Judging

I live in Naantali, a small seaside city in the Southwest part of Finland, very close to Turku.


I was granted the kennel name Trucker’s in 1995 and the first litter saw daylight in 1997. So far, I have bred poodles with my kennel name in all sizes, in the colors apricot, red, black and white, and also cirneco dell’etnas. At the moment, I only have cirneco dell’etnas at home and all the poodles live in cooperative
families.

I am actively involved in association activities, serving as a chairman of The Finnish Italian Greyhound & Cirneco Dell’Etna Club, secretary of the Breeding Committee of The Finnish Sighthound Club and member of the board of The Finnish Dog Show Judges’ Society. I also work as a regional instructor in the kennel district of Southwest Finland, and as a microchip applier and DNA sampler at The Finnish Kennel Club.

With my own dogs I have participated in dog shows and trained obedience, rally-obedience, agility, track racing, lure coursing, pack coursing and blood tracking tests. Since I now only have cirneco dell’etnas at my home, my current hobbies are dog shows and racing & coursing events. In 2022 I was awarded The Finnish Kennel Club’s Vuolasvirta-award and in 2023 The Finnish Dog Breeders Club’s award for successful breeding of cirneco dell’etnas.

Photo: Paula Heikkinen-Lehkonen

I qualified as a judge in 2019. Naturally my first breed was poodles, which I started my journey with in 1991. I am also qualified for my other own breed, cirneco dell’etna. In addition to this, I currently have qualifications for other breeds in FCI groups 5, 9, and 10, as well as few breeds not recognized by FCI. I am also qualified as a group judge for FCI groups 5, 9 and 10 in national dog shows.

I always look for a balanced dog, which has unexaggerated appearance in accordance with the breed standard, with typical behavior for the breed, with correct movements and coat of the right quality. In addition, I consider it’s important that the dog is suitable for its original purpose in every way.