Thursday, February 26, 2015

Thursday, February, 26, 2015

The Icelandic Sheepdog puppies are growing fast but their eyes are still not open - soon, perhaps? They sleep much of the time: eat and sleep is what they do now.

Vinlands Bangsi

Bangsi has a collar and a small blaze on his forehead and, although he looks dark now, he will probably be one of several shades of tan/yellow; he may also be a sable with longer black hairs covering some of his yellow. He has double dew claws on both rear feet. (His color genes are Ayat Bb.)

Vinlands Kathleen

Kitty is a rare chocolate tricolor with a collar and blaze. Chocolate tricolors are a variation of black tricolors - see Kippa below. So that means they are chocolate-brown & tan with white instead of black & tan and white.  Kitty should closely resemble her mother Totty. In chocolate dogs, any fur that might have been black is instead a chocolate-brown color. The lips, nose, eyelids, footpads are also changed from black to chocolate-brown. The tan remains unchanged in chocolate tricolors; it's only the black that is changed. n.b. If the fur around the eyes is chocolate-brown, then the iris could be brown-ish; however, if the fur around the eyes is tan, the irises will be lighter as well. Having two b-genes changes the melanin, the black pigment. She has double dew claws on both rear feet. (Kitty's color genes are - atat bb.)

Vinlands Lulu

Lulu will be a tan/yellow dog and has a black muzzle-mask like her father's. (See previous posts for photos of Calvin - Kross Gola Kelinn. ) I believe that she will very closely resemble dad but, of course, because she's a female she should be smaller than he is. Both parents are excellent examples of the correct size for Icelandic Sheepdogs, neither too small nor too large. She has double dew claws on both rear feet. (Her color genes are - Ayat Bb.)

Vinlands Edgar

Eddie is a tan shade chocolate dog with a collar and a split face mask. He is named after his Uncle Edgar (Sherwood Forests Gunnar) although he is not closely related to him. You can see several photos of his uncle in early posts. He has double dew claws on both rear feet. (His color genes are - Ayat bb.)

Vinlands Kippa

Kippa is black & tan with very little white. Almost all of our dogs have some white, called Irish Spotting. In our breed we call black, tan, and white dogs tricolors or sometimes black tricolors to distinguish them from chocolate tricolors like her sister Kitty above. Black tricolors are less common than tan shade dogs. Chocolate tricolors are even more rare. When tricolors (either black or chocolate-brown) are born, most of them don't show any tan. The tan, when it shows up, can be any shade of tan from very light cream color to champagne, beige, tan, yellow, gold, red-gold, yellow-gold, red, etc. Colors are very subjective aren't they?) As tri puppies grow the tan gradually replaces the black (or chocolate-brown) on the legs. Tan will also show up as eyebrows, small or large, face-cheeks, etc. Kippa has black down to her "socks" which means she should have lots of tan on her legs. Puppies that have high white socks usually have less tan on their legs; tan replaces the black; it does not replace the white. If you look closely at Kippa's photo you can see that the tan is already showing up on her legs a bit and even on her face. I've found that the earlier the tan shows up while a puppy is growing, the more it will replace black. It never completely replaces it. Kippa has double dews on both rear feet. (Her color genes are - atat Bb.)

Vinlands Elisabeth

Betty is a tan shade chocolate-brown dog. She is almost identical to her sister Lulu except because she has two b-genes for chocolate-brown (Lulu has only one b-gene), the hairs that would have been black are instead chocolate-brown. So, like Lulu and like her father Calvin, she will have a muzzle-mask but it will be chocolate-brown not black. She has double dew claws on both rear feet. (Betty's color genes are - Ayat bb.)

I've probably mentioned it before. Totty has shorter fur which is probably the result of a dominant gene or genes. Calvin has long fur so he probably has recessive genes for fur length. I expect half of their puppies could share Totty's fur length and half could have longer fur like Calvin. It seems that more dogs in conformation shows have longer fur. Over time, dogs with shorter fur could possibly become rare. I think that would be a shame. I won't know which puppies will have longer fur and which will have shorter fur for several weeks. They are all short furred now! Ha!

People have asked to come visit but I'm paranoid. Justifiably. I have known people who have lost entire litters to a disease called Parvo (Google it). Until puppies have received at least one shot of DHPP* which they cannot get until they are about six to eight weeks of age, they are highly susceptible to Parvo. If one puppy in a litter gets Parvo, all of them get it and most will succumb - die.

Many (most?) adult dogs are protected against Parvo but they can transmit (carry) the disease to unprotected dogs and puppies. I keep unfamiliar adult dogs away - far, far away - from my pups. People who have seemingly healthy dogs can transmit Parvo from their dogs to unprotected puppies. The 'bugs' can travel on their hands or even on their clothes.

Clicking on photos enlarges them.

Puppy applications can be had by asking me through my email: jaimehansen1@frontier.com

* Distemper, Hepatitis, Parvo, Parinfluenza

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