Naturally, all dogs have their own specific time or age to act protectively towards their owners and family members. Akitas do have such a specific time period too.
But most of you might not know or understand the exact time/age of Akitas becoming defensive. And this is the stage, where you for sure will be eager to know exactly when Akitas become protective.
So to put an end to your eagerness, this article is going to retort to this question with justification.
When Do Akitas Become Protective?
Akita dogs become protective around the age of 12 to 18 months. By 12 months of age, an Akita enters into its maturity and then it starts to act protectively. Around this age, Akitas are seen to start barking at strangers and being protective towards their owners, family members, and territory.
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Akitas start behaving protectively when they are around 12 to 18 months old. At around 12 months they reach adulthood and afterward, they begin to be defensive towards their belongings and their human family members.
At this time, Akitas start to develop the barking at strangers behavior. They start to be suspicious regarding persons out of the family circle and take them as threats.
Therefore, if Akitas see any stranger approaching their owners or other people, they stand between them as a barrier because they want to protect those people. Akitas also become protective towards their home’s territory upon seeing outsiders or stray animals.
Are Akitas Protective Of Their Owners?
Akitas are considered as natural guardians of their owners. And such protective traits of them are inherited in Akitas naturally. So yes, Akitas are protective of their owners.
By born Akitas inherit the natural instincts of comprehending danger and threat and as they mature they develop their defensive instincts even more. Therefore, when they can even sense minor threats for their owners they strive to guard them and protect them from any harm.
Quite often it’s seen that Akitas are walking with their owner. And if that time stranger comes near to them, they tend to stand between their owners and that person being a barrier. Because they take that person as a threat and want to protect their owners from him/her.
Also, if any outsider tries to enter the home’s territory, Akitas don’t hesitate to attack them. As they want to defend their owners from every intruder including stray cats and dogs.
However, Akitas don’t require any guarding/protecting training by professionals. They are loyal and defensive inherently.
At What Age Do Akitas Become Protective?
At the age of 12 to 18 months old, Akitas become protective. Because this age is considered as the age for entering adulthood of an Akita puppy. And when puppies are going through adulthood, they develop protective nature and start to show up.
So, when they are in adulthood, they begin to guard their own belongings, their human family, and house territory.
Moreover, they have tendencies of being wary of strangers and can sense even the slightest suspicious activity. These characteristics are parts of their protective nature too that begin to come out at 12 to 18 months old age.
But, not all Akita puppies enter their adulthood at 12 months old, some may even enter early at 9 months old. So, you may see a 9 months old Akita furry baby being all protective around you.
Are Akitas Good Protection Dogs?
Akitas are one of the best protection dogs out there. In fact, the sole purpose they were bred for was to protect royalty and elites in Japan. And since then to today’s day, people are adopting Akitas for guarding them and giving their home protection.
Akitas are a courageous and naturally alert dog breed. They show their suspicion of every outsider including the street animals like dogs and cats.
They will constantly watch overall activities. And will seriously perform their protecting duty upon seeing the tiniest dubious movement. And being protective is one of the most hereditary traits that they get biologically from their ancestors.
Therefore, striving to shield their owners and other members from the slightest harm makes Akitas the best protection dogs. Also, they are aggressive as well so, if they see a person trying to move toward in an inappropriate manner, they will not think twice before attacking them.
As Akitas are determined to protect their human families at any cost.
Can Akitas Be Guard Dogs?
Akitas are guard dogs that too naturally. As mentioned before that they were bred especially for guarding the nobility and elites in Japan in past eras. Because Akitas have a strong body with a powerful appearance and intimidating presence.
They are very alert dogs with instincts of being wary of outsiders. Also, they are not frightened easily and will never step back from guarding their masters even in the most adverse situations. All of these characteristics indicate that Akitas can be one of the best guard dogs.
Moreover, Akitas devotion and commitment to protecting their masters proved them as guard dogs too. Akitas are seen guarding their master whenever any outsider tries to come closer or tried to intrude the home’s territory.
They may even attack the invaders without hesitating. And it’s known that guard dogs attack physically if needed to save their owners from danger.
Therefore, with all of these justifications, it’s kind of needless to say that how good guard dogs Akitas can actually be for anyone.
How To Train An Akita To Be A Guard Dog?
Akitas are born guards dogs. Most of them don’t require training for being a guard dog as they will do the job of guarding naturally. However, some of them do need the training to be a guard dog due to their excessive aggression or if they are not obedient to their masters.
Therefore, to help you out training your Akita to be a guard dog, below an easier step-by-step process has been explained.
Learn About His Temperament
Akitas are aggressive dogs around strangers. And sometimes they act stubborn while training too. Therefore, first, as your Akita dog’s trainer, you must understand his temperament. Then have to decide which method you will adopt to train him effectively.
Basic Obedience Training
Once you know your Akita’s temperament, start with basic obedience training. For example, teach him to bark and stop behaving aggressively on your command. Teach him not to bark unnecessarily. Training him to act according to your command is a must.
Train Through Cue Words
Training using cue cards is an effective method to train an Akita to be a guard dog. You can make cue words like, “bark”, “quiet”. Practice the cue words when your Akita is calm and ready to perform on the cue words. You need to be consistent and train him.
Create Situations
To make understand your Akita, you need to create similar to real-life situations in front of your Akita.
So that he can understand in what type of situations he needs to act protectively and guard his masters and family members. And in what type of situations, he needs to be quiet.
For example, you can create situations like someone is trying to invade a home or trying to harm someone. And can use the cue words to train him to bark and growl.
Make Him Socialize
Train him to be social around your known ones like relatives, friends, neighbors, neighbor’s pets, and with your other pets at home. So, when he is familiar with them he will not bark at them or be aggressive around them unnecessarily.
Treat Him
Giving him treats is an encouraging way to train him effectively. Praise him and feed him treats whenever your Akita successfully barks at suspicious persons or actions. And stop barking listening to your command.
Will An Akita Attack An Intruder?
Akitas normally don’t attack an intruder. They bark and growl at them fiercely to make them run away.
However, if they see the intruder is not going away rather acting inappropriately and dubiously, Akitas will not hesitate to attack him. Because they are determined to protect their human families at any cost.
But yes, they will offer signs before attacking and will behave aggressively.
Will Akita Really Protect You?
Akitas strive to protect their masters. So if you an Akita owner, just be assured that your dog you try his best to protect you from any danger.
Even if he sees someone unknown to him approaching you, instantly his guarding instincts will start working. And he will stand between you and that stranger to protect you.
Also, he will bark and growl at invaders if they make a wrong movement entering your home. His commitment to protecting you can even make him attacking an intruder if needed. Akitas will protect both you and your family.
Why Are Akitas Considered Dangerous?
Akitas are considered dangerous after reviewing quite a lot of their aggressive traits and incidents. The major ones are given below.
- Akitas are a wolf-type breed of dogs and they are aggressive.
- If it’s required, Akitas can attack intruders.
- Akitas have a scissor-like jaw. This means by any chance if they bite until they leave no one can make them let go.
- They are very powerful and strong dogs.
- Akitas are suspicious about every outsider.
- They are not prone to socialism so easily, therefore, they bark and growl around everyone they don’t know.
Every dog has their own period of becoming protective at adulthood. And for Akitas, it’s around 12-18 months old. However, this time can be changed depending on Akita’s characteristics and genes that they have inherited.