HISTORY

RAVENSTONE
NORWEGIAN ELKHOUNDS

ESTABLISHED 1953

“THE FOUNDATION”

THE RAVENSTONES PAY TRIBUTE TO:

CHAMPION RAVENSTONE FALDA OF ARDENwOOD

(Irish Champion Osvald av Aalesund x Fourwents Jetta at Ardenwood)

CH RAVENSTONE GUNNAR - 1956
and his Mother
ch ravenstone Falda of Ardenwood - 1953

CH RAVENSTONE NANOOK - 1959, photo at 9 years old

CH RAVENSTONE SJOBERG - 1976

RAVENSTONE Hedda - 1980

Ch Ravenstone lady sylvia - 1992

CH RAVENSTONE
ROLLS NONNI - 1985

CH RAVENSTONE GRAY - 1962

CH RAVENSTONE I’M A VIKING
- 1992,

Winning Group 4 at Midland Counties Ch Show

Photo by: Alan V Walker

RAVENSTONE Emily Gray - 1988

CH RAVENSTONE SVENSEN - 1982

CH RAVENSTONE SKOA OF DANELAW - 1982

Ch Ravenstone siggan -1982

**PLEASE VISIT AND SIGN MY GUEST BOOK**

CH RAVENSTONE CRIM - 1955

CH RAVENSTONE NOBEL - 1959

CH RAVENSTONE TAS - 1966

CH RAVENSTONE LALLA - 1964

One of the great Names in Elkhound History, mother of four champions and grandmother of at least a dozen. Though never campaigned extensively she won, in fierce competition, numerous Challenge Certificates and Reserve Challenge Certificates. ‘Falda’ will never be forgotten at RAVENSTONE for her intelligent, independent, fun-loving character.

Ch Tostig of Kistrand
with his owner Miss E Wilson,
the Judge: Mr W F Holmes (Mr Elkhound of the famous ‘of the Holm’ Kennel)
and Miss Margaret Lovell (now Harper)
with Ch Ravenstone Falda of Ardenwood.

RAVENSTONE BEZEKE - 1992
Winner of 2 Challenge Certificates

ESKAMERE SOLO AT RAVENSTONE (NOR Imp) - 1988

Ch Ravenstone Youessofay Peyvre - 1987

Ravenstone Marjorie Fair - 1990

- 1958

CH RAVENSTONE KELL - 1963

THE RAVENSTONE STORY

‘THE PAST’

I find it hard to believe that by the time you read this, over fifty years will have passed since I founded my Ravenstone Elkhounds. What joyous years most of them have been. To be so closely involved with this very special breed has been a great privilege.

From when I first met Elkhounds I sensed that they were very special and there was never any doubt in my mind that my life was going to be intertwined with them, come what may.

I can hear my father now saying “if you must have a dog of your own for goodness sake get a good one, it won`t cost any more to keep than a bad one! So of course with the enthusiasm of youth I went to the top kennel!

I approached Joyce (Esdaile) Winter, of the famous Fourwents for a good foundation bitch, she was so helpful although she had recently disbanded her large kennel to concentrate on bringing up her young human family. She put me in touch with Mrs Legg and her daughter Edna (Ardenwood). They had purchased Fourwents Jetta from her and as luck would have it had recently bred from her.

I immediately phoned Edna and yes she had one bitch puppy left, she was keeping a dog and a bitch. I could only have her on a part breeding arrangement as they wanted a puppy back from each of two litters to make sure they didn`t lose that precious line from the famous Fourwents Champion bitches Trigg/Grinta/ Sonja etc.

This was Falda of Ardenwood, she was five months old, not a good age to choose an Elkhound but I never had any regrets.

Falda came from the city to isolated countryside but I don`t remember having any problems with introducing her to livestock. She had a lovely temperament outgoing, fun loving and liked to be admired, and very very bright.

Falda lived with me on my parents` small farm and mixed with all kinds of animals and poultry. We never had to worry how she would react to different situations. I still can`t give house room to the silly, yappy, nothing between the ears types that I have occasionally met up with or for that matter the occasional disagreeable one – they are not real Elkhounds.

I only had one small problem with Falda, she loathed water and we were in an old mill house literally surrounded by water especially in the winter months.

When chores were done I was in the habit of whistling up the Labradors and our Smooth Fox Terrier and setting off for a walk, many times accompanied by a cat and a bottle-fed lamb both of whom thought they were dogs! Although the lamb and the cat sensibly declined to cross water and would return to the farm when we reached some bridges. When I say whistle I have to own up that I have never been able to whistle, try as I might much to the amusement of my six brothers! I always used an Acme Silent Whistle on it`s highest pitch barely audible to the human ear. I found that Elkhounds responded wonderfully to that, wherever they were on the farm they would come as fast as they could to find me.

I suggested to my sister once when she was about to take them for a walk that she take the whistle to recall them, she didn`t think they were very well behaved compared to her beloved Labradors. The first time she used it the Elkhounds who were ranging too far away for her liking came racing back to her, but she had no sooner thought “wonderful” when they raced straight past her without a second glance and continued on their way home to find me!

I saw them arrive looking terribly pleased with themselves that they`d come back such a long way and found me. What could I say? I thought they were very clever and knew to whom they belonged. Sister arrived an hour later, not amused.

Falda and I managed to get to the occasional championship show. We didn’t possess a car so we went by bus, train and Tube, and occasionally a lift from a good friend. Falda took it all in her stride which said much for her steady temperament as she lived on an isolated farm and didn`t meet up with motors except farm vehicles.

Her success in the showring with me her novice handler was all due to her good looks and extrovert personality. She did very well indeed but getting her title was quite hard. I still couldn`t afford to go to more than a few shows a year. Two record breaking bitches were competing at every show for the challenge certificates, Mrs Tilly Thomas` Champion Sian of Deriormond who was also reserve best bitch in show to the Keeshond at Crufts prior to the group system. The other was Mrs Audrey Harris` Champion Touvere Thea. I think Sian finished up with 23 CCs just ahead of Thea. They often were shown under the same judge for a second CC.

What this keen competition did was make me work very hard on presenting Falda in tiptop condition. I learnt a lot from my father about keeping livestock in excellent condition all of the time so that was a big help.

I decided that they might beat me but they wouldn`t beat Falda on condition. Eventually it was the great man himself Mr W.F.Holmes who put her to the top and wrote” I was pleased to award her what she deserved”. He came across and congratulated me on the condition of my dogs this meant almost more to me than the CC!

It was interesting that from then on Falda beat the top bitches as often if not more so than they beat her.

Perhaps that is why almost subconsciously I have invariably retired my champions from the ring when they have got up to about ten challenge certificates, Remembering what it was to stand below those top winners again and again!

After all if you are a good breeder you should have something in the pipeline to hopefully try for centre stage again.

Falda`s pedigree was liquid gold. Fourwents Jetta av Ardenwood her mother was from an unbroken line of Fourwents Champion bitches – what a pedigree to get hold of. How very lucky I was that Joyce Winter (Esdaile) and Mary Jarman gave their advice and time so freely. Helping me to choose suitable stud dogs with the emphasis on good health background and perfect temperament and then helping me to evaluate the puppies.

Falda produced lovely puppies to Ch Lofoten Anton and Champion Gunnar of Coddington. Both sires chosen with the advice of Joyce Winter and Mary Jarman owner of Champion Gunnar of Coddington advised me - “Pick one out at 6 weeks old and don`t change your mind” and how right she was. You might still be disappointed how a certain puppy turns out but generally it has proved to be the right policy. She told me to especially look at the outline and how a puppy carried itself and moved “all of a piece”. She considered what you saw at six weeks you would eventually see in the adult. She also told me not to think I`d got a super pup at six months old because it would change considerably by eight or nine months. She felt that was the real age to assess an older puppy. She was a wise lady.

I can`t thank those breed experts enough for all they taught me, Mrs Joyce Winter, Mrs Mary Jarman, and Mr W.F.Holmes, and later Mrs Joy Harburn of the Tordens. They were the top judges/breeders/exhibitors of their day.

Improvements to the Breed during pre war and early post war years were brought about mainly by the top imports Mr Holmes would again and again go and purchase from Norway and Sweden. He certainly knew how to persuade the Scandinavians to sell their top winners to him, he never to my knowledge imported other than adults.

I don`t think those owners of yesteryear would have thought much to us not giving such intelligent clever dogs more to do. It`s too easy to say “never let an Elkhound off a lead” to which I always say rubbish!

Admittedly living on a farm amongst animals gives you far more scope and space for training and teaching them to stay near and watch what YOU are going to do next and of course the all important lesson of respecting other livestock. Quickly and easily learned when a puppy is quite young.

Retrieving can be a problem but many find a way round it, not the least my late very dear friend and sister in law Jennifer Hardy. When she was training Ravenstone Idrettsman (Sportsman or Sport), in London, she found the retrieve very difficult until she hit on the idea of putting the dumbell in one of her smelly socks (her own words)! He didn`t mind retrieving that at all and was soon carrying anything she wanted him to.

When she married my brother Roland and went to live in East Africa she established a small successful Elkhound kennel under her Cherubai prefix, importing from me and Mrs Celia Tomlinson. She successfully combined these lines with the established lines in Africa.

EAKC Ch. Ravenstone Idrettsman won BEST IN SHOW all breeds at the famous Nairobi Championship show under the English judge Stanley Dangerfield.

After Jennifer`s tragic early death her dogs went to friends so I was astonished a year or so later to learn from Baroness Van Boetzelaer in Holland of the famous Riverlands, that a bitch bred by Jennifer had come to her in a rather roundabout way. She described her as the most beautiful bitch she had ever seen and she later figured large in her breeding plans. A descendant of that bitch recently came to England to be mated to Margaret Deuchar` Bel. Ch Ravenstone Bersin Krisen so those lines have come full circle.

Champion Ravenstone Gunnar from Falda`s first litter was by Ch Gunnar of Coddington. I had no intention of keeping males until then but I am thankful Mary persuaded me he was the best. He was a charmer, a real gentleman all of his life. He would guard whatever he thought belonged to me, but in a very polite way! It was “ please take note and don`t push me because I have a job to do here and I will do it”.

He was a natural retriever while we were still on the farm, (copied from my father`s Labradors?). You could point to anything whether it was an egg a hen had dropped before she had reached the nestbox or even a metal bucket, and he would bring it back to me talking as he did so and telling me how clever he was. He also loved water and enjoyed swimming unlike his dear mother who loathed it!

He grew into a lovely show dog, substance with a touch of elegance and full of quality and a great mover. I was very lucky to have him. To me he had just the right amount of angulation for and aft which made him very agile. He didn`t need to get into a stride it was there from the first step like all outstanding movers, so beautifully balanced. The photos we have of him are all snapshots – unposed .

Other breeders wanted to use him because of his bloodlines and he quickly showed what a dominant sire he was going to be. It was so easy to pick his stock out at shows they were of a type and quality that most people approved, from many different lines.

He sired eleven British champions and holds the stud dog record even to this day. It still surprises me that another stud dog hasn`t yet taken it from him.

Most of the time I have only kept four or five adult Elkhounds at one time, I had plenty of space for them but it has always been important to me to be really in touch with each of my dogs, it is such a joy getting to know their individual characters, watching them develop.

I could still call on my mentors to discuss possible combinations of pedigrees and the advice was always willingly given and gratefully accepted. Without their help there wouldn`t have been the steady flow of champions that became the pattern, and most importantly they guided me away from known problems in any pedigree whether it was health or temperament. We were

RAVENSTONE HIORDIS - 1974
‘Dizzy’

An Influential Brood bitch.

CH RAVENSTONE RA - 1985

CH WINDY COVE KIVA’S LUCKY CHARM (Imp USA) - 1988

CH RAVENSTONE CRAGG OF TUCHOOS - 1988

CH LEWEL RUNA RAVENSTONE - 1990

CH RAVENSTONE MYSTIK FOR YGGDRASIL - 1991

CH RAVENSTONE VAL - 1961

CH RAVENSTONE CHRISTIANA - 1976

CH RAVENSTONE THE STATESMAN OF YGGDRASIL - 1984

CH RAVENSTONE NICE AS PIE - 1986

CH RAVENSTONE JUST AS NICE - 1988

always looking to improve on the best we had and you can only do that by acknowledging the faults however slight in your own stock.

In the seventies I hardly exhibited for several years, earning a living had to come first, but the offspring of our breeding were flying the flag for other kennels mainly the Borellan`s, Kestos, Rothenborg and Norsled.

The above was written by Margaret in September 2007 as the first part of the web site version of ‘The Ravenstone Story’ more was to come later but sadly it was not to be.

Below is the article she wrote for the Norwegian Elkhound Times an International (US based) publication.

It does cover some of the above with slight differences.

I have decided to reproduce the whole article which takes the story to 2003.

"Reprinted with permission form
Norwegian Elkhound Times 2003".

I find it hard to believe that by the time you read this article fifty years will have passed since I founded my Ravenstone Elkhounds. What joyous years most of them have been. To have been so closely involved with this very special breed has been a great priviledge.

From when I first met Elkhounds I sensed that they were very special and there was never any doubt in my mind that my life was going to be intertwined with them, come what may.

The joy has been interspersed with trauma and sadness but that`s life isn`t it?

My first bitch Trudi I adored, she was the very first dog I could call my own even though I had grown up being surrounded by animals and dogs in particular and she introduced me to the true Elkhound temperament.

She set the standard for temperament I would always apply to my dogs in years to come. Intelligent fun loving, deeply loyal, very easy to train, she went everywhere with me rarely on a lead. Whether it was on the local `bus or following my bike to the village to check on some livestock we had in a field there and visit my grandmother who lived opposite Trudi, was never far from me.

She was above all calm in any situation, she had to be as she lived on my parents` small farm and mixed with all kinds of animals and poultry. We never had to worry how she would react to a different situation. She set such a standard that I still can`t be bothered with the silly, yappy, nothing between the ears types that I have occasionally met up with or for that matter the occasional disagreeable one – they are not real Elkhounds.

She wasn`t an especially good show bitch, passable, but at that stage I couldn`t really afford to start showing, but it didn`t bother me.

I thought I was on the right lines for a good pedigree because I knew that a top breeder who had also imported stock from Norway had purchased the pick of the litter from whence Trudi came.

I can hear my father now saying “if you must have a dog of your own for goodness sake get a good one, it won`t cost any more to keep than a bad one”!

My father loved his Labradors and although he was mainly interested in how well they could work he still liked to think they were good lookers and the rare times he showed them they never let him down.

When my bitch Trudi was about 18months old I overheard my father discussing her with someone who had called at our isolated farmhouse. He was obviously being asked about her and as the conversation went on I heard my father say “she`s the most intelligent dog I have ever met”. High praise indeed from a Labrador lover!

It`s a good thing we can`t see round the corner of Life into the future. Two years later the bottom dropped out of my world, first my beloved father without warning died of a heart attack and then a year later I lost Trudi, she died after whelping a large litter. A cobby smallish bitch she just hadn`t got room for a litter of thirteen and they had pressed on an artery causing internal gangrene, according to my vet. I lost the litter too.

After what seemed a desolate time I knew I couldn’t live without an Elkhound and approached Mrs Joyce Winter formerly Joyce Esdaile, of the famous Fourwents for a good foundation bitch. Yes I was determined to do something with Elkhounds!

She was so helpful and although she had just disbanded her kennel to concentrate on bringing up her children she put me in touch with Edna Legg and her mother who had purchased Fourwents Jetta from her. They had recently bred from Jetta.

This was Falda of Ardenwood, she was five months old, not a good age to choose an Elkhound but I had no choice so problem solved!

Falda came from the city to the deep countryside but I don`t remember having any problems with introducing her to livestock, we were still on our small farm with one of my brothers running it. She too had a lovely temperament but was more pushy than Trudi and liked to be admired.

I think Falda took her cue about livestock from our Labradors who were very well behaved. Labradors were above all extremely gentle and biddable in those days. To shout at one was a sin in our household and was never necessary.

I only had one small problem with Falda – she loathed water and we were in an old mill house literally surrounded by water!

When chores were done I was in the habit of whistling up the Labradors and our Smooth Fox Terrier and setting off for a walk, many times accompanied by a cat and a bottle-fed lamb both of whom thought they were dogs! Although the lamb and the cat sensibly declined to cross water and would return to the farm when we reached some bridges. When I say whistle I have to own up that I have never been able to whistle, try as I might, so I always used an Acme Silent Whistle on it`s highest pitch. I found that Elkhounds responded wonderfully to that, wherever they were they would come as fast as they could and find me.

I suggested to my sister once when she was about to take them for a walk that she take the whistle to recall them because she didn`t think they were very well behaved compared to her beloved Labradors. The first time she used it the Elkhounds who were ranging too far away for her liking came racing back to her, but she had no sooner thought “wonderful” when they raced straight past her without a second glance and continued on their way home to find me!

Our walks invariably meant we waded over shallow parts of the river Great Ouse and crossed a number of small bridges over streams. The Labs said this was fine by them but Falda who of course came too said “no way am I going to walk through that”!

Not to be outdone I went back to her and carried her part way across and put her down so she could see it was quite safe and by now shallow. She hated it.

I didn`t go that way for some time but thought to try her again with water. She was no fool, she took one look at the Labradors wading across, even the terrier was charging through it, she studied me for a moment then off she went like a streak of lightning back the way she had come. It was about a mile and a circuitous route and she had only done it once before. There she was waiting for us when we all arrived home, laughing all over her face.

I had learnt by now how hard it was to fool an Elkhound. We agreed to differ about water except when she needed a bath, then I did insist.

Falda and I managed to get to the occasional championship show. We didn’t possess a car so we went by bus, train and underground and occasionally a lift from a friend, she took it all in her stride.

Her success in the showring with a novice handler was all due to her good looks and extrovert personality. I can only remember one show when she didn’t put her best foot forward, we had arrived only just in time for her class due to hold ups on the train. It wasn’t until after her class that I twigged what was wrong, Falda always had a quick sleep on the bench before she went in the ring, her beauty sleep, and she had missed it!

She did very well indeed but getting her title was quite hard. I still couldn’t afford to go to more than half a dozen shows a year. Two record breaking bitches were competing at every show for the challenge certificates, Mrs Tilly Thomas` Champion Sian of Deriormond who was also reserve best bitch in show to the Keeshond at Crufts prior to the group system. The other was Mrs Audrey Harris` Champion Touvere Thea. I think Sian finished up with 23 CCs just ahead of Thea. They often were shown under the same judge for a second CC.

It was interesting that from then on Falda beat the top bitches as often if not more so than they beat her.

Perhaps that is why almost subconsciously I have invariably retired my champions from the ring when they have got up to ten challenge certificates. Remembering what it was to stand below those top winners again and again!

After all if you are a good breeder you should have something in the pipeline to hopefully try for centre stage again.

Falda`s pedigree really came into play when I started breeding from her. Fourwents Jetta av Ardenwood her mother was from an unbroken line of four Fourwents Champion bitches – what a pedigree to get hold of, and me a complete novice where Elkhounds were concerned.

She produced lovely puppies to Ch Lofoten Anton and Champion Gunnar of Coddington. Both sires chosen with the advice of Joyce Winter. She and Mary Jarman owner of Gunnar of Coddington were so helpful to me and taught me so much. Mary in particular would always come and see my puppies and show me what to look for.

“Pick one out at 6 weeks old and don`t change your mind” how right she was. You might still be disappointed how a puppy turns out but generally it`s the right policy. She told me to especially look at the outline and how a puppy carried itself and moved “all of a piece”. She considered what you saw at six weeks you would eventually see in the adult. She also told me not to think I`d got a super pup at six months old because it would change considerably by eight or nine months. She felt that was the real age to assess an older puppy. She never brought a puppy out into the showring herself until it was about nine months old.

I can`t thank those breed experts enough for all they taught me, MrsJoyce Winter, Mrs Mary Jarman, and Mr W.F.Holmes, and later Mrs Joy Harburn of the Tordens. They were in the breed in the Thirties and saw all the changes and improvements of that time brought about mainly by the top imports Mr Holmes would again and again go and purchase from Norway and Sweden. He certainly knew how to persuade the Scandinavians to sell their top winners to him he never to my knowledge imported other than adults.

I didn`t get to know Kitty Heffer until much later because there had been quite a rift in the Society and the Elkhound Club had later been formed. Most people were members of both clubs even so, but I think it gave them somewhere they could let off steam when things didn`t always suit.

Although we novices were not very aware of it you were definitely on one side or the other simply because you had bought stock from the opposing faction! It all sounds very familiar doesn`t it!

Kitty and I got on very well once we got to know one another but I noticed one wasn`t expected to talk bloodlines not other peoples strains anyway!

In those days they were terribly polite about it all. I can just imagine those haughty stares if exhibitors had screamed their approval on a placing as happens occasionally today.

The membership list of the BES had to be seen to be believed in the twenties and thirties it was like reading through Debrett`s peerage from the Maharajah of Patiala downwards - yes really! Knights and Ladies were commonplace and there was a Countess and Lords and Admirals etc. But without them bringing those Grey dogs home from their salmon fishing and hunting trips in Scandinavia the breed would have been much poorer and so much slower getting established. Would we have seen them prior to WW2 ? I rather doubt it.

Those people put the dogs` intelligence and skills to good use on their country estates far more than we are perhaps able to do today. They used them to track down wounded deer on a regular basis in Scotland and many were good gundogs. There is a picture of one in an old BES yearbook retrieving a duck from the river that had been shot.

The Greydale Elkhounds of Mr George Harland were used to hunting with his own Beagle pack and were said to always put the Beagles right if they went astray on their line, he said one automatically followed the Elkhounds because they were always right.

Admittedly living on a farm amongst animals gives you far more scope and space for training and teaching them to stay near and watch what YOU are going to do next.

Retrieving can be a problem but many find a way round it, not the least my late very dear friend and sister in law Jennifer. When she was training Ravenstone Idrettsman (Sport) in London she found the retrieve very difficult until she hit on the idea of putting the dumbell in one of her smelly socks!(her own words). He didn`t mind retrieving that at all and was soon carrying anything she wanted him to.

I kept Gunnar from Falda`s litter by Ch Gunnar of Coddington only because Mary and I thought the bitches were not as good as the dogs. I had no intention of keeping a male until then but I am thankful I did. He was a charmer, a real gentleman all of his life. He would guard whatever he thought belonged to me, but in a very polite way!

It was “ please take note and don`t push me because I have a job to do here and I will do it”.

He was a natural retriever while we were still on the farm, (copied from the Labradors?). You could point to anything whether it was an egg a hen had dropped before she had reached the nestbox or even a metal bucket, and he would bring it back to me talking as he did so and telling me how clever he was.

He also loved water and enjoyed swimming unlike his dear mother!

The photos we have of him are all snapshots – unposed – it was the only way you could photograph him, show him a camera and for some reason he didn`t want to know.

He sired eleven British champions and holds the stud dog record even to this day it still surprises me that another hasn`t taken it from him.

Most of the time I have only kept four or five Elkhounds, I had plenty of space for them but also had to earn my living and be away for some of the day. Some of the famous kennels of the day had up to about thirty Elkhounds and employed staff to look after them, I wasn`t in that league nor wanted to be. It was important to me to be really in touch with each of my dogs.

In the seventies I hardly exhibited for several years, business had to come first, but the offspring of our champions were flying the flag for other kennels mainly the Borellan`s, Kestos, Rothenborg and Norsled. We were proud of them.

Ted and I married in 1977 and he was instrumental in persuading me back into the show ring and he loved the dogs.

Ravenstone Hiordis was a lovely sturdy bitch she was by another Norwegian bred dog Norsled Gaupas Gustav. She had a great temperament and so clever with a great sense of fun even to old age. One of the most wonderful mothers imaginable in a breed of known good mothers. She had three litters of 9,13 and 14. In the last litter two were born dead but she never lost a live puppy and none had supplementary feeding from birth.

We thought we would have to supplement some of them but before interfering we watched her closely. We found that there were always some suckling and always some asleep already full of milk. We tried to start them on a supplement at two weeks and they were just not hungry, they`d yawn and turn their heads away. You couldn`t have done this with a poor feeder but Hiordis would always eat everything you gave her so she had numerous high quality feeds each day and produced volumes of milk. I don`t think you could achieve this on a “complete” food it has to be a mainly raw diet. She had a variety of raw meat, raw eggs, milk honey,sardines etc. She fed her puppies when she wanted up until the last, and never said no to them even when she had little milk. We always make certain our bitches can get away from their puppies if they so wish.

She produced for us Fred and Doris Pickup`s Ch Ravenstone Hattie who they campaigned to be the top Challenge Certificate winner of all time. She was a great personality and loved it all travelling round the shows in summer by caravan, it was just a second home to Heidi, as they called her.

We kept her sister Hedda simply because she chose us – we are suckers for that!

From when they were all allowed to come indoors for playtime it was always Hedda usually sitting on Ted`s feet clearly saying I`m not going back out with them! The rest of the litter by then had gone exploring in the paddock.

She was very bored with the showring but still managed a Challenge Certificate.

Where she did excel was hunting. She showed me the difference between the UK lines when hunting and an almost entirely Norwegian bred bitch hunting. Of course she was restricted as to what was available to hunt but what a joy it was to watch her operating. She would clear any obstacle with great style and without breaking her stride. Just dealing with whatever she came across almost without a second glance. We had to persevere with her up to about 12 months old about coming back when we said so, otherwise she wouldn`t have been off the lead very much, but we eventually won. The hunting instinct in her was so strong. She was such a clever bitch.

Sadly when her sire was almost 5 years he was diagnosed with Primary Open angle Glaucoma. This was a hammer blow to everyone not least to those who imported him and his owner.

We didn`t breed from Hedda again and withdrew the current top stud dog her son Ch Ravenstone Siggan from stud and had his sister Sophie spayed. All of our stock down from him was absolutely clear, they were checked throughout their lives. Friends who had already doubled up on the import also had completely clear dogs. The BVA top man could offer no explanation about inheritance except to keep that line on one side, which we all have done, rigorously. You can never be certain when breeding livestock that something won`t pop up and knock you for six. You have to deal with it to the best of your ability and always with the future welfare of the breed in mind.

Avoiding known problems I have always likened to slippery stepping stones over a rushing stream, you might negotiate them safely for years and then one day you won`t!

To get in new blood we imported on loan from Maggie Mott Ch Kamgaard Kit n`Kaboodle (Nondi) in whelp to Ch K. The Kissing Bandit she had four live puppies in quarantine.

Three of them did very well and produced some lovely stock. They are behind many of today`s winners both here and in Africa, Australia too. With the help of good friends who wanted new bloodlines we all shared the costs and the all important quarantine visiting and each had a puppy, it worked out very well.

We still have Nondi`s grand daughter Ravenstone Emily Gray who is fourteen and a half years young and still ruling the household or so we let her think! She was named after my father`s favourite rose and then a number of her offspring also were named after roses even the boys!

Kitty would have turned in her grave, she didn`t even approve of my fondness in those early days of using English Foxhound names, not the done thing, Norwegian names please!

Emmie won 2 Challenge Certificates and then went right off showing, we could never understand why. Neither of us would persist in showing a dog who hated it so we retired her from the show ring even though she was so near to her title.

She gave us amongst many lovely puppies two gorgeous bitches who quickly gained their titles and loved the showring namely Ch Ravenstone Glad Tidings and Ch Ravenstone Lady Sylvia. They were very popular with both UK and Norwegian judges.

Their sire Eskamere Solo we were lucky to obtain from Ann Heward and Hans Wreschner who had boosted the breed`s gene pool with some more imports. He had a most wonderful temperament, he never fell out with anyone or anything and yet still managed to let uppity youngsters know when they should take a step back.

We got him for his Norwegian breeding and his lovely mother. He sired one champion for Ann Heward and four more after we bought him so he didn`t disappoint us. Not many stud dogs in UK have five champions made up so he is one of a select few.

Solo is in the bloodlines of a number of top kennels both here and in Ireland so he played his part. He was a lovely silver grey, had lovely small ears, the smallest I had seen, a more shallow stop which gives the typical profile of the Norwegian dogs, which I preferred and wanted to get back in my line. Big ears are both ugly and untypical and will often spoil an otherwise good Elkhound as are deep stops. They are also difficult to breed out they are like light eyes they won`t go away without a determined effort on the breeders part.

Solo had that lovely powerful driving action which most of the best Norwegian dogs have, I could watch them all day.

Once again we consulted with close friends about forming a small syndicate and thanks to the kindness and great help from Marie Petersen we were able to bring over from California Windycove Kivas Lucky Charm. We obtained both the Windycove bloodlines and her new Norwegian line from Rasin Kiva we were delighted.

Kiva was such a dear boy and a very smart typical Norwegian Elkhound with a good head and lovely tight jacket – I can`t do with fluffies!

He too was well received by most breeders/exhibitors and soon gained his title, he lived with Ian and Maggie Brown and was campaigned by them too. He sired some lovely typical stock with great temperaments which was all important to us. We were all of the same opinion that our dogs must be a pleasure to live with. We were not in the game of making excuses for poor temperaments.

One particularly lovely bitch who nearly didn`t make the show ring became Ch Lewel Runa Ravenstone. She came to us to be found a home when her owners were on the point of dumping her at 7months in a rescue centre. Ted took one look at her when I brought her home and said “she`s not going anywhere else”.

Runa was bred by Margaret Crossan from a Ravenstone bitch carrying the Kamgaard lines and sired by Kiva, her owners seemed ideal in every way but as soon as the children went back to boarding school they wanted rid of her. They didn`t even get in touch with Margaret who was distraught when we told her what had happened.

She was glad we were able to keep her as she couldn`t have done so herself at that time. We had always told her in any case that if she had to take one back, we could always accommodate it for a while.

We got Runa back into decent condition and started showing her after about six months. Her delightful temperament came to the fore and she was a natural show girl, the judges loved her classic lines and soundness and she won her title in just 4 shows with a group 2 at the last one, a real cinderella story.

We`ve been lucky to have had many lovely Elkhounds during this half century and many have gone to novice homes and given their owners their first champion. There`s nothing Ted and I like more than seeing one of our breeding doing well for other people. I could never understand the people who have said to us over the years “I bet you wished you hadn`t let that one go”. If the dog is well cared for we share their pleasure we don`t envy it.

Bringing in fresh bloodlines whenever possible is essential in a numerically small breed such as ours is in UK. Several breeders have brought in stock and helped to keep the breed afloat. Hopefully it will now become much easier to get new blood into this country with the relaxation of quarantine laws.

The gene pool becomes very concentrated if you keep breeding back into your own line you can end up in a corner with nowhere to go. The same faults will keep re-appearing and unless you go out you can`t correct them.

In a similar way the same can be said about repeat matings. All well and good if you want to keep one of that particular pairing but if you keep doing this the breed suffers in the long run because the gene pool is reduced even more. Should a really serious problem arise a lot of stock of identical breeding could possibly be sidelined.

Winning in the show ring should be secondary to trying to improve the size of a healthy gene pool in this country especially now with far fewer litters being bred. The Kennel Club registrations were under a hundred individual puppies last year. When I came into the breed in the fifties annual registrations were over 200 and rose to stay between 300 to 400 for a long time. This is the lowest since 1925! Breeders beware!

Unless we can attract serious breeders from other breeds into the Elkhound world I can see a dangerous downward spiral because at the moment far too many good puppies are never going to be bred from. Of course we want to get them into very good homes but as some vets seem to want to rush everyone into early neutering they are virtually destroying the potential future breeding stock. If pet owners had time to think about a possible later litter and with help and encouragement from breeder and club we might see the registrations begin to rise.

Perhaps we have been too discouraging in the past with the fear of our breed becoming too popular and the spectre of puppy farms, but in this country at least it has gone too far the other way.

Too many of our devotees are not in a position to breed at all for various reasons and some of us who do will soon be too old!

I have already said problems will arise sooner or later when you are breeding any livestock, as a famous geneticist said recently “it`s the nature of the beast it`s unrealistic to think otherwise”.

Mr Holmes a man of few but wise words said that if you breed often enough and long enough you will turn up everything in the book. What we all can and should do is to breed away from problems as far as possible. Anyone who knowingly doubles up on known hereditary problems hasn`t the future welfare of the breed at heart especially when the mode of inheritance is known. But if you throw the baby out with the bath water you soon won`t have an Elkhound breed, you`ve got to look at the broad view.

We personally have to try to keep our numbers down as we get older and a little less active. We don`t have more than one litter a year sometimes not even that, in fact we only have one bitch of breeding age and a youngster of 12 months, R. Todd Sloane aka Toddy. She stayed because she was an only one and when the time came we couldn`t bring ourselves to part with her and that`s been a learning curve too! The rest are our pensioners from eight years to nearly fifteen. We can`t part with them they are a part of us, but of course this makes it nigh impossible to keep another youngster until someone has passed on and we don`t like to think about that.

We have rarely parted with an adult and if we did it was only to someone special whom we knew really well. We find it a real wrench letting anyone past puppy age go.

We haven`t exported for some years as we find it now too worrying not knowing how or where they are. I`m not sure whether that is hypocritical as we expect to bring in stock from overseas!

Our most recent venture was to join a syndicate of friends namely Vanessa McHugh Treena Maun and Barbara Barganska to bring in a dog puppy from Mari Misbeek`s famous line. Mari has been wonderful doing everything possible to ensure that this importation went smoothly. Choosing us a really super young man with everything we were looking for to suit the bitches we had in mind for him. Camalot`s Faithful knight is now winning well in the UK showring and charming everyone with his temperament. So hopefully a few fun years yet with this most precious breed, I can`t imagine living without them. Many loved ones I haven`t mentioned but in fifty years there have been quite a few and they are not forgotten.

Margaret Harper. 2003

Leftt:

CH RAVENSTONE GLAD TIDINGS

(Born Feb 1992, died Jan 2008)

Sire: Eskamere Solo At Ravenstone, Dam: Ravenstone Emily Gray

Below Left:

‘GEE TEE’ Winning the bitch challenge Certificate and Best In show with her litter sister the late Ch Ravenstone Lady Sylvia winning the Reserve Challenge Certificate, at the British Elkhound club Championship show 1994, under the Norwegian breed specialist Ralf Campbell.

CH RAVENSTONE GLAD TIDINGS

1992

Ch Ravenstone Reason To Dance at Oseberg

- 1998

Irish Ch Ravenstone Sevso
Sire: Ch Anton Av Eskamere
Dam: Ch Ravenstone Lady Sylvia

Page updated:

08/12/2009