News & updates

I am sad to report that Jekku is no longer with us. Despite his numerous health issues he had such zest for life and reached a respectable age of 14 and a half years. My condolences go out to Päivi.

A couple of recent health test results: Rasmus's patellas were examined with a score of 0/0, and Kaja's hips were x-rayed with a score of A/A. Kaja also has a new profile picture by Marlinn Myrvold.

The first weekend of September saw us attend a sheep herding get-together organised by the Jäätuulen kennel. Dogs participating from my team were Ruusu, Salli, Kerttu, and Ella. While Ruusu and Salli had previous experience in herding reindeer, all four were first-timers as sheep herders. I am happy to report that all of them showed herding instinct and were good at reading the flock, and once the initial excitement had worn out, they were working nicely enough with their handlers to be let off leash. Pictured below is Kerttu turning the flock.

Vappu has been to a couple of shows: at the Tervola group show on 23 Sep Matti Palojärvi graded her Excellent while Jari Fors gave her a Very Good grading at the Autumn Specialty of the Lapphund Club of Finland on 24 Sep (photo below). Norway-based Kaja has also made an appearance in the show ring at Kongsberg on 7 Oct. Graded VG, she was placed fourth in her class under Elin Normannseth.

Dog shows are not Vappu's only hobby: on 21 Oct, she competed in Rally-O and got her Rally Novice title in her third trial! The event was held in Oulu and the judge was Fiia-Maria Kivioja. Vappu also managed to attend a sheep herding aptitude test at Oulainen on the same weekend. Sadly she did not pass it due to lack of interest in the sheep - this certainly came as a surprise considering Vappu did remarkably well at the sheep herding camp we had a couple of years ago. The test was judged by Nina Palmu.

Poca, who is following in her housemate Bella's footsteps as a search and rescue dog, was x-rayed from head to toe to see if she is fit for this demanding job. Based on the results, we shouldn't be too worried: Poca's hip score is A/A, elbow score 0/0, shoulders Unaffected/Unaffected, and spine scores VA0 (clear) and LTV1 (divided median crest (S1-S2)). As for other health news, Svea and Luka have recently been eye tested clear, and Luka's patellas were re-examined with a score of 0/0.

Ippo and the T3 puppies have got their personal pages. Some shots from the sheep herding weekend added to the galleries of Ruusu, Salli, Kerttu and Ella, and Kerttu and Ella have new profile pictures. Thank you Titta for the photos!

The Joiku and Alma puppies flew the coop earlier this summer. Tervastuli (Selmi) lives here in Oulu with his housemate Mosku, and litter brother Tervasnapsi (Pate) resides in Kiviniemi. Teerenpilkku (Nilla) moved to Turku while Teerenpeli (Maya) went to her temporary home in Suomussalmi to get ready to travel all the way to Australia at some point. I did not place any of the pups out on breeding terms this time, however, we recently welcomed a newcomer in the form of Pihlajamäen Aslan (pictured below by Taru Vallius), who joined the gang mid-August. Co-owned by Taru Vallius (Tarutuulten) and myself, Ippo lives in Oulu with Salla and Jarno. His pedigree is certainly very different to anyone else's: his dam Lumivaara comes from the reindeer herding dogs of the Nenets tribe and was registered as a Finnish Lapphund after rigorous "due diligence" earlier this year. As for the sire's side of the pedigree, Ippo's paternal grandsire is Rölli, who originates from Lapland and who went through a similar registration process in 2014. Throw into the mix the fact that lovely Vekku appears in the third generation, I can only be super excited about the pedigree! Personal pages for Alma's pups and Ippo will be added later.

We have been to a handful of shows this summer:

• Tuusula all-breed show 1 July: Huli Very Good/1 under Tarja Kallio.
• Kurikka group show 1 July: Sulo fourth place in the dog challenge with a reserve CC and Hali Very Good/2 under Pekka Teini.
• Oulu International 8 July: Ella Excellent/3 under Sanna Kavén.
• Oulu Nordic show 9 July: Ella Very Good under Kirsi Honkanen.
• Koski TL group show 23 July: Sulo Very Good/1 and Hali Excellent/2 under Sakari Poti.
• Ii group show 5 Aug: Ella Excellent/2 with a junior CC and Vappu Very Good/4 under Sakari Poti.
• Rovaniemi group show 6 Aug: Vappu second place in the bitch challenge with a CC under Esa Ruotsalainen.
• Taivalkoski group show 12 Aug: Vappu fourth place in the bitch challenge with a reserve CC under Katja Korhonen.

Vappu underwent a conformation examination at Kiiminki on 6 July. She was given a very nice review by Esa Ruotsalainen and Taru Vallius, and was thereby approved for breeding. Photo by Taru Vallius.

Kerttu was x-rayed earlier this week: her hip score is B/B, elbow score 0/0 and spine scores VA0 (clear) and LTV0 (clear).

A headshot added to Nuttu's gallery - thank you Johanna!

Luka went through a conformation examination organised by the Breeding Committee of the Lapphund Club of Finland at Kajaani on 8 June. The judge was Mari Lackman, who deemed Luka "Approved for breeding".

Salli's gallery updated with photos taken by Taru Vallius earlier this year.

Kuusamo group show 10 June: Hali Excellent/3 & CQ, Salli (who is going through a terrible moult!) Very Good/4, and Vappu Very Good under Jari Fors.

Pöytyä group show 10 June: Nuttu graded Good by Tapio Kakko.

Pielavesi group show 11 June: Sulo Excellent/1 & CQ, Hali Excellent/2 and Poca (pictured) Excellent/4 & CQ under Juha Putkonen.

Vappu's profile photo updated.

Siilinjärvi group show 18 May: Sulo and Jiska (pictured below by Sanna Parviainen) both graded Good by breeder judge Tapio Kakko.

Kruunupyy group show 13 May: Ella Best Puppy in Breed and Salli Excellent/1 under Erja Nummi.

Oulu group show 14 May: Vappu graded Excellent by Paavo Mattila.

Turku group show 18 May: Sulo (pictured below) Best of Opposite Sex with his first CC and Nuttu Very Good/1 under Kirsi Sainio.

Our SAR dog/handler team candidates Bella and Hanneliisa have passed the advanced level ground search test and can now start preparing for the demanding final test that will qualify them as members of the emergency team of The Volunteer Rescue Service of Finland. Big congrats!

The puppies are here! Alma gave birth to two boys and two girls on the 5th of May. The pups and Alma are doing great.

Kokkola group show 7 May: Ella first place in Puppy Bitch, Hali Excellent/1 and Salli Very Good/3 under Aila Lehmussaari.

Rasmus has been eye tested clear. Thank you Henna!

Puppies on the way! With her due date just around the corner, Alma is heavily in whelp to Loihakka Lokan Rauta-airo.

Nuttu's profile picture and photo gallery updated (photos by Johanna Laiholahti). Salli has a new profile picture, too.

Latest show results:

Kauhajoki group show 1 Apr: Arttu Very Good/1 under Reino Korpela.

Spring Specialty of the Lapphund Club of Finland, Laukaa 2 Apr: Rasmus graded Good and Koda, almost 14 years old, graded Excellent by Matti Tuominen.

Kiuruvesi group show 22 Apr: Rasmus Excellent/4, Hali (pictured below) Best Veteran in Breed with a veteran CC and a third place in the dog challenge, Poca Excellent/2 with a CQ, and Salli Excellent/1, CQ & fourth place in the bitch challenge. As many as three breeder's teams were presented and much to my delight ours won Best Team in Breed! Finnish Lapphunds were judged by Reino Korpela.

Kankaanpää group show 23 Apr: Arttu Very Good/3 under Leni Finne.

Vappu competed in a Rally obedience trial in Oulu on the 19th of March with her young handler Sylvia. They scored a perfect 100 points in the Novice class! As they have another qualifying score from their first trial in November last year, they are very close to their RN title. Congrats!

Salli's x-rays were done earlier this month and these are her scores: hips C/B (with an additional remark about shallow acetabulums), elbows 0/0, and spine scores VA0 (clear) and LTV0 (clear).

Ella has a new profile picture (© Merja Koivuluoma).

Last week Bella, Salli, Poca, Hanneliisa and I ventured out to Pello, Lapland for a weekend bootcamp of reindeer herding. As usual, our seasoned herder Bella was doing a great job once she had let some steam out. While Poca has tried sheep herding earlier, this was the first time she met any reindeer and she did get a tad overexcited at first. However, once she got the hang of it, it was a pleasure to watch her work. Salli may have provided the biggest surprise of the weekend though: she worked the reindeer like she'd done it loads of times before even though she'd never seen reindeer except through the car window. She was co-operating with me nicely and showed some clever moves such as fetching the stray reindeer that had separated from the herd. Salli was also tasked to empty a small paddock and she managed to do it even though I was not sure how she would cope in such a tight space with large animals everywhere. Thank you Hanneliisa for a super fun weekend (the car battery dying was less fun though, but we did make our way home in the end)! Pictured below is Bella.

Nuttu has been x-rayed and the results look like this: hip score C/B, elbow score 0/0, and spine scores VA0 (clear) and LTV0 (clear). The Finnish Kennel Club vets had included some remarks on the reports: Nuttu has shallow acetabulums and her last lumbar vertebra is short and set somewhat back. Thank you Johanna!

Photos from the reindeer herding weekend added to the galleries of Bella, Salli and Poca. Jiska's photos on her personal page and on Noki's progeny page updated (© Outi Uusitalo).

We have lost two much-loved team members since the previous update: first we had to say goodbye to Raiku in the middle of December, and just two months later I received the news about Netta passing away. My condolences to both families.

Health news has not been all that good either: Masi has been diagnosed with hypothyroidism, and Kielo had to undergo surgery recently to have some mammary gland tumours and a small fibroma on her thigh removed. Luckily it is not all bad news as the pathological findings turned out to be benign. Continuing on that positive note, Noki, Alma and Otso have had clear eye exams. What is more, Ellie has been PennHIP scored with a very nice result of 0.36 (which is well below the breed average of 0.44) and she has normal elbows, too (OFA scoring system). Ellie's sister Jiska was not quite as lucky in every aspect as her hip score is B/C, elbow score 0/1, and patella score 0/0. A big thank you to the owners of these dogs!

The Lapphund Club of Finland recently published their Top 10 lists for 2022 and I am happy to announce that Salli is Top Puppy 2022! As for this year's show results, Rasmus was shown at Kajaani 7 Jan under Pinja Hiltunen, who graded him Good. Arttu has attended his first shows as a junior with the following results: Good grading from Irina Poletaeva at Parkano 4 Feb, Very Good/3 from Kirsi Honkanen at Jämijärvi 25 Feb, and Good from breeder judge Esa Ruotsalainen at Jämijärvi 26 Feb.

We did not show any dogs in the huge annual Spitz Specialty at Kuopio at the end of January this year, however, Rasmus underwent a conformation examination and the panel of judges thought very highly of him! What is more, I was approved to perform conformation examinations for Lapponian Herders.

Ella's picture gallery has been updated.