Parts of Japan receive massive amounts of snow – up to eighteen times a month during the winter. Indeed, the average accumulated snow fall in one prefecture is 17.45 ft, and in some places, a little over 23 feet! That prefecture is Akita, and not for nothing was the Akita breed’s early name, “the snow country dog.” In fact, long coats are faulted in the breed because ice sticks to long hair, clumping up and opening the door for hypothermia which can lead to death. For a dog that hunted black bear, wild boar and deer in Japan as late as 1957, this was an unforgiving attribute, not a whim of breeders. 

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