Name: Champion Dogiwogin Fricka-Flicka
Titles: International, Greek, Finnish, Swedish, Estonian Champion, BPIS-BIS-BISS-BVIS.
Pet-name: Kali
Born: 18 April 1994
Father: Finnish CH. Quaker Hill's Get Serious
Mother: Fin. Est. CH. Vet. WW-96 Faxidan Alexsandra
Breeder: Auli & Juuso Vitikainen, Finland
Owner: Maria Winsor-Ginala, Fainomenon Great Danes, Greece

“Kali” was born in 1994. I had been waiting quite some time for a puppy from this litter, as her sire, the late great Fin. CH. Quaker Hills Get Serious (a son of Am. CH. Quaker Hills Le Cheval) came to Finland as an import from America, having won 11 points towards his USA Championship. When the puppies were born I could tell that “my puppy” was the one that was so clever and people-oriented that found a way to climb out the puppy pen and jump into the kitchen to be with people!

Kali’s breeders, Auli & Juuso Vitikainen from Finland, are among the most honest and clever people I have ever met ‘in dogs’. I am honored to be their friend and eternally grateful to them. I know that not many people in their right mind would ever part with a youngster as promising as Kali: she won Best Puppy In Show at her first show in Finland and several people told Auli “you are crazy to let this puppy go to Greece”!
We were living in the UK at the time and I had decided I wouldn’t put a Dane puppy into quarantine for six months-so Kali stayed in Finland until we moved to Greece.
She came with Auli in the autumn of 1995, having been at a few shows in Finland where she won most of her classes; and the rest, as they say, is history: at her first show in Greece she was group-2nd and she never looked back.
Being the type that could win anywhere, a well-built Dane bitch not too heavy neither too light, Kali still has two qualities that make her simply outstanding: her unique personality & her breathtaking movement. She won BIS as a puppy, as an adult and as a veteran. She won the first Greek specialty show. She won so many CAC-CACIB & BOB's I can’t remember (who counts?) and she won them under breed specialists and allrounders alike, under judges from America, Britain, Germany, Holland, Italy, Scandinavia, Spain and many more countries of the world. She won a hard Open bitch class at the World Show in Helsinki 1998 and she won Reserve Dog of the Year in Greece in 1996. The list of judges who praised her beauty and shining personality is endless, but most of all I remember this great dog person, Lionel Hamilton-Renwick (UK) who told me after awarding Kali Best In Show at Athens International in 1997: “in over fifty years of judging, I have seen some great Danes; this one is right up there with the best of them; she is truly outstanding”.
Mr Carl Johnson from England, too, in his critique of Kali mentioned one of her most endearing features: “a lovely, kind eye”. They say that eyes are the mirror of the soul and I know that Kali has one of the loveliest souls that ever graced this earth.
She is intelligent, benevolent, sociable, outgoing; she is a positive thinker, a brave and fearless individual, full of heart and full of brains. She can read people’s minds. She enjoys the company of the ones she approves of and simply retires from the others; when she loves someone, she goes all the way: she sits on their laps and gives them a kiss! She loves the ones who are worthy, but she has a discriminative mind: she has never been wrong in judging a person.

She is protective of the family and quick to tell off the unwanted; she loves parties, loud music, dog shows, going out and having fun; she loved to sit on her head and throw her back feet on the air when she was a bit younger; her ears go back like an elephant’s and her tail goes in circles like a helicopter’s blade when she’s greeting a loved one; she purrs like a pussycat and carries her toys around when she’s happy; and she is calm, confident and happy most of the time.
In the show ring, Kali is a swan, a performer rising to the cheers of the ringsiders; she will do anything you ask of her-and you only have to ask once; she guards the car and the personal belongings – you can leave her lying down with a handbag next to her and she will calmly snooze-but nobody can get inside the two-meter perimeter she mentally draws around them without permission; she is very tolerant with silly people and dogs; she adores the babies and the elderly; everyone weak or fragile she immediately adopts; she is extremely gentle with small or baby animals, like chicks.
With the opposite sex, she’d always been a tart, even when she’s not in season: she had an eye for big handsome lads-regardless of breed-yet with a soft spot for a strapping Great Dane male. She loves teasing the boys, and having children; she loves being a mom! she was too tolerant with her puppies-she just let them do anything they felt like! She is sexy, good-looking and she knows it; in her old age food has replaced the joys of sex; when it comes to tidbits, she is very funny: she prefers a single crumble of bread from a steak and she will do anything for it; all you have to do is mention the word “bread” and she will jump in the air and go all silly.
When she first came to Greece and met out cats, she thought they were aliens and hated them on the spot; after all, she had only met elks in Finland! (When she is angry, she looks like a lioness – and she gallops like one!) she later learned to tolerate them and discovered two favorite pets of her own: hedgehogs & tortoises! She finds them, carries them gently in her mouth and puts them on her bed, patiently waiting for them to pop their heads out and say hello; thanks to Kali, all the local population of tortoises & hedgehogs is completely flea- and tick-free, as we take these necessary measures with each one she brings in.
She’s not very keen about water-the sea pleasures she’ll entertain are merely lying on a beach towel looking magnificent under the umbrella. And when it rains-forget about going out! The tiniest droplet of rain is too much and she postpones her bodily functions until the sun comes out again.
We never trained Kali to do anything-she was born wordly and clever and wise. But she has taught us many things that are precious and above all she brought to this world great joy, by just being herself. Sometimes I think she must be a gift from Santa, coming from Finland!

Always beautiful, a great lady with a touch of spice, funny and serious, a lady and a trump, Kali is all that a true Great Dane can be, and a little bit extra: she is the proof that dogs have souls and they can be ‘almost human’ and, in some cases, even more truly human than ourselves. To us, Kali is the absolutely best person we have even met, and the loveliest, too. She is a blessing and we are grateful for all that she is giving, so generously, to us and everyone else.
To many people she has been an inspiration, to her breed an ambassador like no other; all who have met her admire and respect Great Danes a lot more, because she is one. Her beauty is not skin deep, but glows with the warmth and strength of a magnanimous heart and a brilliant mind. Kali is one in a million. Because of her, the world is a much better place. And these words I’ve written about her, can hardly begin to describe her....

Maria Winsor-Ginala

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