Kristiine Uspenski
Estonia
My name is Kristiine Uspenski, 47 years old. As long as I remember myself I have been always surrounded by the animals. Dealing with them has attracted me in early youth. Eventhough we lived in the town, we always had some animals – guinea pig, hamster, dogs. When I was 13 I started riding, mainly show jumping. I was actively involved with the horses for 13 years, 7 years of it as a coach for children and horse trainer. At one point I realized that riding actively and competing with the horses is not so easy when you have family and just riding on Sundays – this was not exciting for me. Life without animals seems impossible to me. In 2002 I took my first pure bred dog – 2 years old French bulldog. Such a great breed! 2005 I saw cute and irresistible Samoyed puppy and the emotional decision was made – we will have a Samoyed in our family! My first samoyed was from Estonia, from kennel Pilgrimage – WW, EW, VWW, Crufts Winner, MULTI CH, MULTI BISS Pilgrimage Snow Ball “Yeti”. She was the one who made me fall in love with that intelligent and beautiful breed. So, it did not take a long time when I decided to start breeding and registered my own kennel in 2006. In 2008 we had the first litter and for now we have had 32 litters. It is clear that I don´t want to do breeding as a job, but as a hobby. This is also the reason we have small home kennel with only 3-5 dogs.
We have bred agility, obidence, sledge, therapy and family Samoyeds, but the most we try to focus on show dogs. For me dog show is a hobby which brings good emotions, the best company and excitement into our lives, winnings are just bonus. During these almost 18 years of our kennel existance, we have been quite lucky with the bonuses – 11 World Winner and 4 European Winner titles, 1 Crufts Winner, many Best In Show and Best In Speciality Show Winners. Plus multiple Champions from all over the world. Continuing as a dog show judge was a natural “next step” as the interest of seeing dogs closer also inside the ring was just growing bigger and bigger. From 2017 I´m also Estonian Kennel Union judge for the breeds from 5th and 8th groups. From 2020 I have right to judge also in CACIB shows.
I believe that good things will happen when you put your heart into the thing you do.