About Us

We live outside a small village called Muhos near the city of Oulu in nothern part of Finland and in Oulu we also do our daily work. I'm working at the Oulu university hospital as an Operation Nurse. My husband Timo works at Oulun Energia as a Manager of Administration division. There are a few ponds near our house and in the autum time there are mallards to hunt. We also have very good possibilities to go for a walk in fields and forests.  My first contact to english springer spaniel was in my childhood home about 40 years ago. When I was 9 years old (1963)  my parents bought a dog from Swedish kennel. The dog's name was Int & Fin&S Ch Fin W-65 Granhammars Merrimack  "Emppu". Then my mother imported  two bitches from England: Majeb Maybee and Baba of Bramhope . We had a few litters then and it was I who stayed at  home to look after the delivery, so no school that day!!! "Yes!", I  thought  then!!!

So our first ess with Timo came to us in 1984 and nowadays we have 5-6 springers at home. All dogs are living with us - or we are living with them! Dogs belong to our daily life and we take an interest with dogs for example by going to shows, field trials, tracking and hunting (I've had a hunting license since 1989). We usually have one or two dogs which are competiting in tracking and nowadays it`s Baskethill`s Golden Blossom. She needs only two more 1 prizes in winning class to become a Tracking Champion. Our kennelname was approved in 1985. We have a very small kennel and we have puppies approximately every two or three years.

My other intrest is gardening, especially roses and we also grow some vegetables. We have had best results with garlic, onions, tomatoes and peppers. We also grow berries (strawberries and currants) and have fruit trees like perry, apple, cherry and plum. All this only about 200 kilometres south from the Arctic Circle!

In the dog world I'm a member of the following associations: Suomen Spanieliliitto ry, Springerspanielit ry and Pohjois-Suomen Spanielikerho ry where I have been chair for 9 years now. I'm also a member of the board in Pohjois-Pohjanmaan kennelpiiri ry for a third season. I was a member of the Breeding Committee of Suomen Spanieliliitto for about 5 years.

I've been a qualified judge of the Spaniels' Field trial test since 1992.  In Finland spaniels need to pass that test to get the Finnish Champion title.

Apart from showing my dogs I've been a member of numerous Show Committees organizing All Breed National and International  Dog Shows. I've been a qualified Ring Assistant for about 15 years now and still like to work in the ring now and them beacuse it gives a whole different perspective to Dog Shows. Some of the most joyous moments of my life have been in the show rings and travelling round Finland and other Nordic countries over the years. I've also made lots of new friends, some of them for a lifetime.

Muhos, 6.4.2003