Hokkaido Association of North America (HANA)

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  • edited August 2013
    I was kind of hoping I'd be able to do that (if I end up moving there). I kind of don't want to get into bears or cougars.. at least not until I'm a super seasoned hunter.
    There is a Norwegian style of "leash-hunting" when hunters who live in areas where there are free-ranging sheep still want to hunt moose with dogs. The style is called "bandhund". Here are the trial regulations for bandhund from the NKK: http://web2.nkk.no/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Regler_bandhund_01.10.10.pdf

    Basically the dog is supposed to track moose while on a leash then shut up when it finds a moose. Norwegian Black Elkhound is a specialist for this purpose.

    Video:

    The practice is a bit controversial in some breed clubs because they think leash-hunting will destroy a dog's ability to hunt off-leash.
    Is blood tracking legal in BC?
    As long dog is on-leash for ungulates. They can be off-leash for everything else.
  • @souggy - can you give specifics on the controversy? Intuitively it makes sense to me but I think it'd be interesting to hear the details.
  • I think this hunting info is really interesting and important but should be its own thread. I keep seeing new stuff and looking for it to be about HANA...
  • Club newsletter is on the way. More people need to become members tho, or else I can't send it to them ;)
  • I will (officially) once I've got a little extra cash! I just had some stupid things happen to my Jeep and trailer that I need to take care of first. I shattered the Jeep's back window and the water pipes in the RV all decided to break/leak. Once I get that stuff fixed I'll be good. I hope...
  • @lindsayt You should have my stuff in the next week or two.
  • I'm happy and proud to announce that I'm the first from Europe who has HANA Project membership !

    I hope more European Hokkaido Breeders will follow me :-)))
  • Hunting of any predators including bears and cougars can be done with off-leash dogs. Dogs must be on leash while hunting any ungulates.
    Oh yeah, that's right. I was thinking of mountain WMUs in Alberta, there has been talk of allowing dogs to accompany big-game hunters as packdogs and bear-deterrents.
  • @Krisz Welcome Krisz! :) We're very glad to have you.
  • @Krisz That's awesome! It's great that you are a part of HANA. You're support is very much appreciated. :)
  • edited August 2013
    Wow, I go away for 10 days, and come back to this! I feel somewhat envious, too, since we are right now preparing to get another dog*....and not a Hokka....and I think, perhaps I should wait for one....but I don't think a Hokka would be a good match for us now even if I did have the money/opportunity.

    But, I'm super excited about this, and would love to be part of the club as a Hokka fancier (and am more than willing to help, too, in any ways needed). Good points brought up by Chrystal about how this needs to work, and I think we've got a good basis already, it's true, in the ways Brad has dealt with his Kai.

    This is all super exciting! Well, I'll be watching and participating in ways that I can, and maybe some day down the road we'll be able to offer a home to a Hokka too, whether that is a retired breeder, or one that will being kept intact for possible breeding down the line.

    (*In the meantime, we're adding another AA if anyone was curious)

    And I'll send in my membership app and dues of course!
  • Oh! make a thread about your new AA! please!!! I'M curious! :) and happy for you!
  • edited August 2013
    Oh! make a thread about your new AA! please!!! I'M curious! :) and happy for you!
    When they're here :) ....the bitch is literally whelping right now, so at the moment our girl (we're hoping for a female anyway) has not even been born yet!

    eta:

    Oh, and I had a thought in regards to HANA. I wonder if setting up a transport system of volunteers might be of help, sort of like what people do in rescue, except in this case, it might be to help bring dogs in for breeding, if it was too far for the person who the dog with lived with. It might be an idea to help bridge some of the distances involved if needed.
  • How flighty (or fighty) will the Hokkaido be in the hands of a stranger? That's the main concern I would have about handing off a dog for transport.
  • How flighty (or fighty) will the Hokkaido be in the hands of a stranger? That's the main concern I would have about handing off a dog for transport.
    I thought about that too--it might not work, but I figured it was worth mentioning as a possibility.
  • I can't contribute much at this moment.

    Maybe once I get better with my clay figures I could make clay Hokkaido for auctioning.. Right now I'm just messing around and making random easy stuff to get better at it.

    I already have quail feathers and a retrieving dummy thing I use with Saya to retrieve..

    I worked with Saya some to track an actual dead quail I bought and she did good nose to ground and following the trail. I even got out the bag I kept the quail feathers in and she ran to sniff it right away.

    I like to mess around with paper mache too.. I made a fox and B&T shiba mask not functional to wear though and that was 10 or so years ago.

    I've made a wolf mask with better technique so it can be worn as in see through it's eyes and breath fine. I need work at doing it thinner so it would be lighter. The wolf mask is going to be made more decor type and once done painting it it'll look like Amaterasu.

    I'd like to try a shiba and Hokkaido type mask this winter.

    I plan to send money off for my membership this week been busy prepping the basement to paint it and take carpet off.
  • I ran into a study on an eye issue in Hokkaido- this is just an abstract, but maybe those more involved will know how to find out more...

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22051190
  • Wow! Thanks for finding this. I know it causes blindness, but I had no idea it affected Hokkaido.

    See, this is going to be one of the big things we will need to know more about on a genetic level before breeding, and we will need to determine if this is going to be a "no go" health issue, meaning affected dogs are never bred, or sometimes bred (I would assume we will track carriers and defer breeding them to other carriers). I am not sure if we can be so selective with traits that are not lethal but clearly detrimental (for instance blindness, or allergies, or pano), at least in the first few generations...

    I think we will need to all review this as a club and decide where to go. It seems we can to eye tests as early as 7 weeks, so if this is really a problem in the breed, we should do this on all litters bred and imported, and not breed affected adults. Unless we spring for genetic testing and do a lot of test breeding initially, it will be difficult to pinpoint carriers. There is the ethical concern of knowingly producing dogs who may be carriers, or may be blind as adults...It's something to investigate more. There are currently 7 whole Hokkaido that are or will soon be apart of the project. If even 1 of them was affected and the club votes to remove it from the breeding program...

    @TheWalrus
  • It looks like the genetic tests are currently going for $180.

    Might not be needed for the dogs already imported but maybe for dogs still in Japan it might be worthwhile?

    http://www.optigen.com/opt9_price.html
  • edited August 2013
    It looks like the genetic tests are currently going for $180.

    Might not be needed for the dogs already imported but maybe for dogs still in Japan it might be worthwhile?

    http://www.optigen.com/opt9_price.html
    The problem with that is the apparent culture clash, where the kennel may be insulted that tests are insisted upon, as it questions their integrity. Which may result in withdrawing the sale offer. At least, that's what Shigeru's post described it as. I'm thinking it will be a thing to test on once they get here, and then, if needed, test the pups selected as breeders.

    If this does show to be prevalent and displays itself as the disease, rather than just recessive carries that can be avoided, then the "cure" may be outcrossing (which I'm fine with).
  • With this test, the DNA can be collected via blood or cheek cell swab. The blood sample is preferred by Optigen, but it's much easier to send swabs internationally, and it's a lot more discreet/convenient in sampling.

    ie. No dragging of wild/feral adults to the vet, no strange vet tech man-handling primitive dogs, no sedation, etc.

    If Optigen's turnaround is fast enough, a pup could be sampled while in Shigeru's hands but before the shipping is arranged.

    A person could also do coat color tests if so inclined if it adds value to the kennels.
  • It would be interesting to find out who the three kennels are in the study, because those breeders must be open to testing and aware of some genetic issues. Contacting the PI's at Kagoshima University could save some steps and establish some base genetic information for HANA.

    (I know nothing about Collie eye, and wasn't looking for trouble- I was just googling for Hokkaido eye shapes for the drawing I'm working on and this came up.)
  • aykayk
    edited August 2013
    BTW, I don't see an issue with knowingly producing carriers.

    It's affecteds that you want to avoid producing, and in order to do that, you need at least one dog in a pairing that is clear.
  • @wrylybrindle Thank you for finding this!
    @cezieg with a paper like this, that was authored by Japanese researchers, I should have no problem getting the testing done as long as prospective owners are willing to pay for it. I already have kennels take the pups to the vet for full physicals before agreeing to purchase pups (something many kennels don't do!).

    I just did some quick research here this morning, and called Kagoshima University. I can get CEA testing done here in Japan, and I found a lab that will test for it cheaper than Optigen will.

    We should get all the Hokkaido overseas, and going overseas, tested for this, if nothing else it will give us an idea of how widespread it is in the population as a whole.
  • @cezieg - I think a collar with studs arranged like a "flower" would be cool! ~
    Wow I'm such a badposter. So late on this! That'd be awesome! The Hokkaido flower in small studs would be awesome, or even a large flower with a few normal size studs!! :D

    @WrylyBrindle Ha "trouble". If there'd be anything to be frowned upon it would be the hiding of such a study. It's all valuable information for both breeding/preservation as well as to prospective owners. Thank you very much for sharing :)

    @TheWalrus That's great to know! I would certainly pay for my future B&T to get tested. They should all be tested imo and hopefully with some membership events/auction we can raise the funds to cover some, or at least help cover a portion, of the tests as well.
  • @WrylyBrindle Thank you for posting that link. I wouldn't have guessed CEA appeared in Hokkaido (this coming from a BC owner, lol). @TheWalrus I'll definitely ask my vet about getting Meitou tested for CEA the next time I get him in. Or sooner. I've been to the vet quite a bit recently for some mega bad itching on my BC (again. yay.) and she needs to go back for a recheck soon so I can ask about it the next time I take her in.
  • Thank you very much Shigeru!
  • edited August 2013
    Hi,

    I invited my friend (Kyuden Kitsune kennel from France) to work in HANA Project!
    Thanks Sophie that you join to us :-)
  • It was just a lucky stumble that I ran across it. I hope this is a footprint to follow to more information- maybe the people at Kagoshima University can tell us more about Hokkaido health, besides the eye issue. Anything else to look for.
  • I m' happy to can help. :)
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