Wildsolo did you name Lobo the German Shepard after Lobo the wolf or something else just curious.
I named my shiba inu Saya after Blood + the OVA movie and TV series. I think it might mean swift arrow and maybe means I.
Isabella, Bella for short my named named her that she liked the name everyone thinks she got it from the twilight series, but she never read the book or knew the character on it was named that at the time she named her. I think the name fits her.
My past family dogs names were Mike my first dog I didn't name him my parent's got him when I was a baby grew up with him he was my best buddy.
Pearly our first boxer was named after Pearl river that's in Mississippi plus she was white boxer.
Dink our catahoula mix not sure why I chose Dink I was a kid then..
Junior my parent's boxer/pit mix my dad named him.
My next dog I'm not sure what I'll name him or her I'm sure it'll come to me.
I hope to get a shiba inu from hi jinx kennels and eventually a Hokkaido.
I just found out that the word "kai" means a lot of things, so it seems to me, there is some opportunity to give your kai a play-on-words name. Like so:
Kai also means:
effect, result, worth, use, avail floor (counter), stories counter for occurrences cut, clip, shear, reap, trim, prune shell, shellfish, being in between, mediation large low rank, subordinate, lower order (e.g. byte) meeting (suf,vs), assembly, party, association oar, scull, paddle
Tony (Frosted Flakes) Hobbes (Calvin & Hobbes) Montecore (the tiger that almost killed Roy of Sigfried and Roy) Tigger (Winnie the Pooh) Shere Khan (The Jungle Book) Rajah (Aladdin) Shimajiro (from a Japanese children's cartoon, most famous for this video:
Nvm Gen, I just looked at the other thread and figured out that your brother was taking in Ele. Congratulation on the pup! I sure you'll think of a good name for little Ele.
Names....hmmmm.....I have a hard time because I figure the name has to match the dog, and sometimes I have names picked out that don't.
Dogs I've named:
Jasper (a husky pup I found when I was a teenager. Someone stole him from me though).
Kiska: an American Akita I had years ago. I still lived in alaska then and wanted an Alaskan name, but not the typical one everyone names their dogs like Chena or Tundra or something. Kiska is an island in the Aleutians. Kai: my German Shepherd, back before I knew about the NKs! His name was Piper when I got him, so I wanted something with an "i" sound, and picked Kai because it means Ocean in Hawaiian. Or so a baby name book claimed!
Hydra: (pronounced Eee-dra) a chow mix I had that looked a lot like a Kai. Named her after the island in Greece, where I'd spent a wonderful week.
Toby: My male Shiba. I went through lots of possible names with him. The frontrunners were Ajax, Hunter and Jagger. Ajax we had to reject because, well, it is in fact a cleaning product. The other two suit him. But somehow I came across the name Toby and it just seemed right when I met him, as he was a fat, fierce little thing. His full name is Tobias Sunfox. Toby's nicknames include Fat Boy Slim, Biggie, the Fat One, and Devil Dog.
Jezebel (who I call Bel): my female Shiba. I had pretty much decided to name her Jade. But then I started thinking about how I like the kind of old fashioned name "belle." I decided to wait and see if she was a Jade or a "belle" type. When I met her, she was shy, but very red and foxy looking, and so I thought she was not a Jade, but maybe would grow into Jezebel, and in the meantime, I could shorten her name to Bel. Bel stuck, but her registered name is Jade Jezebel Foxglove (as has white "gloves"). Bel's nicknames include Little Miss Pisspot, Bitsy, Girly, and Twirly Girl.
Oskar: American Akita. by this time its clear I like human names for dogs. I tried to think of a lot of names. I thought about some Haitian mythical names, and came up with Ogun (who is a warrior spirit) and even better, Azaka (I'd have called him Zaka, who is a spirit who is known as the "greedy eater") None of these seemed quite right. His puppy name was Blake, but that didn't work with me. Finally I just came up with Oskar, first as a joke (my husband's last name is Maier--so I could call him Oscar Mayer! *lol*) And it sounded good, and I liked the k rather than the c. I kind of liked the name Black Jack, too, but everyone else rejected it. His full name is Oskar Ogun. Oscar is also Little Man, Big Boy and Floofy tail.
I still like Zaka though. And Ayizan for a female. There's a famous mambo in New Orleans who has named all her female Akitas Ayizan.
Other names I still like are Jade, Asia, China, Black Jack. I like place names for dog names as well as people names.
I wrote up a longer explanation on my blog, since we were asked this question so often.
Short version: Bowdu's name is Mandarin Chinese, 寶肚, meaning "precious tummy." I guess if he had a Japanese pronunciation, it'd be "Takahara." But he's not from Japan -- he's Made in Taiwan. And we thought his name should reflect that. My partner chose the "Bao" character, and I chose the "Du" character, because he had a big ol' puppy gut.
Bowpi (寶媲) the Basenji's name was chosen to complement his. Her name means "precious companion." I checked up on a Japanese pronunciation to her kanji as well, but it didn't roll of the tongue like Takahara, so I can't recall it...
I don't think we could keep going with the "Bow" theme in perpetuity.
I'm reserving the name Tago Mago for a future dog, after one of my partner's and my favorite records by the German band, Can. It's a nice versatile name that can apply to a variety of breeds, I think, but it definitely sounds masculine to me.
And if we ever get to welcome another female Basenji, I've reserved the name Missa Luba. Another musical reference, but this is geographically specific and so appropriate to a dog native to the Congo region.
Naming is a special process to me, so I like to hear other people's "naming" stories too.
I love coming up with names, but unfortunately for me, I have yet to decide freely the name of my pets.
My GSD Vega was named by the breeder. They named each litter by the alphabet (first litter must have names with A, next with B and so on) and Vega was in their second V litter (they bred for over 50 years). Actually they let me choose between 5 names they'd chosen, but they all sucked, and I persuaded them to allow me to name my dog Vilka. It is kinda icelandic sounding, but as far as I know has no meaning... I had ridden a horse named Valka, that was an icelandic horse, and I loved her name, but didn't want the exact same, so I changed it to Vilka. BUT to my great disapointment, the breeeders kinda mixed it up, and when I came to pick up my dog, the pedigree said Vega. So that was it. Not really what I wanted, since the Danish Queen's husband has a dachshund named Vega who is every do often in the news for having bitten the guards! xD Not a nice association to have...
My akita Eowyn I actually decided myself, but I could only choose names starting with E, so it was kind of limited. I thought about a lot of names. I didn't want a japanese one, since she is american akita, and her breeder has always used english names. I looked at several and I liked Eira and Eowyn the best. Eira means snow in welsh and Eowyn means horse joy in old english (and is also one of my favorite characters from Lord of the Rings). My breeder loved Eira and asked if she could have it for one of Eowyn's siblings (she is now with Donna of Liberty Akitas, also in here) and I chose Eowyn
For my future kai(s) I have no ideas yet. I prefer to see, if not experience, the animal before I start thinking about names, as I usually find inspiration in their behavior...
I forgot that some breeders choose the name, though of course you could always call them something else as a call name. My friend's GSD had some awful name when he came to her (and on his pedigree) but she just calls him Gideon (which is a great name, I think). Oh, and he has some SCARY ancestors....some of the dogs in his Czech line are "Von Hitlers." WTF?
I have a question... What does the "no" in some Japanese dog names mean? Example: "Tenrou No Tora" I know "Tenrou" is the kennel name and "Tora" is the dog name, so what does the "No" mean? Does it show ownership or something? Like "Yamabushi's Tora"?
The name for our NK are random, I tend to go with a name that has some link to either Buddhism, food, or Hawaii. Jen tends to just pick "cute" names - her choices seem more like what she "feels" the dog should be named.
I plan to name a male Akatora Kai Ken (that I will own one day) "Akuma". One day...
@Wryly Brindle From what I've heard, it pretty much means 'from' or 'of', kind of like 'no' except backwards. Like it would be Tora go Tenrou, at least that's what it seems like. Maybe someone who actually speaks fluent japanese will pitch in
Isaac told me out of the blue that he wants to make a dog Haku, after a character from the Ghibli film Spirited Away. Pretty good, Isaac! I like it for a male Kishu. Here's a pic of Haku:
I also ordered a children's book about a midieval Japanese hunting dog named Jojofu, and Noah says we have to name a dog that some day. I guess we would call her Joey or Jofu or something? I think it's really cute, and good for a female kishu. Here's a pic:
So, now we have names for male or female kishu, although our plans for a kishu are very long-term, so we might change our minds by then. I've also been thinking that the more I get into the hunting, the more likely it is that some day I'll get a retriever for hunting water fowl, and my retriever of choice is definitely the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. So, then I thought, wouldn't it be adorable if I hada female toller named Ponyo? A little water-loving redhead to go with my Sosuke! Too precious. Although, our next dog will most likely be a shiba and Noah is insisting on black and tan. No ideas for that, but then again, we're not getting another dog any time soon.
Haku is a great name. I follow a blog where the owner has a mostly white border collie named Haku (also named for Haku from Spirited Away). It's a great name, and I think it would be an awesome name for a Kishu.
I have a few name ideas. For a Hokkaido, I would probably go with Roronoa Zoro for a male because I am a nerd. If I had a Norrbottenspets (male or female) I would probably name it Roger (as in... Gol D. Roger; once again, because I am a nerd).
I also really like the name Sparhawk, too (yeah, from the David Eddings books). Not sure that I have a particular breed in mind for that. Maybe a border collie.
A kinda funny one, but, my cousin and I have decided if either of us ever get a swedish breed, we are going to name it Sven (we are avid How I Met Your Mother watchers).
We were intially going to name Seiji (Sage) "Pazu" after the brave kid in Castle in the Sky. But instead we went with the violin-maker from Whisper of the Heart, Seiji Amasawa, who noone has ever heard of. So I always have to say "like Seiji Ozawa" for their benefit, at which point my then 7 year old daughter would say "NO! Amasawa, not Ozawa!" Kids insist on accuracy.
Our next dog will be a male kai- I think. If he is, then his name will be Hari. His long name will be Hari Hachi Bo, which my Washoku cookbook says means "just enough"- not overdoing it, eating to savor and stopping before you get full. balance, not to excess. I think this suits a kai as well as my capacity for number of pets I can care for with quality.
Well, I'm weird. I like my non-associated names. Lucy, Joey, Tyson.
I'll be traveling out to Colorado in August to pick up my new pointing lab puppy. We originally planned on getting a female and naming her Cassidy. But after talking with the breeder, we've switched to a male and have a list of names:
Leroy Jackson Mason Gus Percy
Leroy is the leading candidate right now, but I really like Jackson and Mason because then my two hunting dogs will have names that end in "on" and my two pets will have names that end in "y".
Knowing me I'll take one look at him and decide on something that's not on the list. lol.
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@hondru - Tollers are interesting dogs. Why Tollers of all the retrievers? I know retriever and gundog people are religiously loyal to their breed of choice. :-)
I picked a pointing lab because I wanted a dual purpose upland and waterfowl dog. I think if I were getting a dedicated retriever it would be a Cheasy. They're sorta the "nihon ken" of the retriever world. Known to be tough to train, hard headed, and typically somewhat dog aggressive. lol.
@dlroberts - From my experience with Sukoshi (sko-shee) and Hoshi (ho-shee), you may not want names that are too similar sounding. Hoshi sometimes gets confused, because I think his hearing at 14 years isn't quite so good anymore. He came with the name and it suited him. His full name is Hoshi-Ko, "star child". Sukoshi is "little bit" in Japanese. Her full name (the Jap. portion): Sukoshi Shin Mei - "little bit of sacred brightness". Shin Mei is one of the "attribute names" of the Jap. Goddess Amaterasu.
@dlroberts - Leroy's definitely my fave. Good name! As for tollers, it's a few different things. Not the least of which being nostalgia, since I grew up in Nova Scotia and have relatives living in Yarmouth County (where the breed originates), and I always loved those Little River Dogs (didn't know the official name for a long time!). My "ancestral home", if you will, is a little island there called Seal Island. I'm going to be inheriting a portion of it, unless my Nana changes her mind, lol. So, the ties to Nova Scotia. Plus, they're one of the truly Canadian dog breeds! Labs are, too, though.
The other reasons are that they're the smallest of the retrievers, and I keep reading over and over again that they're "not golden retrievers" in that they're more intelligent and independent than other retrievers. They even have a toller scream like a shiba! And they and shibas have both historically done the "tolling" action of luring ducks closer to shore.
I'm open to other breeds, but tollers have always been my favourite. In reality, I think all the hunting breeds have their merits and disadvantages and people get attached to their breed and think they're the best. I won't lie about having my favourites, though! I mean, you have to live with the dog, too, so there's no shame in getting a dog because that's the one you prefer for reasons other than hunting abilities. For one thing, I've noticed a lot of the sporting breeds are particularly stinky, and tollers are more tidy, which again is like a NK. I've looked into some of those multi-purpose breeds, too, and they definitely intrigue me. As you know, I'd like to hunt upland fowl with shiba some day, but it wouldn't hurt to have other breeds hunting too.
@hondru - Right on...a little national pride, I like it! I'll admit to being fascinated by tolling. It's a really interesting spin on typical duck hunting. It gives the dog a more active role, which is sort of a hybrid between how a straight retriever would be used (sit and wait to retrieve) and an upland dog would be used (to search out birds).
I can't say that I have any favorite breeds. I'm all over the place, and find myself continually fascinated by the different breeds of hunting dogs and their individual specialties (or should I say "quirks" ;-)). Some day I'd love a big-ranging pointer like an English Pointer or a Field-trial-line Vizsla. But, given my four dog limit, a more versatile dog was what I needed now. Given how obsessed I get about the individual traits each bred is selected for, I'd be pretty surprised if I end up owning another dog of the same breed again. Then again, I find myself about to be a lab owner and there was a time I swore I had no interest in them...so who knows?. lol.
@sukoshi's mom - Good point. :-) I see how Sukoshi (sko-shee) and Hoshi (ho-shee) would cause some problems. I doubt Lucy (loose-ey) and Leroy (Lee-roy) will have the same problems though. I think your confusion comes from the common "o-shee" in their names with an unemphesized phoneme being the only difference ("sk" vs. "h").
We actually have an issue with Ayu and Ahi. Ayu never thinks I'm calling her when I say "Ahi"... but Ahi ALWAYS thinks I'm calling her when I say "Ayu". It's odd.
In case it's not clear to everyone one, Ahi is pronounced "Ah-hee" (like Ahi Tuna), and Ayu is pronounced "I-u" (or "I-you" or "Eye-you"), which is another type of (Japanese) fish.
To me the names sound nothing alike, but to Ahi it's like I'm saying the same word for each name.
Comments
I named my shiba inu Saya after Blood + the OVA movie and TV series. I think it might mean swift arrow and maybe means I.
Isabella, Bella for short my named named her that she liked the name everyone thinks she got it from the twilight series, but she never read the book or knew the character on it was named that at the time she named her. I think the name fits her.
My past family dogs names were Mike my first dog I didn't name him my parent's got him when I was a baby grew up with him he was my best buddy.
Pearly our first boxer was named after Pearl river that's in Mississippi plus she was white boxer.
Dink our catahoula mix not sure why I chose Dink I was a kid then..
Junior my parent's boxer/pit mix my dad named him.
My next dog I'm not sure what I'll name him or her I'm sure it'll come to me.
I hope to get a shiba inu from hi jinx kennels and eventually a Hokkaido.
Kai also means:
effect, result, worth, use, avail
floor (counter), stories
counter for occurrences
cut, clip, shear, reap, trim, prune
shell, shellfish, being in between, mediation
large
low rank, subordinate, lower order (e.g. byte)
meeting (suf,vs), assembly, party, association
oar, scull, paddle
Other Japanese words for
effect: tegotae, efekuto, dekibae, kounou, kouyou
result: dekiguai, dekibae, kai, sanbutsu, kou, kouka
worth: kachi, kai, atai, torie, atai, ka, neuchi
use: tsukairyou, saiyou, yaku, shiyouhou, shiyouken
floor: yuka, furoa-, furoa
story: iwaku, shousetsu, hanashi, suto-ri, suto-ri-
counter: kaunta-, kaunta, tentou
cut: kai, sai, kireme, kire, wakemae, katto, kizu
clip: sen, kurippu, kai
shear: sendan, kai
trim: seizen, shousha, torimu, kai, kosapparishita
prune: sumomo, kai
shell: kawa, kaigara, kai, kai, tama, sheru, koki-ru
shellfish: kairui, kai
mediation: wakai, nakadachi, chuuho, shuusen, assen, choutei
large: ko, kyo, kai, ookii, ooki, ookii, eki, ooinaru
low rank: hirou, kai, bisen
subordinate: ninotsugi, shitamawari, kai, niji
meeting: issho, kaigi, taimen, kaigou, kaishuu, kaidou
assembly: shuukai, kai, kumitate, asenburi-, shuugou, kaigi
party: han, ikkou, enkai, ren, to, kai, pa-ti, ittouippa
association: tsukiai, kyoudou, kai, dantai, kessha, kousai
oar: o-ru, ro, kai
scull: sukaru, kai
paddle: kai, raketto, padoru
My favourites are:
Kachi (worth)
Koki-ru (shell)
Kairui (shellfish)
Sukaru (scull)
Tony (Frosted Flakes)
Hobbes (Calvin & Hobbes)
Montecore (the tiger that almost killed Roy of Sigfried and Roy)
Tigger (Winnie the Pooh)
Shere Khan (The Jungle Book)
Rajah (Aladdin)
Shimajiro (from a Japanese children's cartoon, most famous for this video:
Dogs I've named:
Jasper (a husky pup I found when I was a teenager. Someone stole him from me though).
Kiska: an American Akita I had years ago. I still lived in alaska then and wanted an Alaskan name, but not the typical one everyone names their dogs like Chena or Tundra or something. Kiska is an island in the Aleutians.
Kai: my German Shepherd, back before I knew about the NKs! His name was Piper when I got him, so I wanted something with an "i" sound, and picked Kai because it means Ocean in Hawaiian. Or so a baby name book claimed!
Hydra: (pronounced Eee-dra) a chow mix I had that looked a lot like a Kai. Named her after the island in Greece, where I'd spent a wonderful week.
Toby: My male Shiba. I went through lots of possible names with him. The frontrunners were Ajax, Hunter and Jagger. Ajax we had to reject because, well, it is in fact a cleaning product. The other two suit him. But somehow I came across the name Toby and it just seemed right when I met him, as he was a fat, fierce little thing. His full name is Tobias Sunfox. Toby's nicknames include Fat Boy Slim, Biggie, the Fat One, and Devil Dog.
Jezebel (who I call Bel): my female Shiba. I had pretty much decided to name her Jade. But then I started thinking about how I like the kind of old fashioned name "belle." I decided to wait and see if she was a Jade or a "belle" type. When I met her, she was shy, but very red and foxy looking, and so I thought she was not a Jade, but maybe would grow into Jezebel, and in the meantime, I could shorten her name to Bel. Bel stuck, but her registered name is Jade Jezebel Foxglove (as has white "gloves"). Bel's nicknames include Little Miss Pisspot, Bitsy, Girly, and Twirly Girl.
Oskar: American Akita. by this time its clear I like human names for dogs. I tried to think of a lot of names. I thought about some Haitian mythical names, and came up with Ogun (who is a warrior spirit) and even better, Azaka (I'd have called him Zaka, who is a spirit who is known as the "greedy eater") None of these seemed quite right. His puppy name was Blake, but that didn't work with me. Finally I just came up with Oskar, first as a joke (my husband's last name is Maier--so I could call him Oscar Mayer! *lol*) And it sounded good, and I liked the k rather than the c. I kind of liked the name Black Jack, too, but everyone else rejected it. His full name is Oskar Ogun. Oscar is also Little Man, Big Boy and Floofy tail.
I still like Zaka though. And Ayizan for a female. There's a famous mambo in New Orleans who has named all her female Akitas Ayizan.
Other names I still like are Jade, Asia, China, Black Jack. I like place names for dog names as well as people names.
Short version: Bowdu's name is Mandarin Chinese, 寶肚, meaning "precious tummy." I guess if he had a Japanese pronunciation, it'd be "Takahara." But he's not from Japan -- he's Made in Taiwan. And we thought his name should reflect that. My partner chose the "Bao" character, and I chose the "Du" character, because he had a big ol' puppy gut.
Bowpi (寶媲) the Basenji's name was chosen to complement his. Her name means "precious companion." I checked up on a Japanese pronunciation to her kanji as well, but it didn't roll of the tongue like Takahara, so I can't recall it...
I don't think we could keep going with the "Bow" theme in perpetuity.
I'm reserving the name Tago Mago for a future dog, after one of my partner's and my favorite records by the German band, Can. It's a nice versatile name that can apply to a variety of breeds, I think, but it definitely sounds masculine to me.
And if we ever get to welcome another female Basenji, I've reserved the name Missa Luba. Another musical reference, but this is geographically specific and so appropriate to a dog native to the Congo region.
Naming is a special process to me, so I like to hear other people's "naming" stories too.
My GSD Vega was named by the breeder. They named each litter by the alphabet (first litter must have names with A, next with B and so on) and Vega was in their second V litter (they bred for over 50 years). Actually they let me choose between 5 names they'd chosen, but they all sucked, and I persuaded them to allow me to name my dog Vilka. It is kinda icelandic sounding, but as far as I know has no meaning... I had ridden a horse named Valka, that was an icelandic horse, and I loved her name, but didn't want the exact same, so I changed it to Vilka. BUT to my great disapointment, the breeeders kinda mixed it up, and when I came to pick up my dog, the pedigree said Vega. So that was it. Not really what I wanted, since the Danish Queen's husband has a dachshund named Vega who is every do often in the news for having bitten the guards! xD Not a nice association to have...
My akita Eowyn I actually decided myself, but I could only choose names starting with E, so it was kind of limited. I thought about a lot of names. I didn't want a japanese one, since she is american akita, and her breeder has always used english names. I looked at several and I liked Eira and Eowyn the best. Eira means snow in welsh and Eowyn means horse joy in old english (and is also one of my favorite characters from Lord of the Rings). My breeder loved Eira and asked if she could have it for one of Eowyn's siblings (she is now with Donna of Liberty Akitas, also in here) and I chose Eowyn
For my future kai(s) I have no ideas yet. I prefer to see, if not experience, the animal before I start thinking about names, as I usually find inspiration in their behavior...
The name for our NK are random, I tend to go with a name that has some link to either Buddhism, food, or Hawaii. Jen tends to just pick "cute" names - her choices seem more like what she "feels" the dog should be named.
I plan to name a male Akatora Kai Ken (that I will own one day) "Akuma". One day...
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I also ordered a children's book about a midieval Japanese hunting dog named Jojofu, and Noah says we have to name a dog that some day. I guess we would call her Joey or Jofu or something? I think it's really cute, and good for a female kishu. Here's a pic:
So, now we have names for male or female kishu, although our plans for a kishu are very long-term, so we might change our minds by then. I've also been thinking that the more I get into the hunting, the more likely it is that some day I'll get a retriever for hunting water fowl, and my retriever of choice is definitely the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. So, then I thought, wouldn't it be adorable if I hada female toller named Ponyo? A little water-loving redhead to go with my Sosuke! Too precious. Although, our next dog will most likely be a shiba and Noah is insisting on black and tan. No ideas for that, but then again, we're not getting another dog any time soon.
I have a few name ideas. For a Hokkaido, I would probably go with Roronoa Zoro for a male because I am a nerd. If I had a Norrbottenspets (male or female) I would probably name it Roger (as in... Gol D. Roger; once again, because I am a nerd).
I also really like the name Sparhawk, too (yeah, from the David Eddings books). Not sure that I have a particular breed in mind for that. Maybe a border collie.
I like Tsume, Toboe and Hige.. I met the English VA of Hige he's cool signed my wolf rain poster. lol
I love the name Haku or any Ghibli film name.
A kinda funny one, but, my cousin and I have decided if either of us ever get a swedish breed, we are going to name it Sven (we are avid How I Met Your Mother watchers).
I like anime names too.
Our next dog will be a male kai- I think. If he is, then his name will be Hari. His long name will be Hari Hachi Bo, which my Washoku cookbook says means "just enough"- not overdoing it, eating to savor and stopping before you get full. balance, not to excess. I think this suits a kai as well as my capacity for number of pets I can care for with quality.
I'll be traveling out to Colorado in August to pick up my new pointing lab puppy. We originally planned on getting a female and naming her Cassidy. But after talking with the breeder, we've switched to a male and have a list of names:
Leroy
Jackson
Mason
Gus
Percy
Leroy is the leading candidate right now, but I really like Jackson and Mason because then my two hunting dogs will have names that end in "on" and my two pets will have names that end in "y".
Knowing me I'll take one look at him and decide on something that's not on the list. lol.
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@hondru - Tollers are interesting dogs. Why Tollers of all the retrievers? I know retriever and gundog people are religiously loyal to their breed of choice. :-)
I picked a pointing lab because I wanted a dual purpose upland and waterfowl dog. I think if I were getting a dedicated retriever it would be a Cheasy. They're sorta the "nihon ken" of the retriever world. Known to be tough to train, hard headed, and typically somewhat dog aggressive. lol.
The other reasons are that they're the smallest of the retrievers, and I keep reading over and over again that they're "not golden retrievers" in that they're more intelligent and independent than other retrievers. They even have a toller scream like a shiba! And they and shibas have both historically done the "tolling" action of luring ducks closer to shore.
I'm open to other breeds, but tollers have always been my favourite. In reality, I think all the hunting breeds have their merits and disadvantages and people get attached to their breed and think they're the best. I won't lie about having my favourites, though! I mean, you have to live with the dog, too, so there's no shame in getting a dog because that's the one you prefer for reasons other than hunting abilities. For one thing, I've noticed a lot of the sporting breeds are particularly stinky, and tollers are more tidy, which again is like a NK. I've looked into some of those multi-purpose breeds, too, and they definitely intrigue me. As you know, I'd like to hunt upland fowl with shiba some day, but it wouldn't hurt to have other breeds hunting too.
I can't say that I have any favorite breeds. I'm all over the place, and find myself continually fascinated by the different breeds of hunting dogs and their individual specialties (or should I say "quirks" ;-)). Some day I'd love a big-ranging pointer like an English Pointer or a Field-trial-line Vizsla. But, given my four dog limit, a more versatile dog was what I needed now. Given how obsessed I get about the individual traits each bred is selected for, I'd be pretty surprised if I end up owning another dog of the same breed again. Then again, I find myself about to be a lab owner and there was a time I swore I had no interest in them...so who knows?. lol.
As in "Lucy, Joey, Tyson, Gus- get over here now!" :-) lol
In case it's not clear to everyone one, Ahi is pronounced "Ah-hee" (like Ahi Tuna), and Ayu is pronounced "I-u" (or "I-you" or "Eye-you"), which is another type of (Japanese) fish.
To me the names sound nothing alike, but to Ahi it's like I'm saying the same word for each name.
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