Looking for a pup can be a daunting task but if you arm yourself with all of the relevant information you will be able to make an informed decision based on the facts, Luckily for us Jo has an encyclopedic knowledge of Japanese and European lines and does not miss a trick when it comes to all matters relating to the Japanese Akita Inu. any breeder worth thier salt will give you a contract, this will include all aspects of your agreement and should be signed by both parties. 

We will break our opinions regarding pup selection down in to sections which will hopefuly make it clearer to the potential Inu owner. 

What’s in a Name ?

If you know what to look for a dogs registered name can be very telling and this is because kennels like to identify themselves by using an Affix or a Suffix. An example of this would be International and Irish Champion Tycons Macho man for Razmus, any dogs that we produce will have the Tycon affix, if the puppies new owner also has an affix then it can be added to the end of the dogs registered name but it would usually be in the form of at,with,by,under or in this case for. So just by looking at Riko’s registered name you can tell that he was bred by Tycon and is owned by Kevin at Razmus Kennels. So this means that you can now look at show results, and in very general terms, know where the dog has come from.

Breeding

Unfortunately there are some breeders that, regardless of how it is acheived, want to produce clones or cookie cutter dogs, this refers to the idea that every single puppy in a litter produced should be  carbon copies of their parents. This is achieved by what is referred to as line breeding, this is defined on  Dictionary.com as ;

 Noun – Genetics . a form of inbreeding directed toward keeping the offspring closely related to a superior ancestor.

For us inbreeding is detrimental to the breed, although it can produce dogs that are exact copies of their parents it does come at a price, for example if a dog has a genetic weakness that predisposes it to Hip dysplasia then to use that dog across a close relation would compound the problem and increase the risk of Hip dysplasia significantly. Thankfully in recent years the Kennel Club have stopped accepting litter registrations that are the result of Father/Daughter or Brother/ Sister matings however when researching your new pup it is something that you need to be aware of, don’t be afraid to ask the breeder for a copy of the pups pedigree and study it to see if there are repeats of the same name on both sides of the family tree.

 

KURO	MATTU	KAKU
		YOKO
	ASIA	MATTU
		MINDY
TARA	MATTU	KAKU
		YOKO
	GIZMO	YOSHI
		ROTHI

 

We have included a mock up of a pedigree in which the fathers or Sires are blue and the mothers or Dams are in pink. As you can see starting from the left Kuro and Tara both have the same father Mattu who is also Kuro’s Grandfather.  A pup resulting from this combination would not only have parents who are half brother and sister but Mattu would be it’s grandfather on both sides and  it’s great grandfather. Sounds far fetched but inbreeding of this magnitude has occurred. Many excuses are made for doing this, such as not wanting to lose a particular bloodline or accidental matings but more often than not the reason would appear to be financial.

Health checks

As the name suggests these are tests that are carried out to check for known health related issues that a breed may be predisposed to, for example if I had a Bulldog then I would get the elbows checked and graded by the  British Veterinary association or BVA but it is not a problem with the Inu so we don’t get them checked as a rule. One word of warning here, just because a breeder has signed up for an accreditation scheme do not assume that the litters produced are beyond reproach, this is not always the case. It is quite easy to sign up to a scheme, pay your subscription and announce to the world loudly ” I AM AN ACCREDITED BREEDER” however, in my opinion the schemes do not go far enough to be effective.

So theoretically if I were to breed from two dogs that had been hip scored and graded as lets say 55 each then I would have satisfied the accreditation criteria, even though the guidlines on the BVA  website strongly advise potential breeders to only breed from dogs “WELL BELOW” the Breed Mean Average of just 13. The BMA is determined by taking the amount of dogs tested – 32 as of November 1st 2009, the range which is the highest to the lowest result currently  6 to 59 (6 being our very own Kenya and Taru who are both 3;3) and through the magic of mathematics the end result is the Breed Mean Average. For European Hip Score comparisons follow the link to Wikipedia Hip scores. 

Other conditions which are not present in significant amounts in this country but you should be aware of when looking at the parents of your potential new member of the family are;

• Patches of hard, dry skin on the body with a loss of pigmentation on the facial area could be an indicator of an Auto Immune condition but cases of Sebaceous Adenitis have also been recorded.
• Eye problems such as entropian and ectropian can be detected during routine eye examinations.
• Some bitches are more protective whilst the puppies are present meaning they will not be approachable so make allowances for that. If they have been shown and live in the family home they should be OK.

Warning signs

We have covered the areas of the dogs breeding and you now know how to read a pedigree and what to look for when identifying in breeding. We have also looked at the health issues and know to look for the results of hip scores (preferably below the BMA of 13) and eye tests that a responsible breeder would have carried out. You are nearly out of the woods but there are still some potential pitfalls before you take the pup home with you and these are;

• If a breeder had something they wanted to keep from you such as a very high hip score or some sort of restriction on the pedigree then they could just say that the registrations had not been received yet. In all honesty if you have taken the puppy home and your children have bonded with it are you really going to take the pup back for the sake of the parents having a high hip score ? even though you could be setting yourself up for a lifetime of costly vet bills, you wouldn’t do it. Always insist on getting the Kennel Club registration certificate, not the fancy pedigree knocked up on Word the night before because that is not worth the paper its written on. Think of it as a log book, its an official document that you can see examples of on the KC website.
• Why would a breeder want to meet you at a service station ? could it be that they have something to hide ? their name and address is on the registration document so take a look at it, if its not where you are looking at the puppies it could well be that they dont want you seeing where the dogs are really living.
• Are the pups well adjusted and content ? the Bitch may have dropped some condition whilst feeding the pups so she is not going to be ready for the show ring but she should not appear bedraggled.

So to recap……….

• Do your homework, research the breed and prepare a list of questions to ask the breeder.
• Make sure you are meeting them at thier home and it is where the dogs live.
• Always try to see the parents and look for any warning signs on both.
• If at all possible don’t take the children with you because you need to be objective.
• Check all documentation including registration certificate and Contract.
• Don’t be pressured and take your time, after all a dog is for life.
• As soon as possible take your new pup to the vet for a health check