The quality of the outcross genetics in Norwegian Elkhound, or Swedish Elkhound or Full Blood Elkhound is crucial. There has to be utmost importance put on the outcross as we want to preserve all quality aspects.
Outcross Genetic Masterpiece Silver Nova
The beautiful Kamia's Silver Nova, one of the most important outcross females in preservation of ancient lineage Elkhounds
Finding quality outcross Norwegian Elkhounds in North America is very difficult and has been for almost two decades now. Most North American breeders failed to establish their own quality preserved lineages and instead they merged all the bloodlines that were available. This merging of bloodlines is the demise of diversity.
We were able to find a quality breeder of great standards years ago with Lillian Gamble. She was really a purist at heart for the Elkhound breed and had done her best to establish her own genetic lineage. Sure she had to rely on some outcross blood from the main pool but she was selective and did a great job on matching genetics that were as good as she could find.
I approached Lillian about a decade ago to see if her and I could work together as I wanted one of her pups. It was a novel concept for Lillian, to leave the show world and enter the working and preservation breeding area but she was game. She went in full heart all in, she wanted to see the best of the breed preserved and her heart allowed her to participate with us. She of course then placed the Beautiful Silver Nova with us.
Lillian’s Champion female, Silver Princess was the mother and we are so blessed to have had this incredible outcross female providing some of the very best genetics that North America has to offer in the preservation breeding.
Silver Nova was initially brought in for the MANE genetic line, the famous brother of MANE, Jaegar and also we knew that in the future imports from the old country would be sourced and she could produce a second level of outcross. We were going to rely fairly heavy on Silver Nova to bring the MANE and Jaegar bloodlines, but also preserve our ancient Bram/Kamp/Tekla lines and pull back all the way to the mighty Ole Takoda man himself with her.
Jaegar was the first mating, Silver Nova was up with Ashten getting some Desna training and was housed up there with her for a large part of the first few years, with time spent between both locations. She came and hiked her, worked on her skills and we eventually woke up all but the sleepiest instincts. Silver Nova was showblood thru and thru, so working instincts were dull, but we were able to awaken all after time. Amazing really, her blood goes back to Royal Crown lines, this is great working lines and she had them, it was dull but revived.
So the first litter of course was with the incredible Jaegar. It made sense in a way, as Jaegar was much older than MANE, so we could use MANE for the second litter. We were blessed with some of the best pups for our preservation we could ever imagine.
That first litter produced the now famous Silver Nessa, she is bred to Karu at the time I write this. We already know the amazing daughters and son’s she raises as he had a previous litter with Karu. So Huff, Clue, Daisy, all of those amazing Elkhounds are proof of this genetic matchup coming.
Merle was another from that first mating, he is now one of the most handsome stud dogs there is. Seriously skilled off leash, a true working masterpiece and such a great companion for Merle. Daisy actually is with John as well, who has Merle, so they run together, how cool is that.
Another of the phenomenal daughters was Yrsa, she is not in our breeding program but showcases the power and stamina of this powerful combination of genetics.
Kane is up with his father Jaegar, they run as best pals in the BC Clearwater region with Ashten and they are full working big boys.
Maple is in Alaska she is a stunning amazing working female and embodies all aspects of the ancient lineage Elkhounds with of course her stunning beauty.
There were many great litters from Silver Nova. The mating of Karu and Silver Nova was carefully planned as we needed outcross bloodlines for the MANE/Teeko line and we were blessed to have the opportunity to bring two of the daughters from that mating into the preservation. Kessa and Kaleva were the two selected. All were incredible.
Kessa is coming down to Michael and Sarah’s shortly, Caroline has been raising her and she will now place Kessa with Michael for a few litters so that we can once again, save another generation or two from this phenomenal lineage.
Kessa will be mated to Teeko in June time frame.
Kaleva is down in Idaho and we have already had a stunning litter of pups from her and the famous Pretty Boy Leif. A stout powerful son, Aksel was retained for stud and will be used in our preservation work.
Kaleva will potentially be mated next to one of my all time favorites, Ari. Ari is the last son of Luna ( full sibling sister to MANE and Teeko) and he is down in Texas with his full sister Riatta. Riatta and Ari are Luna and Pretty Boy Leif.
We are seeing many generations at work from 1 beautiful outcross female and we have even bigger plans for Silver Nova. Years ago we brought the famed Swix over from Sweden. This is literally one of the very best Bear lines of Norwegian Elkhounds in Sweden. The father of Swix is a Nordic Champion. These dogs are crazy good. I was able to meet 4 of the brothers of Swix when they came to do a hunt here in Canada and it was incredible to see the superior quality of them. So we have Swix in the tank and will AI Silver Nova at year end. Her genetics will continue to live on and produce outcross blood for many generations yet.
Our goal of course is to get males and females from the Swix combination and keep them in preservation work. The daughters, Kessa, Kaleva and the beautiful Silver Nessa will all be critical in our preservation as they do have two distinct lines saved. Merle is a phenomenal element as he will continue this, and of course at some point Daisy will come into play.
Aksel and his future work also gives us the Pretty Boy Leif / Karu / Silver Nova combination. Once we pull back to Ari and Kaleva we bring right back to our original work of going back to the Ole Man himself, Takoda. Ari also brings all our Kamp/Bram/Tekla genetics. It’s a fascinating path in preservation with 1 outcross female.
The story shall not end there though as MANE is in the Tank, and Teeko runs strong. We will have Teeko in the tank as well and the Swix/ Silver Nova daughters we will utilize the preservation methods to step back in time really.
Of course, soon as Teeko and Kessa have this litter, both male and female, a matched pair will be saved. Like Wise with the Kaleva / Ari. As you can easily guess, a matched pair will be selected from the Silver Nessa/Karu litter.
Merle and Varja litter allows us that chance as well.
1 fabulous outcross female, if the preservation breeding principles are followed allow for maximum genetic preservation without 1 single merge into the main bloodlines of North American Elkhounds, allowing for entire lines of outcross preservation blood. That literally can be merged in 20 to 50 years if needed and with full and complete diversity for maximum health and longevity.
