Rita - Female Norwegian Elkhound

Rita - Female Norwegian Elkhound - 4th Generation At Kamia Kennels

Rita now has her litter - 4 Lovely Females

Rita has been once again mated with Leif. We have another great litter as the first litter with these two a year ago was incredible.

Rita is a very, very good protective Mama, doing a World Class job with this second litter. She of course comes from one of the most prolific and famous Norwegian Elkhound lineages so she knows how to care for her babies!

I suggest to contact us early for a pup from the  new litter of Norwegian Elkhound pups from Rita and Leif. They are going to be terrific.

I am so proud to have such terrific and dedicated co-breeders and the work and effort they put forth to further this stunning and ancient breed is amazing, Rita is up with Michael and Sarah to with the new litter.

Michael has started the pups on the raw diet this weekend. He has a great video of it showcased here:

Golden Ring Elkhounds (@goldenringelkhounds) • Instagram photos and videos

Below you will find a video of first Litter of the Rita pups at 4 weeks. What an incredible litter Norwegian Elkhounds this was, this next litter will be as good! 

Here is the first litter at 8 WeeksExceptional Norwegian Elkhound Puppies.

Rita is shown here in June of 2023. She was currently bred to Pretty Boy Leif. Rita is a incredible Norwegian Elkhound Foundation female for us. This is a 4th Generation foundation female and she has 5th generation pups for Kamia Kennels. This incredible female carries the very best bloodlines of the entire Norwegian Elkhound breed. She has an extremely strong Scandinavian heritage.

Her mother is the world famous Kai, who we feature on this page. Her father is none other than our Finnish import, Karu. There are no better Norwegian Elkhounds with stronger instinctive roots and heritage in North America than is shown here with Rita.

This litter is a lifetime of work for us, as well a lifetime of work for the founding breeders before us as well. It is also a very unique litter in terms of breed preservation.

As Kamia Kennels is North America's only preservation breeder we work extremely hard to slow down the genetic changes. In order to slow down genetic changes it requires extremely healthy dogs. When you slow down genetic changes you extend the life the breed considerably. This particular female was taken out of the very last litter of Kai and Karu. Kai herself was also taken out of the last litter of her mother Tora.

By utilizing this strategy you have a maximum amount of time before the genetics are changed, keeping the original breed intact longer to preserve it. Kai will be turning 10 years old when Rita whelps out her first litter.

Kai- Female Norwegian Elkhound

This is Kai, the awesome daughter of Tora and Bram, photo taken February 10th, 2018, she was bred to Pretty Boy Leif in this photo. As you can see we also extend the life of the males out considerably as well, leaving them to work as long as possible so that we limit the genetic change from that side. We also know that the Leif and Kai genetics are fabulous together, so we already know that the Leif and Rita genetics are a perfect match.

* Kai, shown below with her mother Tora almost a decade ago*

Everyone who follows the site knows that Tora and Bram were an incredible pair of Elkhounds. They produced some of the very best Elkhounds found in Canada, Kai was one of those.

We knew we were going to be keeping a female and in the old world breeding principles if possible, you wait as long as you think you can before selecting a descendant. This principle is thought to allow the breeder to select from proven dogs, as they would be able to see some previous litters, you would know a bit of history on the pups. Also, as old world principles in breeding are designed to limit the amount of genetic changes by waiting as long as possible selecting at the last litter gives the longest time frame without a genetic change. Now of course with selection based upon the female the time frame is always most likely going to be shorter, as you could select from a male at an older age. In this case we were wanting the Tora/Bram combination of genetics, so we selected based on Tora's final litter, not on Brams final litter.

Rita is shown to the left at our Co-breeders Linda and Darrell in Montana

As you can see the type, the quality, the style of Rita is very much Scandinavian like her mother and father. Her heritage has the very best from Finland with Karu coming from the most decorated hunting Champions of that region and country. Kai's background rivals Karu in ancient lineage working Norwegian Elkhounds as well so these dogs are literally identical each and every time.

The pups from this female now that she is mated to the world famous Pretty Boy Leif are going to be truly incredible. We already know that Leif works magically with the Kai genetics and he will be matching up to Karu genetics with such precision and integration it is a dream combination.

Rita is a full instinct working female. The pups will be full instinct working Norwegian Elkhounds. This is a very unique and diverse bloodline.  

*Kai and Mia, are shown below, Mia is the grandmother to Kai*

The reason we selected on Tora, is because we want to keep the Mia, Tora, Kai lineage, basically keeping the foundation female side of the equation - ultimately you keep the male side as well, but the only way to keep the female side of the genetic combination is to select daughters from the mother, who was a daughter from the grandmother, etc.

Mia of course had a tremendous impact on our breeding program, mother of Tora, mother of Jaegar, 25 incredible pups, tons and tons of granddaughters and grandsons, so it only made sense to utilize that awesome genetic lineage and keep it in our program.

Kai, Tora and Mia, 3 Generations of female Norwegian Elkhounds Shown*

I had spent years hiking and working with Mia, and of course Tora. I knew the reliability, the nature, the genetic instinctive skill. These are highly sought after today as lineages lose that instinctive skill fast unless a breeder can keep both sides of the equation.

For many people they don't know that for a breeder sometimes you have to choose between the male side or the female side. In many cases they simply can't keep both. Obviously you would need to have double the capacity for dogs, as you would literally be keeping twice the amount, but in addition to that comes all the outcross breeding males you require.

If all you selected on was the sire, the male side, then you would just bring in outcross females and you could use that male for many years. No other male really needed. So many breeders do this exact thing, select only from the sire. It is far more cost effective from a sheer economic standpoint.

An illustration of that simple program in effect would have been to bring females in all the time to use with Takoda, and finally then at twelve years old, keep Teeko and that would be the extent of the hold back in breeding stock. All female genetics would be displaced, we would not select on any of them, the only genetic female side we would be keeping is the mother of Teeko.

In that equation you really lose out on all the top female genetics that come before the final selected male. There could have been many amazing females with seriously good qualities, but using only the sire side you would not have retained any. If there were qualities that the male for any reason did not present, then, those qualities are literally lost. This is exactly what has been occurring rapid fashion in North America as breeders don't fully have the capability to handle both sides, and undoubtedly, they don't actually understand the concept, and further to that, don't have the good ancient females left to select from anyway.

So for us, we are committed to retaining all the genetic material. Rita of course allows us to carry all the female genetic material forward, and it also allows for integration of the Karu genetic which has never before left the old country.

The beauty of this whole old world principle is that if you have the sire as well, and you know he is proven, then by default you get the best of both worlds as both sides of the equation follow down to the third  and fourth, generation. So in our case, we have the Mia genetic line saved, and we have the Takoda line saved on the female gender side. ( Jaegar and MÅNE and Teeko save the male gender side of Takoda).

So Rita is an extremely valuable young female in our opinion to our program from many standpoints, but specifically a crucial standpoint of preserving the ancient genetic blueprint that follows, Mia, Tora and now Kai. Had we not kept Kai, both the Mia and Tora genetic contribution would have been lost. Ultimately we would have lost the female side of the Bram /Tora contribution as well, which we know is a spectacular set of genetics. Bram is shown below, father of Kai.

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Bram: An outstanding male Norwegian Elkhound, Father of Kai, Grandfather to Rita.

Bram is first generation in Canada with his background all out of Norway, this is an extremely good Elkhound. We have been blessed to have his genetics in our program. Cathy and Blaine have raised an incredible male and keep Bram in top shape all the time. 

Kjekk - Norwegian Elkhound Male - One of Rita's ancestors a few generations back

Rita's ancestors a few generations back of course are a very capable and rugged set of dogs, all true hunting dogs, and many Champion hunting dogs. The big fella to the left is RM Kjekk, a Champion hunting Norwegian Male over in Norway. Her ancestors are true working dogs, they range, hike, hunt and protect. Yet they can win show after show as well. Kjekk is a perfect example of a working Norwegian Elkhound male in his element. RM Kjekk is a very unique hunting Champion as he is a "NORDIC CHAMPION". He has won a Championship in 3 out of 5 Scandinavian Countries. A remarkable achievement!

Its definitely not hard to see the genetics and traits carry forward strong and true in this ancient lineage. Rita has the pure old world stance, confirmation and capability as all her ancestors shown here with her.

She is an amazing representation of all the very best of Norwegian Elkhounds going back centuries. Genetics of this quality are so precise in transfer of style and looks but more importantly, the character and instinctive traits.

Instinctive traits are very important for us as a preservation breeder. Genetic transfer of thes abilities in this line are what it is known for.

The famous Kjekk shown above her was a testament to this capability as well. His father is the legendary Mini G, who also was a "Nordic Champion". The true measure of great Norwegian Elkhounds has always been the ability to pass down all the old world traits.

This is evident in this line, generation after generation!

As far as a  rugged hiking dog goes, Rita's mother Kai is one of the most rugged I have, with perhaps an exception of Jaegar. She can actually in almost all cases be ahead of Jaegar, go where he goes, easily as fast, and has tremendous stamina. And I mean tremendous stamina.

I wrote an article in one of the other newsletters about the perfect size Elkhound, the power to weight ratio, balance, energy, etc. all the things that make up a perfect Elkhound, and why. Kai simply happens to be the living example of all things perfect for a Norwegian Elkhound female. Rita matches her mother in all things, every aspect. She is the perfect example of perfection.

When you study Kai, then study Rita, then study Karu, then study his parents and ancestors you see Elkhound after Elkhound all flawless, all compact and premier examples of old world excellence. 

I will illustrate some of the background of Rita coming through Karu. You are about to witness excellence in working and hunting Elkhounds of the highest calibre on that side as well.

Rittu is shown here before the beauty show in Jonesu Finland. She has already become a Moose Hunting Champion as well as Bear Hunting Champion, she will go on to win the Beauty/Show Champion as well. She is a very unique female in that she is Triple Champion.

We are greatly honored by Kari, the breeder of Karu. It is a tremendous amount of respect we have for him to allow us to bring Karu over to further our preservation work with this great genetic.

It's a powerful statement to his character and his desire as well to preserve and keep the very best of the Norwegian Elkhounds going by contributing to this gene pool we have.

As you can see, Rittu has passed down to Rita through Karu and Kai all the ancient genetic material that makes this breed so profound and ancient.

This is Karu's Grandfather on the left and Karu's mother Rittu on the right

This is an amazing photo as we have shown the extreme quality of the Karu genetic as this is his Grandfather Kassu shown standing with his mother the famous Rittu.

The depth of quality of Rita is so profound its amazing really to speak about. I can make this page so long it's astounding there are so many great dogs in it. It's fascinating as a preservation breeder to be able to showcase for those folks wanting a magnificent Norwegian Elkhound the heritage of what the pup has. So far this is just the Rita side a little bit, we haven't even talked about Karu much yet, or Pretty Boy Leif, Just Wow!

Please click here to view the Pretty Boy Leif Page

This is Rita's Grandmother Tora

I have more photos, details and videos with Tora on this site than almost any other dog. She was an incredible companion was one of my most loyal Norwegian Elkhounds. She has left a legacy that few dogs can equal. The prolific nature of this female and the breeding offspring and related genetics in our program are unequaled. She excelled at passing down instinctive ability and her traits are stamped into the generations that follow.

This my friends, This is an Elkhound! 

Below you will find a video of our Finnish born Rock Star - Karu! Father to Rita. What an incredible Norwegian Elkhound! 

Below you will find a video of the world famous Pretty Boy Leif and "TWO" familes of his. One is Kai and his daughter Letta, the other is Tekla and his son Jaegar! 

Below you will find a video of the Karu, father to Rita, with Letta, who is a daughter of Kai and Leif. You get to see the opposite genetic combination as Hercules is in the video who is the son of Karu and Letta. Letta is a half sister to Kai!