New Akita attack
Just saw this: http://chronicle.augusta.com/latest-news/2011-01-24/girl-9-dies-dog-attack
This is a terrible, terrible thing, of course, but I'm also thinking, oh, no, here we go again with more anti-Akita sentiment, and calls for BSL. (not that it has happened yet from this, but I bet it will). When I was looking for this, I saw that after an Akita attack in Britain, there was calls to add them to the dangerous dog act.
And on a small petty note, I keep thinking, you know this was not a Japanese Akita (Akita Inu) but rather an American Akita....)
It's just like pits...it's the individual dog, not the breed, but people aren't willing to see that.
This is a terrible, terrible thing, of course, but I'm also thinking, oh, no, here we go again with more anti-Akita sentiment, and calls for BSL. (not that it has happened yet from this, but I bet it will). When I was looking for this, I saw that after an Akita attack in Britain, there was calls to add them to the dangerous dog act.
And on a small petty note, I keep thinking, you know this was not a Japanese Akita (Akita Inu) but rather an American Akita....)
It's just like pits...it's the individual dog, not the breed, but people aren't willing to see that.
Comments
The comments bother me, the ones portraying Akitas and Pit Bulls as hunters/killers and being unpredictable.
Yesterday when I was in Lafayette, I parked the car and saw three women with their Pit Bull in the parking lot unleashed. I got out of the car and asked them to leash their dog because I was getting Mei and Koda out. I wanted to make sure that the dog didn't go up to Mei. She doesn't like that.
Turns out the dog was just roaming the parking lot no tags, no collar. I took out extra stuff from the car and got her all leashed and collared up. While I was doing this, I noticed that she was obviously either a fighting dog or a training dog. She was missing an eye, had cuts/bite marks all over her body, and I think she was hit by a car on her back leg. She was shaking and scared, and wanted to crawl in my lap.
We brought her in Nitro Dog, a boutique, where the owner quickly fell in love and agreed to take her in and figure out what to do with her. I can't imagine this poor dog ever being a killer. She was just a precious little girl who needed a human that would take care of her.
IMO it's usually not the dog's fault.
Good ending though. By the time I left the store, she was fed, cleaned up, given a bed, and wearing a $150 dog collar. She was getting pampered and spoiled. I think Mei was jealous of her bling.
I didnt read the comments on the Akita story....the comments in general make me homicidal. I didn't realize, either, that the family had only had the dog for a few weeks! WTF!!! (I probably read too fast, since I missed that.)
I always wonder what happened with the dog to cause such things. someone on another Akita site I'm on told me a horrible story about an Akita with severe hypothyroidism. The dog, who was a rescue, but had lived with the woman for some time, attacked her new husband and bit him badly in the face, even biting off part of his ear. The dog had never shown aggression toward anyone before, and all the man had done was lean over to pet the dog who was under the table.
Turned out the dog had virtually NO thyroid function.
Obviously, in a case where a dog killed a person, I'd put the dog down, but I'd still want to know what caused it, if possible, because as we know, dogs don't just attack unless something is very very wrong with them. I don't know that it helps to know, but if it were my dog, I'd want to try to figure it out.
GRRRRRRR.....
I feel for the girl, not her parents.
I would never trust Teddy (8 year old brother) with ANY of the dogs my family owns, especially Conker. Not because they are "vicious" types, they aren't, but because they are dogs and he's 8. I wouldn't trust an Akita or any other Nihon Ken other than a Shiba alone with my 15 year old sister either simply because they are bigger dogs and I wouldn't be around, especially if they went on a walk or were outside in general.
That's just the natural reaction with headlines and its easier to "blame" the dog.
Also wanted to just echoed what others have said about parents letting the little girl walk a 98 lb dog ALONE! My 7 year old niece always asks me if she can walk Mika and I always respond with "No, but you can come with me when I walk her".
For me the Author of article used "Japanese Akita" to make it sound more exotic. In theory you can find a grossly overweight Japanese Akita at 100lbs most pure JA males are around 80 at the high high end and the bitches come in at 65 at the high high end.
Annie is now at home, recovering from her leg injury that was all in all pretty minor. Animal Services vets checked her out. Phew I was getting ready to call upon rescues to get her out of jail.
Oh and Annie was once a fighting dog, who lives happily with her family and I have conformation that she is as sweet as she was that day. Everyone at Animal Services fell in love with her the woman said.
Tara, I am happy to hear that the pitbull got back with his owners
That said , Michael Vicks dogs (most likely the most famous pit bull abuse case in the world, sadly not the worst or the biggest) were beaten, fought, raped, electrocuted, their teeth ripped out, and so on and I know at least three who are working therapy dogs, and many of the others are devoted family members. Only three are likely to have to remain in a sanctuary situation for the rest of their lives, and even then they are still trained and working towards their CGC.
My dog Piglet was rescued at 10 years old. She was a breeder bitch for a dog fighter. She became a certified therapy dog three months after I got her. Ruby who is the apple of many peoples eye and has an international fan club is also a rescue. She was hand shy and very fearful of people with darker skin when we first got her. After a few weeks of love and having every darker complected person I could find give her treats she overcame those obstacles. She is now a perfect ambassador to her breed and loves ALL people of all colors. But quite simply she wasn't "cared for right". So by that classification she is damaged goods.
Dogs that bite bite because in THAT moment they are afraid, or hurt. Pit bulls are actually one of the strongest breeds for not carrying their old war wounds into their next life. Most other dogs I know have a much harder time recovering from trauma. The abuse cases in my shelter that were non pit bull, were the ones that snarled and bit and thrashed. The pitties I worked with were always so delighted that someone wanted to be nice to them. That is the most horrific thing about their abuse. They are a breed that so desperately want to be loved and they just don't understand why they are being hurt.
Tara's story is a perfect example of that. The dog she found wasn't raised in a loving home. She was fought. She lost and eye and was covered in scars. She was injured when Tara found her. And yet she continued to be a sweet lovely dog. To complete strangers no less.
Dogs are a result of their environment. And some of them never recover from their abuse and trauma. But as a whole pit bulls may be better at it than other breeds.
You may ask yourself "why do I hear so many horror stories about pit bull attacks?" A number of reasons really. One, it makes great news. Pitties are this decades boogyman. Like Shepherds and Rotties were in the 1970's. Two, many other breeds are immediately identified as pit bulls. When I was mauled by a husky, and before that a Chocolate Lab, the hospitals said "it was a pit bull right?" When I told them no, they said "are you sure it wasn't a pit bull?" Two different hospitals. They literally didn't want to believe that another breed of dog could do that to me. People want to blame one breed. Because then they can not worry about the human factor in dog bites. It is just the big scary pit bull....
Helen Keller had two pit bulls (and Akitas!) And she was blind and deaf. If these dogs were really terrifying hell beasts do you think someone that vulnerable would have been such a fan?
Anyone who is curious there is a great book that you can download for free about the vilification of the pit bull breed. Called the Pit Bull Placebo
http://nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/pit-bull-placebo-text1.pdf
I look forward to the day people stop adding caveats to my most beloved breed and can just say "Pit Bulls are GREAT DOGS!"
Every one that I have ever met (mistreated or no) were amazing dogs. And they truly do just want to be loved. And if you show them love, they will be your best friend for life!
Pitties make awesome playmates for NK.
They're not really the dog for me (like many non-NK's, I find them a little too clingy) but they are wonderful.