Tintenfass Rastelbinder "Poko", born May 5^th 1983

Just two weeks earlier, I had finally been able to fulfill my long-time dream of living in a country house. I was chatting on the phone and looking at my new garden, when Poko walked into my life.The other of two biggest dreams in my life, a Giant Schnauzer male, is standing infront of me.

A call to the nearby dog hotel confirmed, that this gentleman belonged to the hosts and was called Poko. Before Poko was returned back home, I had already fallen deeply in love with him and was whispering in his ear thoughts and hopes of us seeing each other soon. And the next morning – there he was, standing again in my garden! And day after that, too. When I hadn´t seen him by noon of the third day, I phoned his home and heard, he was locked up.

This is how I made friends with Poko´s owners, a very nice couple. I often stopped by to say hello to Poko and one day I senced, that maybe they would like to consider of giving Poko to me … what a lovely thought, I couldn´t be that lucky! We had to calm down, though, and wait for a better time: my Nyyti had a litter and Poko´s owners also needed time to think about their decision: I´d be Poko´s fourth owner.

Poko´s owners were convinced, that with Poko´s brain, he´d be able to express his will clearly enough for us and that he would be the one to make the decision about his own life. I was adviced by my friends of all the little tricks about hiding sausages to lead Poko to me etc. Anyway, I wanted to play it fair, and I also knew already, that Poko and I belonged together.

We agreed to make a test for him. He´d stay in my house for two days and would then be returned back to his home and then we would see, what he would decide to do. I worked in the night shift in a Helsinki hotel at that time, and when I returned back home that night, I was truely dissappointed, as there was no message for me about Poko. I thought, he had made up his mind to stay in his old home. Feeling sad, I went to sleep. All of a sudden, my mini schnauzer bitches woke me up with a furious yell. I was able to quiet them down twice, but as it went on, I had to get up to see, what was going on.

It was a stormy, rainy night in November, and as I opened the door, I saw Poko lying on the terrace soking wet and exhausted. Dear Poko! He went straight to the kitchen, had a good meal and jumped on the couch and fell asleep. In the afternoon, after I left him at his home, he had played with his family for an hour and then, quite determined, walked to the door, opened it and gallopped away.His owners had looked for him all night, fearing he might follow my car to the highway. We will never know, where he was that night, but he heard me coming home and there he was, behind my door.

Poko was a free man.Aas a junior dog, he was already in the head lines. In a  very cold January, he went off from his first owner in a dog show and stayed in the woods for three weeks. The Finnish Army tried to catch him, and he was fed by friendly people. Even here, in the neighborhood, he was feared because of his black looks, although no one could have been more sweet and gentle than Poko. His former owners received calls asking to get the dog, while ” we are in the house and we don´t dare to open the door beacuse of that dog.” More than once, Poko came home with a tin stuck in his muzzle from somebodys waste container. Grandpa-Poko, as he was called, when he at the age of 9 moved to my house, was THE dog for me.All clichés came to alive, when it came to our relationship, he really had a human brain. As I lived with Poko, I was convinced, that a dog should be born at the age of ten and then live up till his 40s. Everyone he met, fell right for him, and I had a hard time explaining to people, that Poko is a result of his history, you don´t get a similar dog just by getting a giant schnauzer. Poko was litterally a party animal, and I felt myself his chauffor, when the invitations started to come for ” Poko Holm & Marianne”.

Grandpa-Poko loved puppies. Miniature schnauzer puppies had him as their playground, they forced themselves in his mouth and in his ears, they climbed all over him and chewed his paws and Grandpa-Poko just lay there with a happy smile on his black face. He also had no need to fight the other males, except when asked to. I remember once a working dog person came to me and asked, could Poko teach her hard-headed young male a lesson. Well, Poko did, but only untill the point, where this Briard resingnated, no further. Then he only stood on top of the other male and looked at me as asking ”Will this do?”.

The Kennel Club files told me that everything had been done with Poko, he had taken part in all kinds of working  dogs´ competitions, and also very succesfully in agility. So, for me, there was nothing new left, than obedience. It was no work, Poko knew everything, but it was great fun, no one could believe their eyes, when they saw an 11-year old dog in the beginners´ class!

When you are so very lucky to live with a dog like Poko, you can´t but fear the thought of loosing him. Of course it happened to me also one day, dear Poko died at the age of 12. I knew, there was no way I could ever have another like him, but I knew also, that one day, out of the blue, there would be another giant in my garden.

Facilis Glaurung "Reetu", born November 17^th 1993  

I was waiting for ”Mr.Right” as I had promised myself after Poko died, when I got a call from a friend telling she knew a dog for me. Her own giant, Oona, had a brother, who needed a new home. On the phone this Reetu sounded perfect, I was just a bit worried, how he would accept my very dominating old miniature bitches.

I slept on the floor with Reetu for a month, that is how our relationship was founded and he learned to trust me. Reetu used to eat in a licking manner and wouldn´t let his face be touched. At night, when he was asleep, I gently caressed his face and day by day, it was easier for him to let me check his head. The beard was so badly tangled, that he couldn´t open his mouth to eat properly and the lips were so  infected and sore, he couldn´t bare to be touched. He had been fed with macaroni only and weighed 28kgs. He was 72cm high, black greyhound. He recovered suprisingly soon and now at the age of 7, he weighs double of what he did, when he came to me. 56 kgs is a plenty, but he does look handsome!

With Reetu I joined the local Rescue Dogs-club and there, over the years, I´ve made so many new friends. It is also good to see and learn something totally different, because all my life I had only worked with show dogs. 

When Reetu moved to my house and acted like a normal giant schnauzer male with all his tricks, I told him, you have a long time to go before you fit in Poko´s shoes. Reetu is a fearless soldier, who doesn´t worry about consequencies, he does everything in full speed and regrets later, when it is pay-back time. Reetu kills all the other males, or would like to: our bitches belong to him and him alone. He behaves nicely and follows orders very well, I trust him all the way. He has been able to earn his living a couple of times, when I have had trouble from passers-by, and he has done it very well. Once there was a cap in his mouth and I was relieved it was not the whole head of the one, Reetu had escorted away. Reetu is all my sences, I never need to be afraid of anything, when I have this professional body guard with me.