Bronwyn® Norwich Terriers

Minna-Liisa Koltes
owner, breeder, exhibitor, judge

While I haven't always been in Norwich Terriers, dogs have been a major part of my life. I originally became involved with purebred dogs in my home country of Finland. My parents encouraged me to compete for the first time at the age of six in the "Lapsi ja Koira", which translates to: "a Child and a Dog". The competition was in the city of Tampere, which is about 1.5 hours northwest of Helsinki. Tampere is the second largest city in Finland. This is my home city's annual Conformation Dog Show weekend.

Minna and her parents Skye Terrier, "Fredi"

Minna and her Shepherds

I showed a family's English Bulldog, "Hilppa". We didn't win, but I loved showing and was hooked! Later on, I showed my family's Skye Terriers as well as other breeds. My parents were breeders of Show quality Skye Terriers. After moving to the United States in the early 80's, I started to raise and show German Shepherd Dogs, which are my initial breed and are still my greatest passion today. I have only bred a few litters under the Bronwyn® AKC registered kennel name. Those litters produced multiple AKC champions and gave their litter parents ROMs (Register of Merit) titles. At first, I was just showing a couple of weekends at local shows, but later, I traveled by car or plane all over the country every weekend.

Months turned into years which turned into decades. I applied to judge German Shepherd Dogs as a breeder judge and Junior Sportsmanship Competition in March 2002. I'm presently licensed to judge the Herding Group, Rottweilers, Siberian Huskies, Norwich Terriers, BIS, and Junior Showmanship (Minna judging). After being involved with dogs and showing all my life, it was an easy transformation to judging (Minna judging).

A couple of years ago, we traveled back to Finland to acquire our first Norwich bitch, "Finney". We felt after much research, the best quality and health tested Norwichs were available in Scandinavia. Finney was only 9 weeks old when we brought her home. She was bred by Marja and Kari Salminen, Porrigito. They have bred Norwich Terriers successfully for about 40 years. Both Marja and Kari are multiple FCI (Fédération Cynologique Internationale) Group judges for the Finnish Kennel Club.

Ch. Porrigito Fazerina, "Finney", is our foundation.

Minna and Ch. Joshua of Halcyon OFA, TT, CGC