Murugi

Boris keeping an eye on Berit!

The Andersen family got their first borzoi, Ekhaga Irina, in 1968 and the Murugi Kennels was registered in 1972. The first years, the kennel worked close to Signe and Axel Hallqvist of the famous Ekhaga kennels.. When the first P-litter was born in 1973, Signe Hallqvist was co-breeder with the Andersen- and the Törnberg families.

The owners of the Murugi Kennels were Berit and Arvid Andersen. Later when their daughter Camilla grew up, she also took part in both breeding and showing. The kennel was never a large kennel, at most they had 6 to 8 borzoi at one time and never kept any other breed.

Murugi started out with 3 bitch lines and had as a goal to breed these into one line containing the qualities they wanted. The three bitches were, Ekhaga Irina, Ekhaga Piroschka and the imported Eng. Ch Falconcrag Esmerarna, all three seen on top of this page. The kennel only kept few stud dogs, but always relied on the best studs on the market, in particular they used Int. Ch Don-Cosackens Chardaz. Three borzois were imported as complements to the Ekhaga lines, the above-mentioned Eng. Ch Falconcrag Esmerarna, who came direct from winning her fourth English certificate at the Crufts Show in London. Ekhaga Irina and Ekhaga Piroschka. To the right Is Falconcrag Esmerarna.

Tierzel of Phantom Lake who was imported from the USA, and after spending 6 months in quarantine quickly made up his Swedish Championship in three straight shows. Later Falconcrag Moryak was imported from England, but did not become a Champion.

The kennel bred some great borzois, one was the top winning borzoi in Sweden in 1977, Ch Podjajka, which by the way was the same year that Ch Marsja was BIS at the Borzoi club annual show under breeder judge Lena Tamboer. The Andersens most important contribution to the breed was perhaps the initiative to form the Swedish Borzoiring and the initiative for the first world Conference for Borzoi in 1981 in Sweden. Arvid was also for a few years the chairman of the IBC, the International Borzoi Council as he had been for a number of years with the Swedish club.

The photo to the right shows Arvid sitting next to Galina Zotova at the IBC world conference in Macon in France

In 1991 the kennel moved to other locations and a few years later it closed down. Business took more and more time and it was no longer possible to continue the Murugi Kennels. In 2002, 30 years after the Kennel was formed, the family no longer keeps dogs or any other animals for that matter. In 2010 even Business engagements are fading out, they travel, spend time in their cottage in Norway and do other hobbies but borzois still occupy a special spot in their hearts and Arvid has engaged in the Borzoi Encyclopedia a project focusing on documenting the history of the borzoi breed.

In 2012 was also the cottage in Norway sold and after living on the island Tjörn on the Swedish west coast they have now, 2021, moved to Uddevalla and live in an apartment and have no associations with dogs apart from looking after Camillas dogs at occasions!