Raja was not only our first female, but also my first brindle.
I fell in love with her red brindle and silver brindle maternal grandparents at first sight. Her mother was the first brindle I got to met in person. It started a life-long love for this color pattern in the akita.
Raja was not exactly show bred, nor was she pet bred.
On her father's (Takeshi) side she is 100% American lines, and while no one had shown the last couple generations her father came from some old big lines and was a huge boy.
Her mother's (Natasha) side is American + Japanese multigenerational blend. Her mother's father (Kiyoshi) was from a line bred on Japanese type, based on when the Japanese lines were allowed back into the USA back in the early 90's. Kiyoshi's father was a UKC Champion, and my introduction to UKC shows. Natasha's mother (Naya), was a beautiful Silver brindle that did have some American CH lines on her side.
With that said, at the time I was looking for a female, I could not yet get anyone to allow me a show bred female, and while not directly show bred, Raja ended up my choice. Despite neither her parents or grandparents being shown, Raja took to it like a fish in water. I began training her for it and obedience right from the beginning. Ultimately however, Raja ended up not hitting the actually ring until a few weeks before her 5th birthday, and one of my biggest regrets is that we waited so long simply due to reliable vehicle issues, and I didn't get more years to show her.
Raja absolutely adores attention. She's the dog that struts into the vet office with an "I'm hereeeeee, love me!" attitude. She is the same in the ring. She loves the crowd, loves the focus on her, and until Sasha became my top dog Raja won breed at every show she was entered in. I unfortunately never got the opportunity to show her with the AKC, but Raja earned her UKC Champion title her first weekend out ever, and later her International Champion title with IABCA with little effort as well. Raja has won several "Best In Show Veteran" and "Reserve Best I n Show Veteran" wins against tough competition, as well as many Group placements.
She was retired from the show ring after her February 2020 show, but did go on to get her Novice Trick Dog title a few months later.
Raja resides at my mother's house, where i too used to live the first half of her life. She is however my mother's Baby, and they're practically glued at the hip 24/7, so when I moved out they stayed together. Raja prefers it this way, for she doesn't like to share attention with ANY other dogs, and always had to have half the house to herself. Raja now only has one other dog in the home with her, which is her long coat son, Bear. He to this day is the only dog she potentially actually likes. They still have a gate splitting the house in half, as she is still particular about her territory, but she will go out in the yard and play with him loose!
Unfortunately we lost Raja to cancer in April of 2022, at 11.5 years old, leaving our family heartbroken.
We will NEVER forget what she taught us.
