ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a form of modern companionship of dogs and humans – in practice, men – and their shared history as manifested and forged in dog shows, especially in regard to the very first nationwide Finnish dog show. Dog shows became popular in Great Britain in the mid-nineteenth century, in the wake of all manner of expositions, and they soon began to take place across Europe and North America. During the nineteenth century dog breeding was a fashionable and fickle enterprise. Many new breeds were introduced, alongside plentiful modifications to existing breeds. In Helsinki show, for example, certain dog breeds were referred to as Anglo-Swiss, Anglo-Swedish-Augustenburgian, German-Finnish and Anglo-German-Swedish. One of the dogs displayed in Helsinki, a Scottish Herding Dog, was actually said to be the offspring of a dog bought by an American at an astronomical price. The dog in question was probably Blossom, a three-year-old Collie, who belonged to estate owner Nikolai Heimburger in vicinity of Helsinki.
