More Questions about Kais

asia

I have a few questions about kai's. I noticed some were asked in earlier threads, but they were closed and "user moved" and did not seem to have answers, so I thought they were worth bringing up again, especially since there seems to be a few recent newcomers interested in the breed:

1.) I have noticed many people mentioning Kai's would possibly be happy(est) in one person/one dog households. However I have read a great deal about their natural inclination to form packs, so I was curious how they do with other Kai's as opposed to other Nihon-Ken

2.) In regards to Number one - more specifically - does anyone know if it would help their separation anxiety to have more than one Kai? (I noticed it did not seem to help when they were in a pack of different breeds, which may mean it makes no difference altogether...)

3.) Does anyone know here frequent the Kai-Ken.org forum or any other Kai-Ken related forums/sites?

4.) Do they have meet-ups for Kai's (and other Nihon-Ken), or play dates, etc., the way all our active Shiba owners do?

Thanks!

kwyld

I think that to be honest, Kohji in particular would love to be an only dog because then he would get the undivided attention he seems to love so much, BUT at the same time, I don’t think his dog reactivity issues would have gotten better being an only dog. You can take a dog to training classes or the dog park or to a friend’s house, etc. for socialization but it doesn’t compare to having other dogs in the house that the Kai can interact with every day. I think by me having other dogs in the house, it really prompted me to examine dog behavior and aggression issues and address it as a whole and work on fixing the problem because you can’t live with a Kai that acts the way he did peacefully. If he had been an only dog, the problem would only surface when he went out of the house to interact with other dogs and it wouldn’t have been an everyday occurrence. I do not however have any experience with two Kais in the same household.

I think ultimately it is better for the Kai on many levels to have at least another dog in the house.

I don’t really know how to answer the second question. It would seem that having more than one dog in a household would decrease separation anxiety in either of them because they have each other’s company, but every dog is different and I don’t know if being in the company of another dog has anything to do with separation anxiety. Kohji seems to go in spurts with it, he will go for months being ok left alone at home out of the crate but then he will decide to destroy lots of things one day, even though my routine when leaving is the same. So back to the crate for him, and I’ve been consistently crating him when leaving him for a few month stretch now. News has the worst separation anxiety of any dog I’ve ever met and it doesn’t matter what dog is around him when I leave the room, he has a meltdown.

I do not frequent any other Kai sites, I am addicted to this one pretty bad.

I have heard of some Kai meet-ups at dog shows in Michigan in the past but was not able to attend due to my work schedule. If you contact any of the Kai breeders in the US, I’m sure they would be happy to let you know when their next show is or Kai meet-up so you can join in! Where do you live?

asia

I live in central Kansas, though I have no problem traveling as long as I can get away from work. (And I travel with work, so there is a possibility of me being in the area for that also...)

I lurked on a few other forums, but this is really the only one so far I have felt inclined to join, but I am curious about the others. And I am quite addicted to this one as well!!

kwyld

There is a yahoo group forum, but I have never spent any time on it. I am super duper bored at work, do you have any other questions about the Kai? I'm just twiddling my thumbs...

asia

I'm home ill - so twiddling my thumbs as well.

I want to rescue a kai, and then was thinking of purchasing a shikoku (previous thread on that), but I began to wonder if it would be better to have 2 kai's instead. I have a while before I get one, and want to be as prepared as possible.

I keep reading they are eager to please and are great with children (who behave) - at least on web-sites and such. Yet, it has been mentioned on this forum that this may not necessarily be the case - so if you know more about that I'd appreciate the input. (I do not have kids, but I do have a niece and 2 nephews who visit, and who I visit frequently - also, my sister says they would be happy to keep my dog if I ever needed a sitter).

As far as the eager to please, I get the general impression this is relative. I think you stated previously Kohji works well in agility and with food when training, correct? Does Kohji ever get stubborn when it comes to doing things you ask?

And how did you teach Kohji to come when called off-leash??

Food wise, what do you feed?

Where is Kohji's favorite place to hang out in the house?
(this is more simple curiosity since I figure each dog will be different - But I don't think I've read as much about Kohji as I have about some of the others, so I hope you don't mind me asking...)

kwyld

Kohji is “ok” and “tolerates” my niece. He wasn’t raised around kids so I don’t know how good the breed can be with them. Actually, whenever she comes over lately he prefers to run away from her. I think if I were to have a child, it might be hard for Kohji to live comfortably with it when it starts walking. I would definitely not put it past him to bite a child in a heartbeat if they didn’t stop doing whatever they were doing to provoke a growl from him.

Kohji is a wonderful worker for the right reward. If I tried to just pet him and say “Good boy!” every time he did something right though he wouldn’t do anything for me. He would probably start sniffing the ground in avoidance and not look at me.

Kohji gets stubborn sometimes when working. For instance, if I had to keep setting him up to start an agility run in the same spot because of a mistake on my end(like moving my body in a way that says “Ok” to him, which means to start the course, even if I didn’t say the word “Ok") he would get bored with being put back in the same spot and not sit or lay down when told. Sometimes he will stretch and bark at me like “Make me”. It’s actually really funny and I laugh at it a lot, but shouldn’t because it reinforces the behavior. I have corrected a stubborn behavior he tried to do a few times in class; during long down stays he would get up and walk toward me. He knew by doing this I would go to him, put him into a down stay again, and give him a treat. He knew by moving he would get a treat quicker than finishing the whole 5 minute down stay. So I stopped giving him treats when he pulled that crap and made him wait it out.

I used tons of food and a clicker for training him off leash. I would suggest starting off with the dog on a 30 ft line inside a building somewhere and have a friend hold the dog while you run in the other direction with a live rabbit calling the dog's name. Just kidding!!! The yummiest food in the world or the dog's favorite toy are fine too, just run from him with the reward and call the dog's name. Have the friend let go and wait for the dog to get to you, when he gets 5 feet from you, click, reward. Try it at 4 feet, 3 feet, etc. Do this a bunch and only give the come command when he is reliably coming to you when the holder lets go. If you say "COME" to the dog before he is reliably coming to you, it gives that command very little value to the dog and he will learn if he doesn't come to you the first and only time you say it, he never really has to come when he's called at all. Try to never repeat commands when teaching them to a dog, that's just what I've been taught. When he is reliably coming to you on the command, make him sit, click, treat. Then it's come, sit, down(make the dog wait in a down for longer and longer periods of time), click and treat and so on.
Move this exercise outside with the holder, then stop using the holder, make the dog sit, walk away from him, then its "COME", sit, click, treat, stuff like that. Everytime that dog comes to you when you tell him "COME", you better have food or his toy as a reward after that click. When his recall is rock solid on leash, move it to a fenced area, like maybe a baseball diamond or something and try it off leash. All the while you should be working him under distractions like cars, people on bikes, friends with their dogs on leashes near you, toddlers playing with pots and pans, a truckload of live chickens just being unloaded right next to you, a gaggle of squirrels chittering all up in his grill, etc. Do this a million or so times over the course of a few years with him and you'll have a Kai with a solid recall. So start him from the day you get him.

I am rotating Wellness Core, the chicken and fish varieties recently. I do feed The Honest Kitchen Embark a lot too.

His favorite place to hang out in the house is somewhere quiet with no one trying to step over or on him, he's very quiet in the house and likes his space.