Snow, "a light dusting", is expected today. The puppies are doing fine eating a little more solid food and giving Kit a break from nursing the three of them. She no longer sleeps with them but is back up on the bed with the rest of the pack. She does, however, like to go outside in the night at least once now. Can't blame her at all. When she comes back in she checks on them and rejoins us on the bed.
I took a few photos this morning. I try to give them all equal coverage but not very successfully I'm afraid. They move very fast now and getting two or three of them all in one photo and in focus and looking at the camera is virtually impossible. See what I mean: -
Kria is definitely the feisty one. Having an assertive temperament (personality) is a definite plus in my opinion. Dogs like Kria do well in performance events like agility, obedience, rally, etc. They also do well in the beauty pageants, conformation. Dogs in conformation are evaluated on how close they come to a written breed description known as the "Breed Standard". In other words, how close they "conform" to what is considered to be desirable. (Not to be confused with the word confirmation - a word that has religious meaning.) Kria is a black & tan dog with white markings. The tan can be any shade of tan ranging from cream color to reddish; the tan shows up on a black & tan dogs legs, as eyebrow spots and occasionally partially on the face. The tan isn't evident at birth but lifting a black puppy's tail at birth and looking at its butt can provide clues. Dogs that will become black & tan have a whitish area under their tail; dogs that will remain all black lack that whitish "clue". Her tan markings are now showing up on her legs and above her eyes. Her namesake and grandmother was also a black & tan. The "Breed Standard" tells us that "correct" Icelandics should have some white. Kria has white toes and a white bib. (It is easier to trim the nails of dogs with white toes because you can see the blood vessel in the toe and can thus avoid cutting it accidentally. Black toenails are a little harder to trim.)
And my third born puppy, my white polar bear. Her dad's name is Sweetness Overload and she sure got his genes for temperament. She is a very sweet and endearing pup! I don't know why the standard is biased against pied pups. They have been around like forever. I have many photos of her family members, near and distant, recent and from long ago. She is always, always the first to respond. When she hears my voice, she's up on the "fence" and waiting for love. (That fence won't work for keeping them in their whelping box much longer. Then I'll have to puppy-proof the house. Sigh!)
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