Welcome to Toboetsuki Inuits & Hokkaido Ken
If you have any questions about either the Northern Inuit or Hokkaido Ken please feel free to drop us a message.
Our dogs are friendly and attend events across the South of England. The name 'Toboetsuki' comes from the Japanese language and roughly translates to 'Howling Moon'. All of our dogs also have Japanese themed names as I am a great lover of the Japanese language and of their animation style. We decided to build this page mainly to educate people on the wonderful Inuit Dog and also the Hokkaido Ken -
which we recently added to our ever-growing canine family - so that they can decide whether either of these beautiful breeds are right for them. We are here to provide unbiased information - we will tell you the brilliant, the good and the bad about being owned by these dogs. Maybe you've already heard of the Inuit Dog or even the Hokkaido Ken; maybe you already know everything there is to know about the breeds; maybe you've come here because you're curious and you'd like to learn more; maybe you came here completely by accident! We are owned by three pedigree Northern Inuit dogs, a German Shepherd cross Northern Inuit who we rehomed in 2013 and a pedigree Hokkaido Ken who was imported from the Kyuden Kitsune kennel in France in December 2016. We hope you enjoy browsing our page, finding out a little about the breed in general and getting to know each of our dogs. For more information please check out our website www.toboetsuki.co.uk
26/07/2025
🎉 ~Happy Birthday Chuuya~ 🎉
Slightly belated as we've been dealing with some sad news this week, but on Wednesday, Chuuya turned 3 whole years old!
He's always been special, even before he was born - we knew Kirin was only carrying a singleton puppy, so we knew well in advance that no matter what came out, that puppy would be staying here with us.
Anyone who has been following this page for a long time will know, I lost my heart dog, Kiba, in December of 2020. Losing him has been the hardest part of my dog-owning journey: he was my soulmate with fur, my white shadow and my everything.
I never wanted another heart dog. Nothing could ever replace my Kiba, and I don't want it to.
And yet here he is...this dog who is utterly unlike Kiba, and yet somehow I still manage to see similarities in the way he is tuned into me. He is MY dog and while he loves pretty much everyone, I am his first choice, always. He is loud, obnoxious, in-your-face annoying, doesn't know the meaning of the word 'no' and couldn't care less whether you want his attention or not when he wants to give it you. Yet in the evenings, he curls up pressed into my side on the sofa and just exists, not demanding, not expecting, just there, a solid presence, just like Kiba.
I tell him he's handsome at least ten times a day, and I think it's gone to his head a little bit. He always has a smile on his face, or a cheeky grin! He's really started to calm down and mature in the brain department in the last 6 months or so, I think having a crazy little future girlfriend has taught him how to appreciate just chilling out.
We have travelled to so many places, have made so many memories in his short life already, and I'm already looking forward to the years we have together (please, Chuuya, no more sock incidents, I beg you).
Happy 3rd Birthday Chuuya, my annoying little heart dog
14/07/2025
🍂🐾 ~Happy Birthday Kaika~ 🐾🍂
Today we wish a very happy first birthday to the youngest member of our Hokkaido crew!
🍂 V'kuttarako No Kaika Kyuden Kitsune 🍂
Kaika has had lots of new and exciting experiences since she joined us from Kyuden Kitsune, back in November 2024 and she's growing into a pretty (and sometimes naughty) young lady.
She recently finished her second season - a little earlier than we were all expecting - and if you scroll back a little on our page you will see just how much those hormones can change in such a short time! Her face has started filling out and maturing into that more adult appearance, so it finally looks like it matches her body. Her coat has grown back in now too and she's still losing some of the black around her face and on her back, which is slowly turning a darker brown.
She's become a bit of a cheeky girl these last few months, pushing her boundaries with the older girls and finding her place, but she's still very much a clingy, persistent puppy when she wants to smoosh herself on you for cuddles.
Chuuya is still her best buddy, and favourite punching bag because he never tells her off and lets her rag him across the floor and stomp all over him.
She's having a great day today, since it's much cooler than it's been for the last week down here in Wiltshire (a positively balmy 23°C with a good breeze, rather than the melting 34°C we had on Saturday) so she's pleased to be able to finally go back to our proper walking routine. Cake and custard time later!
Happy birthday to Kaika and all of her litter siblings 🎉🎉🎉
03/07/2025
The girls are finally out of season, so everyone got to have a fun time at the off lead field to celebrate! Except Princess, who stayed at home as the heat hasn't been agreeing with her old bones.
I think this is the first time I've managed to get all five of our Hokkaido together in one photo! It's only taken 8 months since Kaika came home to manage it 😅 though the main culprit is actually Tsume, who isn't a fan of sitting still and would much rather be zooming off somewhere or digging holes (it took three attempts to get him to sit here with the others without flinging himself off immediately).
More proof that Hokkaido like to pretend they don't have eyes 😂
L-R: Kirin, Kaika, Satsuki, Chuuya, Tsume
25/06/2025
🌸 Edition Dog Live ~ Sunday 6th July ~ NAEC Stoneleigh (nr Coventry) 🌸
It's been a long time since we've done an indoor event, so we're looking forward to being part of the Breed Village at Edition Dog Live next Sunday! There will be a few rare breeds in attendance, including the Kai Ken, so it's a good opportunity to meet dogs that you might not be familiar with.
Since indoor events are always a bit of a different atmosphere to outdoor events (where we have our own marquee and often have space behind if anyone needs to take a break) I'll be bringing the OG girls - Kirin and Satsuki - with me to Edition Dog Live. Kaika is in season and isn't ready for a day of meet-and-greets in a busy indoor environment, and Chuuya is rapidly losing what little coat he has left (not to mention, his barks have a rather disharmonic echoing capacity). Momo will also be joining us as our third meet-the-breed ambassador.
We do have a special code to give out to breed enthusiasts who are seriously interested in coming to meet the breed in the fur at this event. Please reach out via messenger if this is the case.
Visit Edition Dog Live's website for more information about this event!
17/06/2025
It's been a little while since I posted an update...and I'll be honest and admit that this photo is a couple of weeks old 🥹
Kirin and Kaika have both decided to come into season within a week of each other (seasons are like the British transport system apparently - nothing for months and then everything arrives all at once)! As a young adolescent, Kaika has decided that it's time to start pushing boundaries with the older girls - always fun in a house full of hormones. While generally, Hokkaido are tolerant with other dogs and lenient with puppies, having multiple girls in season definitely adds some tension into the household. Kirin is putting up with the teenage button-pusher rather well, and has only felt the need to properly tell Kaika off once so far (don't get on Kirin's bad side, you won't win). Satsuki and Princess are just grumbly and fed up with it all.
Of course the boys add to the 'fun' by being annoying, persistent and whinging when they don't get their own way.
This is the reality of owning multiple entire dogs, and to be honest, we have it easier than most since my boys haven't yet attempted to tear down the house, break through the gates/crates/room separators or howl constantly to woo their beau (or, in Chuuya's case, his mother 🫣).
Just a few more weeks and it will be over (until the next one comes in - here's looking at you, Satsuki) ;)
27/05/2025
Who's ready for Dogstival this weekend???
As you can see, Chuuya is super excited and always ready for an adventure!
We'll be there all weekend with The British Association of Hokkaido Ken and Association of Nihon Ken.
It will probably be Satsuki and Kaika on Saturday, then Chuuya and Kirin on Sunday, assuming Kirin wants to get out of bed that early in the morning 😅
We're looking forward to a fun weekend
21/05/2025
🐾🍂~ Kaika Pupdate ~🍂🐾
Just a quick update to share some good news for our youngest little lady.
Yesterday we took a trip down to Hythe to visit the veterinary ophthalmologist at Seadown Vets for Kaika's BVA eye testing. I was a little bit worried as it was only her second time visiting a vet practice to have something done since she's been with us, and she's not the biggest fan of strangers getting right up in her face.
She was a super good girl, I am so proud of her! She had a little wiggle when I first put her up on the table, but with me at the head end, stroking and reassuring her and the vet nurse at the bum end to stop her from scooting back, she settled quickly.
For anyone who's not experienced a BVA test, it involves the vet getting extremely close to the dog's face with their instruments, including a thing that looks like a microscope and a set of goggles on their head, all while shining a very bright light into the dog's eye after giving them drops that shrink the pupils.
Though I'm pretty sure it was more a case of Kaika pretending it wasn't happening, rather than calm acceptance, I'm happy that she managed to cope with the whole experience while being unmuzzled (usually we muzzle all of our Hokkaido for invasive veterinary procedures), without so much as a single grumble.
Kaika's eye exam was all clear - absolutely no concerns from the vet - which is great news!
Now we have to wait for her to be over a year old so we can book her in for her hip and elbow X-Rays.
After this scary experience, we decided to head a little further south for a little adventure and Kaika got to see the sea for the first time! After some initial hesitance, Kaika decided she loved the sea and enjoyed splashing around with Chuuya and Satsuki. A short video of her first reaction to the sea will be in the comments (FB doesn't let you post videos and photos to the same post on a page anymore -_-).
18/05/2025
🧡~ Satsuki the Therapy Dog ~🧡
So, we've been keeping this quiet until the official letter came though, but now we can finally share the news!
In April, while we were at our first event of the year, Satsuki took her assessment to become a therapy dog with Canine Concern
14/05/2025
🐾🌳~ Belgium Adventures ~🌳🐾
So Chuuya, Kaika and I arrived home on Monday evening (thankfully there was no 3 hour Eurotunnel delay coming back), and now we're all properly rested we can share our adventures!
Thankfully I managed to rearrange the vet appointment with Dierenarts Lieve de Rycke in Bruges at the last minute and she managed to fit us in later in the afternoon on Friday. So we spent an hour at Landschapspark Bulskampveld exploring some hiking trails and trying not to get lost before heading back for our appointment.
Saturday and Sunday's early morning walks were at Lembeekse Bossen, a forest less than 10 minutes drive from our AirBnb in Eeklo (which was gorgeous and super comfortable). It was a really nice place to walk, with lots of different trails through the forest and barely any people around at 7am. We came back on Sunday evening after the show as well and enjoyed being able to walk in the shade as it was rather warm!
On Monday we opted for somewhere different and headed to Het Leen, a managed nature reserve close to Eeklo. This place had both paved and unpaved trails and was beautiful, but oh my god the mosquitoes and ticks were out in force 🤮 I must have picked at least 30 crawling ticks off the dogs on our way around and before we got back in the car - it makes me itch just thinking about it!
We had an hour or so to spare after driving towards Calais, so we overshot just a little bit and went for a walk at Cap Blanc Nez (France's answer to the White Cliffs of Dover). I was hoping to take the dogs down to the beach but unfortunately it seems that dogs aren't actually allowed on the beach (or my French is so terrible I misunderstood) so we went along the cliff path for a bit instead.
I love finding new places to explore with the dogs, and while most people who visit another country head for the cities, I end up heading to the countryside 😂
✨ Show Results ✨
(I've already posted these on my personal feed, so apologies if you've already seen this)
Saturday (57e Flanders Dog Show)
Judge - Beatrix Märki Casanova
Toboetsuki Go Yogorecchimatta Kanashimi Ni (Chuuya)
'Excellent' 1st Open Male
Best Male
Best of Breed
CAC/CACIB
Sunday (58e Flanders Dog Show)
Judge - Jan Coppens
Toboetsuki Go Yogorecchimatta Kanashimi Ni (Chuuya)
'Excellent' 1st Open Male
Best Male
Best of Breed
CAC/CACIB
We didn't get anywhere in Group on either day, but surrounded by lovely dogs, we didn't expect to. I'm super proud that Chuuya was yet again not disqualified, and managed to get 2 points towards his Belgian Champion title. Hopefully we'll be able to head back next year to complete that one.
Kaika was not entered into the show, she came as a spectator as this kind of environment is all very new to her. She was a great road trip buddy for Chuuya and now has her passport all sorted for the next three years.
Well, that's about it! I'm not sure whether I'll be able to travel again this year, the cost of doing trips like this are rather eye-wateringly expensive when you add it all up, and a lot depends on other plans for the rest of the year ;) but I'm hoping to head to the World Dog Show in Italy next year ☝️
11/05/2025
One of the best things about travelling to Europe to show Chuuya, is having the opportunity to meet with other Hokkaido owners and get to know different dogs and their people.
Yesterday we had the pleasure of meeting up with Ödrai Vanhaelen, with Santa and Ryu, as well as Sabrina Stief with Naisho and Bion (plus Heidi Stief and the Shibas who are also with us at the show for the weekend)! Santa is related to both Kaika and Chuuya on different sides of the family (Kaika is his great granddaughter on her mother's side and Chuuya is his nephew as Santa and Kirin are half siblings). Chuuya is also the nephew of Bion on his father's side (Bion and Tsume are litter siblings).
It's a bit of a convoluted family affair!
We had a lovely little walk around Bourgoyen-Ossemeersen nature reserve and managed to get this shot of all six vaguely looking in the right direction (don't ask how many attempts it took us).
It was lovely to be able to have this opportunity and I hope in the future I'll be able to meet even more Hokkaido and their owners.
09/05/2025
Well, today was a whole load of excitement nobody needed!
After arriving at the Eurotunnel at a timely 6:30am, thinking we'd have plenty of time to get through the pet reception, have a drink and some breakfast and go for a little walk around the car park...instead of leaving at 8:24am like we were supposed to, instead we got to sit around for hours and hours and HOURS, before finally getting on a train at 12:04pm 😵💫
The car park was chaos with everyone parked everywhere, up on the verges, on hatched lines, blocking everyone else in because there was literally nowhere else for them to go. The queue to get a cup of tea was halfway through the terminal building and by the end we were all thoroughly bored.
We missed our 11:30am vet appoint in Bruges (by a wide margin), but luckily we were able to reschedule at the last minute and got everything we needed done this afternoon.
Amidst it all, we had a lovely walk at Vagevuurbos en Bulskampveld, though we were only brave enough to walk in a straight line in case we got lost along the way. It was beautiful with some incredibly tall trees!
Early start (again) tomorrow, so Chuuya, Kaika and I will be off to bed shortly to catch up on sleep ready for another busy day!
08/05/2025
🐾🐾~ Adventure Time ~🐾🐾
Tomorrow (well, at silly-o-clock in the morning), Chuuya, Kaika and I will be setting off on our weekend trip to Belgium for the Flanders Dog Show! First we'll be making a quick stop in Bruges to get their rabies vaccinations updated and sort out worming tablets so we can get back home on Monday.
The dogs have been super excited all day because they've watched me pack the car. Somehow, despite only being away for 3 nights, I've managed to fill the entirety of a VW Golf Estate 😵💫 who knew 2 dogs and 1 human needed so much stuff (we probably don't, but hey, it's better to be prepared)!
Kaika won't be showing this weekend as she still has some confidence building to do around being touched by strangers. Maybe she'll make it into the ring in the future, but for this weekend she'll just be our little spectator and Chuuya's cheerleader ;) plus she's almost completely naked...not a good look for the show ring!
We are looking forward to hopefully meeting up with friends and fellow Hokkaido owners and of course, we'll post some photos of our adventures as we go ^_^
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The Toboetsuki ASBO Five
The name 'Toboetsuki' comes from the Japanese language and roughly translates to 'Howling Moon', it was chosen out of my own fondness for Japanese language and manga.
This page's main purpose is to showcase photos and provide information about the two breeds with which we share our lives and our home - the Inuit Dog and the Hokkaido Ken - so that they can decide whether either of these beautiful breeds are right for them. Alongside our website, we aim to provide unbiased information about both breeds: we will tell you the brilliant, the good and the bad about being owned by these dogs; the highs and the lows.
We are owned by three pedigree Northern Inuit dogs, and our most recent addition is an entirely new breed for us - a pedigree Hokkaido Ken. Sadly in September 2017 we lost our German Shepherd x Northern Inuit to cancer.
We were excited to welcome our first ever litter of Hokkaido Ken puppies to the world (and the first litter born in the UK) in February 2019. You can follow their journey here, or on our website as we post photos and updates from their owners. From that litter we kept our beautiful red girl, Satsuki, the fifth member of the ‘ASBO Five’.
We are located close to Stonehenge in Wiltshire, and are lucky enough to have the Salisbury Plain practically on our doorstep.
Kiba is our oldest dog, the founding member of the Toboetsuki pack born in 2009. I often call him my soulmate with fur as he and I have a special bond that I can’t imagine being without. Kiba is the ‘boss’ of the pack, he expects respect from other dogs and can be quite obnoxious if he doesn’t get it! He is mostly a laid back and lazy boy, but he often demands attention and hates being separated from me. Kiba often travels with me to shows and events and works as a meet-and-greet dog and breed ambassador with Honiahaka Wolfalikes and Wolfdogs - he loves all of the fuss and attention.
Yoyo is the clown of the pack and is often called the ‘doughnut dog’, he makes us laugh almost every day with his silly antics. His favourite game is annoying Kiba or Princess and then doing zoomies around the field (usually ending up with him skidding and falling over). Yoyo was diagnosed with epilepsy at 2 years old but he doesn’t let that stop him from living a fun-filled life! Sadly it means that his routine is very important and thus he does not often get to attend social events. He is slowing down in his old age, but there’s still that spark of mischief that comes out to play every now and again.
Princess is a shy and sensitive girl who will often let the boys investigate new people and situations before she decides whether or not to approach for herself. It can be difficult for strangers to gain her trust, but once you have she gives the best cuddles in the world. Princess came to us at a very difficult time and was my light in the darkness. Although she is the largest of the pack, she is often ganged up on by the boys, who still love to play ‘splat-the-puppy’.
Kirin is a new breed for us, and the product of many months of research and waiting. She came to us as the second Hokkaido Ken to live in the UK and was imported from Kyuden Kitsune Kennel in France. Kirin does work as a breed ambassador for the Hokkaido here in the UK and has attended many events alongside Kiba as a meet-and-greet dog. She is a beautiful girl and she absolutely knows it and uses it to get exactly what she wants and is a bit of a spoilt brat. She holds her own against the rest of the pack who are all at least 3 times bigger than her and even tells Kiba off when she’s having cuddles on the sofa and he tries to barge in. Kirin is mum to our first ever litter, born in February 2019 - she was a great first-time mum, although she was pretty tired of her babies after about 6 weeks!
Satsuki is our first homebred girl that we have kept here at Toboetsuki. She was the last puppy born and started off as the shyest of the litter but soon came out of her shell! Satsuki is confident, easygoing and loves interacting with new people and new dogs, in fact, she’s pretty sure everyone is going to be her friend. Satsuki started working as a breed ambassador and meet-and-greet dog at just 11 weeks old and has done many events promoting the Hokkaido here in the UK. We hope to continue this with her in the future and continue to do our part in the preservation of the Hokkaido.
We are currently unsure of our plans for 2020 due to a failed attempt to mate Kirin in the spring. Health tests pending, we will be expecting a litter from Satsuki in 2021 (stud to be decided). If you are interested in being owned by one of our puppies please get in touch either via email or via the page.
