ABOUT US

The Harjaselän kennel is a creation of four ridgebacks, me, Sanna, and my partner, Pasi. We live in Southern Finland in a small, quiet town of Karjaa, Meltola area. Which is located 65 km west from Helsinki (60 km from Hanko) and right off from road 25. Our "lion girls" are full members of the family - they grew up and live at home with us. Though we've had rrs since 1994, our first litter was born in this new millennium, 6.1.2000.

IITA'S FIRST STEPS OUTSIDE 1996	OLGA & ME BY LAKE, LATE SPRING 1994

The ridgeback adventure of ours started 1994 with, our ridgeless bitch Olga - Kingiza Azizi Kito. At that time we just looked for a nicely tempered companion Rhodesian Ridgeback. The thought of going to the shows or about breeding never crossed our minds back then....

....but then something happened - we got Iita - Ikimba Marimba. I had already visited some shows before Iita came and when we got her, we knew that showing was our  "thing" (actually only my "thing" at first). Time after time we started to enjoy showing her more and more (mostly because Pasi started to show her). It became our dear hobby ! And we sure have been touring around in Finland and abroad attending many, many different shows. Iita has had 3 litters. She passed away in September, 2003.

Siiri - Ikimba Persinna joined our gang in the spring 1999. She is a very promising bitch with some nice show results. She finished her int championship 2001. She has had 2 litters and has now retired from the show rings. She has now retired from show rings.

Then we decided to import some new blood into Finland and we ended up with these hairy babies: 
• December 2002 Tarmo - Karoskloof B to Harjaselän (Tarmo = Paavo) joined our lives. He flew from South Africa and he is co-owned with Tolkkila family. At the moment he lives with us. He finished his int. ch title August 2005.
• April 2004 Rafu - Ujamaa Harjaselän Mr B, flew to Finland from Australia. We co-own him with Nina and Kaitsu. Rafu lives in Espoo and is occasionally shown. He will be shown more in future, but this big boy needs some time to mature. 
• October 2004 Martta - Macumazahn Harjaselan NV flew also from Australia and she is living with us. She is lovely young bitch full of energy, also very well buildt. She is Tarmo's best pal.

We also own these bitches : Alma - Harjaselän Kardemumma, Tara - Harjaselän Mustapippuri and Ninni - Harjaselän Niittykirvinen. They all have been sold with breeding contract and if they will be healthy, nicely buildt and well behaving young bitches - then we might use them for breeding some day.

IITA & PASI AT RR CAMP 2001	SIIRI & ME AT LAHTI SHOW 2001
	©TexTerri

Harjaselän is Finnish and it means ridgeback's. I don't know how we ended up with the kennel name like Harjaselän, but we wanted something Finnish. And starting from J-litter we have also decided to start naming the pups in Finnish. We are not going to breed very often. First litter was caressed in our bed room (we slept in the living room) and the second litter grew up in our kitchen, so we've no separate building for puppies. They must get along with normal daily routines like vacuum-cleaning, washing laundry, showers etc. Also all my adult ridgebacks are allowed to see the puppies when they're few weeks old and when I can see that the mommy is all right with it. I believe that this way a ridgeback puppy will get even some experience of future daily routines. With our new place the pups have their own room, next to out bedroom, but they only sleep there. During daytime they have huge area to run and when we'll have summer puppies, they will have pen in the garden. 

Our aim is to breed healthy rhodesian ridgebacks, not forgetting the standard, with nice temperaments for use and for as companions.

Throughout these pages you'll find more about our hobby, our dogs and breedings. We're glad to have you around and hope you'll come back to visit us again...

Hopefully you'll enjoy !

        Sanna  & Pasi