People always ask if my Black and Tan Shiba is a husky puppy, all the time! Twice I have been asked if he is a wolf mix which I find to be a little weird
And now with our white Hokkaido we are being asked if he is a Shiba, husky, or Eskimo dog. When I say what he is people just pretend to know the breed! A little girl yelled at her mom to look at the wolf my husband was waking, hehe
LOL!! The other day, someone asked @creativejen and I if Kona and Akashi were Queensland Heelers...now, I thought that one was interesting, since I normally get Shiba or Coyote of some kind :P
my auto mechanic is a rural old timer and he's 'pretty sure' Juno is a "coydog"... he shakes his head and says "I really think that's a coydog. She looks JUST like 'em...." (thinks: You poor gullible woman, someone told you it was this rare Japanese dog, but they just sold you an ol coydog...)
Kuma is blowing her coat (Zabu is too but he wasn't with us on our errand) and someone asked if my wolf mix has rabies........ before I could respond she said 'You should probably get it tested for rabies because hair loss is a symptom. It's an easy blood test' WTF????? I really could not believe the level of stupid we were enduring LOL
She is NOT a wolf. She does NOT have rabies. And they can't run a simple blood test for rabies. She is a perfectly healthy Akita blowing her coat!
The other day I was out walking Meitou and Amy with one of my sisters. While we were out we came across a family (parents, two daughters on a bike) walking their two goldens and a third dog I didn't get a good look at. One of the daughters saw Meitou and said "Oh! Look at the cute white dog! It looks like a snow dog."
I take Yoshi with me whenever possible. Last week, we went to the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica and walked into Brookstone. They've got treats for our four legged friends and they loved him there, especially when he shakes hands and barks on command. Yoshi's a food whore, so despite not being a particularly friendly dog, he tolerated being pet in exchange for food.
I've also taken him to car meets where he's been mistaken as a shiba inu. Hell, I made the same mistake when I first got him, so I don't take any offense to it and I let them know he's a Jindo, a Korean cousin. I then explain to them the main differences and segue into talking about cars.
"She's a Japanese Akita, a smaller cousin of the American Akita. She'll be about fifty-five pounds when she's grown up."
I said this like twelve times tonight after our PetSmart class. I am becoming quite rehearsed at it. The red JA are pretty and all... but none of my dogs have attracted as much attention as Gamera does! It must be her markings; they're really something else.
Nobody mistakes her for another breed, either (except for the werewolf comment). I just get "WOW what kind of dog is that?! I've never seen anything like it before!" over and over again. With my other puppies, I would overhear people talking about them, and maybe tentatively ask me a question. With Gamera, they are so intrigued by her that they flock to her like a celebrity -- to the point of interrupting me when I was on a phone call to ask questions.
Well, its good for her socialization, anyway. Our first outing to Lowes she was a bit overwhelmed. After now our fourth trip to a store, she's starting to really ham it up.
No one every knows what Leo is either (even after I tell them, of course), but no one seems that interested in him. They seem to think he's just a mix of something, and I suspect most people think pit mix because of his brindling (because they're the other dogs people are likely to see with that brindling). It kind of makes me sad that no one ever wants to pet Leo because he's so friendly. Maybe it's his brindling or his short hair, or whatever, but people just keep a distance and say "interesting mixed breed" like he is some kind of bug. And there's Leo, wagging hopefully, and people just walk away.
50-65 is pretty typical. Bijo looked fat at 60. Gojira and Mosura are both 50, despite Gojira being 3.5" shorter than Mosura.
EDIT: I haven't weighed Mosura since she filled out in the past couple months. She may be more now. But I did lift her in and out of the car in May, and she definitely doesn't weigh as much as Gryphon (who hovers around 70 lbs) and I think not as much as Bijo ether.
In my petsmart class there is an AA but the owner and the staff keep calling her a Polish Akita..cuz you know they are alittle bit smaller (heard this several times). So I asked the owner if it was an AA from polish lines to clarify my conclusion. The owner hedged and was like the Polish ones run smaller, from a different strain... 8-|
Guys is there a third breed split we should be looking out for??
I had someone ask if TK was an Elkhound. When I clarified his breed, they confidently said "ah, so it's just like an Elkhound!"
I politely smiled and we both moved on.
There were some people at an event who were talkind around me about him, discussing if he were a Husky or a Malamute because he was Husky sized but had brown eyes - so he must have been a Malamute.
They did the same thing to this lovely couple with a Xolo, who really took it all in stride.
I spoke with them after the event and they admitted that they didn't mind when their dog's breed was mistaken, since it let them weed out who was genuinely interested.
I kind of feel that way when people mistake TK. I don't even care. I let them guess what mix he is or what breed he is and don't bother to correct them unless they're -actually- interested.
For some reason, I'm still really bothered when people call London a Sibe, tho. Every time.
I see a nieghbor walking quite often, and we usually stop and talk. She knew Toby and Bel were Shibas because she has a friend with Shibas, and she knew Oskar was an Akita, and she was interested in Leo, but (unsurprisingly) had not heard of a Kai Ken. Anyway, she's nice to talk to, and we often warn one another of issues when walking--frequently loose dogs, coyotes, bears, etc.
Anyway, the other night, she said, "but you don't have to worry about coyotes in your yard, right?" I thought she meant because of Oskar, but then she said "because they won't go after a Shiba because Shibas are so fierce." Turns out, her friend with Shibas told her that. I told her about Bel being attacked by coyotes in the yard, and pointed out no matter how "fierce" they might be, they are still smaller than coyotes, etc. etc.
I certainly did not blame her for the misinformation, and I suspect she filed it away to tell her misinformed Shiba owning friend!
eta: and I have an embarrassing confession: I often get sibes and mals mixed up. I forget which one is bigger, etc. I like to blame Alaska, where there were so many mixed breeds that were part sibe or part malamute, or neither, but still called "huskies." You know, any northern spitz mix in AK is a husky. But still, I should, by now, have sorted it out and have not. So when I see one, I never say what breed I think it is, because I'm likely to get it wrong, and don't want to aggravate the owner.
When I walk Rakka and Sosuke together, I get stopped by... basically every single person who sees me. If not that, then I overhear them say, "Wow, look at those dogs!" I think people assume they are two variations of the same breed, so they don't make assumptions, and always ask what kind they are. Plus, maybe they contrast each other in a way that makes them more striking.
When I walk Rakka alone, people always assume Husky. Once in a great while, people think oversized Shiba, but hardly ever.
When I have Sosuke alone, I get asked much less often what kind of dog he is, and people will often say they used to have that kind of dog. They assume he's a heeler or heeler mix. I live in beef country, so heelers are really common. Once in a while, people ask if he's a pit bull or boxer mix, I assume because of the brindle. Everyone LOVES Sosuke, though. He's basically a super star everywhere he goes. Everyone thinks he's beautiful and everyone comments how sweet he is (he is really sweet).
We took Akuma to a music day in the park. We got asked a lot about what he was. We also saw a family we knew and one of their friends asked if he was a lobo (wolf) and looked surprised when we said he wasn't. Which I thought was funny because their kids toddler to 10 years were all mobbing Akuma to do tricks and pet him. If he was a wolf, would you let your 2 year come up and offer him popcorn and pet him? haha But they were all really nice and clapped when he did tricks. We also saw a couple with a shiba and I talked to them for awhile. They said people thought he was a miniature husky and while we were talking a girl came up to pet him and said she wants a baby husky too. They hadn't heard of/met a kai before and they really liked the look and also enjoyed seeing/hearing about similarities. @WhoBitMe hahaha that's awesome. Just tell them he's bilingual.
@WhoBitMe I watch videos of dogs on my laptop all the time. My dogs just ignore it. Then one day I was watching a Japanese dude sweet-talking an Akita pup (maybe 8 months old?) and Bijo flipped out. She ran over and woo-wood at me and when I didn't get up, she started trying to flip the laptop with her nose.
I always get the usual "is that a fox?" comment...I started to joke "yeah, I curled its tail" but I think some people got nervous, so i don't use that much lol
Tonight's walk I saw some kids at the park, and their conversation was cute: Girl: Look at that puppy! Girl 2: No, that's a fox!!! Girl: That's not a fox, that's a dog Girl 2: No, it's a fox! That's so mean to take a fox away from its family!!!!!!! You can't do that!! ..and she continued to yell stuff at me but I was walking away so I'm not sure what else she yelled.
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And now with our white Hokkaido we are being asked if he is a Shiba, husky, or Eskimo dog. When I say what he is people just pretend to know the breed! A little girl yelled at her mom to look at the wolf my husband was waking, hehe
No, really. I said KAI dog, not coydog.
She is NOT a wolf. She does NOT have rabies. And they can't run a simple blood test for rabies. She is a perfectly healthy Akita blowing her coat!
My sister said, "You know, she's kind of right."
It was pretty funny.
I've also taken him to car meets where he's been mistaken as a shiba inu. Hell, I made the same mistake when I first got him, so I don't take any offense to it and I let them know he's a Jindo, a Korean cousin. I then explain to them the main differences and segue into talking about cars.
I said this like twelve times tonight after our PetSmart class. I am becoming quite rehearsed at it. The red JA are pretty and all... but none of my dogs have attracted as much attention as Gamera does! It must be her markings; they're really something else.
Nobody mistakes her for another breed, either (except for the werewolf comment). I just get "WOW what kind of dog is that?! I've never seen anything like it before!" over and over again. With my other puppies, I would overhear people talking about them, and maybe tentatively ask me a question. With Gamera, they are so intrigued by her that they flock to her like a celebrity -- to the point of interrupting me when I was on a phone call to ask questions.
Well, its good for her socialization, anyway. Our first outing to Lowes she was a bit overwhelmed. After now our fourth trip to a store, she's starting to really ham it up.
Must be all that deceptive fur...
EDIT: I haven't weighed Mosura since she filled out in the past couple months. She may be more now. But I did lift her in and out of the car in May, and she definitely doesn't weigh as much as Gryphon (who hovers around 70 lbs) and I think not as much as Bijo ether.
Guys is there a third breed split we should be looking out for??
I politely smiled and we both moved on.
There were some people at an event who were talkind around me about him, discussing if he were a Husky or a Malamute because he was Husky sized but had brown eyes - so he must have been a Malamute.
They did the same thing to this lovely couple with a Xolo, who really took it all in stride.
I spoke with them after the event and they admitted that they didn't mind when their dog's breed was mistaken, since it let them weed out who was genuinely interested.
I kind of feel that way when people mistake TK. I don't even care. I let them guess what mix he is or what breed he is and don't bother to correct them unless they're -actually- interested.
For some reason, I'm still really bothered when people call London a Sibe, tho. Every time.
According to a pack of children, Conker is a dingo.
Anyway, the other night, she said, "but you don't have to worry about coyotes in your yard, right?" I thought she meant because of Oskar, but then she said "because they won't go after a Shiba because Shibas are so fierce." Turns out, her friend with Shibas told her that. I told her about Bel being attacked by coyotes in the yard, and pointed out no matter how "fierce" they might be, they are still smaller than coyotes, etc. etc.
I certainly did not blame her for the misinformation, and I suspect she filed it away to tell her misinformed Shiba owning friend!
eta: and I have an embarrassing confession: I often get sibes and mals mixed up. I forget which one is bigger, etc. I like to blame Alaska, where there were so many mixed breeds that were part sibe or part malamute, or neither, but still called "huskies." You know, any northern spitz mix in AK is a husky. But still, I should, by now, have sorted it out and have not. So when I see one, I never say what breed I think it is, because I'm likely to get it wrong, and don't want to aggravate the owner.
When I walk Rakka alone, people always assume Husky. Once in a great while, people think oversized Shiba, but hardly ever.
When I have Sosuke alone, I get asked much less often what kind of dog he is, and people will often say they used to have that kind of dog. They assume he's a heeler or heeler mix. I live in beef country, so heelers are really common. Once in a while, people ask if he's a pit bull or boxer mix, I assume because of the brindle. Everyone LOVES Sosuke, though. He's basically a super star everywhere he goes. Everyone thinks he's beautiful and everyone comments how sweet he is (he is really sweet).
@WhoBitMe hahaha that's awesome. Just tell them he's bilingual.
Tonight's walk I saw some kids at the park, and their conversation was cute:
Girl: Look at that puppy!
Girl 2: No, that's a fox!!!
Girl: That's not a fox, that's a dog
Girl 2: No, it's a fox! That's so mean to take a fox away from its family!!!!!!! You can't do that!!
..and she continued to yell stuff at me but I was walking away so I'm not sure what else she yelled.