Mia and Tora

Female Elkhound Teeka and John

I have heard back from most everybody so far with the pups and they are all doing so terrific, John is shown here with Teeka, a beautiful female from Tora and Bram. She is turning out very well, growing like crazy and weighed in at 7.8kg just before the 3 month mark. She is well fed and well exercised and John and Denise are providing an excellent home for her.

John brought up some important points for me to share, stuff that I sometimes forget, like how ferocious they get at that three month mark, your cute little puppy turns into a Tasmanian devil around that time frame, especially in the late afternoon early evening when they need to blow off some steam. It's a great idea to get a good pair of leather gloves and have a good wrestling match, they love it, and helps them relieve some tension, remember your the wrestling partner now that the other pups are gone.

It's important that in these little play fight tussles that you don't try to dominate to hold the pup down or control it etc. this is not the time for any training but just some good ole fashioned play fighting. They don't grow up to be attack dogs or anything of this nature from this workout and phase, it's just a phase they go through. Watch those teeth though, they are sharp, and they are pretty stubborn and strong at this stage, you'll be surprised.  They grow out of this fairly quick, and as these are old World Elkhounds, the prey drive is front and center, and basically if there is no other prey to practise on, your it. So just have a good time, and after a 15 to 20 minute tussle, you can just get up and walk away, ignore and say enough, and they will be good till the next day.

Teeka - Female Norwegian Elkhound

Norwegian Female Elkhounds like Teeka are excellent family companions, they keep you young at heart and no doubt your heart stays younger longer because they have so much energy and excitement. Keeping your young Elkhound developing and growing to potential means quality time out doors and making sure they have the workouts and excercise to develop. Teeka as you can see is growing very well.

She is a well developed Elkhound, smart stance, looks sharp, her tail is up nice, her shoulders are strong, she has a good square solid look to her, and she has a great muzzle. This a very good young female, and Tora and Bram have combined to really lay down some solid pups with this litter. Both Bram and Tora are some of the best looking Elkhounds anywhere and it's no doubt these pups are growing into magnificent young examples of why the breed is so sought after.

Ryker and Amber

Ryker, a dark black Male Elkhound is out on the trails with his owner Amber. Ryker was the darkest faced Elkhound in the litter from Tora, a big male, so calm and easy going, just a great guy to be around. Amber and Chris are providing a super home for the big fella, he has a great spot in the world to grow up and he has tons of trails to explore with them. As you can see Ryker is wanting to get moving, it's hard to get photos of Elkhounds standing still, especially as pups and I appreciate every photo that we received, and thanks to Chris and Amber for sending these up.

All the pups should most likely have had the second round of boosters at this point, and the food intake will be going up steadily as well now. They will be changing color a bit as they grow and develop and it's a neat time right now, they get even more personality and some traits really start to stand out.

Don't worry too much about training right in this period, they can be a bit stubborn and independent to say the least, after a short while they begin to catch on again and pay attention, but it's a really good time to be out and spending time with them, a real bond will develop in this period. We want to Thank Amber and Chris for providing such a good home for Ryker.

Cypress and Linda

Cypress is a big West Coast girl now, Linda and Ken are out with Cypress on the BC Coast and she has it made. She will be really spoiled, no doubt. We had a great meet at Kamloops and Ken and Linda drove up to meet me there. They sent these photos shortly after they got back home.

Elkhounds have been coastal dogs for thousands of years, they love the rugged regions and beach and outcrop areas, they are agile, strong, and it just seems that coastal people are in better condition as well, so they are good owners for Elkhounds, they can get them out and about lots. Elkhounds love Salmon and all types of fish, and no better place than the Pacific for that. Feeding fish, especially Salmon keeps the coat on your Elkhound in the best condition you could imagine, Elkhounds are double coat dogs and the oils in the fish keep them in great condition. Always be sure to feed some fresh fish to your Elkhound regularly. You can grind it up when they are young, later they can just eat it as you catch it basically.

We want to Thank Linda and Ken for providing this great home and environment for Cypress and keeping us posted on her developments.

Tesla - and Matthew

You can't beat this for a photo anytime soon, a young boy having a great day with his Swedish Elkhound, what a great thing. To grow up with a dog is one thing, to grow up with a good Elkhound, this ia a great thing. Elkhounds bond like no other dog, they have a strong pack instinct, and they live for a long time, lots of Elkhound owners have 15plus year old dogs. This young fella will be going to University with Tesla.

Tesla is a Swedish type Elkhound, he is from Takoda and Mia, he will be a loyal companion, personable, high energy, slightly taller and longer than the Norwegian types and will never fail to come and greet this family no matter the weather. All of Takoda's pups have this trait, they come to say hello, Everytime. He will have a nice deep bark, he will be agile and strong, and considering that Julia and Eric live on the West Coast as well, it's no doubt there will be plenty of trails to roam.

Tesla and Katherine

All the history of the Elkhound you'll find one common thing, no matter what you read, it's a great family dog. I grew up with Elkhounds and this young girl will have a loyal companion in Tesla. Her and her brother will have some of the best times with this young fella, and he will be up to what ever adventure they have planned, no doubt about that. One thing about Swedish Elkhounds, and from Takoda especially, they are fearless. If I had a young family on the West Coast there isn't a better dog to have with them than Tesla.

A walk in BC is a walk in wilderness, no matter what region. Mountain lions, bear, you name it, this is the place for an air scent Male like Tesla. Tesla will be aware of danger long before any human could possibly sense it, and make no mistake, the Swedish Elkhound don't back down, they stand their ground. They would defend and protect to the death if it came to that. And I can say this, a good dog, an air scent dog will get you out of danger before your in trouble.

The heritage of the Swedish Elkhound goes back some say 9000 years, used extensively in the Northern regions, long referred to as bear hunting dogs, and used to hunt bear and Moose, this dog also was always used as a protection dog. This is a very territorial dog, very pack orientated, bonds extremely well with a family, and basically lives to serve the handler. Waiting hours just to spend time with them.

Takoda, the father of Tesla is an old World Swedish type, there are very few of these dogs in Canada, Tesla is one of only a handful. The big greys were almost gone by the 1920's, with only a limited number of big old breeding Males left in Northern Sweden and surrounding area. The breeders got together, thanks in large Part to Askel Lind, and they began a concentrated and determined effort to keep the big Greys and in 1946 a separate standard was established for them. Up to that point the Elkhounds were determined by type. The shorter squat greys were referred to as Norwegian, and the larger taller Greys were Swedish.

Jaegar - Swedish Elkhound Male

Tesla picture directly above, is Jaegar's brother, both from Takoda and Mia. Jaegar is shown here at 3 months just over the 20lbs. He was a big Male and is growing very well. He is out with our Daughter Ashten, this is her dog and she is doing a great job with him. Ashten is an excellent handler and ole Jaegar is in good hands. I expect Jaeger to be in the 60 plus pound range or more, most likely ending up larger than his father Takoda. Jaegar will probably beat the crap out of Takoda when he comes back, and might test his fate with Mia as well, although that won't go well for him, Mia will have him on the ground and he'll be looking up in a hurry. You just don't mess with Mia.

The Big Grey Swedish type males all come with some lighter throat area's, some cream color chest area's, and tend to be lighter faced, the real black masks are usually found on the Norwegian. The bark is a bit different, a deep bark, nice sounding, and don't worry they don't hesitate to use it to alert you to something moving in the territory. They don't yap or bark constantly, like some breeds, they only bark when something is amiss.

Jaegar is going to be a foundation Male for Ashten and us, he also is getting socialized and will be around other dogs and will be well mannered, the Swedish Males tend to be a bit dominant to other dogs so it's good to socialize them early as Ashten plans to be around other dogs a fair bit.  Ashten is wearing her leather gloves a lot these days around Jaegar as well, he is a handful for her at this stage. He is a truly an outstanding Elkhound, he is strong, alert, high energy, no doubt spoiled and a bit of Mia's stubborn independence comes out, fairly often Ashten states, making University life, working, and raising Jaegar a full experience for Ashten.

Kaia - Paula and Steve

Elkhound Owners are some of the most dedicated and committed dog owners in the world. Paula and Steve are two such owners. They took some time to really search out where to get their next Elkhound. Long time owners of Elkhounds, they grew up with them, and had two faithful Elkhounds together for many years, with Knute and Sixie. When it was time to get a new pup they contacted us and felt our program was a close match for providing what they wanted in the next Elkhound.

Coming from experienced Elkhound owners, a request for a pup is always a great honor for us, considering the fact they were in Colorado and they were committed and determined to work with us was a terrific compliment and we thank them for that. They are shown here with Kaia, a truly amazing young female, she is really a beauty, an outstanding female from Tora and Bram.

Kaia is settling into her new home in Louisville and Paula and Steve had great trip home with her, I met them in BC and they had an great trip back with her. Kaia like her mother is strong, she was a powerful young female right from the get go, solid and well muscled, and Steve and Paula will have to work to keep up with her, no doubt. Kaia takes her stature a lot from Tora, she is wide through the shoulders, a powerful deep chest, she carries forward the Swedish white throat, and will be one of the best looking Elkhounds in North America.

We want to thank Paula and Steve for working with us and for providing such a good home for Kaia, it's pretty neat no doubt to have one of Tora's girls roaming the Rockies in Colorado.

Elkhound Pups

If there is one thing I can say about this past set of pups, its that they were basically identical. There were so close to the same for so long it was difficult to pick them out. Finally they started to look a bit different, but even as far as eight weeks out, you could hardly tell Shasta from Cypress, or Teeka from Kaia, and Shasta was from a different litter. All the Males from Tora were exactly the same weight at 8 weeks, what are the odds of that, go figure.

Raising pups takes a fair bit of energy, you need to have the commitment, the space and facility, but let me say, that when you have great dogs to begin with like we do, and end up with a row of pups like this image shows, there really couldn't be a better thing to do than provide good families with a great dog.

We look forward to more updates on the other pups as they come in, and we will be keeping you posted on them as they come in, and we want to thank all the families who put their confidence in our program to select they're new family companion.

We have a new litter planned for September, Tora came thru this litter in fantastic shape, and considering that she is such an outstanding combination with Bram, we are going to have another litter of that pairing. Pretty well all those pups are spoken for however there might be the chance that she has a large second litter, usually that is the time for big litters, so, please contact us early if you would like to have your name on one of those, they will be just like the pups featured here.

Bram's Owners - Blaine, Kathy and Melissa

If Kathy hadn't contacted us when Bram was just a young pup, we might not have had such a successful pair with Bram and Tora. We truly thank her for the foresight to spot a potential pair in Tora and Bram. Blaine, Kathy and Melissa are shown here with pups from Tora and Bram, and they are truly pleased with their big boy Bram, and most definitely should be, he has landed on the ground some amazing Elkhounds.

They were really impressed with the quality of the pups, and remarked they could see some definite characteristics of young Bram in a few of the boys, especially the Black Mask on Ryker. They have raised a really good Elkhound and Bram is a perfect match for Tora. Tora and Bram each bring complimentary traits to the mix, and they are very excited to see how the next litter turns out as well. It's great to have a family that understands that good dogs are hard to find, and to allow us to use Bram so that other families can have a great dog is a very noble thing.

We all had a chuckle here when they came up they were telling a story of watching one of the videos of the pups as they got a bit older and were moving and making noise, and Bram was watching and was getting a little edgy, looking around. We all laughed a bit, we knew Bram was thinking, I don't think it is probably safe around these pups, where is that Tora, Kathy was saying he was looking over his shoulder.

Males, they have a funny way of knowing, don't be messing with a set of pups, it's a sure fire way to a shredded ear and some new scars. His concern sure wasn't for naught either, as Tora would have ripped him a new one, she took looking after her pups to a new level no doubt, although I am sure she would have appreciated the help as they got older, and Bram would have done just fine with them as well. He is a good boy.

Thanks again to Kathy and Blaine and family.