Judge Profile

Kellie Hughes was born in Melbourne into a family who loved all animals but with a special love of dogs, her parents had purchased their first Samoyed a year before Kellie was born, soon there were more Samoyeds added to the family as sticking to one just wasn’t an option. Kellie has been a member of the Samoyed Club of Victoria as a new born and her early childhood years often involved attending Samoyed club events, dog shows and playing with her dogs and puppies from the occasional litter.

During her childhood Kellie often accompanied her mother to visit Mrs Yvonne Sydenham-Clarke (all breeds judge) from the famous Kalina Kennels who imported over 40 imports to help establish the breed in Australia. Mrs Sydenham-Clarke shared her vast knowledge, looking at many photo’s of the early dogs and imports. Those early years helped fuel a passion to continue to learn and become deeply involved with not only the Samoyed breed but extend that learning to all pure breed dogs.

Kellie was an enthusiastic junior handler, who not only enjoyed showing her dogs but also freely helping other Samoyed exhibitors in training their puppies and spending time with difficult dogs as she enjoyed the challenge to bring the best out of them. Kellie’s special heart dog who she says taught her so much about showing and was such a huge part of growing up was home bred Ch Airebis Arctic Whisper “Tamiera”. Tamiera & Kellie were a team with a special bond that could be seen clearly from the love and unity in & out of the show ring. Kellie personally trained Tamiera from 6 weeks of age and stepped into the ring winning best baby puppy in show, at 3 months and 1 day, Sunbury Championship Show 1996, that was the start of a very successful partnership to name a few highlights included; gaining her title in 4 x 25 point challenges, Best of Breed - 2001 Melbourne Royal, bitch Challenges & multiple Runner Up Best in Shows at Specialities. Tamiera was also most successful Puppy, Junior, Intermediate & bitch of the year consecutively from 1996-2001.

Kellie was made an official partner in the family’s "Airebis" Kennel Prefix in 2009, but has been involved in breeding and showing for over 30 years. Health testing is a huge factor in our breeding program and we have a strong commitment to breed very selectively to continue to produce healthy Samoyeds true to breed type with happy outgoing temperaments that are capable of doing the jobs that they were traditionally bred to do - including herding, endurance and to be loving companions.

A few of Kellie’s Show Career Highlights include;
*In 2010, Being the first kennel to be awarded Best in Show and Runner Up Best in Show at the prestigious Samoyed National Speciality and the only kennel to achieve this with two half home bred brothers, under well respected breed specialist Carol Hamilton from the famous Zamoyski kennels (UK)
*Winning Bitch Challlenge & Runner Up Best in Show at the 2001 National Speciality with her heart dog Ch Airebis Arctic Whisper
*Winning Bitch Challenge & Runner Up Best in Speciality Show with Ch Airebis Kissed By Moonlite, Vic 2012
* Full brother & sister being awarded Best in Group & Runner Up Best in Group at 13 months.
* 5 x All breeds Best in Show with our import Supreme Ch Artaigas Essence When I Fall in Love (Imp ITA)
* Winning Best Puppy in Show at the 2015 Melbourne Royal with Tamikka
* Owner/Breeder/Handler of the Youngest Supreme Ch Samoyed in Australia “Topaz” Sup Ch Airebis My One True Love

Kellie enjoys travelling and has had the previledge to handle Samoyeds at Westminister Dog Show (New York, USA), at a CAC International Show in Italy, and the world famous dog show "Crufts" (UK) and NZ.

In October 2016, Kellie had the privilege of judging the YKC Finals at the NZ National in Christchurch. She loves supporting our Young handlers.

Judging Appointments (Australia and NZ Only)

Appointments are based on shows entered in our system since 2012. Please inform us of any errors.