Aki - One Year-old
Hi, Akita Inu community.
We've been browsing and admiring the beautiful Akitas and journals on this forum for a while. Thank you for allowing us to join.
I'm flying to Mexico City from Houston to pick up our little girl tomorrow Oct 1st.
Please pray for us that everything will go well.
We are so green at this. Your help and advice will be greatly appreciated.
Will update as soon as we can. Some pictures taken this month by the breeder.
Sincerely,
MnV
Question: Is it kosher to post a link to our blog? Should we just copy and paste our blog entries here? Do not want to violate any rules here.
Edit: Try to post this under Akita Inu category but it wouldn't let me.
We've been browsing and admiring the beautiful Akitas and journals on this forum for a while. Thank you for allowing us to join.
I'm flying to Mexico City from Houston to pick up our little girl tomorrow Oct 1st.
Please pray for us that everything will go well.
We are so green at this. Your help and advice will be greatly appreciated.
Will update as soon as we can. Some pictures taken this month by the breeder.
Sincerely,
MnV
Question: Is it kosher to post a link to our blog? Should we just copy and paste our blog entries here? Do not want to violate any rules here.
Edit: Try to post this under Akita Inu category but it wouldn't let me.
Comments
With the blog, I think you can post the link (others have) or you can just spam us on here, or do both
Welcome BTW
It's been a wild journey getting our puppy. We are now humbled by the science and art of having a dog, especially an Akita.
I couldn't understand other people's obsession of dogs before; some people around us are surprised by our enthusiasm now.
We've been following the Saga of Kuma in the Akita Forum. We find it to be both entertaining and educational.
Thanks again.
----
Congrats on getting your girl, she's a cutie.
Kuma is happy you found his thread to be of help :-)
We really enjoy watching Kuma's Journal. Nyx and Kuma have the most awesome friendship even some human can't hope for, LOL! You guys are great parents.
The Anderson Dog Ranch is also a great heartwarming story that shows us how love of the owners is so important for the life of these beautiful pets. In a sense, the owners and the pets bring significance to each other.
Still much to learn as responsible and loving parents.
Continue to pray for us.
The short answer, she's from here Mex Fujimoto Sow.
The long version (post from our blog):
Counting down...
I'm picking our puppy up on October 1st, 2009. I'll be flying to Mexico to meet Hideki and puppy, then catch the next flight back with her. I pray that all will go well.
Our puppy is born 07/13/2009. She is from Mr. Fujimoto's kennel in Texcoco.
We are not dog people. I have kicked a few myself. The first time I see a Japanese Akita Inu, I fall in love, especially with the background story of Hachiko.
We started to research and contact anyone we can around the world. Since we couldn't find any puppy available in America, we called overseas to Japan, France, and Mexico, and wrote emails to several breeders worldwide.
Of the many people we've contacted, we find some to be business like, some who are too proud of their pedigree, and some who genuinely love and care about the Japanese Akitas.
Ben is a great friend and mentor we come across. We spend hours talking on the phone, mostly with him educating us on all aspects of Japanese Akitas. I found him on his website Kobun's Japanese Akitas & Shiba. He is always patient and polite, stating his points without imposing, and we can tell he truly loves the Japanese Akitas. We cannot thank him enough for his help.
Carol is super nice too. She is the closest breeder to us which is about 3 1/2 hours drive away from Houston at Hyozan Japanese Akitas. Even if we've only talked once, her emails show that she is a kind person who wishes the best for any Akita lovers. She even invited us to go to their kennel at Corsicana, which we have to back out because we're occupied with getting ready for our puppy. Jim and Carol are planning a litter early 2010 that we originally wanted to buy from, but we are just so hopelessly charmed by the Akita Inu that we have to get one ASAP.
The common trait I find in these genuinely nice Japanese Akita lovers is that they are just simply nice folks who care to help. They are not in bit interested in defending their position of splitting the two breeds, which actually make their message sounds even louder and more effective. Never have I heard them saying the Japanese Akitas is better than the American ones. They are just two distinctive breeds and it all come down to personal preference.
On a fateful day, we found Mr. Fujimoto at Mex Fujimoto Sow. He has puppies available NOW! OMG! His son Hideki has been the patient one who is helping us with the communication. He is an amazing person who can speak Spanish, Japanese and English! I feel bad because I think we've bothered him enough. This is the first picture they sent us showing the available puppies on 09/16/2009:
Again, this family is super nice too. Mr. Fujimoto suggested that we should stop by his kennel, have a tour at the pyramids and the city at his expense! We jumped on the offer initially, but due to our scheduling conflict, we just opt to fly over and pick up the puppy this time. We would love to visit his kennel one day and tour Mexico City.
We've been looking at these pictures of our baby girl taken on 09/21/2009 while awaiting her arrival. We take days off to get her adjusted to her new home. We feel sad that she'll have to be separated from her sister whom she plays a lot with.
So, pray for us that everything will go smoothly.
I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
And welcome to the forum. We require lots and lots of puppy pictures when you get home!!!
That's awesome that you get to pick her up today. Probably one of the most exciting moments is retrieving your puppy for the very first time.
Congrats & all the best! We look forward on hearing updates from you and the pup
(FYI, the young puppies in the newest Hachiko film are actually Shiba Inu puppies, not Akitas. So your new little furfriend won't look like them.)
Welcome to the forum!
We finally arrived at home. People at the custom think I was crazy to fly in, pick her up, and fly back immediately.
The Fujimotos are the nicest people ever. I really mean it.
I think Akiko misses the old family and her mom. We tell her don't worry, we'll love her like our own girl.
So far so good, she's asleep on Vanessa's lap. Will try to post more picture and video later.
She's such a pretty girl!
Until then, enjoy:
I'm quite exhausted myself, but Vanessa is doing great.
This is a post from our blog that I'm reposting here:
After spending our first couple days with baby girl, we are discovering her little personality. Akiko is a very confident and a smart puppy. She has no problem to show you what she likes and does not!
We have learned that Akiko LOVES being outside ... and she doesn't like to be leashed at all. We've tried few times to leash her, she would bite on her leash and barely moved ... she would just look at you, sit and start resting on her spot! We've encouraged her at each movement when she took a step forward, but still she can be a stubborn little ball of fur! The worst is that she refused to do her business when she is on the leash.
So, we've decided to trust her as she will know what's the best for her. We've removed her leash for the first time and she was all excited and exploring her new yard. She was sniffing everywhere, following some ants on the concrete and at some time she licked some of them too (not sure if she understands her action of being playful with mini creatures by licking them), and she went smelling all GrandMa's plants. She loves the dragon-fruit plant eventhough the leaves have spikes, she likes to go underneath the leaves and smell the fruit. She is a happy dog when she is not on the leash and she surely know when to go whenever it's needed.
At the beginning, each time when we took her back inside the house, she was standing next to the backyard door and was whimpering next to it. Initially, we thought she still wanted to go potty, but to realize she went out to just get a nice sun tan on the grass, made herself comfortable and slept! It may because she used to be an outside door with the breeder.
Slowly, we've helped her to be accomodated with the indoor house. She doesn't like carpet at all ... she loves sleeping on tiles cause probably it gives her a cold feeling.
See how she is deeply asleep on the title and how she likes to be against the kitchen counter: