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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06.14.10
Posted in News at 18:55 by nikki
I had to go read my last blog to see where I left off, now to try to remember what’s been going on.
The last clicker class went great, unfortunately a couple had already gone on holidays abroad so weren’t able to come. It’s too bad because we often take a photo on the last class and for the last few courses we’ve had some missing on the photos. Either someone had to leave a little earlier or was busy and couldn’t make it. We thought having it on a week night would be better than on a weekend, I’m not sure which is better it seems there will always be someone who is busy so we just have to be happy with the attendance and arrange it on a day that suits us, our assistants and our dogs. We tried giving click tickets this time, we were interested to see how tag teaching or reinforcing good behavior of the students would help them to train their dogs. We were very happy with the results and I don’t think the students were disappointed either.
We had so much progress with a couple reactive dogs and it makes us happy to see the owner able to get their dog to do behaviors right beside another dog (after spending weeks just trying to get the dog to stop lunging, barking, stressing and having to hide behind barriers just to get them to eat a treat) and seeing the happy faces of dog and handler as the other dogs really don’t matter anymore! The feeling of success after a discouraging slow start that for most looked like nothing was being achieved and a couple might have given up or have given up in the past because they couldn’t SEE results on the outside. Each dog that makes it to the point of inner calm is well worth the baby steps and patience on the owner’s part. We often wonder if we should hold a separate class just for reactive dogs because we often feel that for the owners of these dogs to watch how well the others are doing and sit in a rut themselves for weeks it is no wonder some get discouraged and embarrassed with themselves and their dog and go back to the traditional methods. It appears with traditional methods that the dogs (many in shut down mode) get results quicker but sadly the quick fix will often bring with it other aspects like aggression towards other dogs or other types of fall-out behaviors. However if we want to hold courses like that we need to be in a bigger facility. Oddly enough it often seems that many of the people we get to our classes come to us as a type of last resort because they have problems with reactive dogs and have been in other courses before they come to us. One of our greatest successes in this class was a dog that vets and a behaviorist had insisted take drugs because he had doggy ADHD. Happily for the dog the owner contacted us BEFORE they opted to try drugs! This little bitch was a very quick learner and clicker training helped her owner to give feedback with good timing. The owner can be really proud of her progress, no one would ever know by watching the two that this dog was supposed to have a problem. Boy it never ceases to amaze me how drug companies can convince professionals of the need for their drugs. In my mind ADHD is unfortunately a “fashionable diagnosis” that fails to look at reinforcement history or other environmental aspects like nutrition.
I found that in the last class I was giving out so many click tickets that the students hardly got any time to work for interruptions. Hehehe Just kidding I think the people were happy to be interrupted because it meant of course that they were doing something right. As usual I didn’t have time to take photos of everyone because I was busy and Rúnar was busy and neither of our assistants could make it. I did manage to grab the camera and get a photo of a few of the dogs though, not great photos but I’m glad to have them, we love looking at photos of the dogs and owners that have graced us with their presence and are so thankful for their trust in us. We definitely had a great group of people and dogs this time and it’s great to see the relationships that are formed.
On the other side more like the “oh my gosh what am I thinking” side of the news. We have mated Hófi and are in the process of mating Birta as well. We have talked about taking the couple months off and not holding any courses while we have puppies because it’s so much work for me at home too, two litters will definitely be draining. I’m hoping that this time we will have moms that will be doing most the work so that we can take some videos of the pups and their upbringing like we had planned to do last time (to use in classes and possibly for other purposes) but were too exhausted from all the bottle feeding.
We had rain over the weekend, typical of course when Rúnar is at home he has to sit inside in the rain. One difference with him working in a factory now instead of outside building like he used to…he doesn’t get to enjoy the good weather during work hours anymore. Here is a photo I took of the mating. The mating was natural as that’s what we believe is best for the breed so after they finished it all themselves we walked over to help hold them still during the tie just in case Hofi decided she’d take him for a walk. Sorry guys just thought it was good for a chuckle. We went back tonight in the pouring rain and got another successful 20 minute tie but we were smart enough to have them in the garage for that. Now we wait to see if we get puppies on Rúnar’s birthday.
After hearing of undesirable traits in the ISD over the past decade or so we have been focusing more on temperament in the dogs we are using ourselves. Both Hófi’s and Birta’s chosen mates are on the smaller side in size but they have a temperament that we are totally in love with. We hope to be able to get the pups (presuming we get litters) PAT tested so we can keep some records to compare with others and see if our choices were good. Unfortunately we weren’t able to do PAT tests (I wish we did for our records) on our last litter but we did have someone do the PAT test on the litter Klói is out of and at the time were very happy with their mostly 3′s and 4′s and we thought it was normal that the ISD’s were scoring that way as they should but have heard that that is not always the case. We were really happy to be asked to do a PAT test on a litter of Icelandic sheepdogs yesterday to be able to see first hand how other litters are scoring and we were even happier when we got to see the results. They are (as most dogs these past few years) great or great great grandpuppies of ours and we couldn’t be more pleased that they all scored mostly 3′s and 4′s too. They were openly friendly towards strangers, very forgiving of the restraint which did cause them a tiny bit of anxiety (struggled first then settled, quite normal) as well as no issues with sight or sound sensitivity and great stability. The prey drive that I find correct for the breed (re the description in the breed standard) with little or no biting of the object (except for one which also showed a more intense chase as well) and chase instinct with low intensity, much more “follow” instinct in the pack drive. Perfect! Wonderful puppies and I for one will be watching to see them grow into well adjusted breed representatives. It doesn’t hurt either that they are beautiful puppies to boot!
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06.09.10
Posted in News at 02:54 by nikki
I’m really getting bad at this updating thing. Oops Had to stay inside a lot lately with the windows closed. Here is a little bit of the reason why, Rúnar keeps spraying off the deck but no sooner he does and it’s grey again. The dogs go outside to pee and come back in with grey legs. It’s getting to be quite a pain really…it can let up any time please! The deck is supposed to be dark brown. The outside walls of our house is not white anymore either, not to mention the stuff comes in even with all the windows closed and it’s EVERYWHERE, argh Keep in mind these photos are taken after only a few hours of ash fall. We are no where near what they are experiencing closer to the eruption but it definitely makes us feel for the farmers even more.
Oddly enough Skella seemed to have a coughing fit on Friday when the ash was at it’s worst and I didn’t know so had the window open in the bedroom. She woke me up coughing and I really thought she was choking to death, I didn’t know how to help her to stop. I pounded on her chest and I tried to get her to drink but she kept bringing up phlem and if she drank it all came back up again. It seemed to get worse in the room with the open window and slow down and go away when she was in the living room. It only lasted for a couple hours off and on after I closed the windows so I wonder if the animals can also be sensitive to it even though we are told that it doesn’t bother them. She hasn’t had any more incidents and she’s been outside more than I have so maybe it was just a one of episode and didn’t have much to do with the ash I guess we won’t know for sure.
Well a very busy weekend to say the least although not as busy as I’d have liked it to be. You see we had the dogshow on Saturday where the Icelandics were showing and the German Shorthaired Pointers was on Sunday. So after the ash being so bad on Friday that you couldn’t see a few meters in front of the car and having to go to the store wearing a mask I did actually have an asthma like cough that kept me up half the night. Rúnar and I had talked about him going to the show (and eye test) by himself and I’d stay home. Then after about 3 hours sleep the alarm went off and I looked out the window to see how bad it was. I really wanted to go and the skies looked clear, I could see white clouds and no indication of ash in the air so I got dressed and we headed to Reykjavík. I took a mask with me just in case. As we got over the other side of the mountain and started to see (or should have been able to see) Reykjavík all we could see was the grey ash in the air. It looked like fog but wasn’t just like the day before. Crap! Well, too late to turn back so I walked from the car to the riding hall with a mask on. Mind you the ash was so thin that most people didn’t even know it was there. Although they had predicted it and it was on the news. I guess if you live in Reykjavík and don’t see the difference then you don’t notice it as much and could be that you get used to pollution so it doesn’t have the same effect on those who are used to that. The dogs being shown were a bit grey though especially the white ones. I got some really dirty looks and stupid comments about the mask and it made me feel stupid so because I tend to care what people think I didn’t use it except very briefly just as I was in the outside air and not even all the time. Once in the riding hall I had bad pains in my chest and that scared me a bit (could have been a combination of stress) so thought I should go sit somewhere farther away from the door since I wasn’t going to be using the mask so I went into the bleachers to watch. Rúnar needed to be closer to the door downstairs by the rings.
Rúnar showed both Tinni and Klói and they were both brats when it came to showing the judge their teeth and being examined from head to toe to dangly bits (hehe). So Tinni ended up with 2nd place puppy and Klói got a very good. He was the only one in his class that didn’t get an excellent but we have an excellent ribbon from Sigridur so no other judges opinion really matters to us and we were just happy that he wasn’t kicked out for not showing himself better. Very good is a quality judging that we can be proud of though so we were content. Unfortunately the person writing the critique was different from the one writing in the puppy class and this one did such a bad job that it’s almost undecipherable but Rúnar heard some of it and from what I can read the judge felt Klói needed more bone as well as more confidence and show training. He found his coat to be open and wavy (he still hasn’t gotten all his undercoat back and he does have a bit of a wavy area on his back. I will never use blow dryers or products so what you see is the real dog!) but liked his head shape, pigment, neck, tail and angulation. He said he was in good balance and good condition.
The fact that it was hard to get him to show the judge his teeth is strange as he had no trouble with the two judges that have judged him before (it was on one weekend, one show each day when he was young) but it’s our own fault as I said we haven’t made it into Reykjavík to train him at all at conformation training. By the time we spend money on gas for our own courses and spend all that time driving and away from the other dogs we decided it’s better to think of the dogs at home than to let the show training take priority. We can’t have Klói with us to our classes because he’d just have to sit in the car over 4 hours with travel time and teaching it’s past midnight when we get home and we’d have no one to train him with anyway. The time we met Tinni we didn’t bother looking at teeth and of course he lets us look at his teeth but is a bit different around strangers, we just tried to see how they were on lead together and movement. Oh well, we probably won’t be showing him again anyway, it’s not our cup of tea and we know he’s not a show stopper so we’d rather do something fun or useful with him but we have been practicing the obedience look at the teeth exercise and he’s better at that. I guess if we do that enough it will also spill over to the show type of checking teeth.
Just got a couple photos which is too bad, but I was too far away to get good photos and wouldn’t you know it this time there was no official photographer taking photos either in the breed ring but on second thought maybe that’s just as well since the two of them misbehaved. Hehe But I will admit that both were extremely well behaved in the ring except for the judges examination. Hummm, makes me mad we didn’t put more effort into practice but we live and learn. The other puppy in the class with Tinni rolled on his back and wouldn’t let the judge look at him either but that seemed to melt the judge more than Tinni’s struggling independent character. Oh well, I am so proud of this little guy regardless because he ran that ring like a little pro for the most part on the end of a loose lead and I don’t remember hearing him bark more than maybe once which is not what we expected given how reactive he was outside. I just think Rúnar did a fantastic job.
Here is Tinni’s critique which was very well written: Good size for age. Good head shape. Exc. pigment. Very good eyes. Good bone and feet. Very good body. Quite good angulations. A little high in the back and a little short in body. Tail is still open. Moves well for age. Good puppy coat. Happy temperament but must learn to show teeth.
Klói I only got one photo of and then I zoomed in on him in the photo program. Darn, he was so good and I would have liked to get some good photos. He was doing all kinds of behaviours (like hand touches, laying down, his sleepy down) in the ring with Rúnar to keep himself busy because there was such a long wait. They were cute and he surprised both of us at how calm and relaxed he was and how good he was during his movement evals.
Klói’s awesome half brother (out of Hektor) who is the red dog right in front of him in the ring won the class and I believe also got the champion point. I was quite happy with him winning the class because I couldn’t keep my eyes off of him, he was the only one that caught my eye in the ring (besides Klói of course) and he and Klói looked similar you could see they are related but he has a better tail and nicer colouring as well as a better short hair coat than Klói has. I quit watching when Klói was finished so missed the rest of the breed…didn’t want to be there too long with the ash in the air and we needed to go straight to the eye exam on the other side of the building.
So as for the eye test we are happy to report that Klói got a clear bill of health again so that’s the main thing. It made the whole trip worth while for sure. The reason we showed him was because we needed to be there anyway so the show was not our main priority and was just a bonus to get some practice in. It was a good show as our good friend Stefanía’s (who lives down the road from us) son’s bitch was BOB and then later in the day won the group. So she needed to go back on Sunday to compete in the finals.
We stopped on the way home at the garden store and got Klói a new toy while we picked up a sprinkler so we can wash away the ash on the lawn. They say that the dangerous fluor that is found in the ash dissolves when it gets wet or rains so we want to keep the grass wet if we need to. We let Klói out on the way down by the shore and then came home and spent the rest of the day indoors.
He was so grey and caked with wet ash when we got home and I know his eyes bothered him from the eye test but we just had to let him have a nice run on the beach because we know he enjoyed it. He’s stuck at home with 4 bitches in heat all day every day the past couple weeks and we just felt so sorry for him having to have an eye test and take part in a dog show at the same time. hehe Talk about being wiped out after the show, Klói and Rúnar fell sound asleep on the couch and I took a photo of them. Not sure Rúnar will be happy with me posting it but it was cute.
Sunday although I wanted to go watch my GSP grandpuppies and would have liked to see the finals with my friend’s son and his bitch I decided to stay home because I got more coughing fits Saturday night when I tried to go to sleep. It seems as soon as I tried to lay down it would start. Rúnar let me sleep in in the morning which was nice and I could see photos and see the results from the show later anyway so I think the sleep was better for me. When I woke up I planned on using the day to make some phone calls since the phone company we deal with had a very special offer on that allowed all it’s customers to phone from their home phones to any number abroad for free but of course that was only until midnight so I had to make sure I got as many calls in as I could. hehe
So I got to call my sister for her birthday, talked to my three nieces, my dad, my stepmom, my mom and stepdad. Then I phoned a dear friend in Norway (she owns Hofi’s father) that I haven’t been able to talk to for years and after that my good friend Scotti in USA who owns Kelikátur. I had received a beautiful handmade quilt from her a couple weeks ago out of the blue and I feel so happy that I could talk to her on the phone since it’s something we can’t usually afford to do. Emails are just not as nice as hearing the voices of those you care about.
Klói was sick on Sunday, that scared me a little. It is probably one of the main reasons we don’t go to shows. We heard of other dogs that also were sick to their stomachs or had diarrhea after the show as ALWAYS and it’s no doubt because of the awful carpets they use. They have moldy treats (like liver and hotdogs) ground into them, are peed on, pooped on and sprayed with all kinds of stuff but are never properly cleaned because they are cheep foam backed ones that can’t be cleaned. No amount of complaints seems to change the fact that the shows have to be “pretty”, I think we as exhibitors would rather run on the plain dirt floor if it meant less chance of our dogs getting sick.
Turns out that because we didn’t go to the show on Sunday to watch Stefanía’s bitch was Best in Show! Wow, they are still walking on a cloud after that. My grandpuppies did great, all got good critiques, one was 2nd best male with a champion quality while another one was best male got his last certificate so can apply for a champion title went on to be BOB and 3rd place in the hunting group. So I guess we all had a great weekend for the most part.
Other happenings on the weekend or past couple days if I can remember. We’ve been grilling on our new Weber gas grill almost every day since we got it. It is just awesome! Everything turns out perfect. We took Hófi (Frigg got to come for the ride) tonight to see her beau but she’s not quite ready, we’ve got another date on Thursday since we’ll be busy tomorrow. They got to go for a short run on the way home and that’s always fun for Frigg, she doesn’t get much time to herself.
We have after alot of back and forth discussions and soul searching decided to try to mate Birta one more time (hopefully this heat) since she is doing great healthwise but she is getting up in years. She did well with her first litter, was a wonderful mother. We had thought we’d retire her but the older she gets the more we think we’ll regret it if she doesn’t have more than just the one litter and we don’t want to wait too long because we will not mate her next year as she’ll be too old. She is so much like her mom and every day we see more and more of Freyja in her. We want to keep back or find a co-own home for a female out of her since the co-own we own from her first litter will not be used in breeding and we are a bit limited what we do with Klói. The reason we want her to have another litter is so that we have her line in two different combinations so can preserve our dear Freyja (and Birta because she has an awesome temperament and type as well) for use with other bloodlines without having to linebreed to Hektor for example. We are very happy with her first litter and couldn’t be happier that our grandpuppy Hektor is behind them but think that we’d like to have the possibility to have her line for other combinations in future as well. Just like it was with her mother when Birta was conceived it will be all up to fate, if we get a litter then we know it was meant to be and if not then that is that. I really tend to trust fate on the big decisions in life.
Tomorrow is our last class for this clicker course and we feel like it’s over way too soon. We just get started it seems and then the course is over, 6 classes go by way too fast. We’re trying to get organized to start another class as well as a more advanced class and have people bugging us to hold some specialized classes too like agility or retrieving. I’m supposed to be working on the slideshow and content of the advanced course but I keep getting side tracked. I really and truly have to get my head together and get at it or it will all be last minute and I don’t want that to happen. I just can’t get my creative juices flowing lately. We already have a waiting list for a class in August here in Selfoss so that will be our first real class in this area and will be easier for us in terms of travel and time away from our dogs. Rúnar wants to take a bit of a summer holiday from teaching since he’s been working late for weeks (months really) and the classes have been on top of that and all the driving doesn’t help so he’s quite tired. I can understand that. We may just have the next classes start in July and take the rest of June off. That will be good for our own dogs and give us some time to prepare but not good for a procrastinator like me. Hehe
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06.01.10
Posted in News at 18:39 by nikki
Wow, dizzy dizzy dizzy these days. Might be the ash fall, been feeling not so good but can’t put a finger on it, my chest feels tight, nose stuffed and itchy and my eyes scratchy so it sounds like the symptoms they warn of because of the ash. It’s been raining off and on and then we see just how much ash is coming down. Everything is covered in grey, day after day… even my eye glasses last night because we were outside training. I’ve tried to stay in the house the past couple days and kept the dogs in most the day too. I hope this soon goes back to “normal”. The volcano may have stopped but the ash is coming down more in our area than it did when it was active. Geesh.
I couldn’t sleep last night for pain and burning in my hip so that is getting worse as well. I have a phone appointment with the doctor on Thursday so I’ll see what he says. It’s stupid that it’s so hard to get an actual person to person appointment that you have to make an appointment long in advance just to be able to talk to the doctor on the phone if you want to ask if he can actually see you sooner, I mean how stupid is that?
Days just fly past, wow already June! In a few days my sister has a birthday and I hope I don’t forget to log on to wish her a happy birthday. I so wish I could spend some time with her I miss her, we were such close sisters when we were kids and now I feel I don’t even know her anymore because I see her (or hear from her or her from me) once in a blue moon, maybe every couple years if we are lucky. I hate how years go by so quickly without us even realizing it. I still say that if I won the lottery I’d move to Canada for a couple years to spend time with family.
We bought a new gas grill the other day because there was a great sale on at the hardware store in Selfoss (the next town), we figured since we don’t get to go anywhere on our summer holidays at least if would be good to have a working grill so we can eat a bit more summer food. It’s a proper grill this time since the last while we’ve bought slightly cheaper ones and they keep breaking down and never last more than one or two years. The cheaper the product the more you sometimes end up spending. So here’s the new Weber gas grill and Skella thought it looked a bit strange so needed to “touch the goblin” and check it out. She is so funny sometimes.
So we took Klói with us and did a little leash training with him as well since we don’t seem to make time to train him I felt we better get crackin’ if he’s supposed to behave himself at the show and if we partake in the fun trial in a few weeks. Here are a couple photos of him with Rúnar. I had him first for a little bit and then Rúnar took over, I’m hoping that Rúnar will like training enough to actually get the bug for trials and take him because I feel I ruin it a bit for my dogs with my bad nerves.
We’ve been in Reykjavík a bit, taking chances because our car has been in real bad condition, leaking water and overheating. Rúnar spent the whole weekend trying to fix it but unable to. This meant that we didn’t get to the local voting booths to vote on Saturday and we didn’t get to go to any show training or dog walks on the weekend in the awesome summer weather that we had, but it was good to just be able to hang out in the nice sun and I planted the rest of my violas they were getting a bit shriveled so I hope they will not die on me. It looks like we are forced to take a car loan and buy a car, so the shackles are tightening but what else can we do, we can’t live where we live without a car.
The annual general meeting of the Icelandic Kennel Club was last Wednesday and I had promised to help by counting the votes so had to go early to check peoples ID’s and give the voting tickets. It ended up with there being no changes even though it was a pretty close race. It was nice to see Sigridur Pétursdóttir come out to vote since we don’t see her too often. Unfortunately we had hoped that we could makes some changes in the way the IKC is set up, have more responsibility placed on the clubs themselves as well allowing people to start clubs if they want (today the clubs have to be passed by the BOD before they can be formed and only one club is allowed for each breed or type of sport), we would have liked to make things more transparent and lower prices to make it more accessible to people to come to working trials etc as well as allowing voting for the board through either postal system or online secret ballet so that those living in other parts of the country can vote as well. Today only people living in the vacinity of Reykjavík can vote which is so unfair because everyone no matter where they live in the country pay the same dues and get nothing for it unless they live in Reykjavík. All the eye tests are in Reykjavík, all the shows are in Reykjavík, all the working trials, agility equipment and training as well, lectures, meetings, training practices and every type of course that is held is ALL in Reykjavík. There is maybe one trial and one eye test held in Akureyri (just the past year or so) which is just as far for those living in the east or west to travel as coming to Reykjavík so it’s really just an elite club at the moment. It would make more sense to take less in yearly dues from people living in the remote places than to make everyone pay the same and then not even be able to vote for change! There was a bit of strange stuff going on at the meeting but I won’t get into that, I think most of us just left wondering “what just happened?!”
We finally made it to see Matthías with Tinni yesterday to try to show train and the show is this coming weekend. We haven’t managed to train Klói at all either with other dogs so we have our fingers crossed. Tinni seems to be a bit like his mom, a bit of an over the top type that needs to be calmed. I think he will be a candidate for Control Unleashed in future if we don’t get him under control now. He barked like a maniac while Rúnar was training Klói but then when he was alone and Rúnar was training him with the clicker then he was great and showed alot of promise so I think it’s just a question of teaching him the rules of life and being consistent which his owner reminded me is often hard when small children live in the home so we’ll try our best to help his family with good advice. After a bit of training Rúnar got Klói out of the car again and the two of them were allowed to meet and to play. Klói seemed to remember him and Tinni looked so happy to see Klói, he followed him around like a God. hehe I got a pretty good photo of Tinni while he was looking at something, he wasn’t in a perfect stack but I didn’t want to ruin it by fixing his back leg. Here he is at 4 1/2 months, a bit gangly but quite a good looking boy.
So much going on politically these days, both in real life and in the dog world and I’m getting so tired of it all. We just got a comedian voted in as the probable mayor of Reykjavík and if that doesn’t say anything about the trust people have in politicians these days I don’t know what does. I’m not happy with that development because I find his humour very discriminative and mean at times and just hope that his actions do not mirror his humour. Alas I can’t change the world and I don’t live in Reykjavík so I’ll watch from a distance and hope for the best. I’m thinking we all just need to live and let live but I do understand concern about the dog breeds involved in some of the politics (German Pointer in Iceland and Icelandic sheepdog in N.A.) because I am so concerned about them myself that I just want to scream. The fact that what some of us feared would happen is indeed and actually crying about it is obviously not going to help. I guess you can say it’s like dog training, the more you put pressure on and push the dog the more reactive it gets. We can choose to ignore the pressure or fight back and these days I’m thinking that fighting back hasn’t worked in the past so it’s time to try ignoring the “bad behavior” and teach an incompatible one. I love the breed and it is heartbreaking to watch it destroyed but the only actions I can control are my own. I don’t really want to get mixed up in it either because I’ve figured out the past few years that karma will always find it’s way back so I’m going to think about myself and my own dogs, do the best that I can with my own breeding program and hope that fate will be kind to me for my efforts.
So far Hófi has not been mated nor do we think she is ready yet so we just wait, Klói’s nose says it’ll only be a day or two probably. My instinct tells me that I’ve chosen the right male built on temperament and time will tell. There are unfortunately not many choices due to rules and regulations and that in itself is doing so much damage to the breed. We can’t not follow the rules if we want to breed so we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t. This is one of my pet peeves with laws and club politics. Klói will be going for his eye test on Saturday at the show. We are hoping that in future the HRFÍ will time it’s eye tests so that people don’t have the problem of the dogs being “in-between” tests for longer periods. Luckily his just ran out in May so not that bad but it does mean that we had to make a choice built on if the bitch was ready before his test is done. I also want to use him for Hófi’s last litter so in that instance it really didn’t matter but it could have. When you don’t have the ability to go to the test the rules either have to be changed or the body that arranges the tests MUST make sure that the rules CAN be followed by giving us the necessary tools to be able to do so.
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