Kai Ken

The Kai

TheWalrus — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 22:43:12 -0400

The Kai Ken, also known as the Tora Inu (Tiger Dog), is one of the six, native, Japanese spitz type dogs. The breed's brindle coat distinguishes it from the other medium sized Nihon Ken. In size, the Kai is larger than the Shiba, but marginally smaller than the Shikoku, Kishu and Hokkaido, giving it a unique place among the Japanese breeds.

The Kai originated in the mountainous region of Kai (modern day Yamanashi) which gave the breed its name. Historical records tell of the famed brindle hunting dogs of the region, and their hunting prowess was believed to be second to none. While traditionally used to hunt Kamoshika, a type of mountain antelope similar to a chamois, their versatility and athleticism allowed them to be used to hunt many types of game, ranging from pheasant to bear. Today they are primarily used to hunt pheasant, wild boar, and deer.

A young male aka-tora Kai

It is believed the first domesticated dogs arrived in Japan with the Jomon and Yayoi peoples. Over thousands of years the dogs remained essentially the same due to the country's geography and isolationist policies. However as Japan opened up to the outside world, the native dogs crossbred with Western dogs leaving fewer and fewer of the original Nihon Ken (Japanese Dog). As the Showa period began efforts were made to classify and preserve the remaining Nihon Ken. Research teams scoured the country searching for and cataloguing the remaining pockets of native dogs. Thanks to the Yamanashi region's mountainous terrain and limited accessibility there were considerable numbers of quality specimens to be found.

A kuro-tora Kai male with a curl type tail

In 1931 Dasuke Adachi, a prosecutor in Kofu city, saw one of these brindle coated dogs and it made a strong impression on him. After some research he discovered that these dogs could be found in Ashiyasu village. He began efforts with other prominent citizens to locate and preserve this rare type of Nihon Ken. After much difficulty he was able to locate and return to Kofu city with 2 of the best available specimens. Hence began the preservation of the Kai as a breed. In November of the same year the Kai Ken Aigokai was formed with Mr. Adachi as its chairman. At the first Nihon Ken Hozonkai (Japanese Dog Preservation Society or NIPPO) show, the Kai drew much attention from the attendees, which helped lead to the classfication of the Kai as a Natural Monument in 1933.

Kai numbers increased under national and prefectural government protection, with the prefectural government awarding tax breaks to owners of these national treasures. Thanks to this the Kai emerged relatively unscathed from the period during and following World War 2. While the other Japanese breeds faced harsh conditions, and extremely depleted numbers, the Kai was left primarily intact, with many of the dogs being kept at local government offices and police departments. The fact that post war over half of the registered dogs in Yamanashi prefecture were Kai Ken shows just how effective these measures were.

A chu-tora Kai male

The FCI Kai standard describes the breed as: “A medium-sized dog, well balanced, sturdily built, muscles well developed. The dog has the characteristics of a dog living in mountainous districts of Japan. Limbs strong and hocks remarkably developed.” The are three recognized breed colors, all brindle: aka-tora (red), chu-tora (medium), and kuro-tora (black), with aka-tora being the rarest of the three variations. There is a recessive gene in the breed which occasionally produces non-standard white (or cream) colored Kai. Most Kai have dark spots on their tongues.Like all the Nihon Ken, the Kai has a double coat made up of protective coarse outer guard hairs, and a fine thick undercoat that is shed seasonally.

The JKC, Nippo, and KKA offer differing standards for the breed, with the Kai Ken Aigokai having the largest variation in size and type. The KKA standard recognizes Kai between 40-50cm, JKC 47-53cm for dogs, 42-48 for bitches, NIPPO 47-55cm for dogs, 44-52cm for bitches (a special allowance of 2cm under the NIPPO 'medium' standard has been made for the breed), FCI has dogs at 50-56cm, bitches at 45-51cm.

A chu-tora female with a sickle type tail

The Kai as a breed is intelligent, athletic, and alert, with a strong desire to hunt. Like most Nihon Ken the Kai is an independent thinker. Many are very attached to their owners, and they can make excellent companions for the individual prepared to give them the attention and exercize they require. They can be territorial, and make reasonable watch dogs, but are not by nature guard dogs or protection dogs. They have shown the ability to be quick learners, with some active in Japan as search and rescue dogs. They are a rare breed even in their native country with an estimated population of around 12,000-14,000, and yearly registrations of between 900 and 1,100, (all registries combined). The main breed registry is run by the Kai Ken Aigokai.

Kibou nose is developing depigmentation (Pink Spots)

davecampa — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:43:01 -0500

Hi everyone, I havent been on here for a long time. I have a male Kai named Kibou that I aquired from Brad. He is just about 2 yrs old. His nose and his lip just below his nose has developed loss of pigmenration in the last couple of days. This looks likes pink spots, about the size of a pencil eraser each. There are 3 spots. They are smooth, not blister like. Has anyone had any experience with this? Thanks, Dave

Kyuubi in Kong Newsletter! :)

jujee — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:43:40 -0500

Back in July I submitted pictures of Kyuubi with the kong wobbler for their photo contest. He placed third! :)

http://hosted-p0.vresp.com/304170/f4cdb81354/ARCHIVE

IMO, he should have taken first place! He's much cuter than the other two! Wasn't he such a cute pup? :P

What is your experience with Kai?

alban — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:13:14 -0500

Hi to all,

I am considering a Kai .it is going to be a slow process as I am gathering as much info on the breed as I can. I found this forum and I think this is the best place to be.

I would really love to hear from people who have Kai .What is there temperament like? Differences in temperament from puppy to adult? Male temp. Vs female's. How would a Kai do with another dog or other animals? Best way to go by ang getting a Kai?

Basically anything you guys could help me with I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks

A.

Ciqala (Puppy pics)

Yandharr — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 13:54:43 -0500

Ciqala is finally home! Big thank you to Yamabushi Kennels for allowing me partake in the Kai Ken experience. I can't believe how much she looks like Nio. She's very fearless and seems to have adjusted almost immediately. I know that's not possible, but She's that sure of herself. I can't wait to see her character develop more. I've posted some pics of her after she hijacked Saru's super rope toy.There's also some sleep-bonding time in there. The last pic you see, while it may seem like Saru is calm, is the face of dejection and evil genius planning-ness. He's definitely planning a way to get his rope back :)
***If anyone has any tips on feeding time pleas let me know. last night was a disaster, they wanted each other's food and kept trying to switch. Saru was running around in circles Ciqala was practically doing flips. it was NOT working.

For your viewing pleasure

Kai Ken Health Checks

Nozomifarm — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:14:14 -0500

I'm looking for some information and advice. I'd like to know what people here on the forum think appropriate health checks for the Kai Ken are? I'd also love to know if anyone has any stats on the the percentage of Kais affected by different hereditary diseases.

I'm coming at the breed from Shibas. All of my dogs get OFA hips and patellas and CERFs done on them. I also do thyroid and glaucoma testing in my older dogs. Doing health checks just seems like common sense to me, and I wouldn't consider buying a Shiba pup whose parents hadn't passed all their health checks.

I am frustrated that the OFA does not list Kai Ken results in their database (they do not list breeds until the numbers are large enough), so I have no idea how serious hip dysplasia is in the breed. When I've asked, I've gotten very different answers from different people. Stats from the OFA site indicate that 18.4% of tested Shibas are dysplastic and 18.9% of tested Akitas are dysplastic, and since it seems likely that the incidence of HD will be higher in the untested population (people who care enough to test are not breeding effected animals), I think it's safe to assume that 1 in 4-5 Shibas and Akitas have hip dysplasia!

I'm a health check fanatic in my own breed, and I'd never recommend anyone buy a Shiba pup whose parents hadn't passed their health checks. I'm trying to decide if I'd be crazy to buy a Kai pup from a breeder who does not have any health check information available. I'm currently looking at a puppy whom I really like and I have been trying hard to convince myself that she's worth the gamble (it seems to me that buying pup from untested lines is a bit like playing Russian roulette). It occurred that maybe someone here could help me figure out exactly what my odds are!

Thanks very much!

Eunice Giles
Nozomi Shibas

Ife's thread

MirkaM — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 10:04:11 -0500

Ife is turning two tomorrow. Here is some pics and video of her from this winter.

[VIDEO] Kai Ken doing agility in Japan...

brada1878 — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:34:13 -0500

Got a Google Alert for this today...

Check out their channel too, lots of neat videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/konasuking

This one is cute, reminds me of Juno...

@Nozomifarm - I thought of you when I saw the agility vid. :o)

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Nuuk turned one year

MirkaM — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:44:47 -0500

Time really flies. Year ago I was the happiest girl in Finland when got the mail from Japan that he was born. Nuuk spent his first birthday travelling because he is doing his debut in show rings on weekend. Wish us luck (because we need it :D)!

Sosuke

hondru — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 07:33:45 -0400

Whew! 5am and we're finally all home and settled into bed. I'm really glad the older two kids spent the night with the grandparents, because that trip would have been murder with them. Sosuke was supposed to arrive just after 9pm, but he got there around 10:30. Then, we had to take all this paperwork through customs, which was way the heck in a different building, where we had to drive there and then do a lot of walking. There was this lady just ahead of me who was picking up a cat and she was yelling and holding everyone up, which was ironic because she was yelling about how it was taking so long. Once we got the paperwork through customs, we could FINALLY get Sosuke around midnight. So, that whole process was a real pain, but as soon as I saw the little pup, I forgot about all that.

He's sooo sweet. We took him out for a little stroll around the cargo area, although it was the middle of the night and it was raining/snowing, so we didn't do that for too long. Rakka came up with us, so they met each other in the parking lot and went for a pee break together. Sosuke's first reaction upon seeing Rakka was to run up to her waving his paws and wagging his tail. He's really friendly. Rakka was weirded out by the whole thing, and was acting like she was afraid of him. She snarked at him a bit, and he was totally unphased. Every time he sees her, he's like, "Friend!" and acts all playful. I don't think Rakka knows quite what to make of the whole thing just yet.

The ride home was really bad, in terms of weather. We didn't get home until 4:30am, whereas in good weather, we would have been home by 2:00-2:30am. Giant snow wads were falling and ruining the visibility and the roads were all half frozen, half wet. But, it was fun spending that time with our new pup. From the very start, he was wagging his tail and licking us, and just being so friendly. We gave him some water, some food, and he just cuddled right into my lap and went to sleep. When we got home, we played. As soon as I put him in his crate for the night, he was asleep. Almost faster than I could turn around. A very long and eventful day!

I only managed one picture, but it's not a very good one. This was taken in the light from the headlights. See those big gobs of snow?

I was really cold in this picture because Sosuke had peed on my lap. Whoops!

[VIDEO] Kai Ken and Ovcharka

brada1878 — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:16:15 -0500

I posted this on FB and YouTube already, but I though I'd share it here too. This is a video of Akashi, Nio, and Ritsu playing with Kodi and Luytiy.

Kona is the one doing the "I'm uncomfortable" walk. He's still a little uncomfortable with Luytiy ever since Luytiy crushed him while running across the yard shortly after Luytiy came to live with us. Kona is fine with Luytiy as long as he's not moving. hehe

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Size comparison of the Kai Ken standards...

brada1878 — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:31:15 -0400

I aggregated this info into one email over the weekend, I thought it may be interesting to some of you...

KKA:
Height roughly 40cm (15”) - 50cm (19.5”) at withers
http://www.yamabushikennel.org/standards.php

NIPPO:
Male standard height: 52cm (20”)
Female standard height: 49cm (19”) is a female.
On average, males 49cm (19”) from 55cm (21”), and female 46cm (18”) to 52cm (20”).
http://www.nihonken-hozonkai.or.jp

FCI:
Dogs 53 cm (approx. 20-21 inches)
Bitches 48 cm (approx. 18-19 inches)
http://www.yamabushikennel.org/fci/kai_standards_FCI.pdf

UKC:
Desirable height, measured at the withers, ranges from 18½ to 22 inches (47cm-55.9cm) for males, and 17½ to 20 inches (44.5cm-50.8cm) for females. Weight ranges from 25 to 55 pounds.
http://www.ukcdogs.com/WebSite.nsf/Breeds/KaiRevisedJuly12008
**The UKC standard was revised July 2008, it now allows for up to 22.5 inch!

JKC:
Desirable height for males 50cm, females 45cm. Allowance +-3cm (males 47-53cm, females 42-48cm).
http://www.jkc.or.jp/modules/worlddogs/entry.php?entryID=93&categoryID=5.

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Kai's height

MirkaM — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 08:31:42 -0500

What is your Kais height at withers? I just measured Nuuk today and he seems to be 46cm heigh. I'm a little worried because we are going to dog show in two weeks and Nuuk sure isn't going to fit to the FCI standard. Well, I just have to keep my fingers crossed that the Japanese judge is also familiar with KKA standard and don't measure Ife nor Nuuk. But the Finnish judge... Well, I just have to hope the best.

Kai Ken in NH?

Nozomifarm — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 15:37:56 -0500

So, earlier today I was at an agility trial and was chatting with friends about my new puppy, and one of them (who happens to work at my vet) got very excited when she heard I was getting a Kai and asked me if I knew the local person who has one? Apparently there is someone who owns a Kai who lives near me, and happens to be boarding their dog at my vet this very weekend! The owner had told the staff at the vet that hers was the only Kai Ken in the State of NH (which is probably true for the next 48 hours). I know my vet won't give me the other client's name or contact info, but I stopped by the vet's office on my way home in the hopes that I could leave the Kai owner a note introducing myself, but they'd already closed.

Does anyone know who this person or this dog is?!? I would love to get in touch with a truly local Kai Ken owner! Until I heard of this dog, I had assumed that Chrystal's Juno was the closest Kai to me (they're about 2.5 hours away).

Kai Ken on Petfinder?

velvetkat — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 18:48:23 -0400

I saw this dog under the Shiba breed in petfinder but looks like a Kai Ken to me. Wonder if anyone is missing a dog in Ga. http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/13364566

Kai Ken Haru Thread (updated 11/17)

TheWalrus — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:33:26 -0400

Soooooo after looking for the 'right' Kai for a year and a half, I'll be going to pick up Haru, an aka-tora Kai pup tomorrow. She was born on February 2nd, and I would have picked her up a week or two earlier, but my work schedule didn't permit it.

No worries, you can all count on puppy spam as soon as I've gotten home tomorrow (which should be in around 18 hours from now).

As you can probably guess, I'm getting a bit antsy sitting around the house tonight, and trying to distract myself by downing some beers.

THERE'S GOING TO BE A DOG IN THE HOUSE AGAIN! WOOOOT
(Woot=yay for all the non-nerds out there)

Nuuk

MirkaM — Thu, 05 May 2011 14:44:12 -0400

I just noticed that Nuuk don't have his own thread. Nuuk came to Finland in February from Japan. His parents are Kari and Utsubo. He weights now (at age five months) about 12 kilos and his height is around 40 cm. Nuuk has been a real nugget! He is open anf wants to say hello to everyone. I really hope his attitude don't change when he is in teenage. Have your Kais change from open to shy during the teenage phase? His both testical has descend but his teeth are still changing (he has small overbite right now but it's changing weekly (I remembered that Ife had the same problem but it fixed when she was about 8 months old). Here is the latest pics from my little boy.

Nuuk "reading" a dog magazine.

Nuuk eating carrot.

Sleeping...

Nuuk and Rusina

Ife and Nuuk

Some random pics

It has been a pleasure to let Nuuk be off-leash. Now when our favourite footpaths are "snow-free" we finally can take some good walks without trafic or other people. Nuuk has quite good recall and because our trail is surrounded by big ditches with loads of water he really don't take off. It is like a internatioal crisis if his highness paws get wet. I can't wait to get to our summer cottage with all our dogs. I'm going to be absurd this summer and try to keep Ife also off-leash.

Ikoro: Haru's sister

TheWalrus — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:18:51 -0400

Ikoro is Haru's littermate. She's a working dog, tracking non-native raccoons for a Hokkaido University eradication program.

Here she is, busy at the office.

...and out for a stroll.

Here's how she looked the last time I saw her which was over a year ago.

[VIDEO] The Kai Army "Hunting" Ahi...

brada1878 — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:12:33 -0400

Ahi loves her Kai boys...

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Photo Fail but got to meet Chibi!

brittk — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 09:58:53 -0400

I just had to brag that I got to meet Chibi over the weekend. I went to visit my parents for the long weekend with Kaiya and we met up with Peggy to go for a hike. She brought Chibi! I couldn't believe how small she was and she was so fluffy! You would never have guessed she and Kaiya were the same breed! Chibi was a sweet girl and is doing well!
We went to a beautiful park with a castle and the dogs got a good romp. I failed and forgot my camera on this trip though. Hopefully when we head back for the holidays, we'll get to meet up again and I'll remember the camera.

Learned something new about the Kai Ken today!

brada1878 — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 21:49:38 -0400

A gentlemen at the wool festival informed Jen and I, very assertively, that "Kai Ken are the dogs in Japan that only eat vegetables."

I had no idea! Here I was thinking they were like every other dog, but they're not - they're vegetarians! Dude blew my mind. LOL

( No, Kai Ken are not vegetarians, this gentleman was incorrect. )

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To what degree does your kai guard resources?

Brego_mellon_nin — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 11:05:24 -0400

Hi all kai peeps!

To what degree does you kai guard resources? Food, toys, etc.?

I have been surprised by the tenacious guarding Eowyn performs. Mostly with her food, but also to a certain degree with her sleeping spots or her crate.

Kyuubi (Haru's pup #2)

jujee — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 01:13:43 -0400

First off I want to thank Brad and Jen for letting Kevin and I be blessed with one of their first Kai pups born in their home. I also want to thank Shig for helping Brad and Jen with their preservation efforts. We all know how much Haru meant to Shig and to be able to have one of her pups is an honor.

So we were a tad bit late to the airport to pick him up. LA traffic sucks :) But when we got him he was so happy! He was jumping up on us and giving us licks. It was the total opposite of when we picked up Mika. She was TERRIFIED of us. Kyuubi on the other hand wanted to play with us! We took him to a grassy area in front of the cargo area where we picked him up and I tried to get some pics, but they didn't turn out very well. Promise I'll put up pics soon.

Now, for meeting Mika. I wanted her to eat dinner and relax a bit before introducing them. Didn't help that Kyuubi started crying when we came home and Mika heard him. So she refused her dinner. We still didn't let her see him. We let Kyuubi eat some dinner and let him relax and check out the house a bit. After about an hour we let Mika out to see him. She didn't know what to make of him at first. He went up to her and licked her and she just was stiff. Naturally, seeing her a bit tense we separated them for a bit. She came up and sniffed him and wanted to play. She was being a bit vocal, which scared Kyuubi so he ran into my lap to hide from her. She continuously tried to get him to play and when he finally jumped out of my lap to go after her she got scared and ran under the table lol. This went on for a little bit, til they became comfortable with each other. I foresee them being BFFs very soon!

Here's a short vid of them playing

Kai Ken Rescue?

brada1878 — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 02:55:26 -0400

What do you guys think, is this a Kai?

http://www.orangecountyfl.net/dept/CEsrvcs/animal/NetPets/AnimalDetail.asp?ID=A169982&RT=T

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Kai Ken Have Thick Skin? (literally)

brada1878 — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 17:25:26 -0400

Dr. Dave ( @dlroberts ) and I were chatting the other day about Tyson. He mentioned how thick Tyson's skin is and how he was worried it might be an issue with his new pup - he felt it might hinder his pup's ability to learn bite inhibition.

Then, I mentioned he might be onto something there, as I had noticed when our Kai have a conflict with one of the other breeds it's VERY rarely the Kai walks away with a puncture wound or anything like that. But, it's been a few times that the other dog (breed) has suffered some type of puncture or cut...

For example, we had a brawl here between Nio, Ritsu, and Kaiju a few weeks ago - it was a melee - all three were going after one another. Even tho Kaiju started it, when I got there I had to pull Ritsu and Nio off each other. After the conflict Ritsu and Nio were fine, but Kiju had a large gash on his neck. I was surprised Kaiju ended up with the cut as Ritsu and Kaiju really gave it to Nio (pretty mean), but Nio suffered no injuries at all.

So, this makes me wonder, is this because the Kai Ken has surprisingly thick skin? Also, I wonder if their thick skin hinders their ability to learn bite inhibition from each other?

It's rare we have conflict between our Kai Ken, in my experience they aren't quarrelsome like some other breeds, but when they do have a real fight they go all-in and it can be nasty (reminds me of the CO temperament). They tend to do very little damage to each other (Kai-Kai) tho, but they have done damage to the other breeds (Kai-Shikoku/Shiba/Akita). Is it that the other breeds' skin is thinner, or that the Kai's thick skin handicaps their ability to learn bite inhibition (and so they bite harder during conflict)?

Shigeru mentioned to me once that Momo and Haru had a few conflicts too, and it was always Momo who walked away with injuries. So, that kinda fits with this thought process too.

Thoughts?

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Kai breeders in Japan

Jaymie — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 21:30:26 -0400

hello hello! i am a new member, however i have been silently stalking these forums for a while but have just now joined as it gets closer to when i can finally get my Kais. im interested in getting one or two from Japan, but am unfamiliar with breeders there and i havnt had any luck googling. calling the Kai Ken Aigokai is on my to-do list for getting my puppy, but i was first wondering if there are any really good kennels that i should consider, since there are people here with first-hand experience with japanese breeders. the language part seems tricky for me as well...

what im looking for: male and female (with breeding rights - i would love to breed in the future after i take my classes on the subject of dog breeding) that fits the Aigokai standards with good drives and temperament. i would love to go over there myself to pick up the pups, but am unsure, as i do not speak japanese and im not sure how that would work, so i would probably need to ship them... so if you are up to it, i would love some first-hand stories of what you did to get your puppy from Japan (i already read the sticky about importing your dogs, which was helpful, but i think a step-by-step with one scenario per person would be more helpful, the sticky kinda covered multiple different ways, so it was a tad confusing as to which method was better)

thanks so much for all of your help, in advanced! im very excited to get my kais, in the meantime, im looking through all the puppy posts looking at all your gorgeous dogs! nothing like a pic spam thread to keep you occupied ;)

Wryly Brindle

jan3t — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 19:25:05 -0400

I was just wondering if anyone has heard from Chrystal since Irene hit Vermont? My family is okay and I hope she and her dogs are too....

First Kai pups in Scandinavia.

Tina — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:24:47 -0400

Sorry for being MIA for a long time, but have had a lot of work.
At last I got the english version of my homepage ready. www.kennel-sankt-xandors.dk
Please take a look at the first Kai pups in Scandinavia.

A word of caution...

dlroberts — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 13:53:36 -0400

First, hi everybody! I know I've been MIA lately, but life has been HECTIC to say the least. I recently finished my first year as a professor, I've been writing papers and grant proposals, bought a house and moved, and been attending weddings like it is my job. I'll be back to normal in a few weeks, hopefully. :-)

Before my word of caution, here's a recent video of Tyson playing with Joey in our new backyard. Yes, I now live in the middle of the woods! :-D

Anyway, I want to share a word of caution, because I got a little complacent, or maybe just distracted, and had an incident that I hope everyone can learn from. Due to my craziness in life and work, I've had to board the pups a few times recently. Because of Lucy's special needs, I always board the dogs at the vet, even if it is more expensive. Tyson was due for his annual exam and rabies vaccine so when they asked me if I wanted it done while he was boarded I initially thought it was a good idea. Tyson has always been very wary of strangers, but he warms up within a minute given patience and a lot of treats. When I dropped him off for boarding and was checking him in with the vet tech, I started to hesitate a bit. I warned them that he's cautious and will take some time and that they shouldn't push him. I should have realized that my hesitation was something I should have paid closer attention to.

The next day I got a call from the vet. While doing his pre-exam blood draw, Tyson had gotten very stressed and was shying away from the tech. They decided to muzzle him...without my permission. With him muzzled, one tech restrained him while another attempted to draw blood from his hind leg. From what they tell me, Tyson wanted none of it. I wish they had called me at that point, but they tried to proceed. As I understand it, Tyson reared up out of the grasp of the tech, pawed his muzzle off, and bit the tech on the hand. The bite was supposedly bad enough that she needed to seek medical attention for it. Because medical attention was sought, animal control was called. Protocol in cases of dog bites is basically up to the animal control officer assigned the case. It can range from, "don't worry about it" to "We're seizing this animal for a 1-month quarantine at our facility." Luckily for Tyson and for me, the animal control officer was understanding and gave him a 10 day quarantine to be served while boarding and finished in my home. Tyson will need a physical exam and rabbies vaccine at the end of those 10 days.

I was, and am, really angry about the incident. I'm angry at how the vet handled the situation. I'm disappointed in myself for permitting it to happen. But, I'm actually really proud of Tyson. After much pressure from me, the vet hospital administrator admitted the bite didn't break the skin, only left a bruise. Despite being stressed and restrained in a strange environment by strange people, he moderated his bite pressure enough to avoid breaking the skin. I know it sounds really bad to say I have a dog that has bitten someone before, but I don't think you can ask for a better decision from your dog. He was in a terrible situation for him but still kept his head enough to avoid any real damage. Good boy Tyson!

So, a few lessons learned:

1) Be careful about being complacent on how your dogs will interact with vets. Just because they are schooled in veterinary medicine, doesn't mean they are good at interacting with dogs.

2) Trust your gut. If your gut is telling you something isn't right with the situation, listen to it. Better to miss an opportunity than to let something bad happen.

And one more thing, that I hope people will pay attention to:

3) Kai Ken are in many ways the "easy" shikas, but that doesn't mean they are pushovers. They are easy because of their close bonds with their owners. They choose on a daily basis to put up with us. But don't for a second think that they aren't emotionally or physically capable of getting down and dirty if the situation dictates it. On this forum we spend a lot of time talking about how polite Kai are, and how relatively speaking they are easy to train. But the more time you spend with them, the more you realize that underneath those manners is a raw and wild dog that will come out whenever they aren't comfortable with the situation. Tyson, for example, has the opposte of a hair trigger. It takes a LOT to turn him on. I've seen dogs being downright hectic towards him, and he'll turn the other cheek. But once he decides he's had enough, it's over before you can blink. That wild dog is lying dormant beneath the surface and will come out when we, the owners, drop the ball like I did.

Holy shed!

okiron — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 13:37:52 -0400

My MIL left over a month ago and I'm still finding her GSD's fur everywhere! Even in rooms she was never in >.< Please tell me kais don't shed as much on a regular basis.