I am not a big dog fan myself (many years as animal control officer will do that to ya) but if I did get a dog, it would definitely be an Akita. A dog bred for taking down Asian bears says alot about its badassity. Plus they simply look awesome. ![Cheesy :D](https://vgcollect.com/forum/Smileys/default/cheesy.gif)
Hell yeah - Akita's are all sorts of cool & bad-assery per(dog)onified
![Tongue :P](https://vgcollect.com/forum/Smileys/default/tongue.gif)
Even as tiny puppies...their paws are so huge that they look more like a bear paw than a dog paw - then you start thinking that they're going to grow into those suckers soon
![Shocked :o](https://vgcollect.com/forum/Smileys/default/shocked.gif)
Actually, since (I think) they resemble bears so much...my 1st one was named "
Kodiak" and I named my 2nd one "
Kuma-Ki" (99% sure that means "
bear spirit" in Japanese), since they're Japanese dogs...and...I was wanting to remember Kodiak (who was *often* just called "Kody", "Kody Bear", and/or "THE Kodiak Bear"); so yeah - Kody Bear and the next one "bear spirit"
![Cool 8)](https://vgcollect.com/forum/Smileys/default/cool.gif)
ALL of my (and my family's while growing up) dogs are seen as, treated as, and loved more as family members than pets.
Unfortunately & sadly, as is pretty common w/ the larger breeds of dogs, they tend to have hip & joint problems & shorter lifespans than the smaller breeds...and when we had to put Kodiak down (at ~12 years old)...it was...tragic :'(