This year's FCI World Dog Show, which is being organised by the Finnish Kennel Club, may become the world's largest canine event if registrations keep coming in so strongly. Some 12,000 dogs have already been signed up now that the initial registration period has ended. The FCI World Dog Show takes place at Messukeskus, Expo & Convention Centre in Helsinki on 8-10 August 2014. The final deadline for entering a dog is 9 July.

“Registrations got off to an excellent start. I noticed that almost 4,000 dogs were entered during the last day of the initial sign-up stage. The Finnish Kennel Club's system held up well under this load, which peaked at nearly 600 dogs per hour,” says Finnish Kennel Club CEO Markku Mähönen.

Kari Järvinen, Chairman of the FCI World Dog Show's Exhibition Committee, is also pleased with how enthusiastically entries have started coming in for the year's top event. “Finland is a major canine nation on the international level with some 200,000 dog show entries recorded each year, and this is a unique opportunity to demonstrate our competence to the world.”

“The reputation of Finnish breeders and dogs has already spread around the world. It is a big deal to take part in the world's most prestigious canine event, as it will be a long time before a dog show of this significance comes to Finland again. The Finnish Kennel Club was granted this year's FCI World Dog Show in honour of our 125th jubilee year. I challenge both Finnish dog owners and dog owners from all around the world to participate in our event. Let's make this the biggest FCI World Dog Show of all time,” Mr. Järvinen exclaims.

The entry process for the dog show is staggered and three entry categories remain open for registration. The next stage of entries must be made by 16 June and only online entries will be accepted in the last two stages. The final category of entries will close on 9 July. Domestic breeds, i.e. the Finnish Spitz, Finnish Hound, Karelian Bear Dog, Finnish Lapphund and Lapponian Herder, can enter the show free of charge. Our aim is to encourage owners of these domestic breeds to participate in the event in great numbers – we want to showcase Finland's fine domestic breeds to the entire world.

The FCI World Dog Show was held in Finland once before, in 1998. That year's show was a great success and established a standard for the organising of the FCI World Dog Show for all other canine nations. About 16,000 dogs, a record number for the time, competed in the 1998 FCI World Dog Show. Each year, 69 canine nations compete for the privilege to organise the FCI World Dog Show.

The Finnish Kennel Club counts among the world elite in the organising of dog shows. In total, 23,000 dogs were entered in last December's Koira 2013 event, which attracted some 50,000 visitors.

Further information:
The Finnish Kennel Club
Kaija Unhola, PR and Marketing Director
Tél. +358 50 432 084