He who hated akitas
It is doubtful if Richard Hellman ever envisioned making dog show history with a breed he didn't like. "I ridiculed them and fought against the Japanese Akita for years. I was living in Europe during the mid-80s and the quality at that time was very poor; there was nothing about them that appealed to me. To my mind, the only real Akita was the American Akita." But that was soon to change.