Update and new (well, newer) pictures of Toshi (Ungud)

dilly

I finally made my way back to the forum to give some updates on our dogs. First, Toshi, our Hokkaido is doing great. And he's still very talkative, they go to a dog training facility during the day while I'm working so they're not home alone chewing up the couch. Whenever I pick them up, Toshi tells me all about his day while our other dog, Kaia (a Kishu) tells the other dogs to stop barking. We go for at least one hike every week. Even though my vehicle won't make it up into the mountains right now, there's still plenty of places for us to go. In fact a couple weeks ago, Toshi dragged me across some large boulders while we were hiking in Red Rock Nation Park, he just forgot to check if I had made it up the boulder yet in our rock scrambling.

To make this easier for anyone who wants to see them, I've put Toshi's pictures online using dropbox:
http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/9122046/1/Toshi (Ungud)?h=5c725e

Losech

Neat pics! I like how he tells you about his day XD
I hope to have a Hokkaido someday. How similar is he to your Kishu?

Brego_mellon_nin

Great pictures, it sounds like he's a real personality Wonderful!

Araks

Those pics are awesome. I too am looking to own a kishu and hokkaido (and shikoku) in the future, so I'm always excited to see info and pictures of them. Thanks for sharing!

dilly

Personality wise they aren't very similar. He's very vocal, gets along great with other dogs (this took a few weeks at first he was very jealous of Kaia, even though we had Kaia first and all she wanted to do was play with Toshi), he's very afraid of new people and loud noises (he won't hide from them but he will howl and bark and possibly bite if someone surprised him or approached him without someone he knew around.) Our Kishu on the other hand is very quiet (she didn't bark once until she was about 7 months old), corrects all the other dogs at the dog training place, loves people (she prefer's to lick them until they back down), is completely fearless (unless it's a sandwich board or a trash can). They both love being outside, Kaia is definitely faster and seems to have a higher pray drive. In fact the other day she was trying to convince a hawk (which was on top of a pine tree that looked like it was going to break in half from the bird's weight) to um...play with her in the backyard.

Toshi is very obedient can will be sitting next to you if he thinks you called his name or if he hears a bag that might possibly be treats. Kaia will sometimes look at you when you call her, sometimes she'll look at you and then look the other way like there's another dog named Kaia over there that you are calling. She'll listen when it suits her needs and if it's her decision.

sunyata

Thanks for the update! Glad to have you back around, and Toshi looks great!

Saya

Thanks for the pictures both Toshi and Kaia are great looking dogs.

Toshi sounds like my shiba inu Saya she is very talkative when excited. If she came with me on a trip to the grocery or pet store and when she gets home she yodels a lot like she is telling Bella what she did. lol

dilly

Lol, that sounds just like Toshi. Although his howls sometimes make people think he's being aggressive when he just wants them to pet him.

Edgewood

@dilly - loved your description of the 2 dogs. :-) Interesting to hear the comparisons.

ichigo

Thanks for the pics! I'm always excited to see pics of hokkaido since they're so rare

dilly

Also, Toshi loves attention and being pet, at times it seems he thinks he's a little lapdog. Kaia on the other hand, will sometimes like to lay down next to you but if you touch her she will make this grunting/moaning noise and give you a dirty look if you do it again she'll get up and move to the other side of the room. Other times she'll have the same reaction to noise on the TV or if you're talking to loud or cough or breath too loudly.

We should be going for a hike this weekend so, hopefully I'll have pictures with snow. I just need to find a trailhead that I don't need to have chains or snow tires to get to.

lindsayt

Wow, nice photos. Glad you put something up about your dogs since there isn't much info out there.

tjbart17

Welcome Back!!! Great pics.