Alberta, Canada
Active in conformation showing and performance sports. We have owned, shown, and/or bred dogs with over 40 Finnish Lapphunds with conformation titles. We show at major shows around the world like the World Dog Show, Finnish Winners, breed specialties in Canada, Finland, and the US, Eukanuba, and Westminter. We have won breed specialty shows in Finland and Canada. We have bred, bred/owned or co-owned 6 Finnish show champions (conformation) and 5 Finnish Junior champions to date.
Maintaining the highest scientific stadards in pre-breeding health testing and puppy socialization. This includes ENS, law of 7's, socialization, and Puppy Culture.
Preserving this wonderful breed through DNA imports, mentorship, club involvement, and education. This has involved us hosting breed presentations, 1:1 judges' mentorship, and inviting a Finnish Judge to present in Canada.
Seeking to use local products, sustainable products, recycling, reusing, while caring for our dogs and our planet. We feed all the adult dogs locally sources raw food, use a locally manufactured enzyme cleaner in our home, reuse/wash or compost bedding. We have made a number of our own toys, wooden crates, etc.
Dr. Nic Prokopishyn and Leeza Friedman-Prokopishyn has traveled to Finland over a dozen times so far to visit and import dogs. We have also traveled to the US, Denmark, the UK, and the Netherlands in search of DNA. The COI of most of our breedings is generally low.
Leeza was on the founding board of the Finnish Lapphund Club of Canada (FLCC). We are lifetime members of the Lapphund Club of Finland (Lappalaiskoirat ry), members of the FLCC, Alberta Kennel Club, Southern Finnish Lapphund Society (UK), Finnish Lapphund Club of America (FLCA) and the Canadian Kennel Club (CKC).
We played an active role in helping the breed be fully recognized in Canada through letter writing, phone calls, ad campaigns, breed education, and showing our homebred boy, NBISS BIS MBVIS MBPIS Can Am Ch Can AM Gr Ch Can Gr Ch Ex Bearspaw Sampo HIC TT RN.
We were the first North Americans to export back to Europe (Bel Ch Bearspaw Veikka Karakoram). We were the first North Americans to import back to Finland, or gain a World Winner title (JWW-18 EE JW-18 Bearspaw Innovations So Fiery). We have exported additional DNA to Finland, Belgium, Czech, Austalia, and the US. The second and third generations of our exported progeny reside additionally in Slovenia, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. We were the first North Americans to complete Finnish titles in the homeland on dogs we have bred. We have bred, bred/owned or co-owned 6 Finnish show champions (conformation) and 5 Finnish Junior champions to date.