Marjatta Pylvänäinen-Suorsa

Finland

Dogs have always been part of my life. When I was child, our dogs took part both in shows and in working tests. We had German Shepherd for Working, Small Münsterländer for hunting ja a Schipperke was our first companion dog. Both my grandfathers were hunters with Finnish Spitz and Karelian Bear Dog. in the beginning of 1970’s I bought my first Afghan Hound. With this breed I was involved both with showing and coursing. This breed took me into the show world for good even if I had visited shows already during many years. Soon our team was increased with Tibetan Terrier – a breed that I bred from the late 1970’s till mid of 1990’s. After this I bred a couple of Tibetan Spaniel litters. My breeding was only on small scale and our dogs have been more or less our companions of which some very successful in shows. Currently we have at home a very perky Cairn Terrier. I got my judging license in 1982 for Tibetan Terrier and Tibetan Spaniel. At the moment I can judge all breeds of the FCI groups 1,5,6,7,8,9 and 10 and for almost all breeds of groups 2 and 3. In the past I have been actively involved with local dog clubs, show committees and kennel district but nowadays judging takes so much time, that other dog hobbies are more or less behind. If I have some spare time I do some handicraft, take outdoor exercise, travel and read books. Besides dogs a very important object of interest is development aid. I have raised funds for a Tanzanian school and I have taken part to build it and also to teach there. The climax of the latest project was to climb up to the Kilimanjaro.