History

I bought my first dog in October 1984. At that time we lived in Tervo and I went to Hyvinkää to fetch the dog who was the secret fruit of the love between a German shepherd and a Bernese mountaindog. He was called Rasse. He looked mostly like a Malinois, due to his parents’ genes. Rasse was a joyful dog, who was brought up as an ordinary pet, nothing more. In 1986 when my daughter Tuija was born, Rasse guarded her with passion and took any kind of handling from her without losing his temper. Often at night I found Rasse sleeping beside Tuija. They formed an unseparable couple. Rasse`s love for swimming and playing in the water sealed his destiny. Rasse developed a very bad skin infection and we discovered that there was something toxic in our nearby lake. We tried many kinds of treatments and antibiotics but nothing helped, so we decided it was best for him to be put to sleep. He was just under three years of age in August 1987.

I took a more serious interest in dogs in February 1987 when I bought Hemi (Brun-Heim Syncro), who was a German shepherd. In the spring of 1988 we moved to Orimattila and before buying him I had already joined the German Shepherds’ Club branch in Lahti to get information from the breed, the breeders, the puppies, etc. With him we immediately started training and made lots of friends with other dogs and their owners. We went to disaster training, tracking and schutzhund training, but we didn`t get any results at trials, only in tracking we got 2 times 0 points. In disaster training we completed the natural instinct test and the basic training test. We attended a few shows and completed the character test. In 1991, Hemi was requested for mating, and he fathered 7 puppies in the Luurinmäki kennel. Hemi suffered from bad back pain and had to be put to sleep at the age of four.

A female German shepherd called Orcidean Carita, known as Midi, joined us in 1990. With Midi we also went to disaster training, but she was at her best on messenger dog trails. We went racing with her three times, but each time she received 0 points, because Midi was more clever than her mistress and did not want to run on the race track; while training she ignored other dogs, people, moose or any other creatures living in the woods. Midi did not have much success in shows due to the fact that she kept losing her hair. Midi`s breeder used her twice for breeding and altogether she had 8 puppies (3 and 5). There were some changes in our family life in 1997 and I could not keep her any longer, so she found a new home with her breeder.

With the help of the Lahti branch, I studied to become a training instructress and a search and rescue dog trainer. With Hemi we went to Lohja Emergence Services College to a rescue school for a week to get an official search and rescue dog trainer certificate, and we also took a few shorter classes. The German Shepherds’ Club organized a course for breeders which I attended in 1993. Every summer we took part in different kinds of courses and summer camps, mostly on the weekends.

The first Miniature pincher came into my life in February 2001. To be honest, I had never ever heard about this breed, and as a former working dog owner I always had sworn that there would never be a barking little miniature dog in my household. Never say never! Akhillus, known as Aku, came at first for two weeks’ time to be taken care of. At that time he was already 5 years old, a dignified gentleman with high self-esteem who had lived his life as a pet without many physical activities. In November 2001 I signed a contract that made Aku all mine, because his former owner had some changes at his work, and Aku would have had to be left home alone for long days. At that point, the little champ, who liked to close his eyes into slits and show his teeth, had already 100% rolled himself around my peaky-toe. Though he was not impressive in size, he made up for it in character. He was the King in Tervo, at least that is what he thought! After a few initial difficulties, I found a charming, cuddling loverboy under that brown, tough appearance, who liked to sleep under my blanket close to my skin where it was warm and nice. Aku is a great watchdog, and even I do not have the right to wake Tuija up in the morning. Aku must think it is a horrible thing to wake somebody up during sweet dreams.

When you give your heart to a Miniature pincher, it takes your whole life! Humblepup Caramel, "Chili", came into my life in 2003 and next year it was Humblepup Jalapeno, "Nana". Chili`s breeder encouraged me to go to shows with Chili and we have had some success. Breeding started fascinating me, so I took part in the Finnish Kennelclub`s breeders’ course and I got my own kennelname "Achina`s" in November 2005. My first litter, Achina`s A-litter was born in March 2006. Two females from that litter are well placed in breeding terms and I hope that I will be continuing my career as a breeder in another few years time.

So the Miniature pincher is the breed of my life. If there were two things in my life I would not want to change, one of them would be having a Miniature pincher!!!


Jaana Mähönen