Elkhound Growth 

Takoda appears here, sitting by the door and the boots in late December 2007 - he is about 8 weeks old in this photo. Elkhounds will grow at a fairly good rate, easily reaching close to mature size in 12 months, however they will continue to grow and fill out for another full year or so.

 

It's nice to see a comparison with something similar in the background, so we keep the boots the same, and the same location, and rug to give you a visual before and after, in as close to the same position as possible. Takoda doesn't stay still for long so taking the photo now is considerably harder today, than when this photo of the little guy was taken.

 

Elkhounds are almost constantly moving, it's not often that we can get them to sit for a photo and actually stay there to get a good shot, they are moving their head, looking at something, getting up to see what's with the camera, it's hard to get a nice clean photo with them in the same area, so as to compare.

 

 

 

 

 Takoda appears here, sitting by the door and the boots in late November 2008, not quite a year later, and yes, we have moved the boots between shots, if I didn't put that info in I might have a broom mark on the backside from Marlene.

 

This gives you a pretty good idea of the growth pattern for a pup that you might get, Takoda here is about 58 lbs, he has more to grow and more weight to put on, however it definitely outlines what you can expect. He was barely as long as a boot laying down in the first picture in December 2007, now his foreleg is that long. None of the pups will likely get to the same height or length of Takoda, they will be in between the height and length of Mia and Tadoka, closer to the 49 - 50 lbs, and 20 - 22 inches. Given that Takoda is from the Swedish strain, and Mia the Norwegian, leaves you with the best of both, very similar to what the old breeders in Scandinavia have done for centuries. Maximum vigor and lifespan follows this combination as well, thus the reason these dogs are such an ancient breed.

 

 

 

 

 This photo will give you another view of the growth patterns of these dogs, and a comparison as we have Takoda by the fireplace in December 2007, he again in the photo is about 8 weeks old. He is a terrific little guy to photograph at this size, he sits nice, looks at you, intent on what your doing, and comfortable to stay put for a few minutes, before he goes exploring.

 

I always suggest getting a pup in the winter time, that way, you can play with them outside in the snow, they get some terrific exercise, and my personal favorite reason, you can catch them in the deep snow, easier to train them to do some simple command training, and they are tired when they come in, if you like to have them around you for a while, they stay put and don't do to much wandering and mischief.

 

The entire first year  though, keep plenty of things for them to chew, they will go through all kinds of stuff, be sure you put your good shoes up, Takoda loves the laces, especially the ends, chews them off every pair he can get a hold of. Real beef bones are very good after a short while, the PH in their mouth requires that new bone to clean, you will have very clean teeth on your pup if the closer to raw you can feed, and real beef or bison bones for them to chew, preferably with some meat left on. Throw these outside and they will gnaw away from all angles really keeping the youth teeth clean and strong.

 

 Takoda appears here sitting by the fireplace at just over 1 year of age, November 22, 2008. In my personal opinion he is a magnificent young male, bright, strong, fast, agile, although Mia is more agile, and on a straight away burst is faster, Takoda needs a few leaps to reach stride.

 

Takoda is quickly becoming a very true personal protection dog, with tremendous watching and guarding traits. He has no qualms whatsoever about letting anyone who comes by the back yard know they should not be there. No one has any doubt he is on guard, he moves fast, back and forth, he has a very nice bark, it's deep, it's loud, and he likes to use it. When someone is approaching his territory, he is quite something to see, head up, tail curled, moving back and forth, nobody wants to step into his space uninvited I can assure you. 

These dogs make for some truly great watch dogs, they are very vigilant, territorial, a dominant dog, not prone to accepting strangers easily, in fact its hard to get them to accept fully people outside the family unit. With the family unit though they are just a pleasure to have around, they are very companionable, they want to be part of the family, they like to be involved and can be a terrific family addition. 

 

Your dog will really begin to eat at around that 10 -12 months of age, they are now developing serious muscle, they are moving more body weight around, and they are fully reaching to grow to full potential. This is the time to truly feed high quality feed and as much as he requires, you'll be able to feel the rib, some cover should be over it, but not letting any fat develop at any stage. He will begin to fully stretch out the skeletal structure now, building up the bone mass at this time, adding incredible muscle strength through out. Playing with a young male at this stage, perhaps in a game of tug a war really shows you have strong they are getting. Takoda likes to wrestle around at this size, and when he runs into you or pushes, you can really feel the strength they are developing.  When we used to try to keep the ball away from Mia, at around a year or so of age she would pile right into the back of your legs to slow you down so she could grab it and she was solid muscle. At two years of age she had no fat and was all muscle, Takoda now is reaching that area where he will now fill out completely over the next year.

 

Takoda appears here in the snow, December 28th, 2008 at 14 months. He now weighs 65 lbs. It's hard to believe he has pups larger than he was last December 28th, 2007.

 

Exercise and workouts, running, playing, walks etc. are now crucial, as you increase the feed to develop the dog to full potential you need to remember the feed will increase the energy they will have, and that they will need to expend. At 1 year of age you can truly begin to teach them some things as well, however don't try to teach at the start of the exercise, take them out for some good old fashioned work first, get them to burn off some excess energy, then in the last half of the session work on training, comprehension levels and attention willl be much better. If you try to get a young male full of energy to do an extended stay at the start of a session good luck, better to get a good tug of war game going, and fast walking session, then do the extended stay training.

Takoda has been putting on some lean muscle this winter running in the deep snow, we have had more snow that usual, almost to the top of my boots, we also had a particularly cold winter, he stayed out all winter, and for a 4 week stretch there it was always 30 below at night and lots of night even colder, we had a fair bit of straw in the shop where he could sleep out of the wind, and for the most part pretty comfortable, they have a very good warm coat. He would wake me up early and come in and sit by me while I had a coffee in the morning, Mia was still inside the shop. Takoda is now 72lbs as of the 29th of January, 2009 - 15 months old.

 

  Takoda appears here at 22 months, August of 2009

He has been very busy lately watching over Tora, our new female pup we held back from the last litter. She is keeping him running and playing and busy all around. Takoda has basically had the job of watching over the pups this last litter, right from weaning and he was constantly having to ward off a group of pups tackling him.

 

Now that it's just Tora he has it a bit easier, but now she is getting pretty big, he has to be always on guard as she will take any bones, any spare food he might have in a blink of an eye, he has been really good with her all through it.

 

One thing for sure when there are pups around, Male Elkhounds especially Takoda, take guarding and watching to a new level, stray dogs begin to feel mighty uncomfortable by the time they get within eyesight our our place as he makes it very well known this is not a good place to be wandering around, we have a real good fence around our property or some stray dogs might not have had such a good day.

He has been filling out this summer, his height and length are pretty well set, but he is still packing on some muscle, still no fat on him, his ribs are easy to feel, yet give him a good push on the shoulders and he doesn't even move, he looks at me as if to say, what's that little tap.

 

Him and I have a great time now, he is a bit calmer, and also Tora runs off some of his energy so it makes my time a bit more relaxed, I don't have to play him out first, which is a tall order with his energy. He is also now very receptive to training,  catching on much easier to what I want him to do.  

 

Takoda is exactly the same depth from the top of his shoulders to the bottom of his brisket, as his brisket is to the ground. Even though he is much taller than Mia, he retains all the breed ideals, just in larger proportions. He has tremendous chest and lung capacity, he is exactly as long as he is tall and his speed right now is very fast, even though Mia is super fast in a straight burst, in any stretch of ground Takoda can overtake and run away from her anytime with his length and power. Another few months of putting on some muscle and he should be nearing his weight that he will maintain for a good many years. He has a couple months until he is Two, but he might keep muscling up for a few months after that I am inclined to think.