Ecological ramifications? Probably none. It's just a matter of not getting caught. I'd do it if I felt there was an important place to spread my dogs' ashes, regardless of the rules.
"I'm with Osy- having the coat would be treasured but the idea of skinning them feels too violating to me. I dont know if I could deal with the coat having a face either, and I would have a very hard time letting go if I could continue to stroke their fur and smell them, it would pick open the emotional scab."
Yes, this! Couldn't figure out how to word it, but this is what I was trying to say. ~
I have been collecting my dog's fur from the first comb after a bath since the first bath he's ever had. Eventually, I will have it weaved into something I can wear, like a headband or mitt. My husband thinks that's creepy, but when my family's dog died, I was devastated and I would have given anything to stroke her again. I agree with everyone that it's likely a cultural thing what the man did with his Akita, but I prob won't do that as it would be too grim for me to imagine skinning a part of my beloved pet. When my mother in-law's Great Dane died, the vet who administered her euthanasia put her paw print in clay for us and sent a card later that week wishing their condolences. I thought that was a very nice thing to do... I hate to think about loosing anyone I love, but ever since I lost my first pet, I feel like I never want to feel that sense of shock and sadness again. Like I should prepare myself. So collecting my dogs fur is sorta how I'm preparing myself.
Does seem a little creepy--but I've heard of similar things before. I don't know enough about Japanese culture to speculate on the why, though.
I can't imagine getting my dog skinned when she dies... then again, my family never even kept the ashes or anything of deceased pets or bought graves. They make fun of people who do.
I'll try to keep a clipping of fur, though. Just a clipping, no skin involved.
Trying not to think of it in terms of creepiness, though, I'm sure an Akita pelt is rather pretty... wolf pelts can be.
I "inherited" four Akita pelts when a friend died and the executor of her estate almost fainted when she came upon the pelts, probably from the 80s, in a back room. Hotarujishin has one of those; I couldn't keep any of them. There are several pelts on display in the AKIHO museum, and an Akita owner here (Bay Area, California) recently had her Akita turned into a pelt after the dog died. I found the faces with noses intact and the paws with toes and pads and nails intact particularly upsetting. I liked the idea of creating boxes from cedar wood from Akita Prefecture that a friend had planned to do but found importing the cedar wood too expensive. I keep all my dog's ashes in the boxes they come back in, usually cedar though not from Japan I'm sure, and hope to have them buried with me when I die. Several years ago, I cleared a small area in a corner of my yard to bury the Akitas' ashes in, but the landscaper moved in the three heavy rocks before I could bury the ashes, so they're still in their boxes.
I haven't distributed the ashes of 2 Akitas, a lovebird, and pot bellied pigs. Probably will; this summer. My father and 1/2 sisters are in the Pond I live near.
I have the pelt. It's in a good bag, but I'm always around the dogs, and I don't want them to see it.
Comments
Yes, this! Couldn't figure out how to word it, but this is what I was trying to say.
I can't imagine getting my dog skinned when she dies... then again, my family never even kept the ashes or anything of deceased pets or bought graves. They make fun of people who do.
I'll try to keep a clipping of fur, though. Just a clipping, no skin involved.
Trying not to think of it in terms of creepiness, though, I'm sure an Akita pelt is rather pretty... wolf pelts can be.
Probably will; this summer. My father and 1/2 sisters are in the Pond I live near.
I have the pelt. It's in a good bag, but I'm always around the dogs, and I don't want them to see it.