Royalty Akitas review: sick akita puppy

8/17/2017
The day we bought our Akita puppy from Don Van Dermyden (the owner of Royalty Akitas) was one of the happiest days of our lives. Neither my wife nor I had ever bought a dog before, much less a puppy. Up until then, we had always rescued various breeds including an Akita and a German Shepard. The puppy we bought from Royalty Akitas, we named Bear, had insurmountable health issues.

On July 11th, 2017 my wife posted this on the Akita World website:

Today is a sad day for my husband and me. Our puppy will be euthanized this afternoon. He has been suffering from Irritable Bowel Disease, Immune Mediated Polyarthritis, Pancytopenia and history of coughing blood among other health conditions in addition to the terrible side effects of some of the medications he has been taking. The saddest part of this story is that lately I have found out that other dogs bought from the same breeder at Royalty Akitas in Lincoln California have been euthanized for having health and behavioral issues. We are very angry; our puppy suffered for a long time and we suffered with him. In 2014, when I researched this breeder on the internet, I did not find any complaints; just a couple of stories of happy puppy owners. But with nearly 12, 000.00 dollars spent on vet expenses, and a lot of pain and suffering later, we are euthanizing our fur baby at 2 years and 4 months of age.

Note: My wife forgot to mention Bear's malocclusion of his teeth in her post.

After this post, many people reached out to us expressing their sympathy while some shared their Royalty Akita "horror stories." Don Van Dermyden caught wind of my wife's post and contacted me offering us a new puppy but we were not interested. Why in the world would we even consider running the risk of getting another very sick dog from Royalty Akitas? In my dealings with Don, he talks a good game. He insists that he does not breed sick dogs. In an email to Don I wrote "We have talked to other people that have gotten sick dogs from you and a significant number of them have experienced the same problems, i.e. dealing with a very sick dog." I included copies of Bear's vet bills (and specialty Vet Bills) along with our dog's numerous diagnoses and my cell number in case he wanted to call. Don called me later that day insinuating that I was a liar demanding to know the names and contact information of the people we spoke with concerning their sick dogs. In the call, he showed absolutely no empathy to us concerning our loss, nor did he mention anything regarding the huge costs and multiple diagnoses afflicting our dog. It was clear to me during the call that he didn't even bother to open the attachments I had sent him.

If you search on the internet, of course you will find some positive comments about Royalty Akitas. I imagine a percentage of his dogs are healthy, but what percentage is the question. Clearly, ours was extremely sick, but we loved our Bear and would have paid anything to keep him alive. But there came a day when Bear no longer had any quality of life and keeping him on this earth would have been the selfish thing to do. So, although only 2 years 4 months old, we had to put our Bear to sleep. Bear's head rested on my lap as my wife and I spoke to him saying that he was a very good boy. He trusted us completely as the vet administered the drug that would all too quickly stop his heart. My wife and I both sobbed as his gentle soul passed to a better place where he can run and jump and be a healthy Akita. Very recently, we once again opened our hearts and home but this time to a horribly mistreated 2 and 1/2 year old male Akita from a great organization called A Passion for Paws Akita Rescue. We named him Kuma which in Japanese means Bear. My advice to you is to steer clear of Royalty Akitas in Lincoln California and rescue a dog deserving of love.