The Almanza Tale
- In Our Dogs Annual 2021

A comprehensive feature on the Swedish master breeder Ragnhild Ulin and her co-breeder Susanne Karlström by Patrick Oware, the kennel’s Norwegian frontman.

At the age of 11, the persistent nagging about owning a dog finally yielded results and a Flatcoated Retriever male puppy Laddie, moved in with the Ulin family. Laddie was the start of Ragnhilds long and passionate involvement in the breed and in dog sports in all possible forms.

Ragnhild’s and Laddie’s competition journey started with obedience tests which soon became very successful and gave them a ”bleeding tooth” (meaning she found it interesting and really wanted to keep on doing it).

There were then both shows and hunting trials, at first on shaky legs, but when Ragnhild overcame the nervousness the success came, this couple put their all into it which resulted in both championship and elite class hunting trials.
The puppy after Laddie, Ch. Björgs Adonis also competed with success in both show and hunting trials.
Now the dog sport had taken a firm grip on the young Ragnhild.

She read everything she came across attended hunting courses with the best instructiors, tried her luck at hunting trials, developed herself and the dogs trough hard work and during ups and downs, exhibited both near and far, attended grooming classes and handling classes and studied the skilled handlers who impressed her, attended anatomy courses, got to know new breeders active both within and outside the country. This was truly an educational period that gave the ”meat on the mones”, as well as inspiration and courage to realise the dreams.
The goal was now to import a brown male and a foundation bitch from England
to take the next step and start breeding.

Ragnhild had been inspired by some of her role models and teachers. Mainly Brit-Marie Brulin (Puhs Kennel) and Jeanette Mörner-Norström (Kennel Cinnamon) two of the pioneers in the breed in Sweden.
Two fantastically talented breeders who kindly took the knowledge-thirsty Ragnhild under their wings and shared their experience and wisdom. Jeanette´s brown imports from kennel Ryshot and the black bitch Ch Downstream Hestia, mother of a number of successful Push-dogs, including Laddie´s father Ch Puhs Herakles had impressed Ragnhild.

They became something of an ideal that she wanted to strive for in future breeding and so contacts were made with some breeders in England to find suitable pedigree.In 1980, Ragnhild visited Crufts for the first time, a Powerful experience!
She was lucky enought to see Ch Shargleam Blackcap go all the way to BIS.
An absolutly beautiful flat from head to toe with a breathtaking personality.
The tail waved incessantly, something that is so important in the breed.
Ragnhild gained a lot from this trip and the ideal image of the flat took on a clearer shape.

Breeder intensions

Of the offers recceived, she stuck to a really lovely brown bitch, Atherbram Ability, who was pregnant, and soon the brown male puppy Bramatha Copper Nijinsky came to Sweden. Thanks to a Swedish friend’s contact with the breeder Sarah Whittaker.
He became an excellent retriever (retrieving at hunting) and Ragnhild had great hunting test successes with him. However, the exterior did not fit into Almanza’s breeding intentions.
Another four imports from Sarah came to Ragnhild.

Najinsky’s half-brother, Ch Bramatha Ticket To Ride, became a fantastically beautyful and hard-working dog who had great show successes, and also 2nd prize in hunting trials. Both he and his lovely siblings Ch Lucifer of Bramatha and Genevieve of Bramatha (two CC’s) were important for breeding.

The choice of foundation bitch fell on the one-year-old black bitch Wolfhill Dolly Mixture, owned by the breeder Jenny Morgan.
A compact bitch with a slightly course head, but with beautiful lines and an exciting pedigree-line-breeding from one of the most winning Flatcoats in the ring, Sh Ch Wizzardwood Sandpiper,
which felt like a promising foundation.
Dolly got a couple of CC’s but didn’t make any major sensations in the ring.
But what puppies she left! Two litters with several champions!
In addition, several highly qualified hunting prize holders.
Ragnhild could not have dreamed of such a foundation!
So the foundation was laid. And the interest, inspiration, creative spirit and visions of how to take the breeding into the future and produce better and better dogs, burned with an ever stronger flame.

Ragnhild emphasiscs that she had fantastic teachers worth their weight in gold and she is very grateful to have had this invaluable start. And she has probably been an open-minded student as well.
This was combined with a confident feeling for what she wanted to achieve, with a clear picture of her ideal Flatcoat in her head, a pre-requisite for approatching the goals set, she says.
In her breeding work, she has had the courage from the beginning to go her own way to produce ’her’ type, according to her interpretation of the breed standard. This no matter what others thought of it. Something that characterizes her, and the whole team Almanza, even today.

Plans realised

Dolly’s first litter was born in 1981, with a young unknown Norwegian male, Ch Flattys Sako. Which had not been used in breeding earlier. Litter two was born in 1982, with an equally unknown Swedish male, Pellagårdens Splendid, a malet hat Ragnhild discovered at a show and saw potential in,
even though he had only received a 2nd prize.
His mother, Puh’s Rhapsody represented lines that Ragnhild knew and liked, and felt would fit in with Dolly.
At that time, Ragnhild visited the potential breeding males at home and tested their work ability with various retriever exercises, to form her own opinion and a feeling for whether the male was the right choice for the bitch.
Splendid was an uncut diamond that made a strong impression with his enormous desire to work, he exceeded Ragnhild’s expectations.

Needless to say the litter was a success – half became champions, in addition there were several CAC winners and several succeeded excellently on hunting trials in higher classes.

Ragnhild choice of male dog was already based on a conviction of what she herself believed in, regardless of merit. Merit has and never will be a guiding star for her.
The guiding star has always been her own ’ideal image’ so significant for both the choosing of males to use for breedings and the direction of breeding over the years.

Larry O’Grady

Another example of this ’vision’ was when Ragnhild acquired a bitch puppy as a complement to the Dolly line.
Scarlett O’Hara, born in 1983, wa safter one of the Swedish big winners Ch Puhs Raven, and a family-owned bitch Tar-Miriel, which Ragnhild discovered in the show ring
(on the day too fat for high awards but full of quality).
She had an interesting pedigree and was the daughter of the top winning and well-known Ch O Flanagan Free As Air, which was both very beautiful and also offered dazzling performances in the elite classes in hunting trials. The male dog choice for Scarlett O’Hara’s first litter fell on a junior male, Gunhill’s Ear of Esophagus, which Ragnhild judged at a Flat Show.
Than the eyebrows were raised significantly by many other breeders, who thought it was a daring and unexpected choice… There were lots of merited older males to use instead!
The result, however, was wonderful; a large litter with several champions, two bitches became foundation bitches at kennel Inspirations and Wildzeal.

. The words with a twinkle in his eye from Hans Lehtinen after the BIS were:
”I hope I will never see this dog at a show again!”
The reassuring answer from Ragnhild was that hed id not have to worry about it, as she had already decided in advance that this was his last show, Larry O’Grady’s ’grand finale’.
Ragnhild wanted to finish on top – he deserved that people would remember him as the fantastic dog he was, before his form began to decline.

Larry was not just a winner in the show ring. He as also exceptional personality to live with every day!
And he was also a really good retriever. An incredibly fun and easy to train dog who was always full of will to please and always did his best no matter what. He gave Ragnhild the important ’aha-experience’ when compared with some other more independant dogs Ragnhild trained and started on hunting trials at the same time. It suddenly became clear how a flat should be!

This will to please has since been extremely important to safeguard throughout the breeding.
That Larry made his debut on a hunting trial with 1st prixe was a wonderful feather in his hat.
Because as is so often the case in the world of dogs, there were jealous and envious people who doubted that he could work, is it was undeniably a good feeling to disprove those with negative and preconceived notions.

Larry was a *once in a lifetime* dog.
Though fortunately there were many wonderful years toghether, he was almost 14 years old.

As the finishing touch, he was one of the best breeding dogs the breed has seen,
with many successful offspring that have become important for breeding
around the world, and with better heath statitics than the breed average.

To jump forward to the present for a second: In 2019, unique and long-awaited litter of five puppies was born at Almanza out of artificial inseminations with frozen semen from Larry that had been stored for 25 years. The bitch they chose to use was Sussies Ch Almanza Alyssa Ashley, daughter of Almanza Burberry Goodiebag, another of the main breeding dogs.

Of course it is a magical feeling to be able to combine dogs/lines from different eras via AI.
Something old and something new. An addition to today’s breeding work that we look forward to today’s breeding work that we look forward to with excitement and anticipation!

Back to the mid-90s. Larry came to be in demand as a breeding dog from both near and far. He became the father of a long line of successful offspring, both at shows and hunting trials. Many became champions and in turn became very important to other breeders.

The two males with the Almanza prefix that stood out the most were SJCh Int NORDUCh Almanza Emergency Brake, relocation dog that had both the price from a hunting test and a CC ready when he returned to Ragnhild.
A dream dog to take over on a silver platter!
He succeeded in the hands of Mikael Persson who got to take over him, to become the Dog of the Year (all breeds) in 1995, beyond that he achieved hunting championship!
A truly outstanding achievement too.

A daughter of his, Ch Almanza in Case of Emergency, moved to Sussie,
and that’s how Ragnhild and Sussie’s joint story began.

Another BIS-winning Larry son was NUCh A Master of Disaster, owned by Ragnhild. He too was a fantastic relocation dog who came back. A great dog in many ways, he was later exported to Israel, leaving several successful litters in Europé.

As of today, we are very proud and humble of all the Almanza dogs that has moved across the world to their beloved families. And those whom have been a resource for breeders all over the world.

Line Breeding

Line breeding and pedigrees have always interested Ragnhild.
After listening to experienced breeders, especially in England, she has felt a conviction that well thought out line breeding is the best way to preserve the best traits.
But the key to successful line breeding must of course be knowledge of both the pluses and minuses of as many individuals as possible in the pedigree of the planned combination. To strengthen the good quaalities of the dog you line breed on, at the same time avoid doubling up the shortcomings.

It is also important that the dogs around in the pedigree fit in with each other. It is not as just randomly line breeding to a star and believing that it will produce full replicas.

What could be more enticing than line breeding on an extraordinary dog like Larry?
Said and done. And it turned out very well!
He had a brilliant litter with his granddaughter Ch Almanza Exotic Tequila Sunrise; a number of champions and hunting test-qualified dogs were the result.

A son, Ch Almanza Something To Talk About ”Leo” (owned by Ragnhild) won Champion of Champions 1992 and several BOB and BIG. Leo in turn became father of a spectacular litter born in 1996 at Almanza
– a half-sibling pairing on Larry.
Dare you? Sure!!
But given Larry’s breeding results and his own qualities,
it was of course tempting. A litter where ofcourse tempting.
A litter where, ofcourse, quality was expected, but the result was above expectations;
12 puppies, all healty and six showchampions, several were also hunting test merits.

Ragnhild kept three bitches; one at home and two with hosts.
All three became champions. Two were used in breeding.

Sussie’s female Hanna, Ch Almanza Heavenly Connection,
also succeeded very well in the rings with BIG, in addidion, she also got a hunting test merit.

The third did not really have the temperament we were striving for
and had to remain a nice family and show dog.
Only the best breeding material is good enough, Ragnhild and Sussie reasoned.
That was when Sussie really came into the picture. Sussie now had two dogs from Ragnhild and it seemed natural to continue plans and dog sports together. These two ladies enjoyed each other’s company and were were drawn towards the same type of dogs and they had a lot of fun together.
That Sussie then became Ragnhild’s natural partner in crime when it came to breeding, was not entirely unexpected.

Ragnhild bitch Multi Ch Almanza Move Heaven And Earth ”Märta” was a big winner in the rings, winning the BIS Club Show 1998 under the breed specialist Per Iversen. She was also a dream to ork with; and bring on hunting trials. So responsive, easy-going and with a tireless desire to work and strong in her independent work, it was a pleasure for Ragnhild to bring her up to the elite class at only 25 years of age.

The Hamilton plaque

In addidtion the kennel had won Breeder of The Year for the first time in 1996.

The kennel was really on the rise.
It takes two to tango!
Sussie became part of Almanza in 1998, life played out and success continued to follow,
’But to achieve success, whether it is in exhibition or hunting trials, of course, hard work, lots of patience, humbleness and determation are requuired to achieve your goals.

You get nothing for free in this world…
you have to love the hard work as well if you want to be strong in the long run’.

Ragnhild emphasiscs. The lovely long walks with all the dogs loose in the woods and on the ground (no one running away and hunting) are among the highlights of the day for her. The best way to charge the batteries!

With such an active breed as the flatcoat, it is necessare for owners to give the dog a lot of stimulation, both exercise and retrieving training / game tracks, obedience training and / or other.
The flat needs to feel good in everyday life and it is not difficult to find your own niche, there are so many possibilities. As the breed is very active good nutrition is also of the highest importence and Ragnhild and Sussie are therefore incredibly grateful for the long cooperation with Eukanuba – making sure their dogs get the best nutrition.
’We put a lot of work into keeping our dogs in the best condition, and Eukanuba has therefore been our
’go to’ for many many years.

Since the first litters were born, Ragnhild had arranged get togethers for the puppy buyers training opportunities and classes to enthuse and train the puppy buyers
so that they would succeed well with their dogs.
This took more and more time as more litters came into the world and Ragnhild felt she needed to pick up a companion. And who could be more suitable than Sussie?

Liver flatcoats – a special challenge

Those of us who are lucky to know Ragnhild, know that livers are close to her heart.

With her own imports from kennel Bramatha, Sarah Whittaker,
and elements of Nordic dogs, the foundation was laid.

The first litter of liver puppies was born in 1988,
a line breeding combination of the parents of Ch Bramatha Ticket To Ride.

From this successful litter came the male Ch Almanza The first Chocolate Delight (owned by Anette Dyren, kennel Calzeat) and the bitch Ch Almanza The Olympic Fire with whom Ragnhild continued the breeding work.

Ragnhild’s strategy has always been and still is, to foremost pair liver with black to get as good a coat quality and eye color as possible.
It can otherwise be tempting to choose the easiest and fastest way to liver; to mate liver with liver and get a litter with only liver puppies. But the easiest way was never an option.
Achieving quality requires long-term thinking, patience self-criticsm and time.
Ragnhild was fully aware of that.

Although the breeding of liver Flatcoats hardly took great speed.
Many really successful livers were born with Almanza prefix in the coming years.
Ragnhild liver star in the 90s was the bitch Ch Almanza Mad About Chocolate who won both a number of BOBs and winning titles and also won two open classes at hunting trials. She had an exceptionally good coat and dark eyes with the desired friendly and intelligent expression.

Her daughter Ch Almanza Chocolate Cream (owned by kennel FlatPower, Finland)
became both hunting and show champion.
Litter sister Ch Almanza Chocolate Caramel continued Ragnhilds breeding work.
She was outwardly a straw sharper than her mother, something of an ideal bitch in Ragnhild’s eyes.
She also received two open on hunting trials.
With her and her mother as the basis for the sequel, a number of profitable dogs were added that were part of ’striped’ breeding and breeder groups (every other black,  every other brown) during the 2000s.
The story of this marvellous bitch line continues as we speak.

A very special litter was born in October 2015, a litter that was extra long-awaited and that contained all the best from Almanza’s breeding work.
The litter was line bred on black Ch Almanza Hot passion (foundation bitch at kennel Kvicksans) and contained three liver champions.
All were of the highest class exterior and also skilled retrievers.
Ragnhild said: This happinessas a breeder to produce something similar, it cannot be described.

Ragnhild kept the male Ch Almanza Backseat Driever ”Baxer” and the bitch Ch Almanza Back On Red Carpet ”Pepsi”. Litter brother Champion Almanza Backstage Enterainment (owned by Hannah Karlsson) has conquered two ökl hunting class trials and was 3rd in yearling class at Crufts 2017. Pepsi also won junior class shown by Sussie. This duo also received an honorable 2nd place in open class 2019.

Patrick becomes the third partner in Almanza

Sussie, Ragnhild and Patrick met for the first time at the World Exhibition in Helsinki in 2014, where Patrick showed Ch Altaflats Ain’t i’m a Dog (owned by Ida Wiesener), father of Baxer, Pepsi and Ben.

First of all, the ladies were completely overwhelmed by this stylish couple – an absolutely beautiful Flatcoat shown to perfection and a pleasure to see in the the ring. Second, it turned out that Patrick was a personality that appealed to them and impressed them.

A young man full of talent, a ’dog man’ to his fingertips, friendly, humorous and humble. The famous ’click’ was now a fact!
This three-leaf clover of dog sport enthusiasts became really good friends and socialised as soon as opportunities were given, despite the geopraphical distance, Patrick then lived in northern Norway.

Patrick was born into the world of dogs, originally his family had Schnauzers and terriers and were active in dogshows. He ’slaved’ for his mother when she was grooming dogs for clients, and learned the hard way. He was running around at shows from the early days.

Through his mother and his extended dog show family it was only natural
that he would become active in the world of dogs.
However, Flatcoats or Retriever in general were never the idea for the young Patrick. As he could not stand the idea of having a breed that shed.
Anyhow, he had from his early years been around retrievers and was fascinated by their lovely temperaments and active personalities Patrick’s first dog was a Miniature Wirehaired Dachshund, unfortunately she was never the show star Patrick had dreamed of when she was a puppy. Something Patrick finds quite obvious as he’s older (the dog is now 13 years).

Over the years a Lhasa Apso (Ch Whisborne Accessoire) was gifted him, from Annika Ulltveit-Moe from Whisborne fame – and this was Patrick’s first own dog winning at shows. It must also be noted that Patrick has been showing dogs for friends with success, and was a successful junior handler.

After Patrick started showing Lukas for Ida Wiesener, the dream of his own Flatcoat came alive as he first hand had experienced the fantastic breed. Many people to this day think that Patrick was showing Lukas professionally as a handler for Ida Wiesener, but the story is actually that Ida was babysitting Patrick when he was a baby… maybe it was time to return the favour?
But Patrick thinks it is Ida who did him a favour, opening his eyes to the breed.

Patrick was introduced to Lukas puppies at Almanza, and completely fell in love with Baxer and Pepsi and it was consequently not a difficult decision for Ragnhild to allow Patrick to become a partner in Baxer.
Ragnhild said no at first, as a dog like this was something she had been waiting for for many years. However after some thinking. She said yes.

Patrick continued to reap great success with Baxer’s father Lukas, while young Baxer was growing. They became BOB, BIG and BIS-2 at Stockholm Dog Show 2018, with Baxer as 2nd best male. After that, Baxer has gone from success to success, and when Lukas became a veteran and Baxer was with Patrick, a successful show career began for the liver youngster.

In Patrick’s hands in a short time he won both BIS and several BIS placements, at SKK / NKK and voila, he was second in the Dog of the Year list in Sweden 2019!
Then came a cold shower – a stomach ache in dogs that affected Norway put astop to shows for Norwegian dogs in Sweden… But Baxer still got an honorable 5th place at Dog of the Year 2019, with only competing for a few months of the year.

The trio looks forward

”Power without lumber, raciness without weediness” quoted from the breed standard, clearly describes the importans of the Flatcoat combining power and elegance. The most important exterior details that differentiate Flatcoated from the Golden and Labrador are the long narrow head with parallel lines, the elegant dry long neck and a little more leg length.
The Flatcoat is the most elegant of these three retriever breeds. The temperament also extremely important. The breed should be active and happy; the so typical ’constantly waving’ tail is one of the most important characteristics of the breed. A flat that hits the brake and dutifully loops in the ring with a hanging tail, lacks one of the breed’s most important signs. In everything it does, the Flatcoat should radiate joy, austerity, elegance, resilience and energy – but definitely not stress!

The Almanza trio hope is that the breed will continue to develop favorably and with the fine collaboration that exists between them and many other breeders around the world. It looks bright. Because Teamwork is the key to success, they say enthusiastically.

Teamwork also includes sharing knowledge and experiences with everyone who is interested, this is very immportant. ’We have been so fortunate to have the breed on loan for a short time and to be able to safeguard and preserve it during our time as breeders. Hopefully the next generation of breeders ’will catch the baton and the breed will be in the best condition and of the highest general quality’.

Three generations of Crufts Winners

Three males, of which two Almanza dogs have achieved historic success at the prestigious Crufts dog show, in the homeland of our beloved breed.
It is always pleasing to see flatcoats win the highest awards at this show, no matter the breeder, as this is great in an ambassador point of view for the breed.
Extra special of course is it when dogs from Almanza are appreciated.
In 2003 the very first Scandinavian flatcoat won BOB and BIG-1 at Crufts, an unexpected and almost inconceivable achievement!

Ch Inkwell’s Named Shadow owned and shown by Susanne Lindström was responible for this remarkable achievement. The breed was judged by breed specialist Per Iversen and that group by Terry Torn.

As early as 2006, GB Sh Ch Almanza I Hate Monddays (owned and shown by Ragnhild) followed in his grandfather’s footsteps and won BOB and BIG-2 judged by breed specialist Ann Kilminster (breed) and Freda Marshall (group).

Other memorable wins throughout the years

Almanza has had great success far and wide,  both in the hands of the breeders but also their talented puppy buyers. The Almanza team highlights the fact that every time someone values their breeding is a highlight in itself and something to be cherished.

Although the queen and master of Almanza has been seen at shows
all around the world and ofcourse is a competition person.

What Ragnhild enjoys the most is the everyday moments with the dogs and the breeding part.
However when asked she wisely points out that Crufts is obviously a remarkable achievement for any breeder, a dream come true. Maybe even more so as it is the homeland of the breed and where in many ways the ”Almanza tale” gained speed. Ragnhild also remembers winning Best in Show at Stocholm with Larry O’ Grady as if it was yesterday.

In 2002 Sussie visited her very first World Dog Show, this time the show was held in Amsterdam, in Holland. Let’s just keep it simple and say there were many tears of joy when NORD UCH GB SHCH WW-02 Almanza Roundabout ”Robin” won BOB under breed specialist Saskia Rathenau. Sussie would later visit the world show multiple times and has guided CH Almanza End of Discussion ”Blossa” to multiple WW titles. Very special was also when SEVCH NORDUCH C.I.E HUCH WW-10 Almanza Let’s Mingle I’m Single ”Diezel” became BOB under breed specialist Sandra Stevensson and than won the group under Guy Spagnolo. Finishing off as BIS-2 under Agnes Ganami Kertes. This at the largest show in Sweden, Stockholm 2009.

Patrick on the other hand not one for crying… however tears of you could not be held back on some very special moments with his best friend Int Norw. Swe. Sh Ch FJV-18-19 DV-19 NORDV-19 NV-19 Almanza Backseat Driver ”Baxer”.

To mention one, when Baxer won Best In Show under the renowned gundog specialist and one of Patricks idols, Frank Kane. On a different note and back to the liver trio mentioned earlier. It can also be added that a special moment was when Baxer and hi slittermate Ch Almanza Back on The Red Carpet won BOB and BOS at MyDog 2019, has there been two liver flatcoat littermates as BOB and BOS?!

Who knows, but it’s certainly not something that happens every day!