3rd to 11th August 2025 - Trip to the World Dog Show in Helsinki. Finland is a beautiful country, so the decision to participate in this year's major cynological event here was quick and very spontaneous. We're going and that's it!
Planning the trip was not difficult, reality does not offer us many options for how to get to Helsinki from the Czech Republic, unless you own a private jet. So all that remained was a car trip through Poland and the Baltic states. We covered a total of about 3,000 km, the trip took less than 48 hours there, with sleeping at night. The ferry ride from Tallinn to Helsinki took less than 3 hours. The return trip copied the trip there. We set off on Sunday and, given that we practically live on the border with Poland, we drove through Poland in one go with short breaks for Thor and the driver. The first accommodation was planned in the city of Kaunas in Lithuania. The next day we continued through the interior of Lithuania and Latvia to Riga, where we then followed the Baltic Sea coast to Estonia. We slept again in Tallinn and finally took the ferry to Helsinki on Tuesday morning.
Finland is a very "dogfriendly" country, just like the Czech Republic, with the only difference being that dog owners there are very responsible and take great care of their pets' welfare. Dogs are always kept on a leash here. They have fenced-in areas for running around on almost every corner, and you really can't step on dog excrement here. We have a lot to learn.
Photos - the journey there, the comfort in the car, small breaks on the coast and the ferry ride.
We arrived in Helsinki on Tuesday, August 5th around noon. There were two days left before the show carousel and stress, which were used for trips around the area, shopping and various meetings. Thori's daughter from the penultimate litter in Poland lives in Finland, so we couldn't miss meeting the owner Nina Hurti (kennel Rajattoman) and her amazing little female Verna (Herbatka We Dwoje Dyskusja Poland), who inherited an incredibly sweet expression from her father.
In addition to the World Dog Show, there was also the National Dog Show in Helsinki. Of course, we couldn't miss it, considering we had come such a long way.
The National Show was held on Friday 7th August 2025 and 108 Whippets were entered. The females were judged by Editha Newton (GB), the males were judged by breed specialist and breeder Susanne Oschinski (DE)(Whipcat kennel). Thor was entered into a well-filled open class with 11 other dogs. His second place is a great satisfaction for us, because for us he was simply the first (the class winner? he couldn't have been any other...) A beautiful judgment and CQ (quality certificate) are the most important for us.
Circut Shows Specialty at WDS Helsinky 2025
judge: Susanne Oschinski (DE)
open class: EXC. 2/ 12, CQ
Day 1 - photo National Exhibition
WORLD DOG SHOW Helsinky 2025
judge: Jarmo Vuorinen (FI)
open class: EXC.3 /13
Day 2 - photo World Exhibition
As I wrote above, the visit to Finland was not just about the exhibition, but mainly about seeing as much of Finland as possible. On our free days, we explored the surroundings of Helsinki, the adjacent islands and islets, between which there is a lively boat service. Thor surprisingly enjoyed this, because otherwise traveling is not a pleasant affair for him. He didn't mind the boat. There is a lot of greenery and forests everywhere, and in them, for example, houses and cable cars for squirrels, which are blessed everywhere. It was perfect that the weather was kind to us the whole time, in all the photos you can see beautiful sunny weather with pleasant temperatures.
On the way back home, already calm and relaxed after a successful show, we made several stops on the Baltic Sea coast and got our paws wet, even though Thor is not a big water lover.
SEE YOU on the next trip to the exhibitions!
