BISS FCI/INT, Fin, S, N CH
Bulldobas Whipper-Snapper
'Aatu'
photo where it all started ...
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AKC # HM 90058101, FKK#: FIN-10547/98A OFA: BJ-932G32M-T, CERF: BJ-742/2000 hiptested A (excellent) & eytested clean in Finland strips negative for glucose in urin DNA Profile on record w/AKC born Nov 17th, 1997 breeder: Tiina Taavitsainen, Finland owner: Katja Lappalainen, Finland
* Top Winning Basenji
in Finland year 1999 * - Aatu's homepages -
That initial email began what is now a wonderful friendship with THREE Finns, three trips over to Finland, the impetus to join the world of FCI competition, and umpteen Aatu kids and grandkids filling my life with love and good looks. I couldn't be more pleased! Tiina began email and surface mailing me enough documentation and photographs on the backgrounds of the dogs in the pedigrees for eons back to satisfy the historian in me. "Aatu's binder" began filling with 'goodies'. Personal notations by early breeders on documents concerning dogs 40 years in the past are precious and invaluable no matter what, but especially when one is venturing into a major outcross, and an international one at that. She satisfied my concerns, having done her own research, and I remain happy with the choices I have made since then. How Tiina and I managed to convince? Brainwash??? Katja to allow Aatu to come to America still baffles me. But we did, and she did, and HE did come! and Tux went to Finland in the trade. While Aatu traveled around the American mid-and south Atlantic states, Tux and his little medical passport book saw a lot of action in Finland, Latvia and Belorus! It was the most action-packed 5 months I can remember. If anyone of our group's computers had crashed in the interim, we'd all have experienced meltdown! Here in the States, Aatu's major adjustment had to do with language, temperature and light. He had to learn english (from all indications, it took him NO time at all, although for some reason he thinks 'Little Bastard!' = squirrel ! I think that is my fault :0 from chasing the little thieves from my bird feeders. Consequently, he became quite fond of draping himself over the couch and watching for the little....ahems...who would saunter into his line of vision until he rushed the window and they'd dash away, startled. On walks, he always looked UP, into the 'squirrel highway' - he's a fast study, that Aatu!
 Aatu watching squirrels .. The light in Scandinavia is on the way to 24/7 in June when I brought him back to the States, while here, we have dark for at least 8-9hrs at night. Within a month, Aatu began making a coat change. We could do nothing to reverse this process once it started, and suddenly we had a dog we were intensively showing who had a coat of dying hair, completely throwing off the color and texture of Finland's top basenji! aaaaaugh! The temperature in North Carolina in the summer averages in the 90's F, with heat indexes and even straight temps into the 100's not being unusual in the least! We are accustomed to life in a broiler oven, but our poor Finn thought he'd gone straight to hell! He went outside only for walks, briefly. In the car, he stationed himself in front of the airconditioning vents, nose to the flow of cold air, eyes shut in bliss. At the show grounds, he tolerated the heat extremes surprisingly well, I thought. He was more interested in proving to the other dogs that he was THE MAN than worrying about environmental matters. Back in the car, however, it was nose-to-the-vent, once again! Aatu Story: Kevin came home during his year in South Korea (he's in the USAF)mid-tour. He was delighted to get to meet the famous Aatu, and show him. The two of them spent July traveling around and adventuring. Down in the resort town of Hilton Head on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, they were out for a short walk in stifling heat and humidity. A woman driving past, spotted the basenji and stopped her car to ask about him. During the conversation, another motorist did NOT happen to notice that her car was completely stopped, and ran into it from behind! Unbelievably, THIS MAKES THE 3RD TIME THAT SOMEONE HAS REAR-ENDED A VEHICLE STOPPED BY ITS DRIVER TALKING TO KEVIN ABOUT WHATEVER BASENJI HE HAPPENED TO HAVE ON A LEASH AT THE TIME. Now, they all have to wait for the police to arrive to take the statements so they can file reports with their insurance companies. When the policeman arrives, Kevin tells him that his dog from Finland absolutely CANNOT remain out in the heat any longer, so Aatu spends the rest of the time alone, in the airconditioned police car! Of course, Kevin had left the camera in the hotel room, so no pictures of "Capt.Aatu" sitting side-by-side with a police issue, double-barreled shotgun in its holder attached to the dashboard! We were just thankful that Aatu did not DISMANTLE the police car! MY car STILL bears the marks of his efforts to remove the seatbelts!!!!! We did not manage to finish Aatu's AKC show title before he left, and he was most cooperative in this venture. All the last shows were the majors he needed to finish, and he did his best to entertain everyone at ringside with leaps, somesaults, feet-dragging, charging and whatever he deemed appropriate for the moment. :0 There were times, I know, when we thought perhaps that HVL therapy was called for to reverse this trend, but it's such a 'terminal' treatment method! (high velocity lead) And then who would have been my bed buddy??? In addition, there was a huge mail problem between us and the show superintendent's postal distribution center that took place in the middle of Aatu's stay here during which show entries for shows scheduled for a month-long period never made it to the show superintendent prior to the closing dates. The delivery problems necessitated me appealing to my U.S. Congressman before they were rectified...(I now have my own specially-coded address labels to this particular address). But it meant that for an entire month, Aatu missed showing at all. We did not have that kind of time to just throw away, unfortunately. Having Aatu here in person
for such an extended stay has
helped us see where HE is evident in his puppies and
grandpuppies. Specific "Aatu-isms" crop up and are so easy
for us to spot. Some are so uniquely idiosyncratic that we
just shake our heads at how something so specific can be
inherited (like shrieking when water sprays on the boys'
rear ends during bathing - AATU! or just plain sitting down
every time he's bathed to prevent water from being sprayed
on a rear end - AATU!... a certain widening of the eyes,
temper tantrums when being ignored... and all the endearing
things Aatu did that stole our hearts have shown up in his
children, and now grandchildren that we can easily spot and
mark.) In so many ways, in the lives of his descendents,
our Fabulous Finn has never left us! No matter what, we
cannot tell Aatu stories around here without bursting out
laughing. He surely left his mark in our lives and in our
hearts! |
PEDIGREE:
Bulldobas Wee Woodstock
Jaswyn Trigo
St Erme Jolly Swagman
Adoram Anukis of Jaswyn
St Erme Jolly Swagman
Bulldobas Bajja
Visakoivun Winnie The Pooh
Akuaba Bemused
Furahan Bibi Zuri
Furahan Ibenga
Sternhimmels Extempore Erich
JWW-89, FinW-91, EuW-91, EstW-93
Azenda Dreamtime
FinW-97, EuW-97, KBHW-97, NordW-97
Borasus Juel Of The Sun
Afrika Moon Over Morocco
Borasus Tiger Supreme
Pukkanut Hello Darkness
Afrika Tiger Lily
Afrika Masterpiece
Benamon The Master
Afrika Royal Reserve
Afrika The Omen
Afrika The Westerner
Afrika Royal Reserve
Tamsala Blue Sancerre
Afrika Masterly
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