Saija Juutilainen - Finnland - "Wallaby's" Salukis
Dogs have been a significant part of my every day life since the 60’s. From this, you can probably easily conclude that I’m already an above-mid-age, passionate dog enthusiasts. My grandparents had a few Lassie-like herding dogs and later a Welsh Corgi in their days. At home, we had everything from Karelian Bear Dogs to Pinschers.
We got our first Saluki in 1980 and started breeding them in 1984. To this day, we’ve had 28 litters and I’ve also bred one Pinscher litter in 1979. The Saluki is in all regards “the one” breed for me, even though I sometimes feel I don’t have enough hands when we meet familiar dogs or people on walks – not to mention cats and rabbits! The intelligence and ease of Salukis make daily life comfortable, and, on the other hand, their independence and stubbornness make my blood pressure go up to a suitable level from time to time.
Today, my work at the Customs, judging appointments, and hobbies fill my calendar for years ahead and take up a lot of my time. As a result, I do not breed actively for the time being – however, I like to follow the development of the breed and other breeders’ litters both at home as well as abroad.
I felt that studying to become a judge was a natural development for my dog hobby, since I’ve been active in different clubs my whole “dog life”. I’ve served as secretary, member of show committees, ring steward, and Chair of the Finnish Saluki Club in 1995–2003. Today, I’m in charge of educating new judges for the breed.
Studying different breeds and judging is continuous learning and therefore interesting. I find that it also gives one new points of view for understanding one’s own breed and to judging. The first time I judged Salukis was at an unofficial show in Sweden in 1997. From there, I got the idea of applying to a judges’ course. In 1999, I was qualified to judge Salukis and today, I am an all-breed judge.
Judging appointments have taken me and my family to several countries and after all those years Im so honoured and happy to judge my own breed in the Sighthound Festtival Donaueschingen – see you there.
Saija Juutilainen
Andrej Kerpan - Slowenien
My name is Andrej Kerpan, I am an FCI International judge both for lure coursing and conformation, being licensed for FCI groups IV and X, as well as for 10 breeds of group V. The first breed I became involved with was the Irish Wolfhound. At that time, I gave priority to showing and took part in many shows around Europe with very pleasing results. My dogs went BIS several times, with one of them achieving the World Champion title (Vienna 1996). But I love a good challenge too, so I also trained my wolfhounds for obedience until we got the first obedience certificate ever awarded to a sighthound in the history of Slovenia. I am now focused on Whippets and with my dogs I take part in show and coursing events on a regular basis with excellent results. For example in 2015 one of my whippets became European Coursing Champion at her very first European championship event, at the age of 20 months. I have been a member of the Sighthound Club of Slovenia for a very long time. Additionally, I have been a member of its Board for over 20 years and I am still a member of the coursing committee. In this function, I have been one of the promoters of lure coursing from its very start in Slovenia, and have successfully organised many International coursing events in my country and abroad. In the last few yearspast I have been lecturing in the fields of Lure Coursing and breeds of FCI Group X and been invited to host dedicated seminars for Lure Coursing enthusiasts in several European and non-European countries. Besides, I have been publishing articles about dogs on a regular basis in the authoritative Slovenian scientific magazin for juniors Moj Planet. rent countries My judging appointments in Lure Coursing include 5 European Coursing Championships and two World Coursing Championship. I have officiated as a conformation judge in over 20 different countries, mainly at Sighthounds Specialties, as well as at the European dog show 2025. Judging at Sighthound Festival Donaueschingen 2026 will be a great honour, and I am sincerely looking forward to this global top-level event.
Andreja Novak -Slowenien - "Ninochka's" Barsois
Dogs have been my companions since I was a little girl, as our family always had a dog. Usually they were German Shepherds – because they were my father’s dogs.
For my 18th birthday, I was able to choose a breed myself, and so in 1988, Marizela – Kim, a borzoi female, entered my world, and she became the foundation bitch for my kennel Ninochka’s Borsois.
Kim was also the reason I entered cynology, more precisely the world of Sighthounds. In 1991, the first litter was born in the kennel Ninochka’s Borsois, and 11 litters have been born to date.
In 1993, we founded the Sighthound Club of Slovenia and began developing and promoting Sighthounds. As a member of the board, and for several years also as president, I actively participated in the development of the club: organizing shows and coursing events.
In 2001, I became a judge for the X FCI group. I am also the first Slovenian judge for Lure coursing, and I also prepared the first rules so that we could start this wonderful sport in Slovenia.
I was also a member of the board of the Slovenian Kennel Club, I led the project of the European Dog Show 2010 in Slovenia, I was the president of the Sighthound breeding commission for almost 30 years, and today I am the president of the Sighthound Sports Commission at the Sighthound Club of Slovenia and the Slovenian delegate to the CSS.
Borzois have been my companions continuously since 1988. I participate in shows, I compete with them in coursing competitions, Kim was the first Slovenian Sighthound (at that time still in Yugoslavia) to obtain a racing license.
Dogs from our kennel win titles and championships both at shows and in coursing competitions – which I am very proud of.
As a judge, I have judged shows and coursings across Europe, Scandinavia, Russia and Australia.
Together with my family I live in a small village, Podkogelj, only 30 km away from Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana. We all enjoy the countryside: my husband and our two sons, and of course, at least 3 borzois,not to mention the other animals that keep us company: from cats to chickens.
My hobbies are handicrafts of all kinds, the garden and enjoying nature with my loved ones.
I am happy because Sighthounds have been a part of my life for almost 40 years and I am really looking forward to the weekend in Donaueshingen!
Thank you very much for the invitation,
Yours, Andreja Novak
Dominik Rudolph - Deutschland - "Rumford" Greyhounds
Dear sighthound lovers,
Thank you very much for the invitation to judge the Italian Sighthounds and the Irish Wolfhounds at the Sighthound Festival Donaueschingen on the 8th and 9th August 2026.
I feel honoured to be judging in Donaueschingen for the very first time. And right away, the smallest and the tallest sighthounds – that’s a special treat for me. Particularly the Italian Sighthound (PLI) which I love with its unique elastic gait characteristics and lively temperament. Or the impressive Irish Wolfhound who should have substance and elegance in an ideal greyhound-like combination is always for me a great pleasure to watch.
When looking back to my own career path in the dog world I unfortunately wasn’t born into a dog-loving household and was afraid of dogs as a child. In my family my grandfather was a forester and always had wire-haired dachshunds, all of which were called Burga. Thanks to Burga 4 and Burga 5, it was no longer a problem, and they always accompanied my grandfather and me on our hiking tours through the Allgäu Alps.
Things changed completely when I met my partner Barbara Keßler almost 25 years ago. At that time, she had a Whippet and a Greyhound, and I was infected with the so-called greyhound virus relatively quickly. Together with Barbara, her Greyhound female ‘Vivian’ (Int DE VDH AT CH Rhetsgis Tell The World) and the male ‘Mika’ (SBIS Int DE VDH AT CH Joasis The Hunter), which we acquired a little later, we travelled almost all over Europe to take part in all the major Greyhound speciality shows. Including the magnificent Skokloster Summer Show in Sweden, the Greyhound Nationale d’Elevage in France, the Raduno die Primavera in Italy and the Crufts Dog Show in Birmingham, to name just a few. And of course, not to forget Donaueschingen every year! There we quickly were also involved in the Team Donaueschingen with setting up and dismantling the meanwhile biggest sighthound show in Germany. In 2015, we also travelled together to the USA to visit the traditional Morris & Essex Dog Show and the Eastern Specialty of the Greyhound Club of America. In addition to these unforgettable moments, we also visited many breeders to learn about their breeding strategies and simply to see how they do things.
Our kennel, Rumford, has been registered with the FCI since 2007, and we bred seven litters of Greyhounds since then. After the first four litters, which were predominantly Show-Greyhounds, we have added two outcross combinations, in which we have mated genuine coursing Greyhounds with our lines. With these results we concentrate now on crossing back to rare Greyhound lines to enrich the meanwhile limited gene pool.
Since 2015, I am authorised to judge Greyhounds, Whippets and Italian Sighthounds under DWZRV, VDH and FCI-regulations, and since 2021, Deerhounds and Irish Wolfhounds have been added to the list. Since beginning of 2025 I am continuing with the oriental sighthound breeds. With a keen eye on the long history of sighthounds, and the breed type and its own character to be preserved, I pay particular attention to their intended purpose. Visits to racetracks or coursing events are a matter of course for me, and I am especially delighted when I encounter functional, typical and well-balanced sighthounds.
Now I am very pleased to be able to judge your hounds and would like to remind you that you are all showing me the most beautiful dog, regardless of my decision!
I am looking forward to seeing you in Donaueschingen.
Many thanks and best regards,
Dominik Rudolph
Hanna Wozna-Gil - Polen - "Festina" Irish Wolfhounds & Deerhounds
I began my adventure with pedigree dogs and dog shows in 1996 when the first irish wolfhound female arrived at my home. After several years I imported a few more wolfhounds and deerhounds from leading kennels in Europe. I have been breeding successfully these two breeds under ”Festina” kennel name for almost 25 years gaining the champion, interchampion, club winner, specialty winner, breed congress winner titles, European & World Sighthound Cup Winners and also European Winner title. Among the most unforgettable moments was winning World Winner title with my Chart Polski in Poznan in 2006 where the numer of entries in the breed reached the never beaten record of over 80 dogs. Nowadays I share my life with wolfhounds and whippets whose character and playful nature fascinate me more and more. My experience as a breeder did not go unnoticed and was appreciated by the Polish Kennel Club by inviting me to become a member of the breeding comission.
I have been a cynological judge since 2008 and I am authorised to judge all breeds from group IV, V, VIII, X, non-recognized breeds and Junior Handling competition on international level. I am also on my way to gain qualifications to judge dogs from group VII. So far I have judged at many prestigious dog shows in Poland and other European countries. I am also engaged into sighthound racing and coursing, . I am also an FCI delegate for sighthound racing and I am authorised to judge sighthound races aa well as lure coursing
Hanna Woźna-Gil