Gasow's - The Vets, and new puppies in Washington state (see below)

Today we saw Dr. Reynolds, Michelle, Bonnie, Denise, Helen and all of my friends at Gasow veterinarians. The puppies had their first shots today and their exams. All are in very good health. They were given DHP-P (Distemper, Hepatitis, Parinfluenza and Parvo) vaccinations. Soon after they arrive at their new homes they should have their next set of inoculations. Please work out a schedule with your vet. Your puppy should see your vet within 24-36 hours after it gets to its new home.

Let me tell you! Six puppies in two crates in a Honda Civic is an experience. We had fun!!

We survived and the pups had their first taste of what their Viking ancestors did more than a thousand years ago when their humans took them on those Viking long ships from Scandinavia to Iceland across the northern Atlantic. What trips those must have been!

This breed is tough. They were born to be explorers. They are happy, extremely intelligent, sociable, and entertaining. However, as I've cautioned you before. They absolutely need a job to do in order to be happy and friendly. If you are adopting one of these pups, PLEASE enroll them in a puppy class PDQ - that's sooner than ASAP!! You will not be disappointed at their progress. Indeed, they will outshine and outperform all of the other dogs in the class.

A word: many instructors have probably not seen an Icelandic before. They need to be treated with respect and love. They do not do well with harsh negative training. They will absolutely shine with positive motivation. If you experience any difficulties at all, I'm here for you. Drop me an email and ask for my help. I have lots of experience with training dogs of all kinds and I know what works with Icelandics.

Here's Isla (pronounced Eye-La as in the song - "T'was on the Isle of Capri that I met her - - - " no "s" sound) home from her first car trip.

Wodin is 'studly'. He caught the attention of all the ladies at Gasow's today. He is stunning - maybe it's because he's the only boy out of six puppies? They all (laughter inserted here) wanted one of his puppies. I mean, for heaven's sake, he's only six weeks old.

Note his ears. My puppies' ears start to come up at around six weeks. Shorter furred puppies have ears that come up a bit sooner and a bit stronger than longer furred puppies. (Wodin is going to have longer fur.) The ears may go up and down as they grow. Some people say that when the puppies are teething, their ears may go down for a few days.

Also notice the tan coming in on his left front leg. That light tan used to be black. It is changing rapidly. There was NO tan there last Tuesday. Look at it now! The other legs are also getting some tan as well. His left cheek [on his face ;o) ] is also getting some tan coloring.

My puppies' tails also are "up" now. Take a look at all the older photos from the past week or so.

I heard recently that the tails of Icelandics don't curl up until they are several months old, maybe as much as six months. That's simply not true from my experience. If they take that long to curl, there may be a problem genetically. Maybe the parents of that puppy had lazy tails. Maybe. Maybe the tails could still come up after six months. Maybe. The curl on the tail can be lost unless the breeder is paying attention to the tail curls in the parents and grandparents. (When puppies and adults are truly relaxed, their tails may also stretch out behind them 'un-curled'. Take a good look at the tails in some of the older photos below.)

Take a look at their mother's tail (below) when she was a puppy. Totty has a good strong tail. I love fully curled tails like that. I actually love all the variety of tail curls but that needs to be watched over when choosing mates, in my opinion. It will be interesting to see how the puppies' curls develop with time.

Totty as a puppy. She has shorter fur and carries one recessive gene for longer fur.

Here's the father of the litter, Laki, with his "Mom" at a dog show. He has a marvelous tail curl. Laki has two recessive genes for longer fur.

Here's Kata on my deck with her curl. I call her my Yellow dog.

She's typical of what I call the "classic" Icelandics. Note her stance, top line, prick ears, tail curl, etc. She came from Helga Gústavsdóttir in Iceland and was the second Icelandic in the Great Lakes area (Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and, of course, Michigan. She was also the second Icelandic in the United States to earn her CD title from the AKC. Huld was the first CD Icelandic in North America. Kata is now ten and doing fantastic in agility which she started training for at the age of eight. Old(er) dogs can learn new tricks. Her titles include: CGC, CD, TDI, RN, RA, RE, NA, NAJ, OAJ and she's not done. (I know. I do get carried away tooting our own horn but she's amazing.)  Our dogs need a job to do. I say that over and over and over - because it's really true.

(I can send you dozens of photos of the various tail curls our Icelandics have. All are good as long as they arch over the back and touch it. However, I have my favorites.)

All of the puppies in this litter have found their new forever homes and I am delighted with their new families.

If you are still looking for a wonderful canine companion, I highly recommend the latest litter of Icelandic Sheepdog puppies from my good friend Christine. You can check them out on her blog: -
http://brekkubrunicelandics.blogspot.com/
or contact her directly: -  cvowles@frontier.com  for more information.
They are about four weeks old now and will soon be ready to set out on their Viking voyage.