I'm the same way around Akitas /- I've met more that are aggressive to children then friendly ones.

Nevertheless, there are some Akitas who are wonderful angels, so I wouldn't be to harsh on the breed. My mom has a pit bull and visitors are always alert and timid around the dog -- her pit bull wouldn't hurt a fly! In fact, she is scared of my moms cats (seriously). It's not necessarily the breed, but the upbringing of the dog. Still, some dogs are born aggressive and theirs not much you can do -- the same is with humans. Sure, there are a lot of bad people out there, but that doesn't mean I'm bad or your bad. It's just how life works.

American Akita or Akita Inu?

I'm really confused about this post. Is this more of a complaint? Or to show how "superior" your Shiba is? It's unfortunate that you were bit, but this reminds me of the hatred Pitbulls receive--in no way do Akita's deserve the same, or any breed for that matter.

@Dee1996, Sorry to hear your story and I hope you re ok.
I have never meet an American Akita (or even JA in the country) but I have meet a bunch of JA in France (we don't have any AA as you can imagine :) ) and they were so sweet and gentle I was a bit amazed about that because Shiba Inu that I've met were so primitive, feisty, unfriendly and way too proud of themselves lol. I agree with others, please don't blame the breed... owners can make mistakes with the dog education or sometime we can make mistakes when we are approaching another dog (even if we already know this dog) you see?
I can do anything I want to my dog poke him when he is playing eating sniffing around, I can show him my tongue he will just try to gently catch it to lick it (ewww lol I don't let him do it but I tested him), I can take away his food (I always give it back of course but I know he trust me), I can pull his ears he will just walk away and I can bit him (I know it sounds stupid but a child in my family does that once... bit a dog and the dog was used to be gently bit by his owner so he didn't do nothing except whine a bit and lick the ALL face of the child). But even if I can do all those things, I won't let anyone do it esp. a "stranger" even my husband doesn't do 1/2 of what I do to Trigger.
If Trigger meet someone and don't want to be pet, he'll just ignore or walk away but if the person doesn't understand the signal (and I don't see it) he will start to put his teeth on the hand of this person (no blood at all just touch the hand with his teeth). To me, it's not really the dog's fault... If the dog is aggressive he doesn't have to be put with stranger without close supervision and if he is not... So it had to have something wrong in the environment at this time or with you (I really don't wanna be rude or what it's just a thought).
Anyway, I hope your lip will be fine soon and you won't have scar.

@Sunyata @Dee1996 "Playful puppy bites" can almost turn into "I need stitches bites" even before a shiba grows up.

One of Hammond's puppy bites (he was around 12-16 weeks old and resource guarding my friend's dog food bin) punctured the fleshy part of the thumb area on my palm and hurt like a bitch for weeks. It took forever to completely heal.

He's almost a year now, full grown but still a pup, and when he gets overexcited and mouthy can do some damage. I've still got a fat lip from where he excited jumped up to mouth/lick my face just as I leaned down to put shoes on, and one of his canines pierced my lip (not like all the way through my lip, but it pinched a section on the inside of my top lip and pierced through through with the help of hitting my own front tooth). Not bad enough to need to go to a doctor, but it was bleeding and swelled up real bad and had two little holes visible.

Also somewhat of a tangent, but relevant: I've got scars all over my hands and arms from cat bites and scratches. From my own cats, from family members' cats, from stray cats. But I know not to swear off approaching any cat just because I've encountered a few cranky individuals or not obeyed warnings familiar cats have given me. Not even sworn off specific types of cats (like tortoise-shell, which do seem more often than not to be rather cranky) because I know it's based more on how the cat has been treated rather than the breed itself.

@Dee1996, FWIW, I did not read your post as breed bashing, but an off-the-cuff comment that stemmed from a truly frightening experience. It sounds like the injury was quite severe (stitches! yikes!) and like other traumatic experiences, it will take some time to overcome. My best to you as you heal...

May I ask about your friend's response? Had they known their dog to do anything like this before, were they confident in how well socialized she was around strangers, etc.? The human may be your friend, but the dog obviously had not yet learned to be comfortable around you. Dogs are not expected to automatically know proper social graces around people, especially strangers, if they had not had ample opportunity to learn them from the start.

Your incident and this discussion reminds me a lot of the incident in which the Denver news reporter was interviewing a a strange dog on the set for a story, and was bitten when she bent over to give him a kiss. A lot of the public response was extremely unkind, but the primary lesson that I learned is that canine body language literacy does NOT come naturally to humans, either. It was very likely that the Akita was giving you *and her owner* subtle signs that she was not comfortable with the situation before the bite occurred, but the cues were either ignored or misread. And unfortunately, this is all too common.

Please take some time to try and study up on canine body language, the signs of a nervous or stressed dog vs. a comfortable and relaxed dog, etc. This will not only help guide your encounters with any future dogs you meet, but obviously, as you work with your own growing pup and learn to speak his "language," as it were.

To get you started, here are a couple good ones that came out after the Denver dog bite incident which seem relevant to your situation:

Denver Dog Behaviorists, Clicker Logic

Dr. Sophia Yin

I personally find that actually *observing* lots and lots of dogs helps you learn more, but if you're prepped beforehand with some things to look for, you get a lot more mileage out of limited observation sessions. We have a collection of general resources on the forum here as well.

@shibamistress I am aware, but the post states "Akita Inu", so I would like to ensure the OP is stating correct information.

@Anna My Shiba is mouthy, she is getting better(consistency!), but has had a soft mouth since before her adult teeth came through. I believe a dog can be gently mouthy yet never bite- Our 12.5 YO cocker is proof of that!

Sorry for the confusion haha. Was not trying to bash the breed at all, slightly venting is all, as I had a long day then. I appreciate all dogs, have just never had an incident such as this and I will definitely be more cautious around a dog that is not my own. @curlytails, They were shocked as they had never seen her bite in the 9 years since they've had her. Thank you for the links provided I will look at those. All is well with the family that owns the dog. I'm sure I will be returning to the house eventually, will be an awkward encounter with Maysa haha.

Ouch! I am sorry that you got bit!

I have had bad experiences with Akita's unfortunately. :(

I've known 6 Akitas.

I lived next door to a male and a female, they were not good with children and were kept outside in a fenced in backyard. The male escaped numerous times and killed cats around the neighborhood as well as the cats that lived with them. The female ended up biting a child that the family was babysitting and she ended up being put to sleep.

My sister babysat for a family that had a male and a female Akita and they were also kept in the backyard because they were aggressive with children and people in general.

My ex boyfriend's best friend had a female Akita that lived inside but she killed 3 dogs and severly mangled a 4th.

My co worker used to have a female Akita and she was aggressive towards other animals so she was kept outside but also stayed in the garage.

That's a terrible experience. I hope your lip will heal properly. I would like to mention, that which you have experienced can happen with any dog, any breed. I've been around hundreds of dogs in my lifetime and learned to keep a peripheral vision on their tail. It just comes automatic with me. That is just my own opinion, and saved me from bites, and even aggressive dogs that snarled, scared the daylights out of me, on some mountain walks. The tail tells all.
And speaking of Pit Bulls, I owned a Stratford Pit who was the gentlest dog I've ever owned. Gentler than my present Shiba with cats and curiosity. My Dalmatian bit my best friend, but I warned him minutes before he bit not to play with his ears. Some dogs can be the greatest friends but certain parts of his body is NO NO to all but the owner.
Also allow a dog to come to you to pet, rather than you to him which reduces a dogs fear.

koyuki said:

Sounds like the upbringing/environment/lack of training is what led all these Akitas to display this type of behaviour. Shame on the owners to have let that happen multiple times (with the dogs that killed other animals). Very sad.

Exactly. Human failure and dog suffers. :(

Saw someone saying they'd hate to have to give up their Akita in adolescence, like so many people do, but..... (And of course the but meant they were thinking about it), and I thought yeah, the dog suffers because you can't handle the problems that crop up in any breed. Makes me sad for the dog and angry about a person who expects dogs to just naturally know things....

Akitas tend not to be terribly friendly by nature. you can work on that when they are young by doing a lot of socialization. But if you still end up with a dog that is not tolerant of strangers (our male is not), then you manage his behavior. You don't throw them out in the backyard. :(