Kennel Changes

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.