Category: Dogs and Nature

In less than 4 months, Mats will be 10 years old and in 2013 we drove for him from Austria to Kiruna (northern Sweden - a total of 6500 km) "for a coffee". We have already been able to spend 2/3 of his lifetime together and I hope that he will have a good life with us for at least another 5 years. My first Alaskan Husky :). And he made me crazy in the beginning, always full of energy, always demanding. 

Mats is a huge male dog over 70 cm shoulder height and weighs 30 kg, I see him as the perfect lead dog for me. Except for a torn nail, Mats was always healthy and always part of the team. Whether on short tours, for training young dogs, on long tours or on sled dog races. Always strong, healthy, only needed a short recovery time, always ate, was always hot like "Neighbour's Lumpi" haha ​​and, as a male for breeding, he was the basis of our kennel. We can always rely on Mats. Sometimes he was also in our house, then he was a couch potato and adapted really quickly. When he's outside in a pack he's loud and full of energy, inside he's quiet, relaxed and a petdog.

Blood tests were always fine and physiotherapeutic checks revealed a balanced body image. We started with Mats when he was about 1 year old and since then he has run between 20 and 30,000 kilometers with us.

Mats is still full of energy and always wants to be with us, at every training session. It is not important to him that he runs for a long time, it is more important to him that he is still our lead dog. That he feels we need him. Almost every day, if the weather is right, he's the most important for us when it comes to show the youngsters where to go. We try to give him what he loves for as long as possible. To go ahead as a leader, to experience adventures with us and to show his strength. Even if the adventures are getting shorter and smaller, adapted to his age and physical capabilities. This dog, so special to me, has been in a “midlife crisis” for almost a year. I'm convinced that dogs like Mats, who have such an intense bond with us and had this great tasks, can go into such a mental crisis. Especially if they remain in the pack, it is important that such dogs have our full support and continue to have a job where they can be important, in the area that they have been working all their life. Not to spare him, but to adapt the training to his possibilities.

Matsi, looking forward to the next, at least 5 years. My gentleman

My name is Haze 6 weeks old and I am looking forward to run with my mum, my 5 siblings and my dad in the winter in the snow . My parents are Berta and Ted, my dad will go to Femundlopet 2023 in norway this season, my mum finished there already in 2020 as a leaddog. I grew up quite comfortable, it was very relaxed in the belly of my mum. She ran a lot in the beginning and that was quite fun inside. When we landed it was very silent, cosy and warm apart from my mum. I could not see or hear anything but I could feel it. She was very excited every time when one of us came to the world. And I loved the smell and the taste of the milk. In the beginning it was just sleeping, drinking, sleeping,... but the last weeks where so exciting. Our familiy is soooo huge with so many uncles, brothers, sisters, grand-grandfather and -mum, aunts, half-siblings. And we could explore the surrounding with cats, farmdogs (hihi they are almost smaller than us and funny). And there is a huge house, cosy and warm, too, with interesting machines and noices, so many different smells, and the floor is a little bit slippery. But it is ok quite fun. So life is good and exciting, cosy and relaxed, good food, many cuddles, kisses and a lot of love from all. I like it . What will come next?

Who is behind CulFjäll and what does the name mean?

At our place live to breeds Alaskan Husky and Danish Swedish Farm Dog. 

And for both breeds we have two different kennel names:

Alaskan Husky                               -> Cultum 64° Nord

Danish Swedish Farmdog  -> Fjällvinds (FCI Dansk Svensk Gårdshund)

This is what our company name CulFjäll is made up of and this is the name we use for our company CulFjäll AB, based in Sweden.

We, that is Walter and Petra, and we've been living in Sweden with our dogs since january 2014, in the middle of the Swedish wilderness. What connects us is the love for our children, our dogs, the nature, freedom, the ambition to create something, but also to experience new adventures!

We both have extensive and many years of experience in the field of IT consulting, especially in the field of SAP. This is also a part of us that I would never want to miss. Petra has always been enthusiastic about progress and technology. Professionally, this was particularly evident in information technology, privately especially with cars. Together we took part in many rallies in the Austrian championship for 12 years.

When Petras first husky "Keesha" moved in 2010 something started to change for her. It didn't take a long time for the second husky "Ylvie" to follow and many more moved in with us . 🙂

And again the ambition for competitions got in touch with us again. The first sled dog races in Sweden for us started 2015/2016.

While Walter was able to gain experience with huskies many years before Petra, she still had some catching up to do. Petra was so fascinated by the performance of the dogs and their character that she wanted to capture the entirety of these creatures.

In the beginning, the interest was mainly in the topics of nutrition (favorite topic) and pack management.

As a result, she ended up in a multi-year Swedish training course "Professional dog trainer and dog psychologist" and the diploma was presented to her in 2020. At the same time, Petra took part in training courses for health care, personal trainer for dogs, nutritional advice and naturopatie for dogs. The more she learned, the more she wanted to know. In the spring of 2022 she also received the diploma as a DOGA Coach. Which is an enormous support, especially in the field of dog psychology.

We have been successful breeders for Alaskan Husky for many years and since 2021 we have been the official FCI breeder in Sweden for Danish Swedish Farm Dogs (Dansk Svensk Gårdshund). In order to meet this requirement, we have dealt intensively with the topic of dog mom and puppies. Here, too, we had the opportunity to expand our Know-How in the course of the dog trainer training, but also through small seminars.

In addition, we have been renting out our farmhouse to guests for a few years. This historic house is being renovated step by step. We try to keep the original style as good as possible. Our guests are also welcome to take part in tours with our sled dogs or snow scooters.

Overall, we live a very simple standard of living here on our farm. We try to behave as respectfully as possible in nature. And the nature, the vastness and the freedom, that is the luxury for us that we value so much here in Sweden.

In mid-August / early September we start with training again. We need cool temperatures (below 10 degrees) and low humidity so that we can begin. To avoid overheating our dogs, we make sure not to start training too early.

Over the summer we maintain our huskies' basic fitness levels by incorporating short sessions of conditioning and strength training. We use our small lake right behind the farm, but also our forest where you can run freely and cross-country either in the morning or in the evening.

This cross-country over stones, lying tree trunks and over hills, uphill and downhill, contributes enormously to the training of our huskies in unusual movement sequences outside of the dog team training.

Otherwise they relax in the shade in summer, enjoy the peace and quiet and have enough fresh water available (at least twice a day).

We don't change the dog food in summer, only the amount is adjusted.

When our dogs work in a team, the temperature in their bodies naturally rises. Unlike us humans, dogs cannot regulate their body temperature by sweating. In order for dogs to cool off, they have to pant. They do have sweat glands (e.g. paw pads), but these are used to release scent secretions.

To ensure that our dogs do not overheat during autumn training, we also pay close attention to the relationship between temperature and humidity. If this is too high, we do not train on these days because the dogs are not able to regulate their body heat sufficiently.

The higher the humidity level, the less the dogs have to regulate their increased body heat. Especially in the forest, where we train the most, the humidity is higher and the dog's cooling function is less effective because the air is saturated and cannot absorb any more moisture.

Another support we give you during autumn training is that we give the dogs water over several small breaks. By panting, the dog's body loses a lot of water, which can amount to about 1 liter in an hour. So that not too much water gets into the stomach at once and maybe causes a stomach ache, we divide it into several smaller break units.

Depending on the age, we have different training sessions and opportunities to train with the dogs.

Very important! The fun is always with us