Mushers Name: 

Paul and Jacqui Kelly
Dogs Name/s:   

Maja, Bonnie (both females) and Jinx (male)
Country and Kennel of Origin:  

Originally Sweden now based in Willow Alaska

Egil Ellis and Helen Lundberg

'Ellis Racing Sled Dogs'
Breed:

Scandinavian Hounds
Pedigrees:  

Maja (½ Vorster)

Sire: Thomas an Alaskan Husky   (Thomas Waerner)

Dam: Malin a pure Vorster (Ellis/Lundberg)

Maja came to us in whelp to Odin one of the main dogs in Egil and Helens kennel. Odin is ¼ English Pointer his sire is Labbin, and grand sire is the very famous Pluto from Roxy Wright Champaine.

The breeding of Maja and Odin was very successful and produced 9 very healthy puppies 2 mails and 7 females that are all 3/8 hound. We kept all nine and we are very pleased with them.

Bonnie (3/8 hound)

Sire: Odin 3/8 hound (Ellis/Lundberg)

Dam: Eva ½ Vorster (Ellis/Lundberg) Eva is litter sister to mike, Egil’s very famous lead dog

Jinx (1/4 hound)

Sire: Mons an Alaskan Husky

Dam: Kitt who is also a litter sister to Mike, Egil’s very famous lead dog.
How do you feel these dogs have adapted to the UK?

The dogs have adapted very well to the UK, they have never shown any signs to make us doubt this.

What do you think the main obstacles they have had to cope with?

There are very obvious differences with dryland racing the most obvious being no snow! This would cause you to wonder about the dog’s feet but we are pleased to say that so far we have had no problems. The other obvious factor would be the warmer climate, but again we have experienced no problems. All in all we would say that the dogs have adapted to dryland racing very very well.

What made you want to import these dogs?

We had read so many articles about Egil, Helen and their dogs, we were so fascinated that we took a trip over to Sweden visit the kennel and to meet Helen, Egil and of course the dogs. We spent some time there and had a very long, good and interesting conversation with both Helen and Egil. They are both very nice dog loving people and although obviously very busy they were more than happy to spend time talking to us about their dogs and about the sport. We also had a tour of the kennel of 100 plus dogs and they were superb, beautiful looking animals and in such fantastic condition, we just walked around going from one dog to another in complete amazement, and that was us we had to have one!!!!!

How did you import these dogs?

We had to go through the normal procedures of Rabies Vac/ Blood test etc. Happy to say in all three cases there was no problems at all, my advice to anyone planning on importing is simply to follow the information given out by DEFRA. We can only say it is an honour and a privilege to have these dogs in our kennel, they have competed at the top level of sprint racing in one of the worlds most successful sprint teams, they have more experience and know more about sled dog racing than we will unfortunately ever know.

Maja

Bonnie

Jinx