Kishu Pup

I got permission from an internet friend to post some of his Youtube videos on my blog.

He hunts down south, and I'm pretty jealous of all the space they have down there (and the oodles of pigs). There's a lot more big game hunters down there, as opposed to all the bird hunters up here where I am.

There's a wide variety of dogs used, but since I'm partial to the working Japanese breeds, I'm posting video of some of their dogs in training, a Kishu and Yakushima to be exact.


Just a warning: Hunting videos can be a bit gory and are unpleasant to some. If you're one of those people don't click on the video.

Kishu do quite a bit of 'catching', but most any hunting dog will if they're in a pack and feel they are strong enough to take the pig. I prefer my dogs bay, I think you get less injuries that way.

This is a pretty non gory vid, just young dogs learning to bay a big pig.

Updates

Looks like I won't be entering Haru in the Kai Ken Aigokai Tenrankai this time round. After a kibble switch, her coat's gone dry and a bit haywire. Over the past week or so she's chewed a few spots on her sides, and I don't think it'll heal in the next month.

I've gone back to feeding her cooked, our kibble experiment didn't go so well. I've been throwing raw treats in every now and again, and she loves them. A bit too much actually.

Dropped by the Chiba-ken Nippo Regional the other day, took a bit of video. No pics as the Nikon is still sidelined, but I will try and upload the footage soon.

Autumn is in full gear, the weather is nice and cool, perfect for getting out and about. Also prime tick season. Seem to be bringing quite a few of them home. Frontline is keeping them under control, but of course doesn't kill them instantly, so we find a lot of half dead ticks around the house after our trips.

Had a good hike in the rain last week, loads of fun. Worked with Haru on the 'no chickens' policy. She's learned that she's not allowed to chase chickens, and will pretty much give up chase on anything I call her off of. The one exception being cats. She really has it in for cats. Any cats that are not her cats anyway.

I need to fix the Nikon, and a new video camera would be nice. I long for the days when I used to have free access to professional filming equipment...

Over a month since my last post.

Ever since the Nikon died (and I have yet to get it fixed), it's been hard to work up the energy to blog. It's all about the pictures!

It's been a long month. The weather went from torrid to cool in a matter of a week or so. Haru and the cats love it and they're getting much more energetic. It's time to start hitting the mountains hard before the start of the season in November.

Haru's weighing in at just over 13kgs. She's filled out a bit in the past month. Was looking a little scrawny and leggy for a while there. Her coat's not quite there yet, still coming in. Am pretty much waiting on that to decide whether or not I'll enter her in the Tenrankai next month.

Her prey drive is growing by the day, and she's quite impressive when she gets in hunt mode. At the moment it's still all about small mammals, have yet to see about the big pigs. Still a bit clumsy at times, she jumped into a wall instead of over it tonight. Got right back up and jumped over it though. Guess it's good in that it reminds me she's still a 7 month old pup.

Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is going real well in regards to her temperament, reactions, energy levels, health. Couldn't have asked for much more in a dog. She's appropriately balanced in most everything. Not to soft, not too sharp, with people or other dogs. She guards the house, but not obsessively, is very calm indoors, and turns it on once were out in the woods.

Still 7 months, guess we'll see where we go from here!

Adding video of a friend's Kai. They're both working dogs, excellent boar hunters.