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Are American Akitas Good With Children? A Breeder’s Honest Answer

Are American Akitas Good With Children? A Breeder's Honest Answer | Apexx Akitas

Are American Akitas Good With Children? A Breeder's Honest Answer

American Akita Sadie from Apexx Akitas calmly guarding a toddler who plays with her hair

I get asked this question almost every week. Are American Akitas good with children? Can I bring one into a house with a toddler? Are they safe around kids?

I have been breeding American Akitas in Sussex County, New Jersey for over twenty years, and the honest answer is yes, with conditions. A well-bred American Akita from a serious breeding program, raised correctly and introduced to children the right way, becomes one of the most loyal and protective family dogs you will ever own. But the breed is not for everyone, and the dog you get is only as good as the breeder behind it and the family that raises it. Let me walk you through what that actually looks like.

What a Well-Bred American Akita Brings to a Family

A well-bred American Akita is naturally watchful. Our dogs come from generations selected for stable temperament, OFA health clearances, and champion bloodlines. The temperament you want around children is built into the dog before it is ever born, and then reinforced through how it is raised in the first eight weeks of life.

The picture above is Sadie. She is a 120 pound American Akita female, ten years old, one of the foundation dogs of our breeding program. The toddler in this picture is playing with her hair, and Sadie is doing exactly what a properly bred American Akita does in this situation. Nothing. She is letting him be a kid, and she is watching the room. That is the dog you are buying when you buy an Apexx Akita.

This is the breed at its best. Calm, present, protective without being reactive, tolerant of the small humans in its family while staying aware of everything else happening around it.

The Honest Caveats Every Parent Should Hear

Now the part most breeders will not tell you. American Akitas are not Labradors. They are a powerful, primitive guardian breed with strong instincts. They are not the right dog for a household that wants a happy go lucky family pet who loves everyone. They are not the right dog for a family that is not prepared to be the leader in the relationship.

What makes them extraordinary with the children in their family is the same thing that demands respect from the adults in the family. An Akita bonds deeply and selectively. They will defend the kids they grow up with. That defense is not theoretical. It means the dog has opinions about who comes near its family, and you as the owner need to be the one shaping how those opinions get expressed.

If you are not willing to be the leader, train consistently, and supervise interactions between dog and child for the first year, this is not the breed for you. If you are willing to do that work, there is no more loyal family dog on the planet.

Your Apexx Akita's First Meeting With Your Child

When you bring your Apexx Akita home, that first introduction to your child is one of the most important moments in your dog's life. I tell every new owner the same thing. Slow it down. Let the dog set the pace. The first hour shapes the next ten years.

Your puppy is reading everything. The smell of your child, the pitch of their voice, how fast they move, whether the adults in the room are calm or anxious. All of it is going into the file the dog is building about this small human.

Set the Stage Before the Puppy Walks In

Have your child sit on the floor before the puppy is brought into the room. No standing over the dog. No reaching. No squealing. The room should be quiet and the adults should be relaxed, because your puppy will mirror the energy around it.

This is where the work we have already done at Apexx pays off. Our puppies are raised in the home, handled daily, and exposed to the normal noise and movement of family life before they ever leave us. So when your child sits down on the floor and waits, you are not asking the puppy to do something new. You are asking the puppy to do what it already knows how to do, with a new person it has never met.

Let the Puppy Approach First

Let the puppy come over on its own terms and sniff. A confident American Akita pup will usually move in with a soft body and a curious face, maybe a tail wag, maybe a careful lick. That is exactly what you want to see. Praise quietly. Then let your child offer a flat palm with a small treat resting on it.

Apexx Akitas American Akita puppy bonding with a toddler on his first day home, climbing the stairs together

What you are watching for in this first moment is the puppy choosing the child. Not tolerating, not enduring, choosing. When the puppy follows the child, leans in, settles next to them on the floor, you are seeing the beginning of a bond that will last the dog's entire life.

The Three Rules Every Child in the House Must Learn

What you do not want is the child chasing, hugging, or grabbing. Akitas tolerate a great deal from the kids in their family once the bond is built, but trust is earned in the first weeks, not assumed on day one. Teach your child three rules from the start:

  • The puppy's crate and bed are off limits
  • You never disturb a sleeping dog
  • Gentle hands and a quiet voice, every time

I tell parents this directly. The breed's reputation for loyalty to children is real, but it is built on respect flowing in both directions. A child who learns to read a dog's body language and respect its space is a child an Akita will defend with its life. A child who climbs, pulls, and corners is a child the dog has to manage, and that is not a position you ever want to put a dog in.

Older Puppies and Adolescents Bond Just as Deeply

People sometimes assume the only way to build a strong bond is to bring home an eight week old puppy. That is not true with this breed. American Akitas form deep attachments at any age, and an adolescent placed into the right family can bond just as completely as a young puppy.

Adolescent male American Akita from Apexx Akitas bonding with a young boy on pickup day

The dog in this picture is an adolescent male meeting his young owner on pickup day. Watch what is happening. The dog is calm, soft eyed, and physically close. The boy is relaxed. Neither one is forcing anything. That kind of immediate trust does not happen by accident. It happens because the dog was bred and raised for it, and because the family did everything right in the first introduction.

So Are American Akitas Good With Children? Yes, If You Do This Right

The honest answer to the question is yes. American Akitas are extraordinary with the children in their family, when the dog comes from a serious breeding program and the family is willing to do the work in the early weeks.

The bond does not start at ten years old, when you see a calm female like Sadie watching over a toddler. It starts on day one, in the first calm, respectful meeting between your puppy and your child. It is built through twenty years of selecting for temperament in the breeding program, eight weeks of home raising before the puppy ever leaves us, and a family that understands what kind of dog they are bringing home.

Get that right, and you will have a guardian for your children that you cannot buy at any other price.

If you are researching the breed for your family, read Is an American Akita Right for You and The First 30 Days With Your American Akita Puppy next.

When you are ready to talk seriously about a puppy, our Available Dogs page is the place to start.

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Are Akitas Aggressive?

Blizzard, a calm and confident white American Akita male from Apexx Akitas, riding home with his adolescent companion, showing the stable temperament of a well-bred guardian breed
Are Akitas Aggressive? An Honest Answer From a 20 Year Breeder | Apexx Akitas

Are Akitas Aggressive? An Honest Answer From a 20 Year Breeder

Blizzard, a calm and confident white American Akita male from Apexx Akitas, riding home with his adolescent companion

This is probably the most common question I get from people researching the breed. Are American Akitas aggressive? Are they dangerous? Should I be worried about bringing one into my home?

I have been breeding American Akitas in Sussex County, New Jersey for over twenty years, and I am going to give you a direct answer.

No. American Akitas are not naturally aggressive. They are a powerful, intuitive guardian breed with strong protective instincts, and those instincts are often mistaken for aggression by people who do not understand what they are looking at.

That said, this is not the whole answer, because the breed is not for everyone. A poorly bred Akita raised by an inexperienced owner can absolutely develop into a dangerous dog. The same is true of any large guardian breed. The question is not really whether Akitas are aggressive. The question is whether the dog in front of you came from a serious breeding program and whether the owner is doing the work the breed requires.

What Aggression Actually Looks Like, and What It Doesn't

Most of what gets labeled aggression in this breed is something else entirely. Let me walk you through what people misread, because this matters.

Look at the dog in the photo above. Blizzard is a full grown white Apexx Akita male, riding home in a car with his adolescent companion. There is nothing tense in his body. His eyes are soft. He is paying attention to his surroundings the way Akitas always do, but he is completely relaxed in the presence of his person. That is the breed. That is what we breed for.

An American Akita watching a stranger walk up to your front door with calm, focused attention is not aggressive. That is the breed doing its job. Akitas were developed in Japan as guardians, and that watchful presence is the entire reason the breed exists.

An American Akita that does not run up to strange dogs at the park wagging its tail is not aggressive. That is the breed showing the same-sex selectivity and dignified reserve that has always been part of its character. Akitas tend to prefer the company of their family over the company of unknown dogs. That is a feature, not a flaw.

An American Akita that signals discomfort when a strange child reaches over its head or hugs it tightly is not aggressive. That is a dog using the only language it has to tell you it is uncomfortable, and a smart owner reads that signal and adjusts.

Actual aggression looks like a dog that bites without warning, attacks family members, or shows persistent unprovoked reactivity in normal situations. In twenty years of breeding, I have never produced a dog like that, because the breeding decisions I make are designed to prevent it.

Where Akita Aggression Actually Comes From

When you do see a dangerously aggressive Akita, it almost always traces back to one or more of these failures:

  • Poor breeding decisions. Breeding dogs with unstable temperaments to other dogs with unstable temperaments produces puppies that inherit the problem. Reputable breeders screen for temperament as rigorously as they screen for health.
  • No early socialization. The window between 8 and 16 weeks is when the dog learns whether the world is a safe place. A puppy raised in isolation during that window will be a fearful, reactive adult.
  • Backyard breeders and puppy mills. Volume breeders selling Akitas as a product have no incentive to select for temperament. The dogs that come out of those programs are a coin flip at best.
  • Inexperienced owners. An Akita placed with an owner who cannot be the calm, consistent leader the breed needs will struggle. Akitas do not respond well to chaos, harsh corrections, or unpredictable handling.
  • Mistaken rescue placements. Rescue Akitas often come with unknown histories, unknown genetics, and unaddressed fear. Calling that aggression and blaming the breed is not fair to the breed.

I explain this in more depth in Why Temperament Starts Before the Puppy, which covers exactly how the breeding decision is the temperament decision.

The Difference a Serious Breeding Program Makes

At Apexx Akitas, every breeding pair is selected for temperament first. Not coat. Not size. Not pedigree alone. Temperament. The dogs I keep in my program have to demonstrate the calm, stable, family-suitable disposition that defines the breed at its best. The ones that do not, no matter how impressive they look on paper, do not get bred.

That selection process compounds. Each generation of Apexx Akitas inherits stable temperament from both sides, and that inheritance shows up in every puppy I produce. Combine that genetic foundation with eight weeks of in-home raising, daily handling, exposure to children, exposure to normal household noise, and the result is a puppy that arrives at its new family already wired for stability.

This is why families with toddlers, school-age children, and other dogs can confidently bring an Apexx Akita into their home. The dog is not a guess. The dog is the product of two decades of decisions designed to produce exactly the temperament their family needs.

Are Akitas Good With Children?

Yes, when the dog comes from sound genetics and is introduced to the children correctly. This is one of the questions where the gap between a well-bred Apexx Akita and a poorly bred dog from an irresponsible breeder is the widest. A properly bred American Akita is one of the most devoted child guardians you will ever own. A poorly bred one is a liability.

I cover the full answer to this question in Are American Akitas Good With Children? A Breeder's Honest Answer, including how to handle the first introduction between your new puppy and your child.

Are Akitas Aggressive With Other Dogs?

This is the one area where the breed's reputation has some truth behind it, and I will be honest about it. American Akitas can show same-sex selectivity, especially between two females or two intact males in the same household. It is in the breed's history as a hunting dog, and even careful breeding does not eliminate it entirely.

What this means practically is that a well-bred Akita is usually fine with the family dog it grew up with, fine with the dogs it meets on a leashed walk, and fine in supervised public settings. The friction tends to show up in two specific situations. Two same-sex dogs sharing a home, and unsupervised interactions with unfamiliar dogs.

This is a manageable trait, not a dealbreaker. A serious breeder will be honest with you about your specific household and whether a particular puppy is the right match for it.

What Owning an American Akita Actually Requires

I am going to be direct with you here, because I would rather you walk away than buy a dog from me you cannot live with for the next twelve years. American Akitas are not the breed for everyone. They require:

  • Calm, consistent leadership from the adults in the home
  • An owner who can read body language and respect the dog's signals
  • Commitment to early socialization in the first four months of life
  • A home that is not chaotic, loud, or full of constant unpredictable activity
  • Willingness to supervise interactions with unfamiliar people and dogs
  • An honest understanding that this is a guardian breed, not a Labrador

If you can offer those things, the American Akita will give you back loyalty, protection, and dignity that no other breed can match. If you cannot, please look at a different breed. Both you and the dog will be better off.

The Bottom Line on Akita Aggression

Are Akitas aggressive? No. They are a powerful guardian breed with strong instincts, and those instincts demand respect from the people who own them. In the wrong hands and from the wrong breeder, any large guardian breed can become dangerous. In the right hands and from a serious breeding program, the American Akita is one of the most stable, trustworthy, and loyal family dogs you will ever own.

That is the honest answer. Twenty years in the breed has not changed it, and twenty more will not either.

If you are still researching the breed, read The Truth About American Akita Temperament and Are American Akitas Good With Children? next.

When you are ready to talk seriously about a puppy from a breeder who selects for temperament first, our Available Dogs page is the place to start.

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Are Akitas Good Family Dogs? What 20 Years of Family Placements Has Taught Me

Well-bred American Akita with family showing stable calm temperament Apexx Akitas

Are Akitas Good Family Dogs? What 20 Years of Family Placements Has Taught Me

Yes, well-bred American Akitas are excellent family dogs. They are calm indoors, deeply bonded to their immediate family, gentle with children they grow up with, capable of coexisting with other pets when matched and introduced correctly, and remarkably respectful with elderly or fragile family members. However, "family dog" for an Akita means something specific: it is a discerning guardian breed that treats its own family with unshakeable loyalty and is naturally reserved with strangers. Success depends on the breeder behind the dog, the household the dog lives in, and how introductions to existing pets are handled. This is the honest answer from a breeder who has placed American Akitas with families for over twenty years.

Calm and confident American Akita from Apexx Akitas in a family setting
An Apexx Akita in a family setting, displaying the calm temperament that has defined our breeding program for over twenty years.

I have been placing American Akitas with families in Sussex County, New Jersey and across the country for over twenty years. In that time I have answered this exact question hundreds of times. Are Akitas good family dogs? Will this breed work in my home? Can my kids, my other dog, my elderly parent all live with one of these dogs?

I am going to give you the honest answer, and then I am going to walk you through what the answer actually depends on. Because the truth is more useful than the headline.

Yes. A well-bred American Akita from a serious breeding program is one of the best family dogs you will ever own. But "family dog" means more than just good with kids. It means fit for your specific household, your other pets, your routine, and your lifestyle. The right Apexx Akita does all of that. The wrong dog from the wrong breeder does none of it.

If you are specifically researching how this breed does with children, I have a dedicated answer for that question in Are American Akitas Good With Children? A Breeder's Honest Answer. This post is the broader picture. Family fit is not just about the kids. It is about everyone and everything in your home.

What "Family Fit" Actually Means for This Breed

Most articles online treat "family dog" as a binary trait. The dog is either good with families or it is not. That framing is too simple for a breed like the American Akita.

A well-bred American Akita is a discerning, deeply bonded guardian dog. The dog you bring home will treat your immediate family as the most important beings in its world. Your spouse, your kids, your elderly parents who live with you, the dog that already lives in your house, the cat that has been there since before the puppy arrived. All of them are inside the circle the dog will protect and love.

What that means practically is that the question is not really "is this breed good with families." The question is "will the dog I bring home recognize my specific family as its family." And the answer to that question depends on three things: the genetics behind the dog, the early socialization in the breeder's home, and the introductions you handle in the first few weeks.

This is why the breeder you choose matters more than almost anything else. A poorly bred Akita can struggle to bond, struggle to recognize its people, and struggle to coexist with the other animals in your home. A properly bred Apexx Akita arrives wired for stable, deep family bonding from day one.

Akitas With Children

The short answer is yes, well-bred American Akitas are excellent with the children in their family. They are watchful, tolerant, and remarkably gentle with the kids they live with. In twenty years of placements, the bond between an Apexx Akita and the kids it grows up with has been one of the most consistent and reliable patterns I have seen.

This question deserves more space than I can give it in one section of a broader post, so I covered it in full elsewhere. Read Are American Akitas Good With Children? for the complete answer, including how to handle the first introduction between your puppy and your child, and the rules every child in the house needs to learn.

Akitas With Other Dogs and Pets

This is where I want to spend real time, because this is the question most breeders avoid being honest about. Akitas with other dogs is the area where breed-specific traits show up most clearly, and prospective owners deserve a clear-eyed answer instead of marketing copy.

Here is the honest version. American Akitas can absolutely live successfully with other dogs. I have placed Apexx puppies into homes with golden retrievers, with German shepherds, with smaller breeds, and with other Akitas. Those placements have worked beautifully when three conditions were met.

  • The other dog already in the home has a stable, non-reactive temperament. A dog that picks fights or escalates tension will be a poor match for any Akita.
  • The two dogs are opposite sex when possible. American Akitas, like several other primitive guardian breeds, can show same-sex selectivity. Two intact males in one household, or two females, is a more challenging dynamic than male and female. Not impossible, but harder.
  • The introduction is handled correctly. Neutral territory first, slow exposure, no forced face-to-face confrontations, supervised interactions in the first weeks.

For cats and small pets, the conversation is about prey drive. The breed was developed in part as a hunting dog, and that drive does not entirely disappear just because the dog is in a family setting. The key is early exposure. An Apexx Akita raised from eight weeks alongside a cat will almost always treat that cat as part of the family for life. An adult Akita meeting an unfamiliar cat in a new context is a different conversation, and one that requires honesty about the individual dog.

When you talk to me about a puppy, I will ask about every other animal in your home. Not to filter you out, but to find the right match. Some pairings in my litters are better suited to multi-dog households than others. That selection happens at the breeder level, not at the new-owner level.

An Apexx Akita relaxed and bonded with its family in a household setting
An Apexx Akita in its family environment. This is what twenty years of breeding for stable, family-suitable temperament produces.

Multi-Generational and Multi-Adult Households

One of the most overlooked questions in breed research is how the dog handles a household with multiple adults, kids, and sometimes elderly parents or grandparents all sharing the same space. American Akitas thrive in these settings, but the dynamic deserves explanation.

An Apexx Akita will treat the whole family unit as its pack. It will not "choose" one adult to the exclusion of others, the way some single-owner breeds tend to. What it will do is recognize the calm, consistent leader in the home and look to that person for direction first. In households with multiple adults, the dog usually settles on whichever person is most reliable about feeding, walking, and setting boundaries. That is the dog's reference point. But the affection and loyalty are spread across the whole family.

For elderly family members living with the family, this breed is one of the most respectful and gentle large dogs you will find. They sense fragility. I have placed dogs into multi-generational homes where the elderly parent was the dog's quiet companion all day while the working adults were at the office, and those pairings have been some of the most touching relationships I have witnessed across two decades.

What you need from the household side is consistency. If multiple adults are giving the dog different rules, different signals, and different expectations, even a well-bred Akita will struggle. The dog is not the problem in that situation. The household is. A unified approach to training, boundaries, and routine produces a dog that fits seamlessly into a busy multi-adult home.

Real Apexx Akitas in Family Contexts

I want to give you specific examples rather than generic claims, because over the years I have taken many of our dogs into public settings, family events, and busy environments. This is what those experiences have actually looked like.

Toro has come with me into busy public spaces and educational events for children. Strangers approach him expecting tension and find him calm. Kids walk up to him and he stands quietly while they pet him. He has spent his life around our family and other animals and treats everyone in his orbit the same way. With dignity and patience.

Arctic is the embodiment of the watchful family guardian. In her home, she has lived alongside children growing up, other dogs, and the normal chaos of family life, and her response to all of it has been steady presence. She is the dog who notices everything and reacts to almost nothing.

Tice and Bengal have both demonstrated the breed's natural ease with children of different ages, in public and at home. People are repeatedly surprised by their calm in busy environments, especially given the size and presence of the dogs.

A beautiful family with their new white American Akita from Apexx Akitas champion bloodlines, with children showing the deep affection and bond a well-bred Akita inspires in its family
A new Apexx Akitas family with their white American Akita. The bond is unmistakable, and it starts on day one when the dog comes from champion bloodlines bred for temperament.

Domino, Astra, and Swatt have all shown the same pattern in different family placements. Deep bonding with their immediate family, tolerance with other animals introduced correctly, and the kind of stable nervous system that lets them function in the real world without the anxiety or reactivity people expect from large guardian breeds.

None of this is accidental. These dogs come from generations of selective breeding for exactly the temperament they display. The breeding decisions I make are designed to produce dogs that look like Toro, Arctic, Tice, Bengal, Domino, Astra, and Swatt. The fact that we see this pattern reliably across our placements is the proof that the breeding program is doing what it is supposed to do.

Who Should Not Get an American Akita

I am going to be direct here, because helping you decide against the breed is just as valuable as helping you decide for it. American Akitas are not the right family dog for every household. Specifically:

  • Households without time for training and structure. This breed needs consistent leadership in the first year. If your schedule does not allow daily attention and a clear routine, choose a different breed.
  • Families wanting a social butterfly. If you want a dog who runs up to every stranger at the park wagging its tail, an Akita is not it. They are reserved with strangers by design.
  • Owners who want an off-leash dog around unknown people and animals. This breed has guardian instincts and prey drive. Off-leash work happens in controlled environments only.
  • Chaotic households without clear boundaries. Akitas thrive in calm, structured homes. A constantly chaotic environment will produce a stressed, reactive dog regardless of how well it was bred.
  • First-time large breed owners without willingness to learn. First time is fine. Unwilling to learn is not.

If any of these describe your situation honestly, please look at a different breed. Both you and the dog will be better off, and I would rather you walk away than buy a puppy from me you cannot live with for the next twelve years.

The Bottom Line on American Akitas as Family Dogs

Are American Akitas good family dogs? Yes, when the dog comes from a serious breeding program and the family is genuinely prepared for the breed. They are calm indoors, deeply bonded to the family unit, tolerant of children they grow up with, capable of coexisting with other pets when matched and introduced correctly, and remarkably respectful with elderly or fragile family members.

What separates an excellent family Akita from a difficult one is almost always the breeder behind the dog and the household the dog lives in. Get both of those right, and you will have a family member who will be the calm, loyal, watchful presence at the center of your home for the next decade or more.

That is the answer twenty years of family placements has taught me. And it is the answer every Apexx Akita is bred and raised to fulfill.

Frequently Asked Questions About Akitas as Family Dogs

Are American Akitas good with kids?

Yes. Well-bred American Akitas are excellent with the children in their own family. They are watchful, tolerant, and remarkably gentle with kids they live with and grow up around. The key factors are early socialization, sound temperament from health-tested parents, and teaching children how to interact with the dog respectfully. As with any large breed, interactions between young children and any dog should always be supervised.

Do American Akitas get along with other dogs?

American Akitas can live successfully with other dogs when three conditions are met: the other dog has a stable non-reactive temperament, the two dogs are opposite sex when possible (Akitas can show same-sex selectivity), and introductions are handled correctly on neutral territory with slow exposure. The right breeder will help match puppies to multi-dog households based on individual temperament, not just breed generalizations.

Are Akitas good with cats?

American Akitas can live peacefully with cats when raised alongside them from puppyhood. The breed retains prey drive from its hunting history, so early exposure starting at eight weeks is essential. An Apexx Akita raised with a resident cat will almost always treat that cat as family for life. An adult Akita meeting an unfamiliar cat is a different situation that requires honest evaluation of the individual dog.

Are American Akitas good for first-time dog owners?

American Akitas can work for first-time large breed owners who are genuinely committed to learning the breed, providing consistent training, and setting clear boundaries from day one. What matters is not previous dog experience but willingness to learn and follow through. First-time owners who want a social butterfly, an off-leash dog around strangers, or a low-maintenance breed should choose differently. Ongoing breeder support during the first year is essential for a successful first-time placement.

How much space does an American Akita need?

American Akitas do best with access to a securely fenced yard and a home with enough space for a large, dignified breed to move comfortably. However, indoor calm is a hallmark of the breed. Well-bred Akitas are surprisingly settled inside the house. What matters more than square footage is daily physical exercise, mental engagement, and structured time with the family. Apartment living is not ideal for the breed but is possible with committed exercise routines and consistent enrichment.

Are American Akitas protective of their family?

Yes. The American Akita is a natural guardian breed with deep loyalty to its family. They are watchful, discerning, and naturally reserved with strangers, which makes them one of the most reliable family protection dogs when properly bred and socialized. This protective instinct is instinctive rather than trained, but it must be channeled through consistent socialization and clear leadership to produce a stable adult dog. A well-bred Akita distinguishes between a genuine threat and a normal visitor without needing to be taught the difference.

What is the temperament of a well-bred American Akita in a family home?

A well-bred American Akita in a family home is calm indoors, deeply affectionate with immediate family, gentle with children and elderly household members, tolerant of other pets when introduced correctly, and reserved with strangers. They are dignified rather than exuberant, watchful rather than reactive, and loyal without being clingy. Temperament comes from generations of selective breeding, structured early development, and consistent leadership in the new home.

If you are still researching the breed for your family, read Are American Akitas Good With Children?, Are Akitas Aggressive?, and Is an American Akita Right for You? next.

When you are ready to talk seriously about a puppy from a breeder who selects for temperament first, our Available Dogs page is the place to start.