Foster Stories: Jessica and Oku
By: Hype Hounds Kennel Club and Jessica Lyle
Not just another foster.
This is oku, I will start out by saying her story is kind of long. Oku was listed as a foster by the rescue we work with the day we came home from my husband's grandfather's funeral.
We already had another foster, named suey, and we said we were not going to have 2 fosters at a time because it's just too much for us, but oku was listed as needing a foster and she was listed as an Akita. My husband and I have a very soft spot for Akita's, he grew up with them his whole life.
Bad Reputations...
We know the breed doesn't have the best reputation and people don't really know how to train them well so many are given up before they turn one. I showed my husband her listing and of course he said yes, in our eyes it was a sign because Akita puppies never come through rescues, it's unheard of. Plus, we had just got back from his grandfather's funeral out of state and he was the one who introduced my husband to the breed.
Since this puppy was brand new we got to name her, my husband's grandfather's favorite Akita was named Oak, so Oku is the Japanese name for Oak. When we picked her up she was probably about 4 or 5 weeks old and only weighed 3 pounds. We ended up nicknaming her potato since she looked like a little potato with legs.
Oku fights back!
She had a pretty bad injury on her foot which we found out was from her mom. The mother had turned on the litter and killed all but 2 puppies. The people who surrendered her kept the one that was not injured and gave up Oku. We had to give lots of medicines and bandage her foot frequently, because of her bandages she walked funny with her other front leg causing it to bow.
The rescue was amazing and ordered her leg braces to help straighten her legs. She still has a deformed paw from the attack and always will but it is much better. Once we got Oku, it didn't take my husband and I long to decide we couldn't give her up. We couldn't see this dog go to someone and be given up because she was difficult and had medical issues. So we adopted her.
She finds a forever home. <3
Our first foster fail, and we cannot fail on anymore because 4 dogs is more than enough. We still foster but there is no way I can own more than 4 dogs, especially large dogs.
As Oku grew we realized there had to be something else in her as she started losing her Akita traits. It was believed she came from a backyard breeder, so they believed she was full Akita. We did a DNA test and she came back as 70% German shepherd and 30% Akita.
Our best guess as to what happened was it was a backyard German shepherd breeder and this puppy looked too much like an Akita so after the attack they were dropped off saying she was an Akita. She is a total goof ball and fits in well with our family and loves the fosters who come through our house!
