Yep, that's a beautiful dog. But I think the congratulations go more to Eddie's wife.:laughing:
For sure. It's all her. She has always wanted to do this, but didn't know how to get started, or even what to look for in a show dog. She bought her first Akita just before we met, and after we fenced in a yard for her, she wanted to get another one as a companion to play with and do dog stuff together. While looking around, the show dog bug bit her and she decided that if she was gonna get another dog, that's what she wanted. We sort of got lucky in meeting a local lady who has been showing Akita's for 30 years. She knows everyone, and everything about the breed. She is more into horses now, but still showing dogs every now and then. She introduced us to our puppy Raiden and his breeder down in Austin. His father was a top 20 dog at the time, and felt we where getting a great dog.
Raiden was doing pretty good in the ring, but when he was a year old, he was bit by a tick and developed tick paralysis. Basically, every nerve in his body was being stripped of their lining and he was losing control of his muscles. First day he was clumsy, Second day he had trouble getting up and he was falling over. Third day he couldn't get up or raise his head. He was close to dying. Our Vet said that the forth day his lungs would have stopped if we didn't get him in there. He never fully recovered, and never did well in the show ring again. He is almost three now and just a big lovable dog that will live out the rest of his life at home with us.
After that, and with more knowledge of the breed, a little experience showing and what was out there in our area of the country, Karen started searching all over the country, and even a little bit around the world for the best puppy we could find. When buying show dogs, people with the top blood lines don't just sell them to you, you have to apply for the dog, and depending on your reputation, who you are and what your history is with the breed, all gets factored into being selected or not. When getting Raiden, the local lady that we met came over to our house and looked around to be sure we had a dog friendly home, and also to see how our first Akita behaved. She also provided the reference to the breeders in California, where we found a litter that we wanted a certain puppy from that litter. This turned out to be kind of crazy with quite a few people wanting her. The price never changed, but the questions kept coming from them towards us and our plans for her. Fortunately, the story of how we took care of Raiden, really made a big impact on their decision, and we where given pick of the litter. We got the one we wanted.
Karen did all this, I was just shown pictures and kept up to date. The breeder wasn't just talking to us, they contacted quite a few of our friends in the show world and they where also asked about us and how we treated our dogs.
So in August of 2015, we drove up to Wyoming to pick up Kaminari from them and bring her home. Two months later, Karen entered her in her first dog show as a puppy. No points for this, it's all just giving them experience and seeing what their potential might be. Kami won everything against 30 other puppies of different breeds. This is the picture of Karen when they announced Kami won the puppy Best of Show.
Then a few months later, Kami won her Champion title in four shows, all Major wins. To get your Champion title, you need 15 points with at least two wins being majors. In theory, you could get 11 points by being the only dog to show up and just being awarded the points. I don't know if that ever happens, but there are a lot of smaller shows where only 3 to five dogs show up and it's pretty easy to get single points like that. A Major means at least 5 females and 8 males have to be competing. Major points can are more, with 2 to five points being possible in a single day. Which makes Kami's Champion title just a little more special.
Once she became a Champion, she blew her coat and then went into heat, then summer hit and she didn't have a good coat to compete, so we waited until September to show her again, and she won Best of Breed over and over again. Grand Champion titles require another 25 points, and you have to beat other Champions at least twice, along with Major wins for points. She did all this in two months.
Now she is showing every weekend this month, working on points towards her Bronze Level. She needs 100 points for that, and then we will work on Silver, and then Gold.
The better she does, the more her puppies will be worth, and the more people will be wanting to have one.
When she turns 2, she will be x rayed and examined to get her health certificate. After that, we will decide on breeding. We are told that after their first breeding, they get better. Somehow they look better overall. I'm not sure of all that, but Karen has seen it and feels it's real. We also don't want to take a pause in a winning streak, so we might keep competing for another year until she is 3. Fortunately, we have already received some pretty impressive offers on breeding her. Karen is in touch with the owners of the top male dogs right now, but also with some of those with semen from dogs that are no longer here, but where very impressive. My top choice has been dead for 20 years. Every time his semen has been used, outstanding breeding's resulted. None of them have been with a dog of Kami's caliber, so that leaves the potential for something truly special.
Just like buying a puppy from the top show people, there is a process of getting them to breed with your dog. They do not want junk, or a bad reputation. So far, they are coming to us, which is very humbling, considering how long they have been at it, and how new we are.
One negative is that the more dogs in a show, the more points we get when Kami wins. Since Kami wins so often, other owners are starting to avoid shows where they know she will be at. All month, we've been getting asked about what shows we will be entering. We have learned not to say, or commit to anything. Now they are trying to find out where our handler will be so they can avoid entering their dogs in the same shows as Kami.
Once Kami became a Champion, she no longer competes against dogs that are not Champions. Karen showed Kami in those four Majors and did good, but she also realized that there where professional handlers that where out showing her with lesser quality dogs, and it was Kami who shined and stood out, not what Karen was doing. So that was another big task that Karen set out to do, find a handler that Kami likes, and who can compete against the best handlers and dogs in the country. This is another world that we had no knowledge of, and fortunately, our connections with show people led us to Becca. Her experience, knowledge an friendships with everyone in the AKC has really been another big reason for where Kami is today. She thinks Kami is one of the very best Akita's out there, and she is campaigning her as such. If you watch the big dog shows on TV, she is always there, along with the people we bought Kami from.
Hope that wasn't too long winded. I'm just really proud of my wife and what she's accomplished.
