Kishu Baron thread (picture added 3/14)
Long weekend, long story. Hello new puppy.
Will add more to the post later.
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So the longer version:
As you all know, I hunt. I've been at it for a few years, but didn't have a dog for the first few. Since we've had Haru I've been taking her to the mountains with me. Hopefully she'll pan out and make a good hunting companion.
For a while I've been friendly online with a group of hunters down south in Kyushu. They hunt with several types of dogs, and in there they have some Kishu from the Hosoda line.
When I was first looking for a hunting dog, and had decided to get one of the Japanese breeds, I looked at the Kishu. However, at the time I wasn't decided if I was only going to hunt boar, and the fact that there weren't any good hunting lines around that I could find dampened my interest.
I decided on the Kai, as they are a more versatile hunting breed (albeit not necessarily the best boar hunters). Each of the Japanese breeds has its own hunting style, and even in the breeds different lines have different 'gei' (translated it basically means artistic style/performance/skills). Some lean more towards 'hoe-dome' (baying), others toward 'kami-dome' (catching), but all Nihonken pretty much use a variety of both. Some range farther from the hunter, others hunt close. It's an endless subject, and the search for the 'perfect' hunting dog continues.
Every hunter has his own style, and a different set of skills he looks for in a dog. Being a novice, I hadn't really even thought about exactly what I was looking for. I just wanted to get out there and see how far Haru and I could go.
Realistically, the odds of having a dog that can hunt solo and get results is pretty low. You basically have to win the dog lottery. Recently I received a mail from one of the hunters in Kyushu saying that his lead dog had a litter that was larger than anticipated, and saying that if I was interested he'd be open to the idea of giving me one. The vet thought there were 4 puppies, but there ended up being 10!
I was very interested, but hadn't planned on adding another dog for at least another 6 months. I had also thought the next dog would be another Kai. I was pretty torn, but the chance to hunt with one of their Kishu was very tempting. Thus began a long series of mails discussing Kishu, the Hosoda line, and different hunting styles.
I've leaned toward baying dogs in the past as I was told by some(and also assumed) that there was less risk of injury. Kishu tend to lean more toward the catching side of the spectrum. There was only one way to sort this out, so I mailed my friend in Kyushu and asked if I could head down at his convenience to talk dogs, and see how they hunt down south.
I got a mail the next morning saying that they were all getting together in 3 days to hunt in Oita prefecture from the 1st-3rd of October, and I was welcome to join them. Schedule wise this was a bit harsh, as Kyushu is 1500 kilometers away, and I had work until 10pm on the night of the 31st, but chances like this don't come along that often.
So I scrambled to work out the details, and ended up walking out of my workplace at 10pm, straight into the car, and onto the road to Kyushu. I drove my 'mountain car' a 660cc jeep with a max speed of around 90km for just over 24 hours to make it in time for the 2nd. I think I got around 6 hours of sleep total over 2 nights.
Up bright and early at 6am, I got to meet everyone face to face for the first time. They're a terrific bunch of guys, and pretty bad ass hunters. We went at it all day long till sunset, and it was an amazing learning experience. They hunt on a totally different level than I'm used to seeing, and being able to experience 'nagashi-ryo' firsthand was incredible.
There were a few let downs, as I didn't get to see some of the battles the dogs had on the day with a few of the larger boar (I was in a different part of the mountain), but all in all a great day. We had dinner and drinks at night, and talked on into the night about hunting and dogs.
I stayed in a hotel that night and finally had a good 8 hours of sleep, totally missing the check out time. I had to head back to Chiba as Haru was acting up a bit with me gone, so another 1500km run was on. My friend with the litter told me to stop by his house on my way back so we could talk a bit more. We managed to find time in his schedule, and talked for several hours.
I was honestly not planning on bringing a pup back with me. I had mentioned the idea to my wife, but she was not getting on board. There were many reasons for this, and I'd basically agreed to wait on the idea till we could figure everything out. However, after seeing the dogs in action, and talking with the hunters, I realized that this was the type of hunting I wanted to do, and the dogs for the job. When my friend said if I was interested in running Kishu, he'd be happy to let me have one, I jumped at it and said yes.
The trip home took longer as I had to stop every three hours to feed and toilet the little man, but he was very well behaved. His mother had been going to the mountains by car everyday while pregnant, so the pup didn't seem to bothered by cars or motion sickness.
When I finally got back home, there was a lot of explaining to do to the wife. She naturally ripped me a new one, but fell in love with the little polar bear. He hadn't done anything wrong, I had, so she played with him all night and took care of him the next day when I took Haru to the mountains to expend her pent up energy that had accumulated while I was gone.
The wife has sort of forgiven me, and I'm getting bits of sleep here and there, but the pup is definitely worth the trouble. He's a little fire cracker, and very mouthy, but Haru has been great with him from the get go. They play together very well, and he even puts her in line when she goes over the top. He's been tentatively named 'Baron' by my wife (like all our pets he's named after a Ghibli character), though I would have preferred something in Japanese.
He's extremely outgoing, not an ounce of fear in him, and pees like no one's business.
Comments
and I think the photo is perfect for your post: enough to tempt us, more later, you know it will be good!
Congratualtions!
Kishu?
PS. How about some Haru updates, haven't seen her in some time:)
Congrats, and what a cutie!
Can not wait to hear the whole story.
LOL
In all seriousness, CONGRATS!!!! More spam more spam more spam! PLEASE!
Female or Male? Name? Age? How's s/he doing with Haru? & yes tell us the long story!
Can't wait to hear about all your amazing experiences
Interesting what a completely different "look" he has about him than the few other Kishus I've seen. He seems burlier and more compact, quite square in build, unless the one picture is deceiving. I'd love seeing more pictures when you catch up with your sleep.
The little guy is very cute!
Congrats- and good luck with the little fellow!
Another Whisper of the Heart fan (my Sage is actually Seiji- for Seiji Amasawa of that same film)- but I wondered why your white cat isn't "Muta", the striped one is?
Thanks for pics of Baron, and loved the long story... Not only are you gifted with dogs, you are a captivating writer and storyteller...
What age do Japanese hunters usually let go of their pups if the pup goes to a friend (ie. not being shipped via air)?
Marion: Baron's out of hunting lines on both sides. His mother has the more 'modern' Kishu show look, but his father carries the 'old' traditional Kishu build (stockier, he looks like an old warrior). Out of all the pups the 'look' was pretty much split between the pups, with Baron the only one carrying a sort of mix of the two. His breeder and I were both joking about how 'different' he looked, but I'm happy with different. He's a working dog first and foremost, and I chose him for his temperament. Nothing bothered him even when the other pups were jumping all over him, and he has great eye contact. I probably should have chosen the runt for hunting, he was about 100 times more of a firecracker than Baron, but I need a dog that's a bit more chill.
Chrystal: Yes, our cats are named oddly. But Muta's personality just fit. Not sure about Baron, we'll see.
Kevin: If you're going for an all round dog (like I was at first) I think the Kai would be a great fit. They're good on small game and birds (though they hunt very differently from your normal 'bird dog'), and can hunt large game as well. A Shiba from working lines would probably work out okay, but might be a bit small for boar. I ran my JRT's on boar for a bit, and they were great, but size wise I think it's a little harsh on them. A veterinarian friend of mine told me that tests show the best weight for a big game hunter is 25kg. It was something to do with a whole averaging out stamina, body temperature, and strength. A Shikoku could probably do all of the above, but I'm not sure how well they'd do on birds. Kishu I'm pretty sure you only want on big game. That's what they're for. My advice, get a dog from hunting lines if at all possible. It increases your odds of getting a good dog.
Ayk: Of the Nihonken, Kishu are the closest to being 'catch' dogs. A dog that will stop it's prey by biting pretty much every time. Though when compared to dogs like pits and dogos they are a bit more subtle. Real catch dogs will charge in for the bite and not let go regardless of the opponent (that's the idea anyway). As a rule, the Nihonken tend to be a bit more careful and size up their quarry before deciding how to tackle it. From what I've been told the Kishu from the Hosoda line stray a bit from most hunting Kishu, and tend to be closer ranging, using a little bit more baying and 'karami-dome' (baying/tackling game when it tries to run).That's what I'm looking for in Baron. I tend to hunt solo 90% of the time, so I need dogs that are close ranging (who wants to be looking for their dogs all day), and have good 'renraku' (communication) with me (ie fan out in a circular motion around me checking out scents, coming back regularly to see where I'm at). I plan to hunt like they do in Kyushu with a 'nagashi-ryo' style, which is basically isolating a ridge and walking across its face just below the backbone, with the dogs scenting out the boar below and flushing/stopping them till I get there. As far as when a hunter will let a pup go, everyone's different, but with hunters running dogs in packs apparently it's a good idea to get them when they're younger, and raise them with their new pack. Everyone has there own preference, but I usually hear of pups leaving around the 45-60 day mark.
Congrats on Haru. I will also be getting a male Kishu from Kaz San in a few weeks. I will be in Japan this December to get my new hunting dog Taro so maybe we can meet up. I'm planning on staying for about 3 weeks with my son doing some hunting also.
I can't wait to visit Haru and Baron on my next visit to Japan. It would have been awesome if I could make it to Japan this year...but I have lots going on right now.
So I hope to see you next year when I go pick up my Shikoku puppies
Congrats on the pup, he's going to be quite a beast.