We are Cyndi and Howard Crum and we have one daughter named Kristine.
We saw our first Akita in a pet store in a shopping mall over 16 years ago and of course
it was love at first site. I'd like to say that I regret ever making that impulse buy from a
pet store since I now know better having educated myself on puppy mills and pet stores.
However, had I not I would have never known this wonderful breed or that special little puppy
girl who changed our lives forever. Her name was Star and she ended up being a sickly little baby
who we almost lost to distemper. The distemper even though she recovered left her with lasting health problems. She suffered from thyroid problems, epilepsy and temperament issues with children that she had loved before. Her seizures were very violent, literally tossing her body up
to 2- 3 feet. This poor girl was suffering and miserable which is why she started to dislike children around her so we made the tough choice to end that suffering for her but we also made another choice, a promise to Star that we would never forget and that we would do all we could to help
improve the health problems in this breed and so we have dedicated our lives to improving the health of this breed and preserving the American Akita and it's noble stature.
It is a breed with many health problems and if you breed long enough you cannot avoid producing them but as breeders we simply cannot toss out whole lines with problems because there are problems in them all despite some dishonest breeders claims of problem free lines.
What we can and should do is be honest about them and try to breed them out of our lines.
That is the only way to improve this breed until genetic markers for certain diseases come out
and aid breeders by being able to screen for carriers of those diseases.
It is heart breaking to breed or raise an Akita with serious health problems, we've been on
both ends of that suffering as both breeders and pet owners and we know how hard it is.
We breed for the American Akita standard, we do not follow fads or breed to the current popular
studs of the moment. We see those actions as harmful to the breed and we strive to never intentionally do harm in this breed. The goal is always excellence at Novo-Dia.
We consider ourselves ethical breeders and we only breed when we are hoping to improve and produce our next generations. We show our dogs because we feel each of them should be able to prove themselves in the AKC show ring under licensed AKC judges who judge them on how well they meet the standard. Some of our feelings on what constitutes an ethical breeder:
One who always breeds with the goal of improvement in the breed and their lines and not for money. Always keeps in their home or by co-ownership a puppy from every breeding.
Utilizes all health screenings available to them before breeding their dogs and in this breed
right now the minimum would be eyes-CERF, hips, knees, elbows-OFA and Making sure the tgAA's on the thyroid do not indicate the Akita has autoimmune thyroiditis. It's been estimated that 60% of this breed has thyroid problems, sad as that is we simply cannot afford to throw out 60% of the Akita population so you will often see Akitas bred with thyroid problems. It's our opinion that as long as the Akita does not have autoimmune thyroiditis and the goal of the breeder is to breed away from this, to improve it in their line and the breed and not double up on it, we can accept that. We also feel an ethical breeder will stand by their clients and share responsibility for that puppy until death. If at anytime a puppy bred by us is no longer wanted or needs to be re-homed for whatever the reason, our door is open.

We care about our Akitas and the whole Akita breed.
We are members of the Akita Club of America.
We try to raise our Akitas as naturally as we can. We feed an all natural  kibble diet that also includes fresh raw foods such as green tripe.
 We do the best we can do for them, they do not deserve anything less than the best from us. Health, temperament, beauty, soundness in mind and body are of the up most important factors in our breeding program. It is a lifetime commitment for us and we take it very seriously. We always have many questions for prospective puppy buyers because it is important to us that we find the very best homes for such precious babies. We love this breed for more than just the sport of dog showing, although
that is fun, Akitas have enriched our lives to such an
extent I can never image my life without my Akita's.