I don't know. Jury is still out on whether or not he's a long coat. Last week I thought for sure, this week I think not. The breeder in Korea who helped me get Bijozakura looked at the photos and said no. Sean came over and looked at him in person and said yes (but was only 70% sure). So I'm just going to keep waiting. The longer it takes the less likely he is a coat...
They are all so adorable. It is crazy how quickly time has flown by...... It seems like I was just watching them come into the world a few days ago, not weeks ago lol
I am so glad the girls have homes and can't wait to hear where Ichabod is headed.
Thank you so much for keeping us posted and for sharing all of this with us! It has been awesome!!
Ichabod could just be a heavy but normal coated dog...if he is not a long coat he would almost certainly carry the long coat gene. They are all gorgeous puppies. I would be happy to own any of them.
If he is not a long coat... I am going to make sure he stays intact, because he is from an outcross breeding and one of the least-related red males in the US. I love his lines and he has great potential as a stud in 2 years.
This is probably kind of an unpopular opinion, but even if he were a long-coat, I would consider keeping him intact just for genetic diversity. He could be bred to a female with shorter than average fur or simply one with no known long-hair relatives. I wouldn't say so for a more common breed (like a shiba) but with scarce unrelated males in the US, maybe it'd still be worth it. I mean, it's not like a health defect or a behavioural problem that decreases quality of life.
But, I'm not involved in the breed, nor am I a breeder, so... I dunno.
Claire, i would also consider keeping him intact and using him at least once and with a female that is non carrier. To my mind there is no difference character- and health-wise between a longcoat and a normal coat. Especially since he seems really nice.
Of course, you should also take into consideration your club's rules - in Europe WUAC does not allow using long coats for mating but countries that don't have akita clubs are sometimes more permissive.
I am also inclined to say he is a longcoat. The difference might not be severe, but I think it will be visible. And most likely the texture is a bit wooly too judging from the hairs on his ears
Over the last two days, the puppies have transformed from sweet and cute to little hellions.
* Ichabod has walked up and bit me hard on the butt twice! * Elvira keeps trying to rip my hair out in giant clumps! * Fuji refuses to stay put and even tried to crawl into our drained pond! * Only Sabrina is behaving herself... for now!
It is a huge pain trying to get all four of them back into the playpen and I can't imagine if we had seven trying to break out at once. They've all decided that ripping up the puddle pad is the best game ever. But, conversely, they don't want to poop in the playpen and will cry to be taken outside for potty. So that's great!
I kind of agree with @hondru, it couldn't hurt to at least get one litter out of him (pending health tests) to at least get some genetic diversity out there. Heck, there's a standard poodle breeder somewhat near me who has bred a male several times even though he would DQ in the ring for the silly fact of having a small white patch on his black chest (poodles have to be a solid color). He has great structure, an awesome personality, and good health; so why eliminate him for something as superficial as that. It's not like you are being an irresponsible breeder for breeding him if he turns out to be a long coat, as you have said that he is the least related male in the US.
Btw, where in NY is Morticia going? I'm curious to know if she will be close to me or not
@MapleTwinkie There are many "degrees" of long coat. Some are incredibly fluffy like Meichan. Others only have feathering on their ears, cheeks, and tail. Compare to this one:
Well, I'm with hondru in keeping Ichabod in a breeding program and only breeding him to females that are non-carriers for long-hair, but I think you already knew that. :-)
The only new thing that I'll offer up is that having a male offers a safety net in light of the reproductive issues the females have gone through.
The drawback to keeping Ichabod personally is that right now, the only females I am certain I want to breed are his mother and sister. So I can't use him myself currently or in the near future. That's why I'm trying to make sure that he ends up where he can do more good for the breed if he's not a long coat... Stuff is in the works.
Dear god why is everyone fixated with breeding long coats?
Looking at the photos and in person I'm going 70/30 long coat to normal coat. I base the 70% on the fur between the eyes and the ears. I base the 30% looking at the whole litter.
It's not the long-coat so much as the support for new blood/outcrosses. Though the pedigrees are still pending and the final pedigree of the pups could end up related to Kita, Waka, Gobo, and Toramaru. They are all Shirai dogs afterall.
Just out of curiosity, what stud dogs in the JACA are completely unrelated to each other in the first 3 generations?
@ayk Not sure where you got the idea, but neither parent of my litter is from Shirai lines. That was the whole point! I know Bijo's sire and dam even though I don't have her documents yet. Her dam is not in any online pedigree database, so it could be that her dam's parents or grandparents are related to some dog here. I find it unlikely, however, since Bijo comes from a small remote kennel and not one of the big exporters. Bijo's sire and immediate ancestors on her sire's side are not in the JACA pedigree database. Neither are any of the dogs in Zuigan's export pedigree. That means none of those ancestors are known ancestors of other dogs here in the US. Further back, there probably is something (every red dog seems to be related to Tougaku Go, after all) but they wont appear on my pups' pedigrees.
Toramaru is even more closely related to Gobo than to Kita. They're half-brothers.
I will breed Bijo again, but since the sire will be a US dog, those future puppies will be more related to other dogs here than my current puppies. Thus Ichabod has more potential than any future son Bijo has.
@ayk No worries. After all the problems I had, I wanted a fresh start. New lines, proven breeder, Tokuyuu winner. Minimize the risk. The timing wasn't ideal, but I think everything has worked out well. I'm very happy with Bijo and this litter.
LOL you don't have to. We're going on seven weeks tomorrow and he's not clearly a long coat. Seems rather late for it to become apparent. Anyway, he's not going anywhere until at least 12 weeks of age, so I got all the time to wait him out.
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I am so glad the girls have homes and can't wait to hear where Ichabod is headed.
Thank you so much for keeping us posted and for sharing all of this with us! It has been awesome!!
But, I'm not involved in the breed, nor am I a breeder, so... I dunno.
Of course, you should also take into consideration your club's rules - in Europe WUAC does not allow using long coats for mating but countries that don't have akita clubs are sometimes more permissive.
I am also inclined to say he is a longcoat. The difference might not be severe, but I think it will be visible. And most likely the texture is a bit wooly too judging from the hairs on his ears
And congrats on a very nice litter!
I think we know what Sabrina's name will be, but we are still debating...
* Ichabod has walked up and bit me hard on the butt twice!
* Elvira keeps trying to rip my hair out in giant clumps!
* Fuji refuses to stay put and even tried to crawl into our drained pond!
* Only Sabrina is behaving herself... for now!
It is a huge pain trying to get all four of them back into the playpen and I can't imagine if we had seven trying to break out at once. They've all decided that ripping up the puddle pad is the best game ever. But, conversely, they don't want to poop in the playpen and will cry to be taken outside for potty. So that's great!
Btw, where in NY is Morticia going? I'm curious to know if she will be close to me or not
What does Judy think?
http://www.facebook.com/junketsu/photos#!/photo.php?fbid=356233531127236&set=a.375720305845225.91056.119552908128634&type=3&theater
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=298423250276330&set=pb.100003259731043.-2207520000.1355433760&type=3
The only new thing that I'll offer up is that having a male offers a safety net in light of the reproductive issues the females have gone through.
Looking at the photos and in person I'm going 70/30 long coat to normal coat. I base the 70% on the fur between the eyes and the ears. I base the 30% looking at the whole litter.
Just out of curiosity, what stud dogs in the JACA are completely unrelated to each other in the first 3 generations?
I see that Kita and Toramaru are related.
I get the impression that Kitsune is getting old?
Tachitora and Ghidora are related.
Toramaru is even more closely related to Gobo than to Kita. They're half-brothers.
I will breed Bijo again, but since the sire will be a US dog, those future puppies will be more related to other dogs here than my current puppies. Thus Ichabod has more potential than any future son Bijo has.