The pair behind our litters
Meet Mila & Sagee,
our Norwegian Elkhounds.
She is the alpha of this house. He is the gentle, young father. Together, they have given us three beautiful litters.
Canadian-born in Alberta · Norwegian-import lineage · Mother of three litters · Hip X-rays and VetGen DNA tested
THE MOTHER
Mila
She is the alpha of this house — and she communicates very clearly.
Mila came to us in December 2021, from Nina Tait of Overscaig — my dear friend, mentor, and the rock-solid foundation of our breeding program. Canadian-born in Alberta, with a mother imported from Norway in 2014 and a father who is the grandson of Rune-Milo and Dronning Maud, Mila carries our Norwegian foundation through a different breeder’s careful line.
Before she and Sagee tried for a litter, her hips were X-rayed and her DNA tested through VetGen Laboratory. Everything came back as it should. She has since given us three beautiful litters, and she has chosen — with great clarity — exactly how each one came to be.
Son of PonyBoy · Grandson of Pia and Sage I · Hip and eye tested · Father of three Ruterfem litters
THE FATHER
Sagee
Sage II — named for his grandfather, who was the most well-built and well-thinking male we have ever bred.
Sage I was lost to a cougar during Covid, when wildlife was climbing closer to civilization. He was with David Carter in the Cypress Hills outside Medicine Hat, defending his home and his family. He and his mother’s littermate Rothko were the finest males our line has produced. Naming Sagee after him was an easy decision.
Sagee is the son of PonyBoy, who is the son of Pia and Sage I. He had both his eyes and his hips checked and cleared before we ever considered him as a stud. He was young when Mila chose him — but she chose him, very clearly, on a Sunday evening when she had refused every other option I offered her.
How they came together
Mila did not agree.
We had a plan. Mila had a different one.
The original idea was to breed Mila with PonyBoy — Sagee’s father, already a proven stud, with a lineage different enough from hers to make sense on paper. At the peak of her heat, I let them together.
She looked at him. She growled a little. And she sat down on her butt.
The same thing happened three times across three days. I made sure she was nowhere near any other male. Her mind was made up.
It was a Sunday evening when I tried something new. I left PonyBoy in the basement. I brought Mila upstairs, and I brought Sagee outside. He was young. He had never been a stud. But both his eyes and his hips were good. I had no real hope.
She looked at him. She stood completely still — no sitting, no growling. Less than thirty seconds later, they were tied.
They stayed tied for an hour and a half. Our oldest daughter wondered if something was wrong. I left them alone and checked every twenty minutes. The last time I stood there, they parted. She walked close to his face. She licked his nose.
The next evening, the same thing happened — instant.
Three days before his second birthday, and four months before her third, they had their first litter together. Two years later, they have just had their third.
Part of a longer story
Twenty-three years in the making.
Mila and Sagee are the current chapter of a story that began in Norway, in 2003.
Our line traces back to Dronning Maud and Rune-Milo, the pair we brought home from Norway to start everything. Every Ruterfem dog since has traced back to them — through Pia, through Sage I, through PonyBoy, and into the puppies who run our kitchen today. PonyBoy is still with us — Mila’s trusted companion, and the only dog she allows near her puppies in those first quiet weeks.