Thank you. Our Akita's are show dogs, so their temperament has to be very good. They get handled and inspected by a new judge every day, and if it's a good day, three different judges in one day. But as a breed, and at home, they are extremely protective and loyal. They kill anything that comes into their yard, and they run up and down the fence all day trying to get everything that is outside their yard. Originally they where bred for hunting, but most people get them for protection.
Most of the time, they are sleeping or resting. They are not overly energetic, but they do need to be exercised regularly to stay out of trouble. When we go to bed at night, they sleep the entire night without making any noise unless something alerts them. Then they are very loud and full of energy. Same thing during most of the day. They will wonder around the yard, and they will play with each other for awhile, but then most of the day, they are relaxing and napping.
We have five, and each one is different in how easy going they are. Matsu is the Alpha, and he is very hyper and aggressive in what he wants. He scares new people because of how badly he wants to meet them. His bark is frightening, and I haven't met anybody that will get close to the fence when he's barking at them from the other side. The oldest female is the worse at killing things. She's been bit by copperhead snakes twice that we know of from killing them, and we find a few dead snakes in the yard every year that are probably from her. One evening, she and Matsu ran down to the fence line and grabbed a cotton mouth. She had the head, he had the tail. They pulled it apart and it made a popping sound so loud that you wouldn't think it was possible. He ran off with his end, which turned into a game for him to not let us get it from him. She walked away once it was dead, but we never found her end of it. The other boy if fixed and he is just a giant cuddle bear that gets along with everyone and is really just pure love. The two sisters just turned 2 back on the 19th and together, they are huge bullies to the others. They always want to play, and they are now big enough to be a problem. We cannot let both of them out with any of the others. Only one of them at a time can play with the others, and only Matsu is strong enough to deal with each of them in all out playing. They are super sweet to people and so far, they have not tried to kill anything or get in on it when something gets into the yard. They just sit back and watch.
For most people, they are not a good breed to get. They are super stubborn, extremely strong and they will always test you to see who is the boss.