Akitas.

I don't think you said anything wrong, or even negative.  Every breed has certain traits that potential owners need to be aware of.  For example, Parsons are bred for killing small animals.  That is what all terriers are known for.  However, Rose will play with the bunny and guard the snakes cage from Colton.  If she were going to be adopted out(WILL NEVER HAPPEN!) I would say something like "oh yeah, she gets along fine with my other pets, which is very different for the breed."  I don't think its negative, but informative.  To not let potential owners know about the breed traits that may possibly occur, that would definitely have much more of a negative impact.

I don't think you said anything negative, either. Akitas are not for everyone, and there's nothing wrong with making potential adopters aware of a breed's traits. People who claim that behavior is 100% environmental and 0% genetic need to do a bit more studying. Like it or not, each breed has certain genetic personality traits- and in Akitas, aloofness towards starngers is definitely one of them. If anyone is offended by that, they're not being realistic, IMO.

At our shelter, we had the most beautiful Akita I've ever seen.  She really caught my eye and I looked all over the 'net for cool Akita pics for my dog screen saver and have yet to find one as gorgeous as she.  We also said the same thing: "This dog is so nice and affectionate...for an Akita."  She really was a lover.  However, in true Akita fashion, she absolutely despised all female dogs of any size and stature.  She was in the shelter for a long time because our behaviorist would not release her to anyone without Akita experience and with kids that were too young.  She was the most popular dog and on everyone's wish list, but these people only saw her for her appearance and not her intensity, her strength, her dominance, and her dog aggression.

I love the Asian breeds - Akitas, Jindos, Shibas, etc. - but I always say they are the ones I will never have.  Whenever people saw me with Niki I would say "this is the only dog I want and the only one I could never have."

I have an issue with people making excuses for a breed as far as human interaction - ex. "pit bulls kill babies" - but I have no issues with making pretty accurate generalizations about how a purebred dog will interact with other dogs and prey based on breed characteristics.  Niki was an Akita - she was dog aggressive, wanted to be dominant, needed to be an only pet (definitely and only dog), and could never be trusted off leash.   It was a pleasure to be around her and I'll probably never have the chance to work with such a fine Akita ever again.

Yes, Akitas can be fine house pets and cohabitate with other dogs and children, but there is a huge amount of risk involved in taking a large, adult Akita that is used to being dominant and showing aggression towards other animals and placing her in the hands of someone who is not a professional trying to re-socialize her.  For most shelters, that's a risk we cannot take, so we require inquiring adopters to have a certain level of experience and demonstrate a certain level of commitment with these types of dogs.

Here's our Niki.  She looks like an old granny in this pic!  It's the only one I have but she looks amazing in person (in dog?)

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Liesje, so you are a volunteer too?  Or are you you on staff?  This dog is the first Akita I've seen come to the shelter since I started volunteering nine months ago.  I've attached a picture of him.  According to staff, he is rather small for an Akita. 

One thing I wanted to ask you...  do you think a lot of volunteers are very sympathetic towards animals?  Especially the ones who are devoted and come very often.  I'm not a dog walker, I'm actually on the training team.  98% of the volunteers are dog walkers.  Very few seem to have an interest in being a trainer. 

Now my question is...  when I was explaining about the Akita, the fellow volunteer ( a dog walker) seemed surprised at what I said, as I noted above.  After this person left, I apologized to him.  Why I apologized, I have no idea.  But he said "it's okay."  "I just know that in Japan these dogs are great family dogs, and are trusted with children."  I told him that I wasn't surprised, and that Rottweillers are the same way.  But when it comes to strangers... 

Anyway, I just wanted to know if you find this a lot with the dog walkers at your shelter?  They tend to feel bad for these dogs.  And I don't think that's good to do.  I don't feel bad for them at all.  That can brush off on them if they sense you are pitying them. 

I'll offer this as a former Akita person of some 12+ years...having owned several myself....
 
The Akita baby sitter thing is one of the most harmful myths out there. It simply didn't happen [] Women DID perhaps sometimes leave the dogs there while children were in the home with caregivers (typically older grandparents)...but the dogs purpose was to patrol and protect 'the property'...they were not in the home bouncing babies on their knees, lol! They were not then, nor are they now "house dogs" or 'babysitters' in Japan. They were bred to hunt small and large game in opp sex pairs....and later on...the were used for fighting other dogs. Both have left their mark on the breed up to today...prey drive, dog aggression, coupled with extreme independance of spirit and circumspect natures..require a careful and patient owner.

Akitas can be great with kids they know...but can sometimes get into trouble when those kids have friends over that run scream and wrestle with "their kids". They may misinterpret this as aggression towards their child and correct the other kids. MANY Akitas get into trouble because of this. Homes where lots of different people come and go, visitors are frequent etc can be stressful for a guarding breed like the Akita.
 
Akitas also have a level of tolerance that is finite....with other dogs, kids, or adults. They take only so much, and then they will respond. Respond meaning anything from a hard stare while they leave the area, growl or, corrective bite if they cannot leave the area or the pursuit is continued. Something else to consider.
 
Placing Akitas must be done carefully...because if not the results can be disasterous for the dog, and the family. Home checks are crucial...as are real in depth questions on their experience with large, aloof dog breeds, animal and dog aggression, etc.
 
they are not monsters, of course not!...they are supremely intelligent, self thinking dogs, self possesed, dignified animals, that have evolved to take care of themselves...not have folks fawning on them...[] There is not a more beautiful, loving, and faithful companion (see: Hatchiko)...than an Akita placed in the proper setting...with the proper owner.
 
 
ETA: Has Akita rescue been contacted about this dog? They typically do a great job evaluating and/or placing the breed.

Liesje, so you are a volunteer too? Or are you you on staff? This dog is the first Akita I've seen come to the shelter since I started volunteering nine months ago. I've attached a picture of him. According to staff, he is rather small for an Akita.

One thing I wanted to ask you... do you think a lot of volunteers are very sympathetic towards animals? Especially the ones who are devoted and come very often. I'm not a dog walker, I'm actually on the training team. 98% of the volunteers are dog walkers. Very few seem to have an interest in being a trainer.

I'm a volunteer, not on staff.  My volunteer title is "Get Fit with Fido" meaning I am supposed to do runs, jogs, or brisk walks with the dogs, as opposed to the "regular" dog volunteers that will let them out into runs to play, give them love inside their kennels, etc.  We're also supposed to do as much obedience as possible, preferably after they've expended a lot of their energy.  My typical period with a dog goes something like this: put dog in a run for a few minutes so hopefully it poops there and not on the walk, jog with the dog for about a block to get it away from all the other dogs and people, then take the dog on a longer walk and while on the walk work on "sit", "down", "heel", and "stay".  I'm not sure what percent of volunteers do which jobs, but I think it's pretty even.  When we go on Thursday, there is one girl who only runs with dogs, three that will bring them out in runs to play but don't actually take them on walks, and one or two that prefer to stay inside and will brush the dogs, pet dogs that are skittish, clean out kennels, etc.  There's also people that come in to pet cats and a lot of little girls that come in to hold the rabbits and guinea pigs and clean their cages.

In my experience, the staff (with the exception of the behaviorist on staff) are more sympathetic towards the dogs than the volunteers.  IMO, I've met more volunteers that have good experience training dogs and understanding dog psychology than staff members.  However, by staff member, I'm mostly referring to people like the administrative staff and events and volunteer coordinators.  The vet and vet techs aren't usually around the public areas during open hours (they're back in admiting doing PTS or evaluating the new admits that aren't yet put up for adoption).  A lot of the staff are the kinds of people that will let every dog you walk pull like a mule "because he's sad and has to live in the shelter" or will make excuses for aggression and rough play biting.  They're the ones that come in and talk to the dogs like they're babies, cooing at them and massaging them even if the dog is totally misbehaving and should be ignored.  The staff are really great people, but their primary jobs aren't working with and understanding dogs, so I guess it makes sense that they unintentionally reinforce bad behaviors and sometimes undo the work the volunteers having been putting a lot of effort into.  The volunteers also often get annoyed because staff are notorious for mis-naming the dogs.  For example, we just had a dog go home that they called a lab/pit mix and she was clearly a plott hound.  It's not that big of a deal, except the new family thinks they are getting a retriever type dog when in fact this is a hound, so they are falsely prepared for what type of temperament to expect based on breed.  I don't let it get to me because I know they genuinely love the animals and it's not their fault they have a different job to do than be obsessed with training methods and dog psychology like a lot of us volunteers.

Anyway, I haven't been to the shelter in a week (I needed a break after all the hoopla surrounding the bite incident), but I check their PetFinder every day and see we have another Akita:

Gina your post is dead on. 

I wouldn't trust anyone that didn't have some sort of akita experience with an adoptee.  There's just too much that can go wrong-and with akitas a warning is a luxury that they don't usually give.  These are large powerful intelligent problem solvers that act first, and then resume whatever activity they were doing.

I've found that the bitches, IMHO, are a bit more dog aggressive than the dogs. 

Just on the shelter politics angle of this thread...

I found when I was volunteering that there were a lot of volunteers that were animal lovers but in a very polly-anna kind of way and not knowledgable dog people. These folks usually didn't last long--they either wised up over time or stopped volunteering because it was not the romping through wildflowers with puppies experience they were expecting it to be. This is a large urban shelter with about 75% pits and pit mixes at any given time--dogs that literally bowl you over with friendliness and have never walked on a leash in their lives. It's hard work, both physically and emotionally. The people who continue to volunteer (and sadly I am not among them given that I now have two dogs of my own to care for and the shetler was pissing me off with it's dysfunction at the upper levels of management) day after day, year after year, are serious dog people. They usually don't have dogs themselves so they can spend all day long at the shelter, but they know dogs and they are serious about training. But at any given time, they're in a minority of people who are actually signed up to volunteer and there's a lot of cringing that goes on amongst them regarding how the more casual volunteers handle the dogs.

I agree with what you wrote. I've had Akitas for 24 years and they're not meant for everyone, especially someone that has never owned a dog of any breed before. Akitas love a lot of attention and socialization. They can be very stubborn and need to know that you are the boss, not the enemy. Akitas are quick learners if done with patience, praise and affection. My Akitas get along with other dogs as long as the other dogs aren't aggressive. They are the sweetest, loyal breed I've ever had but they wont back down from an aggressor (human or animal). They will protect you with their life.

I have never owned an Akita, but they sound very similar to Jindos. When I was younger, our family took in one of my uncle's Jindo puppies to raise and quickly found that we were in way over our heads. We had a dog already and since the Jindo was only 9 weeks old, we thought that we would be able to raise the two together. Boy, were we wrong!  Even as a baby, this Jindo was super territorial, dog aggressive, wary of strangers and obstinate. He terrorized our other dog, to the point that our 25lb dog dropped 3lbs from the stress. We kept him for about 6 months and returned him to my uncle who had had decades of Jindo experience.

Under my uncle's care, this dog really flourished. He was able to get the proper care, attention and, most importantly, direction. He was the most loyal dog to my uncle and he lived a very happy life. He was very well trained, in agility and searching, and he accompanied by uncle everywhere he went. My uncle actually used him as a guard dog, he gave him jobs and direction, but taught him to be respectful of the family. At the time, my uncle had 4 young daughters and the Jindo was very sweet and affectionate with them. Actually, when we visited, he was even nicer to us! Though the dog remained incredibly dog aggressive and wary of strangers, his job was to protect the home and the family, so it worked out. He would have given his life for my uncle and he was an excellent companion to a person who understood how to interact with him.

All this to say, with certain breeds, you do need more experience and knowledge. We could not provide the guidance that the Jindo needed, nor did we understand how independent these dogs are. Independent dogs require a different approach because they are not always looking to their human for cues, they do want they think is necessary. I think that if anyone is considering getting a Jindo or an Akita, they should really talk to experienced trainers or owners that understand the breed. We were lucky to be able to give the Jindo back to my uncle, but other dogs don't fare so well.