Judges

Anders Virtanen

Hi!

My name is Anders and I live in Jakobstad, a small town on the west coast of Finland. I work as a dentist and my family consists of my wife Marica, two grown up children Jan and Tom and three dogs; two border collies and a kooikerhondje.

I was first introduced to agility in 1989. My first agility dog was a golden retriever and over the years I have trained and competed in the highest class with three different dogs. A couple of years ago, when I didn’t have a competing dog of my own, I decided to dedicate more time to other sectors of agility, such as judging. At the moment I train and compete with my kooikerhondje Zåia in class 1.

I have been an international agility judge since 1995 and the most important judging appointment so far was at the European Open in Rieden, Germany in 2015. In 2008 and 2019 I was assistant judge at FCI Agility World Championships. I have, during the years been judging in 19 different countries.

In addition to judging, I also work in different roles in my own club, the Finnish Kennel Club and the Finnish Agility Association.

I am very honoured to have been chosen as one of the judges at the very first FCI World Championships for Juniors that in addition will be held in my own home country.

I wish all competitors luck and success in the competition! And always remember to enjoy the moment and to have fun with your dogs!

Looking forward meeting you all in Vantaa!

Anders Virtanen

Petr Pupík

Hello my agility friends!

Thank you very much for the opportunity to judge the Junior Open Agility World Championship 2022 in Finland, I am really happy about that.

First of all I would like to introduce myself. My name is Petr Pupík, I am 34 years old and I live in a small village, Kunice (you probably know it :), close to Brno with my family and two Tollers.

I started doing agility 11 years ago with my Beagle Tim. Now I have 9 year old Jenny and one and two years old puppy Tulla.

I became a judge 6 years ago. In 2017 I judged the Agility World Championship in the Czech Republic. Thanks to this I have had the opportunity to judge in 22 countries around the world. From all the competitions I have judged I would like to mention the Moravia Open (2017), Norwegian Open (2016, 2018), Avallon cup (2017), Dania cup (2017), Sextouples Euskadi (2018), Hulahopp Sweden (2018), Hungarian Open (2018), Swiss national championship (2019) and tryouts for European Open and Agility World Championship in many countries.

As a judge I like designing and building fast fluent courses with technical parts, on which you can see a real connection between handlers and their dogs.

Besides agility I like math and geometry. I organize several math competitions for children. I also enjoy folding origami.

Thank you very much and I am really looking forward to JOAWC 2022! I hope, we will enjoy this nice competition together.

See you soon!

Petr

Reetta Pirttikoski

Hello!

I’m Reetta Pirttikoski, a 40-year-old lady from Eurajoki, Finland. My husband Teemu and I have a Border collie and a Spanish waterdog at home. I train and compete actively with both of them. I have been an FCI agility judge since 2013 and have been judging in Finland and abroad ever since.

I’m really happy and honored to be part of JOAWC 2022. In my courses, you need a balance of speed and skills. I like to offer different handling options and love to test obstacle skills, but still, the most important thing is to see handlers and dogs enjoy my courses and have fun!

Reetta

Arto Laitinen

Hello !

I am Arto Laitinen, former software engineer. I live in Lahti, European Green Capital 2021. My family consist of my wife and three border collies. Our grownup daughters live nearby us so they and their children are regularly part of our life.

My first dog was bearded collie. At that time I competed only occasionally, but later when I got my first border collie, I started to train and compete regularly. Currently I am training with my youngest border collie born on June 2021.

I have been a judge since 2013. I have been judging in Finnish championships, European Open qualifiers and Finnish indoor championships. I feel honoured to be an assistant judge at JOAWC2022.

I'm looking forward to meet you all at JOAWC in Vantaa. Hopefully we can together enjoy this fine competition and summery weather in Finland.

Arto

Jessi Landen

Hello everyone,

I am Jessi Landen, agility judge and mother of three children from Lohja, Finland. My family includes seven people, many dogs and a cat - Bruno.

I myself started agility as a teenager and competed quite actively with my own and loan dogs, especially before I started judging.

I have been a judge since 2016. I judge both in Finland and abroad. Last year I’ve been judging in the Finnish Games championships, European Open qualifiers and Finnish indoor championships. This year I have the honor to be judge at the Finnish Championships and an assistant judge at JOAWC. I will also be judging in the World Championships qualifiers in Spain!

I look forward to the JOAWC competition!

I am always happy to see hungry and skilled youngsters working seamlessly together with their dog. The sport is sensitive, and mistakes sometimes occur, but the best part is when the handler and the dog enjoy the collaboration with all their heart – no matter what!

I warmly welcome all competitors from all over the world to Finland to compete!

We have a beautiful country with a lot to see and do. You surely will enjoy the flowing courses of the top judges as well as the wonderful arrangements of our experienced national agility association which will do its best to make your competition great.

All the best to the race and stay healthy so we can meet in July 2022!

-Jessi

Marja Lahikainen

Hello,

My name is Marja Lahikainen and I live in Mikkeli which is a small town in eastern Finland. My family consists of my husband Pasi and our three sons of whom only one still lives with us. We have three dogs, a labrador retriever Retu and parson russell terriers Jori and Loru. My hobbies are knitting, handycrafts and reading. I also like to spend time at our summer cottage and hike around the forests with my dogs.

I work as a teacher at Otava Primary School and Jori is my work mate once a week. You can get to know him better at ig @koulukoirajori if you like.

Agility became part of my life in 1992 when I started training with our groenendaels. Ever since that I have trained and competed with my dogs. I also coach others regularly here in Mikkeli. I became a judge in 2002 and from that on I have been judging in Finland. I have been assistant judge several times for example in the Finnish Championships, National Team Tryouts and EO qualifiers.

I’m happy and honoured to be part of JOAWC 2022. I’m looking forward to seeing you enjoying and having fun on course together with your dogs. I wish you all good luck and joyful moments here in Finland!

Marja Lahikainen