08.05.10
Posted in News at 03:34 by nikki
July has been a busy but more than that a very sad and depressing month. I’m sorry for not updating in the meantime not sure if I’ll be updating often during the next week either since we are still quite busy before Rúnar goes back to work next week. His holidays have gone by way too fast. We have little Töfra Tinni Alexander here for the week and are babysitting him, trying to do as much training with him as we can as well as just the normal work around the house, garden, traveling back and forth to Reykjavík for certain things, building a whelping box, taking the dogs out for walks and trying to just spend some time together. The road crew has been on holidays for a week now so we have some peace and quiet so are enjoying that while we can. They have a whole lot left to do so no doubt when Rúnar goes back to work and the puppies are born there will be lots of noise around again, I hope Hófi won’t be too stressed by it.
I was in Reykjavík at the doctor on Tuesday to re-evaluate my disability, it’s usually done once a year or every two years. We visited my old friend Palli and his partner while we were there. I haven’t seen him in so many years, I just talk to him on Facebook these days so it was fun to be able to see him. I was at an on call doctor on Friday because of terrible pains I’ve been having in my ribs at the spot that I bruised while the litter was small and I never got it checked. These pains came the night before we took Skella to the vets and had to put her to sleep, her and Klói were taking turns trying to ease my pain by laying sprawled across the sore spot like Klói always does. It was strange to see Skella do that as well and I felt so close to her, she was so sweet and I will admit that her cuddling is something that always put a smile on my face, she put her whole being into it and she would put her head on our shoulder and wrap her front paws around our necks. I’ve never had a dog that was so lovable when it came to cuddles. Knowing me there could be a connection to my health and her health as my emotions and “sixth sense” always gives me physical symptoms. The doctor doesn’t believe that there is anything wrong with my ribs but I have a chest ex-ray today and lungs as well just to make sure. He feels maybe it’s a problem that again is connected to stress, so we’re trying to take care of my health a bit too while Rúnar can drive me around without having to take off work.
So long story short, my health hasn’t been the best, my nerves shot, my vision very bad while I had the most stress around here due to all that was going on in the street, the dogs fighting etc. When I was getting moments of “total blindness” (so blurry I couldn’t see with pain as well) I got very worried, I hadn’t experienced moments like that for so long at a time before. However the eye doctor told me when I went to visit him a little while ago that it was nothing serious just fluid that collects in the bottom of the lens that causes it and when it drains that is why everything goes blurry and flashes, I have to take his word for it. He mentioned at the time that it would no doubt be worse under stress and that I was supposed to take care of myself because at the moment I am lucky my eyes are healthy and don’t have any damage from it. He didn’t expect that to happen although many do get damage (sometimes the cornea rips or separates or something) from this condition he said. I’ve been trying to rest up for the coming litter”s” (not quite sure about Birta yet, don’t think she is pregnant but there might be one in there waiting to surprise us). Hófí doesn’t look too fat so no doubt she also has reabsorbed part of the litter. We’ll see but she definitely has a couple in there. I have started to feel movement so that’s always exciting. Fate might have made it so that we only have one litter at the moment and if that is the case I am pretty sure we will mate Birta at her next season back to Stefnir since we really want to see puppies from the two of them and so does Stefanía. 
The reason for the problems we had a few weeks ago with fights (which was strange to me and caused me so much worry and anxiety) is so clear to us today and it makes us very angry at ourselves for being so blind to the signs. We always make sure we tell our students to check on the health of a dog if their temperament or behaviour changes suddenly but we didn’t think of doing that ourselves with poor Skella. What with my own health and Frigg’s health being what it was at the same time (she had a swollen face due to the infected tooth that we can’t remove without a long operation under anesthesia and so opt to not do it) we didn’t think that Skella’s change in behaviour was anything other than the fact that there was so much going on both in the household, outside with the road crew as well as the other two being pregnant and hormonal changes in them causing them to be grumpy and my anxiety at an all time high because of the stress of the environment and it always seems to channel through to the dogs as well.
Many of my Facebook friends already know what happened and I thought it’s about time to write something here for those without Facebook. Frigg’s infection cleared up with antibiotics but our dear Skella had to be put to sleep on the 27th of July. It was a very very hard thing to do with such a young dog (she was almost 7 yrs). She had developed a tumour in her abdomen, for awhile she had been sensitive and would not allow us to touch that area, would growl and nip (which was not like her gentle nature towards us) and she had been growling at Klói for trying to sniff her there too. Since we noticed Klói sniffing her we wondered if something was up but we were engulfed in our other problems. We don’t know if it was already starting before she had the pups or not and maybe the reason that she had some troubles with the litter and bleeding afterwards. Maybe if we would have had the money to spay her at the time as we were supposed to do then we might have caught it sooner. We can always second guess ourselves but in the end we have to believe that it was just her time to say goodbye, that her lessons had been taught and that we will meet again one day.
Here are a few photos of how our little cutie pie cuddled with us the last days. She would spend most of her time in the other room or the hall by herself. Again not like her and then would come out climb onto the couch with either Rúnar or myself and would just lay across us and hug us. But at the same time with an expression in her eyes not much unlike the expression we saw in Freyja near the end, as if they were asking for something that we couldn’t understand.
The only thing we know is that she was in pain and has been for some time and it was taking a tole on her as well as the rest of the household. It is a well known fact that she came to us with some barking problems but what we see from photos and remember after her passing is that she had been so much better for the longest time (probably a whole year) after training but suddenly seemed to get worse than she was when she came to us first and the neighbours were not as understanding anymore. Even the TTouchs that used to calm her were not helping anymore. She was anxious all day and night, now scared of most things in the environment and had been developing that fear for a few weeks or months, she had stopped enjoying the walks and would just get out of the car and be very stressed then lay down and chew grass until we left. She wouldn’t even follow us and the other dogs and at times just run in the opposite direction as if in confusion, wouldn’t come when called anymore and that was not the Skella we knew, she was almost glued to us on walks just a few short months earlier. There were so many signs and we are devastated that she is gone so young. We have to think that we probably couldn’t have done anything because we do not believe that surgery is the answer when it comes to dogs with cancer because we’ve seen young dogs as well as old dogs suffer more after surgery without having much added time to their lives. There is no chemotherapy for dogs in Iceland. No doubt in some cases surgery can help temporarily but we tend to think that it’s better to give them quality of life and that is not measured in years. We hope that Skella enjoyed her life with us. We know she has a lot of people who loved her.
She had quite a few “new beginnings” in her short life moving from many different homes for reasons usually not of her doing and lived through stress most dogs don’t have to endure, the body is not always built to tolerate so much stress in one lifetime. We miss her so much and it is strange, it was so sudden although we had contemplated the past few weeks a new home for her because of the change in behaviour we felt maybe a single dog home would be better because we thought it was because of something we were doing wrong. We were not sure it was right to put her yet again in a new home and it seems fate intercepted before we could make a decision like that and we are happy for her sake that she wasn’t placed with strangers for the last days of her life. We are waiting to be able to pick up her ashes and she will be buried or scattered by her first owner (who loved her dearly but her life situation changed) over the farm she grew up on and we know she will be happy with that.
I don’t know if others see the change in her expression and her eyes in the newest photos but we saw it and had been talking about it. These photos are taken on the way to the vets and it didn’t matter how much Klói tried to get her to play with him she just lay there eating grass with a very stressed look in her eyes. She was beautiful and sweet right to the last moments, she fell asleep peacefully in the arms of Rúnar who she totally adored in this life.
Rest in peace dear Skella you only were able to grace us with your loving presence for a year and a half but have left behind a few loving treasures of yourself along with all the lessons you taught us that will help us as well as others in future. Lessons we wish had of already been learned before you arrived but that now give your life true meaning to us, you will never be forgotten.
We took the other dogs for a walk the next day, it was strange to not have our little black sheep but the dogs seem to always live in the moment and had a great time as usual. The weather has been so nice off and on, we are actually getting some summer weather which I’m so thankful for since we are not able to get away to a warmer climate. Here are some photos from that walk. I tried to put in a gallery but for some reason it wouldn’t work right so I’m sorry if you have to scroll down too much on this update, hope you enjoy the photos though.
A cute one of Klói and Hófi even though it’s a little off center 
Birta drying off after her dip in the water.
On a positive note we had a wonderful visit last Saturday with Laila from Toronto who owns a grandpuppy of ours and spent an awesome day together which helped so much to take our minds off of the sorrow of the previous days. We took her to meet Brynhildur as well so a lovely day was had. She stayed for supper and we insisted she cook the organic veggies we had bought which was a great idea because the supper was SOOO good. At just before midnight we decided to drive her home and took Klói for a walk on the mountain on the way. It was a bit too cold so we didn’t walk too far but she found it neat that it wasn’t so dark (although we found it too dark since we’re used to the brighter nights) and we walked on the carpet of moss in a lava field. I swear having her here was like having a long lost sister or even my mom with me, I got the feeling we’ve known each other forever. So seldom you actually meet people who you have that much of a connection with from the first meeting. She got to meet the dogs and they all liked her too so were pretty well behaved although a bit bratty at times which is just typical them.
Summer has flown by so quickly and now that the nights are dark we know that soon the cold and wind will be back. We must try to enjoy the last good days of summer weather while we can. I might try to upload a few more photos and updates before I forget especially some photos of little Tinni who is just the sweetest guy and so much like his mom and his dad that it is heartwarming to get to know him a bit better again now that he is older. I’ll put in a bunch more photos soon but now it’s going on 4 a.m. and I have to get up to go for my ex-rays so need to get some sleep.
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07.09.10
Posted in News at 19:17 by nikki
I’m back. I know unbelievable an update two days in a row.
Well, the car broke down on Rúnar’s way home from work yesterday so he needed a ride today and got his brother-in-law to drive him to the store after work to get some stuff to try to fix it. Fingers crossed. We really need a car on Sunday to get to Reykjavík and being we live pretty much in the middle of nowhere we even need a car to get to the grocery store or anywhere for that matter.
I heard news today that I thought I’d share in keeping with the news of AKC shows this past week. A couple friends did great at the shows this week and today they finished their Championships. Congratulations to Jo-Ann and Penny with your new AKC Champions, the 1st AKC Champions. Jo-Ann’s German import Kaffi was the 1st BOB last weekend as she entered the first show on the East Coast after the ISD was able to compete and today he got his last points. Penny’s Stella is the 1st American Bred AKC Champion which must be a very proud moment. Congratulations to her breeder Margret Gimblin.
News on TV tonight. I see they have a new use for all the volcanic ash here in Iceland, they have started making a new type of concrete which they say is really good. It looks nice, a dark “ash” grey.
Can’t think of much more at the moment.
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07.08.10
Posted in News at 18:32 by nikki
I’ve just been overwhelmed the past little while, sorry about the lack of updates. Lots going on and not all will be mentioned because no doubt I’ll forget something, but where to start? If my shoulders (I have a pinched nerve in my neck/shoulders) don’t give out I’ll try to write about as much as I can.
The weekend was HUGE in terms of events and news, both on the home front and abroad.
We had our clicker course last weekend and it was our first attempt at a “crash course” meaning that we had 3 days in a row, Friday evening went to the lecture and timing games then Saturday and Sunday we had 2 hours (3 dogs at a time for about 10 min. at a time) of training time. It was very difficult to know how to start since the facility we are in was so full of flies that we couldn’t use the room we usually do for the slide show, so we were cramped into the front room, then the girl that works there got into a car accident just down the road so just before we were ready to start friends of hers brought her dog to stay at the daycare until someone could pick him up. He had been in the car too so was quite stressed and in a bit of shock and didn’t like strangers so we were stuck with a dog we didn’t know from Adam that we were a bit worried about and was barking in his cage and we couldn’t even take him out of the cage because he would growl and nip. We luckily have an assistant who has a car with no windows that he could be in for a bit outside while we started the lecture, with half our mind on the dog, and so when he was calmed down a bit she was able to talk to him, get him out of his crate and bring him in on leash and sit with him until his owners showed up. Thankfully no one was seriously injured and it turned out okay but talk about stress being added to stress of starting with a new group of people including a couple professionals.
Saturday we got there and had to hold the class outside in the sun because of all the flies in the house, at the same time a few 100 meters away at the end of the yard was a horse competition going on with loud speaker announcements, music and everything. Needless to say the dogs are not all used to seeing so many horses so close up and we had to kind of jump ahead in the exercises without wanting to, because instead of them starting attention training without distractions we had lots of distractions! Not quite the best way to start a class but they did okay except that I ended up holding most the class because Rúnar was inside being sick to his stomach with a really bad migraine. I had stomach pains and Rúnar being sick didn’t help calm that. I tell ya, thankfully our assistant had an ibufen for Rúnar so he managed to come back out for the last little bit of the class. Sunday well I don’t know, started out we almost didn’t make it there because the car was overheating, it’s started losing water again so we had to stop once on the way to add a couple liters of water and then cross our fingers that we got there on time, we had to have the windows open and the heat on fullblast to try to cool down the car up the steep mountain road, so by the time we got there we were feeling car sick from the heat and windblown. I wonder what our students must think?! Hehe I can just imagine.
We were all pooped before we started, students, dogs and teachers. Hehe I think it’s fair to say that next time we will need to have one day in between the two hands-on classes to rest the dogs and catch our breath. Boy do we need to find a nice indoor facility that we can have all the dogs in without external disturbances like horse competitions. Hehe Of course I forgot how much each trip into Reykjavík takes out of me in terms of the vertigo I get from the drive so one day in between is also crucial for me too as well as a new car with better shocks might help. Lottery tickets are purchased every week here.
We were pleasantly surprised to see one of our 1 yr old GSP grandpuppies Spori as a student, we had no idea he was coming, we did know one GSP was enrolled but that dog didn’t show up, we had forgot to ask what type of dog this person had. It was awesome to use him to explain the exercises because he pulled so hard on the leash that he could pull a full grown person clear across the parking lot. He definitely got the strength of his grandma Valdís, she loved to pull Beggi on skis and on a bike. The only way to control him was to have him on a prong collar or so the owner had been told. The hunters still tend to use harsher methods in general (I think in part so they don’t get shown up by their macho buddies LOL) so this poor girl who really wanted to learn clicker training and had read quite a bit about it was given the advice that the breed needed to be on a prong collar. It’s not unusual that GSP owners use this type of collar because they are such an incredibly strong dog. I will admit that IF you are going to go for that type of training then I would personally much rather see a dog with a prong collar than a regular choke chain, given the fact that the prongs cause less physical damage to the dogs. We explained however that while he was in our classes the prong was NOT to be used and we would show her how to do it another way. We always give people the option of using a gentle leader or harness at home until the dogs are trained but usually they get results very quickly and don’t need them.
I had taken a few of the other dogs to show one of the ways we teach loose leash walking without a clicker for those who are not quite comfortable with the clicker yet. It’s a be a statue type training and Rúnar had to have Spori for the first walk politely on leash lesson because I wouldn’t have been strong enough to hold him. I’m sure people were quite skeptical that this “wild child” could ever walk nicely on a loose lead and we LOVE having dogs like that to train because the result is so dramatic. So after digging his feet in the gravel a few times to hold his ground Rúnar got a bit of progress. Sunday we explained one of the other many ways and the way we like to train it ourselves using a clicker and Rúnar started clicking him for loose leash and eye contact. After a few minutes of clicker training he had him so well behaved on the leash that we actually had a dog giving eye contact to a smiling owner when she took over training. She even got a click ticket for digging her feet firmly into the ground once to be a statue instead of pulling on the lead when he was momentarily distracted by the horses. Spori quickly realized though that his behaviour could bring about good consequences and I’m sure he is going to love clicker training just as much as his grandmother did. By the end of Sunday he was walking on leash like a pro thanks to his owner’s good timing and willingness to try something new.
We have a great group of people and a wide variety of dogs which is fun. Spori is our first GSP at the course since Rúnar graduated. There is a really nice looking Icelandic Sheepdog there too, I don’t remember seeing him at shows but if he starts coming then look out. He has nice size and a beautiful wide triangular masculine head, beautiful coat and colouring. We’re thinking he’s a good one for future consideration maybe. Here are a few photos we took of some of the dogs. I just noticed that as we tend to focus on the positive it seems we always forget to take photos of the dogs misbehaving! Hehe
Maybe you’ll notice the horses in the background. Maybe we did get a photo or two of a dog pulling, here Rúnar is being a distraction and they are getting clicked for loose leash OR eye contact with owner.
Other happenings on the weekend were: As of June 30th the ISD received full recognition in AKC shows and events as a member of the herding group. So a bunch of dogs got out to the shows on the very first weekend, they were quite well represented for their first weekend in the ring! Congratulations to all who took part, to the breeders and the owners and to all the members and BOD of ISAA that has worked so hard to get the breed recognized and under the FCI standard (reworded slightly for AKC). I am so pleased and proud to say that our little Icelandic immigrant to Seattle district Int Ch Töfra Kelikátur (he is a champion in UKC) was the very first ISD in history to place in the herding group at an AKC show. He got a group 4th. He was the second to become Best of Breed (nationally) and the first to be Best of Breed on the West Coast. I’m hoping to get some photos of him taken at the show to share but here is one I got of him stacked. He does resemble his mom a bit and we are so proud of him and Scotti who did us this huge honour of giving of her time to take him out to the shows.
A good friend of ours was at the same show and was BOS the first day then BOB the next and had the very first GROUP 1st and competed with her bitch Pineridge Kolperla in the Best in Show ring. No placement there but MAN what an accomplishment on their very first weekend. Congratulations Donna and Terry as well as her breeder Jill Fike in Canada.
You can see more about the Icelandic Sheepdog in America on the ISAA website. I ecourage anyone who is interested in the breed to contact the club for information and check out their list of breeders. I also encourage all breeders to be careful who they sell their puppies to as now we’re in the big leagues and not everyone is just looking to preserve the breed.
I think maybe on that same note it might be in order to mention that it has come to our attention lately that the infamous puppy farm in Iceland (Dalsmynni) who have managed to acquire many dogs of different breeds from most likely unsuspecting breeders in USA has now acquired at least 5 dogs in Iceland with intention to start breeding Icelandic sheepdogs. They have their own registering body called Ishundar (in some cases have given false pedigrees) that has no health test requirements and is recognized by UCI in Germany through DHL in Denmark, they have a logo on their website (which I am not going to link to as I don’t condone their organization) to give the impression they are recognized by FCI. It is the logo of something called Federación Canina Internacional F.C.I. and is practically identical in looks to the FCI logo except for the colour and the periods between the letters. You can see a message from FCI here. We strongly urge people to be careful when purchasing a puppy from Iceland or anywhere for that matter that they do not help to keep puppy farms in business.
Trying to think. I’m sure there was more, of course not as interesting stuff maybe. Rúnar has been working late again this whole week so you see it only lasted a week that he got to work his “regular hours”. Huh, I might have known. The stress of the weekend of being alone in their cages for so long and not getting any time with us or exercise took a bit of a toll on the dogs emotional state and they were a bit wound up on Monday while Rúnar was at work. We’ve had teenagers working out front on the road picking weeds and cleaning up as well as a big crane fixing the road and all kinds of other outside stressors that have made us all a bit nervous and cranky lately. Yes I need calm and quiet surroundings (I’m a hermit living in a busy neighbourhood!!) or I get cranky and anxious and the dogs certainly know that. Anyway we had a scuffle between all four bitches on Monday. Mine are pretty good at always getting along and that’s why when something happens it is quite scary and stressful.
It’s not uncommon and not only in spitz breeds (I’ve seen it in Irish Setters as well, a group fight of 8…can you imagine?!) if two start the others will join in and that’s what happened here, little Klói was smart enough to stay clear so I could put him outside. Mine are not dog on dog aggressive or bossy by nature but Skella is a bit anxious and can let the smallest thing upset her if she is stressed. Usually the others will just ignore her. They were under the dining room table so no one had any “escape route” from the situation, I got Skella into her cage quickly so there were no physical injuries besides a scratch on Birta’s ear and one on Frigg’s face. Thank goodness for bite inhibition, I only wish Skella also had some since she has done damage when she got into a scuffle with Birta not too long ago before she started her heat. It does seem to be more likely they have disagreements when hormones are high like around their season, just before or right after, they usually are pretty good while they are in heat but of course best when there are no hormones in play. I can still honestly say (knock on wood that will continue) that fights can be counted on one hand but of course as is often the case for anxiety ridden people like me it sounded worse than it actually was and I often make it worse with my own excited over the top behaviour. It takes me some time to breath deep and calm down once my adrenalin shoots up, could be because of the missing kidney I don’t know. I called Rúnar at work just after lunch and he was allowed to quit early and come home at 4:30 (his usual time) meaning that instead of getting Friday off at 4 he’ll most likely have to work late then instead. DOH! So again, a three day course is not all that great for our own dogs either when they don’t get any exercise in between.
Yesterday I had another small blood vessel or vein burst in my one foot, this time on my toes but I still have a pain under my foot at the same place it burst once before. Klói helped me by laying his healing head on it. He is so sweet. I think it was all the standing on the weekend as well as I have bruises all over my legs from the course. Yes, the dogs are there to learn so of course many have a jumping up behaviour that we need to work on. Just give then a couple more classes and they’ll be great! I’m not complaining, just wish they had shorter nails. Hehe I’ll be so happy when I see their improvements and so that’s why I’m quite content to have bruises on my legs after the first class, it too makes the success more obvious when you can see it in “black and blue” (or is it supposed to be white?).
I really must start taking my vitamins…now if I could just stop being anxious about it and do it!
I called my Dad the other day after talking to my mom. She informed me that he was not in the best of health. It always hits me hard when I hear about my Dad having health problems, he’s my hero, he never lets on about himself and shows more concern for my Mom and my stepmom Donna. I certainly didn’t inherit my anxiety from him, he’s so “no worries” in his outlook of life. Of course he didn’t want to admit it right away until I told him I’d heard about it. So apparently he had another heart attack a few weeks ago on the golf course, which he is not supposed to be doing without a cart. I cannot explain how much such news bothers me to be so far away and not be able to spend time with my family before they are gone. I’ve been thinking of my Nana so much lately and how I want to see her again, I refuse to let myself believe she is gone forever. I realize that even the people I tend to believe are invincible like my mom and dad aren’t and I pray every day that they will both live forever so I will one day be able to make it over to spend some years together with them. Money really is a curse, when you have a lack of it that causes such regret and unhappiness. Why can’t the world be an even smaller place, without the need for money, without wealth and poverty?
I guess with the hot water being turned off today and me not being able to take a bath or wash the dishes it bought me some time on the computer instead to update. Aha, I found a positive. ;-Þ Or maybe I found a couple, we finally have some sunshine and BLUE skies…yippee!
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06.28.10
Posted in News at 17:33 by nikki
Lots of ash these past few days and it looks like the winds are in our direction for the whole week…let’s hope it rains! Not like me to hope for rain. Hehe My eyes feel like they have sand in them even though all the windows are closed. The dogs legs are charcoal grey each time they go into the yard and we try to rinse them but it is almost impossible to get the ash out without using shampoo, don’t want to ruin their coats with too much of that. I have noticed Klói chewing on his feet a little from the ash so obviously it is bothering him a bit. We haven’t waited too long at a time to see if the ash will just fall out of their coats because the floors are black enough as it is with them tracking it in and I also am feeling stuffed up with scratchy throat and tight chest so don’t want them laying around me with too much ash on them. So needless to say the poor dogs and me are hanging around in the house as much as possible, totally missing out on summer, before we know it it’ll be over…hard to believe June is over already. All our friends who live in different areas keep saying what awesome warm sunny weather they are having, getting tanned and burned and all we get is overcast (that’s what it looks like) grey with cool breezes and no sun what so ever. I think that anyone coming to visit Iceland should just plan to stay up North or on the West or East coast, the South is not a good place to be this year. My heart definitely goes out to those people who live closer and had the worst of it during the eruption.
Rúnar rinsed off the BBQ as well as the windows and the deck a couple times yesterday but no sooner he did and they’d need it again. He even rinsed off the car before we got into it. We couldn’t not use the BBQ though despite the ash as we had only bought food to grill over the weekend because we had thought we’d be enjoying the nice summer weather. Doh! No way I wanted to cook grill steaks on a pan in the kitchen. LOL That Weber gas grill is one of the best things we’ve ever bought let me tell you, it doesn’t matter what we cook on it always delicious and perfectly cooked. I actually think that even I could grill on that thing without burning the meal and that my friends is what they would call a miracle as my brothers and sister Mandy can attest to my grilling abilities. Rúnar seems quite happy with it too and tries to keep it as clean as possible.
We went into Reykjavík and Hafnarfjörður on Friday because Rúnar was off just after lunch time after working until 9 p.m. on Thursday. We wanted to look at a car that has been for sale for quite awhile and finally we managed to get into town before the dealership closed and you guessed it, the car was sold. Grrr r We managed to spend lots of money though as usual when we go to stores that actually have good food and veggies, and all I went to get was my glutenfree flour from Toro…what would I do without Toro?
Klói went with us again and got to run on the way home since the girls were still being a bit overwhelming with their aromas and he has been so stressed and not eating at all. It seems the girls have finally finished their heats now and Frigg is the last one. Talk about relief. Klói is calm again and back to his own self, boy I “missed” him. Funny how the poor male dogs (females as well) change during the heats. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde syndrome for sure. The girls would be humping each other while poor Klói would have to be locked in a cage and he got so frustrated at them and barked when they would start their antics, I’d try to get the girls to calm down and behave so poor Klói could calm down in his cage. We have three cages in the bedroom that the girls slept in during the night so he could spend some time out of the cage. Thank goodness there were only three girls in standing heat at a time and Frigg could wear the denim pants until she had to be “put away” when Hófi was finished her heat so that we didn’t have to move out our bed to bring in a fourth cage. Hehe
So now Klói needs to put some weight on him, his bones are sticking out all over the place, stress really takes it’s toll he wouldn’t even eat the raw food. Now I remember why I had told myself back in 1993 when I found a new home for Snubbur that I would never again keep back a male dog with females. How quickly we forget when it’s only a couple weeks a year though and Klói is just so much more of a character than the girls, I love having a male dog. If I wasn’t breeding then no doubt I’d only have males. We are bound and bent that Skella and Frigg will get the hormone needle before the next heat since it’s cheaper than surgery.
Trying to remember what we did on Saturday but I think we just lazed around the house as well as yesterday after staying up half the night watching movies together, it’s been so long since we’ve done that. Next weekend will be a busy one so we needed to have a good rest. Next weekend we are starting a new clicker course and this time we are getting a couple professional dog trainers and veterinarians which is a bit nerve wracking but so exciting and we are really looking forward to the class. We have decided to change it a bit so it will be finished before we have the litters. Meaning we will be going into Reykjavík Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday then a couple times during the week I believe instead of once a week…it’ll be sort of a bootcamp style that way but we think it will probably be more successful in terms of the dogs since they do learn so quickly that sometimes people get stuck if they have to wait a whole week to come back to class. It will be interesting to see how this works out anyway and will just add to our experience for future classes.
When Klói got to stop on the mountain along the way home on Friday evening I thought I’d just sit and wait in the car but he hates when I do that, since he wants the “pack” to stick together and I guess he thinks if he has to run around everybody should want to come out and watch how cute he is. He never barks just runs around the car and looks at me. Then when I came outside he went to play, such a silly boy he just wanted me out there too! Can you see the little “speck” on the mountain? Rúnar had thrown a rock for him to find.
He was playing around with a water bottle the other day and I thought now wouldn’t that be a great add for the place that Rúnar works.
We had just seen a photo of his clone Tumi in Akureyri holding onto a plastic bottle so I grabbed a photo of him too. How funny when Rúnar called Tumi’s owner on the weekend and heard all the stories of his antics it was as if the character has been inherited just as strong as the looks. Tumi helps the owner with the laundry as well without any training just like Klói did as a puppy. He plays with his toys the same way, just all by himself in the yard running around throwing the toys up in the air and catching them, but we must be fair, both Skella and Klói do that and Skella loves to hold onto toys around the house. Tumi is a really quiet and calm dog too so we are so happy to hear that about him that his owner is just over the moon happy with him. Klói has come up with a great game, I throw him the soft ball and he nose butts it back to me or catches it, good game to play in the house.
It’s so good to see him actually sleep again, as you can see Hófi is thinking she is pregnant these days and she is being really sucky and cute. We really hope she has a litter since she has at least 4 puppies with homes waiting already.
Rúnar has been working on the school website and it’s looking pretty good we also have a counter on it now and are flabbergasted at how many people are visiting it since he put it up a few days ago. We’re trying to figure out how to hold courses while having two litters we think it’s probably impossible but no doubt we’ll be busy next winter and so probably was a good idea to get the litters done at the same time. Dewclaws crossed! I’m supposed to judge an obedience trial for the HRFI (Icelandic Kennel Club) in November, actually both lowest and class 1 test. I want to hold a retrieving course like I used to hold back when I had German Pointers. There are alot of owners of non-registered retrieving dogs both purebred (the Retriever school here ONLY allows purebred registered dogs in their classes so it’s an untapped market here) and mixed as well as just pet owners who might want to teach their dogs a good retrieve not to mention I’d love for people to use their dogs more for assistance around the house to give them jobs to do and that calls for a good retrieve as well.
Well, Rúnar is back home from work, I’m so glad that he might be back to his normal work schedule of 4 p.m. (gets home at 4:30) which is great I’ve missed having him around when he works later. We’ll see how long it lasts before they make them work overtime again. They just sent a big shipment over seas so hopefully he’ll have a few weeks of normal hours.
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06.21.10
Posted in News at 17:13 by nikki
Does anyone reading this know a good website that I can make a photo pedigree for free? Since my other site is down I can’t use that and I’ll have to find a good program that is easy and can be linked to somehow.
I added some new info yesterday to the hopeful litters pages. So I guess it’s okay to let the cat out of the bag now that we have had 4 successful matings…two for each pair over the past week or so. Hófi was mated 2 times to Kersins Prins and should if all goes as planned have her puppies on Rúnar’s birthday 14 August and Birta just had her second mating last night to Stefsstells Stefnir and fingers crossed a litter will result around August 20th. Stefnir is one of my favourite dogs in the population today for his temperament and his looks are no less impressive as well as his grandfather was a one in a million dog that I will always remember as one of the best tempered and beautiful dogs I’ve met in my lifetime. Of course what made Kátur special was of course that he was a grandpuppy of mine who I mated as well as delivered the litter he was out of, his mother was the first born bitch in my kennel who I always regretted not keeping myself, Töfra Stjarna. So in this combination I am getting a mix of family lines including the Thorvaldsstadir line which I have in both litters (Hófi traces back to that line as well) so I’m happy with that.
Here are a few photos of Stefnir. This guy is like a photo right out of the standard except he could use a few more centimeters to him as well as a bit more overall substance but we are very happy with him and that wonderful triangular head/muzzle. His colour, his coat and what an awesome temperament. Calm and non-barky but still a good working dog, show dog, family dog and so easily trained.
We were lucky enough last night to just finish mating them on the beach and get Birta into the car when along came a big black what appeared to a be Labrador mix male with his owner (it was midnight and they probably thought they wouldn’t see any other dogs on their walk hehe). We thought oh no he just finished mating a bitch he’s sure to be a bit “macho” with this guy (if he would have had the temperament that many ISD males have that don’t like other males then we might have had a problem on our hands because that dog was so much bigger than him). Stefnir ran over to him sniffed him and then the two of them played a little bit until the owner walked on. The whole mating he was the gentlest of suitors, no stress except on our part…hehe, we thought for a while that nothing was going to happen he was so calm. But he does LOVE to swim, run and play with a soccer ball so he can be excited and playful when he wants to be.
It’s been a nerve wracking couple of years trying to make up our minds if we should use Birta again because she does have a D and she is already 7 years old now. We had “retired” her in our minds but were still not sure we wouldn’t regret it because she’s Freyja’s only offspring. We have some good friends that are also very good breeders who convinced us that Birta is well worth having another litter, she has so many good qualities and this way we get to have her dear departed mother Freyja’s line in two different litters that will hopefully help us to preserve her line and her character in the future. The puppies out of Birta’s first litter (only one has not been exrayed) had free hips except for one that has A on one side and C on the other. They have also all had their eyes checked at least once (Klói has gone 3 times) and all have healthy eyes. We think that is an awesome result and we have our fingers crossed for this litter as well. Of course we know the risks and that we will have to keep an eye on the next generations as well however it is our opinion that the temperament of the breed is a bit more important to improve on these days than worrying solely about one issue like hips or bloodline which we have done in the past. It’s the whole picture that has to be “bred” not just one issue and from our experience lately we’ve striven this time to do our best at picking mates based on nr.1 TEMPERAMENT, then type (including dewclaws) and hips and also getting a low co-efficient or rarer bloodline. This has in no way been an easy thing to find given that we have the rules about not breeding to dogs that are not exrayed or eye tested and most dogs that have their tests done are from the same families or bloodlines. So now it’s out of our hands! We have fingers and dewclaws crossed that we may get some lovely healthy puppies from both Hófi and Birta and that we will be able to find a co-own for one puppy from each litter we are so happy with our choices.
So apart from that I’ve had a lot of dizziness and vertigo again, heart palpitations that have been a bit scary as they always are (due to stress no doubt) and I finally had an appointment and went to the doctor’s today. He says I have some nerves pinched in my neck causing the numbness and pain and the swollen muscles are the cause of me hearing “broken glass” sounds and not being able to move my head so much or getting “stuck” when I turn my head too fast. The problem with my hip is probably also a nerve that is pinched there causing the feeling of “dead areas”, sensation of burning or pain and lack of touch sensitivity and numbness, he was leaning more to a pinched nerve because I told him about the “popping” of my hip a few weeks ago (it happens regularly) and he said it may be due to tendons shifting and that may pinch a nerve when they pop back. He’s applying for a couple weeks stay for me at a rehabilitation facility (Reykjalundur it’s called) or out-patient ward, not sure what it would be called in English where I will receive massage therapy as well as some other care including sessions to help with my anxiety disorder that will hopefully better calm my nerves and lower stress, since it’s not possible in this house of mine due to all the dogs. No doubt it will be at the worst possible time, he did say if often takes a long time to be admitted but since I haven’t been there before I might go higher up on the list. I’m hoping in part that it will be while Rúnar is on holidays so that he can be at home with the dogs (which of course would be the same time we had planned on having clicker courses in town) or that it will be after the litters are gone…hopefully I’ll be well enough to care for them, the last litter was a real trial to say the least!
He also finally got around to telling me (after I ASKED!) that the blood tests that were taken months ago showed that my levels of both vitamin D and B12 are too low and I should be supplementing. Duh, that’s exactly what I had the blood tests done to figure out and why could the other doctor that did the tests not tell me this months ago or why didn’t he phone to let me know since those vitamin deficiencies can cause most of the problems I have been describing to them including my “sometimers” memory, depression and swelling of muscles. So I guess I’m going to be pigging out on vitamins and maybe I won’t even need to go for the rehabilitation after a few weeks of vitamins. Hehe Wishful thinking never hurts.
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