"Tora shown here with Bram (Far Right) and two magnificent Males they had, Torsten left, Gunnar pup right Fall 2012"

Tora and Bram create some terrific males, here are two of the very best, Torsten is a big boy, he came home to see his momma at 18 months, and to meet his little brother Gunnar, now his new pal, and to see his Dad, Bram. Wow, ole Bram he did not know what to make of Torsten, as Torsten of course was considerably bigger, heavier and a very dominant young male. Tora looks like a midget beside him. Brian and Lindsay have really done a great job with Torsten and will do a phenomenal job raising young Gunnar with him, and Torsten will look out for him, woe be the stray dog that takes a snap at Gunnar. You'll find lot's of great males from Tora throughout the site, there is a great article about Torsten's Return be sure to see it also, it's under previous litters.

"Tora shown here in with Bram, early October 2011"

Tora was down to see Bram and we are expecting a litter in December. She took her time cycling, I expected her a bit earlier, but no matter, that's up to her. She is in terrific condition, she is back to her old self, in fact she appears even stronger than before.
Bram is an excellent Male for Tora, he is an Old World Norwegian. He and Tora have produced some outstanding pups the first litter and this combination produces both great Males and Females.

These two are both very close to the same age, both young healthy dogs, Bram is a very energetic young Male, always on the go, moves fast and fluid, and is a very easy moving fella. Tora is a powerhouse, she can jump and hike and climb all day, she has been conditioned from a a pup for heavy action and work. She is very strong, a deep powerful chest and lung capacity, and her bone and limb development is outstanding.

"Tora shown here in Mid February 2011 with her new new litter of 7 Elkhound Pups"

Tora is a terrific female, she has 7 lovely puppies. Tora will be Two Years old in April of 2011, basically right after weaning this first litter. Elkhounds are prolific, and Tora comes from a strong heritage as she is a pup from Mia.
Mia, is in the pen next to her with her litter at the exact same time, they were 3 days apart.

All of the puppies are doing well, and both Tora and Mia are in great shape and things couldn't be better, there is never a better time than when there are new puppies, and two litters yet, this is even more exciting.

"Tora shown here on March 14th, her pups are 4 weeks old
Tora is doing an incredible job with this first litter of 7 Elkhound Pups, they are growing so fast, and the Pups are all even as can be. Norwegian Elkhounds are a terrific family dog.

"Tora, sits here with Takoda"

Tora is a terrific young female we have decided to hold back and use in our program. We had some tremendous female representation last litter with 7 of the 10 being females, we felt this was a sure sign we should have another female in our program. We are truly excited with how she is turning out. Tora spends most of her time with Takoda, basically since weaning Takoda has looked after the pups, and now that Tora is the only one of the litter here he is in charge of watching over her.

Takoda is extremely good with Tora, they get along great, she is tough, she tackles him and does everything she can to win the play fights, and does very well considering the size difference, Takoda let's her win though most often. She is quickly picking up on the guarding and protection aspect, it's really neat to see how quick they learn from another dog. I can say this though, since having the last litter and having him more involved in the watching and roles has given us a new perspective on his nature and his ability. I can also say, I wouldn't want to be a stray dog wandering into the yard as he takes looking after this place even more serious with pups around.

Tora, Lexi, and Mia - August 2009

Lexi, lower left, Tora upper left, and Mia right:, Mia is the mother of Tora and Lexi, Lexi is out of Mia's first litter and Tora the second. Both females have the stocky solid build of Mia, with the dark color of Takoda and the black muzzle. Mia imparts the beautiful coat these two have and the extra height and length comes from Takoda.

We have been very fortunate to have such outstanding pups, all have been terrific, we feel in Tora though certain qualities that we really like are coming through. Tora is very even tempered, stable and calm, yet picks up on everything around her. She is tough, she takes no guff from Mia and Takoda if she has a bone, however she does respect her position.

Tora has the confirmation and stocky build combined with the length and height of Takoda. She has the darker color and face, tall erect ears and a really nice tail with black tip. Her muzzle is well shaped and she has a dark set of eyes.

Tora will be a very nice female to socialize and have as an ambassador for us, both Mia and Takoda don't get the opportunity to often to be around other individuals so it will be treat for us with Tora.

Mia is a very independent female, she does her own thing, goes her own way, she might come to the door and greet me if I step out if she is close, although it's not guaranteed that she will if she is across the yard looking for something or other, she always looks over and so forth, but if she feels she is busy, she'll just carry on. She would always come if I called, but if I don't, she will see me when she see's me.

Takoda on the other hand will never fail to come and see me and greet me, no matter what, it could be 40 below at midnight, if I step outside, he comes to greet me, wherever he is, he comes over, I don't have to call, I don't have to say a word, he just comes over. Tora is exactly the same, now it's both of them, they come from across the yard, or wherever they are, they both have this type of personality.

Takoda, Tora and I

Tora, Takoda, Ashten, my daughter and I spent a great day out at the Abraham Lake area, the area around the Bighorn Dam, Abraham lake was created by the dam on the North Saskatchewan River west of Nordegg. It is a great place to hike and spend an afternoon. All of us needed a break, it was hot out, there was little to no wind and a beautiful day, I am seen here with my two of our great dogs, Takoda standing on the left, the father of Tora, who is sitting by me on the right of the picture.

Tora is 24 lbs on this trip, she is really growing well, she is very solid, a well built young female that takes all the stocky strength from Mia and combines that with a bit of extra length and height from Takoda. There was so much for her to see and do on this excursion we had our hands full keeping up with her.

Tora, Ashten and Takoda

Tora, always on the lookout for some new thing to chase after keeps Ashten busy, Takoda was glad to have a drink from clear mountain stream. The Canadian Rockies feed into streams that come down to this lake, which is mostly filled by the North Saskatchewan River, this is a beautiful clear and clean lake.

The dogs were having a great day around here, they like roaming around, although Tora needs some more training, she isn't exactly ready to "Come Here" or pay any attention to "By Me" yet, Takoda is very good but Tora just hasn't had enough time, so we kept a halter lead on her most of the time while we were hiking.

Tora is a smart young female, she is also by far the best jumper, she can easily jump straight up and onto 26" already, leaps off of 4 foot high embankments, shelves and will be showing Mia and Takoda up in that area in no time. She is a powerful young dog that has a very unique ability to know how to gather her strength and just jump, and she likes it.

Tora, shown here at 11 months, 52+ lbs

Tora is a powerhouse. She is very strong. She is a big female and takes no guff from Takoda. If they have a dispute over a bone like she has in this picture, he is no longer taking it away just on a whim. She stands her ground, some days though she still gets a little too cocky for him and Takoda does put her in her place, but whoa Nelly it's something to see now when she is not wanting to give it up. Tora has play fought every day of her life and she has non-stop training with Takoda and Mia, she would put the run on many Males much larger than her, she is a confident self assured female, no doubt. She still doesn't mess with Mia though, Mia is the boss and they all know it. There is no testing the waters there.

Tora is our ambassador, she loves people. She is our greeter, we can introduce her to anyone, she is very socialized and pleasant around new people. She is always watching and keeping an eye out in the yard and letting us know things are passing by, but having socialized her from a young pup has been nice for us. We don't introduce Takoda to anyone, his job is security, for pups, dogs, us and the place, he knows it and we know it. So for us to have a nice social female like Tora is terrific.

Just a word on Socialization - We don't socialize Takoda on purpose, he is trained to work - most people socialize all Elkhounds and they make the best family dogs in our opinion.

Tora, shown here between Takoda and Mia

This is a pretty unique photo - I was able to catch them all hearing a noise at the same time I had my camera. I was going out to take some photos and had just nicely gotten the lens cover off and was more or less just getting ready to get a picture as it was a very nice night and they were all standing close in an angle line and then they all heard a noise in the bush and all looked at the same time. The odds of getting them all in a row is slim, the odds of all looking at the time I was ready to get a photo is even slimmer, and the fact that it's a breeding pair with the offspring in the middle is about as rare a photo as you can get in the Elkhound World.

Tora, shown here October 16th 2010

Tora has a magnificent coat, she is in perfect photo poise at any time, she looks like she is going to a show all the time, this is how Elkhounds are. Tora brings the efficiency of all great Elkhounds with her, she doesn't require large amounts of food to maintain condition, yet she is so active it's hard to believe. She is solid muscle, she fights daily with Takoda and Mia, takes them both on almost all the time now, as they have a handful on their own. They are just play fighting, but it's rough and tumble, make no mistake. She has the incredible balance that Mia has, she is heavier than Mia, slightly longer and taller. She has the muzzle of Takoda, the great ears and the deep brown eyes of all Elkhounds.

Tora is very intelligent, she wants to learn what new things you can teach, she pays attention, she watches all the time. This is a very good female. She is a strong agile dog, she can jump through and over stuff the others don't try. She is a very social dog, she is great to be around, she always has time to greet you, will come always when you call.

It would be very hard indeed to improve on Tora, very hard indeed.

Tora, shown here November 10th 2010

Tora has been putting on some muscle this fall, she is in terrific shape, she is fast now, catching Takoda if she wants pretty well any time. I am going to weigh her this weekend as I think she will be 55 to 57 lbs right now, she is maturing into an outstanding female. Tora has a set of feet you could use to describe as the perfect Elkhound feet, I will take a picture of them soon. Both her and Mia seem to spring straight up if they want onto something, it's effortless how they jump.

Tora, shown here October 31st, 2011

Tora is in great shape in this photo, she is a solid muscle performance female, no doubt about it. She is getting set for her second litter in this photo, she has about 50 plus days before she has her second litter. I am putting this photo up in February, even though I took it last halloween, so I already know she had 9 lovely pups. Tora is a Silver Black female, she has some tremendous color, I really like her color. Tora is a strong female, she is also my best protector, you sure don't try to get between me and her, that's for sure.

Tora has an ability to stay in very good shape between and during litters, she eats like a wolf of course while she is nursing and comes back into shape easily. She is around 57lbs in this photo and she is about to bulk up a bit over the next few months adding on some extra condition.

Tora, shown here January 27th, 2012

Tora is a serious female when it comes to her pups, don't be fooling around with them basically is the rule when spending time around Tora and her gaffers that is for sure. She don't put up with anyone messing around or coming around for that matter, sure she will allow some visitors if I am there, but not without some discussion.

Here she is shown with her second litter, 6 males, 3 females, all magnificent pups. Tora milks heavy, so of course the pups are heavy, lots of the males are over 5kgs at 7 weeks, all pups pretty much over 6kg by the time they go to the new homes.

Tora, shown here Late March, 2012

Tora is shown at the left, beside Takoda and Mia, her parents of course, and her pal GÆDA. All four dogs and I were out doing some early spring high country conditioning, as you can see in the photo Tora is back in magnificent shape and condition. This is a powerful female, she can keep up with Takoda in this terrain, and that is doing something, rarely if ever is she left behind. Tora has a ton of stamina, big power, deep chest, lot's of capacity, she loves the high country.

Every time I bring out the harness she is the first one to me, she is ready to work, she knows, harness time, well that means work time, mountains, hikes, fun times, she hates to be left at home, she is a working machine that Tora. This was a great day hiking, we had climbed up high, right out of the trees, we are up pretty close to the snow line on this peak, we can see directly across to the opposing peaks and scan the whole valley from up here. It was a really good spring hike.

Tora, shown here May 25th, 2012

Tora was down to see Bram in Late May, 2012, she cycled and was in terrific shape going down. She had regained everything she had milked off, was in her old powerful condition and healthy as can be. This is an old world female, strong and solid, she is prolific, has some absolutely outstanding pups, each and everyone, all of them excellent quality.

This litter is going to be a fun time, this is a good combination, Bram and Tora, you can see from the pups the quality, the traits, and with this litter we are expecting again, all great little rascals.

Tora, shown here February 26th, 2014

Tora is in some terrific shape right now. She and GAEDA were out with me on our hike and I took the camera along. She is a solid female, always has been, and will remain that way, she has a way about her, she doesn't mind work. She stays muscled in like no other dog, she keeps her condition, is a good eater and is not fussy. She is the supreme ruler around here now on day to day stuff, sure at the very end of the day Takoda can rule, but all things all day, they fall under the Tora rules.

Tora, shown here February 23rd, 2016

Tora sits here at 5000 feet, just finished a long, long tough hike to the top of this mountain. Highest point we could find for miles. She is a powerhouse, no wasted efforts from Tora like some of the young females, she picks a course and powers through. Her and Takoda are my best hiking dogs. I can hike for days with Tora and never have to say her name. Her and I we have logged hundreds of miles together, she knows me well. Tora started listening to me the moment she was conceived. This my friends, this is an Elkhound.