The Finnish Kennel Club celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2014. The theme of the jubilee year is Good living with dogs. This theme is a visible aspect in many Finnish Kennel Club events, such as the pop-up museum exhibition organised to mark the jubilee year.

The Finnish Kennel Club was established on 11 May 1889, when a group of dog and hunting enthusiasts convened to found our precursor organisation Suomen Kennelklubi. Over the decades, the canine hobby has been embraced by the entire nation and Finland is today home to more than 650,000 dogs. This popularity is also demonstrated by the Finnish Kennel Club's membership growth – by the beginning of 2014, the number of members had reached a record 150,015.

At first, the Club's main task was to maintain a canine studbook, i.e. a register of dogs. The first studbook was released in 1894 and it mentioned 275 dogs, whereas the Finnish Kennel Club nowadays registers some 50,000 dogs each year.

Two canine-themed books will be published during the jubilee year. A 125th anniversary history of the Finnish Kennel Club by Kaija Unhola was released in February and a book written by Tapio Eerola about Finland's domestic breeds comes out in August.

History of the Finnish Kennel Club by Kaija Unhola

A pop-up exhibition has also been compiled to mark the jubilee year. It was on display at the FCI World Dog Show in hall 6.

The early days of the Finnish Kennel Club were in the hands of the “gentlemen hunters”. Women were allowed to join only in 1922 and have gradually become more active and powerful since then. Proof of this is provided by the current state of affairs: the Finnish Kennel Club is, for the first time in its history, being led by women, with Helena Suni chairing the Board and Eeva Anttinen serving as Council chair.