Kina with a few of her Gordon setters. There should be a FTCH in the picture but who shall tell which one it is.....

Text & photo: © Torsti Mäkinen

The Gordons from Kina´s kennel are bold and stubborn hunters. The expression of this mountain warrior confirms that statement.

Near the northeastern shore of lake Kallsjön Kina meets me at her farmhouse. Her house is situated on a hillside facing a gorgeous landscape with the mountain Åreskutan dominating the view on the southern side of the lake. In her kennel tens of Gordon setters and two English dittos are greeting me with wagging tails, barking and jumping. I pay a visit to the kennel and after the black and tan, longhaired and very frank dogs have sniffed me over and found I'm their friend they finally calm down. We enter the house and I enjoy the smell of newly cooked coffee.

Kina was born into a hunting family. Her father kept hare-hounds, "stövare", not very obedient or well trained but good hunting dogs anyway. Therefore it felt natural for Kina to continue the tradition. The mountains attracted her more than the deep, dark forests so 1986 she bought her first Gordon setter, Vinstamarkens Pino, a male dog. Her choice of breed was done by chance; she could just as well have chosen anyr of the other setter-breeds. With this dog she reach as high as a 2:nd price in open stake, the training had fallen a bit short and the dog could become a restless at flush of birds. However Pino got many cert`s at shows and also laid the foundation to Kinas kennel with the name Zettertjärns that later developed into one of the most successful gundog kennels in Sweden.

Her dedicated and successful work to breed good gundogs was eventually noticed even higher up in the hierarchy of the Swedish birddog organisation, not only by the hunters who bought their dogs from her kennel. 1997-1999 and 2001-2004 she was awarded by the Swedish Gordon setter club as "The Breeder Of The Year" and the year 2000 she handled one of her young ones into the "Young Dog Of The Year". She has also qualified all her other dogs in trials, has a handful of field trial wins to be proud of and 4 of her recent dogs runs in winners stake.

"So why are you so successful, it is hardly by chance you have succeeded so well and for so long?"

Endurance, physical and mental stamina on the field, combined with a total disrespect for any weather condition are the hallmarks of Kinas dogs.

- I breed for quality on the field and for a functional exterior in first hand. My dogs are rather small and compact with a rather heavy and strong skeletal structure, they really look a bit like some kind of "racing machines". I get dogs that do not break into pieces during a heavy hunt but has a very good physical endurance. The Gordon setter is basically a calm and solid dog having a good mental stamina on the field, rather stubborn in other words, and does not bother about bad weather, not even when it turns into very lousy. These characteristics I want to preserve in my dogs. In order to achieve this aim I do some line breeding but not too narrow. I do not hesitate to use less known stud dogs and avoid very popular and widely used stud dogs. The line breeding gives me the advantage of knowing the blood and the credit of the dogs and I know what characteristics I can keep or improve and what to avoid.

"Isn't line breeding often associated with inbreeding depression and inherited diseases, how do you handle this?"

- As I said I know the dogs in and behind my lines very well, this helps me not only to preserve their field quality but also to avoid inherited faults, physical or mental. If I suspect a dog or bitch to be a carrier of genetical faults I remove it from the candidates list without mercy. It can continue its life serving some hunter who does not care about dog breeding of his own. So far I have been rather lucky in this matter but knock on wood, you can never be 100% sure in any kind of breeding. Of course I in addition renew the blood now and then using dogs from outside my line. However I do

Do these playing young dogs know that they could be related to each other since 1968?

not believe in pure out breeding, for example when you time after time use dogs from abroad. You lose the control of your blood since it very often is impossible to thoroughly check dogs from for example middle or southern Europe. Still I am not entirely against some experimental breeding. In my latest bitch to breed from I have taken in some old, pure Gordon setter blood, without any mixture of English setter blood, (read footnote), by using a dog from such a line. With this I hope to improve the exterior and gain some of the excellent game finding ability the old Gordon's were known to have. Anyway, the secret behind my success is based on two simple principles: For one I know my dogs very far back in time and secondly I without any mercy kick out some dogs from my breeding program!

The time of the year does not permit us to do any shooting over the dogs so instead we move to a swamp area to take a few pictures of the dogs. They are allowed to run for the camera and quite naturally we come to speak about training, hunting and trialling. In the autumn Kina trials her dogs and also works as a professional mountain guide for grouse hunters from near and abroad. So her dogs must not only be carefully bread and well socialized with other dogs and humans and house trained (in Scandinavia our dogs most often live and sleep where we sleep). They must also be easy to handle and obedient on the hunting grounds. After a basic obedience training to get contact with the dogs and leadership over them, Kina uses a very small number of signals when handling them on the grounds.

Although the Gordon is widely used as a mountain hunter it is also a highly valued companion and game finder in the Nordic forests.

Using only a few signals Kina guides her dogs in trials and during hunting.

- Actually I only train the dog to obey two different signals, a stop signal and a signal to call the dog in. Instead I demand that they obey them to 110%, they are unconditional commands. I handle the dogs with a few variations of the stop signal, you could perhaps call them "signals for attention". I believe I am a rather active handler, sometimes as active as the field trial judges can possibly stand. Still I like to give my dogs a rather large amount of freedom, combined with some responsibility from their side so that they do not hunt without control and completely unrestrained. I do not like my dogs to be depressed but I like them to hunt with joy and with some independence. Sometimes this results in a small "crime" from their side but I don't care about such mishaps. They pay me back many times with joy of work and endurance. Chasing (hare, reindeer for ex.) I control with the stop signal. I train it absolutely everywhere, even inside the house, and demand immediate response. I don't accept any "sit" exercises performed with the speed of a camel. I want them to "drop dead" on the signal and make sure they do.

It is not difficult to believe that Kina manages to instil these practical attainments into her dogs. She also holds training classes and once a dog owner attending such a class asked her "If she ever had considered making a career in the army!"
A rather vivid expression about the great importance Kina lays on the obedience training.

"Now that you have such a sense for discipline I have to ask you how you handle the dog in bird situations without risking the dogs joy of work and the boldness in the advance?"

You can never be 100% sure of anything when breeding animals. How did this odd brown baby get into the litter?

- I have a rather strong pointing instinct in my dogs and take them out to the mountains at an age of 6 - 7 months. I let them find birds in controlled situations and never let them chase unrestrained. I break the dog with a long line, calmly and without any harsh treatment. By being calm in these situations I do not put any stress on the dog, that could develop many different unwanted behaviours in short term and the long run. Instead I can preserve the dog's boldness in the advance and let it develop its natural ability of its own to handle the birds.

If the dog should chase recklessly I do not make any big affair of the chase. Instead I give my self a reprimand, go home and redo the homework. Then we go back to the mountains with a long line attached to a harness on the dog. A failure only means that I have rushed things and have to take a few steps back.

On our way back from the swamp I sum up my impressions about everything this skilful breeder and handler has taught me. With a certain amount of sadness I have to state that many are the pieces that have to fall together if you want to produce gun dogs of a high and continuously even quality. Few of us are in a situation that gives us the opportunity to wholeheartedly devote our time to the dogs. Even if it was so we need training grounds with a good supply of birds in the vicinity. We also need a good portion of knowledge and self discipline in order to make everything the right way even in the long run, with the sight set far in the future. The dogs from a few top kennels are not sufficient to saturate the market but small advertisements from kitchen breeders will flourish in the hunting magazines even in the future. "..puppy's from an interesting combination", read: "we are not sure about the outcome from this mating" will be the choice many hunters have to stick to and wish for the best. Well, that's not too bad, those are the dogs most of us has hunted with. Quite often they can give the dogs from the top kennels a good competition. Still the fact remains that knowledge and control gives a good amount of advantage when breeding for the field!

Before we part I complain a bit about the lack of obedience in the young English setter bitch I have with me as company on my long trip to Kina.
- Yes, I have been observing you, Kina laughs, This little lady has twisted your head completely. I guess you have to adjust your relationship a little, otherwise that girl will never bring any meat into your pot…

I stuff the camera bag and the dog into the back of my station wagon and steer south. When I take a look in the rear mirror I meet the eyes of the bitch for a moment as she is scouting the hillsides we pass. I whisper to her: Tomorrow my friend! Tomorrow you will face a new way of life!

Is it correct to say that in 1968 the English setter came running to save its cousin the Swedish - Norwegian Gordon setter from extinction as a working gundog?

Footnote: At the end of 1960 the Swedish - Norwegian Gordon setter had deteriorated badly as a gundog. In order to save the breed the Norwegian Kennel Club gave permission in 1968 to make a single crossbreeding with English setter to improve the blood. The progeny was registered in an X- register. The operation was successful and the dogs were later brought into the regular register. Today the Swedish - Norwegian Gordon setter is a very strong gundog.