Ukko was definitely the most peculiar dog I've ever met. Ukko's way of perceiving the world was unique and many of Ukko's antics would have made good humorous cartoon material. Oh, I wish I had remembered to write down all the funny coincidences.

Ukko came to me as my first "real herding dog", when I had already started herding with Jeriko. We went to train with Jeriko in Woollandia and I was interested in Ukko's father Swedu, but I would have wanted a puppy from him a bit later. However, it happened that Ukko was still free from the Astra-Swedu litter, looking for a co-operation home, and Ukko came to us with a couple of days' notice.

Right from the start, Ukko was very strongly bound to Jeriko, and I had challenges to create an equally strong relationship with Ukko. In the end, of course, it succeeded. Ukko still lived a bit in his own bubble and was not that interested in the rest of the world. He did crazy things, regardless of whether the same thing had been banned a hundred times (for example, jumping on the dining table). Ukko was not exactly tough dog, but by no means sensitive either.

It was very challenging to get hold of Ukko in herding, and even though he always treated the sheep nicely, it was after really big challenges to get him even a 1st class qualified result. Ukko used his eyes a lot when herding. He got narrow flanks due to that and thus it was almost impossible to control the sheep's lines with Ukko. On the other hand, in tasks where we were on the same page and Ukko did what is necessary, he was a really skilled and good dog. For example, with lambed ewes, Ukko knew how to regulate his own pressure excellently, relaxed his own pressure by just turning his head to the side, so that the ewe had time to collect her lamb and go, and then continues at a steady pace. It was practically impossible to make Ukko loose his temper or to get him anxious around sheep. Thus, watching Ukko's work has been magical to watch in many places, but I couldn't really get a trial dog out of it. Moreover, just when our cooperation began to flourish better, Ukko's hearing began to deteriorate, and controllability disappeared along with it.

Other sports also had their challenges. Ukko had a great drive for toys, but he didn't really have any will to please, neither was he a workaholic who would really want to work, so he did sports only because for the reward. For this reason, it was a real challenge to control his drive or get him into good mood for work and stay there. In other words, the mood was never really raised. In agility, Ukko was on the slow side, and at times it clearly had difficulty understanding the controls. Later, in the SmartDog test, it became clear that Ukko really understood human gestures very poorly, and this certainly contributed to the matter. We did clear runs in agility in class 3, but the times were never close to the top places. In obedience, drive management was even more challenging and we stopped obedience for class 2.

Rally obedience was a little more suitable for Ukko as a sport. It allowed me to keep in touch with Ukko better and thus the energy remained at a better level and Ukko focused. However, my enthusiasm did not carry beyond the class 2.

Skijoring was Ukko's most important and favorite sport, where Ukko started for the last time at the age of 7. However, it started showing a reluctance to pull, which I interpreted as related to its joint problems and possible osteoarthritis, so I stopped doign it. In skijoring, Ukko was a steady, sure worker. He really enjoyed skijoring in team, and especially side-by-side joint starts and competitive situations ignited him. Ukko ran with two skiers, Marja and Ilona, ​​and then of course with me as well. I myself started with Ukko for the last time in the Kuhmo championships for the first leg of the relay team, and it was really fun with Ukko.

In terms of health, Ukko was a bit of a warrior of bad luck, although on the other hand, no single fault alone has greatly affected his life. Ukko is genetically CEA-affected, but the eye change caused by this didn't really affect life at all. Instead, the EAOD found in Ukko (Ukko participated in Hannes Lohe's research when the gene defect/marker was discovered) put a stop to herding. The joints weren't strong either, but on the other hand, Ukko's attitude towards life was fortunately so relaxed that at least he didn't strain himself too much. In terms of musculature, Ukko was very flexible.

Ukko started reacting to gun shots when he was about 2 years old. In retrospect, I wonder if this is related to EAOD and the hearing thing, but on the other hand, Ukko had a tendency to develop "issues" about things like border collies can, if given the chance. For a while I tried to train the gunshots with Ukko, but then it only became a number and the situation only got worse, so I gave up on my working trial dreams. In addition, later, at around 4 years old, I became aware of EAOD. When the pressure from the shooting issue was removed, Ukko has not reacted to any loud noises in everyday life in any way, and in a way I would say that Ukko was not sensitive to sounds in that sense at all.

In fact, Ukko was one of the most stable border collies I know. He never got overly excited or stressed, and he was ok in any situation. Ukko was a bit reserved towards new people and could completely ignore strangers. On the other hand, if Ukko wanted to and felt interested, then he didn't have any tension towards strangers, but could play with strangers' children etc. Ukko got along well with other dogs, but his use of eyes and perhaps a little special communication sometimes led him into problems.

Ukko was diagnosed with tumor on his ribcage at May 2023. The tumor was planned on removing, but in the operation it was found out, that the tumour continued to thoracic cavity, and I let the vet to put Ukko to forever sleep. Ukko is greatly missed.