In the spring of 1994 I almost accidentally got a vision of a lively black little circus dog, a small poodle, ready to follow me to many activities of everyday life. I had this almost an unrealistic dream of an intelligent and a loyal companion who would learn fancy obedience tricks and have some sort of a supernatural will to please me and read all my thoughts. This possibly sounds very funny, because it is very unlikely to get that kind of an animal anywhere. And what is more important; there is a certain limit for the expectations you can attach to an animal of any kind not to break the ethical base ground to do with the owning of a domesticated animal, a pet, whose only purpose is to give happiness for a human.
As for this dream, the most amazing thing is that it became true. I got my first miniature poodle bitch that summer. She was actually more than I ever could have expected. "Etta" was an adorable and extremely lively puppy filled with energy and trust for her new, proud owner. She became the apple of my eye, right away, and has remained as such ever since. The only sharp pictures taken of her as a puppy were shot when she was eating something. And well, because she ate like a mouse these those days, those are very few! Here is a picture of Etta eating grass on our yard when she was 9 weeks old. At that time she believed that she was a goat. More pictures of Etta can be seen in her own picture gallery.
I started obedience training with Etta when she was only 10 weeks old. At the age of 12 weeks she already sat and laid when asked and after one month she knew how to come on my left side and stayed sitting for some time me being further away. Etta was really intelligent and easy to train because she was outgoing and interested in me and motivation tools like titbits. We continued the training in a dog club of the town and everyone was amazed of the enthusiasm Etta showed for learning. We competed three times in the starters class and when Etta was only 1,5 years old she performed more than well all the tricks needed in the open class. That was the time when we found agility!
Etta wanted desperately to climb on the A-frame and dog walk every time after obedience classes and I finally decided to try guided agility training with her. Etta was ecstatic and after the first lesson we were told to change to more advanced training group! This was because it seemed that Etta had a some kind of an inborn instinct how to do agility. Etta soon became the fastest dog in the whole town and I was really proud. She was crazy for running and actually the only problem was to keep her under a control. Although I had been interested only in the obedience hobby at first and had considered agility stupid and foolish I soon changed my mind. Agility took so much time and interest of ours that we quitted obedience training. I am regretting it now when Etta is almost 6 years old.
We did not compete in agility trials before Etta was 3 years old though.
She was all too fast for me to control on the track and there was a long
time delay because of her first litter as well. When we finally started
the competitions there was no way turning back. Competing got more and
more like an every weekend happening and we were progressing! We were practising
once or twice a week and I also started to train other people with their
dogs when my own skills developed. I have collected some pictures from
agility competitions and trainings under this link.
Etta has had two litters and I am really interested in breeding miniature
poodles in a small scale at some point in the future again. More information
about the dogs I have bred so far can be found under
this link.
Above: Kukka and Ransu from Etta's first litter playing
And here Simba and Milla playing in the living room
with a belt in a hall.
I also have another miniature poodle bitch, Rullapulla. Rulla came to the house after I had sold Etta's first puppies. I had never thought that I would really want to own another dog; I was not so sure if it was possible for me to share my attention between both of them in the same way. But after all the sweet and noisy puppies were gone though, the house felt all too empty! And that is how I decided to buy another dog to keep company to Etta, who was also missing her favourite son, Ransu, which was almost 4 months old before new home was found for him!
In the picture below Rulla is just 9 weeks old.
Etta became a proud new substitute mother for quiet and calm little Rullapulla. Rulla was the easiest puppy I have ever seen! She just laid around observing her environment like a poet or something. She really was a philosophic poodle baby after those five little black devils I had just raised before her. I never noticed that I had a puppy in the same house with me. Rulla was even more peaceful than three year old Etta who immediately started to teach Rulla how to play and have fun.
Rullapulla was not too beautiful either. Everyone was just laughing at her piggylike fat figure. Rulla loved eating and she still does, she lives to eat. Strict diet is needed to keep the healthy figure up!
To activate this calm little dog I took her with me to follow agility trainings and she got really interested in it when looking at me and Etta to practice. As a three month old baby I already let her go through a tunnel and she fell in love with it! She wanted to have her own little practice, to weave or run into the tunnel, every time I had finished with Etta. She was barking with a horrible voice while doing something. I trained Rulla little by little and progress was slow because she was all too enthusiastic about working with me. When she turned 1,5 years a rapid progress suddenly started and Rulla won her first competition without any mistakes. Only then I started to realize that Etta was not the only talented one around. I had mostly concentrated to train my elder dog and Rulla had just come along and learned somewhere beside without me noticing anything.
Agility is very important for Rulla and it has been a way I have got a connection with this mysterious dog and her mind. She has progressed a great deal and there is a possibility that she will become the best miniature ever seen on agility fields. She follows my instructions more carefully than more independent Etta. The only limit for our progress is only me and my poor motorics!
Rulla has been shown a few times in rings too. I started to train her in match show competitions when she was about 4 months old. Rulla seemed to love showing herself so it was easy to get success in the ring. If there was music or more fuss she clearly raised her head proudly and gathered all her pride. Some photos of Rulla can be seen in her own photogallery.
There are some shots of my pets below. In the first picture my daddy with the both dogs on the yard of our summer cottage and in the other picture from left to right: Lassi (Rulla's cousin), Rulla and Leevi (Etta's son).
Although I have been moderately active with my dogs they are no kind of way to convey some sorts of needs of recognition for me. I love my dogs and the reason for our hobbies is just a will to purely activate the animal to use its energy and capacity to work and co-operate with its leader in a constructive manner. The main reason I have these nice little animals is that I enjoy to be able to get them feel happy and give them the kind of environment where their welfare is best supported. The poodle, as well as other dog breeds, have been bred by a human for a human. This fact leads to the requirement that we should be able to appreciate these animals in a very special way. They are not natural animals anymore. They are our creations and that is why we have to consider carefully what what kind of feelings and intentions we attach to them had how we do handle them.
Activating the dogs by asking them to do different tasks as well as recreation and playing outside are the most important things for a miniature poodle to help them feel happy and stay in good condition, both physically and mentally.
Etta and Rulla playing with a branch.
On the yard of Agricultural Research Center in
Ruukki. Poodles love horse faeces!
In case you want to contact me, my email is