Chuuya (中也) is currently the youngest member of the Toboetsuki pack, born at home as a singleton puppy from Kirin and Tsume. We knew he was a singleton from Kirin's first scan, so we were prepared for complications all the way through pregnancy and birth. It was decided, even before he was born that no matter what came out, the puppy would be staying here with us! Singleton puppies are special due to requiring a different level of socialisation than a normal litter of puppies - because they have no siblings to teach them correct behaviour through play. We were hoping for a little white girl to carry on Kirin's legacy, but of course, Hokkaido love to defy expectations so Kirin gave us a beautiful red boy.

Chuuya is named after the Japanese poet Nakahara Chuuya, and his registered name is the title of one of Nakahara Chuuya's works 'Upon the Tainted Sorrow'. Chuuya is also named after the character from Bungou Stray Dogs; an anime whose characters all bear the names of famous literary persons with abilities based on the namesake author's works.

As you can imagine, being a single puppy means that Chuuya got all of the attention all of the time, so he's a little bit of a spoiled brat who always wants to be at the centre of everything going on! He's a pretty curious puppy who doesn't take no for an answer and absolutely loves the sound of his own voice. His favourite pastime is winding up his mother or his sister, because neither of them will properly tell him off (part of the spoiled brat privilege). His dad more than makes up for it by constantly playing 'splat-the-puppy' when they're having some off lead fun at the enclosed fields, despite Chuuya now having outgrown Tsume!

Chuuya is maturing into a very handsome and special young man, with some of the best features from both of his parents. Despite having no litter mates of his own, he was an amazing big brother to Satsuki's three puppies, keeping them entertained and teaching them some of his naughty habits before they all headed off to their new homes. We are hoping that Chuuya will be an excellent breed ambassador and he will be joining us at our meet-the-breed events this year (you will hear him before you see him) and we hope to get him into the international show ring. Despite having a rather loud personality, Chuuya is a big softie who absolutely loves a cuddle and has no concept of personal space.

Chuuya is the first of our Hokkaido ever to step out into the world of conformation – because the Hokkaido Ken is not currently a recognised breed here in the UK, we have to travel overseas to be able to exhibit, which has become infinitely more difficult and expensive post-Brexit. In May 2023 we went on an exciting adventure to Norway to take part in the Japanspesialen – a speciality show for the Japanese breeds. We weren’t really expecting to do well, since this was my first time showing a dog seriously outside of breed shows with the Northern Inuits, and Chuuya had never stepped into a ring before (we managed two whole ring craft classes before embarking on our journey). I was just hoping that we wouldn’t be disqualified and asked to leave the ring! With the help and guidance of some of our friends, Chuuya decided he had other ideas…

Over his first show weekend Chuuya picked up:
3x 1st in Junior Class
2x ‘Excellent’ grades and CK certificates towards his Norwegian Championship
1x ‘Very Good’ grade from a Judge who is the current President of the JKC.
2x Best Male
2x Best of Breed
1x 1st Junior Best In Show
1x 3rd Junior Best In Show
1x 4th Best In Show

Critiques from the judges from the Japanspesialen weekend can be found here (Saturday, Mr. John Aarenskjold Tjøtta), here (Sunday, Bessho Satoshi-san), and here (Monday, Tomimoto Yuichi-san).

At his second show held in France by the Club Français des Chiens Nordiques et des Spitz du Japon, Chuuya picked up:
2x 1st in Junior Male class
2x 'Excellent' grades
1x Best Opposite Sex
He also passed his temperament test!

Results for this show can be found here (Saturday, Mr. Darren Walker) and here (Sunday, Mr. Marko Mihajlovic).

We are hoping to continue Chuuya's show career next year!

Chuuya is Embark DNA tested: click here!