I got a ton of email after last week’s blog post. I got email from a family who had had a beloved dog-wolf hybrid. I got an email from a woman whose cousin’s mule had gotten pregnant! (She also sent a link to an NPR article about a mule who gave birth). It turns out that can happen, although it’s extremely rare.
Meanwhile, although it’s still mild here, there is snow on the mountains:
You can see - just beyond the front range of mountains - the Mummy Range. They are those more distant snow-covered peaks in the photo. One of the things I am loving the most about living here is watching the mountains change every day. The first day that I woke up and saw snow on the mountains was amazing.
One day last week all the geese disappeared. My sister was walking around the lake when it happened - all at once the geese rose off the lake and flew away. I was at work in the outdoor yard with the dogs. Suddenly all the dogs became very still and looked up into the sky. I didn’t hear anything - I looked up to see what they were so fascinated with, and above us was an enormous, silent V of geese - seemingly floating past.
When I worked at Columbia College, I accompanied juries - the performances that are the finals for voice students. Each semester - if I was lucky - I got to accompany one intrepid soprano singing the song, “Migratory V” - a gorgeous piece written by Adam Guettel from the point of view of the migrating geese. If you’d like to hear it, use this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mql2VaHDAsA That final line just knocks me out.
Meanwhile, at the doggie day care we have recently had two different Akitas.
This photo doesn’t give you any size reference. Akitas are large. Their weight range is 70 to 130 pounds. My only exposure to Akitas prior to last week was the song “Today 4 U” from the musical Rent. In this song, Angel talks about a “yappy” Akita named Evita. This description made me think Akitas were small. (If you’d like to hear the song, you can find it on YouTube, but, be forewarned - it's not a nice thing, what Angel did to get the thousand dollars).
Akitas are a member of the Spitz dog group - as are many snow dogs (huskies, malamutes, chow-chows). They have a long history in Japan, going back over a thousand years. They were originally hunters’ companions, and they were prized for their loyalty and fearlessness. In the days when hunting was done with bow and arrow, a large dog who could help bring down prey was an asset.
In the middle ages, their role changed. The Emperor of Japan and his Samurais used Akitas to protect people and property. In fact, only royalty were allowed to own an Akita at that point. In this role, Akitas were still cultivated for fearlessness and loyalty, but now they were bred for being able to think for themselves. As a result, today they are strong-willed and independent.
There were no Akitas in the United States until 1937, when the Emperor of Japan made a gift of two Akita puppies to Helen Keller! Who knew? She was in her fifties, and in Japan on a speaking tour. She commented on how much she admired the breed - hence the gift. The publicity surrounding Helen Keller’s Akitas led many American G.I.s to bring home Akitas after WWII, and those G.I. Akitas are the ancestors of most of the Akitas in the U.S. today. Helen Keller described her Akita (only one of the two lived a long life) as “An Angel in fur”. Here's a photo of Helen with her Akita:
The Akita was not Helen’s first dog. In fact, her life was filled with dogs. We all know the story of Helen Keller, right? I learned it from the (very accurate) movie The Miracle Worker starring Patty Duke (as Helen Keller) and Anne Bancroft (as Anne Sullivan). When Helen was 19 months old, she got sick (probably with Scarlet Fever) and when she recovered she was deaf and blind. Anne Sullivan was sent to the Kellers - when Helen was seven - from the Perkins School for the Blind. Anne Sullivan signed into Helen’s hand, and was finally able to communicate with her.
When Helen eventually went to Radcliffe, she famously visited a kennel with her friends. There was a Boston Terrier there who was notoriously averse to strangers. That dog walked right up to Helen and laid his head on her knee. Her friends took up a collection and bought her that dog. His name was Sir Thomas. He accompanied her to all her college classes. This was before anyone had had the idea of training “seeing-eye dogs”.
Helen was born in 1880, and the first guide dog school - The Seeing Eye in New Jersey - wasn’t founded until 1929.
Guide dogs were first trained in Germany, following WWI. Many soldiers had been blinded in the war. These first dogs were generally German Shepherds. Today most guide dogs are Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers, or lab-golden crosses. Although there are still German shepherds among them. The dogs begin their training at seven to eight weeks of age. It takes nearly two years to fully train a guide dog. As of 2015, The Seeing Eye in New Jersey had matched over 16,000 humans with their guide dogs.
But, back to Akitas. Given all that genetic breeding for fearlessness, all that history of taking down wild boars, you would think that Akitas would be nasty, reactive dogs. But, they are the epitome of calm. At least the two who have come to our doggie day care. Helen was right. They are angels in fur.
