Vinlands Icelandics: Kit

Monday, September 26, 2016

Kit

Icelandic Sheepdog Kit's owner wrote me an mail last week and said that she no longer wanted Kit (Vinlands Kathleen) because she wasn't the right height and her lower jaw was slightly longer than her upper jaw - I think I got the reasons she told me right. I told her that I would take Kit back but not without her papers. She could not find them but would look for them or ask the AKC for replacement registration papers.

Kit is now about a year and a half old. I have not seen her recently and therefore I don't have any recent photos. I thought I was retired from dog handling, breeding, showing, agility, obedience. I thought I was at that stage in life when I and my pack of dogs would be able to slide gracefully into the future. I have mixed, very mixed feelings.

The youngest two of my dogs are both turning nine in a few months; the oldest turns fifteen around the same time. I don't want to be without a dog when I'm older. I had been looking for a nice puppy to accompany me into old age recently and had found a litter I really liked and was ready to commit.

I was blindsided. Kit had not been paid for. I was not expecting her back. Ever. Her owner also owns Vinlands Leifur and had done amazing things with him so I fully expected that Kit would be in her forever home. The story, like most stories, is complicated. I trust too much and, as a result, I sometimes get burned. That's OK. It tells me more about me about the burners than words could.

I believe Kit has amazing genes and should be able to produce fantastic breed standard puppies if or when she gets bred. I also believe, even though I haven't seen her for a very long time, that she could be finished. Her mother, Vinlands Totty, is a grand champion and her father, Kross Gola Kelinn, is a champion. In five generations she has only one set of Great-Great-Great Grandparents repeated. Her ancestors come from virtually every country where Icelandics are found today. She comes from a litter of six. Her siblings below are in excellent homes and are amazing Icelandic Sheepdogs.