Cúchulainn (Kishin x Shizuka)
SO... I got another Kishu, all thanks to Brad and Jen (again!) I picked him up on Saturday, April 9th and realized he had the same birthday as London, my Malamute (February 16th)!
So far he's been a fantastic little dog with a lot of enthusiasm for life - as I suppose most Kishu (and NK) do. He reminds me a lot of Fionna at his age - but he's SO much more vocal than my Kishu pups were and a lot more vocal than Toutarou is. I've been told he's Kishin's mini-me.
His parents are Kishin and Shizuka. I think he'll end up red - almost like a Shiba Inu - when he is fully grown. He was puppy number 6. @shishiinu gave me an awesome name for him to be registered under (Sekirou), but we chose to use Cúchulainn (coo-cullan) for his call name to match my other "hero" names for my Kishu. Fionna is named after another Irish hero (Fionn mac Cumhaill) and Toutarou was another pronunciation of "Momotaro" (the Japanese hero.)
Cúchulainn was also known for a pretty intimidating rage-face and as a fierce fighter, which I think is pretty fitting for a Kishu.
So far he's been a fantastic little dog with a lot of enthusiasm for life - as I suppose most Kishu (and NK) do. He reminds me a lot of Fionna at his age - but he's SO much more vocal than my Kishu pups were and a lot more vocal than Toutarou is. I've been told he's Kishin's mini-me.
His parents are Kishin and Shizuka. I think he'll end up red - almost like a Shiba Inu - when he is fully grown. He was puppy number 6. @shishiinu gave me an awesome name for him to be registered under (Sekirou), but we chose to use Cúchulainn (coo-cullan) for his call name to match my other "hero" names for my Kishu. Fionna is named after another Irish hero (Fionn mac Cumhaill) and Toutarou was another pronunciation of "Momotaro" (the Japanese hero.)
Cúchulainn was also known for a pretty intimidating rage-face and as a fierce fighter, which I think is pretty fitting for a Kishu.
Comments
Congratulations on your gorgeous new addition!
I got his genetic test done through Optimal Selection/My Dog DNA. His color test was both expected and unusual.
He is: AyAy Ee SpSp - which means if he can only contribute red and white to any potential future puppies. Unusual is that the "SP" means that he SHOULD exhibit pinto markings, but clearly he appears solid, so I'm not sure what that's about. I was going to follow up and email the lab to check on that.
His diversity index was 102 (100+ is desirable/normal).
Onto the pictures:
Questions: Are you planning on allowing him to sire or does the pinto carrying cull him from any future breeding programs?(I'm only learning so please be kind with your answers. Lol!)
If he does have the potential to be a sire does this mean that perhaps coloured coated kishus could begin to make a (slowly) comeback?
Are coloured kishus becoming more popular in the showing world?
@nkostevc - I'm going to try to answer to the best of my ability! I'm still new at this, too.
On breeding him-- my personal opinion is that the Kishu breed is too small to cull dogs from breeding based on coat colors and patterns. Since I know that he COULD be a pinto producer (according to his test), I know that if I have the opportunity, I should avoid breeding him to other dogs that carry or exhibit pinto. My two female dogs (Nami and Fionna) do not carry or exhibit pinto and cannot produce it by themselves, (they are genetically SS - homozygous solid-coated) so I'm not so worried.
In my "program", currently, I have two adult females - a sesame (Nami) and a white (Fionna). My potential males (this boy, a red, and Toutarou, a sesame) are both non-white. I actually prefer the non-white Kishu, but I do my best not to let that cloud my judgement when it comes to making decisions. All of my non-white dogs carry the ability to produce white, however, so any pairing I make with my personal dogs may produce white. I expect (hope) to produce non-white (sesame and red) coats in the years to come when I make solid breeding plans, if my boys turn out.
Non-white Kishu probably won't ever make a true "comeback" and they probably won't be popular options for people who really want to show and compete seriously. Most non-white Kishu have other color faults (black masks, reds in the coat not vibrant/intense enough, uneven sesame, etc) so even if you got a dog that was perfect in all other areas (which is unlikely, I'm coming to realize, of yushoku dogs), they may still get beaten out by a white dog based on color faults.
I still show my dogs occasionally - and I am usually my own competition when it comes to Kishu. I don't know of anyone else who currently shows their Kishu in conformation. I know Carleen at Kishu Ken-nel may (she definitely used to, anyway), but she prefers white dogs and that's not likely to change.
Little man is turning into quite the little man-dog.
He also had a gif of him go viral.
@TheWalrus - At the time of the gif, I think he was missing teeth. He was only 4 or 5 months old there. It was a little bit ago. They're all in, now!
Doesn't TK have a white stripe/snip on his nose? I believe that is classic pinto.
I am hoping his mask continues to fade into his urajiro, but I don'the know that it will ever go away all the way.