about ruterfem
A family with a grand love for this remarkable breed.
Rooted in Norway. Raised in Canada. Built over three decades, one puppy at a time.
HELLO, I’M ANNE
I have loved this breed for fifty years.
I grew up in Norway. I fell head over heels for the Norwegian Elkhound in the summer of 1976, visiting Kalmoen.
Our family on the mainland in Nord-Trøndelag had elkhounds as family pets and hunting partners. My parents told me later that their one regret was never giving me the puppy they had promised. As soon as I was living on my own, I got a mate — a dog.
When I was pregnant in 2003, I went to Norway and came back with Rune-Milo. He was a wonderful companion, and we decided he needed a mate from Norway as well. That became Dronning Maud. Together, they became the most essential part of our family — and the beginning of Ruterfem.
— Anne Barbro
A note on the name
What does “Ruterfem” mean?
Ruterfem · Five of Diamonds
There is a whole story behind why that became the name — and I’ll tell it to you in person sometime. For now, what matters is that the name has been ours from the very beginning, and every Ruterfem dog has carried it since.
NORWEGIAN ROOTS
Speaking the breed’s mother tongue.
My first introduction came through my hunting relatives in Nord-Trøndelag. Over the years, I’ve gained friends among Norwegian breeders — and I am almost as keen on checking the lineage of an elkhound as people are on checking their own Ancestry.
Every Ruterfem dog connects to the Royal hunting grounds of the Nordic countries — the breed’s true home.
Four generations
Twenty-three years of careful breeding.
Every Ruterfem dog traces back to two beloved founders, brought home from Norway in 2003.
With Nina Tait of Overscaig Permanent Registered
From mentor to dear friend.
In the early 2000s, I became acquainted with a genuine and wholesome long-term breeder near Red Deer, Alberta — Nina Tait of Overscaig Permanent Registered.
Throughout the years, Nina has been the rock-solid help in building the foundation of our breeding program. Eighteen years after our first litter, I still consult her — and she has become a close friend.
Some friendships in this work are as important as the dogs themselves.
The humans of Ruterfem
The whole family runs the kitchen.
This is not a one-person operation. It never has been.
Ruterfem is Anne Barbro, Guy, Kallie, and Bree — together with whichever dogs are filling our home at any given moment.
Every litter is raised by all of us, and every Ruterfem family who has taken a puppy home becomes part of the wider crew. We keep in touch with those who want to. We answer the phone when it rings. We are not going anywhere.