Due to our large move from Oregon back to Rhode Island for 2020-2021 and changes to our health testing and importing scheme as well as the economy, Akiyama no Roushya is going through some changes as of 2021, for all litters bred and planned for 2021 onward.

Puppies bred by Akiyama no Roushya are now $2500. 
This is for a well-bred pet, show, or sport puppy from health tested parents. Akiyama no Roushya puppies go home with a completed Embark test to be transferred to the owner, all applicable deworming rounds, vaccinations administered by a veterinarian, AKC & NIPPO registration (for those eligible), and are raised on a daily ENS program that bleeds into early socialization and foundation for obedience as the puppies age. 

Co-ownerships are offered, but cannot be requested.
Co-ownerships are offered to homes Akiyama no Roushya thinks may be well qualified for the purpose of keeping dogs intact for future preservation. Co-ownership dogs are offered at $500 less than our puppy price to accommodate our owners. Akiyama no Roushya pays for any health testing, registration fees, and title fees on any co-owned dogs and may pay for some entry fees on sports and shows. All breeding related expenses are paid for by Akiyama no Roushya and co-own homes are eligible for their puppy payment back or a puppy back once their co-ownership is complete after the fulfillment of 2 litters or otherwise agreed upon by Akiyama no Roushya and the owner.

Health Testing at Akiyama no Roushya
To date, Akiyama no Roushya is the first kennel in the USA to health test their breeding stock with the OFA. The OFA full thyroid panel is the only way to diagnose positive compensative autoimmune thyroiditis which is present in the breed and may put individuals at risk for future, more serious autoimmune illness. Dogs who are positive compensative will have regular T4, which is typically used to diagnose hypothyroidism. Every breeding dog from 2021 onward will have an OFA thyroid test after their first birthday, which is the earliest they can have an official result on OFA. We will follow the OFA guidelines for thyroid testing and regularly retest - once before breeding and again before spaying or neutering.

Every Kishu Ken will also be tested with an Embark Vet DNA test which screens for 190+ genetic illnesses (none of which seem to be pertinent to Kishu Ken at this time) and screens for genetic homozygocity. Because US pedigree data is currently poor and cannot accurately show how dogs are interrelated, Akiyama no Roushya uses Embark to better understand how much genetic data breeding dogs have in common by descent using their coefficient of relationship calculations and takes that into consideration before breeding.

As joint issues are not currently obviously common among tested Kishu Ken and are not prioritized and will be collected as it is convenient. Of another note is that Kishu Ken here will have dentition done to assure that dogs have a full set of dentition and no obvious malocclusion.

A raging pandemic means that there's little opportunity for in-person shows and sports, so what are we doing? WELL...

Ohio Doberman Club Fundraiser Virtual Dog Shows! We just got results for the Kishu Ken in VDS-8.
Open Male:

• 1st Place - Jason / Jikino Kensha no Nami no Aima (Best Male, BOW, BOB, Group 1) -- NEW TITLE
• 2nd Place - Cuchulainn / Hakuzan no Sekirou go Hakuzan Ryousou

Puppy Male:

• 1st Place - Moth / Akiyama no Roushya Tenrou go (Reserve Best Male)
• 2nd Place - Argo / Akiyama no Roushya Yamato go
• 3rd Place - Sho / Akiyama no Roushya Shiromasa go

Open Female:

• 1st Place - Fionnuala / Akiyama no Roushya Kokuchou go (Best Female)
• 2nd Place - Reiko / Seihoume go Hakushuu Daizan sou (Reserve Best Female)

Sport and fun AKC titles can be done online too!

• TKN: Earned on Fionnuala & Moth
• TKI: Training Fionnuala, Jason, Moth
• RN: Fionnuala and Jason are in progress!
• ACT1: Fionnuala and Jason in progress!

​Breeding plans have been updated on my FB. I've got to change them on my site. First wave of emails have gone out. We will have a litter this fall.

I'm behind on emails, so if you have contacted me in the last couple of weeks please know I'm not ignoring you. I see all my new emails and have time to respond to maybe one or two a night in the capacity I would like to.

Phone calls are difficult for me due to my schedule. I am most responsive to Facebook messages and text messages (using the number provided on my FB page.)

With quarantine rules, we have been working on the things we can:

Trick Dog Novice: Fionnuala and Moth have earned their TKN. Waiting on processing from AKC. Working on arranging a TKN evaluator for Puck and Fionna.
Trick Dog Intermediate: Working on refining one last behavior with Jason for his TKI. Working on TKI with Fionnuala and Moth.
Rally Novice: Working on RN titles for Fionnuala, Fionna, and Jason! I have to make those signs some day for our videos.
Online Dog Shows: Jason earned EX1, vir. CAC, vir. res. CACIB at an FCI dog show online. It's a fun way to pass the time and have the dogs seen against other Kishu all over the globe. Jason, Fionnuala, Moth, and Puck were additionally entered in a US-based show put on by the Ohio Doberman Club for real points. Pure Dog Talk is also putting on shows for real wins/ribbons.

Trails have opened back up here in Oregon, so it will be back to day-hikes before work soon enough.

Hope everyone is staying safe out there.