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Like so many show people, I started
with pet quality dogs (in 1976) whose personality traits
cemented my love for the breed that I thought was so
beautiful. My breeding program started many years later
when my pets passed away in the early 90s, and I decided
to get into showing. I was lucky to have Bob Campbell
living close in north Atlanta and I visited him to look
at a litter he had produced. Bob Campbell is the breeder
of the legendary Akita owned by BJ Andrews, an Akita
named “Sachmo” who is the top Working Dog producer - the
sire of 101 champions. Bob said something to me that has
stuck with me all these years. I wanted Bob’s pick puppy
and he laughed when I told him I wanted to buy it. I
asked him what I could do to get a puppy like that. He
said “You breed it yourself”. What words of
wisdom!
My
first attempt at buying show dogs was a disaster - going
with a breeder whose dogs were pretty, but lawsuits
waiting to happen - a huge lesson on the importance of
temperament first. By the end of those first few WASTED
years I had done my homework and had a better idea of
where to go to get my bitch that would produce a puppy
for me as nice as Bob’s pick. With all the Akita World
ads, the ideas hit me that :
• Sachmo babies were the most
CONSISTENTLY (a VERY i mportant word) typey,
and
• There were a lot of ugly Akitas out there. Two
girls were CONSISTENTLY producing the nicest Akitas,
they were littermates, and they were double Sachmo grand
daughters.
Yes, gasp: LINEBRED.
So I now knew what I wanted but
getting it also involved the intangible luck factor
which I call blessings. I finally found the girl that
started my kennel, my foundation bitch from those lines,
bred by a breeder in Canada named Shirley Burley. Her
dam (the dams have always been my biggest consideration)
was a group placing girl out of one of the double Sachmo
grand daughters. I bought a puppy bitch from her only
litter based on the pedigree alone. When I pulled her
out of the crate, I saw that I had been blessed with a
girl that was also SO NICE physically that she herself
later won Breed at an Akita regional specialty! She was
my foundation: BISS CH. Shibusa Canadian Maid ROM
“Cori”. |
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When Cori was old enough - I linebred her to a
male who’s dam was out of the other double Sachmo grand
daughter - and an ROM producer herself. That breeding
produced three champions out of seven pups, and one
that, due to a handler’s accident, tragically died
needing only a few points to finish.
CH. CAS Mama CAS ROM “Cassie” was another
foundation girl for Akitas CAS and Dozak Akitas from
that breeding. Cassie is a multiple Breed winning bitch
and an ROM producer herself.
Cassie produced CH. Dozak-CAS Dream A Little
Dream “Chelsea” when she was bred to BIS/BISS CH.
Kamikazi’s Remington, #1 Akita several years running.
Remington's dam was out of one of the double Sachmo
grand daughters, so Chelsea was even further linebred on
that gene pool. Chelsea finished her championship with
majors won at TWO Akita regional specialties, including
a five point major in Tampa during the tough Florida
circuit. Chelsea’s first litter was a linebreeding back
to Credo (seen
below). |
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I am so excited about this litter that I have
kept THREE pups from it, one of which is CAS American
Classic - Akitas CAS future
foundation bitch. Shown two weekends to date, Classic
already has 8 points, both majors, Breed over specials
AND an AOM title - from the 6 month puppy class! There
is a very real possibility that Chelsea will have five
pups finished from this one breeding alone. Can’t
convince me of the sins of LINEBREEDING at this rate....
That is four generations of top winning bitches based on
the strong gene pool of bitches from double Sachmo grand
daughters.
After doing the Cori breeding that produced
Cassie, etc - I went a long time without finding a male
to breed her to that I was excited about. I finally
found “Zanadou,” Am/Can CH. Serdess Zanadou de
LauClair a male that I was so excited about that I
BOUGHT him. (See my breeding rule #1
below.)
I was judging working dogs at a local match and
in walked an Akita puppy that took my breath away. This
dog had some faults, but he had a PISTON like rear and
PERFECT shoulders - the boy could move! He was just a
baby, but I had been to two Nationals and not seen a dog
that excited me as much as he did. (The girl that owned
him was a novice who later went on to put an owner
handled Group One on the dog.) The breeder of the pup
was a man I knew of in Canada, and my first call when I
got home was to him to see find out about that breeding.
To make a long story a little shorter, I ended up paying
the big bucks to buy his pick male - the one he had kept
for himself. I was lucky/blessed to have done so, as
that litter is THE TOP WINNING all time Akita litter -
with four brothers (Zanadou included) having won a Group
ONE placement. Consistent, consistent, consistent on the
male genes, and I knew I had found Cori’s next
breeding. |
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 The Cori/Zanadou cross produced 3 champions (out
of 4 babies). The only bitch in the litter is another
foundation bitch, CH. CAS Gotta Love Me ROM
“Charizma”
After waiting four years to find the right male
to breed Charizma to - when I finally found him I also
decided that I liked him enough to want him, paying more
money than I will ever admit.
That male was “Putzi”, BIS/BISS CH. Regalia’s
Sposalizio of Serdess AOM.
I bought him on a co-ownership with Richard Short
when he was a puppy, and he then went on to win an all
breed Best In Show and the distinction of being the
youngest Akita to have won that title AND he was
owner-handled by Richard! He is now owned by Richard in
full. |
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 Charizma’s first and
second breedings to Putzi have produced five champions
to date with another very close to
finishing.
Another male from that cross “Credo” CH. CAS
Work What Is Good finished in 11 shows with four
majors, and is the sire of Classic, my Chelsea daughter
shown above, as well as her other 4 littermates that we
are looking forward to being old enough to
show.
Credo’s younger brother “Country” CH. CAS
Proud To Be An American finished his championship in
only nine shows. |
Also pictured is their beautiful white sister
“Caiya” CH. CAS Taboo Kitia Ten
Karat. 
Credo has excelled as a stud. He's been bred
twice to date, the first time to Cassie for her last
breeding, and the second time to Chelsea - both times
were linebreedings on
Cori. |
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CH. CAS Dozak I Got It “Catcher” and “Faith” are
2 of the 4 pups produced by Credo and
Cassie.
Catcher finished his championship in 8 shows -
beating any record of mine so far - and is now the sire
of his first litter.
The babies are only 4 months old - but pictured
is what we are sure will be our next Akita CAS champion
“Cobo” |
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 Cobo is another
example of why I linebreed. He represents a fifth
generation male from a consistently strong male gene
pool at Akitas CAS.
Charizma’s third breeding was to Putzi’s sire:
BIS/BISS CH. T’Stone’s Raja Regalia on Buckridge ROMPX.
While her breeding to Putzi was a linebreeding, as
Putzi’s dam was Zanadou’s sister from the top winning
Akita litter, her breeding to Raja was an outcross. That
breeding produced nice, although not as consistently
nice - with one of the babies being a puppy champion
(Charizma’s sixth champion to date) and the dam of Cobo
above, and another who we believe will be the first
brindle male to attain an English championship. At less
than one year of age he already has one CC and four
reserve CC s towards that title!
I have two rules that I follow when choosing dogs
for my breeding program:
#1 - If you see something out there that you like
better then your own dogs - BUY it or breed to it. Don’t
waste time gossiping about it or tearing it
down like so many unsuccessful breeders! Acknowledge the
fact that the dog is better then yours, and if you can
successfully incorporate him/her into your breeding
program then DO SO - even if it means making the hard
decision to pet out something you thought was the cat’s
pajamas until you saw THIS dog. And don’t be skimpy -
saving money on a lesser dog is going to cost you in the
long run. If you see what you want and you don’t have it
- get it.
#2 - If you are going to linebreed, make sure
that you have done your homework. Linebreeding is only
going to work if you are breeding on CONSISTENTLY sound
and healthy dogs. Consistency is the KEY word! This is
the worst time to wear blinders, or to excuse the pet
pup from the litter with a serious fault. You WILL
produce it in the future, so only do the breeding if the
worst is something you would want to keep
yourself.
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© Cindy
A. Smith - April
2006
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