Gerdalens Hadja
1979-01-26 -- 1984-09-03

My first dog was a German Shepherd called Gerdalens Hadja. I had waited so long for “my dog” and I loved her very much. She in her turn thought that I was hers and only hers. My first strong memory of Hadja is from one of our first obedience trials where she was the best Obedience Dog (see picture above). I never thought that I would be able to teach a dog enough to win a competition. A fantastic feeling that improved my self confidence regarding training a competing.

When Hadja was about one year and a half we decided to have another dog. That’s when Lindholmens Faiki came to us. He was a stable guy, willing to work and very sweet. For different reasons it fell to my lot to train both the dogs. Since Hadja thought that she and I should stick together against everyone else, she started to guard me against Faiki. She did not want him to come close to me at all and definitely not into the bedroom. As you will understand this situation was intolerable and I was forced to choose which dog to keep.

Since Hadja’s mentality was not all that good, whereas Faiki was a top dog, I decided to put Hadja to sleep, the dog I had so much longed for, and who was only 5.5 years old. This was a terribly hard decision and it took me very long to get over it.

Hadja and Faiki never competed over food. A very special memory of Hadja is that each time they got food she would leave 5-6 pieces in the bowl. She would then back a few steps and wait for Faiki to do the same. Then they changed bowls and finished their meal by eating what the other had left.

In spite of the short time we had together, and many mistakes during training sessions and competitions, we managed to reach Obedience Class III and passed level 2 in report. Hadja was (hopefully) the only one of my dogs who refused to track. Many claimed that there would be no problem to teach her to track and many efforts were made by many people but nobody was able to teach her to track. Although I was everything in the world to her, it would not even help when I went into the forest and hid there. I would probably still be there if I had not been able to find my own way back.

Lindholmens Faiki
1980-07-02 -- 1991-11-22

In 1980 Lindholmens Faiki came to us. A super dog with whom I have competed more than with any other of my dogs (so far). He was a stable guy, willing to work and a wonderful ”teddy bear”. Looking back I only wish I had had more experience of training and competing at that time when I had the opportunity to really go far with a dog. He is the only one of my dogs, so far, who was more alert during competitions than during training sessions. 
        
My special memory of Faiki, except sharing the food with Hadja, is that each time we hade finished a training session he would jump into my arms (more than 40 kilos of dog!!!). If I would not let him he would try to climb up so it was easier to let him jump. People were often surprised and scared when they saw him jump because they thought that he would push me over, but he was astoundingly good at adjusting his jump into my arms.

Faiki competed in Obedience Class III, level 3 in tracking and report. He was 11,5 years old before a tumour put an end to our life together. We felt deep sorrow when he left us.

SLCh Sekundants Ascot
1985-03-22 -- 1996-08-14

In 1985 it was time for our next German Shepherd; that’s when Sekundants Ascot came to us. I was rather worried as to how Faiki would treat a puppy because he was a bit rough to other dogs, probably because of Hadja’s behaviour. My concern was completely ungrounded; these two males never quarrelled – they would lie on top of each other chewing each his marrow bone and we never had to worry that they would fly at each other. Unfortunately, Ascot turned out to develop a form of rheumatism that caused him a lot of joint pain. We tried to compete in level 2 in tracking but he was not able to crawl or jump over 1 meter. So we changed to Obedience Class.

Ascot was the first of my dogs who became Champion. After five Obedience Trials in the class, he got his third first prize and then became Swedish Obedience Champion. He had a remark (1) on his hips and therefore he could not receive the title Korad, but he had an exterior description and passed the big mentaltest with 196 points. Ascot, too, left us at the age of 11,5 years.

My special memory of Ascot is that he had a very special “comforter” – a blanket which he would always sniff on when he was resting. It was almost impossible to take it away to wash it, because he used it every day all his life.