Komondors in Finland

Finland ( finnish Suomi ) is a country in northern Europe. Our neighbors are Sweden, Norway and Russia. Almost one-third of Finland lies north of the Arctic Circle. That area is known as Lapland. Our country is covered by snow about 4-5 months a year in Southern Finland and about 2 months more in the Lappland.

Wildlife of Finland includes for example deer, reindeer, bear, wolf, lynx and arctic fox. Mainly found in the less populated Northern Finland and along the Russian border, but nowadays also more and more in the South as the law does not allow permission to shoot them.

I live in the Southern part of Finland in the countryside and near our house there's a little forest area and it is full of the nest holes of the foxes and raccoons. I have seen foxes running through our area and our Komondors have a job to do because they guard and protect our flock of birds. I am also planning to buy two sheep so the Komondors will have more animals to guard. But first I have to persuade my husband to accept that idea !

The history of the Komondor being in Finland is not very long. The first Komondor was imported to Finland in 1977 from England. The litter was born in a quarantine in England. The bitch was bred when it was imported to England from Italy.

The first Finnish bred Komondor litter was born in 1981.

Komondor registrations including the imported ones:

Finnish have import Komondors at least from England, Hungary, Belgium and Germany. Now we have about 50 – 60 Komondors alive in our country. Komondors live for about 10-12 years old here and the causes of death are mostly the age, the cancer or the bloat. The bloat is a big reason for the deaths.

Our main points which breeders should very much notice in breeding Komondors are:

We should make the gene pool of our Komondors wider by using many good individuals, the good imported Komondors are very welcome.

We should get the type to become stabile and it should be the same type as it is in Hungary.

The structure of the bones should get stronger.

The nature of the Komondor is a very big point in breeding and no shy nor angry Komondors should use for breeding.

The breeders should take into account the right pigment, lack of the pigment in the eyes, the right proportion of the head structure and the right tail's connection and how the individual carries its tail.

There is hip dysplasia occurring here too, but it is hard to tell any summary because such a small number of our Komondors have been x-rayed. Every breeder will x-ray his Komondors and those individuals which are used for breeding must be x-rayed and tattoo- marked and the result is checked by The Finnish Kennel Club ( their vet ). The checked result is marked to the Komondor's pedigree and to its puppies' pedigrees. We have results of x-rayed Komondors A - D . I don't know if you Americans use the same kind of marking system.

The litters born in Finland:

33 litters which produced 144 puppies. Seven breeders have had at least two litters and eight breeders have had one litter.

In this year in Finland is planned 3 litters but in this moment there's no bitch pregnant.

The Komondor is a rare breed in my country and that is one big reason why it is not used for predator control here much at all. People know nothing about this breed and when one sees a Komondor walking in the streets, one has no idea what kind of dog it is. In my opinion it would be a perfect breed for predator control work. I hope that as more people hear about the Komondor some farmers will start making use of its abilities.

The Komondor is used for home and farm guarding and Finnish have their dogs as members of their families.

One puppy from our kennel went to a man who has an area full of things surrounding his house and he wanted to have a guardian because it was too easy for thieves to steal his property.

In my opinion for example many fur farmers would get a big help from a Komondor because here the animal activists attack the fur farms.

I have had Komondors since 1995. Now I have 2 Komondors at home, a male Lumiturpa Bede 4 years old and the bitch Fenyöharaszti Alma who is 2 years old. Bede is bred in Finland and Alma is bred in Hungary. I have a reserved bitch puppy in Hungary now but we are waiting for better circumstances with the weather because we will go to Hungary by our car to get the puppy ( now it is winter in here and the roads in the Baltic lands are covered by ice and snow and there’s a mountain area in the eastern Europe where the road goes, it is also very slippery during winter ). From Finland to Hungary it is about 2000 kilometers. So we will meet Alma’s breeder and see the beautiful homeland of the Komondor too.

We also had 8 years old bitch Komondor but unfortunately we had to put her to sleep 1 and 1/2 years ago because she suddenly got an aggressive cancer. The vet thought that she had something wrong with her kidneys but I wanted that an necropsy ( autopsy ? ) was done to her and after that the reason why she was to put to sleep was clear. I also suspected that she was poisoned by a virulent neighbor and the tests were made and I was so relieved when the tests were negative.

We also have one Finnish Lapphund.

We have found the Komondor as a great guardian for our home, for our area and for our birds. Actually, we don’t even carry the key for the front door with us because the doors are never locked. I have seen how my Komondors act when a visitor comes to our area and the more big reason why we don’t lock our doors is that I have heard stories about our Komondors on duty when we have been out of home !

They aren’t aggressive or bite people, but they stop people and won’t let them go to the house. Actually we have " saved " several people by coming home and a visitor had stood in our garden and a Komondor have been guarding one and kept one standing in the same place.

That was at our old place where people could walk to the garden but nowadays we have strong and high fences and not anyone is so stupid to work the gate’s lock open and then come into the area.

We also have two children and I have had no trouble with Komondors and children together. Joel is 4 years old and likes very much his corded friends. Olli is a baby now 9 months old and the Komondors would like to be his friends but little Olli just crawls on all fours away.

It is safe to keep Joel outside alone with the Komondors guarding him. When I put Olli in the baby carriage to sleep , the Komondors lay beside and guard his baby carriage.

Finnish love the dog shows. During winter time there are not many shows but starting in the Spring to the Autumn we have about 1-3 dog shows almost in every weekend. The Finnish dog becomes a FIN CH after it has received 3 certificates from 3 different judges and the 3^rd certificate must have been received when the dog is more than 2 years old.

Finnish travel much for the dog shows to Scandinavia and Europe.

The more me and my husband live with the Komondors the more we become attached to this breed. I think that even when I will be an old grandmother I will have at least one Komondor by my side !

We want to preserve the Hungarian Komondor as it has been for centuries. We would hate to see it changed because of human intervention to be something that it is not.

The nature of the Komondor is very valuable to us and we try to have farmers attention so more Komondors would have a job to do.