October is a busy doggy birthday month at our house. Today Dixie and Gringo are 4 years old, and Marc is guest blogging in their honor.

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Four years ago today, Lonny was at the Akita National in St. Louis, it was the last day of the show and she and Kim were on their way home. She had gone and put me in charge of dogs for the week, a chore that I took very seriously because that included keeping a casual watch on Cassie who was pregnant with a litter. I was told that the puppies wouldn't be arriving until several days after she got home, so there was "no need to be concerned".

Anyway, on Sunday night, I was sound asleep in bed when this noise awoke me about 2:00 AM. This was that kind of noise that is familiar in one way, but on another level it seems strange and surreal. I decided to go downstairs and investigate, realizing as I began down the stairs that it was some sort of whimpering and one of the dogs probably had to go out.

I went onto the front porch where Cassie's crate was and saw that she had an "accident" in the crate. It didn't really smell like the normal accident though and suddenly, I noticed her "BM " was moving around.

I said "oh my gosh" to myself (anyone who knows me can figure out what I really said) and quickly ushered Cassie out of the crate and picked up this puppy. It didn't take me long to figure out what was going on, but while I was grabbing this puppy, Cassie had found herself a nice spot on the living room floor.

I grabbed some towels that I had done earlier in the week but hadn't gotten around to putting away yet (Lonny wasn't due home until much later that day so I still had time) and wrapped this puppy up. I started to call Lonny on her cell and about a minute after she picked up and heard me screaming at her, told her I had to go. Lo and behold another one was coming out!! Fortunately Cassie knew what to do on this one as well and the puppy that would become Gringo made his debut on the floor.

Now I am holding the first puppy (Gumbo) in one hand, trying to grab Gringo with the other and finding a place to put these two. I would have used the laundry basket, but it was full (should have put those clothes away four days ago), so I ran into the kitchen and found one of the boxes that Lonny's books come in.

By now, Cassie had settled down as did I to an extent and after getting the two boys settled, I called Lonny back.

Well, over the next few hours, I was able to reach our son, Bryan and persuade him to come over and help poor old Dad, get assurance from Lonny that Kim was driving home as fast as she could and there was no magic transporter like you see on Star Trek in the van. I also got a hold of two of our friends, Miriam and then Jackie, both of whom were experienced breeders and did a great job talking me through. When Bryan got here, we had coffee, set up the whelping pool and got the other dogs fed. Oh, we also delivered more puppies, another 6 would come, including a red female who we named Dixie.

All through this ordeal, I kept updating Lonny on the cell phone as they were going through the mountains of Pennsylvania, hence Gringo's registered name is Ch Nutmeg's Can U Hear Me Now.

What makes this story special is because even though we had been in Akitas for over 20 years to that point, I had never whelped a puppy before. I must have picked a little something up even on the nights when I was still in bed when Lonny was delivering litters. It is like when someone goes to bed with one of those tapes and wakes up knowing how to speak French!!

Anyway, Happy Birthday to Dixie and Gringo as well as your littermates who have their own homes. I am glad you survived that first day.>>

I finally managed to get a half way decent picture of the birthday duo together. Dixie loves to pose, but Gringo is too busy looking around at everything and being silly. Here they are!

Here are a couple of new websites that are full of information that everyone can use.

The first is http://www.dog-safety.net . This site talks about how to prevent dog bites, what to teach your children about approaching dogs, etc. It has a lot of useful informtion and I'd recommend it to everyone.

The second site is for those who are considering adding an Akita to their household.
http://www.akitas-4-u.com/ . A couple of our dogs and dogs we've bred are on there, too! Again, it is full of useful information and is owned by one of the most respected Akita people around, Barbara Bouyet.

Check them out!

I got a new photo of Bubba today, taken at a show in Sweden. He is just turned 9 months old in this photo, and looks good! I love his black pigment! Ellie Mae has good pigment, but its not as black as this is.



We are FINALLY having normal weather, after another 89 degree day yesterday. Enough already! I want some comfortable fall temperatures before we are plunged into snow and winter. It was in the 70's all night last night, then around daybreak the temps and dew point started dropping - it's now 63 degrees (at about 3 pm) and overcast with some much needed rain expected tonight and through part of the day tomorrow. It's been so dry, even the weeds are dying!

The squirrels are getting brave now. The past couple of days I have seen them in the unused puppy pen, digging around in there, looking for food I suppose, but there's nothing there. I let dogs out in the yard and those brazen creatures sit there and look at them through the picket fence! One of them was too brave this afternoon - it was sitting there watching Dixie and Gringo go out to play, when Dixie spotted it. Faster than you could blink an eye, she popped the gate latch and ran in there - the squirrel jumped up on the stockade fence and ran down to the trees at the back of the yard. In the meantime, Dixie and Gringo were having a smellfest in the puppy pen, getting a good snootful of squirrel scent. You can bet that every time Dixie goes out the door for the next week, the first thing she is going to is to check out that pen!

Michelle and family are back from Germany, and I can't wait to see all their photos. There is a link to her blog on the right hand side of this blog, and I'm sure once she gets them all downloaded they'll be available to see there.

ARWNY is having an incredible raffle at the end of October!

iWON RAFFLE

1st Prize: 42" LCD Flat Screen TV ($1100 value)
2nd Prize: Home Theatre system ($800 value)
3rd Prize: APPLE iPOD ($400 value)

http://www.akitarescuewny.com/Nationals%20raffle/nationals%20raffle%
202007/hi-techraffle2007.htm

You get a 3 in 250 chance of winning because once we sell 250
tickets, we aren't selling anymore -- you can't beat those odds, eh?

All you need do is go to this site:

http://www.akitarescuewny.com/Nationals%20raffle/nationals%20raffle%
202007/hi-techraffle2007.htm

(just copy and put it in your browser if its not able to be clicked
on, ok?)

Scroll down the page to read the form -- this is a FABULOUS offer and
tickets are already selling FAST -- don't miss out!!!

Mail orders must be received by October 24th, 2007
We are accepting postal mail, fax, and Paypal orders.

Fax Orders ONLY accepted if using PayPal
Print off form and fax to
716.741.2124

Pay by paypal or mail your form ASAP!!!

HOPE YOU WIN!!!

Kathy D-ARWNY

Today is our Paula's (Nutmeg's Diabolique) birthday! She's 9 years old. Paula also had a pretty exciting birth. Our daughter Michelle got married on October 3rd, and we had two litters of puppies due the first week of October. Neither of the dams showed any inclination to go into labor on the 3rd, but it was a pretty stressful day, in many ways! Paula is named after the maid of honor in the wedding

Both of the dams, Shrimpy and Karma, decided to go into labor at the same time, on the same day, October 5th! I was jumping from one whelping pool to the next...Shrimpy had 4 males and was finished; Karma had had 4 males, one stillborn, and the one female, Paula. She felt like she had more in there, though, so around 5 pm we were off to the vet. Not our regular vet, he was on a cruise. We had made arrangments ahead of time with his former associate, who is also excellent. Dr. Brian took an feel and felt another pup in there, so in for a c-section Karma went. She had a beautiful white male, who was stained green from the afterbirths, and we called him DJ. DJ went up to Alaska to live with our friend Casey and her family, and finished his championship. He now has two legs toward his Rally title. The green staining wore off after a couple of weeks

Paula is a very sweet and happy girl. She needed a major to finish her championship, but that won't happen now, after her surgery on Monday. She is recovering amazingly well; you'd never know she has 4 incisions. Here are a couple of photos of her in her luxury bed recovering from her surgery.





Happy Birthday, Paulie-wally!