Akita breed

Question
Hi,
My neighbor has an Akita that is approx 3-4 yrs old. My neighbor is moving away and has offered the dog to me to have.  The dog now lives in a fenced yard and he enjoys all the neighbors and we all bring him treats now and again. I've even taken the dog for walks on a leash and he minds me perfectly.  However, when my 5 yr. old grandson, or anybody other than a neighbor/owner tries to approach the dog from the other side of the fence the dog growls lowly and the hair on his back/neck raises.  He's such a huge dog it's pretty intimidating to experience this.  The dog has a cat issue, too, but I think I can work with him on that.  What concerns me most is can this dog be taught to accept children and can it be trusted with kids?  My neighbor/dog owner has a little 4 year old girl and the dog is fine with her, but he's known her all along.  Is the Akita breed a one owner dog?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Steve

Answer
I've just done some quick reading up on Akitas, and I guess I would have to say that I think you would be better off passing this by, simply because of your grandchild. This is an adult dog, and now that he is older, any shaping you do with him is going to be a bit limited. It sounds like he has been living outside without the benefit of a lot of socialization, other than the immediate neighbors, and the fact that he is growling at strangers, particularly other children, bothers me a lot. He could probably be taught to tolerate children, but, no, I don't think he could ever be trusted with them, and I would NEVER leave him alone with one.

While I'm sure that there have been Akitas that have been one-man dogs, I would say that most tend to be one-family dogs.

Here are some really good links that help explain Akita temperament:
http://www.asataiyoakitas.com/akitatips.html
http://www.tamarlane.com/akitatemp.htm