Overwhelmed!

I'm getting emails and FB messages from all over the world, trying to keep up with that while drowning in puppies. I'll get some video and pics up soon, I promise. For now, if I can just get some sleep, and then get all the shipping worked out for these tykes I'll be happy.

Milan!

I had the pleasure of taking a Shikoku puppy to her new home near Milan. Many of the puppies that are produced in the kennels here in Japan have a bit of catch up to do when it comes to socialization, and You-chan was no exception. Due to EU import regulations she was here at my house for a month and a half, during which she progressed by leaps and bounds. I'm quite happy with how she's turned out, and glad that her new family in Italy is happy with her. I've seen many kennels all over the world, and Kazemachi no Ken has one of, if not the, best set up I've seen so far.

I was less than thrilled to go from wearing t-shirts in spring weather in Japan, to seeing snow pelting the tarmac at Milan Malpensa airport. You-chan and I made the trip unscathed, and we even had airport security great us with a sign. 

My hosts were amazing, and I was floored by the good Italian home cooking. I've decided that in my next life I will be born an Italian.

We got in some serious sightseeing, northern Italy is gorgeous. I fell in love with the beautiful lakes and little towns, and Milan was pretty awesome as well.

You-chan even got to twirl on the lucky bull.

In front of the Duomo.

It was a terrific trip, one that I will never forget. 

Kazemachi no Ken produced the first litter in Italy, last year, and I have high hopes for the future of the breed in Italy. Ganbatte, You-chan!

Japanese Style Collars and Leads

For anyone looking for Japanese style show leads, this is the best and most reasonable site out there that I know of. It's in Japanese, but I'm pretty sure they will ship overseas. Not sure if they will reply to English email but it might be worth a try. If they can't handle orders in English, hit me up and I'll order for you.

http://laed.e-shibainu.com/

2013/03 Available Adult Shikoku Male

This adult male is available at the moment. His kennel has too many males so is willing to part with this young boy. DOB is 2011/10/06. Contact me for more information.

Narita!

I was asked by a friend to help with the export of some Shiba and Akita for kennels in Spain/France. 3 Shiba ended up staying here with me for a few days, it was interesting. I'm not a huge fan of the breed, but may own some one day just for the sake of experiencing the breed. I've met very few Shiba that I would want to own as a companion.

These three were great with me, though the female was an extremely vocal girl, very clingy, and had the most annoying Shiba whine. Sweet as hell though, and loved everybody, but very snappy toward other dogs. One male was just plain not happy with any and all dogs, not too over the top, but he was great with me. The last and oldest male was the nicest of the bunch, a NIPPO 'honbusho' winner. I liked his type and temperament. Him I would own. He was put together well, had nice attitude and movement, a very serious boy, but played well with the puppies here at my place.

On the day of the flight we caused quite a commotion at the Air France counter, as it looked like the circus was coming to town! I've heard that everyone made it home safely, and the dogs are doing well. I hope they help bolster the blood lines in Europe.

PetSafe

When flying with dogs, many airlines will allow small dogs to be crated and taken into the cabin, almost all allow a certain number of dogs to be checked in with baggage and transported in the cargo hold at controlled temperatures.

The costs for transporting pets varies, but to check in a medium size crate on international flights usually costs something in the vicinity of 20,000-30,000 JPY. I've flown with many dogs to destinations all over the world, and these numbers are based on that experience.

Shipping dogs as cargo (unaccompanied) from Japan though is a whale of a different animal. It costs 100,000-150,000 JPY for a medium size crate to North America, and over 200,000 JPY to Europe. It is often cheaper to fly a person over to pick up a dog than to ship as cargo.

Continental Airlines was one airline with a strange policy, one that would only allow dogs to be shipped as cargo, at cargo prices, even when accompanied by their owners. When they merged with United Airlines, UA adopted CA's policy and the 'PetSafe' system. This was greeted by an uproar among people like me who fly with their dogs, and essentially means that for the past year or so I have not booked a flight with United.

Last month when looking into the best way to get a pup to Pennsylvania however, I found out from my shipping agent that United had changed their policy due to the negative feedback regarding pet transport costs. Instead of charging by a crate size formula, they now charge by weight, essentially almost halving shipping costs. What would have cost around 160,000 JPY last year, ended up costing around 90,000 JPY. So, I shipped using United's PetSafe for the first time, and was actually rather pleased with how everything went.

So, to anyone shipping dogs between Japan and North America, I just wanted to give you the heads up that this option may be what you are looking for.

http://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/animals/petsafe.aspx