Kawakami Ken

edited September 2014 in Other Breeds
I know there were old threads on this breed before, but when I went to look at them, a lot had been edited and there weren't any pictures left up, so I figured I'd make a fresh one instead of forcing people to make sense of the old ones.

I finally joined pinterest to have one more medium to post my dogs and information all over and I found quite a few pictures of these guys in a Japanese user's gallery. They're really cute. I'd probably mistake them for Hokkaido or Shiba if I didn't know any better.

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The full gallery has sources for the images. http://www.pinterest.com/kazuyafff/kawakami-dog/

Comments

  • Those are neat! I'm rather partial to the photos of dogs chillin' on the rocks. Reminds me a little of Meitou, though he just climbs up then hops off. :)
  • These guys are awesome! I especially love that first picture with the dog almost looking like he's mid-flight; such a happy face. Is this another distinct Japanese breed?
  • Nate and I LOVE those!!! I wonder what personality is like..
  • Oh my... Those are some cute dogs.
  • @Ilium - They are a separate breed. I don't think they have official recognition, though? I'm not sure.

    I wish I could find more information on them. I might poke around some more to see what I can find. :)
  • Love these pics.
  • If it doesn't have a breed standard or registering body, its a landrace not a breed...
  • @Crispy
    I did a bit of poking around the forums myself and saw it mentioned that they're not recognized by Nippo and (I think it was Shigeru who said this) but they're considered a local variety of Shiba specific to Kawakami village, which seems to be located in Nagano prefecture. Posts indicated that the dog population was incredibly tiny-only 300.

    Interestingly, the village has a website with a bit of English access, and if you take a look at the header, they've included their dogs there as a feature, but I can't seem to find a link (yet) to any more information.
    http://www.vill.kawakami.nagano.jp/english/index.html
  • edited September 2014
    Oh! Well, here's something. I did a search on the village's home page with the kanji for kawakami dog, and it yielded a bunch of results for what appear to be "dogs of the month" back in 2008-2009. I did a bit more digging and yielded this result:
    http://www.vill.kawakami.nagano.jp/kawakamiken/index.html

    Based on the gist of what I'm reading, it sounds like they're very selective about who they sell the puppies to because the dog is so rare and, while not recognized by Nippo, is considered a treasure of Nagano prefecture. You have to undergo some kind of interview process wherein they'll determine whether or not you live in an area suitable to the dog's constitution (and it sounds like they're not fans of urban areas).

    If you click the second link on the left-side navigation on this page, it'll take you to basic information about the standard and history, and the last link has photos of puppies. :)

    EDIT: I just wanted to stick this here since I'd feel bad about making a *third* post in a row, BUT, there's also a contact for Kawakami Village (though not I think specifically for the dogs themselves at the bottom of the page) including a phone and fax number, in case anyone feels like inquiring further.
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