Page 110 - Aussie Magazine no1, 2023

An Interview with a judge

let him go. The long coat around his neck and knew? I thought Jasper would be a regular dog,
chest had already frozen to icicles. He was an just a lot more beautiful.
outside dog, and I could not be sure he would be
taken indoors when he went home. So, I brought I was very surprise when Jasper would sometimes
him home wet, muddy and shivering, and kept not come when called (ok, not sometimes but often)
him in the furnace room downstairs until he got or refused to be as obedient as my long-ago first
dry and then released him to go home. friend Lassie had been. Jasper cooperated great
when there was nothing else interesting happening.
I had a warm and loving family – Mom Dad and two But it was enough for him to see a chicken in the
brothers, the five of us were very close. My parents distance when all obedience would be forgotten;
supported my interests and often shared them. living in the countryside, was a problem.
My father and I would read books about animals,
Gerald Durrell and Michael Grzimek and Joy I called the regional dog club and asked for advice,
Adamson and Konrad Lorenz. We would discuss the lady who took my call was a breeder of Boxers.
the books and share the jokes. I wonder why it is She advised me to slap Jasper’s rump with a
that people involved with animals almost always newspaper whenever he started to run away.
have a great sense of humour. Maybe because Then he would realise he was doing something
animals can put you in situations where you have wrong and would stop and come back to me, she
to laugh at yourself, I think a very healthy attitude. said. I immediately realised 2 things: 1) Little as it
As a child, I dreamed to have a Collie; but I never was, I already knew more about Afghan Hounds
did get one. My first-ever dog that I got at age 7 or than the dog-club lady on the phone, 2) I knew at
so, was a medium-sized black mixed breed bitch once: if I slapped Jasper with anything he would
named Lassie. run away faster. The lady not only was unable to
give me any useful advice, but she did not even
I grew up when Latvia was still under the Soviet understand the true extent of my problem. I never
rule, and that influenced cynology, too. There was asked her the obvious question, just how does
only a limited number of dog breeds available, one slap an Afghan Hound who is already running
and dogs had to be useful, namely, they had to away? I never did try the newspaper approach on
be useful in the militia or in the army. Small dog Jasper. And I never again called the dog club for
breeds that could not be used by the military were any advice.
considered decadent and useless. Dog clubs also
existed sort of under a military organisation. Dogs Jasper lived a long life with my parents. When he
were called “unproductive domestic animals”, as died, I was already married and had my daughter.
opposed to productive animals that produced meat My mother called me on the phone, crying, she
and milk and eggs. In the 1980-ties when I was said they buried Jasper in the garden and she
a student a few more breeds became available – had placed a wreath of red clover on his grave. I
American Cocker Spaniels, Afghan Hounds, etc. think of Jasper with nostalgia and always with a
Still, the number of available breeds at that time sense of guilt, too. Jasper and I were not a good
was probably less than 30. match; he could never give me what I wanted
in a dog as I was in essence asking him to stop
My first purebred dog was an Afghan Hound; being a sighthound; he tried very hard and
I was 18 then and living with my parents. They couldn’t. We were both frustrated. Over time I
gifted me several hundred Roubles for my 18th began to understand his way of thinking. I loved
birthday and I used the money to buy an Afghan him but it was not the way of thinking I would
Hound puppy and cross-country skis. There was have chosen. I sometimes speak about Jasper in
hardly any breed information available at the time, my Animal Behaviour classes. The importance of
and I was not aware that Jasper the Afghan Hound breed-specific behaviour in dogs. The importance
would be any different than any other breed of of doing your homework and choosing a breed
dog. The breeder told me nothing as far as breed wisely. Ultimately, the importance of hereditary
characteristics; or maybe she assumed I already factors in behaviour. The perpetual question of

110 | A Worldwide Magazine for the Aussie • Issue 1/2023