Star and Midnight's Story

Home 2 (after my home for the first 8 weeks):  What happened during the first year of Star and Midnight's life is every breeder's worst nightmare!!!  Almost exactly at Star's first birthday, to the day, and when Midnight was at the very impressionable age of 6 1/2 months, when they were no longer cute little cuddly teddy bears, but rather the unruly dogs that being confined in a pen had turned them into, when caring for them was just too much to deal with, the original owners decided to get rid of this burden.  The family I placed these dogs with, who had promised to love them for life, was abandoning both of them a few months later!  I was devastated for the pups and that I had so severely misjudged this family, even with all of the precautions I take!  I immediately called around trying to find a ride back across the country from their current pen in central Virginia to my home in central Arizona.  As luck would have it, my good friend Tonda, Get M Home Shipping, was able to pick them up at the end of the week as part of current run.  (Lucky for me Tonda is a sucker for my dogs and for a sob story like this one!)  Days prior to their scheduled pick up, I received an email that the pups were given away instead.  I emailed the family to find out where the pups had gone for fear that they would be in a puppy mill or worse but received no response and not a word since!

Home 3:  About a month later, I receive a call from a lady claiming to have two dogs that I bred.  I knew instantly that it was Star and Midnight because every other dog we have EVER bred is with the family I placed them with other than Saber who came back to and still lives with us with the exception of Star and Midnight. We start conversing back and forth and as it turns out the current owner, who had an adult male Akita, worked at the previous owner's vet and took the dogs thinking they were homeless.  She felt sorry for the dogs and took them but was now in the middle of a divorce and neither party could take the dogs to their new residences.....

Home 4:  ARGH.....Star was now being kenneled at her vet where she had been for several weeks.  Midnight was still at their home would would make it to the kennel as well for several days before we were able to get him!  And it gets worse, the orignial family had not altered either dog and these half siblings had bred several times (luckily Midnight was neutered during his brief time at home 3)!  Luckily, the vet was able to assure me that Star was not pregnant thanks to her repeated ultrasounds and xrays along with constant vet care.  At least we knew Star was stable enough to transport.  The vet administered a temperament test to both of them so that I could assure Tonda, who would once again be willing to transport these babies home to me, that their neglect had not led to any temperament issues.  They passed with flying colors!!!!  Our luck was turning... now to just find the perfect forever home....

Home 5:  I had placed these two on my site as available with an urgent need for homes.  I was asking a small fee to cover Star's spay so I was getting alot of response for people wanting one of them or people out of the Continental US.  I had not found the right home yet and assumed I wouldn't as I wanted the next place these two went to be where they lived for the rest of their lives....it was now pick up day for Tonda and the vet assured me the dogs were doing great!  I received a call from Travis Phillips, who we would later find out was a God send!)  He was willing to take them BOTH!!!  FOREVER!!!!  The Phillips family had had Akitas before, they knew what they were getting into. The Rotty, who had lived a long life had just been put down.  They have a daughter which was great because Star and Midnight loved kids and had lived with two kids at each home in Virginia- various ages - this sounded good....  They filled out my questionnaire...no surprises....but wait, Tonda had just driven to Virginia from IOWA!  Oh no!  Tonda, angel in disguise, agreed to take a lesser fee than what I agreed to pay to bring them here to take them to West Virginia instead, meaning she had to readjust her entire route, again- this is where being a softy for my dogs comes in to play....  :-)  The Phillips agree to pay Tonda the lesser fee in exchange for that being their adoption fee....DING DING DING, we have a winner!  The next day, Tonda delivered to the Phillips family of West Virginia, these two happy babies who have settled very quickly and have obviously taken to the Phillips' daughter in no time as shown in the pictures above!  FINALLY, A HAPPY ENDING....  THIS IS THE HOME STAR AND MIDNIGHT TURNED MAYA AND BUBBA WERE MEANT TO ENJOY THEIR LIVES IN!!!

Why do we share this:  These two dogs are the only two dogs produced by Akitas de MacLeod that are not in the original homes!  No matter how many questions we ask, people can always figure out how to answer with what they know you will want to hear.  We share this story to say, one more time, owning an Akita, or any animal, should be a life time committment....hopefully, if you are on the fence about getting a pet, you will stay there until you are ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE that the pet you are taking will be cherished FOREVER!

Special thanks the Phillips family to opening their hearts to these two sweeties!~

and to Tonda, Get M Home shipping, for assisting in making this happy ending possible!