Tribute

Rhyan was such a character. She was both a joy and a challenge in the show ring. She had such PRESENCE and commanded attention wherever she went. But she tested Nick's patience by dancing the Akita rhumba when he tried to get her to hold a stack for judges.

In spite of being naughty, she achieved her AKC championship, owner-handled, when she was only 17 months old. Subsequently, in very limited showing, she earned Best of Breed many times under some of the AKC's most respected judges.

Rhyan had a lovable but very independent personality and really knew how to wrap you around her paw. She was the fun police out in the exercise yard, making sure everybody knew the "Rules According to Rhyan" and abided by them.

Rhyan aged very gracefully, with only a hint of gray on her muzzle to give away her age. Although she had long retired from the whelping box, she still nurtured all the puppies from the other females, teaching "grandma" lessons in proper Akita behavior and acceptable social interaction. She was still a dynamic presence in our household.

Just a few short weeks after her 9th birthday, Rhyan stopped eating. That was the first symptom of what eventually was diagnosed as lymphoma. Unfortunately, because of some complicating factors, Rhyan's prognosis for a positive response to chemotherapy was not good. We elected to make her as comfortable as possible for as long as we could. We just didn't realize how short that time would be.

You were, and always will be, our "princess," dear Rhyan.

Beau was our first owner handled champion, finishing his AKC championship in the spring of 1999 with three major wins in Tucson, Las Vegas and Albuquerque. His flashy "paint job" immediately attracted all who saw him, but it was his exceptional movement and presense that really dazzled the judges and spectators .

Beau was always a gentleman, never causing a ruckus with the other males and always respectful to humans. He wasn't fond of children but he liked puppies. He did think it was necessary to let the puppies know who was in charge and did it by laying across them in the yard. They got the point right away. Because of his age, he wasn't recently allowed to play with puppies anymore. We were too concerned he would injure himself, but we never feared he would hurt the puppies.

Beau slowed down a lot in his latter years. He had trouble standing for long periods and walking was a chore. Mostly he spent his days napping.

Beau left this Earth early on July 9, 2007, lying in the "frog dog" position that was his favorite. Rest in peace our grand old gentleman. We miss you greatly and always will.

D-D was a half sister to our late beloved Beau, having a common sire in Jagger. D-D was originally acquired to be a companion to Beau, and she was that!! The two were buddies their whole lives; and while D-D was not tolerant of other dogs, she and Beau were always best friends.

At about 2 years of age, D-D began to blossom into quite a lovely girl, and we were on the verge of beginning her show career when she started losing pigment on her nose. She was diagnosed with Discoid Lupus, an immune related condition. D-D was spayed and retired to spend her days as a lady of leisure, who always believed she was the Empress of the Yard.

After Beau died, we thought that D-D would be very lonely and depressed, but in true D-D independent fashion, she got along just fine. And then the first week in October 2007 she began limping. We thought it might be an injury, but the x-ray revealed a tumor at the base of her tibia, right at the hock.

Bone cancer (osteosarcoma) is an extremely painful disease. The most common treatment is amputation, which is done to relieve the pain. Since D-D was 12 years old, we opted not to put her through radical surgery but rather to make her last days as tolerable as we could. We put her on pain medication and resolved that when she could no longer enjoy doing the things she loved, we would help her die with dignity.

And so we chose the morning of October 20, 2007, a beautiful, mild and sunny morning, with the autumn leaves falling from the trees and blowing gently in the wind. Our D-D laid down one last time to rest in the soft grass and we said our final goodbyes to her.