Thank you all for your warm responses and interest in mine and Kiyoshi's Journey thus far, let's get back to it!
We left off last time after touching on the journey from when I first received Kiyosh, to 6 months of life, continuing on we will take an image filled adventure through the passed few years as we see Kiyoshi grow from the 6 month old Akita pup that he was, into the dignified and distinguished guardian that he has become. Let's continue:
(Oh to be outside again....)
(I tired doggy)
Speaking of outside, during the first year of Kiyoshi's life we didn't have a fenced in yard, so all the outside time he got was from walks around the neighborhood and his favorite park, but a house with a fenced in yard was always part of the plan when getting a dog like Kiyoshi, I hold nothing against people who get large breeds that live in apartments or without yards but a sprawling territory to call their own is a desire that most if not all large breed dogs desire, and it is something I always wanted to be able to provide for Kiyoshi, you can see the almost "longing" in his eyes in the first pic above, and perhaps I am anthropomorphizing a bit here but I truly believe a dog(especially a large breed) is happiest with a large open outside area to play and stretch its legs.
So when Kiyoshi was a little over a year old that became a reality!
(Me and my yard~!! Ohhh yeah bark bark baby!)
Even in the winter time, or should I say ESPECIALLY in the winter time, Kiyoshi loves to be in the yard, he is a true snowdog through and through:
!!
(Loving Life)
With his yard, a loving owner and 'pack' to protect, healthy and hearty meals, all was well in Kiyoshi's world. But my Dad felt like something was still missing from his life, maybe not something, but a someone... Being an Akita not bred for temperment, he was very well socialized as a growing pup and even as he reached adulthood, but male Akita's tend to take an alpha role in the dog world, and often don't find themselves getting along well with other dogs, such was the case for Kiyoshi. For even the slightest foreign dog "correction" would result in that other dog literally getting body slammed and pinned and what was leading to something lethal before I ran over and had to literally peel him off the poor sheperd... or rotty... or pit... or dane... who had no idea what they were getting into, Kiyoshi was/is extremely well trained, he just will not take shit from any other dog who is bigger than 20lb, like most Akita's this prevented me from being able to take him to any dog parks..
So he can't get along with other dogs, but longed for some "Dogpanionship" , this left me in quite a predicament... So the only option left that MIGHT work, the only other dog that he MIGHT be able to be friends with and tolerate, had to be female, the same breed, and it would increase chances of success A LOT if it was... related to him! This led to the eventual 1 in 100 chance of getting a lifelong buddy, we had him sire a litter with a local Akita kennel owner's female Akita. Incase y'all aren't aware when you "stud" out your male dog, breeding etiquette dictates the sire's owner gets the pick of the litter. Well remember in the last post how I told y'all he comes from champion stock? Well it was one and done LOL, all it took was one mating session before the kennel owner called us up to tell us Nalah was pregnant! I was overjoyed, and could not wait to hear more.
After a short period of pregnancy, a healthy litter of 5 Akita pups came into the world. 3 males, 2 females(thank goodness some females!) and 8 weeks later I found myself bringing Kiyoshi's daughter home, world, say hello to......
Keiko!!!!!!!!
But would this turn out to be the:
Match made in heaven we were all hoping for??
Find out next time in "Getting to know: Keiko!"
Thank you for following along thus far and getting to know my loving companions!
We'll see ya next time!
P.S. If you missed part 1 you can find it here: https://steemit.com/dogs/@vazriel/getting-to-know-kiyoshi-part-1-as-well-as-a-general-overview-of-the-akita-dog