Internationality has always been an important part of the Finnish Kennel Club’s activities

The Finnish Kennel Club did not yet exist when dog-related hobbies first gained popularity internationally. According to various sources, “grey partridge dogs”, which were probably German shorthaired pointers, were brought to Finland from St. Petersburg in the 1850s. In the 1870s, the English setter “Ajax” was brought to our country from an imperial kennel and English setters were brought from Sweden for several gentlemen who were involved in grey partridge hunting. In the late 1800s, setters and pointers began to be imported from England, as pure-bred dogs were better hunting dogs than dogs of mixed origin.

The Finnish Kennel Club was founded in 1889. We are one of the oldest national kennel associations in the world. The first code of the Finnish Kennel Club mentions the import of pure-bred dogs as breeding dogs as one of the purposes of its activities. Thus, as early as the 1890s, the breed range began to broaden in Finland, even though the majority of pedigree dogs were still gun dogs and hounds. 
 

We are one of the oldest national kennel associations in the world.

In addition to performance tests, the Kennel Club’s early hobby activities included dog shows based on the English model. In fact, the Kennel Club has been organising international dog shows from the very beginning.

In 1896, Finnish barking gun dogs, setters of three breeds, pointers, Finnish, Swedish and Russian hounds, dachshunds, fox terriers, borzois, St Bernards, and bulldogs were presented at the Finnish Kennel Club’s fourth international show. Finnish dogs were registered for shows in both Stockholm and St. Petersburg, and according to show reports in the Kennel Club journal, there was an active exchange of judges between Sweden and Finland right from the 1890s. 

In the early 1900s, there was also a lot of contact with Germany and the rest of the Nordic countries. England remained an important import country for dogs and an example in the kennel hobby. In a historical photograph from 1902, the renowned English pointer and setter breeder and historian William Arkwright is seen judging English setters at a show held in Helsinki.

This is how it began, and we are still strongly promoting internationality in 2025. The international FCI World Dog Show (WDS) will be held in Helsinki for the third time in August. Before the show, we will also organise the General Assembly of the International Canine Federation FCI in Helsinki.