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Akita People

"Akita World" talks with

Loren and Cristina Egland,
Antioch, California

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Can you describe your set-up?

    Loren
We have five kennel runs, and it is covered with tin over the top to keep them out of the weather and the sun. The bottom door is concrete blocks, which gives a little more drainage than straight concrete. There is sand under them, I just laid it down and it was pretty easy and quick. It keeps them clean if I want to put them in there before a show. They have a doghouse on the outside of the kennel run, it is attached by a door. They are about 12 x 6 kennel runs, and we also have a dog yard, where we have pea gravel all around so they don't get too muddy or dirty. Then outside of each run, we have a space that is like a second run, where pea gravel is, so we can keep them separate and they have a place to go do their duty. When they have that, they don't mess up their own kennel runs. Sometimes you see dogs that are stinky and pee-stained, but our dogs don't get like that because they have a place to go, and they like to keep their kennel area clean. For the most part, they never do anything in there unless they are closed in their runs and they have to. We also let them out in our big main yard, so they can exercise more. Sometimes we take them for walks.

   Cristina
They get out once or twice a day just to run. We have a big hill back there that is almost like a treadmill. They can run up and down the hill, and it's better than a treadmill. They all get to do that at least once a day. They go in pairs, a male with a female. And our dogs love apples; they eat apples off the trees. They pick them right off the tree and eat them.

   Loren
It was easier when we only had four dogs. When we were in Japan, we had seen a bitch at the Akiho show, the big show over there. Actually, we were casually looking for something we liked. Then we found just what we were looking for, and over a year later we were finally able to make contact through Mr. Naomasa Hirose in Japan and we got her owner to release her. He only had one Akita, and that was Ouka. Josh Popkin went in on it with us so we could afford her, and we got her over here; she is just a gorgeous bitch. Right now she is looking just great. She has matured out, and she has gorgeous coat, and a lot of guard hair all the way down the sides of her body, not just a little bit on the top along the back, full cheeks, and she is nicely balanced. She has turned out to be a gorgeous bitch. She won Reserve Winners Bitch at the National in 2000 in Maryland. There were about 131 bitches.  But there are no points to that, in the AKC system we have. Again, I don't like it, but that is the AKC way.

   Cristina
At a specialty, or a National, Reserve is the second best, but wins over 130 bitches, but gets no points. They have the Winners Bitch, and the Reserve Winners Bitch, and she won over all the others. In fact, she won over Open class, which was the biggest class. To me, it is like, wow, she won Open Bitch, and is the largest class there is, and then was defeated, which was fine, but I was just thinking that at a National a point system should have points for that.

   Loren
At regular shows, even if they gave something for Reserve as well, and there were enough dogs there, you would probably have more entries and better chances of winning. Then different types could win more readily. Even then, it is a bad system compared to the Akiho shows in Japan. There they have several judges and they have to do a written evaluation, and they make their decisions based on the look of the dog. Though they do eventually place them, they rate them according to their qualities. So you can have the Meiyosho, which for awhile was called the Taisho Award, and that is the highest award you can attain. And you can attain that only at the headquarters show twice a year, and only on older dogs. But some years there may not be any that win it, because there are not any good enough, and other years there could be several that could win it. They are rated against the standard rather than against each other. Though in some of the classes they do eventually place them, still they get their rating. So that is a lot better way of doing it, because you don't have to keep running to shows all the time and being at the mercy of the system. You could be judged by judges who have twenty-plus years in the breed, and they come to a consensus and they rate it against the standard.

   You really only need one win there to be recognized as good as your dog is. Here you have to keep going every week if you want to become the top dog in the nation. You spend a lot of money, but I guess that is why. Somebody makes money on it, so that is probably why they do it that way. The system sucks, and no matter what system you have, even in Akiho you are still at the mercy of judges. Akiho, in Japan, has had their judging scandals also. They have a branch here in Los Angeles, for Akiho, and we went to it a couple of times. Japan won the top gold award there one year, and Shadow won another year. Shadow got the Best Male in Show Judges Award, but he wasn't old enough to go for the gold award.

   Cristina
It was a beautiful statue you won.

   Loren
It was a nice little diversion from AKC. The judge, Mr. Yamashita, brought over the statue for the judge's award, and it is just gorgeous.

   The judge told Mr. Hirose about Shadow, and when Mr. Hirose saw Shadow when he stayed at our place, he told us Shadow was better than any brindle male in Japan. Also, JKC chairman Mr. Kariyabu judged him, and he told the crowd he had good type.

   Cristina
 Japan got the highest award that year, and that was the first year we brought her to an Akiho show.

   Loren
 I have never seen a statue as beautiful as this one that Shadow won. It took my breath away when he brought that out and presented it to us.

   It was fun when we went to Japan. I was an ACA delegate at the first World Akita Congress. They treated us really good in Japan. While we were there we attended the JKC National Akita Specialty. That was in 1996, and in 1998 we went back to Japan and went to the Akiho show and got to see that. It was something we always wanted to do, and we finally did it. When we were in Japan, we also went all the way up to Odate, which is about 400 miles up from Tokyo. We took the speed train, and then a slow-motion train. We went to the Akiho headquarters, and went to the Akita museum they have there. It was where we met Mr. Ogasawara. He took us to see his new puppies. He is the breeder of Ch. Seihoh, owned by Richard Hellman in Italy. Seihoh has over 50 world titles. Mr. Ogasawara also bred Tomonobu-Go, the first Los Angeles Akiho Tokyuyu winner. Tomonobu was Glacier's grandfather. Glacier was the 1982 National Sweeps winner.

   

   Cristina
It was freezing cold, and I walked over to the rest room, it was a hole in the ground. That was different.

   Loren
How about the bathrooms at that place where they had all the shopping? There were,no doors! It was open on both sides, and you can set everybody going to the bathroom.

   Cristina
It was unusual! It was an experience, I guess. I loved Japan, though. The people are wonderful there.

   Loren
It is a very polite society. They don't take tips, either, and that is different.

   Cristina
 We went to tip the bellhops in the hotel, and they said no. But you do have to pay a fortune for everything. Everything costs more money, but there is no tipping. The food was really expensive. Then we met a fellow, and that is a story ...

   Loren
Yes, they have a statue of Hachiko, the famous dog. who went to the train station for years after his master died, waiting for him to return. This is a true story, and he did this for nine or ten years or whatever before he finally died. They put a statue up at the Shibuya train station, and it still is there. We happened to be visiting that statue, and we met a guy who was also visiting. He said we looked familiar, and what are the chances of this? Come to find out, his name was Carl Jones and he was from England. He was in Japan on business, and he had seen me in the ring in the 1995 National about a year or so earlier in Chicago. So when push came to shove, we started talking, and then we ended up spending the day with him and his business associates, and they took us around Tokyo. We went different places and had something to eat, and had a great time. It is something when you can go that far away and meet someone you have known. What a small world it becomes. Carl had the number one bitch in England about that time.

   Would you consider the Akita a popular breed ?

   Loren
 It is fairly popular now. Years ago, nobody· knew what an Akita was. Of course, O J. Simpson might have changed some of that, because he had an Akita. But I have been noticing in the Gazette where they used to have maybe 1,000 Akitas registered every month, and now it is only about half that. So I think there are fewer and fewer of them being bred, whish is probably a good thing.

   Cristina
Oh, it is good, because a lot of people who breed are the puppymill breeders.

   Loren
I think they were in the upper 30 or 40 most popular breeds out of 159 in AKC. The dogs were considered hunters of large game, bear hunters mostly. The thing about being bear hunters, for some reason, some people think because they hunt bears, they were supposed to look like bears. That is not really accurate.

   What is the ideal temperament of an Akita ?

   Loren
I don't know if you ever meet an Akita that has the most perfect temperament, but you see a lot of really good-tempered dogs. The standard really brings out the temperament. The Introduction says, "The breed character is reserved, silent, dominant over other canines, and although the Akita is unruffled by minor irritations, he is alert toward other dogs and a serious challenge is met with swift retaliation. With man, the Akita is a delightful companion and he gives devotion and protection more than he could ever take in food and shelter. Friendly strangers are treated with respect but trespassers find the door barred by an awesome figure." Then under the temperament section, it says, "alert and responsive, dignified and courageous, and aggressive toward other dogs.'' So they don't get along with other dogs of the same sex very well, generally speaking. There are always exceptions, but you always have to watch that. That is kind of a downside as far as having a lot of dogs. Fights are no fun.

   Cristina
Our little bitch that we got from Japan is so easygoing, but if a bitch comes after her, naturally she is going to fight back. But she gets along with everyone pretty well. Actually, most of our dogs are like that, but there is still that thing. We never trust two females or two males together.

   Loren
They are very smart dogs, and they know, just what you are doing and what you want. They are also independent by nature, so they may not want to do it. They may want to do what they want to do instead. Sometimes that can be a challenge and that dog needs training. But you have some that are very willing to please their master, more so than others. They can be protective.

   Cristina
Then we have Shere Khan, who is the easiest male dog that we have.

   Loren
Suzette has him, and he is a wonderful dog. He has a wonderful temperament, and he has been a good ambassador to the breed in that way.

   Cristina
You can let kids play on him and jump all over him. He is really sweet.

   Loren
When he was out with Nancy Bowen being shown in Ohio, she has a couple of little kids and he was a strange dog in their house, but she said he would just lay there and take it. They would be running trucks over him and everything, and he just took it.

   Cristina
 That is not really normal, you know. For any dog. But he is a good-tempered animal. The little male puppy that we had, we bred a beautiful little brindle male that has that same type of temperament.

   Loren
This last breeding we did, I was ready to get rid of all my dogs and keep this puppy. I don't think I have ever felt so close to a puppy. He was out of Shere Khan and Ember, and he was so willing to please. He was such a loving puppy, and he is so good-looking on top of it. I just loved that dog.

   Cristina
 We took him to a GGAC specialty match, and this fellow in New York was going to buy him, but the deal fell through. So we had him for awhile. I didn't want to get rid of him, because he was so beautiful, but we have five dogs. At that point, if we didn't have so many dogs we would keep that beautiful little sweet, wonderful puppy. We took him to an Akita specialty match when he was about two months old. He gaited around that ring, and we couldn't believe it. He stood stacked and everybody was just shocked. The first time on a lead! He should have won Breed, but only won BOS.

    Loren
He was our best show dog already.

   Cristina
We sold him, because we can't keep them all.

    Loren
Michael Sclafani got him, and he has as good or better home with him so we are all happy about that.

   Cristina
It is very important to us who gets our dogs, because we want them to have a wonderful home as well as a show home.

    Loren
Yes, if you are just interested in the money end of it, you are better off not getting into dogs, period. It is a big drain. There is no money in it if you do it right. People are in dogs for different reasons, some really enjoy the showing part and not so much the breeding. Other people just like the companionship of the Akita. That is probably the best way to be,just to have your one or two Akitas as pets. Other people really like to create something outstanding, and it is their interest and challenge and desire to look at it from the artistic point of view. So breeding is their thing.

   Cristina
One of our males had won the specialty, and had won that whole weekend, and I was telling a lady acquaintance of mine about it. She asked how much we got for it, and I told her, "We got the blue ribbon!" It is a beautiful ribbon, actually, because one was a specialty. And we got several little prizes, and she was wondering why we didn't get money for that. I told her WE had to pay to enter, to go to the shows and she couldn't believe it. Everybody always wants to know how much we make or sell our puppies for, but believe me, all the work one puts into this, and all the things you do, you certainly aren't in it for money.

    Loren
Yes. Buying the dog is the cheap part. It is taking care of them, the food and veterinary bills, and the damage they do to your place, that is what costs the money after all the years

Who or what has influenced your breeding?

    Loren
I didn't have an actual mentor like some people talk about today. I was always in contact with all different kinds of breeders, and I have listened to what they had to say. You run along for a year or two and go this way and that way, depending upon what this person thinks is important or that person thinks, but then you sift through it all, and you realize that some of it is a little bit of crap.

   Other things are important, and you sort it out. If you spend time reading the standard at all, and really pay attention to what those words mean, rather than just what you are used to seeing in the show ring, you come to some responsible conclusions on your own. I read several books about breeding. You keep growing as you are in it. The first National I attended was in 1978, and the first National they ever had was in 1976. Joan Linderman was judging the Sweepstakes at that time, and I probably paid a little more attention to her overall. We eventually placed a couple of pups we bred with Joan, and she once kept Arctic for awhile. But again, there is no one person I could say influenced me. Just looking at the dogs and studying the dogs and the standard, and listening a little bit to everyone.

   Cristina
But then later, when Loren got me involved and we started breeding dogs together, the biggest influence on me was Loren. He taught me everything I know, but I sometimes have different ideas than he has. Right now, in our breeding program, I feel that the combination of the Japanese type and the American type is the way to breed. You can get the best of both worlds if you can give it a chance and go for it. You'll end up with a beautiful Akita.

    Loren
We have had some success. The first five champions that were bred by breeding American to Japanese lines were ours. Some people say they tried it and it didn't work. Well, they maybe tried it once and when you look at the dogs they used, of course it didn't work. You can't ignore good basic breeding principles and then expect to have success. You can have successes, but just because we produced good dogs doesn't mean they were the ultimate animals or they are the conclusion of our breeding program. It was just the beginning, and it has to go on. As far as influences, sometimes you look at people who have been in the breed a long time, and think they must really be knowledgeable, and after a while, you realize that is not always the case. It is almost incredible that you can have people in the breed for twenty years or more and not even have a real understanding of what the standard actually says. Or they don't know much about the true history of the breed, so obviously they don't care enough to spend the time to study a lot of what's important on the breed.

   There is information out there that they could be reading, Tatsuo Kimura, in Akita World, always has articles on the history of these dogs. Some people don't even care, and if you ask them what the standard says, well, one person was judging Sweeps at the National awhile back, who had been in the breed 30 or 40 years, and when asked what the standard said about size, the answer was that there is no upper size limit. It is incredible that people don't understand the standard better when they are breeding Akitas, especially when they have been at it that long.

What do you feed your dogs?

 Loren
Right now, Canidae. We supplement with Nupro. We have had different things over the past. When I first started I was feeding Purina. Then I moved up to Iams, and then Nutro. We went to Robert Abady after that. We used that for about three years. We went to Innova for awhile, and then to Solid Gold. Then we used Eukanuba. Now we're on the Canidae. We have been on Canidae for quite awhile. It has about four meats in it, and digestive enzymes, good omegas and all those kinds of things. The dogs seem to like it, and it is small kernels. Plus it is made here in California, so it is a little easier to get. Price-wise, it is good.

   Cristina
We are in a club because we buy so much of it. It is a buying plan. Buy so many bags, get one free. The place where we buy it is only a mile away, so it is handy and it works out very well for us. The dogs do well on it and that is the important thing. A lot of people have different ideas on eating concepts. Whatever works.

 When showing this breed, how much grooming should be done?

     Loren
You want to make them look good when they are at the show, so basically you need to wash them and fluff them up as you are drying them, whether you use air drying or a blow-dryer. That sometimes speeds it along and helps out. All I do is wash them and groom them up. Occasionally·, I spray a little something on them to make them look a little better. I have never been a really good groomer. My dogs are shown pretty naturally. I never do the legs up with all that paste and powder or that kind of stuff. I probably should, but I just don't. I have never done it, so I don't know how to do it. With Arctic, being a white dog, somebody asked one time what I did to keep him so white, and I said I washed him. That didn't go over well, I guess.

   Cristina
Somebody later said that Loren was being really sarcastic, because so-and-so asked how we kept our dog so white and he said we wash them. She wanted something more, some medical secret or ingredient or something. But he was pure white. There was no need to put anything on him, because he was beautiful.

    Loren
You have to clip the nails. You have to shorten them up a little bit. A lot of people clip whiskers, but that is something that I have never done and I don't believe in it. A lot of times professional handlers think they have to clip them to make them look more professional. But you know, the old standards used to refer to the whiskered region being full, or the whiskers being permanent. They are there for a reason, and for our dogs I think it gives them more character. We leave the whiskers intact. If a judge puts you down or doesn't let you win for that, then that is a crazy judge. I don't think that could even happen. There are so many other things they are looking at and for, I doubt they have the time to even notice whiskers.

   Should the dog be scissored ?

     Loren
I don't do any scissoring. Some people do. You can tell on some of them. They are supposed to have a nice, high tail set, for instance, and the coat a little shorn behind the tail and a little shape there. You can tell they have been clipping that out, and making that form a little more like they want them to look.

   Cristina
Or if the dog has hair that is too shaggy and long, sometimes you can tell it has been clipped.

  Loren
I saw one handler clipping along the side where the colors come together to make it look better. Stuff like that, I don't do. Maybe in between their toes or something, if the hair gets too long. That's okay. I don't even do that.

  Cristina
What you see is what you get with us.

    Loren
Especially since we got into the Japanese imports, the coats have improved immensely. We get more harshness and standoffishness to the coat, and proper coat is very rare when you have a lot of guard hairs all the way through the coat over the body·. They are standing out and prickling up, and a really good coat will also stand right up off the back. You are going to find that in very rare instances. In fact, talking to John Newland one time, he was talking about a dog he saw that was a Shere Khan son named Tracker. He was admiring its coat, and he said his coat stands right up off his back and withers, and he had never seen that before. But that is a proper coat.

   There is a lot of detail in the standard, yet the standard doesn't explain them all. There are things that add to the beauty of the dog, and coat is one of them. You probably don't need a great coat to win; that is probably one of the last things a lot of judges look for. But after you have been in the breed awhile it becomes important to you. It is probably one of the first things you notice, and you see soft coats, short coats, flat coats. and all kinds of things. It could be a really good dog otherwise, but a poor coat just detracts. It is just not a magnificent animal like it could have been with a proper coat to finish it off.