In Memory

Shugo was an awesome boy. He was pure Akita through and through. Away from the house he was everyone's friend and loved all, and loved by everyone that  met him.

At home he had a family and watched out for them always. He never bothered anyone and never looked for a fight. Shugo however, just would not let go of a middle management position. He was not alpha, but he in his head was not a subordinate to his children or any other children in his home. We worked and worked and built his tolerance with our children. We educated our children and they understood behaviors and meanings of their actions and postures.

6-20-2005 A young boy with close supervision was allowed to give Shugo a treat, Shugo reacted aggressively when the boy crouched down, we were unable to stop him from crouching in time. No one was hurt as we closely supervised and intervened. Shugo just couldn't understand that he couldn't discipline people puppies. This was a final straw in Shugo's history.

To me Shugo was very text book dominant aggressive. He was a perfect boy until he felt a subordinate needed discipline and then rarely he would attempt to. This was worked on with breeders, specialists, trainers, and PH'ds. This always seemed to be improving and had disappeared within members of our own family, we made excuses and always gave him the benefit of the doubt that we had trained wrong or missed something and could fix it.

Unfortunately it was who Shugo was, and with a family of children there would always be the chance for interaction with other children that weren't familiar with dogs and their behavior. This was not a problem that we felt we should pass on to someone else, we had to deal with the problem ourselves.

So we did the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. As usual Shugo was being a perfect boy, minding and obeying anything, being affectionate to his family and friends. We took him to Doc Tammy and he jumped right up on the table for her, snuggled her and gave her kisses like he always does.

We told him to down on the table and he did. And then..... I held my sweet boy as he trusted me, he trusted in me to take care of him and watch out for him, he trusted me to protect him from himself and bad situations, he trusted me.. so he let me hold him down while they injected his back leg. I'm so sorry you trusted in someone that let you down sweet boy, please forgive me Shugo..

In typical Akita fashion, Shugo held on dignified in manner, and then lowered his head and fell asleep in our arms.

I look forward to passing some day, I look forward to seeing my Grandpa Morgan again, and I look forward to seeing you sweet boy. When I die people will be sad and miss me, but they should all know I will be happy, I will be with Grandpa and Shugo.