Saija Juutilainen

Finland

Since the 1960s, dogs have been an important part of my everyday life, which naturally makes it easy to conclude that I am a passionate dog enthusiast who has already passed middle age. In my childhood, my grandparents had a few “Lassie‑type” herding dogs and later a Welsh Corgi, and at home we always had dogs ranging from the Karelian Bear Dog to the German Pinscher.
We acquired our first Saluki in the autumn of 1980, and I began breeding in 1984. Since then, I have had a total of 28 litters, and I also bred one German Pinscher litter in the summer of 1979. Salukis are, in every way, my breed, even though on walks I sometimes feel like I don’t have enough hands when we encounter familiar dogs or people — not to mention cats and rabbits! The intelligence and ease of Salukis make daily life with them enjoyable, while their independence and stubbornness occasionally raise my blood pressure to a suitably lively level. Today, my work at Customs, along with judging assignments and hobbies, fills my calendar years in advance and takes up a large share of my time, so breeding has for the moment become a lesser priority — though I am still very interested in following the development of the breed and breeders’ litters both in Finland and abroad! Studying to become a conformation judge felt like a natural progression in my dog hobby, because throughout my “dog life” I have been actively involved in various club activities — as a secretary, a member of show committees, a ring steward, and I served as the chair of the Finnish Saluki Club from 1995 to 2003. Nowadays, I am responsible for training new conformation judges in the secrets of the breed. Studying and judging different breeds is a process of constant learning, which is why it is so interesting — and in my opinion, it offers new perspectives for understanding and evaluating my own breed as well. I judged Salukis for the first time in Sweden in 1997 at an unofficial show, and from that came the idea of applying for judge training! In the summer of 1999, I obtained my judging license for Salukis, and I currently judge all breeds. Judging appointments have taken me and my family to numerous countries around the world.