hi joe . i am afraid there is not really much you can do . i have 2 akita's , and i encounter this problem from time to time (see TROUBLESOME ROTT ) , and funnily enough , i've just walked the lads not even an hour ago and had a bit of trouble with an unleashed german shepherd . it wasnt a stray as the owner was around , but the dog was poorly supervised and decided it wanted a piece of something oriental . i was lucky that sheperd had an incredible moment of clarity of thought, about 6 feet from where we stood, and turned on its heels, back to the owner . the only advice that i could give you my friend , is that you must let your dog have the ability to defend himself 100% . dont unleash him and dont , whatever you do , PANIC . stand tall beside your dog and let the stray see no fear ! if the stray still attacks and gets to your dog , he wont stand for it , he will fight back . i've been lucky in the past , i hav'nt had to intervene too much as the dogs take care of it themselves . you will find that in a very short space of time , your "boy" will become a "man" , gain another 30-35 lbs and will quite willingly , put his life on the line for you and your family (his family) ! until that day arrives , walking your dog will be a bit of a lottery . i live in the uk , and dog owners here , in general , are okay . i have 2 neighbours , 1 with 2 staffordshire bull terriers and the other with 1 staffordshire and 1 american pit bull terrier . i approached them and discussed walking times to prevent us bumping into each other and this has worked brilliantly . maybe this could help .i dont know if the "STICK" is a good idea . im new to this site , but i have had read a few replies from the stick lady and im beginning to wonder if she has an akita at all . the japanese akita has only one dog to fear and that is the american pit bull . if it attacks your dog and you poke it with a sharp stick , it will send it in to kill mode and have you or your poor wife after its killed the dog . I also found that after my second dog arrived , strays and poorly supervised dogs didnt want to take on 2 x 120lbs akita's . you still get the odd one or two crazy dogs but generally 2 akita's are too big a task for anything to try . get another one , go on ! you wont regret it ! good luck !
