Why dogs entered my life

In childhood we always had dogs. We lived in a private house and every other and then some cute little dog would come and stay in our garden. Wherever I went for a walk or see my friends I always took the dog with me. When I was 16 years old we moved to live in an apartment and dogs stopped to be present in my life.
Ten years ago dogs entered to my life again. Doing business by that time for twelve years I've been spending too much time in the office, and that sedentary lifestyle affected my health. I played sports, but a couple of times per week in combination of moving around in the car and spending all day at the office – I started to feel problems with blood vessels. Doctors' recommendations were all the same – I needed to walk. No gym, no tennis, just an hour or more per day I had to walk and do it regularly.
We all understand how important it is to lead a healthy lifestyle. But one thing is to understand, quite another to change habits, especially if there is no necessary incentive. And believe me that deteriorate health never becomes such a stimulгі. The advice of a friend touched the right chord. "Get yourself a dog. Look on the Internet the different breeds, read their features and see who suits you."
Dog! My best friend in childhood. I don't know how I haven't thought about it myself that dog was the missing link in my life. That evening I hung on the Interne and since I have always taken decisions within seconds, I iimmediately found my breed – the Dachshund standard long-haired. It was a rare breed in Ukraine and there were no puppies available, The same evening I wrote to Arkhangelsk where ordered a lovely red pup with a pedigree.

Within a week everything was organized and via Moscow the puppy was delivered to Kiev by train. It was a long-eared red two-month-old happiness. I have never had my own dog but there it was a purebred puppy I promised to show at exhibitions, train in burrows and be prepared for breeding!

I threw all myself into a new hobby, found handler, which started to train Chester and prepare him to dog shows, making weekly visits to the lessons of obedience, from 7 months of age, then went to artificial burrow. After the first dog show I realized how little time handler was spending  with my dog and decided I could learn how to do it myself. I was advised the best teacher on handling – Anya and started to go with Chester to group classes for 2 times per week. Drive to Ana's to the left Bank of Kyiv through the whole city sometimes were taken 2 hours if in the traffic, I didn't have enough balance to lead the dog nicely in the ring but I stubbornly continued to learn. A year later we closed Chester Junior and Adult Champion of Ukraine.

And we walked! Our house is on the corner of two large parks where you are allowed to walk dogs without a leash. Before, I could not force myself just to go every day to the Park and wound the mileage. A dog walk for an hour and a half in the morning and evening became a habit. We were spending even more time on walks near on our summer cottage, which although was 2 hours drive from Kiev but the beauty of nature forced us to go there on weekends from early spring to late autumn.

The house was 20 metres from the river Ros which in that place was almost as wide as Dnipro because in a couple of miles below was a dam. And the gardens of the house covered hills which no one plowed for twenty years and here and there you would see shoots on pine and running rabbits and deer. Swimming and hill walking is very suitable for strengthening the back of dachshund as a long back was a weakness of the breed. That is why we only did in the country that bathed the dog at the village beach and spent hours walking in the hills.

And just before being two years old my Chester went over the rainbow. It happened suddenly. When I left for a business trip I left him with an employee of the veterinary clinic. She looked after him perfectly but that day in the park where they walked someone scattered the poison. It killed four dogs, very quickly, I just had time to come back and see him and he's gone in my eyes. It was the biggest loss of my life, I did not lost anyone before. I went into a real depression for a month: I cried, I lost sleep, appetite, desire to work, to chat with friends. Nothing was great and I had no idea for how much longer I could suffer. I couldn't take new dog as it looked like betrayal to Chester. By the time I became friends with Vicka from St Petersburg, the master of my Chester's dad. She supported me greatly, she could break through me every day and we had a long talk about my grief and I cried again and again. And suddenly she suggested, "since you can't swap Chester for a new dog – you take several!" This idea has found the response in my wounded soul and the tears stopped. Vicka seriously engaged in breed and was known in St. Petersburg as a handler, she knew the best breeders of Europe and America and while the idea was hot we started to look for good puppies. It was decided to take two boys and a girl, different lines with very good pedigrees so if I was so seriously interested and involved they should have been noble dogs to show. I wanted to travel with dogs to the international dog shows, to carry them to Europe, and this was necessary for good puppies. We picked up two boys from the best kennels in Europe, a girl from Russia and three of them started the kennel  of long haired dachshunds Chesterpride. How my fascination with the new puppies develop you will find in future articles.