Not about Shibas, but close

The Man Who Saved The Breed: The battle for the Akita, the samurai of dogs

This is a news story that alerted me to the book “Dog Man: An Uncommon Life On A Far Away Mountain.  It’s about a man and his Akitas and, if my search inside books.google.com is any indication, there is no mention of Shibas at all.  However, from the reviews, it provides a great deal of information on life in Japan and the Japanese attitude towards their dogs.  The author spent a great deal of time with Morie Sawataishi and his wife, Kitako, learning about him and his work with Akitas.

I’m hoping to find this at the Vancouver Island Regional Library.  Once I do, I’ll come back and tell you fine people what I think of it.

Google Books Excerpt

2 Comments

  1. My sister found this on amazon and bought it for me last year.

    i loved it!

    No, no mention of shibas in the book but it really was good.

    I passed it on to a friend of mine who’s breed of choice is the Akita. Not sure if she’s had a chance to read it yet .

    Intresting reading, i would recommend it.

  2. Need to add…

    japanese attitude towards dogs at that time..

    japanese are really into “cute”.. i can’t tell you how many times i’d seen grown men carrying “hello kitty” lunch boxes on the subway. i figure it was because their wives thought it was “cute”.

    so much like the U.S. the attitude today would be those who go for “cute”.. hence the popularity of pomeranians, chihuahuas, and other purse puppies..

    but then you get the occasional boxer, lab.. for those going for the “exotic”…

    then the traditionalists… shibas, akitas

    i felt the book represented a time of economic uncertainty(war.. noone had money, let alone food).. and though the japanese are raised to think with more a “group mentality”, this man braved the storm and saved a breed. he truly is a national hero.

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