Puppies Grow Up

I get to see a lot of Nihon Ken pups, and it's always interesting to get to see how they turn out as they mature. I'm going to post a few pictures of some dogs, and if any of you out there have pictures of your dogs as puppies, and then as adults, I'd love to see them, and to be able to post them here as well. Send them to me at kato.the.walrus@gmail.com

These are 3 pups sired by last years NIPPO BIS, Iyo no Gakushun.

And here are some more recent pics of the pups in the same order.

Haru

Baron

NIPPO 70th Anniversary Picture Book (reblog2)

Put this up on the blog a while ago, but since I've had a few inquiries about it recently, I'm reblogging it. The book is still available.



This is another book I've got on the shelf. It was published to commemorate NIPPO's 70th anniversary, and has pictures of all the winners from the establishment of NIPPO onward. They've got loose pages added to the back of all the winners since the book was published.

It starts in black and white, but the last bit (and all the loose pages) is in color. The book is 90 pages and includes pictures of Shikoku, Kishu, Shiba, and Akita. It's really interesting to see the evolution of the breeds, type becoming more defined as the years go by, and of course it's great to have pictures of some of the amazing dogs of years past.

If anyone's interested in owning a copy, feel free to contact me at kato.the.walrus@gmail.com and I'll figure out how much the shipping etc will cost. Cost should come to around 3000 yen including international shipping.

Hokkaido Male Pup: Katano Go

I've got this little white northern terror at my place at the moment. Thank god Baron is great with puppies and keeps them busy.

You can see the little guy's parents at the bottom of this page http://hdknetwork.hustle.ne.jp/koinu/no0070.html
And here's the kennel he's out of http://hdknetwork.hustle.ne.jp/kensha/kensha_takahashi.html

DOB: 2013/03/25

Ayumi Sou

One of the main active kennels in the Shikoku breed at the moment, Ayumi Sou is located in Kagawa prefecture on Shikoku island. I just snapped some pictures of their winners from recent NIPPO membership magazines.

Rome!

Last week I had the pleasure of taking a Hokkaido pup with me to Italy. All my Facebook friends will have seen the pictures, but for everyone else, here they are. I had a TERRIFIC time. The food culture is to die for, and Rome is an architecturally stunning city. Seriously, the place is like one big tourist attraction, and I was happy just strolling through it. I started walking at dawn on my first day, and pulled up in front of my room, lame, at 10pm. It was worth every foot bruising step.

I see this in Europe all the time. How do they get their cars out in the morning?

St.Peter's Basilica - absolutely amazing detail and scale. This building was crushingly awe inspiring.

Trevi Fountain - coins were flying in all directions.

The Pantheon - had a little drizzle for around 5 minutes.

The sky as seen from the center of the Pantheon.

The most painfully boring job in the world.

I was disappointed by the lack of street performers/artists in Rome. Maybe I was just in the wrong places, but it's something that I look for when I travel. All that seemed to be around, and present around every corner, were people trying to make money off tourists, and peddling their junk as art. Case in point the two gentlemen above. There were clone versions of this everywhere.

I flew China Airlines for the first time ever, and probably the last time (if I can help it). The food was terrible, and on the flight there and back, I had Chinese women spilling drinks and food on me, and sleeping on me. Literally. There was absolutely no respect for personal space, and the stewardesses were at best unfriendly, and at worst, just rude. This coming from a guy who doesn't usually complain about customer service... I flew through Beijing, and I loved the airport there, the staff were great too, and I even had a chuckle at experiencing firsthand the Great Firewall of China. I had to scan my passport just to get online.

100,000 Views!

I just realized that the blog's gotten over 100,000 views since its inception, a first for any of my blogs. Thanks everyone :)

NIPPO Tokyo Regional, Spring 2013

It was on April 14th, so a month ago, and I'm just getting around to posting it?! It was a warm, sunny, spring day, and I got in extra early as I was showing a Shikoku female. I showed her at the NIPPO national last year, and took 5th place was it? This female is very reactive to stimuli, so getting her to hold a stack is tough, but after a nice bit of advice from a fellow Chiba branch member (one of the old guard) on how to hold the leash properly, the difference was amazing. She was out of coat, and missing a bit of fur on the top of her muzzle from a scratch, so I was not expecting much, but come the second round in the afternoon, the judge called us into the first group, and we ended up taking 2nd place.

I learned some nifty tricks on the day, one of which was the aforementioned leash holding technique, and the other was that when showing outdoors, if there's a breeze, try to point your dog away from the direction it's blowing from. That way it blows the coat out nicely and looks fuller (especially useful if your dog is out of coat).

I ran into a lot of friends on the day as usual, and it was nice to see some of their pups and adolescent dogs. This male is from the first litter of the female in the picture below. She'll be going to the States in the future to the North American Shikoku Club.

At the Tokyo regional they always have a special event for junior handlers. We've got to pass on these breeds to the next generation!

A friend's young Kai male. He's a NIPPO Kai, but the first Kai male I've seen in a long time that I've really liked. I respect the kennel that produced him quite a bit for their tireless work to breed and show under NIPPO rules. It's a pretty painful thing to try to compete in NIPPO with Kai.

I ended the day by locking my keys in my car. It auto locks, and this is the second time I've done it. Had to call a locksmith, and they took nearly two hours to get it open. Damn Lexus and their pick proof locks.

The Tosa

Aside from the six native Japanese dog breeds, Akita, Shiba, Shikoku, Kishu, Hokkaido, and Kai (of course there being other breeds such as the Karafuto and Ryukyu), there are a few breeds that originated in Japan, but were created from western breeds. These would include the Japanese Spitz, the Japanese (Chinese!?) Chin, the Japanese Terrier, and the Tosa.

By Ludivine HOUDAS (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The Tosa originated in Kochi, and was based off the local hunting dogs, the Shikoku Ken. It was a fighting breed from the start, and still is today in Japan. Many breeds such as Pointers, Mastiffs, Bully breeds, Great Danes etc, were used in the breed's creation. The breed is an evolving breed, with almost no pedigreed dogs, and many breeds still being added to the mix, such as pitbulls. The breed within Japan is smaller on average than the dogs being produced overseas.

While not one of the breeds I'm involved in, I was recently asked to look for a pup for a friend of mine. I'm used to Nihon Ken puppies, and a mastiff type pup was a welcome change. The clumsy cuteness was adorable, and the difference in temperament considerable. Nihon Ken puppies are agile and tend to be very alert to threats, but not that willing to engage them. This little Tosa girl was very guardy from the start, definitely guarded the house, and was focused on threats.

Kochi No Kurozakura aka 'Sakura'

Socialization at the hardware store

Hanging out with my friends

I miss this little (big) girl. I've always loved big dogs, and maybe sometime in the future I'll own another. Here she is playing in my yard with my Kishu Baron, some Hokkaido puppies, and my neighbor's Shiba mix. I try to get as much positive socialization in as possible for the pups that come through my house, so shopping trips etc are very common.