Not to be Forgotten:  the Need for Rescue

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Rescued:  at age 2 in August of 2004

Coloring:  Brown/black pinto

Coat:  Extremely thick and dense and slightly longer

Weight:  Approximately 115 lbs

Vaccination:  last given 8/6/5

***NEWS FLASH***

Diesel is now a working dog!  Diesel has recently been hired as a babysitter for Tsambuka, our rescue who lives with our neighbor now.  The Winters Family hired Diesel to baby-sit Tsambuka while they are at work 6 nights a week and whenever they go out for a lengthy period of time.  Tsambuka had never been left alone and was destroying the house and burst apart her crate when she was alone but now, with Diesel keeping her calm, everything has been going just fine.  Diesel gets paid, by the Winters Family, at the end of his "shift" with a handful of dog biscuits and a good rub!

Diesel came to us from the Maricopa Animal Shelter in August of 2004 at the age of 2.  We were told by the county workers that after jumping his owners’ privacy fence three times and being collected by county officials on each occasion, on his last escapade he attacked a horse.  His previous owner was then asked to relinquish his rights to Diesel.  Diesel was forced to live at the pound for 2/3 weeks while awaiting his paperwork so that he could be adopted.  Although during this time, Diesel was extremely popular for his rugged good looks and congenial attitude, the workers were not fond of Akitas and dissuaded people from adopting poor Diesel until we came along the day his papers were ready and snatched him away.

He is a dedicated babysitter but does expect rewards for his giving career such as alone time with his owners.  He bows down to the much younger Kabuto’s need to dominate without altercation.  He has never been in an altercation of in kind while a member of our family that lead the injury of any human or dog although we will share a funny story with you about his babysitting experience:

When Kabuto was a puppy, among his first visits to the dog park, he was often drooled on a dominated by any dog around.  We let him walk around on his own to get used to playing with other dogs in a social setting.  On one occasion he was being picked on by an overly interested Boxer mix whose owner was no where to be found.  His master went to pick him up to remove him from the situation before being traumatized, when the Boxer started jumping on Kabuto’s master and grabbing Kabuto’s feet in his mouth.  The Boxer’s owner was still nowhere to be found, if they were present at all, so he was obviously not being corrected.  All of the sudden, Diesel to the rescue….

Diesel had been playing with other dogs and not around for Kabuto’s experience with this Boxer.  However, when he saw the Boxer jumping on his owner and grabbing Kabuto’s paws, his instincts to protect took over.  We are still not sure who he was protecting, Kabuto or his master, but either way, the end result was effective.  Diesel ran over from approximately 40 yards away, and with the full force of his body weight, ran straight into the boxer.  He never opened his mouth to bite; he didn’t stomp on the Boxer; he just let the Boxer know that Kabuto was his puppy and not going to be bothered any longer. 

As you can imagine, the Boxer ran off to new prey, allowing Kabuto’s quick escape and Diesel to go back to congregating with his peers.

 

Diesel still gets along well with Kabuto (when Kabuto is not off chasing girls as Diesel finds the lack of focus extremely irritating.)

 

Diesel’s favorite section of the newspaper would be Entertainment.