demi

Demi's Vital Statistics

DOB: 1-29-00

Color: Black tri

Sire: AKC/ASCA CH Brookridge Dustin U, AKC/ASCA CD

Dam: ASCA/KC/Can CH

Halltree's Myth-L-Toe

(owned by Kim Cochran)

Owner: Hanna-Mari Laitala,

Finland

Breeder: Sheila Boneham,

Perennial

Titles Earned

Finnish Champion

Finnish Equivalent of C.D.

Finnish Equivalent of C.D.X.

BH (Begleithundprufung -

Traffic-steady Companion

Dog Test)

Demi is a flashy, bold little black tri who went to live in Finland with Hanna-Mari Laitala and Roni, a blue merle Aussie boy, when she was a little puppy. Hanna-Mari came to Indiana, spent a week, and carried Demi back on the plane with her.

Demi spent her first summer in far northern Finland, where Hanna-Mari, a wildlife biologist, was studying European brown bears. I'm sure Demi and Roni were a big help!

Demi completed her Finnish Championship in 2002, and has completed the first steps toward her Finnish Obedience Trial Champion title (Finnish obedience explained below). In April 2004, Demi earned her BH, or Begleithundprufung (traffic-steady companion dog test, which is a fairly sophisticated two-part test of training and temperament for working dogs. She and Hanna-Mari are also training for agility and tracking titles. Good luck, ladies! and Roni, too!

*Explanation of Finnish obedience titles from Hanna-Mari: "We have only one official title and that is OT CH. Sometime during this year it is going to change slightly and we will have titles called TK-titles (TK 1, TK2, TK3 and OTCH).

There are pretty strict regulations for the Finnish OTCH. First you have to pass 4 different classes under different judges. You also need to gain certain result from the conformation show. That means, that your dog need not only to be a pure bred dog but also entire (intact, i.e., unaltered), to be able to compete in conformation here in Finland.

"For now, the following title equivalencies are being used informally in Finland:

'CD' when dogs have passed our novice class, or class 1, with 160 points or more out of maximum 200.

'CDX' when they have passed our open class with 160 points or more out of 200.

'UD' means passing class 3 with 255 or more points out of 320.

Finally the OT Ch, Obedience Trial Champion is gained with 3 firsts in elit class, class 4, with 255 points or more of maximum 320. That requires also certain result from the conformation which is far easier to gain than there obedience points! "

Hanna-Mari also explains that the Finnish tracking test requires the dog to follow scent both on the ground and in the air, and to pass an obedience component, so it's actually much more difficult than the American T.D.