THE AKITA - JAPANESE BEAR HUNTING DOG

hello and welcome to animal watch and this week we're meeting the Akita [Music] [Music] Akitas our revered across the globe for their beauty dignity and elegance with their forward-pointing ears high curled tail statuesque physique and an aura which says I am regal I am better than you and I am independent loved by millions after the story of Hachiko spread across the world a loyal Akita who waited at a train station daily for his master to return for nine years after his tragic death unbeknown to the dog a bittersweet story of total devotion and loyalty two statues remain in his honor one at Shibuya train station and one at the University of Tokyo originally there were no large dogs in Japan but in 1603 in a mountainous region of Japan called Akita there were medium-sized Akita mataji dogs which were used for dog fighting as well as for hunting bears this led to the larger heavier Akita being created in 1868 a breed developed by adding Mastiff and Tosa blood to the mix to increase fighting prowess later German Shepherd was added to stop the dogs being cold during the war by suggesting they were army dogs this type of Akita has gone on to found the American Akita type in the USA but are not considered desirable in Japan due to their mixed breed ancestry the smaller more foxy and delicate looking Japanese Akita Inu is considered to be the true Akita in Japan but really came into its own after world war ii when japan decided to carefully breed the Akita to the type they approved of with no mastiff Tosa or German Shepherd blood you can see looking at both the Japanese Akita in you and the heavier Akita how very different they are today I am meeting with Robert Stoll jariyah who is the proud carer to both an Akita and a Japanese Akita in you which means I can get to see both types up-close and learn about the similarities and differences [Music] well the excited one his kin and she's a Japanese Akita Inu and the slightly larger one next to you that's flora and she's nakita Wow they look so beautiful thank you and I have some treats give them the treat otherwise they're gonna think I'm real mean thank you so yeah look there you go you're my friends now I am my friends it's just amazing how different they are this is the thing isn't it most people think that there are just sort of one Akita but there are actually two different types which is why it's so interesting to to meet cue today your dogs and we're in this most incredible graveyard in the middle of London what's it called its called apni park aptly Park all right go let's go [Music] now a lot of people seem to think their Akitas are really snappy dogs but look how gentle Flores look the best kiss of all well I'm here with Robert and he's beautiful Akitas and animal watch viewers you've been asking me for so long now to to make an episode on the Akita so here we have them and we haven't just got one type of Akita we've got both type of Akita so we've got the Akita and we've got the Japanese Akita in you and as you can see they look very very different don't they Robert the Akita originates from Japan and both of these types of Akita have an ancestry out there the type that we most see in this country is the Akita historically Akitas were bred with other dogs to give them bulk very sadly as as in with a lot of breeds they were used for dog fighting the Japanese Akita Inu is only allowed in four very distinct colors so like Kim she's a red and white white is also allowed sesame and brindle whereas the Akita themselves are allowed in any color Akitas are sort of known as being protectors aren't they for royalty most definitely Akitas have been bred at one point solely for the royal family and the nobles the Shogun's depending on the rank of the Akita they were afforded a different color collar oh wow so let's actually talk about their temperament because a lot of people describe the Akitas as being aloof independent self-serving myself pleasing disobeying orders and also you've got a lot of people actually a little bit scared of Iquitos and they think they're reactive so could you tell me absolutely the truth about these because everybody out here that's watching really need to know what they're dealing with otherwise dogs end up in don't know well all the words that you use to describe the Akita and the you know are pretty accurate they are quite aloof quite standoffish they do have a very elevated guarding instinct and a very elevated prey drive they they were actually bred for hunting bears boars and stags so really you don't want to mess with these dogs they really aren't a dog for a first-time dog owner a lot of people actually would describe the Akita as a stubborn dog I'm not absolutely convinced that that's true they are hyper intelligent and they actually thinks so far outside the box I don't think a lot of novice owners or even experienced it owners maybe have the intellectual capacity to keep up with them from a training point of view it's really kept me on my toes like a lot of primitive breeds they'll know exactly what you're asking of them they'll look at you as if to say what's in it for me cases are known to be sort of sometimes have a little bit of a short fuse because they do have a very elevated prey Drive that sort of contributes to the level of reactivity if a dog came running up to most Akitas they will react and it's like if you were walking through the park and some random that you've never met before came running up to you and threw their arms around your neck it freaked you out and similarly with these guys they will not tolerate that kind of behavior it's not acceptable behavior if a dog does make contact with them it's their body posture quite dominant if you sort of look at an Akita their body shape actually screamed dominance they have prick ears I have a long snout I have a beautiful flat top line they have usually a double or treble curl tail and that outline will signify dominance most other dogs yes is there a marked difference in temperament between the Akita and the and Japanese Akita Inu so with the temperament of the Akita and the Japanese Akita Inu there is a difference most definitely I think it can very much depend on the individual dogs as well with the inews they're sort of outlook on life tends to be a little bit more primitive so if we're King our usual walk and there's something slightly unusual you might just get a single bar I would say their prey drive is slightly higher these guys a little bit more fun-loving they they like a cuddle whereas the the Akita you could give them a cuddle they talk they tolerate it and they'd sing whatever and move away now the unusual thing is that you do actually have two females but generally if somebody is wants to have two Akitas same sex is not always good is it no it's it's not advisable said he that lives in a household with five [ __ ] and that's dogs by the way yes it's not advisable to have either two males or two females there may be an occasion where it might be a leaf blowing the wrong way the winds no blowing in the wrong direction and they take offense to that and they will have a good scrap males usually just a lot of noise and bluster females sadly usually to the death if that happens and one and once that does happen once there has been a significant altercation there really is no going back what is the weight differences between the Akita and the Akita in you well flora is round about 50 kilograms and the sort of average weight for a female Akita is around about 45 to 50 so she's the sort of top end and roughly with the e-news more or less so half that really the coats with the Akita and the Japanese Akita Inu are pretty similar they're a double coated breed floor isn't a typical acacia now she is actually a little bit of a celebrity isn't she yeah well many many moons ago I was approached by someone with my previous Akita called adora and they wanted a dog to star in the musical annie' and I thought well why not let's give it a go and she just seemed to love it and it really sort of snowballed from that point onwards we've been contacted by lots of people in recent months who had just been working at the Almeida Theatre in Islington working with tobias menzies in a a very dark play called the hunt and flora played Tobias's dog in that you have these blue plaques that we put outside houses to signify people of importance or history that I've lived there well there are green plaques on there for animals and flora here has been given one the reason she had the plaque was because of her particular skill which has helped you as she is your assistants dog about 20 odd years ago I had a very serious car crash and at that point it triggered off sort of a late onset of epilepsy I really don't get any warnings when these seizures are going to happen so it can be sometimes a bit of a challenge to go out and about when flora was about five months old I had a seizure flora was with me and when I saw the first came to my first thought was oh my god where's flora because she was only very young and I thought she might have run off and at that point I was sort of coming to and I felt a really heavy weight on my chest I thought well please don't say I'm having a heart attack as well look down and it was actually flora laying across my chest it's a few days later we were walking down our road she got very agitated she was so pulling on a lead and started mouthing my hand which is a big no-no I don't allow any of my dogs do that so I actually told her off she was insistent and within seconds I had a blackout didn't really pay much credence to that I just thought made maybe a coincidence but as time progressed it happened more and more and more that she was very effectively alerting me when these episodes were going to happen most of that she's just learnt of her own volition I can't take any credit for that it's just an instinctive thing with her we've gone on to do a lot more training and she's actually qualified with a brilliant organization called canine generated independence and that makes her a very very unique Akita because as you were saying this is not a character trait of the breed she to my knowledge is the only Akita in this country to be qualified as an assistance dog and that's why she deserves her plaque I love to hear about dogs breaking the mold and which just goes to show you can generally say what a dog is but every dog has its own character and its own personality and also it's a product of its surroundings yep and I'm privileged to actually have her appear on animal watch as this little sweetie back here this little princess cutie supermodel and if you enjoyed this episode on these beautiful wonderful Akitas then please give us a big thumbs up and subscribe to the channel by clicking the button in the bottom corner and be sure to join us every single week when I will be bringing you more dogs wolves animal rescue wildlife and conservation bye for now [Music] [Music]

Channel: Animal Watch

Views: 1,997,285

Rating: 4.8883514 out of 5

Keywords: akita, american akita, akita inu, Japanese akita, Japanese akita inu, bear dog, akita dog, dog, dogs, Japanese dog, Japan, 秋田犬, large dog, huge dog, The Akita, Akita dog, bear hunting dog, Japanese bear dog, shiba inu, shiba

Id: W4ogPcEmVsE

Length: 13min 52sec (832 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 20 2019

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