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'Topi' at Joensuu's Int Show Best Male 1, Best of Opposite Sex, CACIB Photo by Janne Sund	'Topi' moving Photo by Janne Sund

I fell in love with 'Topi' the first time I saw a photo of him. In 1998 we sent a lovely black & white male we called 'Andy' to the top breeder in Finland, Riikka Turunen. He was out of a litter by our 'Ziggy' and 'Sheindela', and a litter brother to our 'Lottie'. 'Andy' (registered name Anacan Diplomat At Kirifix) grew up into a handsome fellow and attained his Finnish championship. He also has sired a few litters, and 'Topi' was out of his first. 'Topi' showed promise right from the beginning, winning his first Best of Breed at 11 months of age. 'Topi' at 6 months by breeder, Riikka Turunen He is now a Finnish & Estonian champion, Latvia's Junior Winner 2000 & Latvia's Winner 2000 and needs one more CACIB to be an international champion. (He actually has already won 3 CACIBs, but he needs to win one more outside of Finland and Estonia.) 'Topi's' now former owner, Marja Partanen, showed him one last time before sending him to us at the Joensuu's International Show where Israeli judge, Janiki Steinbok, awarded him Best Male 1, Best of Opposite Sex and his third CACIB. 'Topi' arrived in England on the 6th August 2002, and weathered the long car journey to Helsinki and the flight to the UK quite well. Because we were maxed out on space here at Anacan, 'Topi' lives with his co-owner, Steve Phillips, and his wife, Pat and their Norfolk Terriers and Greenland Dogs at their beautiful country property in Staffordshire. We had such high hopes for "Topi" when he arrived, but it seems that his previous owner kept some things from us. Shortly after his arrival the Phillips' discovered scars all over "Topi", as well as a broken tooth. After making enquiries to the breeder, she found out from the former owner, Marja Partanen, that "Topi" had been attacked by two adult male Great Danes the year before coming over. Perhaps this accounts for his sudden dislike of the show ring. Then several months ago Pat rang me to tell me that "Topi" was having problems with incontinence and the vet discovered that he has kidney stones --- a problem I've never come across in Canaan Dogs before. Several emails to the former owner about this problem were never answered, and we can now only question the real reason for her parting with him. "Topi" is a lovely dog to live with, a beautiful Canaan to look at and impressive on the move, but he is a great disappointment for the purposes for which we went to the great expense of bringing him into the country. The moral of the story is when looking to import a dog, be very careful.

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