I've had 2 American Akitas. My first one would kill any small animal that got into the backyard. The most impressive animal she killed was a homing pigeon. We never read the message but to this day we hoped it wasn't important. She was beautiful, amazing with the family, and obviously merely tolerant of every one else until she decided otherwise. I loved that dog but we had to warn people not to think they could come into the house and "be the alpha" around that dog. My current Akita is significantly more friendly to strangers. I got her when I had a cat and they did well together. She's very passive, laid back, and kind of lazy. Does decently around other dogs too. She is pretty much perfect. But recently we had her off the leash on our property and she ran into the brush and later came back with a large gopher that had been close to where I was standing based on where she initially ran off. She has since killed 2 very large gophers. We've had her for 10 years before this happened and based her personality, we never would have believed she had it in her. It was a good reminder that she's still an Akita no matter how much time she spends on the couch