Akita Rescue

akitarise

I Just wanted to let everyone know that if anyone is looking to rescue a akita in California that Passion for Paws has AA ,JA and other breeds that need a loving home. here is the link to their dogs
http://www.apassionforpaws.org/OurDogs.html

*JackBurton*

I contacted them regarding the pair of Brindle JA. I did not get a response from them. Another thing that I have noticed it the number of rescued JA -100% and tweenie coming out of the High Desert area.

shibamistress

Re: the number of JA's coming out of the high desert....what do you think is happening there?

Those brindle littermates are gorgeous...

and Re: rescue in general, I often read Blue Moon Akita rescue in Colorado. They're close to me, which is part of it, but damn, whoever is writing for them does it so well that I always feel like I'm going to start crying when I read it....

*JackBurton*

The ears on the brindle JAs are a little too upright. They also have a white that they say is a JA -but whites do not have black noses. Honestly it if they are full JAs we should be able to place them.

akitarise

I would love to adopt the brindles but unfortunately i live out here in Texas... Its a damn shame that there are so many dogs that need a home...

BradA1878

Bailey is really cute. )

white_bear

off-topic: JackBurton, sometimes JA have really dark noses that can be/appear black. It also matters how and when the picture is taken.

Here's an example:

PS: he is definitely a JA, related to Golden Eagle.

*JackBurton*

white-bear: You are right. For some reason I just thought it was a pink nose only deal. I really have no idea where I got the notion of a pink nose only white akita.

shibamistress

bumping this rather than starting another thread. Our little NM Akita rescue group has had a bunch of Akitas in need in the last month, and this one lookslike a JA to me....what do you think? He came out of Silver City (at the shelter there). He is 8 years old, named Lucky, reportedly very sweet.

He's here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150574488282000&set=a.10150574487357000.375109.258200501999&type=1&theater

(I don't know if you need to be friends with NMARG to see the pics or not).

He's beautiful regardless. Wish we could take him in, but another adult male of unknown background is probably not a good idea for us.

lwroth

One of my friends in northern California that I help with rescue commented she'd seen a number of health problems in the JA-looking Akitas from Southern California shelters but almost no health problems, or temperament problems, in the Akitas from central farming areas, where dogs are probably treated more like livestock and not indulged as some of us indulge our Akitas. They're probably bred with no thoughts of health clearances, pedigree, etc. And they mostly look it, too :-( . However, a healthy Akita's not to be looked down on, no matter what its background.

shibamistress

Interesting. And it's true, a healthy Akita is not to be looked down on! My boy is healthy so far, in spite of a genetic issue (he has a very mild case of microphthalmia, but so far no eye issues, just a slightly smaller eye) and has a great temperament, but I'm aware of many health problems in the breed, sadly. I don't know if there are more in JAs than in AAs? In the US there are less JAs, but I'm more aquainted with AAs than JAs (except what I know ofJAs from this forum!)

ayk

Overall, JA numbers are greatly dwarfed by the AA numbers in the US.

There are fringe JA breeders in soCal though. ie. Sometimes I see listings of JA puppies in the Korean online ads.

My friend's shelter JA might have come from one. So far he only has slipped hocks as an adult.

ShaSha, the JA who was rescued with my male PS, had entropion. He was later discovered as also having luxating patella.

*JackBurton*

Ok I need to phase this correctly so it isn't seen as a pro-split deal. There is a unique situation in Southern California and the JA-like dogs found in the shelters. At one point we were approached by people breeding JA and wanted to do Akiho. They could not get registration numbers for their dogs. So a couple of them went to the CKC (Continental Kennel Club - where C does stand for crap) and tried to sell them. At one point, I saw them pop up on a website call Mr.Bulldog and in a pet store in downtown LA. The other group came from a Korean breeder out by little rock. His early JA were nice but he didn't have papers for them. I heard he doesn't breed anymore. He later stuff was not real good.

Anyway, my gut has told me that they are all from the same group of dogs. I can tell you that we (LA-Branch) has talked about this issue but I never seem to figure out where exactly the dogs came from.

lwroth

Interesting, Sean--I wondered about that. The first Akita I saw, about 23-1/2 years ago, was in a neighbor's back yard. The dog came from LA and was "bred" by his brother--his probably AA Akita and a JA-looking Akita of the Hispanic family next door. The dog I saw was a WFR and I fell in love with the breed. Maybe that's when I fell for mixed-pedigree Akitas, too ;-). I imagine there were Japanese-Americans who brought over their family Akitas and may have done casual breeding. I've seen Jindo like that, brought over by Korean families, several guarding dry cleaners around here. These dogs probably wouldn't be in any database or registry.

*JackBurton*

The Akiho branch in LA was founded in 1970. Early on it was comprised of what the judges referred to as "Local Dogs" as the branch grew there were over 200 members at one point. I'm sure in the early days dogs were being sold to non-members. That isn't the case now as the branch keeps really good tabs on where the dogs go. Not to mention that health checks are the norm now.

The big issue for me with the dogs showing up in the shelter, is the health issues that they are having. It's too easy to look at them and say it is from the lack of diverse JA in the states. When in fact it is the result of small group of un- registered JAs being bred over and over again.

I'm always hesitant to bring up the Korean connection in these post because I feel that I'm painting with a broad brush. The issue isn't the ethnicity of the breeders as it is the private or close nature that they are being sold. I guess the words I'm looking for is "word of mouth" - wow what a crap explanation but this is all I can come up with right now.

ayk

I think you're being very tactful. :-) Truthfully, I'm hyperaware of the Korean ads because I regularly check them and I'm of Korean descent. There could be other ads in other languages (incl. English) but I just don't check them. They're outside my circle of awareness.

I think what you're saying makes a lot of sense because it's nearly always one or two JAs that get posted. The rest of the litter probably gets placed via word of mouth.

lwroth

Thanks for the explanation again, Sean. Yes, I might have thought their health problems were from the lack of diversity in JAs here; very sad when people fall for the beauty and often good temperaments of the JA-looking shelter dogs and sometimes find a nightmare of health problems. I didn't realize there was this method of selling JAs; I don't see many around here. But I don't get out much :-).

shibamistress

here's one that might be fitting into this discussion, but more importantly, needs a home: Young female JA in Downey shelter in CA:

http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/22210143

akitarise

Saw this on FB. This JA is said to come with a japanese pedigree.

http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/23558732

Zinja

She's beautiful! Hope she finds a wonderful home.