Snowing in Houston

It was snowing in Houston yesterday.

Aki got to experience her first snow day.

Aki - The Fearless!

Can't believe our baby girl is 4 months old now.

She's going to weekly Basic Obedience class and socialization at any events we can find.

She's such a flirt with older and bigger male dog; we gotta get her spayed ASAP.

Aki introducing herself to the pack.



Aki continues to prance around and initiate play.



 

Aki met a Chihuahua.



Aki plays with a Hound Dog



Aki got knock-outed by Decker




Here's Aki with Cooper, her new boyfriend Cooper, 90 lbs 1 1/2 year old Bloodhound (thanks Chrystal) she met on Saturday 11/21/2009, LOL!



 

Aki playing tug with Cooper



The romance continues

 

More socializing for Aki ... She meets Kitty (niece's kitten)

Aki got a busy weekend socializing.
Free puppy playschool on Saturday morning. Then we visited a Dog Ranch. Then we went to a puppy off leash park. Almost everyone was asking what breed is she.

Today we went to a niece's birthday and did some more socializing - she has a busier weekend schedule than we do!!

Here are the pictures of Kitty and Aki together:

 

Aki's First Day at Puppy School

On Saturday morning, we took Aki to a puppy training center for a free puppy socialization class. She met a lot of new doggies friends and had a lot of fun.

We had some basic training in how to hold the leash and making the dogs run few obstacles such as: stepping on a wobble board, going through a plastic tunnel, jumping over some bar, etc ...

Then, we took her to Dog Ranch and to a puppy off leash park where she was roaming freely with the other puppies. It was a great experience for her, in one day she got to meet about 20 dogs. Noone in the training class or in the dog parks knew what breed she is ... people were guessing Husky or Shiba.

Here is the video of Aki:

YouTube Video - "Aki's Play School (Akita Inu Puppy 14 weeks old)"

Aki's Day Out

Aki Playing With Ethan

YouTube Video - "Aki (Akita Inu 3 month old puppy) Playing With Nephew Ethan"

Dogs Play Times

Today lil' Aki has two good experiences in socializing with other dogs.

We took her for a walk and from far away, there was a female 6 years old German Shepherd. She was staring at her for quite a bit and wanted to get closer but we did not let her.

Later on, my brother brought his dog Milou (one year and half Havanese male dog) to meet Aki.

This is Milou: (Milou's name comes from the French carton "Tintin" and Milou is Tintin's white dog)



This is Aki:

Aki and Milou play times:

They both had a lot of funs ... for more actions, view the video below!

We were afraid Aki gonna hurt the smaller size dog, so we have her on leash. We have to stop the play after a while because we think it's too much stress physically on Aki that is only a 3 month's old puppy vs Minou who is 1 and 1/2 year old.

We also protect Aki from that hyper dog that keeps on wanting to play more. Aki just got her first shot of adrenaline rush. After that play, she was very calm. We felt our bond with Aki deepens as she experiences more things. It's a good feeling. Overall, we believe Aki had a good experience and we are very proud of the way she carried herself.

YouTube Video - "Aki's First Encounter (Akita Inu Puppy 3 month old) with Milou (1 year 1/2 Havanese dog)"

Some play time pictures

In addition to the "Some Play Time Clips" post, here are some of the classic pictures of Aki:

All the bees are out the "busy-bee" hide and she is chewing one of the bee:

So, we stuffed her favorite bear toy inside the bee-hide:

Caterpillar and Octo are attacking lil' Aki!!!

But she is defending herself and got the Caterpillar under control!

Here is Aki looking through the window:

Some Play Time Clips

YouTube Video - "Aki (11 weeks old) Akita Inu - Play Time"

The Original Hachiko Movie

Spoiler Alert!

Don't click if you planned to watch the original Japanese movie.



This scene kills me. I have to hold my tears every time I watch it.

Day 4 - Photos Spam!! She is 11 Weeks old Now!

Day 3 - Private Moments of Akiko ...

YouTube Video - "Day Three of Aki (Akita Inu puppy 9 weeks old)"

Baby Carrot Versus Akiko!!

YouTube Video - "First Day with Aki (Akita Inu 9 weeks old) - Carrot Time!"

Getting to know Akiko ...

After spending our first couple days with baby girl, we are discovering her little personality. Akiko is a very confident and a smart puppy. She has no problem to show you what she likes and does not!

We have learned that Akiko LOVES being outside ... and she doesn't like to be leashed at all. We've tried few times to leash her, she would bite on her leash and barely moved ... she would just look at you, sit and start resting on her spot! We've encouraged her at each movement when she took a step forward, but still she can be a stubborn little ball of fur! The worst is that she refused to do her business when she is on the leash.

So, we've decided to trust her as she will know what's the best for her. We've removed her leash for the first time and she was all excited and exploring her new yard. She was sniffing everywhere, following some ants on the concrete and at some time she licked some of them too (not sure if she understands her action of being playful with mini creatures by licking them), and she went smelling all GrandMa's plants. She loves the dragon-fruit plant eventhough the leaves have spikes, she likes to go underneath the leaves and smell the fruit. She is a happy dog when she is not on the leash and she surely know when to go whenever it's needed.

At the beginning, each time when we took her back inside the house, she was standing next to the backyard door and was whimpering next to it. Initially, we thought she still wanted to go potty, but to realize she went out to just get a nice sun tan on the grass, made herself comfortable and slept! It may because she used to be an outside door with the breeder.

Slowly, we've helped her to be accomodated with the indoor house. She doesn't like carpet at all ... she loves sleeping on tiles cause probably it gives her a cold feeling.

See how she is deeply asleep on the title and how she likes to be against the kitchen counter:

And another one ... time for a prayer ... a puppy's prayer:

Day One

We didn't sleep much last night. Woke up a few times to answer Akiko's whimpering.

Yesterday was an eventful day. Mexico custom thought I was "loco" for flying in and leaving the same day just to pick up a puppy.

I arrived at 3 pm and had to catch the returning flight at 6 pm. There was about 50 people lining up in front of the custom, I thought I'm probably gonna miss the return flight. I totally surrendered and left it up to the Almighty, and suddenly more stations opened up and the line just disappeared.

Hideki, Mr. Fujimoto's son was waiting at the gate, and Mr. Fujimoto was waiting with Akiko in a kennel not far away. I feel so bad for Aki because I know she's been going through a lot. She got car sick earlier and threw up in the kennel. We exchanged our greetings and quickly headed to Check In. After showing the proper certificates and paper works, and going through an inspection in a special area, Akiko was ready to board her flight to America.

I was very happy to meet Hideki and Mr. Fujimoto. They are super nice people. Mr. Fujimoto looks very healthy at his age. Hideki and I hit it off nicely. I just wish I can know them more. We share a quick meal since they haven't had lunch, and talked as much as we can. I found out Hideki, Vanessa, and I are all born in the same year. Of course, I was fortunate enough to listen to some Akita related stories. Mr. Fujimoto's kennel is very well known for Akitas and Shibas in Mexico. In fact, some celebrities including ex-president Vincente Fox got a Shiba from him!



I'm glad Akiko was only on the flight back, cause the flight to Mexico City was so much like a roller coaster that some people were screaming. The flight home was good. I gone through US custom smoothly because the inspection officer was very nice. Once I got Aki to the car, I quickly gave her some water and some snacks. I can tell she was very shaken, so my priority is to take her home as soon as possible. Airport is about 50 minutes away from our house.

However, I did have to delay about 10 minutes to help a couple jump-start their staled Lexus in the airport parking garage. I was too worried about Aki to properly talked to the couple, but the man mentioned that his daughter absolutely love Japanese culture, and always wanted a Japanese Akita. I gave him my business card and told him they are welcome to visit Aki and us.

By the time we got home, it's already about 10 pm. We fed, bathed, and walked Aki. When we could finally sleep at around 2am, we didn't sleep too well because we're still worried about her.





We woke up once around 5:30 am then at 7:30 to take Aki out. I'm not gonna lie, housebreaking, or potty training is tough! I'm one of those anal perfectionist, so I need to calm myself down to be patient. I think I need a support group. She does pee a little outside, but she also pee again in house... She just watches us when we are cleaning up her pee.

Vanessa prepared some very good food for her. It's mainly mashed veggies, with raw ground beef, and some organic kibbles. She eats mainly the soft stuff and leaves most kibbles. We are give her carrots for teething.



OK, I'm gonna stop here. We're getting her to the Vet now to start her care plan.

Wow, the reality just kicks in: Owning a pet is serious business!

Puppy new home

Getting ready for the puppy's new home has been so much fun. We went to PetSmart shopping a good bit now and we think we've finally got everything we need!

We've cleared up the entire Game Room and I mean we did throw away a lot of things to accomodate the new space for lovely Akiko!

Here is her new crate with a comfy bed, a pee-pad, her new companion: Octo the crazy plush and a Kong:



An this is how much space she has for her playground:


Hopefeully she will enjoy staying in her new home. Cannot wait to welcome Akiko home now!

Puppy finally has a name now!

For our dear friends who knew how long it took us to settle down for our puppy's name and for some of them who gave us many many ideas ... we finally have a name for her! We've been torned between having a cute/goofy name, a name from her origin (Japanese), a name from Disney's character, etc ...

We've looked through all the different names from all countries, so after 2 weeks of thinking and researching ... we have narrowed it down to: Fuji (in honor of our breeder Fujimoto), Puffy (obvious reason!), Suvali (Indian name meaning: Full of Grace) and Akiko (Japanese Name meaning: Child of Light, Child of Sparkle).

So we have settled down for Akiko! We got her a name tag ... we just need the puppy home now! :)

Thanks to all the friends who gave us great ideas and recommendations for the name!

Making Friends During our Search for an Akita

The journey of finding an Akita has not been easy but it was for sure very rewarding! We've met and talked to so many breeders and even became good friends with some of them. We are really pleased to have met so many amazing true Akita lovers. They have been a great help in our search and giving us so many advices!

Like Michael has already mentioned, Ben from Kobun's Japanese Akitas & Shiba, Carol from Hyozan Japanese Akitas, Hideki & Mr Fujimoto from Mex Fujimoto Sow and a great French lady Alicia from http://nekoken.fr/ are truly passionate about their Akitas and have been great advisors ... so sincerely thank you again all!

I just wanted to add to the previous post that Alicia has became a great friend too, we shared our Akita's experience and love. The first time I've talked to Alicia, she was very nice and informative. She has some Akita's puppies available (15 days old), but the French Airline requires the puppy to be 4 months old and we could not wait that long of a time!

This is a great honor for us to finally have our own Akita and we will keep on posting our journey with our new puppy.

COUNTING DOWN ... 45 MORE MINUTES!!

Hubby is on the way home from the airport. Everything went well at the custom and he said that the puppy looks amazing! She looks scared a bit as this is all foreign to her, but the moment she gets home, we will shower her with our love to make her feel at ease.

Michael feeds her a bit in the car and gave her some water. Michael poured some water in the bowl for her, she would not drink it, but would only drink it out of his hand. This is a good sign of trust and a good start of bonding already.

I am so excited. While waiting for them impatiently, I have continued to clear up more and more space for the puppy and prepared her first meal!
I am sure Michael will describe more on the details of the trip!!

Thank you everyone for all your prayers!

Counting down...

I'm picking our puppy up on October 1st, 2009. I'll be flying to Mexico to meet Hideki and puppy, then catch the next flight back with her. I pray that all will go well.

Our puppy is born 07/13/2009. She is from Mr. Fujimoto's kennel in Texcoco.

We are not dog people. I have kicked a few myself. The first time I see a Japanese Akita Inu, I fall in love, especially with the background story of Hachiko.



We started to research and contact anyone we can around the world. Since we couldn't find any puppy available in America, we called overseas to Japan, France, and Mexico, and wrote emails to several breeders worldwide.

Of the many people we've contacted, we find some to be business like, some who are too proud of their pedigree, and some who genuinely love and care about the Japanese Akitas.

Ben is a great friend and mentor we come across. We spend hours talking on the phone, mostly with him educating us on all aspects of Japanese Akitas. I found him on his website Kobun's Japanese Akitas & Shiba. He is always patient and polite, stating his points without imposing, and we can tell he truly loves the Japanese Akitas. We cannot thank him enough for his help.

Carol is super nice too. She is the closest breeder to us which is about 3 1/2 hours drive away from Houston at Hyozan Japanese Akitas. Even if we've only talked once, her emails show that she is a kind person who wishes the best for any Akita lovers. She even invited us to go to their kennel at Corsicana, which we have to back out because we're occupied with getting ready for our puppy. Jim and Carol are planning a litter early 2010 that we originally wanted to buy from, but we are just so hopelessly charmed by the Akita Inu that we have to get one ASAP.

The common trait I find in these genuinely nice Japanese Akita lovers is that they are just simply nice folks who care to help. They are not in bit interested in defending their position of splitting the two breeds, which actually make their message sounds even louder and more effective. Never have I heard them saying the Japanese Akitas is better than the American ones. They are just two distinctive breeds and it all come down to personal preference.

On a fateful day, we found Mr. Fujimoto at Mex Fujimoto Sow. He has puppies available NOW! OMG! His son Hideki has been the patient one who is helping us with the communication. He is an amazing person who can speak Spanish, Japanese and English! I feel bad because I think we've bothered him enough. This is the first picture they sent us showing the available puppies on 09/16/2009:



Again, this family is super nice too. Mr. Fujimoto suggested that we should stop by his kennel, have a tour at the pyramids and the city at his expense! We jumped on the offer initially, but due to our scheduling conflict, we just opt to fly over and pick up the puppy this time. We would love to visit his kennel one day and tour Mexico City.

We've been looking at these pictures of our baby girl taken on 09/21/2009 while awaiting her arrival. We take days off to get her adjusted to her new home. We feel sad that she'll have to be separated from her sister whom she plays a lot with.

This picture cracks me up, LOL!

Love the way she stands.

So, pray for us that everything will go smoothly.

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.