Genko's Blog Thread :)
Genko's finally hanging out with Ren and I! It *only* took half a year since agreeing to take her, and I couldn't be any more happy with how things have been going. Overall, the wait for a Hokkaido has been around 3 years, so it's pretty amazing to finally have her with me.
I drove from Texas to Colorado to pick her up from @brada1898 and @creativejen, where we then drove through Utah, Nevada, California, and then finally Oregon to reach our destination of Portland. Along the way we stopped at quite a few stops, state parks, and national parks/forests. There are quite a few pictures. So I'll be updating this every few days until we catch up
Genko is an absolute sweet heart, and, as I described her in the "Perspective On Hokkaido" thread, she quickly decided that she liked our pack and was All-In. She follows me everywhere, she's the first one back to the glass door to be let inside after bathroom/yard time, and right away jumps up to give kisses after reuniting, whether it's the first thing in the morning or after being let out to use the bathroom. I think she's going to get along just fine with @WhoBitMe's Meitou when they finally meet, and especially @thegela's Yezo whenever we have the two hang out!
Oh and something physical that I thought was really interesting... her paws are HUGE. They're very round "bear" paws compared to other NK's more oval shaped "fox" paws. They're easily wider than Ren's. Genko is also very dense! I'll be taking her to the vet shortly and getting her weight, but I'd guess she's easily heavier than Ren's 24 lbs. Genko is seriously all muscle, and when she whaps with her paws it's very solid. Also, when she plays she's like a little boxer. She keeps her head low and "checks" the other dog with her shoulder like a hockey player, while using that shoulder's paw to sweep the other dog's legs or to reach around their neck to pull their head down. She's like a little hockey brawler Hokka!
Anyhow, here are some pics from when we had a bunch of fun in Utah and California
Utah
Utah
Utah
Puppy wasted after a hot "play break"
Ambushing at Bolinas Beach, CA
Such a cool forest! The dogs couldn't walk around, but they enjoyed the sights and smells from the window
Dog park near Walnut Creek, CA. Genko loved my uncle's Carolina Dog, Dali
I drove from Texas to Colorado to pick her up from @brada1898 and @creativejen, where we then drove through Utah, Nevada, California, and then finally Oregon to reach our destination of Portland. Along the way we stopped at quite a few stops, state parks, and national parks/forests. There are quite a few pictures. So I'll be updating this every few days until we catch up
Genko is an absolute sweet heart, and, as I described her in the "Perspective On Hokkaido" thread, she quickly decided that she liked our pack and was All-In. She follows me everywhere, she's the first one back to the glass door to be let inside after bathroom/yard time, and right away jumps up to give kisses after reuniting, whether it's the first thing in the morning or after being let out to use the bathroom. I think she's going to get along just fine with @WhoBitMe's Meitou when they finally meet, and especially @thegela's Yezo whenever we have the two hang out!
Oh and something physical that I thought was really interesting... her paws are HUGE. They're very round "bear" paws compared to other NK's more oval shaped "fox" paws. They're easily wider than Ren's. Genko is also very dense! I'll be taking her to the vet shortly and getting her weight, but I'd guess she's easily heavier than Ren's 24 lbs. Genko is seriously all muscle, and when she whaps with her paws it's very solid. Also, when she plays she's like a little boxer. She keeps her head low and "checks" the other dog with her shoulder like a hockey player, while using that shoulder's paw to sweep the other dog's legs or to reach around their neck to pull their head down. She's like a little hockey brawler Hokka!
Anyhow, here are some pics from when we had a bunch of fun in Utah and California
Utah
Utah
Utah
Puppy wasted after a hot "play break"
Ambushing at Bolinas Beach, CA
Such a cool forest! The dogs couldn't walk around, but they enjoyed the sights and smells from the window
Dog park near Walnut Creek, CA. Genko loved my uncle's Carolina Dog, Dali
Comments
Glad you're having fun with her! Waiting that long can be torturous sometimes, but it's was so worth it in the end for me (with Nami). It's been fun watching you and Genko!
I hope you enjoyed your road trip!! 3 years wait?!? Patience pays off
Edit: my post got cut
Genko looks pretty good in the Utah scenery. And her pose is funny to me...because Meitou will stand the same way, with his back legs all stretched out. Reminds me of him. I'm also impressed you got her up on your shoulder. Meitou would be way too wiggly.
I'll be interested to hear how much Genko weighs and what her height is. I've always been thinking of Meitou as pretty small, but I think that is because I've been under the impression he's smaller than his brother. So in my mind that became "Meitou is a small Hokkaido." But then I started hearing how Genko is pretty little and talking with @Crispy, and in some of your pictures based on how she fits on the seat of the car...I'm starting to wonder if Meitou is actually a bigger Hokkaido. I have no idea any more, lol.
I want to meet Genko! (And Ren! Can't forget her).
@Crispy It was totally worth it, and you should consider one!
@Bootz Doh! I'll be visiting the Bay Area often though, so we can definitely meet up at some point in the near'ish future! The Bay Area is where the biggest group of my family lives, so we'll be visiting for holidays and other meet ups. It's only a day's drive so it's not a big deal to go down for a 3 or 4 day weekend. Did you go to Pet Expo?
@emi802 She's pretty chill and let's me hold her, but a few seconds after this she felt off balance and we had to take a break lol. She's a pretty unshakeable little champ though! Did you ever start a thread for your Shikoku by the way? Let's see some recent pics!
My roommate has a measuring tape and a nice scale, so I'll get measurements in tomorrow too. I'm interested to find out as well
From what I understand, white are the tallest, red are in the middle, and B&T/B&W are the smallest. Meitou is most likely in that large category, which will probably start evening out within a few generations of mixing coat colors and genes. Personally I'd like to gear towards a middle ground between the medium and large Hokkas. The temperament and instincts of Genko's lineage combined with the larger size would out quite well I think, as they'll still be super agile if upped towards the middle-large end of the size spectrum.
I'll pm you about meeting up! I have this whole week and next weekend semi-free, since I'm primarily job hunting right now.
And yes. I should update katsu's thread sometime
Yes! I went this year and last year. I brought my shiba Bootz and mutt Jackie. I saw other shibas, Akitas and JAs but have yet to see the other NKs (Kai, Kishu, Shikoku).
Have you brought your dogs to Fort Funston?
Definitely should do a NK meet up! Been wanting to organize one but I got lazy... And just gave birth to a newborn, so I'll have to wait a month or so before his immune system is good to go
@emi802 She's an absolute riot :P She decided that we were her pack within about 48 hours. We were doing a lot of fun things though, like exploring rest stops and parks though. So I'm pretty sure that had something to do with it, as I was "the guy who takes me to do lots of cool stuff!". I was figuring on a pretty fast bonding period though, as every couple of hours we were in a new place, with the only constants being Ren, myself, and the car. Well then, we're all looking forward to pictures!
@WhoBitMe Thanks for the perspective! Meitou sounds a lot like Katsu. He really doesn't like being handled/touched by strangers either (unless they bring lots of treats).
Cezieg can bring the Hokka.
@emi802 a Shikoku @sukiandluna her Kais
Meitou is an absolute man-dog, and he reminds me of Akashi quite a bit in terms of temperament. I didn't see any reactive behavior from Meitou, and he seemed quite interested in the ladies haha. He didn't even mind when Genko's paws landed on his face when she was begging for treats from @WhoBitMe :P Him and Genko were licking the same moss, peeing on the same things, and giving each other kisses. So I'd say it turned out pretty well! Also, I LOVE Meitou's tail! He has the best Hokkaido tail hands down. It's like a longer, more over-the-back Juno tail (@WrylyBrindle)
Ren got to be off leash the entire time as she's a good listener and gave Meitou his space when they all first met. Genko was off leash until we met up with Meitou, and then she was on leash to make sure she didn't get to be too much for him. Ren was extra silly on the way down the ridge. She would go far ahead to scout things out, then circle back and pop out of bushes to say hello and check back in lol. She walked with Meitou and @WhoBitMe for bits of time, scout ahead, come back and walk with Genko for a while, then go off, and then returned to walk with @WhoBitMe's friend for a while. Everyone had a blast! The girls LOVED @WhoBitMe's treats too. I thought they were going to climb in her car and leave with her
Here are some pics from the day!
Fuzzy butts leading the way!
I think I may have some camera envy. I really like that picture of Meitou by himself. If only my camera took such nice pictures.
http://i.imgur.com/dRCU7xm.jpg
I don't have my desktop yet, which I do my photoshopping on for erasing unwanted details etc. I think the little leaf on his head is kind of cute though haha. A lot of quality comes from photo editing software to pull out details from the highlights/shadows/white balance/re-adjusting exposure & contrast/etc. GIMP is a good free program to play around with! Phone pics and point n shoots can make great printworthy shots too!
What a great hike! I wish we had forests here!