Website last updated: 10/16/2024
Guiding Philosophy
At Elkhorn Mountain Brittanys, we are rigorous in screening and selecting the right home for each animal. If we do not think your home is the best place for them, we will redirect you to a different Small Business who might be a better fit. To reserve an animal, please get in touch. Note, we will not separate our babies from their mothers until they are old enough.
All About Elkhorn Mountain Brittanys
Eaglerock's Star Powder RE CGC
"Zoe"
I (Tommie Dahl) grew up in Montana from age five when my family moved here from Washington, though my Dad was born here and his side of the family have been in the Elkhorn Mountains of Montana, just south of Helena, for over 120 years after coming from countries like Denmark and Sweden.
I grew up with an array of dogs. Two Kerry Blue Terriers, two or three Great Pyr's, a couple mutts, two Shetland Sheepdogs, a Belgian Tervuren, two Miniature Pinschers, and my first Brittany, Troubadour.
My family were not breeders. They didn't compete in dog shows, they didn't hunt with their dogs, or compete in anything. We always just had pets. Well bred pets, but pets.
I got started in competitions with my first dog, a Shetland Sheepdog by the name of Zoe. That dog knew how to push every button I had, and I would trade all the ribbons, trophies, and certificates, to do it all over again.
She was my 4-H Dog Project partner in crime. With her we competed in Agility, Obedience, and Showmanship. She loved Agility, but loved visiting the ring stewards more. Obedience was okay until we got to the off leash levels, at which point during the long sits and downs she'd get up, walk two feet from where I'd left her, and either sit or lay down again, which ever I'd left her in to begin with. And showmanship was okay. Grooming Zoe for show was not my cup of tea. Dense, heavy spay coat made grooming her a chore, but she loved the attention.
Zoe at an AKC Agility Trial
Troubadour and Tipsy
Good example on how much bigger he was than Tispy (who stands 19 1/2")
Southpaw's Troubadour CGC
"Troubadour"
Troubadour on point
Troubadour with a bird he pointed and retrieved
We even dabbled in AKC Agility and Obedience, where we had the same issues as we did in 4-H. Then we tried Rally. I may have jumped into the sport blind, but we earned a qualifying leg that day in Novice, and we never looked back. Zoe retired a few years later with a Rally Excellent title, completely trained by myself as a pre teen/teenager who's only background in dog training was 4-H.
I lost Zoe in February of 2016, just two weeks after my first litter of Brittanys was born. Couple years prior she'd been in an accident involving a sheep after a short herding session. Sheep headbutted her, she went down, but got right back up and nipped the sheep on the face then went back to work. Didn't think anything of the incident at the time until a few weeks later when I went to pet her and she screamed. Turns out she'd broken her back in the accident and hadn't shown any signs of pain or injury until that point. The day I let her go she had developed seizures, which combined with the fact she couldn't do her favorite things anymore, like herd sheep, do agility, or chase her soccer ball around the yard, and she hated car rides in her senior years, I decided her quality of life wasn't good enough to pursue a reason or treatment/management. She was 11 years old.
Troubadour came to me from June Cuthbertson in Michigan, who bred under the name Southpaw Kennels.
My mom reached out to June in winter of 2008 after I'd been told by my dog project leader that she wanted me to start doing more showmanship. Figured if I had to dress up, might as well make it worth my time. I'd seen dog shows on TV, my favorite past time during Westminster or the Championships was to write down the breeds and the dogs' names, so I figured I'd give AKC a try.
June at the time had 2 male puppies available to show homes. Both puppies ended up being shown, but one stayed in Michigan. Troubadour came home with me, but before he did I wasted so much time of my life that winter watching the livestream of those puppies growing, playing, and doing absolutely nothing but sleeping. Do I have regrets? Absolutely not.
Radar went on to earn his AKC Championship, but Troubadour was a big boy. 21 1/2" a big boy. But if I knew then even half of what I know now, he would have been one hell of a field dog. A natural born hunter through and through.
GCH CH Elkhrn Mtn's Southpaw I Cross My Heart BCAT "Spunky"
New Champion Photo
GCHB CH Elkhrn Mtn's Southpaw Warbonnet Strut The Big Sky TKN "Kintla"
New Bronze GCH Photo
Fast Forward to 2015, a year after losing my father to cancer, Tipsy came to Montana.
Tipsy is bred and co owned by June, Troubadour's breeder, and for all intents and purposes, is my "replacement" for Troubadour. The contract agreement with June was if Troubadour was no longer able to be considered a show prospect, I would be able to either get a refund, or a replacement puppy at my time of choice. I told her Troubadour was worth every penny I spent on him at 14 years of age, so that I would take a puppy when I was ready. Well, June retired from breeding before I was ready for a puppy.
She contacted me in Fall of 2014 asking, if I had to chose, would I pick a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (the other breed she bred), or another Brittany. I thought it was just a curious question, but I thought hard about it for a couple days before replying "Another Brittany". I already had a Min Pin, and two Shelties, and a Great Pyr mix, and Troubadour. I didn't need another breed.
Well June didn't want her line to just end. So she offered me a once in a lifetime opportunity that I couldn't pass up. She wanted to mentor me as a breeder, to help me start my own line of Brittanys, because breeding had been something I'd expressed a little interest in during a couple of our many conversations over the years, while in turn also helping to keep her line alive, even if under a new name.
RBIS BISOH GCH CH Elkhrn Mtn's Poetic Playboy "Apollo"
Reserve Best In Show Photo
Tipsy with her Hunt Test Ribbons
RBOHIS RBVetIS GCHS CH Southpaw's I Can Do The Stray Kat Strut JH BCAT CGC TKN "Tipsy" Reserve Best Veteran in Show Photo
Ultimately, he was brought here as a show prospect, and being a whole INCH over standard, he was pulled from the show ring with three single points and just became my buddy. We dabbled in Agility, which was fun, though near impossible if there were birds in the barns. Rally was attempted, and though he got a leg (qualifying score) towards his RN, we never finished the title. What he enjoyed doing most though was hunting. So I joined the Montana Sharptail NAVHDA chapter and trained with them. We never competed, but it got him into the field. My biggest regret with Troubadour was not hunting behind him or finding a trainer to train him properly. He was with a trainer at one point, but that's a rant I won't go on.
Troubadour passed away May of 2016 to bloat at the age of 7. And though he's gone, I still see him today in my boy, Apollo. Troubadour's mother was Apollo's Great Great Grandma. Apollo's attempted to lick a few less electrical outlets, though.
Tipsy (back), Kintla (left), Spunky (right) with a Sage Grouse (bottom right corner)
So enter Tipsy. She came to me a fully health tested, AKC Grand Champion, in the prime of her life at 4 years old, and still highly competitive in the show ring.
We stepped into the show ring as a team for the first time in June 2015, where she went Best of Breed multiple times, and once I was added officially as an owner, she started taking placements in Owner Handled as well.
December 2015 I bred Tipsy to a Dual Champion that June approved of. That Dual was DC AFC Beaver's Straight Arrow "Arrow". 2x Magnum's Masked Man award winner. The litter was born in February of 2016, and that litter produced my first Bred By, Spunky. That June I traveled to Ellensburg, WA to get Tipsy's JH title at the Double Double Hunt Test put on by the Washington Brittany Club and German Shorthaired Pointer Club of Washington, where she earned her title that weekend with 4 straight qualifying runs.
August 2017 I bred Tipsy one more time to another Dual Champion, this time to DC Warbonnet's Orion In The Big Sky JH "Rye", and in October, my second homebred Champion was born, which was Kintla.
Today I have 4 Brittanys that have taken over my bed.
Tipsy AKA Grandma Dog, RBISOH RBVetIS GCHS CH Southpaw's I Can Do The Stray Kat Strut JH BCAT CGC TKN
Spunky, GCH CH Elkhrn Mtn's Southpaw I Cross My Heart BCAT TKN (2 legs towards her JH title, 2 Coursing Ability legs, and 1 leg towards a RATN (Barn Hunt Novice) title.)
Kintla, GCHB CH Elkhrn Mtn's Southpaw Warbonnet Strut The Big Sky TKN
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and Apollo, RBIS OHBIS GCH CH Elkhrn Mtn's Poetic Playboy TKN.