Eleven years ago was the last time the Finnish Kennel Club had the opportunity to display their talent for organizing a mega dog event. The first time was in 1998 when they held the first FCI (Fédération Cynologique Internationale) World Dog Show (WDS) in their country. In 2006, it was time for the FCI European Winner Show (EWS), and by 2014 they were again on track for another World Dog Show. The FCI President will often say that the European or World Show is one of the best shows ever, but this time he was right. The Finnish Kennel Club is high ranking on the list of best shows.
Since COVID, the shows have had fewer entries and the show aspect is more focused on the dogs, which means no extra displays of singing, dancing, or other acts. But for the Finnish Kennel Club, more sober does not mean less classy; on the contrary! The podium for the finals was again a dream. The main ring was faced by a huge tribune that was almost fully packed with spectators for the daily finals. The background was an enormous LED-screen in two even parts displaying lovely photos. To introduce a judge, it opened up in the middle and the judge was there standing in the spotlights against a smaller background showing the famous Cathedral of Helsinki. It was like magic and created a kind of 3-D impression. On the right side was a band playing music, perfectly matching what was going on, dimming to build up tension, exploding when the winners were announced, and pleasantly entertaining when the dogs entered one by one and were judged. Top class!
In 2014, no fewer than 21,200 dogs were entered, with over 4,000 dogs from Russia included. This time, no Russian entries were allowed since the war with Ukraine. This resulted in 15,720 entries, plus 8,131 entries for the Circuit Shows held on Wednesday. Of course, the Circuit entries overlap with those for the World Dog Show. We must also consider the effect of the COVID pandemic on dog shows, with significant decreases in entries. All this taken into consideration, we ended up with a really good result!
With 9,093 entries, Finland was clearly leading followed by Sweden, Poland, Estonia, and Norway with 1,121, 720, 632, and 617 respectively. Italy had 340 entries and Germany 234. But very remarkably, Ukraine took the 10th place with no fewer than 223 entries, more than France, Czech Republic, Hungary, Spain, Denmark… The United Kingdom had 86 entries, and 52 dogs came over from the United States. The list of countries has a long thin tail of numerous nations with only one or a few dogs entered, such as from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, Bahrain and the Emirates. Australia had six dogs in competition, including a Border Collie that won its Breed, the Group, and ended 3rd Best in Show!
Many of these dogs were delegated dogs participating in the FCI World Challenge of Top Dogs 2025 in which every country could send their national top dog. It is quite logical that they would also participate in the World Dog Show itself. Forty-nine dogs from 49 different FCI countries competed in this specialty show. The finals of this show were held on Thursday. The winner was the Afghan Hound, “Zaida Bint Muti von Haussman,” from Chile, owned and bred by Ramon Podesta. The circuit shows took place on Wednesday. These are the Breed shows that are usually held prior to the WDS itself, but with different judges. It was a pretty crowded day as all the Breed shows were on one day and took place in the very same halls. In many countries, these shows are held in the neighborhood of the WDS or EDS, or on the same days but in different halls.
The breed statistics for this show are as follows: 397 different breeds; top breeds were the Labrador Retriever with 241 entries, the Finnish Lapponian Dog (Finnish Lapphund) with 204 entries, the Golden Retriever with 171, and the Dalmatian with 160 entries. Interesting numbers include the Lagotto Romagnolo with 154 representatives, the Saluki with 124, the Danish-Swedish Farmdog with 64 competitors, the Pražský Krysarík (Prague Ratler), which looks like a black and tan pinscher, with 42, the Russkaja Tsvetnaja Bolonka with 39, the Kromfohrländer with 35, the Shikoku (Shikoku Ken) with 19, and the Kai (Kai Ken) with 16.
Rare breeds were the Tenterfield Terrier, an Australian terrier breed, and the Markiesje, a small black spaniel dog, both with 16 entries, the Saint Miguel Cattle Dog with eight entries, the Kazakh Tazy with nine entries, the Schillerstövare (a Swedish hound), Tjornjak, and Hokkaido (white and bigger than a Shiba Inu), all with eight entries, the Kintamani Bali Dog with six present, the Smålandsstövare (a medium-sized Swedish hound) with five entries, the Kishu (Kishu Ken), also with five, and the Cimarrón Uruguayo with four, followed by many other breeds, some of which I have never seen before like the Halden Hund, the Treeing Walker Coonhound, the Hälleforshund, and the Hamiltonstövare. Some breeds are very rare in the north of Europe, like the French hounds, but are not really so rare in general. I could go on, as the list is long—very long—but it is important to know that almost every breed, recognized by the FCI or waiting to be recognized, was here. A unique opportunity! If you want to know more about the FCI breeds, here is the link: https://fci.be/en/nomenclature/
Messukeskus is the name of the showgrounds, and it is situated on the outskirts of Helsinki city and offers parking space to 4,600 cars. Many exhibitors came with motor homes and caravans, extending their visit by a few extra days or traveling slowly to or from the show,
visiting the many countries which some had to cross. Finland is a very green country, and notwithstanding this, it has one of Europe’s Northernmost capitals. But it was warm there. Only a few days prior to the show, Finland had a 20-day heat wave with temperatures around 30°C. Luckily it was more moderate during the show. Many exhibitors came by train. This was convenient as the station was less than 250 meters away from the entrance to the halls. This was very convenient for those who were aware and decided to rent or book something a little farther from the halls, where prices are cheaper and more accommodations are available. Once inside you could visit the photos of the World Dog Press competition and also an interesting museum exhibition.
Most of the rings where downstairs, but there was also a second floor with several rings. All 98 rings were large, a real luxury. On the floor, lines were drawn nearby the rings, defining areas where exhibitors could put their belongings and dogs while leaving lanes for quick and easy moving around, and safe evacuation in case of an emergency. Everything was very clean inside and outside.
The trade stand village was placed strategically, as you had to go through it to reach the rings. All the rings were surrounded by benches for the audience and had carpet on the floor. The Finnish Kennel Club has a reputation for offering advanced technology and programming, but this time I was really surprised.
Of course, the catalog was digital (a printed version could be ordered), but, to my surprise, you could instantly see which dog was being judged, and within seconds after the judging the critique of the judge was online. That also meant that you could follow it online from home. In the main ring too, the name, breed, and owner, plus the nationality of the four placed winners, appeared within seconds on a big extra screen.
The main ring for the finals was in a separate hall. Near the entrance was a dog-sitter room where you could leave your dog in a crate which was guarded by stewards of the Kennel Club, giving people the chance to go to the main ring if they had several dogs, instead of leaving them alone and unguarded in the halls. I am sure this service was appreciated.
Every evening the finals ended well in time between 19:00 and 20:00; I think the judges were all briefed to keep to the time limit they were given. There was no grandstanding by judges who don’t keep to the rules by letting the dogs run in different ways or take up to three times longer, like we often see at other shows. They were all following the same procedure; dogs coming in from the left, going to the right, picking out a selection of dogs, and judging them on the right, asking the handlers to run to the right and return. It all went so smoothly.
Four round podiums were placed centrally and stayed there the entire time as they did not bother the judging. The lighting was very nice and bright, providing good contrast. The first row of the tribune was reserved for the press photographers, with a few extra rows behind them for photographers who did not need to take photos of the podium, or reporters who did not take any photos at all. The photographers in the first row had yellow security vests and were the only ones who were allowed to enter the ring and come closer to photograph the winners while the judge moved from the First place to the Fourth, presenting the winners rosette. It all went so smoothly that it only took a few minutes. Felicitations also for the presenters who commented during this show in clearly understandable English and, of course, also in Finnish. The ceremonial part with the flag was kept short with only a few brief speeches, which was appreciated by the public. Nothing is more boring than to have to listen to too long speeches with much blah-blah-blah.
The Junior Handling competition had 357 Juniors registered. Thirty-six were invited to participate as representatives of their own country for the World Title. They came to Finland from all over the world, even from as far as South Korea, Japan, and Mexico.
The Best in Show Judge was the former President of the Finnish Kennel Club, Harri Lehkonen. His choice out of the 10 Group winners was the Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen, “Black Majesty Some Say” who is owned and bred by Iva Raič from Croatia, as his Best in Show dog. Runner Up was the Standard Xoloitzcuintle, “Master Rock Calaco,” owned by Silvia Tojo and Miguel Alonso from Mexico. BIS 3 was the Border Collie, “Pukawidgee The Moon In Winter,” owned by Ashlee Houlden, Lynette Houlden, and Jarrod Tyler from Australia; and his BIS 4 choice was the English Springer Spaniel, “Lordsett The Winner Takes It All,” owned by Dominika Wiśniewska from Poland.
Next year we will see how the Italian Kennel Club will do in Bologna. The bar is set high by the Fins, but I remember the last World Dog Show in Milano as a top-fiver. We look forward!
GROUP 1
Border Collie
Pukawidgee The Moon In Winter (Australia)
Owners: Ashlee Houlden & Lynette Houlden & Jarrod Tyler
GROUP 2
Miniature Schnauzer, Black
Aidante Georgia On My Mind (Croatia)
Owners: Ante Lučin & Javier Gonzalez Mendikote
GROUP 3
(Jack) Russell Terrier
Jackandfish Smasher (Italy)
Owner: Olga Klimova
GROUP 4
Dachshund, Miniature Smooth-haired
Kurzebeine Ms Von The Return Of The
Prince (South Korea)
Owner: Tae Hwan Kim
GROUP 5
Xoloitzcuintle, Standard
Master Rock Calaco (Mexico)
Owners: Silvia Tojo & Miguel Alonso
GROUP 6
Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen
Black Majesty Some Say (Croatia)
Owner: Iva Raič
GROUP 7
Vizsla (Hungarian Short-Haired Pointer)
Butterfly Hunter Casper (Hungary)
Owner: Amadé Géza Chikán
GROUP 8
English Springer Spaniel
Lordsett The Winner Takes It All (Poland)
Owner: Dominika Wiśniewska
GROUP 9
Standard Poodle, black, brown, and white
Sachemic Mischief Managed With Afterglow (UK)
Owners: Becca Moores & Sam Speakman & Jason Lynn
GROUP 10
Afghan Hound
Tells Kjavu It’s About Time (Sweden)
Owners: Brett Hamilton & Noriko Yamada
Afghan Hound
Zaida Bint Muti von Haussman (Chile)
Bred and owned by Ramon Podesta
