Customer Reviews

Japanese Dogs: Akita, Shiba, and Other Breeds

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book does what the title says - describe Japanese dogs in good pictures and summaries. I've only owned a Shiba but I agree with EVERYTHING the author wrote about them. I also liked the tid-bits on dogs in the Asian region because I've run into a few Korean Jindo dogs. Her stories at the end were great to emphasize the 'personalities' of each breed.

This is the best and most comprehensive book on all Japanese dog breeds that I've found.

This book covers all Japanese breeds - the Akita and Shiba of course, but also the Kishu, Shikoku, Kai, Hokkaido, Japanese Spitz, Chin, Terrier, and the Tosa fighting dog. It's easy to find information about the first two, but extremely difficult to find information about many of the other Japanese breeds.

This book has some great photos of all the breeds, including the hard to find Japanese Kai. I just wish there were more photos, or that the photos were printed larger, because they're all excellent!

It also has a lot of information about all the breeds listed, including the rare ones. It contains Japanese breed standard information, breed history, temperament and show information for all the breeds. It also contains prehistoric and genetic information about many of them, and a lot of trivia and stories about the breeds.

There is also a section with photos about the Japanese Ryukyu of Okinawa, another rare breed that's rarely written about in English.

A lot of the information in this book is available nowhere else in the English language, so if you're interested in Japanese breeds you probably want to pick this book up. I wish it had more pages for the cover price of $29.95, but I'm glad I purchased this book.

As a side note, it's important to note that the Akitas in this book are not the American Akitas or "Great Japanese Dog" as they're called in the UK. They're the traditional Japanese Akita which is a very different dog, so don't buy this book if you're looking for information or photos of the American Akita.

A good, well written, well translated overview of the various Japanese breeds, including the popular Shiba and Akita. The photos are gorgeous and I wish there were more. If I had one complaint about this book, it's that it left me wanting to read, and look at, more, so hence the not-quite-top rating. Also, this book presents the profoundly moving story of the legendary Hachiko and a few other tales of amazing dogs.

I like this book. It's thorough, objective and it doesn't glorify or over-emphasize the positives and negatives of the Japanese breeds. It offers an indepth history about the breeds, while not presenting speculation as fact. The photos are good eye-candy too. I really enjoyed seeing and reading about the Japanese standard. I would highly recommend this book to anyone collecting books about any of the Japanese breeds.

The pictures in this book are awesome, and the detailed histories of the Japanese breeds are great. My only complaint is that the Akitas appear rather scruffy in some of the pictures but otherwise, this book is a must have for anyone interested in the Japanese breeds.