungle, etc.?

You want muscles? You should feel my puppy's muscles. They're bigger than Arnold's. I mean, the freak is only 3 months old, but his muscles are so big and solid. Freak of nature!

 

We had another Shepard mix that was older. He didnt like my dog and he however did like my dogs area. They would get into brawls and my dog always came out on top. As for the coyotes, that's just something you see out in the country .

 

Hi Quik,

Remember me from Sac2kdays? I'll be seeing you at the Megameet#4. We have coyotes in Acton too, but they usually just take away cats.

My husband and I got his first German Shepherd (Lucerne) for free (1976) but she had no papers. We paid $350 for Kyras (1991), got Whiskey for free (hip dysplasia warranty, since Kyras had hip dysplasia at 6 months old), $500 for Vector (1999) and $1,500 for Rogue (2004). Except for Lucerne, they all are AKC. You can look for the price you want. We are embarrassed to admit paying so much for Rogue, but we were sold on this breeder.

This is Rogue on July 3rd at 2 1/2 months old.