Happy New Year 2010!!

May 2010 put a smile on every Akita's face like the one above!!
May 2010 be a wonderful new year for everyone that owns & loves Akitas!!
May every Akita needing a home in 2010 find their way safely to a rescue to be matched up with the right forever home!
May every person that has helped our breed in any way find 2010 to be a properous & healthy new year!
And to all my ARWNY family of friends & volunteers -- May 2010 be the most blessed & happiest of new years for all of you!!

I am already truly blessed to have you all in my life!!

2010 is here!

Anyone else remember when that date was considered "science fiction" -- so far in the future that we couldn't even fathom it? Yet here it is -- and its another new year with another chance at doing things even better than before!

So use this year wisely, everyone -- don't squander it. Each passing year makes me realize, we can never have that year again, so each new one has taken on more and more special meaning to me.

Think up --- make 2010 the best year ever!!

The madness never ends...

I can't believe the Eagles, my local football team, voted Michael Vick as the 2009 winner of the Ed Block Courage Award

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/Vick_wins_Ed_Block_Courage_Award.html

Now, even if you take my feelings about anyone who fights dogs out of this discussion, you have to still wonder WHY Vick was given this award especially given his cowardice in handling his whole life up to NOW?

Can anyone tell me what courage it took for him to don a uniform, take a million dollars and go back to playing the sport he wants to play without ever really apologizing or taking measures to make amends for what he did? Yes he went to jail -- on racketeering charges. He went to jail -- and was treated like a hero while in there because he was a STAR and people in jail didn't take what he did to be anything that horrible. He should be made to spend the next 50 yrs of his life having to give 2 days a week at a shelter picking up poop and washing dogs as an addition to his punishment.

I mean really -- how courageous was it to go back to playing football? In fact, he should have had to pay the Eagles to take him on as a player, considering the harm he did to his former team and the slap in the face he gave to the NFL Commissioner when he bold-faced lied to him about not having anything to do with dog-fighting -- its obvious that TEAMWORK and LOYALTY mean nothing to this man. And shouldn't an award about courage in the face of adversity be adversity you didn't cause YOURSELF by being selfish, greedy and vicious?

Take away my outrage over the dogs he killed, maimed and tortured. How about how he lied to his teammates, tried to pass the blame on to other people; how about the shame he bought to his fellow players, his family, to the sport of football itself? And how about his acceptance speech for this award -- still all about ME ME ME and I, I, I -- the other teams' award winners gave wonderful speeches about what team spirit and helping others meant to them -- Vick instead said "I've had to overcome a lot, more than probably one single individual can bear." All of your making Vick, no one's fault but your own!

And more about ME ME ME: "Take a look at what I've been through. You ask certain people to walk in my shoes, they probably couldn't do it -- probably 95 percent of the people in this world. Because nobody had to endure what I've been through.."
The arrogence, the selfishness of his comments show he hasn't changed at all, has no remorse for what he did and the same smugness is still part of his personality. No humility at all.

I know football players aren't known as the smartest group of people -- but come on, surely a whole team should have had more sense than to vote for this loser to win this award. There had to be so many better options!

Once again, I am ashamed of the Eagles. First for bringing him to my hometown; second for making a hero of him by giving him an award for courage -- a word that should not be used in the same sentence as the name Michael Vick.

One small victory that does make me happy however -- the passing of tougher dog fighting laws here in NJ:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20091228_Tougher_dog-fighting_laws_proposed_in_NJ.html

Even LESS tolerance for animal-abusers/dog-fighters like Vick in MY state now!!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

May the blessings of the season extend to every one of you and my fervent hope is that 2010 is a wonderful year for all of us -- especially for our wonderful Akitas!!

Hope you enjoy the picture -- I love it when our adopters and other Akita owners send us fun photos of their Akitas!! So enjoy!!

Fleas Navidad Nibblers

Here is a fun recipe to make for all your doggie family members for the Holiday -- hey, you bake for your human family, so go ahead and bake for your doggie family too!

My dear high school friend Judi Giangiulio sent it to me -- she has 3 rescued dogs of her own, her daughter is a vet tech (and owns her own bakery! HOW COOL!) and also has three rescued dogs of her own so its a very rescue-oriented family down there in Austin Texas -- no Akitas yet but I'll work on her....HA!!
Here you go -- and her directions at the bottom are for making them into mini-muffins:

Fleas Navidad Nibblers

2 Tablespoons honey
2 3/4 c. water
1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
1/8 teas. vanilla
1 egg

dry ingredients:
1/2 c. chopped peanuts
4 c. whole wheat flour
1 Tbl. baking powder
1 Tbl. nutmeg
1 Tbl. cinnamon

350 deg. oven
In a bowl, mix honey, water, applesauce, vanilla and egg.
In another bowl mix peanuts, flour, baking powder, and spices.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir, mixing well. Spoon into greased muffin tin, filling each cup 2/3 full.

Bake 35 minutes
Store in sealed container. Makes 16 muffins

Kathy; the recipe is for regular sized muffins, but I make mini ones. Cut the baking time to around 15 to 20 minutes for mini. Do not forget to grease your pans; these will stick if you don't. Hope they enjoy them as much as my babies do.

HACHI the movie

Well it appears after all has been written, agonized and panicked over, the movie HACHI with Richard Gere as its star, has been relegated as going straight to video instead of having its opening nationwide on 12/18/09 as previously reported.

We may all wonder why it went right to video -- I heard it was over legal dispute over distribution/viewing rights -- but it definately does avert what could have been a potential issue for our breed. While the movie did not target kids the way BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA did or 101 DALMATIANS also did, it still would be viewed by a large population who may have gotten the wrong idea about owning an Akita.

The biggest worry I had with people seeing the movie was that people may think allowing an Akita to run loose ANYWHERE is a safe bet. Allowing an Akita to run around a town off leash should surely make any viewer realize "Oh this is just a movie" but sadly it would make many idiots out there in viewer land feel they could get an Akita and let it do what Hachi did -- run loose in the streets without a leash. What a bad idea! But of course, if that didn't happen, there would be no movie -- as Hachiko the original Akita in Japan that the story is based on, would not have gone to the train station every day to wait for his master if he was leashed up and behind a fenced in yard! So leashed Hachiko equals no story about Hachiko!

But Akitas don't do well with being unleashed -- too many distractions, too strong a prey drive, to heightened a sense of dominance which most often leads to not coming when called. Too much of a potential for disaster -- so no Akita should ever be off leash unless in a secured area.

While I am looking forward to seeing the movie for many reasons (the biggest reason now being that I know Forrest, one of the adult Akitas used in the filming; that's him in the picture at the top of this page!) I am also rather secretly happy it will not be out for general viewing in movie theaters. Anything we can do to stem the tide of unwanted Akitas washing up on our doorsteps all over this country is a good thing.

But when it does come out on video, I will most certainly buy a copy. I own the Japanese version of this movie and it makes me cry just thinking of the beauty of the story, the Akitas in the movie, and the message it sends. The American version I am told is also beautifully done and has the same strong message about love, loyalty and devotion between man and dog. Definately a story worth telling and seeing.