Vinlands Kria - Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 25, 2021

Happy Thanksgiving - I LOVE hearing how "my" puppies/dogs are doing.  My newest litter will most likely be my last litter, my Omega litter. It's just getting harder to raise the pups and find them really good homes, like Kria's. Kria was named after her great grandmother Thórdunu Kría whom I adopted from my wonderful Icelandic friend Sigurlaug Hauksdóttir.

Vinlands Kria

Hope all is well with you and your new pups. They’re growing so fast! We can’t believe that Kria is already 11 months today. Caitlin is planning her a birthday for next month. We took her to a Halloween party dressed as a taco she took 3rd place behind her brother dressed as a sumo wrestler. 

Taco Kria

We have found that she loves to play frisbee. Caitlin has been teaching her. She gets very excited when she sees her disc brought out. 

Kria

 We’re just doing rollers for now because she is still too young to jump and catch but planning to start showing once the weather gets nicer. Hoping to also start therapy work with her after her birthday. She’s still in agility and starting to learn the teeter and weave poles! Still no jumping because of her age. 

Kria

She is still in obedience class is doing very well! Working on getting out of sight stays which are very difficult because she is a herder but making progress. 

She loves to wrestle with her bestfriend/neighbor who lives across the street.

Kria and Friend

Michele and Caitlin

 

International Champion Ullalvas Smari's pups are now six weeks old (well, officially, as of tomorrow). The pups are amazing, as they should be with a multi-country champion (NORDUCH, SUCH, LUXUCH, DKUCH, NUCH, FINUCH) for a sire and an American Kennel Club (AKC) grand champion for a grandmother. One puppy has already found his new home, soon, hopefully, the other two should as well. 

Here are a few photos from this morning. Kit, their mother, is still visiting and nursing them a few times a day, although it might be unusual to nurse for that long, she is an extremely good mother.

Vinlands Ulfbehrta Kit

Kit

Kit

Kit

It's really hard to get photos of Kappu - perhaps it's because his white head makes it harder for the camera to focus on him or maybe it's because he's always moving. He has an amazing appetite. He's always the first one at the dish when I put it down and the last one to leave it when it's empty. He is the biggest and always has been just like his maternal grandmother Totty. He also is going to have the longest fur in his litter - which explains why his siblings' ears have started to "come up" while his are still down. Technically he's a tricolor chocolate-brown.

Vinlands Smaris Kappu

Kappu, ABBA, Watson

Kappu

When ABBA looks up at me, she melts my heart. She is a real sweetheart, loves to be held and petted. She would rather be held than to actually eat her food. I find that when I feed them I need to step back so that I don't distract ABBA and Watson from their meal. Technically she's a sable chocolate-brown or what I've been calling a tan-shade chocolate. Look at her forelegs - now that's a champion stance if I ever saw one.

Vinlands Smaris ABBA

ABBA

ABBA, Watson

Watson, like his namesake, Sir Mark Watson, is a little feisty. He clearly wants to be in control, however, his siblings have other ideas. Both ABBA and Watson have shorter fur which explains, sort of, why their ears are both up now. Perhaps it's the extra weight of the ear fur in longer coated dogs that results in their ears coming up later than it does in the shorter coated dogs. I've seen only one Icelandic Sheepdog with one slightly bent ear and I suspect that was because of an accident during his puppy-hood. All of his pups hade normal upright ears

Vinlands Smaris Watson

Watson

Watson

I've had other "split faces" and the colored side of their faces gradually lost the intensity of the color. Because Watson is also a tricolor chocolate-brown dog like his brother Kappu, the darker brown should stay making for a nice contrast even as an adult. The urge to name him Odin was strong but I resisted in order to honor Mark Watson. Appropriate, imo.

Miss Timber and Birna - Thanksgiving 2021

I love hearing how "my" pups are doing. Here are two photos of  Birna (Vinlands Birna) and Miss Timber (Vinlands Isla).

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Hi Jaime

Hope this finds you well and enjoying some beautiful fall weather!

Thought you would enjoy some recent pics-Birna playing ball in the back yard (one of her favorite things!) and Birna and Timber poised in a rare quiet moment, intently watching Daniel cook…hoping against hope for a speck of food to drop!

Birna, Miss Timber

Birna is coming along great-a total love bug…sweet as can be, smart and always in a good ‘mood’. Obedience classes are coming along very well…again, super smart and loves to learn.

Birna

We love Timber and Birna and remain every grateful to you for entrusting both puppies to us.

Wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving!

Sally and Daniel

Five Weeks Old - Wednesday, November 17, 2021

 The three Icelandic Sheepdog puppies are five weeks old today - next week they will go in to Town & Country Veterinary Clinic in downtown Sandusky, Michigan for their first shots. 

Mother Kit is still allowing them to nurse, however, I suspect their sharp little puppy teeth must be starting to hurt a bit now so I think weaning will begin fairly soon. I am still giving them softened kibble but they are also able to worry the hard unsoftened kibble now so very soon it will be hard kibble only - probably.

Kit and her pups

Kit and her pups

Clockwise from top: Kappu, ABBA, Watson

Kappu (top), Watson

From left Kappu, Watson, ABBA

Here are some recent photos of the pups - they wiggle, waddle, and run around; it is very hard to get them to hold still long enough to get a  decent focused photo. They are escaping from their whelping box regularly; dad picks them up and puts them back in - for a while.

Kappu

Kappu

ABBA

ABBA

Watson

Watson

Watson 

(Kappu left and ABBA right in the background)

Watson

If you're interested in adopting one of these puppies, I'll be happy to send you an application. Use my email: jaimehansen1@frontier.com  Show homes and breeding homes are preferred.

If you're interested, I would be very happy to send a copy of their five generation pedigrees. If you are interested, I would also be happy to assemble a trial pedigree between one of the pups and an Icelandic Sheepdog mate you currently have or are considering adopting.

These sire of these puppies is Ullalvas Smari who was a champion in multiple European countries. They are result of A.I. using Smari's semen. They should do very well in the breed ring and also in performance events. Of course they will be marvelous all around examples Icelandic Sheepdogs. 

Four Weeks Old - November 10, 2021

The three Icelandic Sheepdog pups are working their magic. I want to keep them all - well, it's only three pups you know. Here are some four weeks old photos from this morning. Kappu loves to eat, nothing distracts him. He's a tub of love. His brother Sir Watson and his sister ABBA would rather interact with me, their mom, their older brother, the puppy pee pad, the Scotch tape, the bowl, the whelping step, the paper towel roll, a ball in fact with anything except the food. 

Kappu and ABBA

Kappu and Sir Watson

ABBA and Tryggur

ABBA

ABBA gets her name from the Swedish pop group - her sire is the Swedish Icelandic Sheepdog bred by Lillemor Kullman, Kappu's name comes from his great grandfather - Isi Kappusino, and Watson's namesake is Sir Mark Watson who started the process to save this rare more than a thousand year old Icelandic breed from extinction.

Watson (partially hidden), Kappu, ABBA

I live alone with my dogs and cats so the responsibility for good photos falls entirely on me. At least half of my shots are blurry because, puppies move. Faster then I can. Often I'll get a good shot of one puppy but any other pup in the shot is blurry. Deal with it. I'm really lucky if I can get one focused shot of one puppy.

Watson and Tryggur

Watson, ABBA, Tryggur

Oops and Tryggur

They are now managing to actually pee on the puppy pee pad about 80/90% of the time. Yay pups! Kit so far lets only their older brother Tryggur visit. He loves watching them. They love his visits - especially ABBA.

Puppy Pile: ABBA, Watson, Kappu

Kappu

Watson

Kappu and Watson

ABBA and Watson

ABBA, Watson with Trygg

Kappu

Wednesday, November 3, 2021

 The Icelandic Sheepdog puppies are three weeks old this Wednesday and have been nibbling on solid puppy kibble softened for several days now - not much, and rather sloppily, but their first "solid" food.  Kit is of course still nursing and cleaning up after them but that, the cleaning up, won't last long now. Clicking on photos will enlarge them.

Abba, Watson, Kappu

Abba, Watson, Kappu

Kappu, Watson, Abba

We're still getting spectacular sunrises . . . 

. . . and although we haven't had either a frost or a freeze warning - yet, we're expecting them soon, very soon. Last weekend I finally dug a few examples of the several kinds of Dahlias in my garden. That wasn't easy to do because they still look very nice. I've also finished planting more than 300 bulbs for next spring - I wasn't going to plant any more spring flowering bulbs but I was optimistic this past spring and so I ordered some fragrant narcissus and also some Grecian wind flowers (spring anemones). Because of all of my doctors' visits I'd forgotten that I'd ordered any so, foolishly(?) I ordered more narcissus and wind flowers. Then I had them all arrive within a few days of each other so I've been   overworking myself to get them in the ground so that they could grow some roots and get started for next spring. In February I desperately need something green, pretty, flowering, and smelling nice to look forward to.

Because of their great backgrounds, they are all going to be, in my opinion, great conformation show dogs. It should go without saying, but I always, always say it anyway: Icelandic Sheepdogs are great performance dogs. They excel at almost all dog sports. Partly it's because they are incredibly smart and learn very quickly, but it's also because they are tractable and actually love to learn easily outpacing the other breeds of dogs in their dog classes. They watch their handler and follow instructions instead of going out on their own. They have a need to please. They bond with their human.

Kit, Kappu

Kit, Kappu, Abba, Watson

Kit, Kappu, Abba, Watson

Kit, Kappu, Abba, Watson

Some more recent puppy photos. They are definitely developing personalities (temperaments) now. Kappusino (Kappu) is going to be a large boy and talks - a lot. He is pretty insistent that he be heard, listened to. So I do - listen to him and pick him up and talk to him. I'm not sure he actually likes that. Remember? He was the first born and delivery was problematic because of his large size and because he was a breech baby and because his upper body got stuck. But all is well and he is going to be an amazing male. He's the one with the white head like his great Uncle Hidow Tryggur, although they are not related.

Kappu

Kappu, Watson

Abba is very sweet, soft, feminine - Sorry, she just is. She actually comes to me (actually they all do now when I call them) and wants to be picked up - and snuggled. She just winds me around her little dew claws. She is going to have lovely markings.

Abba, Kappu

Abba

Watson, I might actually use his full namesake's name officially (Mark Watson), could easily have been called Odin, or Wodin because he has a split face. Remember Viking god-lore? Odin was blinded in one eye so split faces are sometimes called Odin. He is smaller than Kappu but larger than Abba - which is perfectly normal, Male Icelandics are usually larger than females. He also comes to me and likes to be picked up. He's going to be a charmer.

Watson

Watson

Kappu, Watson, Abba