Opadre v Mooi Oavelt 'Paavo'  JK2 HK2

Born July 18 1991, Died December 2001

Breeder H.J. Bruins & R. Schreuer, Holland

Health results:
HD-2
PHTVL 0

Paavo was my first dog. I took him as an adult when he was about three years old. A friend of mine had dobermanns and when I got to know them I decided to have a dobermann too. My friend's dogs were friendly and easy to keep but Paavo turned out to be something else. He had quite a temper - dominant, sharp and a bit nervous. We really did some wrestling at the beginning. But in the long run he became extremely faithful family dog. He never let his eyes off of me and was always ready to work with me. Perhaps he was too difficult for a first dog. I think if I could  have him now as a puppy, life would be much easier and we could reach much better results. 

Previous owner had done great job in teaching him the basics of tracking, searching and obedience. So it was quite easy to me to continue training. Perhaps too easy, the dog knew the basics and had that desire for work. That gave me that wrong 'I know what I'm doing' impression and perhaps with my next dog I tried to do too much too soon. We did some trials (tracking and searching) which you can see in the Trials page. You can't see his true level of obedience in the points. There where always those two moves which gave us zero or minor points. Other moves were usually rated excellent.

We also worked in a rescue dog team. Over the years we had several rescue missions and I think a bit of sharpness and excellent sense of smell made him a very reliable rescue dog. If there was somebody in the forest, he found and indicated the person. For example in one rescue practice he worked through a 24 hours old track. I also became acquainted with sledge dog racing with him.

Unfortunately he was injured at an early age. At five years a ligament was broken from his knee and that affected our activities for rest of his life. But we could still do many things and when he died of cancer at the age of 10½ years, I think he had had a good and interesting doggy life. I never regret to take that dog even there certainly were many easier dogs available. But what shocked most me and other people who knew him was that he couldn't swim! I had to buy him a life vest for boat rides to our cottage.