Mino Shiba

Check out this blog http://minoshiba.blog83.fc2.com/

They've got some really cute pics of their litter of Mino Shiba up right now.

Japanese Dog Names

I just threw together another blog to help people trying to name their Nihon Ken.

At the moment I have a list of rather generic male/female names in alphabetical order. Hopefully in the future I will have time to add some more interesting lists based on different themes such as historical figures, geographical locations, etc.

Take a look! http://japanesedognames.blogspot.jp/

Kai Ken Puppy

This is a male Kai Ken puppy born on the 17th of February. He's a cute, friendly, little guy, and Ogawa-san of Gotenyama Kennel and I are looking for a home for him.

Shikoku Registrations in 2011

I dropped by the NIPPO HQ the other day to fill in paperwork and as I was leaving I asked how many Shikoku were registered last year.

233

My jaw nearly hit the floor. To get some perspective on that number, in 2009 there were 357 registrations.

So to everyone that is waiting, or has been waiting, for a Shikoku pup, this is why there just haven't been very many pups available. When you take into consideration the fact that most people have a color/sex preference, and in some cases a blood line preference, there is only a handful of pups to choose from.

At present there is an aka-goma female pup available, just over 2 months. I'm just waiting for pictures of her. There is also a kuro-goma female that is at just over 1 month.

This male is just over 3 months now, and was being kept as part of a breeding program. Due to the breeder's health, he will be let go, preferably to be used in a breeding program.

Another Training Day

Met up with some other Nippo members to train/test some NK on boar. I didn't take Baron, since there's not too much point, and to be honest I am a little bored of this type of training, but since I am always on the lookout for good hunting NK, and my good friend Ogawa-san decided to bring some Kai, I made the trip.

Here's a 5 month old Shikoku female, and an adult Shikoku male. Notice the short legs, narrow chest etc on the male, some obvious flaws. He works really great on boar though, and this little girl reacted really well, though of course she wasn't working the boar directly.

Ogawa-san brought 3 Kai males, Boss, Tora, and Maru. Boss did very well. He's the first Kai male I've seen firsthand that looked like he could handle boar, and on his first time too. He bayed up well, moved well, and kept working to cut off the boar's retreat. The boar was a bit over heated, so you don't see much charging going on. This now makes two Kai that could be the start of a future big game hunting line.

Here's a Yushoku Kishu male, 2 years old, named Fuji. He's pretty much goes in to catch every time.

Kishu baying up the boar.

Shikoku pair baying up the boar.

Update Regarding Available Shikoku

Thanks for all the interest in the available Shikoku.

Unfortunately a health issue was noticed in one of the 4 month old males, an inverted eyelid. This is a hereditary condition, and so I will not be looking for breeding homes for either of these boys. If there is a pet home that is interested, I will consider it. The pup has already been taken to the vet, and the condition corrected.

Of the two younger male pups pictured in the same post, the darker of the two has also found a new home. There is still the lighter male (pet quality I think), and two females.

There is more information and pictures on the way.

Golden Kai Puppies?

I'm pretty sure not many of us have seen Kai Ken pups that look like this. These are the first I've seen, and apparently they're extremely rare. They were produced from a kuro-tora and chu-tora breeding.

Maybe one of our in house geneticists can take a gander at what's going on here. They're not white, cream, albino. Are they just brown? These pups are available by the way.

Available Shikoku

I received a call the other day from a recently retired NIPPO judge. One of the kennels in the Chiba Branch is having to close up shop for a while do to some personal reasons, and so will need to re-home their entire Shikoku and Kishu breeding stock. There are also two 6 month old aka-goma pups that were going to be kept as part of their breeding program. I will try to go down as soon as possible to take a look at the dogs, and get some pictures.

I also received information that a 6 year old aka-goma male is in need of a new home. I have it from a reliable source that he's got great conformation, and could go to a pet or breeding home. I've got a picture of him that I'll put up here. He's been kept as a companion by an older couple, and is a very laid back dog apparently, but due to a change in their living situation they are looking for a new home for him.

I've got some more pictures to throw up here today. Here's 2 male Shikoku, currently 4 months old.

Here's their dam and sire.

And here's a couple of boys that are 1 month old now, pictures were taken at 23 days. There's 2 females in the litter as well.

Here's their sire.

There's also two more litters that I don't have pictures of yet, and a 3 month old male, plus one more 3 month old female pup.

NIPPO Regionals 2012 Spring

Here's the schedule for the NIPPO regionals in the Kanto region for Spring 2012.

March 4th Santama Branch (Location: Hachioji)
March 11th Kanagawa Branch (Location: Hiratsuka)
March 18th Tochigi Branch (Location: Ashikaga)
March 25th Ibaragai Branch (Location: Tsuchiura)
March 25th Yamanashi Branch (Location: Kofu)
April 8th Tokyo Branch (Location: Tokyo)
April 15th Chiba Branch (Location: Ichihara)
May 13th All Kanto (Saitama Branch, Location: Koshigaya)

I will be at the Santama Branch event tomorrow with Ogawa-san, and will try to make it to as many of the other events as I can. I can say that I will most likely (definitely?) be at the Tokyo and Chiba regionals.