NIPPO Chiba Regional (Fall 2010)

Today was the NIPPO Chiba branch tenrankai (show). I got up at 5 and got all the dogs walked and fed. It was an overcast day, but luckily the rain held off till everything was done at around 2 in the afternoon.

The event was held in a new location, and luckily for me it's around 30 minutes away from my house. I got there early to help set up. I've been attending a lot of NIPPO shows for several years now, and aside for showing a friend's pup once, I'm just there taking pictures and meeting up with friends. Today however my good friend and mentor was busy with the judging (he's a NIPPO judge in training), so was unable to show his own dogs.

My two Kishu are far off the standard, so I don't show them, and Haru is KKA (Kai Ken Aigokai), so I can't show her either. The other day I got a call from my friend asking if I wanted a little practice handling, in preparation for when I actually have a dog to show. I was more than happy to agree to show one of his dogs. She's a very nice red Shikoku female, but at 6 years old she's never really shown well. She doesn't like the ring, and has always dropped her tail (in NIPPO that's very frowned upon).

Well I got her out on leash for the first time yesterday, and then today was the big day. Of course, Saki's tail was dragging. Well wonder of wonders and after hours of coaxing, walking, and treats (and maybe a little begging), I managed to get her through the morning 'kotai shinsa' (physical exam) without her tail dropping. Everyone was surprised, and while we thought that she wouldn't make it to the actual judging in the afternoon, she did.

Amazingly enough she did even better in the afternoon, and I was able to get her into at least a semblance of a stand. We ended up taking 3rd place. I was giddy, and everyone came round to congratulate us, at which point Saki's tail dropped, haha. So, I guess I just burned through my beginner's luck.

It was a great day though as my mentor's aka young male Shikoku took 1st in his class (as usual), and then went up against the adult male who took first for the 'Honbusho'. He's been going after this at all the regional's this fall, and kept coming up short. Today was his lucky day however, and he ended up winning. Since my friend was helping with the judging, another friend had to show him, and he did an excellent job.

It was a great day all around, and I even had Haru tag along for fun. She got to meet and play with some of the other Kai there.

Anyway, here are some pictures.



This is Gakuto, a male Kai, littermate to Gin, a male I've taken pictures of before.



Sleeping Shiba





A very rare yushoku Kishu Female







A very nicely balanced Kishu male





I've got a lot more pictures up on my flickr account, and will post them later.

Shikoku Pictures

I took a few more pictures of Shikoku Ken yesterday, so I figure I'll post them here.

A very light colored female. This is not a preferred color in the breed, the color in her coat is very diluted. She's not been bred or homed because of it. I just wanted to post the picture as an example of a very light colored Shikoku.



Kuro-goma male, littermate to Koto, my friend's prize winning aka (red) Shikoku male. He has nice coloration, but is a little weak in his hindquarters. He was the runt of the litter, and has not been bred or homed either. I have a better picture of him, but I posted this one for fun for the facial expression.



Here's another of him.



This is the sire of the above kuro-goma (black sesame) male.



Another stud male, an aka.



Two pups sired by the above aka male.



This is the replacement for the female kuro-tora (black brindle) Kai pup.



Lastly, I hate how blogspot cuts off the right side of all my pictures. Anyone know of a fix for this glitch?

Available Shikoku Puppies

Since my schedule freed up a bit today, I made the trip down to my friend's kennel to look at the available litter of 5 female Shikoku. It was a beautiful autumn day, sunny, but with a nice crisp breeze.

The pups all look to be in great health, 5 very friendly little furry girls. They all look very similar, and in coloration look like they'll be aka or aka-goma. They are predominantly red, with a bit of black tipping here and there. There is one darker female who looks like she may go more toward goma (the last picture).

When I got there my friend's kids were out playing with the pups in the kennel, so I had them hold the pups for pictures.











I've got close up pictures of them up on my flickr photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/30674599@N04/ so feel free to take a look. There is another litter with two females that was born 3 weeks ago, but they're not ready to go yet, so I'll take pictures of them next time.

Here's the parents.





One of the pups will be decided in the next few days, and it looks like whatever girls are not picked by the end of the month, are going to other kennels. If anyone is interested in these girls, fee free to mail me.

My favorite's are are these two

Another Trip

Well sometimes things just don't go as smoothly as they should. The little kuro-tora female I picked up 2 weeks ago ended up with a hernia. It wasn't very noticeable when I picked her up, and even the vet wasn't sure. The last few days it became more obvious, so I had to make another trip to Yamanashi to take her back to her breeder. I brought back her sister, another kuro-tora. Guess I need to snap some pics of her later.

I decided to visit the KKA (Kai Ken Aigokai) office while in Yamanashi. I've never been, and though the office is extremely busy getting everything ready for the coming tenrankai, they were kind enough to let us drop in.



I got to thumb through some old photos from the first tenrankai, but didn't want to stay too long as they are very busy. The office is located in a small building, on the second floor above a milk supplier. I doubt much has been changed since they first opened the office. There is no fax, and definitely no computer. The only electronic items in the whole place are probably the telephone and a light. It's a very small place, and not much to look at, but they do have some old (and new) books in the cupboard that have to do with Kai Ken, and then there are the pictures. Will have to drop by again sometime to take another look.

This is a picture taken of the first Kai to go to the States. Ten Kai were sent to a zoo in Utah in 1950 as goodwill ambassadors.



Dropped by a gift shop on the way out as well. I read in the paper that the prefecture had a lot of small Kai Ken figurines made, and wanted to see them for myself.



I did find something interesting though. Yamanashi is famous for its grapes and wine. On display they had this wine opener made from a boar tusk. Apparently they are traditionally used to open wine bottles at celebrations, and size matters.



Yamanashi is also famous for its artisans who work with precious stones mined there. There were a lot of amazing pieces, and I figured I'd take a quick shot of this little one and have everyone guess what it's priced at. No cheating and looking at the tag! This piece is around 20 cm tall (8 inches or so?)



Of course no trip to Yamanashi is complete without dropping by kennels to look at Kai. This female is the dam of a chu-tora male I took pictures of before. Here's the link to the boy http://www.flickr.com/photos/30674599@N04/4585964718/in/set-72157623687659647/







She's 11 years old now.

Here's a few of a friend's 4 year old male. He was raised as a big game hunter, but has come back to my friend's kennel to be shown for a while.

Litters

Well there have been quite a few litters born recently, and a few of my friends have asked if I know anyone that is interested. There are some Kai pups, and several Shikoku pups available. I'll be posting pictures as soon as I get a chance to see them.

If anyone is interested, feel free to mail me.

I'm off to bed. Babysitting puppies is tiring!

Running Around

Did some more running around yesterday, dropped by the Nippo Santama regional, visited a friend's kennel, and dropped by Inoue-san's kennel as well.

I snapped a few pictures at the regional, but at first glance didn't really like the pictures I saw. I wasn't really into the dogs, probably because none of my usual pals were showing. I hung out with the Kai owners, had some great curry made by 'Takariku' (thanks again!) http://www.youtube.com/user/takariku  I told him a mutual friend is coming over to the fall Aigokai Tenrankai, so looks like he'll be making it a point to attend as well.

I swung through Tokyo on my way back home, dropping by another friend's house for dinner. It was another long day with lots of miles in it.

Tora, a 4 month old male. Sort of sitting right on the line between aka and chu-tora.



2 month old male, no name yet. Kuro-tora, very butch. It's hard to tell from pictures, but he's a little tank, thick boned, very wide masculine face.



Hana, a female kuro-tora.



Another pic of the 2 month old male.



Tora again.

Nippo Kanagawa Regional (2010)

While rifling through my SD cards I realized I hadn't posted these pictures yet either. They're from the Nihon Ken Hozonkai Kanagawa branch fall Tenrankai. It was the fall/autumn show, but it was blistering out there, making it absolutely nasty for man and beast alike. Still had an enjoyable day though.

This is a friend of mine showing one of his female Shikoku. It's a littermate of a female that went to the States named 'Koshi'.





Another friend's Shikoku male 'Koto', looking stunning as always.



Random Shikoku shot.




A typical shot of a Kai at a Nippo event. Well maybe that's exaggerating, they don't always look so forlorn. But perhaps always sitting at the bottom of the Nippo totem pole takes its toll?

Recent Kai Pictures

So I've been here there and everywhere recently, and have taken a fair few pictures of Kai. I was unable to post them due to my internet status, so I'm going to chuck a few up here.

Kuma, a 6 month old aka-tora.





Musashi, a young male aka-tora.





Mao, a two year old male aka-tora.



Note that all these boys have brindle right down their muzzles to their noses. Black face masking is not preferred in all the Nihon Ken.

This is Mako, my Kai Haru's dam.



Here are some of her pups.