Japanese Akita Inu dog breed history, part 6
Today’s Akita, ongoing debates…
Welcome back to the last piece of this 6 part Akita dog breed history article. If you missed any other parts, you can find them here (Akita Dog breed General Information)
Japanese Akita dogs are only allowed to be red, white or brindle with no pinto or black masks. The specimens that come in red and brindle should have white shading on the face, the chest, inside of the legs and under the tail.
These evolutionary and selective differences have caused great turmoil among American Akita owners who were showing their dogs in countries where the Federation Cynologique Internationale governed the process (European, South and Central American countries). In 1992, the FCI adopted the Japanese Kennel Club’s Akita dog breed standard to score competing dogs. Unfortunately, that meant many American Akita dogs (owned by people from different countries, not just the States) had disqualifying traits and could no longer compete, receive excellent ratings, or even breed.
After several petitions and conferences, the FCI recently decided to split the Akita in two breeds. The original breed remains known as the Japanese Akita. The FCI has renamed the American Akita as the Great Japanese Dog, its standard being close to the AKC one. There is an ongoing debate in the States whether the Akita breed should be split here as well to reflect the differences that exist between Akita dogs bred on this continent and Japanese Akita dogs that were imported.
