The Finnish Toy Dog Association's annual championship show for 2006 drew an entry of 1026 dogs. Breeds are included from the UK Toy Group and the FCI Group 9 (Companion dogs). The show was held in the beautiful Kaivopuisto Park in the diplomatic quarter of Helsinki. This show is the largest Toy and Non-sporting event in the Nordic region. The show has broken previous records with an entry of 1026 dogs. The largest entries were in Chinese Crested Dogs (105 dogs), Havanese (88 dogs) and Pugs (87 dogs).

The committee is headed by an extremely impressive lady president by the name of Kirsti Lummelampi. It is rumoured that she is one of the 3 most influential dog people in Finland. We were treated like royalty. As we arrived at the airport we were met by Kirsti, handed a personalized itinerary, and sent to the hotel by taxi. The panel consisted of 14 judges from the UK, the USA, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Finland and, of course, South Africa.

I want to mention the judges, as this always interests me. They were Paolo Dondina (Italy), Edd Bivin (USA), Jan Törnblom (Sweden), Elsbeth Clerc (Switzerland), Christa Klotz (Germany), Hans Lehtinen (Finland), Rainer Vuorinen (Finland), Kari Järvinen (Finland), Norman Butcher (UK), Sheila Gunn (UK), Janet Knowles (UK), Heather Simper (UK), Nancy Tarbitt (UK) and myself.

I judged Papillons, Phalenes, Japanese Chins, Pekingese, Löwchen, Maltese and Yorkshire Terriers - some truly outstanding dogs. My BOB Maltese was a dog from Sweden with an exquisite head and outline, my BOB Papillon was out of this world and my Löwchen breeder's group included my BOB and BOS, and won Best Breeder's Group in Show under Hans Lehtinen.

In Finland you do a full written critique on each dog and each dog is graded. You have a ring steward and a scribe. My scribe sat at a table next to my judging table and I started dictating my critique as I went over each dog. Then I moved the dog, graded it and whilst the ring steward was handing out grading ribbons, I completed the movement section of my critique. After every breed, exhibitors come to collect one copy of their critique and the other copy is sent to be published by the Finnish Kennel Club. Even though this takes a lot of time, I think it is an excellent system. Firstly, my exhibitors could listen to what I have to say (they would get to read it afterwards anyway, no secrets here) and they could assess me as a judge as much as I assess their dogs. Secondly, a judge could hardly find a lot right with one dog and some bits missing in another and place them incorrectly in the class. I would love to see this introduced to aspirant judges in South Africa at open shows. Wouldn't you just love to hear what they have to say about your dog?! I had a few exhibitors smile as I critiqued and nod. This is breeding stock evaluation at its best!

BIS was judged by Paolo Dondina and was a Tibetan Spaniel.