I bought my first Dobe out of a newspaper ad. She was a little red bitch, the last of the litter, not too brave but very loving. She became my first UD Dobe, Kahlua's Princess Lisa, UD. I owe my dedication to the sport of obedience to a wonderful Dobe that I saw work at the Doberman Pinscher Club of Northern California specialty in 1964. She was Rosalie Alva¬rez's Little Mist von Frederick, UDT. Mist is what I consider THE great working Doberman. She went on to earn her SchH III at the age of 11 1/2 years! What followed has been forty years of my life with 25 Dobermans, two smooth fox terriers and a German shorthaired pointer. In those years I trained two Dobes to their Am/Can Ch-OTCh, one to an Am/Can OTCh, eight to a UD, five to a CDX, and three to their CD. I have been active in obedience, conformation. tracking, and Schutzhund. I have trained both privately and for the Mt. Diablo DTC for a number of years. During that time I wrote articles for The Doberman News, The Doberman Quarterly and the Doberman Pages web site. I retired from high school teaching in 1996 to do what I love best-train my dogs, read, and watch all those sports on TV. I thoroughly enjoy working with my Open and Utility students who are willing to devote their lives to their dogs. They have been an inspiration to me.