Welcome!

This is the web home of the Dalmatian dog Artus. All dog lovers are warmly welcome here and those who still doubt in their unconditional love for dogs could hopefully gather some more knowledge from here.

Artus became a family member in 2005. I gave the idea a lot of thoughts - whether to take a shelter dog or purebreed and if purebreed then which breed - and finally came to the Dalmatian. There were many reasons for making this decision - although at that moment I didn't know anything about dog shows or dog training or even that brown-spotted Dalmatians exist - I wanted the dog to be of medium size, being active and giving the possibilities to attend varios trainings and I also wanted him to be friendly dog yet not some small fuzzy hairball. A Dalmatian was somewhat logic result of these visions.

As soon as the decision was made I started to look for ads in the internet to find out whether there are Dalmatan puppies for sale at the moment and which are the conditions for their sale. And almost immediately I did found an ad where a male Dalmatian puppy was offered. Next thing I did was something that is never recommended for true purebreed buyers - I contacted he seller and said that am ready to buy the puppy right away. The puppy was still unsold and the very moment I saw the photo that the breeder sent me I knew that this is my dog who I have been waiting for all these years. Although there was a moment where the puppy was almost sold to someone else, the breeder finally made her decision for me. I went to pick up Artus at my birthday. The trip from Saaremaa to Tartu was long full of exciting thoughts but the puppy made friends with me from the first moment and we finally came home to Saaremaa with the last, midnight ferry. It came out that Artus was bred by the South-Estonian kennel Alderisland and his pedigree contains many known and successful dogs.

Artus lived in Saaremaa for 2,5 aastat. During these years we made acquaintances with other Dalmatian owners, especially with Kairi and Gerly who encouraged us to take our chances in the show ring. Artus began his show-career at the age of 11 months and my career as a handler some months after that but today we can proudly say that we both have received many compliments about our achievements in the show ring. In Saaremaa we also took part in the activities of the local canine club Aktiiv and enjoyed their magnificent company. Our huge thanks to all the fellow club members and especially to our trainer Aarne who always believed a lot more in Artus than I did!

We also had some of our best show achievements during the time in Saaremaa that you can read about when you click the link "Shows". Our most magnificent moment was, when we accepted the Kari Järvinen's trophy cup at the Estonian Winner show in Tallinn in 2006. It is meant for the best Estonian dog at the show and now a plate with Artus' name is also on this cp. Artus was also elected two years in a row the best show dog in Saaremaa. Moving to mainland and changes in life have lately demanded their toll but we won't leave our hobby - dog shows - forever. Surely you can meet us now and then at the bigger shows. Concerning the shows then I would like to mention two young and professional handlers who have helped to show Arts - Hanna-Maria Zeilanova and Kristine Maria Airenne - and deserve all the acknowledgement for their handler skills. Hopefully you find many interesting topics from this web page. I am ready to answer any questions concerning Artus and Dalmatians in general and will offer my help and advice if needed. Have fun in our virtual company and write to our Guestbook about your opinions and advice.

Have a cool spotted surfing!