Despite the passage of time and the multitude of activities, I still recall my trip to the Lion Dog Club Show in Finland at the Harjattulla manor, organized by Suomem Lowchen Finlands Lowchen ry on June 30, 2024. In Finland, Norway and Sweden there is a very cool practice (how worthy of imitation! I think) that club shows are judged by Lowchens breeders invited from other countries. At these shows, each dog receives a description and the 1-4 best places in the class are selected. There are no customary grades and all descriptions and results are public. I really liked the division into classes at this show.Dogs and female dogs go separately, of course, except for one class. So there is a class of younger puppies, puppies, juniors 9-15 months, young dogs 15-2 years, adult dogs 2-7 years, veterans and the homechampion class (it usually includes dogs/female dogs that no longer take part in dog shows, they are usually cut short, but breeders and owners have the opportunity to show them at club dogshows. Dogs from this class also take part in the final competitions e.g. the best head, movement if they are nominated for this competition by the judge). There is no champion class. Breeders consider tclub dog show to be the biggest event in their breed and the rates of entered dogs are very large. So when I received an invitation to judge the Club Show in Harjattula in the fall, I couldn’t deny myself the opportunity to see and touch the best lion dogs in Finland! The emotions of waiting for the trip were huge and reached their peak after the closing of applications. 45 lion dogs were registered! Great joy and fear….. confrontation with long-time breeders… So let’s go
To Finland Two friends went with me -Aneta , co-breeder and co-owner of our lions, and Joanna, a lion lover, who is my linguistic support
During the entire stay, we were looked after by the wonderful Niina Savolainen, an excellent guide, host and organizer. Boundless thanks to you Niina
The show took place in the wonderful place Harjattula, lots of green space, lake, friendly people and beautiful dogs. On the Saturday evening before the club show, there was a joint dinner on the shore of the lake. The next day, on Sunday, at 10:00 the show started. I had the honor to see really beautiful dogs with great mentality. Wonderful puppies of both sexes with excellent prospects for the future, the youth and adult classes were great, lovely homechampion class and absolutely phenomenal veteran females in excellent condition, 5 of them! I will not describe the winners in detail here, but I will post a link to the results on the club’s website. I am extremely grateful to the organizers for the invitation and to the breeders and owners of Lowchens for so many applications. Thank you! It was a great honor and joy for me to see your beautiful dogs
It was not easy to choose a favorite and I would gladly take a few lions with me to Poland
Thank you
Salla Kuikka for the fantastic photos that will remind me of this special weekend