Who Is Helen Keller?
7. She Introduced the Akita Dog Breed to America
Keller toured Japan in the 1930s, and she was a huge hit among the Japanese people. She was given an Akita dog as a gift by a Japanese policeman and she fell in love with the breed. Sadly, the dog died shortly after she returned back to the US from Japan. The Japanese government, however, gave Keller a gift of another Akita dog that came from the same litter as the first one.
Keller’s Akita was the first of its breed ever to reach US shores. Keller would visit Japan again in 1948, visiting military hospitals to help inspire war veterans that were disabled by their injuries.
