Akita Pool

   / Akita Pool #252  
Eddie,
Words can't express your work. Outstanding as usual.
hugs, Brandi
 
   / Akita Pool #253  
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Love the pool! I'd love to have the money/skills to do something like that.

Huge Akita fan here. My daughter and I have a pair of pet-quality Akitas. The white male is hers (will be neutered at 1 year of age per agreement with breeder) and the black/silver female is "mine". My wife is allergic so they live with my daughter come down once a week or so to run in my fences 3 acres.
 
   / Akita Pool
  • Thread Starter
#254  
Thanks for the picture. It's always fun to see other peoples Keeters!!!! We have a friend named Ilka that's here in TX who breeds and shows pure white Akita's. She's also a vet and rather famous for them. Any chance that your white one is from her kennnel?
 
   / Akita Pool #255  
They're from a local outfit here in Maine, Ootjhov's Akitas. They're on Facebook.

Kind of a fun story about them. Daughter has groomed for them off and on for quite a while. When she got her new house out in the woods built, she decided she wanted an Akita puppy. The breeder picked out the white male for her and when the pup got to be about 4 weeks old, she started dropping by once a week to start socializing the pup.

One week, she invited me to come along, knowing how much I love dogs in general and Akitas in particular. The breeder met us out in the drive and, not knowing if I knew anything about dogs, gave me some instructions on meeting strange dogs. Usual stuff, let them come to you, etc.

I walked in the door (the dogs have the run of the house) and a BIG male came right up to me, put his island-sized paws on my shoulders and started licking my face. Breeder was a bit taken aback, says "He's usually pretty stand-offish with strangers."

The black and silver female was 8 months old at the time and hadn't been placed. She was laying on the floor looking at me and I squatted down to let her check me out. Next thing I know, she's crawling up in my lap. Breeder was dumbfounded. "She NEVER lets strangers touch her!"

I knew I was in trouble right then and there. Breeder said she laid by the door waiting for me to come back (dunno if that's truth or salesmanship...) Daughter and I talked it over, we went back the next day and brought her home. I paid for her and give my daughter a monthly "child support" check to cover food and vet bills. She's been spayed.

Even my wife likes her, just can't be around her for more than a few minutes at a time.
 
   / Akita Pool
  • Thread Starter
#256  
That's a great story. I've always heard that it's best to let the dog pick you!!!!

I checked out their FB page. Nice that they are working towards breeding dogs for temperament.
 
   / Akita Pool
  • Thread Starter
#257  
My original plan of using rock to create the Akita ran into a problem when I found out that the only really bright white stone out there is marble. The problem with marble is that it deteriorates over time when under water. Then the only super black stone that I could find wasn't cut. It was full sized, rounded, rocks. I thought about going with rocks, but really wanted a flat finish. I spoke to my tile supplier at The Tile Shop here in Tyler, and he suggested a porcelain tile that was dense enough for using in a pool. Most tile isn't very dense, so it's not a good choice for pools. Regular pool tile doesn't come in the solid colors that I wanted for the Akita, so my options became very limited.

The tile came on 1ft by 2ft sheets, and each tile is 2 inches square. I cut them out and then broke each tile into four or more pieces with a hammer. Then I used a putty knife to apply the thinset and install each piece into the pattern that I felt was the most appealing. The thinset is Ardex X77

Just like doing a floor or shower, the grout lines are a huge factor in laying out the pattern. This was one of my biggest concerns when applying the tile. I wanted to make sure that the legs where distinct from each other, and that they patterns where clean.

Karen took this picture of me Saturday morning.

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   / Akita Pool
  • Thread Starter
#258  
Sunday I finished off the mosaic. The biggest challenge was in making the black, go from super dark black, to kind of faded, silvery black. My solution was to spread the tile out farther apart to create the lighter coloring of their coats. More grout between the tile should make it look a lot lighter. When I'm done with all the tile, I plan on using a dark grey for grout, so that should work out pretty good.

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