The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Pets & Working Animals => Dogs => Topic started by: T.eddie on June 22, 2024, 02:06:35 pm
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Hi all,
I'm new to the forum but wanted to share my 2 dogs as they are a unusual breed.
Meet Major and Luna. They are Shikoku Inu and are a Japanese deer/boar hunting dog. There aren't many in the UK and as far as I'm aware Major is the only one working in the UK. He comes with me shooting and has successfully tracked deer as well as flushed pheasants etc.
Major is going to be 5 this year and Luna is 8 months old
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Major
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Luna - it won't allow me to share another photo but I'll get one up soon
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Major is a beauty!
I've met Akitas and Shiba Inus, but never seen a Shikoku in the flesh.
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Thank you he really is an amazing dog. It's rare someone has even heard of the breed so definite kudos to you!
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My profile pic has both major and Luna so hopefully you can see them both
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Thank you he really is an amazing dog. It's rare someone has even heard of the breed so definite kudos to you!
Dogs used to be one of my "special interest"s as a kid. (I think it's possibly UK sheep now.) If my *general* knowledge were better and I didn't freeze like a rabbit in headlights in front of a video camera, I could have won Mastermind! lol
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"Dogs used to be one of my "special interest"s as a kid. "
Did you have the I-Spy book of dogs? @SallyintNorth
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"Dogs used to be one of my "special interest"s as a kid. "
Did you have the I-Spy book of dogs? @SallyintNorth
Oh I was well beyond iSpy! I had all the Observers Books of Dogs, every edition I think! And knew pretty much everything in them! My dog books were a good shelf-full...
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Website below has details of them. As a dog championship judge I have only ever seen one in the show ring - very similar to shiba inu so I judged it from that. They aren't recognised by the UK kennel club yet - this was a small fun show. It seemed a very calm steady dog
https://www.pets4homes.co.uk/pet-advice/all-about-the-shikoku-dog-breed.html
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Website below has details of them. As a dog championship judge I have only ever seen one in the show ring - very similar to shiba inu so I judged it from that. They aren't recognised by the UK kennel club yet - this was a small fun show. It seemed a very calm steady dog
https://www.pets4homes.co.uk/pet-advice/all-about-the-shikoku-dog-breed.html
That's right not recognised over here thought it's on my list to try and get that changed. They are similar to Shiba and akita inu though shikoku are the most "primitive" natured apparently due to largely being left alone. Very good Hunters, very independent but also very loyal. Ours have been fantastic but definitely not recommended for everyone
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Website below has details of them. As a dog championship judge I have only ever seen one in the show ring - very similar to shiba inu so I judged it from that. They aren't recognised by the UK kennel club yet - this was a small fun show. It seemed a very calm steady dog
https://www.pets4homes.co.uk/pet-advice/all-about-the-shikoku-dog-breed.html
That's right not recognised over here thought it's on my list to try and get that changed. They are similar to Shiba and akita inu though shikoku are the most "primitive" natured apparently due to largely being left alone. Very good Hunters, very independent but also very loyal. Ours have been fantastic but definitely not recommended for everyone
Needs a breed club to be established and a specific number of registrations over time before the RKC will recognise a breed. It can take many years. The process should have been started when the first dogs were imported.
Try to find other owners and form a breed club with an inaugural meeting to create a constitution and appoint three people acting as Chair, secretary, and Treasurer, then apply to have it registered with the KC. This breed will be in the utility Group in the UK.
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Website below has details of them. As a dog championship judge I have only ever seen one in the show ring - very similar to shiba inu so I judged it from that. They aren't recognised by the UK kennel club yet - this was a small fun show. It seemed a very calm steady dog
https://www.pets4homes.co.uk/pet-advice/all-about-the-shikoku-dog-breed.html
That's right not recognised over here thought it's on my list to try and get that changed. They are similar to Shiba and akita inu though shikoku are the most "primitive" natured apparently due to largely being left alone. Very good Hunters, very independent but also very loyal. Ours have been fantastic but definitely not recommended for everyone
Needs a breed club to be established and a specific number of registrations over time before the RKC will recognise a breed. It can take many years. The process should have been started when the first dogs were imported.
Try to find other owners and form a breed club with an inaugural meeting to create a constitution and appoint three people acting as Chair, secretary, and Treasurer, then apply to have it registered with the KC. This breed will be in the utility Group in the UK.
Thank you that's good to know, I know of 2 other owners so can look into trying that, I also saw about importing the Italian kennel club info as that's where mine are from and they are recognised over there I believe
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The KC will need a breed standard before recognition, and you can use it from other kennel clubs as a base document, but it will have to be in the same format as other Utility breeds - have a look here
https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/breed-standards/utility/japanese-shiba-inu/#:~:text=White%20markings%20restricted%20to%20eye,50%25%20of%20normal%20red%20area.
Standards in other countries are often more detailed. For instance the FCI standard for my breed, Brittany (Epagneul Breton) contains very much more information than the UK one, and we had to push hard for what we have now.
They don't like change either, so make sure it's exactly what you need and be prepared to haggle Last time ours was updated was 2008! :eyelashes:
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The KC will need a breed standard before recognition, and you can use it from other kennel clubs as a base document, but it will have to be in the same format as other Utility breeds - have a look here
https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/breed-standards/utility/japanese-shiba-inu/#:~:text=White%20markings%20restricted%20to%20eye,50%25%20of%20normal%20red%20area.
Standards in other countries are often more detailed. For instance the FCI standard for my breed, Brittany (Epagneul Breton) contains very much more information than the UK one, and we had to push hard for what we have now.
They don't like change either, so make sure it's exactly what you need and be prepared to haggle Last time ours was updated was 2008! :eyelashes:
thanks for the heads up will definitely look into properly
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beautiful dogs! never heard of shikoku inu before.
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beautiful dogs! never heard of shikoku inu before.
Thank you, yeah they really are an uncommon dog
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Major altering a good morning taking a Muntjac off one of the farms, which was his first muntjac track as he has only ever worked roe so far.
He did really well, super proud of him
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It was a busy end to the year, with the arrival of these ( the 1st shikoku inu litter in the uk)
This was an accidental breeding between our dogs, Luna was due to be spayed and they told us she had come into season again so we brought her back home. Our daughter (4yrs old) let Major out before I could get a nappy on Luna and the rest is history
That being said, if anyone is in the market for a new pup and wants something that is a primitive, unadulterated and rare breed, do reach out. These would be well suited to a small holding/farm setting
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Gosh she's young to have a litter and to be honest too young to be spayed. I always recommend avoiding problems and neutering at 2 years. Her bones won't have joined up properly yet. Her hormones won't have fully kicked in. And I know you'll know all that, but vets annoy me when they recommend early spaying
I can't criticise your wee one - I did the same as your 4 year old when I was eleven! and should have had more sense :innocent: At least they were normal breeds cocker/lab and easily found pet homes
I would have had a very tender BTM for a while - and can still remember my Dad's anger at 81 :-[ :'( :'( :'( and I've been paranoid about bitches in season ever since :roflanim:
How is Luna doing? How many did she have? I'm sure they'll make great working dogs from what I've read about them - possibly more than just farm dogs though.
Have you contacted BASC or any of the other shooting or hawking associations? Deerhounds aren't used for working much these days but they probably have similar attributes
Good luck finding appropriate homes for them
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Gosh she's young to have a litter and to be honest too young to be spayed. I always recommend avoiding problems and neutering at 2 years. Her bones won't have joined up properly yet. Her hormones won't have fully kicked in. And I know you'll know all that, but vets annoy me when they recommend early spaying
I can't criticise your wee one - I did the same as your 4 year old when I was eleven! and should have had more sense :innocent: At least they were normal breeds cocker/lab and easily found pet homes
I would have had a very tender BTM for a while - and can still remember my Dad's anger at 81 :-[ :'( :'( :'( and I've been paranoid about bitches in season ever since :roflanim:
How is Luna doing? How many did she have? I'm sure they'll make great working dogs from what I've read about them - possibly more than just farm dogs though.
Have you contacted BASC or any of the other shooting or hawking associations? Deerhounds aren't used for working much these days but they probably have similar attributes
Good luck finding appropriate homes for them
Thank you, she's doing really well, has taken to the maternal duties beautifully. She had 6 total, one stillborn which I tried to resuscitate for around 45mins. And one she bit the umbilical cord to close to the body, essentially allowing part of the gut to come out, vet said the only option would be surgery but the pup wouldn't survive so had to have that one put down. The other 4 are growing really well and all seem healthy, full of life and proper little characters.
Yeah the litter wasn't planned so I would think she was a bit young really as well, and as for the spaying, I was never really for it in the first place but my Mrs wanted to avoid puppies....didn't work out that way. Its a good shout re seeing if I can get basc to post an advert also. We have decided to keep one regardless and think we have a home for one more already, so that just leaves 2 to find a home.
They are fantastic working dogs, I think being on a farm would see them right having some decent land to roam a little. Any others I've met have never worked and as far as I can find Major is the only working one in the UK, though I would love to see this catch on and see others start working, especially if it's one of these pups
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as for the spaying, I was never really for it in the first place but my Mrs wanted to avoid puppies....didn't work out that way.
Re: spaying, having had an unspayed bitch have repeated mammary tumours, some of them cancerous, cost me a ££££££ortune twice to have the cancerous ones removed (not to mention the worry), she then got a secondary tumour in her elbow and I chose to not amputate at her age so medicated for pain until it wasn't keeping her comfortable... :'( I would never ever keep a bitch unspayed again. (Oh and she also had pyometra, so another op for that, and it did make her proper poorly, took her a while to get over that one.)
Check with the vet, there is an age by which you need to get them spayed to reduce the likelihood of mammary tumours.
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as for the spaying, I was never really for it in the first place but my Mrs wanted to avoid puppies....didn't work out that way.
Re: spaying, having had an unspayed bitch have repeated mammary tumours, some of them cancerous, cost me a ££££££ortune twice to have the cancerous ones removed (not to mention the worry), she then got a secondary tumour in her elbow and I chose to not amputate at her age so medicated for pain until it wasn't keeping her comfortable... :'( I would never ever keep a bitch unspayed again. (Oh and she also had pyometra, so another op for that, and it did make her proper poorly, took her a while to get over that one.)
Check with the vet, there is an age by which you need to get them spayed to reduce the likelihood of mammary tumours.
That is the only thing that makes me consider it, we had our jack Russell spayed for preventative reasonings. There seems to be some conflicting info being circulated now though where some vets are saying there is no health reasons to do or not. Luna will be spayed regardless but it is odd how the narrative seems to be changing at the moment.
We also had our first interested party look at the pups today, our littlest girl has been chosen and seems like a very nice person so quite happy about that
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We also had our first interested party look at the pups today, our littlest girl has been chosen and seems like a very nice person so quite happy about that
That's great news :excited:. Best of luck finding equally good homes for them all. :fc:
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We also had our first interested party look at the pups today, our littlest girl has been chosen and seems like a very nice person so quite happy about that
That's great news :excited:. Best of luck finding equally good homes for them all. :fc:
Thank you