 I am a 36-year-old enthusiast of dogs and military dog handler from Finland. My family consists of dogs Niilo and Eemeli.
My hobby with dogs started in 1995 when, as a result of an impulse purchase - based only on a brief observation - I ended up with a Belgian shepherd dog Tervueren (Mustanaamion Kublai Khan). With him I practised searching and tracking and took part in a few obedience competitions. In those days, I wasn't that ambitious with my hobby. Another tervueren from show lines came on board two years later (Ducharmer Salute di Notte), and I took my first steps in the hobby of protection. However, it soon became clear that the qualities of dogs from these lines did not match my expectations, so my hobby remained just that, a hobby. |
 I got my first working line Malinois in 1999 from Daneskjold Kennel in Denmark. Daneskjold Saxo had an extremely strong drive. As far as training went, his weaknesses became obvious particularly in tracking. Saxo, or "Oskari" was a very hard dog when in drive and then he was able to tolerate tough handling, but in low drive, he became very sensitive and soft towards the handler. In addition, his appetite wasn't great. I never managed to get his tracking sufficiently consistent, and therefore Oskari's competition career never started. Oskari's mission in life became to be the biter in stag nights and other "shows", as well as, owing to his hard attacks, he took part in the final helper tests for the Finnish German Shepherd Club. In the 2004 IPO Finnish National Championships, Oskari was seen as a zero-dog. Oskari deceased in a car accident in February 2007. |
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In addition I have had various other dogs that, once trained, have moved on to both civil and working homes. Of these, I would like to mention Aras van Joefarm IP3 (owner: Katja Lumen), Pois Kottoo Otus (working Police dog), Casper (working Police dog, R.I.P.), Mecberger Dumari (owner: Finnish police), and Mecberger Ferguson (owner: Jaani Vatanen-Laine). At this moment, as well as Niilo, I also have Mecberger Eemeli, who arrived as a one-year-old. He is an excellent dog, whose abilities surpass his trainer's skills. The goal is to compete in IPO with him in future. In addition, we acquired a bitch puppy, Mecberger Hertta, who has, naturally, been named ""Pulmu". Pulmu is funny.
I toyed with the idea of breeding in future for about a second, and decided to taken on board a bitch. The goal is to produce the type of Malinois that I so admire; healthy with aggression and prey drive, confident and social, with operational ability as well as strong nerves. On top of this, the ideal dog will bite hard with strong grips and its attacks are fast. The breeding principles are clear: breeding for looks for any other reason apart from health spoils the dog's working ability - only character and health really matter. My interest in dogs has given me a lot, and in addition to my own development over the years, I have made many great friends, to whom I owe a big thank you! Tuukka Nikola |
In 2001, arrived Niilo or Mecberger Birger from, Jan and Mia Skogster. Just under a year old, Niilo was sold to the Finnish Army and acts in Kaartin Jaakarirykmentti as a military dog and is handled by myself. In addition to his normal duties, Niilo is trained to find explosives and weapons, and he also takes part in IPO competitions. There have been many ups and downs during his career, as can be seen from his competition record. Niilo's good qualities include his operational ability, bravery and self confidence. He works in strong drive, but he has imperfections in his prey drive. As far as training goes, this has produced challenges, and aggression has been used in order to achieve sufficient drive energy. As a result, producing correct grip behaviour for competitions has been challenging. A fantastic helper and a friend, Marko Koskensalo, has helped overcoming this issue, and I must also thank another friend, Juha Korri, for assisting in the training of Niilo. Niilo is a fine dog, and his training has taught me an awful lot, but due to his qualities, he will not be used for breeding.
As well as training my own dogs, I also have a group of about 20 handlers with their dogs, to whom I act as a helper. Practice sessions take place anywhere in the Helsinki-Lahti route. There are various breeds of dog in the group: Malinois, German Shepherds, an Australian Cattle Dog, a Rottweiler etc. I have received helper studies from the helper training programme of the German Shepherd Club, which I simply superb. So far my greatest achievement as a helper is with a Groenendael (from show lines), Black Master´s Peppery Packet, owned by Elise Luttinen, with the result of reaching IP3. This required blood, sweat and whatever, but the result was finally achieved! 
