[...] been almost half a year since we left Suguri at the pet shop, trying to find a suitable home for the abandoned mutt Hinomaru, but it took me no time at all to get right back into the story. [...]

“…At a country lodge, they encounter another visitor with four huge dogs — Newfoundland, Great Dane, Leonberger, and Great Pyrenees — as well as an unwelcome guest: a bear!…”

Oh do I have yet another anecdote for your Inubaka reviews… ;)

Bernd Heinrich Says in Winter World : The Ingenuity of Animal Survival:

“…In January, [bear] sows give birth to two to three naked cubs, which don’t hibernate. They snuggle up to their mother and suckle for the three additional months that she hibernates…

“…Other than biologists, few humans have entered bears’ dens to find out how cozy they might be. But in one case I am intimately acquainted with, a rabbit-hunting beagle wandered under a brush pile in the Maine woods, which happened to be the den of a black bear with her two cubs. The beagle attempted to retreat, but every time the dog tried to crawl out, the bear dragged it back inside. The sow acted as though the beagle was one of her cubs. The owner finally retrieved his dog unharmed, but only after the bear was tranquilized with a dart gun and the dog had then been denned for two days longer than it intended…”

What time of year was the vacation in the manga? :)

Johanna Says:

“…Plus, customers in Tokyo don’t want big dogs unless they can brag about them, so the puppies would be hard to find homes for…”

That reminds me, what about other regions of Japan?

Cindy Wolff Says in “Cold-nosed caravan: Rescued Memphis dogs head north to warm families’ hearts,” The Memphis Commercial Appeal, January 27, 2009:

“…People in the New England states say stricter leash laws, harsher winters and spay/neuter laws make it difficult to find an average mutt to make a good pet. So they scan the Internet looking for rescue groups willing to let their orphans move up north…”

GrittyKitty clarified in the comments section under that article on January 27, 2009 at 6:14 a.m.:

“…1. Stricter leash laws decrease the possibility of unwanted litters.

“2. Harsher winters kill virtually all litters born outside and stray animals that lost or left behind for whatever reason.

“3. Enforced spay/neuter laws reduced unwanted litters…”

Likewise, I’ve seen one of the animal shelters here make room for dogs from the South. Its cat facilities still get overwhelmed by local cats and kittens, though (no leash laws and enforced spay/neuter laws for cats in Massachusetts).

Johanna Says:

“…Also creepy: mention of a breed where the dog has been shaped in such a way that purebreds can only give birth through C-section with human assistance…”

I’ve heard of similar damage done by some pigeon fanciers inbreeding the birds. It’s in part of Superdove by Courtney Humphries.

Johanna Says:

“…Getting unwanted dogs adopted is a tough topic, and one that I’m glad to see this series tackle. So much of it so far has been about the pet store and buying purebreds, and that desire to have a ‘clean’ dog, both in history and parentage, is part of the problem. It’s tough to adopt a dog when you don’t know how they may have been abused, but many ‘mutts’ are hardier and happier than breeds with built-in health issues…”

Did Yukiya Sakuragi give the shout-out to hybrid vigor and not inbreeding too, or are you adding that facet to the discussion just now? Either way, it’s a great point!

[...] MacFarlane on vol. 5 of Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time (Manga Life) Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 14 of Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs (Comics Worth Reading) Tangognat on vol. 1 of Karakuri Odette (Tangognat) Julie on vol. 2 of Kimi [...]