Over the past few days we have received several short video clips of Varja hiking off leash in the mountains of Montana with Josh, Amanda, and their family.
The videos are a pleasure to watch.
Varja moves down the trail exactly as a mature working dog should. She ranges ahead, checks back regularly, investigates side hills, watches the trail, and returns naturally without commands. There is no uncertainty in her movement. She knows where her people are, knows where she is supposed to be, and manages the trail with confidence and awareness.
She is an exceptional female.
Varja is shown below in Montana with Josh and his son, she is an example of how check in and range management should be done.
For those familiar with her ancestry, this should come as no surprise. Varja represents one of the strongest Norwegian Elkhound preservation combinations assembled to date. She combines the influence of Karu and Tekla, bringing together important Finnish and Norwegian Norwegian Elkhound bloodlines, while also carrying the historic Ravenstone influence that has contributed so much to her consistency and working instincts.
What is especially exciting is the potential future ahead.
Josh and Amanda are currently preparing for what we hope will be a historic litter in early December. It is still too early to know with certainty whether the breeding was successful. We have not yet seen the physical signs we would expect later in pregnancy, and until those signs appear we cannot make any definite claims. However, we are optimistic and eagerly awaiting further developments.
If Varja has caught, this will be an important milestone within the Full Blood program. Kamia Kennels is the only Full Blood Elkhound breeder in the world. Full Blood Elkhounds are what add new genetic material back into the genetic pool.
She was bred to our Finnish import Jämthund sire Posso. Should the breeding be successful, this will be the first Full Blood litter for both Varja and Posso. It is difficult to imagine a stronger combination of working genetics. Hunt champions and proven working dogs appear throughout the pedigree on all sides, with generations of selection for intelligence, endurance, terrain awareness, and partnership with people.
Equally exciting is where these future pups may spend their lives.
Varja has settled naturally into life with Josh and Amanda’s pack goats in Montana. The videos show a calm, balanced relationship between dog and stock. The goats showed no concern around her, and Varja demonstrated the confidence and self-control expected from a mature working dog. It is clear she has become part of the system.
Over the coming years, Varja and any Full Blood offspring retained from this breeding will have opportunities to hike, travel, and work remote mountain terrain alongside both people and livestock. That kind of environment develops real dogs. It builds experience, judgment, confidence, and the type of practical ability that preservation programs seek to protect.
It is very rewarding to see Varja thriving in Montana and putting her remarkable heritage to work exactly as intended.
Reach out to us, folks are on the list already, this is going to be an incredible set of pups, they will be some of the best Fullbloods ever!
I have some older footage of her Mother Tekla, Sister Luna, and 6 other great Kamia foundation maternal females, Tora, Aunt Tuva, Aunt Kai, Silver Nova, Vida and Aunt Phoenix so you can see the mentorship and behavior these pups bring forward. This video is from our historic archive 8 years ago, 8 Elite females hiking the BC mountains off leash.
