1. I live outside of Athens, Georgia, in Lexington, Georgia. I have been in dogs all my life, but as a breeder/exhibitor of American Akitas for about 20 years. I’ve more recently added Japanese Akitainus to the kennel. My kennel name is Titan Akitas.
2. There are always things that need to be improved in any breed that I’m aware of, but I feel, overall, our breed is in a decent place. Japanese Akitainus are just beginning the journey, so I’d love to help get the breed off to a great start.
3. To me, the sport is in a solid place. Just like in the breed, there’s always room for improvement with the number of shows and locations. Judging these days is fine. There will always be differing opinions and visions. I appreciate the work judges do, as it can be a thankless job. Usually the only person who’s happy with the job you did is the winner.
4. The road to full recognition has definitely had challenges. A big challenge is finding the numbers to compete against. Group placements and Bests in Open Shows helped my Goji achieve his CM2 rapidly. It would have been very difficult to do without that. Also, having judges who have seen and had their hands on a quality Japanese Akitainu has been another challenge. If what a judge has seen is what I would consider disappointing type, that becomes what the judges see as normal.
5. In my opinion, social media has been terrible for the sport in some ways. Too much is being done for attention and “likes” instead of the quality and soundness of the breed. In other ways it’s been good. It’s much easier to get your eyes on dogs that you might have some interest in. The doctored photos are a particular peeve of mine, though. No dog is perfect and there will always be things that need improvement, but painting on a new color or Photoshopping a new rear on a dog is false advertising.
6. In my eyes, the biggest challenge to the dog show community is the cliquish and tribal behavior. People get into their own little silos and, therefore, ideas, opinions, and genetics never mix. Friendly competition and the bettering of the breed is what it’s supposed to be about.
7. I do believe breeders have done a great job of pointing the breed back in the right direction. We still haven’t arrived yet, but I can say that I’ve seen good improvement on the quality of dogs in recent years. I believe separating the Japanese Akitainu from the American Akita is a positive development. Having been around both breeds at the same time daily, I can say that they are truly different breeds. In structure, and definitely in temperament, they are just different.
