In 10 years....
Just a food for thought, but I was thinking that most of us on here that have nihonken are pretty much pups, or are less than 3-4 years of age or so. So I was wondering what do you think the population and popularity of the nihonken will be like in 10 years and would you get that same type of breed again and why?
I personally don't think I could ever not have a Kai-Ken. After owning the Nihonken I will probably always have to have at least one thanks to Brad and Jen =) I gotta say I wouldn't mind having a Hilo some day tho =)
I personally don't think I could ever not have a Kai-Ken. After owning the Nihonken I will probably always have to have at least one thanks to Brad and Jen =) I gotta say I wouldn't mind having a Hilo some day tho =)
Comments
As for my pack, I know my next dog will be (assuming all goes according to plan) another nihon ken, but after that I plan to branch out a little. I really want to own a breed I can train to be off leash in remote areas (supervised of course) and I know that I won't get that from a nihon ken. There are a few other non-nihon ken that I really want to own, but I don't know where that will fit into my long term pack plans. 10 years from now, however, I fully expect to still have my little rug rats as well as the next one I get. :-)
I am hesitant to answer because I know how the universe works, and anything I say "never" to will inevitably occur and in probably LESS than 10 years no less. As it stands now, I hope to not get a breeder dog again and to only rescue. So ideally I would not have ANY Nihon Ken in my future because there would be none to rescue.
However as reality is sadly more cruel and harsh than that I could very likely have more Nihon Ken in my future. I will always have a pitbull. There is no question about that. You have never truly been loved until you have rescued a pit bull. I would love to continue to have Shikoku but I hope to NEVER see one in a shelter, so unless Brad calls me out of the blue and tells me he needs to place a Shikoku or Akita that needed to be re-homed from their program (which knowing how selective Brad and Jen will be in their placement of pups, will be highly unlikely), Miko will likely be my only Shikoku.
I will probably have an Akita at some point but I really only want to rescue. I also REALLY want a Dogue de Bordeaux.
I am very much a fly by the seat of my pants girl so only time will tell I guess.
Looking forward to reading other peoples answers.
I can say this, the Shiba really seems to be going a sad directions and the quality of the Kai-Ken is becoming poorer and poorer in the states. Lets hope that the Shikoku community continues to stay as tight as it is so we can prevent the same thing from happening to them.
----
If Jen and I had it to do again we would not have any Shiba. I love Kaia [she is my soulmate] and Maui, but little high maintenance dogs are just not my speed anymore.
We were just chatting about this the other day and we came to the decision that, if we didn't have our current plans and could do it all over again, we would have a male/female pair of Akita and a Shikoku.
When we are super old we plan to just have 1 or 2 Akita.
I love all our Nihon-Ken, they all have there own special traits that make them hard to imagine life with out, but for us the Akita and Shikoku are our favs.
I love Kona, he is really cool, but he kinda drives us crazy. :oT
If I was an avid hunter I would mos def have a pack of Kai.
----
LOL - I just asked Jen, she said a male/female pair of Akita and a male/female pair of Shikoku.
----
Now I have to agree with Jess about the pit rescue love. There is no bond like that which I have ever experienced. If we get any american dogs in our future it will only be a rescue pit.
Although, I with Brad. It would be really amazing to be able to walk with a dog off leash.
The movie is called Hachiko - I''ll let people who know more about it give opinions.
I only know about the movie because the breeder Keiko came from had adopted the Shiba that was used as the 'Akita puppy' in the movie. He's a very adorable red male (that she named Hachiko after the movie he was in.) She told us that they chose to use the Shiba puppy because it was lighter in the backpack and had cuter features (or something to that regard). I can't imagine people not thinking every puppy they see is cute honestly.
Anyway, I don't think I'll be seeing the movie - mostly because I don't enjoy movies, and a few other personal reasons /
I think we will always have a boxer. Portia is just a doll and such an awesome companion (especially to john) I don't think we will ever not have a boxer. As for nihon ken - I don't think I would get another shiba - I love Ninja, but it seems that Shiba's are really being poorly bred these days. I was talking to another behaviorist about Ninja and asked her if she's worked with Shiba's and if these behavioral issues were common. And she replied "sadly to say, yes. I have worked with A LOT of shiba's most of them with fear issues and some with dog aggression and separation anxiety" She went on to tell me some stories - but ill save that for later. I would also love to own a Shikoku, Akita and Kai Ken.
As for the movie - Hachiko - If they're making a movie about an Akita - they should use Akita's in the movie. Akita Puppies and Shiba puppies do not look alike and it's misleading to the public. The whole movie is going to be misleading to the public. Yeah sure, in the movie this Akita is an amazing companion and dog - but that's not how it is in real life. I hope Akita puppies don't start popping up in pet stores, that would be tragic. If it does get popular, im sure we will all see more akita's starting to pop up in shelters. How many breeds does America have to ruin - seriously?
To get back to the original post, I hope the Nihonken don't get too popular over there... they're not the pet for everyone, and limited breeding stock is only going to cause more heartache. I think I'm in the same boat as Brad, I'd definitely have an Akita or two. Love their laid back attitude, and I'd have a few already if my place was big enough for it.
As for my "pack", it will all depend on my financial health, but I'm not sure I'll always have a Nihon ken. There are too many breeds I love and am curious to share my life with. I love Kuma, and I would have another Akita in a heart beat, but I don't know if I could get an Akita and an Irish Wolfhound in the same house (just an example of a breed I'd love to have) or a Leonberger. Any way, in 10 years I hope Kuma will still be around here with us now being more of my "brother" or "father" instead of my "son". I'd love to get him a new dog to "teach" before that, but who knows?
Ideally I would win the lottery, move to that private island in Sweden, hehehe, and get about 40 or 60 dogs of 20 or 30 different breeds :-) Oh and resume that old dream of becoming a vet.
And I know of a breeder who will thrive on marketing her shibas as either the new toy shiba or the Hachiko perpetual puppy. I know she will. She has just enough evil to do it too.
But I think as time goes on, I will see more and more of this.
That, in part, is driving me to stick with my convictions of doing shiba shelter/mass fostering/sanctuary. Truth be told, sometimes my husband and I joke about our 'fantasy dog house' where we have one dog envy and that one dog is a shikoku or Kishu and we finally have a "calm" household ) but thats only when the shibas drive us nuts. But honestly, if I didn't feel that shiba sanctuary was absolutely going to be needed right now and certainly in 10 years, I would not again own a shiba inu.
Too high maintenance x 3 + ? in sanctuary in the next couple years = one insane couple of primates.
But if need be, I am working on getting training certified and nutrition certified for both small and large breed dogs to open sanctuary/fostering/shelter to any spitz/nihon ken that I will come across needing rescue in the sanctuary time frame. But I hope to God I am wrong about needing it in 10 years time.
but if I were dreaming, in 10 years I would own 200+ acres of prarie land - or an island - and do a complete animal rescue system with farm animals and all types of dogs or even cats (although I am allergic so I'd need a hired cat person). And live in a yurt. With alpacas. Fun! Or a wolf sanctuary...
But I'd safely assume that the nihon ken in my future are kind that are needin' rescuin'.
I don't see a bright future for -any- rare dog breed that hits the states. If its appealing, then you can be sure people will pay big money to have it and show off and be horrible owners. And breed it carelessly. That's just how humans are. The greed of money is worth more to some than the warm friendship of a loving dog.
If we should be so misfortunate as to lose Josephine to disease or accident in the next 10 years, I would expect my hubbie's penchant for finding a puppy in the wilderness that would die without him might kick in again --- who knows what kind of dog breed we'd encounter then! I'm sure he would want to rescue such a puppy, though!
I too fell in love with the shiba by its look but Chad and I did SO much research before getting Niko. We wanted a dog that was right for our family based on their traits and not looks. (Unfortunately we did not do the same with looking for a breeder).
Now I know there are amazing Akita breeders out there as it is, but where this is a demand, there will be more breeders, without the ethics that Brad & Jen, and Miisan have.
This movie is going to show all the amazing heart tugging qualities of the Akita, and NONE of the challenges.
Along the same lines...Juno came out and many teens are all about having a baby young...Dont ever doubt the strength and power of the media.
UGH!