Team Irokon
Irokon Rough Collies in Finland
welcome to visit us
We aim to breed to the standard, trying to improve something in every litter and to keep the focus firmly on temperaments and sound physique.
The first collie arrived in our family in 1987. Kennel prefix Irokon was registered in 1992 by my mother Eija, who bred the first two litters before I (Johanna) was able to join the partnership officially in 1999. Since then showing, competing and breeding have been mostly left to me, while my parents still enjoy the company of two collies.
Our foundation bitch was our first English import FIN CH BH Antoc Pardon Me, a classic tricolour with excellent temperament and working attitude. She had two litters and produced very nice offspring from which we look forward to breed on. Together with our first male, Karion King The Stars (pictured below), they are the basis of today’s Irokon collies.
During the years we have had the pleasure of working with many true experts of the breed in Finland and overseas, and working dog & training specialists alike; I owe these people a lot of knowledge and want to say a big thank you to everyone – you know who you are!
Our sincere thanks go to Aileen Speding & Carole Smedley at Antoc for making it all possible, and to Irma Niskanen at Karion for all the help and advice during the important beginner years.
We give 100%
The home of Irokon collies is located in the village of Latovainio (”Latari”), close to the bigger towns Forssa and Jokioinen. I live with my dogs in a house surrounded by fields and woods, with a large fenced garden and runs for the dogs. They also have a doggy house/shelter of their own, but they live in the house as familymembers.
2018 brought me the biggest achievement of my breeding career so far – The Finnish Kennel Club’s highest accolade for quality breeding, the Vuolasvirta award.
Besides showing, I am also very interested in competing in different dog sports, including working trials (tracking and search), agility, obedience and rally-obedience. More than a dozen collies bred and trained by me have achieved results in competitions, ranging from beginner level to highest levels and breed /areal championships. In addition, 20+ others of our breeding have gone on to collect merits for other owners/trainers. Sound temperament and mental capability to work are important things in our breeding program. Afterall we believe that collie is -or should be- a working breed! Mental traits and drives that make a good working dog are very much genetic and sadly nowadays hard to establish in our breed.
Since 2017, my work has been 100% dogs: if you are interested in the professional side, feel free to check out Huippukoira oy Dog Sports Center – I am a self-employed professional dog trainer, groomer and consultant.
Ideology
Keeping functionality in mind, one of our main goals is to breed collies that are free from hereditary diseases. Every litter is planned first and foremost thinking of mentality and health issues. However, it is not the individual dogs’ results as much as knowing their pedigrees that counts. All the health results are published, good or bad. Since 2012 we are also using genetic testing as a tool to reduce the risk of DM and other genetic problems in our breeding.
In my view, the ideal collie is first and foremost a good mover (a correctly constructed collie will always move well!), has long body lines with well arched neck and correct angulations. More important than the lenght and amount of coat are it’s colour and texture – too much is not what we want. Important details which we wish to establish in our collies are correctly set and well carried tail and a true classic collie-head. We also want the details that make the perfect expression, most importantly the medium-sized dark eyes & well-carried ears, so I guess we still have a long way to go before ”the collie of our dreams” is born…. but I’m confident that we are getting there – combining eye-catching beauty with working capacity, intelligence and excellent physique into one perfect animal.
We believe in traditional linebreeding, although we recognise the need to maintain the necessary genetic diversity in our bloodlines and particularly within the whole collie population. Pedigrees are the most important guideline in every breeding choice, and we try to choose ”the road less traveled” as much as possible.
If everything goes well, we usually have 1 or 2 litters per year.The puppies are always much loved and well cared for, and available only to good, loving homes with plenty of time for the dog and genuine interest in this versatile breed.
I’m happy to welcome visitors to our home after a phone call or e-mail, and my collies can be seen in shows and competitions as well as in training. Come say hello if you are interested!
Thank you for your time and we hope you enjoy your virtual visit!
Well presented in shows
Team Irokon have successfully been presented in shows over the years
Quality litters
Well thought combinations and their excellent progeny makes us proud breeders.
training dogsports
Training and competing give us deep insight into what is needed for breeding working dogs.
