Kappu and Korpur

(Please click on the photos to enlarge them.)

Alaskastadirs Korpur

Korpur - Alaskastadirs Korpur - BFF, CGC, RN, RA, RE, CD


Korpur finished his Companion Dog (CD) title today in Ann Arbor. He wagged his tail, all my Icelandics do, all the way through the exercises - except for long sits and long downs.

(Click on his photo to enlarge it.)

"Everybody does better when everybody does better." - Jim Hightower

"Beauty without Intelligence is like a hook without bait." - Jean Baptiste Pequin

"Keep your friends close, Harry." - Sirius Black

"Never, for the sake of peace and quiet, deny your own experience or convictions." - Dag Hammarskjold

Korpur and Bear

Korpur and Bear really are very good friends - 99% of the time. (Click to enlarge.)

Bear

The temperatures were in the 90s today with high humidity but Bear obliged, sort of, by letting me take some photos.


Bear's double-dews are "on the ground" which makes wonderful sense, evolution-wise, to me for dogs that go running through wet, soaked land like a marsh or a moor. They are also better adapted for climbing the volcanic and icy countryside in the mother country. From Siggi av Vartun through Skreppengs Gryssli to Bear (Bersi av Isheim) the fifth toe on the ground as a true toe sometimes skips a generation but it always comes back. Over the years, judges have said that Siggi and Gryssli had only one dewclaw before being politely told to actually count the toes.

A judge looking for dew claws on the side of the leg could possibly miss the fifth toe on the ground and sometimes they might need to have it pointed out to them as an actual extra digit.

Check out these shots.
(Click to enlarge.)

(The first two photos are Bear's claws, followed by Sherwood Forests Gunnar, aka Edgar, and Alaskastadirs Korpur. Count their toes carefully.)

Bersi and I tried to stay in the shade to take his photos but it was still hot.





I learned today that Bear's, in my opinion, wonderful korkur tail came from Siggi av Vartun through Somi av Isheim and then through Skreppengs Gryssli, and Sigga av Isheim, his dam.





The second tail-photo shows the corkscrew tip in white fur peeking through the tail-feathers. (Again, please click on photo once or twice to enlarge.)

Korpur and Totty

Korpur











Totty

Korpur and Pila

It's still too early to tell but Pila and Korpur may be expecting puppies soon. If so, I think half of them should be black tricolors (black, tan and white) carrying one b-gene for chocolate-brown; the other half should be black and white (like Korpur) carrying one b-gene for chocolate brown and one at-gene for black and tan.

However, we know Korpur also has produced puppies in several shades of tan (fawn, cream, tan, yellow, gold, red, and sable) so there could be some surprises I suppose.

They are not allowed on the furniture BUT - - - -

Click on photos to enlarge them.

Olli with father and grandfather

Olli (middle photo) has amazing potential inherited from Gunnar (Edgar) his Red, White and Black sire and Korpur, his maternal grand sire. (Click on photos to enlarge them.)

(Please click on photos to enlarge them.) I try to remain positive and focus on long term goals.

Korpur

A picture is worth a thousand words! (Click on the photo to enlarge it.)

On the advice of a friend, I started analyzing why and when my dogs bark.

Here's some preliminary ideas: - They all bark for different reasons.

Huld, my oldest, barks to let me know that she understands something. She also barks to discipline the others. Really.

Kata barks for a reason - a squirrel or something in her territory. Most of the time she doesn't bark.

Korpur barks when he's excited or proud of himself. He also does not bark often. He's too regal, he thinks.

Kria is a pointless barker, like her daughter Totty.

Totty goes out the door barking and continues all around the yard. She barks at nothing and everything. I call her and her mother pointless barkers because there is no reason that I can ever see for the barking. With her collar on, she almost never barks now. - but she does give me some pure evil looks! Both of them also seem to get very excited and assertive towards the others when they get on a barking jag. I do not leave Totty's collar on all the time.

Pila rarely barks - never in the house. She does bark when she's at school if other dogs, usually big ones, like Rotties, Black Russians, GSDs and Dobes, start. She is also Kria's daughter and I'm glad that she, at least, did not inherit that gene.

A very good friend suggested that I try electronic bark training collars. I was reluctant at first but the collar she recommended can deliver a vibration as a warning and then either a short electric shock or a long electric shock. The strength of the vibration or shock can be regulated. There is a digital read-out screen on mine so I know the strength of the vibration/shock.

There is a remote control hand held device that controls 1. the vibration or shock and 2. the quick shock or longer shock plus 3. the strength of the reaction on the collar.

I have found the vibration - which is harmless, of course - to be more effective than a shock. Surprisingly. It must be more irritating - maybe because they have tender tracheas??

Totty almost never barks when her collar is on. She knows when it's on. It only took her two or three times to figure that out. If she does bark, the vibration stops it and she comes running back to me.

The batteries of my collars and hand device are rechargeable.

They are expensive. The company produces many models at various prices and you can choose one that meets your needs. I love mine mostly because there are so many options when using it.

My collars are "dogtra 280NCP Platinum Series". I thnik you can Google it. I talked with w very nice knowledgeable lady by phone before buying one and got what I needed. Again, expensive but I do not want my very tolerant neighbors to ever have to complain.

Many people refuse to talk about this behavior problem in Icelandics. The barking has been bred in for centuries because barking is a herding thing. Some dogs bark very little (Level One). Some dogs bark about as much as any average dog (Level Two). However some dogs bark lots (Level Three) and may even nip - that's also a herding thing. (The collars can discourage that as well.) I suppose it's possible to breed the barking gene 'down' a bit. I believe that two Level Three barkers should never be bred together. (I just made up those levels but I think that might work and explain some things.)

I would call Huld, Kata, Korpur Level Two barkers. Pila is a Level One. Although Kria and Totty only bark outside, I would still call them Level Three barkers.

I have only been using the collars for a few weeks.

On another related note, I trained Huld and Kata and Korpur to bark less by starting early and being consistent long before I had even heard of collars. It took months to reduce their barking but I was persistent and it worked. My point here is that training should work except with the small percentage of pointless barkers. This is not a 'yappy' breed.

All bets are off when company comes to the door. There's three minutes of chaos followed by tranquility.

Every breed of dog has good and not-so-good things about their health and temperament. Icelandics are no exception. This issue is not a biggie, in my opinion. The unconditional love and their amazingly friendly temperaments far outweigh any negative issues.

I have a sign that says, "If you don't like dogs, why are you here?"

I am grateful that my friend recommended the collars. They saved my dogs and my sanity. She also uses them when she takes her dogs for walks.

The following is from the VID (Freunds- Friends) club

In order to protect the uniqueness of the Icelandic Sheepdog, the ISIC proposes to capture all information in a databank to assure cooperation between all countries involved in breeding of Icelandic Sheepdogs. The VID has posed the question, if we cooperate would we have access to the data base but this has not been answered. Therefore the exchange of data has not taken place, although we are not against such an exchange. We already have created the prerequisites because we have our own databank. Pedigree documents of our club are not recognized by the FCI or the VDH. The ISIC believes that the offspring resulting from further breeding will be lost. FCI breeders are informed in the ISIC letter that dogs sold to members of the VID club would decrease the genetic diversity of the Icelandic Sheepdog.

FCI clubs have a registry in which dogs with unsecured pedigrees can be registered if they meet a breeding standard and health requirements in order to further the bloodlines. Therefore almost every Icelandic Sheepdog can be accepted by the VDH, including the dogs from our club. Under certain conditions, breeding within the VDH is also possible. However, the proscribed procedure and excessive financial cost are in stark contrast to our expressed desire to transfer them into the VDH. We do not want to stand in the way of or prevent anything that would promote the welfare of the breed and in particular genetic diversity. The pedigree of our dogs is just as verifiable as dogs with FCI papers because our dogs and their dogs can be traced back to the same progenitors. For the genetic diversity of the Icelandic Sheepdog it is irrelevant what logo is stamped on their papers.

We do not declare existing pedigrees to be invalid and require that our pedigrees be used instead. One can breed in our club with any Icelandic Sheepdog that corresponds to the breed standard and meets health requirements. Eye exams of our dogs are carried out by certified Vets according to the standards of the VDH and FCI. HD evaluations are also carried out by professionals recognized by the VDH. Every Icelandic Sheepdog owner is welcome in our club regardless of the source (club) of the dog’s pedigree. We even welcome dual membership in VID and DCNH – but the DCNH does not tolerate that. Now of course the reader may ask why our club does not join the VDH. We have thought about this intensively in the past and this topic has been on the agenda of our annual convention and discussed:

1. We want to maintain our independence. As individual members of the VID we could join the VDH or the DCNH, but to join as a club there would be a significant financial burden and we would have to meet breeding technical requirements.

2. All costs dealing with breeding would be drastically increased.

3. All of our breeding dogs would have to go through a new test to determine their fitness for breeding including necessary health tests that were previously not recognized.

4. All of our breeding dogs as well as dogs to be shown, will need new documentation. They will get a registered pedigree in which only the name of the dog will be entered without the kennel name. All ancestors will be unrecognized because they are not registered in the VDH. Our dogs in other words, would be without pedigree and this is unacceptable.

5. Even if new documentation were issued, our dogs would remain the same just as their pedigree – the only difference would be the logo on the pedigree document.

We in the VID (Friends club) breed efficiently and at low cost, just as good a dog as breeders in the VDH and FCI. We hope that it becomes possible in the future to have cooperation and the exchange of data and breeding partners with the VDH for the purpose of protecting and sustaining the Icelandic Sheepdog to its greatest genetic potential.

(translation courtesy of JM)

Alaskastadirs Korpur

Korpur, Alaskastadirs Korpur, is the second male Icelandic that has lived with me. Like many true American Icelandics, he has ancestry from all over the world. He has Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, American, Canadian and Icelandic ancestors. Of course all of our Icelandic Sheepdogs go back to Iceland. So no mater where their more recent ancestors came from, all of the ancestors came originally from Iceland. So where did the first Icelandics come from? The Vikings took dogs from their Scandinavian homes with them when they originally settled Iceland more than a thousand years ago. In the early centuries there were most likely three breeds of dogs in Iceland. The middle sized breed was very similar to modern Icelandic Sheepdogs. Purists may not want to admit it but probably in those early years there was some interbreeding between the three breeds which may account for the diversity we see today. There were no breed standards or kennel clubs for around one thousand years. Farmers bred their best herding dogs together and produced a reliable, friendly, intelligent, self-reliant, tractable herding dog.

Korpur is an amazing dog. He has earned his Rally Novice title and his Canine Good Citizen both from the American Kennel Club, AKC. He is so beautiful that he turns heads whenever he is out in public. Like all my dogs, he goes to classes at Sportsmens' Dog Training Club where I volunteer as an instructor and also take classes.

Korpur is a black, white and gray dog with some rust colored highlights in his hair. He has produced some amazing offspring that show virtually every possible color. He has had offspring with his coloring and also black tricolor pups, tan pups, sabled pups, cream pups, etc. He has excellent hips.

He also has two unusual traits: a korkur tail and dews on the ground. A korkur tail is a double curled tail that resembles a corkscrew. You can see the extra twist in the photo of Korpur. The tuft of hair sticking out from the center of his tail is from that extra curl. Although rare, there are several dogs in the US that also have this trait. Huld also has a korkur tail. A dog with a korkur tail is good for breeding to a dog with a more relaxed tail in order to tighten up the tail curl in their puppies. Most of Korpur's pups have a better tail than their mothers have.

Icelandics must be sure-footed. Life in Iceland is hard. The terrain is icy and rough because of the latitude, the volcanic rocks. Dogs that have dewclaws are more agile, studies from the AKC have shown. I believe that dogs with those des near the ground are even more agile, more able to negotiate the uneven terrain.