• KENNEL:

  Perhaps

• FCI:

  Terriers

Fluent in English, Swedish and Finnish, Veli-Pekka is one of the youngest judges in Finland, but he has been actively involved with dogs all his life. As a child, his parents used to have a Collie and his neighbour, who was a remarkable breeder, introduced him to the world of show dogs. He purchased his first own Westie in 1979, and that changed his life. As a youngster, he worked as a kennel boy in several famous Terrier kennels in different countries and learned how to trim and groom. He has handled successfully dogs in every breed group in shows. Now he has his own trimming and grooming institute "Petwell". Also in the army, he served as a handler and trainer of the military dogs. He has been a very successful breeder of Westies and later on also Scotties, and has exported dogs to more than 10 different countries. Veli-Pekka has been awarded the Vuolasvirta Plaque of the Finnish Kennel Club for successful breeding, being the youngest breeder ever to gain this merit. He also has the Golden Badge of the Finnish Westie Club and Finnish Dog Breeder Club's Golden Plaque. Apart from Finland, he has judged in Denmark, England, Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden. He is qualified to judge all breeds in Group 3, and most breeds in Groups 1, 2 and 9.