Hi Everyone!



Hi! My name is Brad Anderson - my wife, Jen, and I have a 3 month old male Akita Inu named Hilo. We got him from Kayoyoi Tomodachi Kennel in Valladolid Spain. His father is multi champion Ryuu Go Shun'you kensha and mother is Daika Go Shun'you Kensha both from Shun'You Kensha Kennel. Silvia, at Kensha, was referred to me by Katja Weber our Shikoku's breeder.


We had wanted an Akita for a long time but didn't feel we had the space, but we have moved into a bigger place and felt our female Shikoku, Ahi, could use a buddy to play with. Our pack now consists of: Maui & Kaia [Shiba Inu], Ahi [Shikoku] and Hilo [Akita]. We are very excited about this forum - I hope it grows into a great community.


Below are some pics of Hilo.


~Brad


Happy Hilo


Hilo and Ahi


 

Comments

  • edited November -1
    What a cutie pie. Akitas are some of the cutest puppies! How old was Hilo when you got him and how old is he now?
    MAy I suggest www.akitahistory.ifo for those of you who are interested in teh history of the breed.

    I bet you cannot stop petting and snuggling him!

    Britain
  • edited November -1
    Sorry, www.akitahistory.info
  • edited June 2007


    My name is Brad Anderson, my wife [Jen] and I live in Atlanta Georgia with our 2 Shiba Inu - a 4 year old boy named Maui and a 4.5 year old girl named Kaia. They are great, so cute and loving, with fiery Shiba personalities.


    Unfortunately Maui was attacked at a dog park and is now a bit dog reactive - so we don't get to take him to many Shiba activities, but Kaia does well with other dogs - once she establishes that she is a tuff little girl. We feed our dogs a RAW diet and they do very well on it. When we rescued Kaia she had all kinds of food issues, but feeding her RAW has made her a very healthy little girl.


    We also share our life with a 10 month old female Shikoku named Ahi and a 3 month old male Akita Inu named Hilo.


    I'm stoked to be part of the forum and I can't wait to hear from some other Shiba owners! Below are some pics of our pups.


    ~Brad



    Maui


     


    Kaia

  • edited November -1


    My name is Brad Anderson - my wife's name is Jen - we are on a waiting list for a Kai Ken and should be getting her by the end of the summer. I have wanted a Kai for many years, I think they are very interesting dogs. We are so excited about adding a Kai Ken to our pack - currently we have:


    Ahi: female Shikoku


    Hilo: male Akita Inu


    Maui: male Shiba Inu


    Kaia: female Shiba Inu


    The Kai will be the final dog we add to the pack. My wife is starting a Japanese Dog Breed rescue and we think it's important that we live with a member of each breed so that we are that much more familiar with all the unique Japanese dogs.


    I'm very excited about teaching our Kai to mush - I have been working with Ahi and she is learning quickly, I plan to teach Hilo as well - so I can have a 3 dog Skijoring team! I'm also interested in SAR and packing, we have gone on several treks with Ahi and she is an amazing packing dog.


    Anyway, I started this forum to help unite the Kai Ken community - I started the Shikoku Dog forum months ago and it has been a real success. So I felt the Kai Ken deserved the same type of community. As I'm sure all of you have seen, there is just not a lot of info out there for the Kai Ken - I hope that this forum will help change that.


    Thanx!


    ~Brad

  • edited November -1


    Hi Brad!


     I'm here. My name is Marian Campbell and I live in Michigan. I have been active with the Kai since 1996. I received many Kai from the original importer of Kai into this U.S. and have kept the lines preserved here. My devotion to the Kai is endless and fierce as I will always protect their original traits and promote the uniqueness of the breed. They are born looking for their soul mate and their dedication to their owner is endless.


    Marian Campbell


    Classy Kennel, Mi


    Kai and Shiba


    www.classykennel.com

  • edited November -1

    Hi Kusita - Hilo is just a bit over 4 months old now, he was 3 months old when we got him, it took a while to get him here from Spain.





    Yes - he is VERY soft and snuggly, if he is not playing with Ahi [which is pretty much all the time] he is snuggling with us. He really likes people and dogs. We are so happy to have him.





    I will check out AkitaHistory.info. Thanx for the link!





    Any ideas on how to drive some traffic to the new site?
  • edited June 2007

    Hi Marian!







    I'm really happy you made it by the forum. As you can see I'm excited to get my Kai - and build this community. If you take a look at the Shikoku Forum you will see that it's a great place for knowledge sharing - I want this forum to be the same.







    Welcome to the forum!







    ~Brad
  • edited November -1
    Hilo does look like a very sweet puppy. Time goes by so fast, I know my Mihoshi is a little over two now. It seems like just yesterday that she was a brand new white puppy from Isreal.


     BTW: akitahistory.info is a OneAkita propaganda site. It does have some good info but use it with caution.


    Thanks,


    Brad

  • edited November -1


    Hello All.  I'm Brandon and I have one Shiba, his name is Nemo.  Lately he has been giving me a lot of grief at the dog park (nastiness towards other dogs) and so we are working on his issues.  Probably going to be needing a basket muzzle for trips to the dog park.  I just enrolled him in another obedience course, and I will be working with him to help him over come his problem.  It all stems from the fact that we go to the park all to often and he feels that he owns it, and he doesn't like dogs that don't defer to him on his territory.


    Most of the time he is a fantastic dog and once he knows and trusts someone, he gives 100% to them.  He is a rescue and I have had him for over two years now, he is a very loved, well cared for boy.  We have a bit of a Shiba club in our area and he has a lot of Shiba buddies.  Here are some pictures of Nemo and his friends.


    Nemo


    Nemo


    Nemo and Turi (brother)


     Turi, Nemo and Finn


     Nemo and Takara (his girlfriend)

  • edited November -1


    That's sad to hear Brandon, I hope he gets over his 'mine' syndrome [tho he is a Shiba].


    Like I have said a million times - Nemo looks like a happy beefcake. :c)


    ~Brad

  • edited November -1


    My name is Gwen and I've got one Kai Ken and a tortie cat.  Mako is my first dog, and it's been so much fun.  I'm looking forward to refocusing on some training, building his confidence in situations outside of his comfort zone, and possibly proceeding with more specific training related to agility (not to compete) or SAR.  But it's a whole new world for me, so it'll take me some time.  :)


    Thanks for the forum!


    ~Gwen

  • edited November -1

    Hi Gwen - welcome!





    It's great you are working with Mako like that, we just got our Akita puppy in training, his first day was yesterday.





    I can't imagine having a Kai as my first dog, if they are anything like my Shikoku [which I have heard they are] it must of taken some adjusting for you. It's probably good to hit the ground running tho.





    ~Brad



  • edited November -1


    I hope he gets over it to.  Nemo is my first dog ever so it has been interesting watching him mature.  When he was young he would play with any dog at any time, even annoying other dogs until they chased him away, angry or not, he didn't care, he just liked to be chased.  Over the last year as he has really matured into an adult, he is looking for a lot more respect out of other dogs, he wants to be an alpha, but he doesn't really know how, he is just a wanna-be, and that is why he gets physical sometimes.  I had no idea before this that a dogs personality could change so much, but we are dealing with issues as they come up. 


    If he can't get over his issues we will just have to stop going to the dog park except for early mornings on the weekends when no-one else is there.

  • edited November -1


    That's similar to our experience with Maui - he was my first dog... and he loved dogs and would play like hell at the park. Then he was attacked at the park, and that was the end. Now if a dog approaches him that is un-socialized and doesn't know proper dog manners Maui will bite.


    I have nicked named him "Kill Switch" because he show no warning, he just strikes, out of the blue. It's always a very deliberate and focused bite on the lip of the other dog - usually a puppy... it causes an awful yelp from the other dog but never bleeds or leads to injury [not to say it's acceptable in ANY way tho].


    Anyway, my point is, they do change as they get older - there personalities change a lot. You add a negative event or incident to it and you end up with a VERY different dog. Maui has spiraled down a hole that will probably lead to a very lonely life for him because I can't take him anywhere. We have done all kinds of classes, met with behaviorists, and now we are trying drugs - it all has helped but he will just never be allowed to play with other dogs, outside his pack [and he only plays with Kaia, our female Shiba, in the pack].


    I'm still a bit skeptical of dog parks, but we have started taking Ahi - she is a tuff girl.


     

  • edited November -1
    A kai and a tortie?  Sounds like your pets match!  
  • edited November -1


    Tojo went through a phase where he was snapping at other dogs, but he seems to have gotten over it for the most part.  Occassionally he's really vocal when playing with them, but he never ever bites.  Sometimes he sort of jumps up in their face and makes a lot of noise.  He's better when Loki's not around, though, because Loki doesn't know how to socialize with other dogs and I think since Loki's the dominant dog, Tojo often copies when he's doing, which isn't good.  Tojo also loooves to be chased around by other dogs and will do anything until they chase him!  I'm lucky in that I've never had a negative dog run experience, but I think next time I will just socialize the puppy at puppy kindergarten, at least until they are out of the fear stages.  I wouldn't want to risk a bad experience then.  


    Brad, how old was Maui when that happened?   

  • edited November -1


    My Kai is called Jake.  Actually his legal name is Classy's Taisho No Mavrik, but when I picked him up from Marian, the name was longer than he was.  We flew halfway across the US together.


     I had a Kai before Jake, named Bella.  She was left for dead on the side of the road, and my first dog rescued her.  She had the most amazing personality, and when she died, I knew I had to have another Kai.


    Marian said that the Kai males are more loving than the females, which was hard to believe until I met Jake.


    Jake lives with a border collie mix, a sweet, sweet little ditz.  But she sure made a great stepmom for Jake!  They are inseparable....until Jake wants to do a little hunting.  Heddy is more into herding and she gets bored.


    It's true that a Kai has his own agenda, but he always checks to see that it doesn't interfere with what your needs are.

  • edited November -1


    He was around 2 years old. With Maui the writing was on the wall we just didn't pick up on it [inexperienced], he is a fearful little man.


    I agree tho, I think socializing a puppy in a more controlled environment is the best bet - there is just to much room for a problem at a park. It's not your dog - it's the other people's dogs - ya know. It's like driving, you are always watching out for bad drivers.

  • edited June 2007


    Well...you can never be "too" safe when it concerns the dogs. Tis true, your guard is ALWAYS up!

  • edited June 2007


    The dog park is my friend and my enemy  The friendly part allows me to go off leash with my Shiba and to really help him spend all his energy, it also allows Nemo to sniff, play, and hunt, some of his favorite things.  The enemy part of the dog park allows Nemo out of my full control, and I cannot react as quickly as he can act.  The enemy part also allows any idiot with a dog to come and play at the park, some with no sense about anything, I'm suprised they figured out how to start their car and make the drive all the way to the park.  It's like "Hey pal, is it really a good idea to let your 5 year old kid run around with an ice cream cone in her hand at the park?"  Not that that actually happened but I think you know what I mean.


    So far the friend part of the dog park has outweighed the enemy, but things are getting close these days, mainly due to Nemo's additude.  I wont stop going completely, there will always be 5:30 am on a Saturday and it's pretty empty then, and there will always be days when it is 20º out with 8 inches of fresh snow, and most people wont be out then either.


     

  • edited November -1


    Yea - IMO - kids should not be allowed in a dog park [nor should idiots, but that's even less PC than the kid comment I just made].


    Mmmm - snowy dog park, that sounds fun... I wish it snowed here some. Right now it feels like a mouth outside - gross.

  • edited November -1
    Hilo looks very devious!! I know a breeder of 40 years who has lived in Japan who thinks that what you perceive will happen, will indeed happen because Akitas are cerebral. You seem to have an open mind yet with your usual due diligence,it will work as he's growing up with Ahi and Maui. I've always had male/female Akitas run together and stay at home aimiably. Kusu is the most gentle soul and even at 2 years she's loving toward every other dog, esp if they chase her as she's amamzingly agile and grins back at the poor fool who will never catch her.

    Britain
  • edited November -1


    Snowy dog parks are the best.  Nothing makes Nemo happier than 6 inches of white stuff to run around in when it is 25º outside.

  • edited November -1
    Tojo loves snow, too!  He gets on his belly and "tunnels" through it, which always seems to give way to zoomies.  He does that in piles of leaves, too.  It's very cute.
  • edited November -1
    that sounds cute. Smile
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