I have always been a cat person, so when my husband suggested that we get a dog, I was a little apprehensive. Growing up as a child we did have a Basenji which is an African breed that doesn't bark, but that was the only dog that we had ever had. My husband decided that he wanted an Akita and checked with several breeders. An Akita is a Japanese breed that the Emperors of Japan used to fight bears for their amusement.
We drove about 30 miles to the home of the breeder to look over several pups in the litter. The breeder introduced us to the Sire and Dam which was an experience in itself. The Sire was 200 pounds, fawn and black with a black mask and the Dam was 150 pounds, red with a black mask and they both had the characteristic curled tail over the back, like an Alaskan Husky. The black masks of the face gave you the feeling of not stepping too close and the size of their paws reinforced that feeling.
The breeder took us to where the five puppies were and they were all gorgeous. They all had coloring and markings as the parents, so it was hard to choose one. One particular puppy walked over to me and sat on my foot, as if to say, "I'm the one." My husband said, "Oh great, I'm the one who wanted a dog, and he picks you!" The puppy was fawn and white with a black mask and had the biggest feet that I had ever seen. The breeder said that you could tell by the size of the feet on how large the dog was going to get. My first thought was, oh boy, how big.
We got the AKC registered Pedigree papers, paid the $600 for the six-week old puppy, and headed for home. When we got home, our three cats were not thrilled with the new intruder, and proceeded to whip up on him. They circled him and took turns lashing out at him and did a good job of knocking him down several times before he thought that this must be some kind of a game. Needless to say, the first time he reached out with one of those big paws of his and sent a cat flying, the game was over.
We decided to name him Kaibutsu (ka-boot-soo), which in Japanese means "little monster"; because of his big feet. The following morning started his training as a work dog because we were going to be moving onto 20 acres of land with livestock and because of wild dogs, bobcats, poachers and other critters; it was going to be critical to have a good guard dog.
By the time Kaibutsu was 9 months old, he performed every command without question and was a formidable opponent at 100 pounds. A year later, my husband died and if it were not for the training he gave Kaibutsu, I would have been in serious trouble on more than one occasion.
Case in point: Our property is very wooded and we were walking the property line checking the fencing when we encountered two men, carrying rifles, on our side of the property. I hand-signaled Kaibutsu to crouch down and followed suit to watch what they were doing. They were encroaching further into the property and I believe their intentions were not going to be very good. I told Kaibutsu to stay and I stood up and inquired as to what they were doing on my property. They were a little surprised but when they realized that I was a woman, they didn't feel threatened. As a matter of fact, one of the men adjusted his rifle as though he were going to use it. I told him that it was not a good idea and I showed him my rifle and gave a hand-signal to Kaibutsu to stand up. Kaibutsu was now 150 pounds and his black mask was a menacing combination. Both men apologized giving me some excuse that they just got lost and high-tailed it back over the fence.
I had also rescued a Shepherd/Coyote mix that had been dumped on my property as a puppy, but was now 80 pounds and could break almost any chain. Jupiter, as I call her, is on a log chain and one day I went to turn her loose to play with Kaibutsu. Before I could let her loose, she got excited and wrapped her chain around my ankle sending me to the ground. I tried to get up but couldn't and knew it would be a long way to crawl to get back to the house. The next thing I know, Kaibutsu is immediately by my side knowing something is wrong. I told him to stay and used him to get in a standing position and stradled him like a horse. I'm 5'9" and weigh 130 pounds but he managed to get me to the door of the house. With his help I was able to get inside and get ice on the now very swollen ankle.
Kaibutsu is now 10 years old and 125 pounds with his once black mask slightly white with age. He still dances on his hind legs in a circle at dinner time and lets me know when someone is an 1/8 of a mile from the house. He has been there for me through the good times and the bad; with loyalty and love. I still have cats of course and they all get along with Kaibutsu, ( I think he still remembers the original encounter). For someone who was reluctant in the beginning, I wouldn't trade one minute knowing this wonderful, remarkable, intelligent, loving dog. He has been my companion and my protector and I truly believe that he would give up his life to save mine. I hope to have at least another 10 years with this marvelous animal but when it comes time for him to cross The Rainbow Bridge, I will truly be lost.