Thanks everyone. Yes, he does have an extra leg. We'll keep him anyway.

Sally: Sovereign is the breeder's name (or kennel name)... Heart of a Lion comes from the expression about akitas saying they have the heart of a lion, the look of a bear--and a gryphon (or griffon) is a creature with the body of a lion and head of an eagle...so lion hearted. SamRock is our "kennel" name (and also one of the names my husband uses for his beer :p). I struggled with names...for some reason, an all white dog was hard to come up with the right name for Griff seems like it's a nice balance between serious and silly.

Karma: I totally get the reference...in fact, I've said it about 1000 times myself. (And, actually one of the littermates is currently named George :p)

And I totally do not have the energy for a puppy. I am pretty sure it will be insane. Sam was the last puppy I had--and Pat has NEVER had a puppy. Finnegan the kitten reminded us just how obnoxious baby animals are And he's 18 months old now, and STILL naughty.

Sampson was The World's Easiest Puppy. Seriously--housebroken in three days, learned all his "tricks" in a week, slept thru the night right away, never destroyed anything to speak of, etc. I will PAY for this dearly, I am sure. Plus, when I got Sam, it was just the two of us, and a flexible work schedule. Now, I've got Pat, four cats, and Sadie, and a regular grown up job :p (fortunately, Puppy can come to work with me often). It's probably Pat that I'm worried about most...training a dog "the right way" is easy when there's no other people around to ruin it I'm going to have to train the both of them together.

I SWORE I would never do a puppy again, but I knew I wanted an akita...and they can be tetchy with other animals if not raised with them, and also have a lot of "quirks". We were lucky with Sam (whose dad was a VERY laid-back, happy-go-lucky, goofy akita), in that his temperament was pretty soft. He was stubborn, opinionated, and old even as a puppy, but was always good with cats and other dogs, really low-drive, low-energy. Not every akita is like that. So, for the last couple of years, I've spent a lot of time looking for the right place to get a puppy from.

Regardless, it will be a PITA for awhile, I am sure...but a good thing to focus on And, honestly, I miss having someone "talk" at me--if you've ever met an akita, they are talkers. Grumbles and grunts and whines (google it, if you want a giggle). Sam was a legendary talker, and it's been quiet without that <3

Please remind me of all of this careful thought and deliberation, though, 6, 8, 9 months from now when I am pulling my hair out as a 90 lb puppy has the zoomies in my living room.