Once or twice a day my Akita Kensho has his crazy 5 minutes and today.. finally… I had the camera within reach.

The routine is the same every morning: we go for a 30 – 45 minute walk, I pick up the newspaper en we return home. He plays with a fluffy toy or ball and starts to eat when I sit down for breakfast with the morning paper.

I uploaded the movie to YouTube and starting thinking about bloat in dogs and how in fact, this movie is a demonstration of correct chewing behavior not commonly seen in dogs. Perhaps you have read my article on Best Dog Food Guide about dog table manners and if not, you can find the link here to go and find out about the digestion differences between you and your canine companion.

Now onto Kensho’s demo: you play first, and only then.. you eat. When eating, chew your food carefully (don’t fall into that typical gorging behavior that give dogs a bad name as diner companions).

Why is this good behavior?

Play reduces stress and the risk of developing gastric torsion is reduced when your dog has no stress, doesn’t exercise after a meal and chews his food whilst eating slowly.

Find out about the acute health risk of gastric torsion, commonly referred to as bloat on Best Dog Food Guide.com

Other articles you may find interesting:

Dog table manners (about the differences between you and your dog)

Bad breath in dogs (dental care diet)

My Akita Kensho has his passions. If I had to deduct his priorities from his behavior I would say this is his top 3:

1. Play with bitches, preferably when they are in heat
2. Digging
3. Tracking and hunting

In a dog whisperer workshop I have learned to never ever take away the passion of a dog. You’ll risk ending up with a lethargic animal, unworthy of a dog, without a fire burning inside. So find the passion of your dog, no matter how deep you’ll have to dig, and give him the chance to enjoy that passion (within bounderies ofcourse).

Kensho just loves to dig massive holes.

Until he just disappears…

This is one happy Akita !!!

As of today I have moved ‘digging’ from number 2 to number 1 in the Akita Passion Ranking. A bitch approached Kensho in a playful manner. He just looked up for a split second, slightly worried he was going to have to share his hole. As he ignored her, she moved on and Kensho went back to his important work.

Usually Kensho is pretty good at the ‘letting go’ thing. It’s a Buddhist skill to not get attached to belongings etc. Attachment is where the suffering starts. But today, Kensho wasn’t in a Zen state of mind. He was so preoccupied with ‘his’ hole that he didn’t want to leave. He made it perfectly clear he was determined to get to the other side… or back to Japan or something like that . Finally I had to practically drag him away to get back home. All good things come to an end.
As the Zen Buddhists say: ‘Everything changes’. The doctrine of impermanence says that everything is constantly changing. Impermanence can lead to suffering as one fails to accept the continuously changing nature of the world. This means that as one tries to relive an event or strives to keep things the same, suffering is caused by the discrepancy between impermanence and desire for permanence. As one strives for nirvana, it is essential to accept the impermanent nature of things.

It’s a strange weather lately. One second the sun is shining, the other it’s snowing and the streets turn white.

Usually we arrange a date for Kensho and Joy so they can play together. Today was an unexpected surprise to meet Kensho’s best female friend. He’s not very monogamous but this Husky is his number one Lady friend.

Today it was like the sun was giving them energy since they both were indefatigable.

For more pictures of Akita Kensho and Husky Joy pay a visit to www.akita-pictures.com sometime.

Akita Kensho meets his number #1 lady friend Joy, and joyful it certainly is.

I can shoot some great pictures whilst Kensho is enjoying himself.

Not too long ago Joy has been spayed and she has recovered just fine. On the third picture she has Kensho’s ear between her teeth.

Every once in a while they both take a rest and enjoy the feeling of the wind and sunshine.

It’s beautiful to watch these two dogs have fun. You can only hear panting sounds as these kind of dog breeds don’t growl when they play. It’s more action than noise and with Terriers it’s the other way around. This is one of the reasons Kensho doesn’t ever want to play with Terriers.

This looks aggressive but to them it’s just PLAY TIME .