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Kennel Geijes 1943–2024
Eva Corander bred 19 Kerry Terrier and 10 Wheaten Terrier litters under the Geijes Kennel name.
Eva Corander 1900–1980
The founder of Kennel Geijes, Eva Corander, was born in Helsinki in the year 1900. She was also known as “Geije”. As a child, she lived on Nari Farm in Pälkäne, Pirkanmaa until the family moved from there to Puotila Farm in Helsinki. On the farm, there were animals such as goats, horses, cows, ducks, and hens. The family always had dogs, too. Eva’s parents bred Spitz dogs.
In 1943, Eva founded Kennel Geijes in Kauniainen, where she began to breed Airedale Terriers and Smooth-haired Dachshunds. She continued breeding these until the end of the 1950s, when she acquired her first Kerry bitch, named Inkbottle August Stardust. Geijes Kennel’s first Kerry litter was born in 1964.
In 1963, she imported her first Wheaten Terrier, which was also the first in Finland and the Nordic countries. It was a bitch from the breed’s homeland, Ireland, named Holmenocks Hepburn. A year later she was mated with Crecora Crepello, which led to a wheaten terrier litter that became the first wheaten terrier litter born in the Nordics.
Eva was a pioneer in dog circles and as a breeder. Insiders knew her by the nickname “Matte”. She had an extensive international network, and many friends among foreign breeders, particularly those who bred Kerry and Wheaten Terriers. She was the first woman in Finland to be honoured with the Golden Merit Award by the Finnish Kennel Club. Matte received many other awards, too. She also served as Vice-president for the Irish Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier Club of Ireland.
Matte had another great passion
Eva was also a skilled potter. At the end of the 1930s, she designed household porcelain for Kera. When the Winter War broke out, she left her job at the factory and began to make ceramics at home in Kauniainen. Her great passion for dogs also inspired her to create some ceramic figurines of her canine friends.
During her life, Matte also served as an inspirational role model for the next generations. In 1980, Matte passed away and the kennel passed into the hands of her daughter Anita, and granddaughter Mia. Mia’s sister, Aya, later became a partner owner of the kennel, and their mother began to step back and provide advice and support to her enthusiastic daughters. What was clear from the outset was that the Kerry was Mia’s breed, and the Wheaten was Aya’s.
Mia and Aya 1980–2024
Mia and Aya Lundsten are third generation dog breeders. As children, they both spent a lot of time at their granny’s dog kennel in Kauniainen, where their interest in dogs began.
The sisters’ mother, Anita, was 19 years old when the kennel was founded, and she still lived at home in Kauniainen. She learned a lot about rearing and breeding dogs at the kennel, and could later pass that knowledge on to her daughters.
In 1966, Mia and Aya’s family got their first dog, a Wheaten bitch, who was named Geijes Wheaten Crecora. She came from the third Wheaten terrier litter that was born in Finland. A few years later, Cora got a companion – a Kerry male, named Geijes Gaspar.
Kennel Geijes is left to the sisters
After Eva’s sudden death in 1980, there were no plans to keep the kennel going. There were Wheaten puppies there who were ready for delivery, as well as three Dachshunds and two full-grown Kerrys.
Still, conditions were favourable for a continuation of the kennel, since Mia and Aya had learned a lot about dog breeding from their mother and grandmother. But to continue the breeding work, good breeding material was also needed. Geijes had a fine placement bitch, Geijes Only Olivia, who was then mated with the Swedish male, Slappstick’s Smashing Saint. From this starting point, Geijes breeding of Kerrys then continued.
At this time, there were no Wheaten bitches in the kennel who could be used for breeding. There were strict quarantine rules for dogs imported from outside the Nordic countries, so Mia and Aya imported the Wheaten bitch Honeyrag’s Fallon, a descendent of Geijes Higgins and Newkilber Gilded Lily, from Sweden. In 1986, Aya’s first Wheaten litter was born, with Fallon as the mother.
Both breeds have been bred with respect for the original Irish breed. Both Aya and Mia have been meticulous about breeding healthy dogs with a good temperament. Even though both breeds have participated successfully at exhibitions in Finland and Europe, the main purpose of breeding has not been to produce exhibition dogs, but to show that both breeds are lovely family dogs, that can be used for all kinds of activities. In 2017, the sisters were awarded the Finland’s Terrier Organisation’s breeding plaque, in recognition of their contribution.
In the autumn of 2024, Mia passed away after an extended illness. By that time, she had reared 20 Kerry litters, with a total of 89 dogs. After Mia’s death, Aya hopes to carry on Kennel’s Geijes’s Kerry breeding where Mia left off.
Kennel Geijes was awarded the Finnish Kennel Club’s Jubilee Plate at its 80th anniversary celebration held on September 30, 2023. The plate is an honor that the Kennel Club grants only on particularly solemn occasions.