Bram and Tora - New Norwegian Elkhound Litter Is Here
On the day and evening of July 25th, 2012 Tora had her third litter, a magnificent set of 8 big boys and 1 female, a tough little rascal she is. They are all doing very well, already they have big fat bellies and this photo is the next day. It will be some noisy around the 6 week mark with 8 boys, good gracious, I though last time was noisy.
Jaegar - Male Elkhound
There is an awesome article about hiking offleash with Norwegian Elkhounds and Jaegar I just put online in 2016, check it out.
If there is one thing I like to do it's talk about this pair, Jaegar and Kamp. This is a pair of Elkhounds these two!
Jaegar stands here at 15 Months old July 2012
A working Elkhound like Jaegar is a very balanced dog, no extremes in any direction, external or internal. His temperament is excellent, nice and easy going, yet still able to be on guard, watchful and protective. He brings all the qualities you want:
mentally stable - Mia's pups are all super stable in any environment
calm and predictable - Jaegar is very calm in any situation and is completely predictable in any situation - he does exactly what you would expect of him no matter what
superior build and muscle development - he is strong, fast and agile - yet is at the large end of the spectrum at 68lbs
Jaegar has lots of great qualities but one of his features that is not so readily visible is his incredible bite strength. We feed raw and raw fed dogs are very healthy, have no loss of development in bone structure or density, or strength, particularly in bite strength. Jaegar brings the big old powerful jaws and muzzle of the ancient dogs to this pair, there would be few Elkhounds that would compare with his power.
Kamp - Female Elkhound
Kamp stands here at 8 months old June 2012
Kamp is a beauty, a very showy big girl, strong and powerful, very well developed, she is lean and carries no fat. She was the lone pup in her litter, out of an old girls last litter, from ancient lines. Very good lines. She is larger than all our other females, bigger than what you would expect when looking at her alone as she is so well balanced, if there is anything that is identical between her and Jaegar it's that balance.
She has a beautiful coat, her mask is deep black, with deep black ears. She is a very proud confident female, no one is pushing her around, yet she is not aggressive or confrontational in the least, very stable, yet has that air about her, it comes from being a lone pup partially, she has always been "the boss" so to speak. Her lineage though speaks to confidence so the stability of the pups from this pair will be outstanding.
This is a great pair and they are going to have some of the very best pups you could possible wish for, I can hardly wait.
Ryker - Elkhound Male - Owned by Amber and Chris
We want to Thank Amber and Chris for sending up these photos of Ryker, a truly magnificent big male out of Tora and Bram, the first litter. He now has some serious amount of brothers with 8 more on the ground this litter. Ryker is the dark faced big solid boys that can come from this combination, and is a great Elkhound Male, Amber and Chris have done a super job with him, a big thank you to them for such a great home and lifestyle they have provided.
"Hey Merv,
I noticed in your last newsletter that you singled us out as someone who hadn't sent you an update on their pup in awhile! Thanks for the slap on the wrist, I didn't realize it had actually been that long! Ryker is still quite the character, his personality makes us laugh daily and we are loving the time out at the cabin with him. He is pretty much indifferent to deer now, although he does still make sure that he's in between me and the deer if we come across any on a walk. He also watches the bucks quite closely, because they watch him quite closely and I think he can tell. He is very alert when we go for walks, which makes me more comfortable having him off leash out in the woods and on trails. Even in our ravine he is always hunting and searching - he loves chasing birds. Scaring up prairie chickens is one of his favorite things to do right now!
He still weighs 66lbs, solid boy, and I still call him a tank. I think after this summer he will have put on a bit more muscle too. I have attached a couple of pictures for you if you want to share them. There is one of him standing on the dock out at the lake, standing guard. He was watching a dog at the neighbor's house, making sure it didn't decide to swim across to our house. Another one of him in the water - he seems to go deeper and deeper everytime we're out there. He'll be swimming before we know it! He likes pulling sticks out of the water and carrying them to shore, almost like he's cleaning up. There is another one of him on a hike, and then just one of him hanging out in the ravine behind our house, taking it all in and enjoying the grass.
I have been trying to get video of him when we are in the ravine off leash. His recall isn't great (as you know with Elkhounds they are stubborn!) but he constantly stops to check in from a distance to see where I am. I have been playing hide and seek with him almost, he'll run off a fair distance and if there is a place for me to crouch down where he can't see me I will, and if he stops to check in and can't see me, he will come flying back to my last known location and then follow my scent. Smart boy. I will keep trying for video as it would be good to share with you!
Thanks for the newsletters, it's always nice to hear how the "family" is doing!"
Amber and Chris
Shasta Female Elkhound - Owned by Lynn Bowes - Sister to Tora
I have always liked the females from the Takoda Mia pairing, they are solid, a quick female, have enough protection to make you pay close attention, and are some of the nicest looking you will ever come across. Don't get me wrong, the girls Tora has and the ones GÆDA will have are magnificent as well, but these Black Silver females, they are something.
Shasta is a fireball, she has tons of energy, lots of stamina to play and keep things on the move, yet she is content to just mosey around the yard with young Payton as well, keeping an eye on her as she should, she comes by it naturally.
Elkhounds have been part of life for families for thousands of years, as one of the oldest breeds the history goes way back. Training an Elkhound to be around a family is quite simple, they are instinctive to it for the most part, are great with kids instinctively, it's amazing to see young kids with Elkhounds, the dog just seems to know exactly what to do, how to keep an eye on them, how to play, they become very gentle, easy going, fascinating really.
Shasta is a sister to Tora, from a different litter, but she is a full sister same litter to Jaegar and Tesla, both featured on the site. The only girl after Shasta is Nola, basically a splitting image of Shasta now. Females like Shasta, they are hard to come by, you couldn't find a better family friend.
Thanks to Lynn, Lawrence and Payton, for such a great home they give Shasta and also thanks a big bunch for the updates, we sure appreciate it.
GÆDA - Elkhound Female comes into her own
GÆDA has come into her own this summer, she is really a different dog than when she came. I would imagine once she was coming into heat had an influence, but I think the big thing was Jaegar. Having a young male around gave her a chance to be herself, someone she could play with in her style, yet also someone she could "boss around". I don't think she ever had that opportunity, it gave her some calmness, some maturity, but it also brought out her fire.
If there is one thing to get a young female to "Come out" shall we say, it's a young Male, and then cycle. Once she is bred, even though it wasn't the young male, she immediately changes. Her routine was pretty easy going around meal times, now, well it's like I dare you come over to my dish. There is nothing like a female with a belly fully of pups to grow to teach a young easy going young male why you "Never want to go near her dish".
She is putting on weight, she has muscled in with the workouts, she is a beauty for sure. This is a great combination with Takoda and her, I am extremely pleased with her, she just needed a chance to come into her own. Fun times pretty soon with her litter as well, she spends lots of time over by the kennel, she can smell Tora and her litter, she knows it's right about there for her too.
Loki-Bear - A Beautiful Silver Male comes to see his mother Mia
I know you will enjoy this update, I put a special section up on Loki-Bear's page after his last visit. He hadn't been back for a few years and it was great to see him. Darlyne and Les live in BC and were RVing through the Alberta region and stopped in for a very nice visit. It was really great to see them. Now, this Loki-Bear he is the first pup from Mia, she dropped him out in the snow just to toughen him up a bit, I picked him up and brought him inside. I am not fooling, I wasn't quite thinking she was ready to have her litter and needed to go out yet one more time, she just went to a snow bank and just pushed him out, she wasn't just sure how to pick him up so I grabbed him and brought him back in. Well, he turned out just fine as you'll soon see. She still is a little tough on him, at the water dish here she is letting him know, not before your mother, Mr. didn't I teach you anything?
There are few if any Elkhounds left in North America like Loki-Bear, only his brothers. This old style big boy, many of you have seen them years and years ago, but not recently, this is a big fella. Now, we all know, this is not the standard Elkhound, I am not advocating it is, nor should anyone expect this, Mia and Takoda, they just went back in the old ancient DNA and pulled this boy out. Click Here to go to Loki-Bear's page and read all about our great visit: Click To View Loki-Bear
Cinder, Female Elkhound and her owner and best friend Brooklyn
Hi Merv!
Just wanted to send you a short update on Cinder and send along some pictures of her at 7 months.
Cinder is doing incredible here! She gets a minimum of 7 kms a day out. She's so funny, because I'm taking a course at home, and if I get lost in my work for too long, she'll drag her toy box out into the center of the living room, dump out the contents, and start squeaking her toys. If that fails to get me paying attention to her, then she will bring a squeaky toy right over to me, poke it about a millimeter from my face, and start squeaking it at me haha!! I usually take this as my cue that I've bored her, and she's ready to go for a run/walk/hike!!
We have taught her numerous tricks (none of which take her long to learn!) She sits, lies, says please, does the army crawl and shakes a paw. We had her rolling over, but she just doesn't seem to like that one! I laughed when I read your last update, as someone had wrote about their pups affections for socks, and this is soo Cinder! I pull out a basket of laundry, and she is sure to root out a sock (and run!)
We had Cinder spayed 2 weeks ago, and she wasn't a big fan. She guilted me the first day, and got a new batch of toys ... which she was squeaking later that night already. By the morning, she was waiting at my bedroom door, wanting to go for a walk. The vet raved about her teeth, her ears and could not believe the muscles on her (she's a powerful little package!) By the time it was all done, the vets helper actually walked out with us, because she'd become smitten with Cinder! They loved her and she is up to 40 pounds now!!
She loves her off leash time immensely and adores playing with other dogs!
We are now off to continue our attempts at getting her brave enough to go deeper in the water and maybe even swim (so far, she's not a fan, but we're getting her deeper with the bribery of treats) If she sees the leash or camelback, she knows its time to go, and there is no reprieve till we've taken her out! Bark, bark, jump, jump!! Once you've said walk, you're committed haha! She will go and get the leash for you, and she won't leave you alone until you've got her out!
Its a beautiful day out there, so today we stay near the river so she can always cool down! We're loving her, and she is an incredibly happy, loyal (and protective) dog!!
Thanks!
Christy and Brooklyn
A big Thank You to Christy and Brooklyn for giving such great care and attention to Cinder, and for sharing with us the great stories and photos.
Cinder is a female Elkhound from the second litter of Tora and Bram, one of three females from that litter. She is a dark beauty, this young female.
Kaia - Elkhound Female, Colorado - Owned by Paula and Steve
I always enjoy the updates from Paula and Steve, they have Kaia one of the beautiful girls from the first litter of Tora and Bram down in Colorado. She is a beauty, there is no doubt, they have done a terrific job with her. They had quite a battle with some fever of unknown origin a while back with Kaia, they did everything to find out what it was, but it was pronounced as fever of unknown origin, she came through and is in fine form. Paula and Steve went to great lengths to find out what this was, they need to be commended, truly admirable the care and devotion they showed for this girl, she is in good hands for sure.
Kaia has been an outstanding representation of the Elkhound Female since basically the day she was born, she was a beauty at 8 weeks, and is today one of the best females you'll come across. I sure wouldn't be out of line in saying that in the US there would only be a handful of females her quality, and one is her aunt Nola, and one is her sister Freyja.
Freyja and Brennan scooguring
"Hello Merv! We are so happy summer appears to be finally setting in down here! I wanted to drop you a quick line about how proud I am of Miss Freyja! Two days ago, my 7 year old daughter had her out in the back yard walking around on a leash. (Ady loves walking her on the leash for some reason.) They were down at the back part of our property, which is a good 50 yards from the house. This huge black lab, probably at least 80 pounds, came running up out of the drainage ditch in the back. It scared Ady. She came running towards the house screaming. Freyja, just 7 months old and 36 pounds, stood up to this massive lab! There was no scuffling, the lab coward to Freyja just based on her stance! WHAT A FANTASTIC PUP!!! After several tense moments of Freyja displaying who's boss and this strange dog showing much submission, they decided to be friends and ran around my back yard playing, but Freyja was sure to keep this lab from getting too close to my kids, as in true lab nature this dog was massive and ofey, no real manners and would have been all over the kids, in a playful but too forceful way. I found this dog's owner and all was well, but wow did the whole scenario make me even prouder of Freyja. I cannot express how blessed we feel to have her as a part of our family.
Thanks again, and happy summer to you and yours!
I have attached some photo's of Freyja and Brennan scooguring."
Amber
Freyja is a great female from Tora, second Litter, and is a granddaughter of Mia, no wonder she stood her ground with that Lab, no offence to be intended to Labs, but Mia she don't like labs, so no doubt, neither does Tora, and well, we know there is no love lost with Freyja and labs. Check out that new sport "Scooguring", neat Brennan! These are working girls, they don't mind in fact actually love the harness. Just ask Brett and Shelly up in the Yukon with Freyja's aunts, Kari and Nika. A big thanks to Amber for keeping us posted, we sure do appreciate it. She is having a great time.
Jaegar Elkhound Male and Ashten
It's great to show all the neat photos of the fun times with Elkhounds, and this photo of Ashten and Jaegar represents those good times. Her and I had a great hike out with our boys, her Jaegar, my Takoda. We had a real nice fun day.
But, as any Elkhound owner will tell you, it's not exactly all fun and games, you do have to brush these big fellas out a couple times, and when I say brush them out, I am not kidding. A big Male like Jaegar, well I could knit a toque in one year, and mitts the next just from the inner coat that they blow off.
An Elkhound is a double coat dog, a soft inner coat, thick, dense, really curly, a special curl that weaves it together, to make a really warm insulation for the Elkhound in the cold weather. This inner coat is covered by an outer coat, a tougher, harder water resistant, mud shedding guard coat, that keeps that inner coat clean.
This inner coat is why Elkhounds are not too fond of water, soaking wet it weighs a ton, and takes a fair bit to dry for sure. Some elkhounds love water, most of mine don't Jaegar, he jumps right in, cools him off big time. I am nooot tooo happy when he soaks down just before we are getting back in the truck though...
A big brush out like this you would do twice, and a couple small ones and your good for the year for the most part. You can do some touch up brushing if you like, I don't bother too much, if I was to get my dogs, say, Takoda looking too good it might go to his head don't ya know, Jaegar on the other hand, well he is a big show off anyway, Ashten takes him all over the place, he is like a GQ dog or something.
All fun aside, Jaegar is a good fella, Ashten has him well trained, he is well mannered, there is this one trick she taught him, it's you can point your finger at him and he will roll over as if shot dead. So, I didn't know this, if I go to give crap I point my figure at the dogs, to be sure they are listening to me, so one day, I am going to give Jaegar crap over something and I walk up to him and point my finger at him I am just about to say now listen here Mr. and he rolls over. I am like, for crying out loud, now what do I do, had to just give him a hug and say next time. Good boy.
Nola, Female Elkhound
I got this update from Linda a while back, Nola had just turned 6 months old. Nola is down in Montana, she has pretty much taken over down there according to Linda, has things her own way, stubborn as the day is long, smart as can be, and showing all the other dogs what Watch Dog is supposed to mean.
Nola reminds me so much of Mia it's not funny, it's like looking at a photo of Mia, they have the same style, the same size, the wide chest the thickness, the squat power, these are the old coastal genetics, easy keepers these girls.
We are positive we will have a litter from Nola, Linda is an expert Elkhound breeder, knows more about them and the characteristics than all the people you'll meet. She would like to have a litter for the Montana and US folks to get a good dog from. She has had a chance to know the Elkhounds of the show world for 25 years, and she sure can spot the difference in the work and ability, the pure protection, the guarding, the instinctive traits of old, yes, for a fact, she is sure happy with young Nola and her work ethic for sure.
A big Thank you to Linda and Darrell for such a great home they have for Nola, and all the care and attention, and thanks for keeping us posted on lil Nola.
Takoda and Jaegar, well they save my fat behind for sure - A great Wolf story if there ever was one
My big fella Takoda, him and his boy Jaegar, well they are some serious big boys, they are not foolin around when they are out working, you can bet your ass on that one, which I did the other weekend.
I got myself in a bit of a pickle, a bad situation, a tough bind shall we say, mighty bad spot - I was face to face with Canada's most feared bad boy, the Big Grey Timberwolf, yep, stopped me dead in my tracks, I was a long way from any help other than these two big boys, and they were up to the task.
Don't miss out on this article, I made a special issue just on this, I was pretty spooked out for sure... Read All About The Big Grey here.
Well, that's it for this issue, wow, some neat stories, great photos, a massive thank you to everyone who sent stuff in, way to go. You can't believe how many people appreciate the pictures and stories all the folks send in, it truly is good for families to come and read about these great grey dogs, and to hear first hand some accounts of what people have happening with their Elkhound, thank you all.
till later,
Merv