Airedale Terrier vs Akita — Side by Side

	Airedale Terrier	Akita
Lifespan	10-13 years	10-14 years
Size	Large	Large
Weight	40-65 lb	70-130 lb
Energy	High	Moderate
Grooming	Moderate	High
Shedding	Low	High
With kids	Good with kids	Not ideal for young kids

What actually separates them

Less hair on the sofa with the Airedale Terrier. More with the Akita.
Less brushing with the Airedale Terrier. More with the Akita.
Calmer of the two is the Akita. The one that needs more exercise is the Airedale Terrier.
Akita tends to live longer — 10-14 years against 10-13 years.
With young children, Airedale Terrier is the safer default — Akita is listed as "Not ideal for young kids".

The honest downside of each

Airedale Terrier

As the largest terrier breed, the Airedale keeps a full terrier prey drive and stubborn streak in a 50-plus-pound body, and breed mortality surveys put cancer as the cause of roughly 4 in 10 Airedale deaths — noticeably higher than most breeds.

Akita

The AKC's own breed standard warns that Akitas 'may be intolerant of other dogs, particularly of the same sex' — that's not a rare temperament quirk, it's written into the official standard, and it's a major reason the breed is refused or surcharged by roughly 4 in 5 home-insurance breed-restriction lists.

Read the full pages

Airedale Terrier · Akita
Health problems, origin and what living with each is actually like.