Well, I guess I should update everyone with some amazing news! After being lost for almost 3 years, Shakko is back here with us. Jen drove to NorCal last week and picked him up after some individuals were able to locate him living in a field with a horse.
I was so excited to see this picture up on your blog. It's amazing how he has been living all this time and was finally caught and that he back safe with you. It must be such a relief that he is back.
@zandrame@Bootz - It's a really long convoluted story. The short version is, due to some strange situation, Shakko was allowed to live wild on 35 acres of unkept private land where this horse also lived. Over time he formed a bond with this one woman who also kept bees on the property. Eventually the owner of the land passed away, forcing the heir to the land to have to place all the animals (a hoarder situation). At that point, the lady who had created a bond with him started searching for his original owners which eventually lead to them contacting us.
@LiaMarie - He is doing shockingly well considering how he has lived the past 3 years.
@Jedkai - Yes, there are 3 officially recognized colors in the KKA: Akatora (red brindle), Kurotora (black brindle), and Chutora (medium brindle - in between black and red).
I saw the photo of Shakko, and went "does this mean what I think it means?" and I am SO, SO HAPPY that it does. That is absolutely amazing, and I am so glad to hear it! Really interesting way that it came about, too.
Cream colored Kai's look really cool. I wonder how they happen? A recessive allele most definanlty, but I wonder where that allele came from. Maybe cross breeding??
It's a recessive gene that is present in all Nihon Ken breeds and many other breeds world-wide. Cream dogs are e/e (recessive red) and it ranges from deep mahogany to white. Most e/e Nihon Ken are pale cream or white. You won't know if a colored dog carries it unless they produce cream offspring or a genetic test is done. All cream dogs will pass on the e gene so cream to cream always produces cream pups. Cream to colored breedings can produce cream if the colored parent carries the gene, otherwise all pups will be colored. http://doggenetics.co.uk/masks.html#ee http://homepage.usask.ca/~schmutz/dogE.html#red
Comments
Was he captured and identified by microchip? (How did they catch him, lol!)
After being feral for 3 years, how has the readjustment been so far?
I'm curious how they caught him as well.
@LiaMarie - He is doing shockingly well considering how he has lived the past 3 years.
@Jedkai - Yes, there are 3 officially recognized colors in the KKA: Akatora (red brindle), Kurotora (black brindle), and Chutora (medium brindle - in between black and red).
I'm so happy for all of you.
http://doggenetics.co.uk/masks.html#ee
http://homepage.usask.ca/~schmutz/dogE.html#red