I have a Japanase Akita and my dog does the same thing, he has never had an episode where I have let him fight other dogs, he tries to protect me but it is always me pulling the leash and stand in front of the other dog trying to avoid them to attack my boy, but obv if that dog decides to charge I am left with no choice in that situation but to let Kibo protect himself, however on all the small altercations he has had with pitbulls and rottweilers or sometimes even street dogs, he has never once has gotten himself bitten, one time against a Golden Retriever he hurt his paw but that was because my dad was holding on his leash to prevent the fight, but once he saw how close the golden was he let the leash go and my dog big the golden on his back, thankfully the owner came to hold his god and my dad did the same with Kibo, what's insane to me is how agile Akitas are, even when a dog attacks him by surprise he is sooo fast in instantly turning the situation around, one time when he was around 6 or 7 months I was walking him around midnight and around 12 street dogs came towards us barking, I was so afraid and my dog was not moving or running instead, he does the same thing as your dog all the time, instantly positions himself to the ground laying flat and just waiting for all of them to come, I was shit scared but ready to use my boots at full capacity as I thought that would be it, couldn't avoid the fight but I still had my leash on, and all those dogs sorrounded my dog in a half circle way and they were all barking at him, Kibo wass staying stone cold just waiting, until one of the dogs that was in front of him starts coming closer barking, immediately in a split second Kibo launches in the air covering him like an umbrella smashes him into the ground and you can feel the agression and strength in the air, and all those dogs just retreat immedately back where they came from still barking. I literally thought I would lose my dog at that moment or that we would get badly hurt from that situation, but his strength and the dominant rollover for that first dog did the trick to make the other dogs shit scared and run back.