Ehana Finnish Lapphunds

24/09/2025

We have a JAM PACKED month ahead with seminars, sports, royal, dog lovers festival, specialty…it’s all happening!!

If you want to meet some lappies, ours or others, mark your calendar because October is a great month to make some time to come along to an event or two!

🐾 👑 1st October: Lappie day at the Melbourne Royal! There are 31 entered!

🐾 💨 4th October: Sprint dog at KCC park in Skye, this is an all day sport event likely with a number of lappies entered!

🐾 💨 18th & 19th October: Another sprint dog at KCC Park. We won’t be at this one and instead will be at a dog training seminar, but there are sure to be loads going along.

🐾 🐶 25th & 26th October: Dog Lovers Festival at the Melbourne Showgrounds! The Finnish Lapphund Club of Victoria will be hosting a stall again, so it’s a great place to get your fix of all things lappie, chat to breeders and see all the cool dog vendors and activities.

🐕 🇫🇮1st Nov: Finnish Lapphund Club of Victoria Specialty! This once a year event is THE place to see lappies strut their stuff in the show ring…we’re likely to have upwards of 100 lappies under the one roof from breeders and owners all across Australia!!

Pic of Azula from the specialty last year because it’s dang adorable 🥰. Hope we get to see you at an event!

08/09/2025

“Lappies are such a versatile breed” is a line that was said to me over the weekend a number of times from complete strangers.

So I got to reflecting the last month or so with what some of our Ehana bred dogs have been up to, and it’s honestly quite astounding! We have owners out there putting in the work daily to make sure their dogs are fulfilled and living their best lives, which I ADORE!! And then we have those going that extra mile and taking the plunge in to the world of dog sports.

Our dogs have been represented at various comps, seminars and training clubs for agility, scent work, rally, tricks, sprint dog, canine disc…and not just representing, but well and truely holding their own in tough competition gaining passes, podium places, and new titles!

Teyla (Ehana Anastacia (AI) ADX GD JDX RM SD SPD SWN TK.S) earned:
🎉 Rally Excellent title
🎉 Rally Masters title
🥇 2nd place in Advanced Interiors in Scent Work (out of 47!)

Valkyrie (Ch Ehana Breakfast at Tiffany’s (AI) JD N.SPRD RN JD TK.S*) earned:
🎉 Novice Sprintdog title
🎉 Trick Dog Starter title
🥇 1st place Novice Agility 400 (out of 8!)

Diaz (Ch Ehana Dirty Little Secret (AI) N.SPRD TK.S*) earned:
🎉 Novice Sprintdog title
🎉 Trick Dog Starter title

The frothies whilst too young to compete ‘offically’ have been out at seminars, training, foundation classes and fun days learning all about:
Agility
Sprint dog
Scent work
Canine Disc
And by all accounts, having an absolute blast doing it! I can’t wait to see them hit the the sporting rings.

Marceline (Ehana Bohemian Rhapsody (AI)) has been out at scent work clubs and this weekend a sprint dog fun day having the best time learning all about it.

Azula (Ehana Edge of Glory (AI)) had her first crack at sprint dog on the weekend and had a ball!

And not just the dog sports, but to all our owners doing the daily grind and putting in the hard work…nothing brings me greater joy than seeing the pictures and hearing all about the fun and little/big wins you’ve all been having in your training. I’m so proud of you all, you guys rock ❤️

Pic of Diaz with her pass cards and title ribbon after yesterdays triple trick trial ❤️

28/08/2025

Are you in Vic and want to have a crack at sprint dog? The Melbourne Lure Dog Club is running a fun day on the 7th September at KCC park. Check the post for details

🚀🐶 SprintDog Fun Day! 🐾💨

Does your dog have zoomies to burn?
Wanna see them chase plastic like it’s the Olympics? 🏆

📅 Sunday 7 Sept | ⏰ 11–3
📍 KCC Park, Skye VIC

All breeds, all speeds, all sillies welcome! 🤪
Bring your pup for laughs, runs & wagging tails.

💲 $5 ANKC | $15 Non-ANKC

12/08/2025

Totally biased, but I love this picture ❤️❤️
Pipsqueak, Diaz, Ryker and Vader

01/08/2025

We’re going to be in Geelong on Saturday and Sunday this weekend with Valkyrie and Diaz at the Sprint Dog Trail…AI depiction of Diaz competing 🤣. Or maybe it’s Valkyrie because they are clones…It’s pretty freaking cute either way 🤣.

If you want to meet some lappies in the fur, or check out a sprint dog trial to see what it’s all about, pop down and say hi! There are a few lappies entered, and lots of other cool breeds so plenty of dogs to smoosh!

We’ll also have Pip and Parker tagging along for moral support and as a cheer squad/chief snack thieves.

📍Geelong Obedience Dog Club Grounds, 47-52 Gundog Lane, Breakwater
⏱️8:30am through to mid afternoon both days
There will also be food and drinks available to purchase on site if you need a little pick me up.

28/07/2025

“Dominance is a myth.”

No. It. Isn’t.

The idea that dominance doesn’t exist at all is as unscientific as saying gravity is just an opinion.

What is a myth is the cartoon version - the one where every dog wants to be “alpha” and you need to pin them to the floor to remind them who’s boss.

But dominance, in its scientific sense, absolutely exists. It’s observed in almost every social species we’ve studied - and especially in female social mammals, like dogs. where things get complicated, strategic, and fierce.

Female animals often form dominance hierarchies around reproduction. Dominant females can stop others from coming into season through stress, aggression or hormonal suppression. The high-ranking females bully, exclude or delay ovulation in rivals - especially if they are both similar reproductive value (same or similar age); or where one dog is entering reproductive status and the other is exiting the age to be a prime mate. You don’t need a boy around for this to happen, and actually even when we neuter, we still see it because a lot of it is instinctive and formed via social traditions and not necessarily always based strictly on the hormones related to breeding capabilities.

And this is exactly why two bi***es in one house are more likely to fight.

Unlike many male-male conflicts that are ritualised and over fast, female-female aggression is also often longer, more intense, and less predictable. There’s more at stake and more of a grudge: Female dominance fights can be about access to mates or resources but often it’s about social status, or when a female is coming into season.

Some female mammals go as far as killing the pups of subordinates, blocking oestrus through social stress, or forming coalitions to harass rivals.

So, if you’re a dog trainer working with owners please don’t let me see “dominance doesn’t exist” messaging: it’s dangerous and totally misses some (fascinating and) useful important education. You’re looking at deep evolutionary strategy in action.

Dominance isn’t a dirty word. It’s a description of how power plays out in relationships. And when we understand it properly, we can stop pathologising it, and start managing it.x

28/07/2025

I get told pretty frequently that people can’t use because they believe it’ll go straight through their dogs in the most undignified way.

I have no idea if it will or won’t because I don’t know how sensitive your dog is.

What I do know however, is the absolutely piddling amount I use.

As I’ve mentioned in my stories in the past, my guys don’t like to drink water when I’m outside of the home. It’s there, readily available for them at all times, but they often just won’t touch it. Then we get home and they guzzle water like OMFG where have you been all my life. They’re weirdos.

I use Norm as a cordial if you will, adding a dash of flavour to the water to give them incentive to drink and hydrate before we leave the house…and if we’ve had a hectic training session or really physical trial or it’s just plain hot, I’ll use it while we’re out for the day if I can’t get them to drink. Or just don’t want to worry about their hydration levels.

I’ve added a picture of the spoon I use, next to a standard teaspoon, so you can see how small it really is, and the tiny amount I add.

It’s just a colourful and delicious tool in our toolbox.

15/07/2025

Photo/vid dump from our weekend away on the Murray river.

10/10.

15/06/2025

This! Just last year we had Diaz sustain a groin tear after slipping on the tiles coming out of our bedroom before we had a chance to put our hallway runners down.

Good traction is paramount for dogs and I always cringe watching dogs slide around. Imagine trying to navigate your home with oil on your feet, no doubt you’d do yourself a mischief too.

𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗜𝗡𝗝𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦 𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗛𝗢𝗠𝗘

Slippery surfaces in our homes are a guarantee for injuries, and often injuries you'll have no idea of until they get so bad they can't hide them anymore....but some go unnoticed permanently.

There will be slip zones in your house, and these are often the path a dog takes to race to/out of a door, to a kitchen, or perhaps a window. These are areas that need to have non-slip mats to prevent slipping.

One thing we really need to do is stop throwing toys for dogs on slippery surfaces - watching them slip and slide makes people laugh, but all it's doing is causing stress and strains on joints and stabilising muscles.

👉 Increase the risk of cruciate strains and ruptures
👉 Increase the risk of knee cap instability, predominantly in small dogs.
👉 Increase the risk of serious back injuries in long-backed dogs, especially if they're jumping down off furniture onto slippery surfaces.
👉 Increase the risk of hip-flexor strains which can cause pain and stiffness in hips, knees and backs and then over time compensatory issues in the front limbs and neck.
👉 Performance and show dogs who rely on sound movement for good performance should never be allowed to slip and slide where possible.
👉 Old dogs often need non-slippery surfaces when their strength and mobility starts to give out.

Rugs aren't always pretty, but neither are what ongoing doggie rehab services or surgery costs will be to your wallet.

13/06/2025

Little photo/video dump from our time in bundy.

As Diaz and Vader were in season, we didn’t do much exciting…lots of downtime and brain games as well as pool time. There are a lot of stray dogs in Bundy, and my family live quite close to a reserve that almost always has dogs taking themselves on adventures…we didn’t need any extra help to advertise they were hot to trot 🤣.

The girls are also not particularly interested in galavanting around during their seasons either, they are more interested in hu***ng each other, or crawling inside me.

And what perfect timing they had, wrapping up their seasons just before we got home to Ryker, saving him the heart attack and 2 weeks of screaming 🤣

Pip made friends wherever she went, nearly going home with my aunty, and my dad, and anyone who would give her smooshes. She’s a chaotic ray of sunshine 🤣.

01/06/2025

Azula (left) with her mum Marceline (right) at the Victorian Dog Lovers Show 2024.

26/05/2025

These two smashed it out of the park over the weekend!

Wendy and Teyla are such an awe inspiring team and are such a joy to watch work together. Wendy is phenomenal with her dogs, and it shows with her other lappie Eva still competitively competing and happily bouncing around the trial rings at almost 11 years old!

Teyla earned the honour of highest scoring Lapphund in Rally at the recent Working Dog Club of Victoria obedience and Rally trial, with two second places and scores of 96 and 99 respectively! She has honestly been on a roll these last few months with her Rally, and the icing on the cake was earning that last Quallie needed for her Rally Excellent title!

Teyla - Ehana Anastacia (AI) JX RE* SWN TK.N SPD SD ADX GD

I’m beyond proud of you both ❤️❤️❤️. Such a superstar team and I feel so honoured to cheer you guys on. Aren’t these pictures just adorable!

*pending dogs Vic approval.