Athos is small and very fast, and he has good firm grips when he is sure of himself. He is being trained by the same helper as Etulinjan Acid was training earlier, to have that grip always. Athos is a quick learner. He has The Great Attack, already in the beginning after returning to my former girl-friend Tuija, he has surprised the helper (and everybody) with the power from fast moving 20 kilos, and hit the helper to the ground. He is a true working dog, very free in new places (was not free in dog training places, but that is changing now totally), he especially loves stairs of every kind for some unknown reason. Athos has high drives, he is hyperactive, and does not get tired, but can easily calm down (when living life with regular excercise). Athos is special! He is very specially a typical Belgian, fire inside.

Athos' history is sad. In Holland, he ended up in bad hands, being locked up in the same kennel with some other dogs and obviously being trained with lots of force and electricity even as a puppy. He also was allowed to breed as a youngster. After Tuija heard "her" puppy was for sale in internet, she tried to get him back. This occured to be difficult as the owner refused to sell the dog back to her but instead sold it to somebody else. Fortunately, with the help of kennel Tarkatan, Tuija was able to contact this owner and finally bought Athos back.

But what she saw was a picture of horror.The dog was soaked with dirt and excrements, the incisors were worn down to the flesh, probably from some chewing stones or kennel fence. We also found burning scars from an e-collar at the throat. Athos was totally neurotic, afraid of shooting, of dog-fields and of helpers - even of white van type of cars. He didn't tolerate other dogs except his mother Killi, and my cats in the beginning were just prey. Tuija took the task and - little by little - gave him back self-confidence.

Since march 2007, Athos is my dog. Since he was taken back from Holland, he developed greatly. The work at the dog-field is now fun for him, although he sometimes still is insecure. But in everyday life, especially in new places and situations, he is really secure. My cats he meanwhile doesn't only tolerate - he made friends with the younger tomcat and frequently plays and canoodles with him. Even other dogs are no problem anymore and since I separated from Tuija there were no more fights with Shadow.
He is totally everyday-safe and runs without problems free in the fields and forest - even together with Shadow.

Because of his unbelievable development, I am thinking of heading for BH test (behaviour test)