5th IDHW - Schedule

Thursday 13 June

Arrival and Registration. The hotel check-in time is 15.00pm.   

14.00 – 14.45    Welcome Talk; IPFD and the Finnish Kennel Club. 10 Years of the International Partnership for Dogs – Information, Collaboration, Action – Achievements!  The Finnish Kennel Club’s Year of Health – 2024 (Aimée Llewellyn-Zaidi, IPFD and Kirsi Sainio, FKC)  

14.45 – 16.00    Poster session

16.30                 Special Talk Session: Humans' complex, diverse, and evolving relationships with dogs. Impacts on their health and welfare, and ours. (Dr. Brenda Bonnett)  

17.00 – 18.30    Welcome Reception (dress code: casual)

18.30 -              Explore Helsinki, free time, & get-together

Friday 14 June

Note: All attendees come together for each of the four Friday morning Plenary Sessions before joining smaller breakout session groups for their chosen Theme after lunch.

8.30 – 9.00        Keynote Talk: Jo Gale / Mars Petcare: The State of Pet Homelessness Project

9.00 – 9.45        1st plenary session - Supply and Demand: Dogs Trust (Claire Calder); Do bulldog owners support efforts to limit breed specific health problems? – a questionnaire-based study aimed at Danish owners of French Bulldogs (Peter Sandøe); Experiences from Germany (Peter Friedrich); Moderator: Rowena Packer

9.45 – 10.30       2nd plenary session - Breeding for Health and Well-being: Innate Health in Dogs (Dan O’Neill); Work of the International Collaborative on Extreme Conformations in Dogs (Monique Megens); Harmonization of Genetic Testing for Dogs – progress and challenges (Aimee Llewellyn-Zaidi); Moderator: Becky Murphy

10.30 – 11.00  Coffee & conversation

11.00 – 11.45     3rd plenary session – Big Data: MyBreedData, and frequency of mutations (Jonas Donner); VetCompass (Dan O’Neill); Collecting data - Opportunities and challenges of national databases (Joanna Ilska); Moderator: Jerold S Bell

11.45 – 12.30     4th plenary session – Does the Colour Matter? Defining Breed vs Variety: Why history matters: the story of closed breed registers in pedigree dogs (Alison Skipper); Crossbreeding and open stud books from a practical and organizational point of view (Helena Skarp & Sofia Malm); Experiences on crossbreeding – breed club and breeder perspective (Paula Horne); Moderator: Ian J Seath

12.30 – 13.45    Lunch

Breakout Sessions by Individual Themes - Theme Leaders: Peter Friedrich, Kirsi Sainio, Kari Ekenstedt, Heidi Parker

13.45 – 14.45    Breakout session 1  

14.45 – 15.00    Break 

15.00 – 16.00    Breakout session 2

16.00 – 16.30    Coffee & conversation

16.30 – 17.30    Breakout session 3

19.00 – 22.00   Gala Dinner – Hosted by the Finnish Kennel Club (dress code: smart casual)

Saturday 15 June

Note: All attendees come together for the Saturday morning presentations and Plenary Sharing/Summary Sessions.

8.30 – 9.00     Choose Health Initiative – Laureline Malineau and Emmanuelle Louvet, Royal Canin 

9.00 – 9.45     Agria Breed Profiles – Annika Forsberg, Agria Insurance

9.45 – 10.15   Coffee & conversation

10.15 – 11.15  Plenary sharing session; summing up and action plans (15 min for each theme)

11.15 – 11.45   Summary; convergence across themes

11.45 – 12.00   Closing Remarks, Thank You – Pekka Olson, Chair International Partnership for Dogs

12.00 – 13.30   Lunch

13.30   Delegates Depart