Akitas more aggressive than other dogs?

Akita attack “they just kill us” !?

27 March 2008 OneNews – New Zealand's News - A man in New Zealand was attacked by a Japanese Akita. Now he wants the popular dog out of the country, or at least added to the country's dangerous dog list.

He sais “they just kill us”. He thinks Japanese Akitas are three times more dangerous than a pit bull. He wants them all out. Next time he sees a Japanese Akita, any Japanese Akita, he's going to kill it.

The victim was working on a job in a home in Auckland, New Zealand. The dog was the very loved family house dog of his clients. Just hours after the attack Dog Control Officers were on the scene. The owners said their dog had never attacked before. It was handed over to authorities. The Akita was brought to death row for dogs and was destroyed less than 24 hours later. The decision to whether or not the owners will be prosecuted is still being decided.

What does this unfortunate incident tell us?

All dogs are capable of biting. All dogs can launch an attack. There is no evidence that Japanese Akitas are more violent than any other breed. Experts say you can't single out just one dog breed as the new public enemy number one. This resembles the nature-nurture debate. Dog's behavior, is just like ours, not fully controlled by the genes.

A predisposition to behave in a certain way is only a small part of the equation. The environment has a bigger impact as to whether or not the aggression is going to surface or not.

The triangle: dog breed, the individual dog and dog training/the owner is what's important. A dog that has had negative experiences with people is more likely to develop a fear of people which can result in unprovoked bite incidents.

Don't stare a dog right in the eyes. Imagine a human stranger doing this to you. How would you feel? When a dog gives a warning, then accept the warning. Socialized dogs will give light warnings first, then stronger and stronger and only if you can't take any hint then the dog would have to escalate the warning further.

When we as humans are the superior breed, then act superior. Learn doggy language as they cannot learn ours. Education is very important.

Up to 75% of dog bites are actually by the victim's own dog.

You can't decide a whole breed is aggressive because of a biting incident with an individual dog. If so… then what conclusions can be drawn about the human race after reading some random newspaper headlines?

The bond between dogs and humans is based in part on trust, and part of that is eroded once you are bitten. If the victim is a bystander and not a dog owner, he is likely to be lost forever to any relationship with dogs and may become hostile to them. Hostility coupled with activism can sound the death knell of a breed.

Now who has the aggressive look?

Don't misinterpret absolute numbers

John Payne, President of New Zealand Institute of Animal Control Officers, only today heard for the first time of a Japanese Akita attacking and he's 21 years on the job. In order for a breed to be designated as a dangerous dog breed they need to be disproportionally featured in dog attacks and there aren't really any dog breeds that fit into that sort of category.

For instance, German Shepherds account for a large number of bite incidents, but that's just because there are a lot of German Shepherds around. Before jumping to conclusions you have to know how to interpret quantitative data.

Is aggression linked to the dog's genetic profile?

Friendly greeting between dogs

Scientist are examining aggressive genes in dogs. Swabbing that dog and analyze it's gene profile can help predicting whether a dog that has never been aggressive in the past is likely to be aggressive in the future. Then what? Are we going to allow these dogs to be destroyed whilst they haven't done a thing wrong so far? Like in the pre-crime unit in the movie "Minority Report"? Within 24 hours, without a jury and a fair trial?

The truth of the matter is, all dogs can be provoked or egged on to bite. Aggression is of course part of the dog psyche (as it is also part of the human psyche); young dogs, particularly males, do frequently test the dominance status of higher-ranking males. There's no such thing as a "bad" breed. Practically all kinds of dogs are trainable. Proper training and socialization can make otherwise violent dogs, such as pit bull terriers and Rottweilers, adorable and gentle ones.

Prevention of Akita aggression

Unsupervised Children

Never leave a child unattended with a dog. Regardless of the dog's breed. Whether it's a Rottweiler, an Akita, a Pomeranian or a Chihuahua.

Dog bite statistics »

Akita owners, just like any other dog owner, should have their beloved pets trained to follow basic commands like come, sit, lie and stay. Obedience training school is one way of effectively preventing many dog-biting incidents, but you should try to find time for day-to-day instruction between dog and master, as well. This helps build the bond between you and your dog; when your dog trusts you enough, he dare not attack other people, particularly YOU.

MOST DOG BITE INCIDENCES ARE PREVENTABLE!!

A single dog bite prevention lesson incorporated into a regular school day has been shown to dramatically reduce high risk behaviors toward unfamiliar dogs in both very young (kindergarten) and middle-school children.

- Kahn A., Bauche P., Lamoureux J. "Child victims of dog bites treated in emergency departments: A prospective survey." European Journal of Pediatrics, 2003; 162(4) 254-8).

- Chapman, S., Cornwall, J., Righett, J., Lynne, S., Grossman, D. "Preventing dog bites in children: Randomized controlled trial of an educational intervention." The Western Journal of Medicine, 2000; 173(4) 233.)

Akita Myths

Myth #1: The Akita was used to bring down bears. This is wrong and believing this is really underestimating the power of a bear. Two Akitas could corner a bear, but it was man who made the kill. So which is the most dangerous creature in this story?

Myth #2: Akitas are unpredictable. Any dog that is not raised properly can be unpredictable. It's not in the breed to be like that. A good dog owner is prepared and knows how to socialize and train a dog. Akitas are known for their loyalty towards their owner (see the story about Hachiko).

Join the discussion about Akita Aggression

This article was previously published on Akita-Blog.com. Since I'm moving over those articles to this new website, I chose to move this one first.
Reason: it had the most active discussion (before the comments table crashed). I have copied & pasted in everyone's contribution from the backup file (up until december 28th 2010), so we can continue from here.

Please note that for comments there is a technical limitation: your comment can only contain 3000 characters. So whenever you bump into that message, simply copy & paste your words and open a new thread and mention the article you're commenting about. I'll make sure they get linked.

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Opinions about Akita Aggression from website visitors

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