Editorial: July 25, 2025
The World Dog Shows are run under the wings of the FCI. Each year, a different member host country takes on the huge expense and responsibility of putting on a world-class dog show. While the FCI is a first-class international canine social club, they don't do nearly enough to fight for and financially support member kennel clubs from countries around the world being attacked by animal-rights groups that want to make it harder or impossible to breed purebred dogs. In a few weeks, the 2025 World Dog Show will once again take place in Helsinki, Finland. Some countries do it better than others, and Finland is at the top of the list. Of all the World Dog Shows we have attended, the Finnish Kennel Club’s was the most organized and best run. World Shows are a great opportunity for us here at home to visit foreign countries and see large numbers of breeds of dogs we are unfamiliar with. Thanks to its reputation for running a first-class event, Finland always draws an enviable entry, this year in spite of its neighboring Russia at war with Ukraine and the breed restrictions put on many breeds throughout Europe that have banned them from exhibition. The entry for the specialties preceding the World Dog Show totals 23,851. As is the tradition of every FCI member country that hosts the World Dog Show, the judging panel heavily favors their own judges. This year’s panel includes judges from Iceland to South Africa, and we have three Americans on the panel in Doug Johnson, Scott Pfeil and James Donahue. The three-day event concludes on Sunday with the following judges: Best Pair, Vija Klucniece from Latvia; Best Junior, Frank Kane from the United Kingdom; Best Veteran, Laurent Pichard from Switzerland; Best Breeder, Annukka Paloheimo from Finland, and the Best in Show judge Harri Lehkonen, the former board chairman of the Finnish Kennel Club. Some of the larger entries include Labrador Retrievers, 209; Finnish Lapponian Dogs, 192; Dalmatians, 152; Golden Retrievers, 146; Staffordshire Bull Terriers, 144; Lagotti Romagnoli and Shetland Sheepdogs, both 142; Rough Collies, 135; Cocker Spaniels, 128; Irish Setters, 122; Salukis, 120; Australian Shepherds and Rhodesian Ridgebacks, 119; Basenjis, 115; Whippets, 110; Russell Terriers, 109; Chinese Cresteds and Pembroke Welsh Corgis, 108; and Lapponian Herders and Longhaired Chihuahuas, 106. For those attending this year, have a pleasant trip, and for those planning ahead, the 2026 show will be held in Bologna, Italy, on June 4 to 7, 2026, followed by Wels, Austria, on May 27 to 30, 2027.