More bad press for Akitas :(

edited April 2014 in General
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2605206/Father-horrific-injuries-attacked-Japanese-Akita-dog-walked-child.html

Came across this article from today in the UK..

I can only imagine the call for BSL once again. Who lets a 6 year old boy walk a dog alone?
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Comments

  • It sucks that the man was attacked... But there had to have been something that provoked it (unless of course the dog was mentally unstable, which could have been the case). But either way... Why was a six year old walking an 80+ pound dog? The kid's parents/guardians are to blame, not necessarily the dog. :-|
  • Last Sunday My mom had pick something up from her brothers while out and about and I stayed in car.

    I saw these kids walking a overweight black lab on a Flexi leash! The kids were taking turns and the dog over powered the boy even. Not sure how old they were I guess 5 or 7 maybe? I have hard time guessing kids age, but they looked to be about that.

    Luckily the dog wasn't pulling to chase a rabbit, cat or whatever it just kept pulling to the next spot to pee on the grass.. Still the kids had no control luckily the dog seemed friendly to people, but if it was reactive or aggressive then no way the boy or girl could stop it plus I'm sure the dog would break the flexi leash rope if it pulled hard enough.

    'We’re waiting to hear from the police what’s happening against this dog. I’ve got nothing against Akitas but they have got to be controlled.'
    At least on the articles he says he has nothing against Akitas so that is good. I'm sure most people wouldn't care and think all akita are bad. :\

    Sad this happened a big dog like this shouldn't be walked by a 6 year old I mean sure if parent was with the kid and dog was trained to walk loosely, but a dog this size can pull the kid and cause issues.

    I hope this guy recovers good those injuries look painful. I was attacked by a rabid cat as a kid and that wasn't fun coarse treatment for the rabies stuff wasn't either..

    Gotta love the comment section someone wrote this. and he/she got good bit of up votes and one down vote.. I'm like why would this comment get even one down vote?
    How is a 6 year old taking a dog for a walk???
    I do like Réka Anna Csépl¿, comment much more nicer compared to some.

    "I hate dogs" "All dogs should wear muzzles when in public." etc.

    :\

    I hope the best for that man and he recovers hopefully he can have use of his arm so he can work.


  • I sometimes wish I wouldn't read the comment as some of them just frustrate me, however I look anyways. The idea of having every dog muzzled in public is just absurd!

    The other thing I noticed is they said Japanese Akita in the headline but the photo is an American Akita. It would be nice if the media recognised the split.

    I hope the best for the guy too, fingers crossed people will realise who was at fault here and not blame the breed.
  • Therein lies yet another problem with the internet.

    "Dog attacks man. Dog must be bad. Destroy dog."

    One of my favorite sayings is there are 3 sides to every story. His side, her side and the truth somewhere in the middle.

    Like others posted, why was a 6 year old boy walking an 80+ lb dog?

    Where were they? Distractions? Noises? What was the man doing.

    It's possible it was unprovoked but it's also possible the man is full of shit. But the dog can't defend itself and I doubt the 6 year old can effectively communicate what transpired.

    And I'm sure if I took a few more moments I could draft a host of additional queries.
  • 5 of the last Akita attack stories I've read have all come from the UK. Either we don't report these incidents here...or they have a culture of raising crazy AA's...
  • Wow. If I had kids I would never have let them go out 'alone' with a dog that easily weighed more than them.

    I wonder though. If it was truly unprovoked what would make a dog so crazed that it would attack people? I saw an old video the other day of a dog running across the street attacking a child for apparently no reason at all. How do they become so randomly aggressive? Is there a trigger?
  • Wow... seriously :( there must have been something that provoked the Akita.
    Why didn't they get the story from the kid's point of view? Because he's 6 years old?

    @apmissboo I was thinking the same thing when i saw the picture of the AA instead of JA...
  • It's always an AA in the UK and it always gets reported as a JA. I didn't even have to look further to know it was going to be an AA.
    5 of the last Akita attack stories I've read have all come from the UK. Either we don't report these incidents here...or they have a culture of raising crazy AA's...
    There is something to this, which sounds crazy, but....It could be in the US (possibly Canada as well?) they're so focused on demon dog of the day (pit bulls) that they ignore other maulings, while in the UK the Akita is one of the demon dogs of the day (and by that I simply mean a villianized breed). But....I've begun to wonder. One thing is that I noticed once is a lot of UK AAs are coming from some very similar lines, and I don't really want to start demonizing either, but some were lines I was suspicious about myself, thought there was a bit too much aggression in those lines, etc. (I was looking at this because my AA's dam was an import from the UK).

    So while I could be totally off base with this, I do wonder if it is a combo of things: bad owners making big mistakes (like letting a small child walk a large dog), probably undertrained/undersocialized dogs, and perhaps some tendency toward aggression in the lines anyway.

    I can say this: I rarely walk my male AA in places he will encounter people he doesn't know (there are other reasons for this--he has health issues that make him not able to be easily walked on a leash anyway). But he is also 110 pounds and is suspicious of strangers. He will just bark at people he doesn't know, but I could see that he might snap or even bite if he felt threatened or felt I was threatened. He's usually pretty good at places like the vet, but he has a strong sense of personal space and won't let strangers touch him. It's not ideal--I know that. So what that means is he doesn't go out to places where he might feel threatened and cause a problem.

    I strongly suspect, in cases like this one, the dog already had some issues, but those issues were not handled responsibly by the people who had the dog. And now the dog will die for it, and a man was injured because of it. It's pretty sad.
  • Being from the UK situations like this really make me angry. There are several things wrong with this situation first being why is a six year old out alone let along walking a large dog! the stupidity of this baffles me! Of course the dog gets blamed and not the careless owners that allow a ridiculous situation like this to happen.

    Personally I am totally aware that my JA is a large dog and I am very concious of this when we are out knowing that she will make some people nervous purely due to her size and I take this in to consideration in every environment I take my pup. I am aware that peoples nervousness can cause her to become nervous which if she was unattended could cause her to have an unfriendly reaction (this has never happened to me thankfully but I'm trying to make the point that I am aware of how bites happen etc) any way..... what I'm trying to say is these awful situations are due to peoples lack of education about breeds, their understanding of the time and commitment a dog requires combined with pure stupidity.

    Here in the UK when I'm on sites such as pets4homes where people sell dogs the Japanese Akita Inu breed section is particularly depressing. There are usually between 0 and 1 actual JAs in a list of up to 50 from around the country. Most are AA or a cross of an AA. It just shows to me that in the UK there are alot of people who do not take the time to learn about the dogs they have and attempt to breed and they are not interested in knowing either.

    Akitas are becoming a status symbols here too like stafforshire bull terriers and alot of scumbags have them just to make them look tough but they are not always caring for them. Currently a large percentage of dogs in shelters here are staffs and I can see akitas becoming like that too in the future which is very sad. Staffs and now akitas have a reputaion for being dangerous but actually official research showed that in the UK the largest number of bites that go to hospital are from labradors! But no one calls them dangerous because they weren't used as fighting dogs generations ago!

    So to sum up my rant (lol) some owners are beyond stupid and as usual the dogs get the blame and its infuriating!! (Sorry if I went on a bit)
  • In Australia Akitas are practically unheard of in the general public though it may be also due to the climate there. Since starting my move to the UK and researching the Akita I have seen so many negative articles about them. The problem is all of them were so easily preventable and caused by idiotic mistakes by humans. It definitely is frustrating. I just hope that I finally move to the UK and find myself the perfect JA only for the UK to have a knee jerk reaction and ban them. That would be devastating for all Akita owners in the UK.

    I also remember looking at rescue sites in the UK and how many Akitas were available. I was astonished to find so many! @StefJackUK do you think with all the regulations on pitbulls people are finding Akitas as the next best thing? Also does the media bother to report non Akita/Pitbull attacks?

    All in all its a horrible situation where both a human is injured and a dog killed. Such an avoidable event :(
  • It's sad to hear how Akitas are treated/viewed in the UK. :( They had a round of popularity in the US quite awhile ago (more than 20 years ago), but didn't really take that well, thankfully. I think AAs are, as a breed, more temperamentally sound now in the US than they were 20 or 30 years ago... It has improved since the days when some people wanted them because of that distant fighting background.

  • I first heard of the akita during the OJ Simpson trial. "The akitas were barking..."
  • @apmissboo yes I think some of the press are looking for a new 'bad guy' to focus on since the ban of the pitbull it's mainly been the Staffordshire Bull terriers that have been getting the bad press but now they are adding akitas to it. Akitas are not registered on the dangerous dog's list or officially categorised as aggressive by any governing body and I'm hoping that doesn't change; but of course I'm sure there will be stupid people out there ruining it for the rest of us and eventually cause the kind of reaction that gets the breed on the dangerous dog's list.

    like you say the attacks by other breeds rarely get repprted unless it's a Staffordshire Bull terrier or a rottweiler. It's a ridiculous system I feel and it breeds fear in people which just leads to even more issues.
  • I first heard of the akita during the OJ Simpson trial. "The akitas were barking..."
    Yep, that's a time they were becoming popular. I already had had an Akita by then, but I do remember that quite well. (And also, one of the reasons I've always been convinced of his guilt: I didn't believe an Akita would let a stranger in, but that's a whole n'other issue! :) )
  • This might help clear up some confusion. The UK split in 2005. Akita to them is American Akita to us and a lot of people call them Japanese Akitas. The Akita inu to the world is the Japanese Akita Inu to them. There are significantly less JA in the UK than Akitas.
  • His arm looked like a shark attack. Crazy.

    But, that dude can't fight off an 80lbd dog? Kinda sad...
  • Can herdsmen keep livestock guardian dogs in the UK?
  • Another example of an idiot owner, and another example of why dogs should be leashed (which lately has been my number one pet peeve about dog owners--those who don't leash their dogs!). Of course many dogs are going to think, woohoo, fuzzy things to chase! Oh, an easy to catch! Fun!

    And of course there is absolutely no reason to mention breed here....just adding to bs about so called "dangerous" breeds. :(

  • edited April 2014
    No mentions anywhere whether or not the dog was leashed or off-leash-- except this tadbit:
    The dog was being walked on a lead by a six-year-old boy when it broke loose and attacked Mr Farrell.
    Nor is it the place to be against off-leash dogs since Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France and Denmark has successes with their current pet-laws; and off-leash policy being considered in other countries based on the German model.
  • edited April 2014
    The pet-owners are lucky the dog didn't get shot; and the owners are lucky they didn't get arrested:

    http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Eliz2/1-2/28

    http://www.fwi.co.uk/articles/20/09/2012/135227/your-legal-rights-on-shooting-dogs-on-your-land.htm
  • No mentions anywhere whether or not the dog was leashed or off-leash-- except this tadbit:
    The dog was being walked on a lead by a six-year-old boy when it broke loose and attacked Mr Farrell.

    Nor is it the place to be against off-leash dogs since Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France and Denmark has successes with their current pet-laws; and off-leash policy being considered in other countries based on the German model.
    Right....I was referring to the second article with the sheep.

    I'll stand by my off-leash comments. I've seen it cause way more trouble than not, and that includes in Germany. My brother-in-law lets his reactive dog off leash in Germany, and I saw what a good idea that was. In one walk, we had two fights and one snapping at a person walking. Also a scuffle with two reactive dogs at a beer bar, one leashed, one not. And, as it happens, dogs are required to be on leash in Germany in developed areas, and in less developed areas, if people see someone coming, they are required to put the dog on a leash. Many people I saw did this, but not all.

    Even in Germany, where I did see more well behaved off leash dogs, I also saw plenty of dogs that should not have been off leash.

    My point is that most people do not have dogs that should be off leash, but they let them off leash anyway. It's not a matter of rights; it is a matter of being considerate of other people and other animals and also being realistic about the control people have over their off leash dog (which is often not enough).
  • edited April 2014
    Surprised your brother-in-law didn't get sued, because apparently it's quite common for foreigners with unruly dogs to go bankrupt if they don't have the proper insurance for litigation. It's sue-happy country, moreso than United States.

    According to my German friends, it's 35 euros fine if the dog is not leashed up properly or go beyond the legal definition which would be 1-meter in city and about 2- to 3-meter in parks. Dogs which cannot be trained to stay within that radius have to be leashed up. This can be quite problematic because a lot of tourists and expats get confused why the police fines them, but don't fine German nationals which lead to accusations of racial profiling.

    If the dog harass other people; or worse, cause damage to a person or another dog, then they are sued for several tens of thousands of euros. If dog roams at large, then they are shot or put down.

    The latter happened to an Austrian friend of mine who let her untrained Spanish rescue off-leash, and the dog got shot by a peace-officer in the countryside. Now she no longer does rescues because it's too difficult to train them as adults.

    The former occurred with my Danish friend who sued an American when his untrained off-leash German Shepherd harassed her trained off-leash Dalmatian.

    These friends of mine never had a problem with off-leash dogs. The dogs which cause problem usually get sued by other dog-owners or by people who don't like dogs, or the dogs are put to sleep.

    And if the German model is such a big problem, then why is it being expanded to places like Calgary AB, Victoria, B.C.., Toronto, ON, Sweden and other places? It's becoming a national debate even in Finland and Norway.

    Either way, the British dog-owners with the sheep-killing Akita is lucky they got off with a warning. A simple Google search will yield farmers have sued dog-owners for letting their dogs roam at large, and there is a legal precedent for shooting livestock chasers.
  • To go slightly off on a tangent in regards to these articles, I always wondered whether these increase in attacks could be due to the unfortunate popularity of punishment based training. With such methods being televised they are methods that have increased in popularity and maybe with more severity? I am just speculating here but I did come across an article today by Victoria Stilwell confirming research of a similar nature and that perhaps there was a connection between attacks and punishment based training?

    The article:
    http://positively.com/2014/04/18/the-science-says-dont-hit-your-dog/

  • I'm not terribly convinced most Yahoo articles are anything more than junk email on a web page, but I thought this article was a wonderful counter to the UK incident:

    https://shine.yahoo.com/author-blog-posts/dog-knows-joys-adopting-animal-222100307.html
  • edited April 2014
    My brother in law is German. I'm just saying it's not all perfect dogs in Germany either--I saw it on various trips, and my German in-laws talk about it, and clearly they have a dog that is not great off leash, but since the culture is to have dogs offleash, they just do it anyway. It didn't seem to be such a big problem as it is in the US thankfully, but its not like all is perfect there either. And my German husband would probably not agree with the "sue happy" description as he thinks the US is way worse about this, but it certainly is "law heavy" and people are expected to know and follow those laws! :)

    And since this is all a digression anyway, I'll leave it. My point was simply that there are can be a lot of problems with off leash dogs. If everyone had perfectly trained dogs it would not be a problem, but that is certainly not the reality--or even close to it--in the US at least, and those of us who do follow the law (which is on leash) often have to suffer the actions of those who think their ill trained or untrained dogs can and should run free. And in the case of the Akita mauling the sheep, obviously, the dog should not have been leash, and I am also surprised that the dog was not shot.

    Oops, meant to add it was nice to see the other Akita article, about the older dog and her "puppy"! :)
  • The problem is, is status dogs. Akitas, like Huskies are popular in the UK because they look like 'wolves' and in fact, if you look at dog shelters in the UK you will find an extreme rise in these breeds in the shelters. People are getting dogs because 'they look like wolves' and then realizing, 'oh wait, I have to take care of it!?' - I know my youngest brother once said he wanted a Husky and I got mad and pointed out that he knew nothing about dogs (as he never owned one) and secondly it is a lot of responsibility. But, you know, people can fixated on something and want it now. (Without homework).

    I know a few years ago there was a huge rise in chihuahuas and yorkies in shelters because women were buying them as an accessory.

    Does anyone know the documentary Louix Theroux? He recently did a series on LA and the first episode was about Los Angeles dogs. It's kinda horrible to watch as a dog owner and lover, but you can see how people get dogs because "oh, dog, cute, I want it" and then people using them as weapons (causing an increase in aggressive dogs in shelters - again, status symbol dogs like pit bulls) and those that buy the cute small ones and then 'dropping' them off next to the shelters. Argh. I hate people, sometimes.

    Likewise, in the UK, I think there is a surge popularity in the Akita and people are getting these dogs without knowing anything about dogs or Akitas. Then, oh surprise, surprise, being bitten? Pssh. I wish we could put some dog owners to sleep/shelter instead.

    I realize this is a story about a six year old? Taking an Akita for a walk? Yeah, this is also not news to me (sadly) - In my previous neighbourhood, there was a family that owned a black male staffie. Staffie was a nice dog, when the dad was walking it, or when it was offleash, no problem. Happy go-lucky dog. Of course, they had two young daughters who would end up walking the dog most of the time, and in most cases, when their staffie saw us, the girls panicked and tugged at his leashed (trying to control their dog) - their dog then thought we were a threat and would try and lunge at us. Every time I saw them and came home I would complain to my husband about them, about how stupid the family is. Sadly, being bitten by a dog here is a lesser crime than in most parts of the world (which I think should change!) - because I would so report them to authorities ASAP.
  • @poltergeist, good point. I wouldn't let a kid walk a dog unless they were strong enough, mentally and physically to handle the dog. It is a liability.
  • I think about the kids walking the dogs a lot. When I was a kid, my mom rescued a GSD from imminent euthanasia. I recognize now that the dog was a mess. Had supposedly flunked out of a police dog program (and she did know how to go after a sleeve, so maybe it was true, maybe not). She was very people aggressive, and particularly aggressive towards men in uniform. It was fear based aggression, unsurprisingly.

    anyway, my mom thought she was a perfect "guard dog" for me, and because my mother was not the most skilled at parenting, she decided the dog could be my babysitter. So I was allowed to be home with the dog alone, walk the dog at any time of the day or night alone, etc. It's true: no one could get near me with that dog. She would have torn someone apart. But of course, she also was a serious liability, and my mom let me--probably around 9 or 10 at the time--take the dog anywhere. Nothing ever happened, but that was only because we were lucky. If a stranger had approached, she would have ripped into someone, no doubt about it. And I'm lucky she just never got loose. (and my mom's boyfriend at the time was a cop, and when on the rare occasions he came over in uniform, we had to put the dog in another room. She never liked him, but she wanted to kill him when he was wearing a uniform.)

    Pretty scary situations.
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