PONTA!

Ponta's Profile

Ponta was born on June 26, 2011, at Mr. Ishida's home in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture. Mr. Ishida, aside from being a lifelong breeder of Shiba Inus, is also the prefectural head of NIPPO, the Association for the Preservation of the Japanese Dog (in Japanese, Nihon Ken Hozonkai, or 日本犬保存会). He is very serious about strengthening the Shiba Inu breed and keeping the line as close as possible to its historical form. Ponta's mother is a black and tan shiba, and his father is a red; all of Ponta's siblings came out red, with very slight black highlights. Mr. Ishida used a black-and-tan shiba as a mother in order to trengthen the red color in Ponta's generation.

Before we went to look at the dogs, Sachi and I discussed names. There were a few we liked. We both enjoy Monty Python's Flying Circus, so "Monty" or "Montgomery" was one choice. Sachi practices meditation, so "Samadhi" was another choice. I was thinking about place names, and remembered my family's ancestral home in Spain: Pontevedra. I suggested that one, with "Ponta" as a short version; we both immediately liked it.

Ponta was one of a litter of four puppies, one female and four males. The three males were put up for sale. When Sachi and I visited in early August, we named the other puppies "Ikemen" ("Handsome Guy") and "Chu̅-kun." One puppy, however, stood out amongst all of them. He was the fattest, homeliest, and most independent of the litter. He was smart enough to know that the concrete of the genkan was the coolest place to be. Mr. Ishida said that this pup had a spirit of "Going My Way," doing his own thing as he liked. Sachi and I immediately fell in love. This was Ponta.

Meet Montgomery Pontevedra Samadhi Poza at six weeks of age at Mr. Ishida's home in Gunma.