Gossip

Sooner or later gossip gets back to the person and the dogs you gossip about, especially if you live close to one another.

Remember that game we used to play in preschool or kindergarten? The one where one person whispered something into the ear of the person next to him/her and what was whispered was quietly passed from person to person all the way around the room until it got back to the person who started it?

By the time the whispered phrase got back to the originator, it had changed significantly. That taught me a lesson that has lasted with me through the last six plus decades of my life.

Our Mom taught us back then: - If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

I know now that she was trying to prevent us from saying hurtful things about someone else. The Golden Rule.

I have tried, usually successfully, to adhere to those two dictums or "rules" all of my adult life. To needlessly hurt someone or damage someone's reputation is unnecessary and cruel, plain and simple. We all do better when we all do better. Think about it. Please.

Sooner or later what is said and who said it gets back to the person whose reputation was hurt.

Tryggur, aka Yankee, has fit in very well with the rest of my dogs. He gets along fabulously with the younger dogs and allows the older ones respect and distance. Only rarely now do the older dogs in my pack indulge in play.

When Tryggur was returned, there were some very minor initial adjustment concerns, the kind anyone would have when introducing any new dog into an established 'pack'.

I am very happy to report that Bear and Tryggur are best buddies and play together all the time without incident. I am proactive by nature and watch for any possible escalation whenever any of my dogs play with each other. (See below.)

Totty and Pila also play all the time with each other and also with Bear and Tryggur. They are a delight to watch. BEFORE things can get out of hand, I step in verbally to calm things down if I feel it is necessary. It rarely is. Those of you who have more than two adult dogs know what I'm talking about.

There are many things I absolutely love about our Icelandics.

They are an old breed and still have many of their old instincts and behaviors. That makes it all the more interesting to observe them while at work herding or training, or while they play, or raise puppies, or play with or discipline those puppies, or watch for skyward bound predators like hawks, or forage for food in the wild, etc. Our dogs are not a recent breed and, therefore, still have many or their ancestral survival skills close to the surface.

Some people call breeds like Icelandics, Carolina dogs and Basenjis "primitive" breeds. I don't much like that word because it implies, perhaps, that they are dumb or slow. Neither of those descriptors fit our dogs. They still have many of their original old-fashioned instincts and I believe that's what people actually mean when using the word "primitive". Dogs that still have most of their instincts intact are certainly more interesting, at least to me, and present some challenges that a more modern dog, one that has lost most of its instincts, does not have.

When I have a litter, which has normally been once a year, I question the potential new adopters closely about the breeds of dogs they have had before.

If they have had good success with intelligent and active dog breeds in the past, that's a good sign that they will be able to understand and work with our breed.

I believe that some people who in the past have had a "soft" breed whose instincts have been lost over many generations may not be the best bet as a home for an Icelandic. There is not a thing wrong with those more modern breeds; they are relatively easy to manage and to train. They make fantastic pets and best furry friends. They can be challenging too.

I've always said that you have to be smarter than your dog if you want your relationship with him/her to be successful. If your dog is smarter than you are, then you could be in trouble.

I really enjoy working with an intelligent, athletic, sociable, happy dog. I hope to be around for a few more decades so I can get better at this! Ha!