Agility judges

Jari Suomalainen

I am just over 50 years old and an agility judge from Riihimäki. I got hooked on agility during my studies in Jyväskylä in the late 90s (in 1994).

I live in Riihimäki with my wife and two dogs (kooikerhondjes). I started practicing agility with my dalmatian dogs. My greatest achievements in agility came with my kooikerhondje Frodon. We competed for several years at the national and international levels. Throughout my long career, we won gold medals in individual and team competitions at the World Championships (WC), European Open (EO), Nordic Championships (PM), and Finnish Championships (SM), as well as several other medals.

I became an agility judge in 2013, and since then, I have been judging actively both in Finland and abroad. When designing courses, I aim to create fast and safe courses for both the dog and the handler. I try to make the courses as smooth and fair as possible for the dog. The type of line the handler gets largely depends on the skills taught to the dog.

See you in Mikkeli!

Maria Martin

I am a multi-sport enthusiast from Rovaniemi, and in addition to agility, team sports have taken me across Finland and remain an important part of my hobbies. I have been involved in agility for nearly twenty years. You may have seen me – or at least heard me – at competition venues with Finnish Lapphunds. Currently, my pack includes 7-year-old Nexus and retired Nanuk, whose early years of agility were spent competing in Sweden. I became an agility judge in May 2023.

In my course design, I aim for fast and safe courses that can be performed with various handling techniques.

Of all my judging experiences, the most memorable was having the honor of judging the junior JSP-SM courses in Rovaniemi in the summer of 2023, right after I became a judge.

See you in Mikkeli at the St Michel Nordic Open!

Banner: Essi Rahikainen