Eeva Rautala

Finland

Since my childhood I have been very interested in dogs. My first Labrador Retriever was born in 1968. The following year I started to compete in dog shows and various trials. In summer 1971 I went to England to work at the famous Poolstead Labrador kennels and to learn about the British dog shows, and since then often visited Crufts and other dog shows, and also the Retriever Championship Field Trial in UK. During the years I have been involved in many different activities of the dog world, the Breed Clubs and the Finnish Kennel Club, currently being member of FKC Breed Standard committee. In 1980 I was one of the founders of the Finnish Labrador Club, and served as its Chairman for 10 years and was a Member the Board for 30 years. Dogs also became my profession as a veterinarian. After graduating from the university, I started breeding Labrador Retrievers under the prefix Wetten. Labradors have been a big part of my life for over 50 years, and at present I have Medium size Poodle at home. In 1979 I became authorized FCI dog show judge for Labradors and Chesapeake Bay Retrievers. Nowadays I judge over 150 breeds: all breeds in FCI groups 3, 4, 7, 8 and 9, half of the group 2, and some in groups 1 and 5. During the 40 plus years of judging career I have had the great pleasure to judge at many interesting dog shows in 30 different countries, of which 27 in Europe, including Great Britain and Russia, and also in USA, Australia and New Zealand. I want to thank the Finnish Kennel Club for the invitation to judge at the Helsinki World Dog Show in 2025, and am very much looking forward to this. It will be my fourth WDS judging appointment, the first one was Helsinki WDS in 1998.