We took posession in June of 1990. Her early life was pretty normal, with shots, obedience classes, trying to find food she would tolerate, walks in the park and around the neighborhood. She basically housebroke herself.
As she matured friends said that they would be interested in puppies if we ever decided to breed her. This brought up the question of a suitable mate. We contacted our friends, the Kawasakis, who had owned Akitas for a number of years, asking if they knew of a good male. They had one, but were unsure if Nat-chan was of high enough quality to justify breeding her. As Nat-chan's sire, Amagi, was a Tokuyu awardee, they agreed to the breeding at her next heat.
In the fullness of time, in our bedroom, we were presented with a fine litter of eight healthy, hungry puppies, five red males, two red females, and a white female. A miracle! There were no complications and Nat-chan's maternal instinct was true. We were able to watch the development of the pups from being what resembled blind gophers "swimming" on the floor and navigating by sense of smell, to being shaky staggerers who stood in their milk bowl to drink, to being turbocharged fuzzballs galumphing around the back lawn, exploring, and engaging in ferocious battles. And, of course, when the time came, to watching them go off to their new homes. Over the next few years three more litters were produced. We are still in contact with a number of the owners, who prize their dogs as members of the family.
Nat-chan herself had the heart, if not the look, of a champion. She had an even temperament, was very people-friendly, and was not agressive towards male dogs. She took no nonsense from female dogs, though, and any small animals invading "her" yard had to be fast or lucky.
In early 2001, during treatment for a urinary problem, Nat-chan was diagnosed with unrelated advanced cancer. Although he surgery for the urinary problem was a success there were complications with the cancer surgery. In the end we were obliged to give her release from her from her suffering. After eleven years our "beautiful summer" had come to a close.