THE VERY BEGINNING...
It was in 1966 that I finally got permission from my parents to buy a dog. As in many families, there were many long conversations about who would take responsibility for the feeding, walking, and taking care of the puppy. But I was persistent ! All of my friends already owned a dog, and I had been a permanent bystander at the ringside in every dog show during those days in Helsinki.
Why a Dobermann?
The answer may sound quite common. I wanted a dog that was beautiful but also versatile. I wanted to have a companion with whom I could go on long walks with, a pet able to participate in various sports, and one which looked powerful and beautiful for showing. My mother also had one additional concern; The breed which I pick shouldn’t shed too much hair or bring large amounts of dirt into our home. So, the FCI working breeds left three possibilities; a Boxer, a Rottweiler and a Dobermann. The Doberman was the breed of my choice to the fright of my parents.
Since that decision, I collected as much information about the breed as I could. I sat and watched the judging at the shows and finally joined the Finnish Dobermann Club. At the November 1966’s old Messuhalli Show, I watched the show with my parent’s permission of buying a dog in the back of my mind. As if it was meant to happen, I saw there an advertisement where the winner of that day was to have puppies in January. It was then that I ordered my first Dobermann, Mandels Black Lachs!
With Laki I did some shows, but mainly trained him as for that I was always very enthusiastic. I remember the times of riding in the back of trucks to competitions and trainings as I didn’t have my own car! We trained a lot of obedience with the Dobermann Club under the supervision of Günther Groth (Gunthersforst kennel). On weekends, our group came at 10 o’clock to the Oulunkylä’s training place. We also visited many other training places on workday evenings in the Helsinki area. On weekend there was also a group of ten, sometimes more dogs (predominantly males) and dog owners gathering together in the Ruskeasuo training place at the southern part of the Central Park. From there our gang under the ”command ship” of Reijo Iltanen with his rottweilers would start to walk in the northerly direction with dogs running free among the joggers and other people. This was very special if we are thinking of the situation today. (Dogs are not allowed to be free any more in the city park!). In the competitons it was an incredible site to see the place filled with working dogs of all breeds lying in a huge row and waiting their turns to execute their individual tasks.
It was during this time that messenger work (a special task for working dogs) was the most popular competition for Dobermanns. As a matter of fact, Dobermanns were thought to be unsuitable for other work such as tracking! How wrong was the training and training ideas during those days compared to modern thinking and doing! During our long winters, however, training possibilities were quite limited. But as skiing was and still is quite popular here in Finland, Dobermans were often exercised by pulling a sled and partly the skier too! If Dobermanns of today are used in protection work, I can say that pulling the sled in ski competitions was an equally interesting business for them years ago. They loved that activity very much.
But those were the old ”good” days. Today my dog hobby is a bit different as I see the breed’s possibilities more clearly. A Dobermann can be an excellent companion, suitable for many different tasks, not just showing and/or working. A Dobermann loves to be together with its master. If there is a good healthy relationship with trust, a Dobermann will always want to work for its master. It is an owner’s task to decide in what direction he/she goes, what kind of activity the family is interested in. Almost everything can be done with a versatile friend – the Dobermann.
