Vinlands Wodin

 I just got a wonderful note and a photo from Imelda and Steve and their Icelandic Sheepdog Vinlands Wodin. Wodin is the son of Foothills Laki and Vinlands Totty. Clicking on photos will enlarge them.

Haven't looked at your blog so hope you and your canine friends are still doing well. Gardening this year was terrible - driest July in memory + wettest November in memory! Cool plants did OK - fruit was up and down - no apples, but lots of pears and greengages. I bought some "top soil" - spread it liberally only to discover 6 weeks later it was mostly a bark mulch mixture and way too acidic for veggies. Now I have to figure out how to rectify the problem.

Vinlands Wodin

Steve celebrated his 90th in summer so we could all be outside. Luckily our area was not a Covid hotspot. Now we have had our 3 vaccines so feel less stressed in this current wave. 

Wodin

Wodin keeps well + fit. Loves runs/walks, playtimes + + and is such a joy.

Imelda and Steve

Vinlands ABBA - Home

 Icelandic Sheepdog Vinlands ABBA  gas arrived at her now home and now lives with her with her new sister, a Tibetan Spaniel, aka a Tibby, named Gold Grand Champion Shenanwood Strawberry Fields Forever RN CGC TKA.  Pepper for her call name. Here are some photos of ABBA in her new home. Clicking on photos will enlarge them.

Vinlands ABBA and Haylee

Haylee, ABBA, and her sister Pepper

(Gold Grand Champion Shenanwood Strawberry Fields Forever RN CGC TKA)

Vinlands ABBA and Ryan

Vinlands ABBA, Haylee

ABBA, Pepper

ABBA

Pepper, ABBA 

Pepper, ABBA

ABBA

Watson - Home Alone?

 Here are some recent Icelandic Sheepdog puppy photos from my latest litter using Ullalvas Smari as the sire. (And a recent sunrise over Lake Huron too.)

Vinlands ABBA

ABBA

Jon and new best bud Watson

ABBA, Watson, Kit

Watson

Puppy blur

ABBA, Watson

ABBA, Watson

ABBA, with Tryggur, Watson with Bear

Jon, ABBA, Watson

Jon, ABBA, Watson

Abba and Watson - Icelandic Sheepdog Puppies

 ABBA the Icelandic Sheepdog puppy might be leaving soon for a great forever home - here's hoping I don't become too attached. The deal may not be final yet. Recent sunrise: - the daylight hours are about to start getting longer. Clicking on photos will enlarge them.

Kappu has left and is enjoying his new home on the west coast. The two remaining puppies, ABBA and Watson, have been practicing their "Sits", "Downs", "Comes", "Watch Mes" and "Sit-Stays". However, they are still very young and everything is still very new for them.  Watson is available to the right home.

Watson, ABBA

Watson, ABBA

They are getting three meals a day now and eating well. When Kit visits them these days, they play together; she's finally done nursing them. It's normal for one or both of their ears to go up and down until they get a little older. Watson had had both ears up for several days now and then recently one went part way down. I suspect that the rise and fall may be due to growth spurts; they are getting bigger which drains, I suppose, some energy from their ears to their growing bodies.

Watson

Watson

With two puppies it's  virtually impossible, even with fairly good "Sit" commands to have both looking at me. I'm actually kind of surprised that learning is so easy for them at this young age. (Note that today Watson's ear is up a bit more.)

Watson, ABBA

Watson

I've been asked to tell what my Icy pups will look like as adults. That's virtually an impossible question to answer. Icies change a lot as they mature. Both Watson and ABBA have shorter fur. However, ABBA also has a much thicker undercoat than Watson does and therefore she looks fuller, heavier. The thicker undercoat is designed to keep Icelandic Sheepdogs insulated from the extreme cold weather in their native Iceland. It also has the effect of making their outer coat stick out, to look fuller, and therefore perhaps longer. Will that longer and fuller look last? I'd only be guessing.

Watson, ABBA

ABBA

Part of the fun with Icies is that there are so many varieties of looks. Some have long fur, some medium length fur, others have shorter fur; some have a thinner undercoat, some a fuller undercoat; some puppies start out with charcoal gray fur (perhaps protective coloration for when, like ancestral wolves, they needed camouflage?), some start out with the colors they will have as adults; the fur texture varies a lot too, some have softer fur, others coarser fur, some fur that almost feels lanolin coated - however, all fur texture types seem to be repellant to dirt and odors. That makes sense for animals that live outdoors. Over the years I've learned not to panic when one of my dogs rolls in raccoon or possum scat, or comes indoors coated in mud. I don't rush to bathe them. I wait. Preferably with them outside. Very soon the smell and dirt are gone. Some dogs start out as puppies with darker fur and become lighter colored as adults; the reverse is also true. Some start out with very light colored fur which darkens by the time they are grown. It is always fun to speculate though.

ABBA

ABBA

Kappu Leaves for His New Forever Home

 Icelandic Sheepdog puppy Vinlands Kappusino left for his new home on the west coast this morning. He's been very lucky; he'll be living on a farm with Icelandic Chickens - Google them, they are gorgeous, Icelandic Horses - Google them too! Clicking on photos will enlarge them.

Here are some shots from today in no particular order: - 

Icelandic Sheepdog Puppies - Trips Soon!

 Soon the Icelandic Sheepdog puppies, offspring from Ullalvas Smari and Vinlands Ulfbehrta Kit will start leaving for their new homes. One boy is still looking for his special forever home. They turned eight weeks old this week. We've been extremely busy. I neglected birthday photos. I'm sorry. 

So, I just took some quick snaps in their X-pen. I tried letting them out but they ran around like crazy yelling, "Free the puppies! Free the puppies!" That makes taking pictures , focused photos, impossible.

They are super cute at this age. Watson is a tricolor chocolate-brown boy. That simply means that he has two at-genes which could have made him a black & tan. But he also has two b-genes which turns the black hairs chocolate-brown; it lightens the black. His litter brother is also a tricolor chocolate-brown boy. Their sister is a sable chocolate-brown girl. She also has two b-genes which changes any black hairs she might have had into chocolate-brown hairs.  That's all very interesting. BUT, the most important news about this litter, these pups is that their sire was a champion Icelandic Sheepdog in many European countries. You can see the effect of his genes on these pups. They have more substance, more body. Their bone structure has been inherited from dad (and mom). They all have numerous champions and grand champions in the backgrounds of both parents.

Here are three of my recent favorite shots: - 

Totty inside the x-pen protected from ABBA  

Watson at the barn door

Watson almost stacked

And here are some quick ones from today: - 

ABBA, Watson, Kappu

ABBA, Watson, Kappu

ABBA, Watson, Kappu

ABBA, Watson, Kappu

ABBA

ABBA

Watson

Watson (NB:- tan leggings)

Watson

ABBA

Watson

If you'd like to talk about adding one of these puppies to your life, please contact me at: 

jaimehansen1@frontier.com