CH Kurio Kao Kahlua N Kreme TDI CGC AOM
My favorite photo - Kahlua with Courtney, 2002
I should talk first about the fact that Kahlua is Valiant Akita's foundation bitch and was an amazing show dog. We purchased Kahlua as a baby from Priscilla McCune of Kuroi Kao Akitas. Blade was 2 years old and I had seen a photograph of his aunt, Great Tiger's Contessa in a magazine. I loved Tessa and decided if the opportunity ever came up to have a Tessa daughter, I would want one to breed to Blade. I was at a dog show and saw this red Akita in a crate with the most fantastic head on her and I recognized Tessa! She had been purchased by Priscilla McCune and was being bred to her wonderful stud dog, CH Big-O's Thunderheart of Kokomo, "Murphy". I knew this was fate and immediately got on a waiting list. Kahlua is related to Blade on BOTH sides of their pedigrees (see Dazey's pedigree to compare). It was my plan to breed her to Blade and Kahlua was an outstanding producer of 3 Champions and 2 other pups that were very near finishing. She probably should have had her ROM easily but I never pushed their owners. She was bred only twice, once to Blade and the second time to CH Akiko's Invincible ROM. Kahlua didn't like showing that much but she had such amazing type and fluid movement she did some very nice winning. Her most amazing win was at the 2000 Akita National Specialty show in Maryland, where she won 1st AOM behind the Best of Breed winner under judge Lonny Cohen. Lonny loved her and said she came very close to putting Kahlua up for breed. I will always treasure that moment, thank you Lonny for seeing the quality of our girl. Kahlua also won 2nd place in her very large veterans bitch class under late breeder judge Lee Wasenski, being defeated by the wonderful and amazing bitch, Ch. Kamikaze's Takara Mia. Kahlua has given us some wonderful kids and grandkids to carry on her memory, including her great-grandkids Striker and Keeper. Kahlua was a big, sound girl, about 25" or better and probably 100 lb in her prime. Kahlua earned her Canine Good Citizen title and also was TDI certified as a therapy dog at one time. She was an amazingly sweet and bright dog, and was very gentle and not dog aggressive. It is still very hard for my family to talk about Kahlua without a smile or a tear. She was that special "one" that every breeder has. She was our housedog, queen of the bed, and love of our hearts. To us, she was simply "Kua", Courtney's name for her when she was little and couldn't pronounce her name.
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