I am am living in Japan for a few years, and would love to get a dog. I’m would like an Australian Shepherd as I’ve had one before and he was amazing, or potentially a Hokkaido Inu if I can see them in person first.
I live in Aomori, but am happy to travel anywhere in the country to pick up the dog. As I don’t speak Japanese, I’m leaning towards buying one from a breeder that I can train myself, but will consider adoption as well.
Google doesn’t provide any results for English searches of dog breeders or adoption that I can tell.
Any recommendations on how to proceed?
4 comments
> I am am living in Japan for a few years, and would love to get a dog.
Just for a few years? Getting a pet is a decision to care for that pet for the entirety of its life. If you’re just going to be here for a few years, do you have the means to transport the dog back to your home country once it’s time for you to leave, or will you just be abandoning it when you go? Remember, since you don’t speak Japanese, it would be significantly harder for you to re-home a dog here, especially one the size of an Aussie or Hokkaido Inu.
> As I don’t speak Japanese…
Do you have an English-speaking vet in your area? Because your dog _will_ need care, so you need to be able to communicate smoothly with a vet. Your two solutions for this are a) find an English-speaking vet, or b) learn Japanese really fast.
> I’m leaning towards buying one from a breeder that I can train myself, but will consider adoption as well
Adopt. The rate of dog abandonment here is super high for a lot of reasons (people move and can’t have a pet in their new apartment, airheaded idiots hyperfocused on having a puppy of whatever breed is the latest fad, etc.), so please adopt.
> I live in Aomori, but am happy to travel anywhere in the country to pick up the dog….Google doesn’t provide any results for English searches of dog breeders or adoption that I can tell.
[Animal Rescue Kansai](https://www.arkbark.net/en/) provides full communication in English, and operates out of both Osaka and Tokyo. While they would not ship a dog up to Aomori, you can pay to have a dog transported from Osaka to Tokyo for a closer pickup. Really great people who seriously care about animals.
> I’m would like an Australian Shepherd
Would you like to take ours? I _swear_ he’s the best dog ever. He only barks 90% of the time, he’s down to stealing only 8 items per day, and he only bites me a couple of times per week. He’s making great progress on the path to becoming non-psychotic. I can send photos if you like!
(not serious, even though he can be a royal asshole sometimes, we’re not giving him up)
If you don’t speak Japanese, how is the dog going to understand you?
You mentioned you’re in the military. You should have on-base resources to assist you. Start with your CiC. Most likely can direct you to places that are used to working with the military.
How about serching for Japanese breeder in Japanese and translate the result with Google translator or something?
“Breeder” is “ブリーダー” and”Australian Shepherd” is “オーストラリアンシェパード” in Japanese. I think the breed is super rare in Japan, though.
Other options are: 1) checking local pet stores often located in homecenters or 2) adopting an abondaned dog from local 保健所(Health Center). I don’t know whether a U.S. Military Service man can satisfy criteria to adopt dogs from a Health Center. I heard that the criteria are very comlicated, strict and, different in each region.