AKITA THE JAPANESE BEAR DOG

- [Announcer] Dogumentary
TV, producing the best breed documentaries on YouTube. (Dog barks) - [Linda Logan] The Akita is a very loyal, strong, smart breed, very cat-like. Their habits, their play features, they play like a cat does. I am Linda Logan and I have had Akitas for almost 20 years now, I breed, I show.

My now ex-husband wanted an
Akita when we got the house. And so I went out and did
some research on breeders and found a local breeder
that had some decent lines. And so I went and picked out a puppy and brought him home, a
surprise for my husband, September will be 20 years ago. (Laughs) I've had Akitas ever since.

Akitas were originally bred in Japan, they were used for hunting bears. They were bred up in
the mountainous regions of Japan, in Akita and Odate, and they are now considered
royalty over there. Japanese Akitas and
American Akitas are two different breeds, everywhere
but the U.S. And Canada.

In the U.S. And Canada
they are still one breed, although the United
Kennel Club, through here in the States, has decided that they are two different breeds. So showing for the UKC here in the States you can get a second,
two different breeds. Otherwise here for the AKC
they are all one breed.

The original Akitas were pretty big, they were more of the size
of the American Akitas. Japanese Akitas only come in three colors, they're smaller, a little finer boned. The American Akita is bigger,
they have more substance, a heavier bone set and
a bigger head piece. They all should have
that nice forward ear set with a nice triangular shaped head.

The American Akita comes
in pretty much any color, or any color is allowed through the AKC, where the Japanese Akitas come in white, a white faced red, or
brindle, those are the only three colors allowed
for the Japanese Akitas. A standard male American Akita is 25 to 28 inches at their withers. A female is approximately 23
to 25 inches at her withers. And varying, depending on
the dogs and the lines, can range from 70 for a small female to 120, 125 for a large male.

Temperaments can be stubborn. Some have very friendly,
outgoing towards people and kids and others are not,
others don't like strangers. It depends, we have what
we call an old school, where they don't like strangers at all, they're there great for their people, their family, but anybody else, forget it. And then we have the new,
what we call Golden Akita.

(Laughs) That are more friendly and more outgoing. And a lot of it is temperament and the lines for the breedings and socializing and training. This breed needs to be socialized a lot. Normally a life expectancy for an Akita is probably 10 to 15 years old, but oldest on record is 18 years old.

They can be very animal aggressive. They definitely don't get
along with two of the same sex, some people can and some people can't. I have females that run together and live together without any issues, but I've trained and I work hard and I know what I'm doing. The Akita is not just a breed for anybody and especially not for somebody who's a first time dog owner.

You need to have a very strong demeanor and know what you're doing around dogs. The biggest health issues
we have right now is bloat. The bigger, deeper chested
dogs all have an issue and can bloat very easily,
stress, sometimes diet, they're not sure what,
there's no test to do it, we don't have any ideas as to why. We have a few eye issues,
we have PRA, entropion, UVD which is similar to
the humans' form of VKH.

And then there's thyroid problems and a few autoimmune problems, pemphigus and sebaceous adenitis,
which is a skin disease. A home for an Akita should have a mandatory six foot tall fence, should have somebody that
has had dog experience, knows the history of the breed. They can be good with kids,
if they're raised with kids and kids are taught to respect the dog. Because if kids aren't
good around the dogs, the dogs will not tolerate it.

But this breed is
definitely, and they can be very standoffish and very
stubborn with training. So you have to know what you're doing. Akitas don't usually shed, they blow coat. And when I say blow coat,
they come out by the handfuls, they look like a buffalo
at the end of winter losing all their coat,
they come out in handfuls.

Bunny is spayed, she's eight and a half years old, a retired show dog. She's my guardian, she's my protector. She is my window watcher I call her. Bunny is blowing coat
right now, she comes apart.

And when I brush them out in the backyard, it, by the time I'm done just doing part of the dog, it looks like it snowed, because they just lose
that whole thick undercoat. And then when they're done
blowing that undercoat then the guard hairs will come out as the newer undercoat comes
in and then they'll get the new guard hairs back in on top of it and then they get a nice thick full coat. OK, I have three different
tools that I use for grooming. I use a slicker brush which is the thin, like you would use on a cat
or a smaller short haired dog.

I have a pin brush which is like a regular brush that we could use. And then I use what I call a rake, it looks like a little miniature rake with little long prongs on it. OK, Rags is a three and
a half year old male. He is 27 1/2 inches at the withers.

And right now he's
approximately 93 pounds. He's completely out of
coat and he's lost weight because I've had girls in season, so he's been on a hunger strike. He usually weighs between 96 to 100 pounds in full coat and he is in
the process of being shown. He has everything but his majors
to finish his championship.

Rags is also my service dog. He helps with my mobility
issues and he alerts to my high and low blood
sugars for my diabetes. Vixen, which is Rags'
grandma, she is 10 years old, she's a retired service dog,
she's a retired show dog. She has six different titles.

She's a show champion, she has all three of her Canine Good Citizen,
her CGC, her CGCA, CGCU, she's got a versatility achievement title and a service dog title. She has been my all around
from day one when she came in, has been one of the best
dogs I've ever owned. She's got the best
temperament, she loves people. We've done a lot of public
education work with her, we've done Meet the
Breed booth at Eukanuba when it was out here in California, we've done the Pet Expo up in
Orange County for many years.

She loves people and
when she was out working with me as a service team she, some days she would forget she was working. The puppy, who is Honey,
she's not from my breedings, but her mom is a half
sister to Vixen and Bunny. So my dogs are all kind of related. (Laughs) But I like the temperament
that Beau produced and I liked the structure that he had and the soundness with the breedings.

And of course everybody's
had health checks done, hips, eyes, thyroid, elbows, patellas, all before being bred
everybody gets everything done. Akitas, if trained properly, can do pretty much anything you want them to do. Some people use them for protection, which I personally wouldn't do, especially if I wanted it as a family dog and around my kids. A lot of people do shows, we do obedience, we do rally, we do lure
coursing, nose work is a big do.

I have mine as service dogs
and they make great pets. They're big cuddle bugs with the right, if you find the one with
the right temperament and not a lot of health
issues from a good breeder, then you will have a nice life long pet. You can find a lot more information on Akita Club of America
website, at akitaclub.Org..

Labels: ANIMAL

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