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Our
Icelandic Sheepdogs
You can view descriptions
and images of our dogs and see images of our past
litters after the breeding announcements.
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Birth Announcement!
Pineridgeice Meyja and Tofra LjosAlfur
We are delighted to announce the safe arrival of four lovely little puppies, one little girl and three little boys, on Wednesday, January 18th, all quite early in the morning!
Meyja began tearing up paper for her nest the night before, so I stayed up until 3 a.m., when the nest building enthusiasm came to a halt! I was happy to head for bed at that point!
The next morning brought yet another cold weather problem. Even though plugged in, the tractor wouldn't start, so we spent a great deal of effort pushing a round bale to our horses in the top field! I think the arrival of the puppies was our reward shortly after the expenditure of this great effort!
We did think all puppies were spoken for, but the plans of two families on our waiting list have changed, so we would welcome
enquiries from anyone who might be interested in one of the lovely little boys. I will just mention that the characters of this breed are just the same, whether male or female. I have always preferred females when looking for German Shepherds, but not with this breed. On one occasion we had seven people on our waiting list for little girls and Lukka had seven little boys!
No one wanted to breed, so all were delighted with their little boys.
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Breeding Announcement!
Meyja had her hips x-rayed and scored and I'm happy to say her hips are OFA Excellent.
We also had a successful breeding between her and Alfur, so are expecting our next litter in mid January.
Please let me know if you would like to be put on our waiting list. |
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Gletta and Nari's Puppies Update
All puppies from this litter are now settled happily in their new homes, with the exception of the little boy, Fjari, who is staying here to become one of our new breeding males. He is currently our very early alarm clock, as he doesn't like being woken up by the roosters, so makes sure he wakes everyone else up who might not have heard the
roosters!
Once again we had a disappointing non-breeding with Kolur and Kolla."
Meyja will soon be going to her hip x-rays and OFA scoring, and will then be bred with Alfur on her next heat.
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Birth Announcement
May 3, 2011
Gletta and Narris are delighted to announce the safe arrival of four puppies, one little boy and three little girls. Gletta started making her nest early on May 2nd, so I waited up 'til 1 a.m., still nothing, checked again at 3, same result, got up at 5, still no puppies!
Finally around 10:30 I decided to start work outside and check regularly. Lo and behold, not long after and at first check, the first puppy had arrived. It was a long day for Gletta and finally at around 4, she settled down for a well earned rest with her little family. One puppy arrived breech and was born still in the sack, so lucky I was there and watching as Gletta was still busy with puppy #3.
Kolur/Kolla Breeding
Once again we have tried for a Kolur/Kolla breeding. For four days in a row (May 7 to 10) we had mounting from Kolur but no ties, so as occasionally a breeding will occur this way, we will keep our fingers crossed and 45 days from the last breeding, will take Kolla to the vet for an x-ray.
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Gletta and Narri Breeding
Announcement
We are pleased to report that Gletta and Narri have been bred and we anticipate Gletta's litter at the beginning of May. We will consult with our vet, but are thinking of getting an ultrasound to give us a little idea of how many puppies she might be carrying. It would be too soon yet for an x-ray and while we used to do this in the past, we were not happy about the idea of x-raying and the end result wasn't always accurate. Please check on our website re the ultrasound.
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Upcoming Breeding Announcements!
Kolur/Kolla Planned Litter
Our next planned litter is between Kolur and Kolla (Tofra Kolbra Hektorsdottir). Kolla has managed to fool us for quite a long time, so we are letting her spend time with Kolur every other day! They really enjoy each other's company, so we have high hopes that we will soon be announcing a breeding has finally happened!
Hopefully the first litter of 2011.
Ofeigur Narri fra Villiskogum/Pineridge Gletta
planned litter
Our second planned litter for 2011 is a breeding of Narri and Gletta. This will be a back-to-back breeding, which we rarely do, I think the last time was several years ago when Grimsnes' Rof had one puppy and we were interested to see if this was a forthcoming pattern. Gletta only had one puppy in her last litter and after careful thought, we have made the decision to breed her on her next heat.
Please check our website for news of breedings regarding these two upcoming litters.
Our little girl, Pineridge Meyja, a puppy which we kept from our final breeding of Grimsnes' Rof, (call name Raf), who came to us from Denmark, and Kolur, will be two years old in August, so assuming all health tests are satisfactory, we will plan her first breeding for her first heat after we receive her OFA scores. This breeding will be with Tofra Ljosalfur (call name Alfur), who came to us from Norway.
We are very happy to pass on news of the very successful rehoming of Raf to the family who also had a puppy from her last litter. It has been our experience that even older Icelandics settle very well to homes where they live in the house and become an active family member, which unfortunately cannot be the case with unspayed unneutered dogs in a breeding kennel.
We have rehomed several of our older dogs, usually to family members or friends, and have been really pleased to see that when they come back here to visit, they recognize us and where they used to live, know which were their own houses in our porch, and in the case where friends/family stay for several days are perfectly happy. However, when it is apparent that their new owners are packing up their vehicles to leave, in every case the dogs disappear into the departing car to make sure they're not left behind!
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KOLUR'S SEMEN ANALYSIS
As we have had enquiries with regard to using Kolur as a stud
and as he
isn't as young as he used to be! we had a semen analysis done last year
and the result was excellent. A lot of motility, as much as a young dog
so this was very good news for us as we are planning to breed him with
Tofra Kolbra Hektorsdottir for the first time this year.
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Our Icelandic Sheepdogs
We have been so fortunate to have been able to own many beautiful and sweet natured Icelandic sheepdogs, with the little boys having every bit as affectionate a nature as the little girls. We seem to have an ever increasing number of dogs because, for various reasons, we keep most of them after their breeding days are over, but when we know someone or a family member who would love to have one of our breeding dogs, we are delighted to pass them on as they go to a home where they get much more individual attention than is possible when you have a large number of horses, also looking for attention, plus cows, sheep, donkeys, cats etc.
Its been very interesting for us to see how, even though a dog can have lived here for up to seven years, it adjusts so well to a new home and the great increase in attention. Many friends and family come back to see or stay with us regularly and while the dogs are obviously pleased to be back here, go to their same house in the porch, when it's clear that the new owners are packing up their cars to leave, no sign of our dogs - they are happily settled in their new owners' car! So we are very pleased about that as it shows us how well they have adjusted to their new homes.
Our Male Icelandic Sheepdogs
Eric
Eric was our introduction to the Icelandic Sheepdog breed. My husband had planned for him to be "an outside dog" but when we brought him home at age two, he had been used to sleeping on his previous owner's bed and made it quite apparent that he expected the same treatment here - and he did get it! He sired many of our early litters, therefore contributed in a major way to the happiness of many families.
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Sadly his hearing started to deteriorate first, followed by some signs of arthritis, although he still managed to get up on the bed! We tried various medications, a magnetic bed etc., but it finally came the time for him to leave us. He will always be sorely missed.
We will always appreciate the marvelous example he gave us of the Icelandic Sheepdog breed. |
KOLUR
In 1998 I went to Iceland for the purpose of selecting a new breeding male Icelandic sheepdog. I had seen an article in the Eidfaxi Icelandic Horse magazine before I went showing some truly fine Icelandic horses (one in particular!), so contacted this farm and lo and behold, they were also expecting a litter of puppies! So Arbakki Icelandic Horse Farm is where I went and by the time I got there the puppies had been born and were three days old. Every puppy in the litter was a very dark charcoal grey - Kolur had a little white ruff and that was why I chose him, anticipating the biggest colour contrast. He is a marvellous example of the colour change that frequently happens from when a puppy is born until a few months later.
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As his first flight here was cancelled, he was several months old before he finally arrived here and the colour transformation had already happened. Although still a puppy, he was very stoic and remained almost completely silent for at least a couple of months. This was a prime illustration of how behaviour is learned, i.e. barking! By the time he eventually left Iceland, it had been determined that he was one of the best looking male Icelandic sheepdogs for many years and the question was, how did I know that at three days old!
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Kolur has been the favourite of many family members and visitors here. As is typical, he is extremely affectionate, a very good breeding partner to our females and an enormous frisbee enthusiast. He made his liking for this pursuit quite clear when our grandchildren visited and played frisbee and he wanted to join in. His frisbee catching ability was sorely tested at the start as I was really bad at throwing it and had little idea where the frisbee was going, so between Kolur and my husband with the video camera, everyone's patience was sorely tested!! I'm much better at throwing it now, although recently Kolur did sit underneath a tree looking up for about five minutes waiting for the latest frisbee thrown to drop!!
My grandchildren and I are now taking Kolur for lessons in the show ring, so hopefully we might be able to put him in some shows. When I first tried with him, I held a piece of liver treat in front of him, but as he was so anxious to get to it, he walked on his hind legs beside me trying to get it and I didn't think that would go over well in the show ring, which is why we're taking lessons!
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TOFRA LJOSALFUR
Alfur arrived in Vancouver from Norway, where his breeder Monika Karlsdottir, had been living for a while (she is Icelandic and normally lives in Iceland). He had been shown as a puppy there, so arrived with a little treasure chest with his toys and rosettes that he had won in puppy classes. He could "take 5", "shake a paw" and "wave goodbye", so our grandchildren were enormously impressed.
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The difference in coat length between Eric, Kolur and Alfur is so great that they almost look like different breed of dog. Alfur is a small Icelandic, has a double curled tail, short coat lying flat and could almost be mistaken for a Jack Russell! Eric has a medium length coat and has a typical Spitz look, and Kolur a long haired upright coat and looks a little more like a Husky. Alfur has also sired a number of litters and passes on the remarkable trait that nearly all puppies sired by him
are practically born with their ears pricked! If not it generally takes about three weeks for this to happen.
Affectionate again, Alfur can jump to a huge height. It's always been disappointing for us that, with the farm and living in an isolated spot, we've never been able to put him into agility because he would do well. Learned behaviour again - we had Grimsnes' Rof (Raf) in a run beside Alfur and she can now jump nearly as high! |
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OFEIGUR NARRI FRA VILLISKOGUM
Narri came to us from Portugal, as his breeder had moved there and had taken her breeding Icelandic sheepdogs with her. When Narri's litter was born there were five little boys and virtually no-one in Portugal had heard of the breed. We saw his picture on the Internet and he looked such a beautiful little puppy that we thought he had to come here!
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Shortly before he was to leave Portugal, his breeder asked if we could possibly take one of his brothers as they were having difficulty finding homes for the puppies and Lufthansa would let them share a crate. To cut a long story short Kari also came, so it was nice company for them at the start and Kari eventually went to Alberta to the son of friends of ours who had one of our dogs some years before. This was probably very fortunate for both Kari and Narri as a new strain of Parvo appeared in Portugal and even though the puppies had had all their shots, the other three little brothers succumbed to it.
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Narri would do very well in agility! We are planning for him to sire his first litter this year and looking forward to seeing what puppies from Narri and Alfadis will look like. We are also hoping to use him for some herding as he has boundless energy and it would be a good idea to harness some of it.
Our Female Icelandic Sheepdogs
GRIMSNES' ROF (call name Raf)
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Raf arrived in Vancouver from Denmark in 2001 on the same weekend that Alfur arrived from Norway, so they were able to be good playmates for one another. Raf is predominantly black with a long coat but it lies flat, so her appearance with her long coat is much different from even one of our dogs with a medium but upright coat. She is slightly built, compared with some of our other females, and when bred with Kolur we've tended to have a mixture of puppy looks, some tubbier and more like Kolur and others small and slender with the Raf look.
Now retired from breeding and happily settled in a new home
with one of her puppies. |
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Pineridge Gletta
Gletta was a puppy we kept from our last breeding of Lukka with Alfur. Of course Gletta's ears were fully pricked by about four weeks old!
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I had thought of showing Gletta, but so far her only keen interest in walking nicely is when she's following one of our cats! So a lot of work has to happen there. This same sister Vanadis has just had has first litter in Alberta and we are looking forward greatly to Gletta's first litter. Gletta is an excitable little dog, again highly athletic. Even though the boys are traditionally taller than the girls, some of our little girls are pretty fast.
She has started her breeding career and is a very good little mother. She is athletic like her father and loves meeting new people. She also loves playing outside with her father, and they both enjoy the snow, though Alfur gets chilly first! |
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Tofra Kolbra (Kolla)
Kolla was born in Iceland on March 15, 2007 and arrived at our farm in July of that year. She is a very friendly and affectionate little dog and loves Kolur, who we plan to breed her to, except when she comes into estrus and then she snaps at him, and he, being the gentleman that he is, tends to back off. This has gone on for several years now but we do hope to have a successful breeding soon.
We might try using Narri but so many people are interested in a puppy from the Kolur/Kolla pairing, that we haven't deviated from this so far. Both dogs carry the chinchilla (wheaten) gene and it's a colour that we've really liked. Kolur's coat is long and upright, Kolla's is long and flat, and the offspring coats are also an interesting prospect.
Please keep checking our website to see if we have achieved success!
Pineridge Meyja
Meyja is a puppy we kept from our last breeding of Rof with Kolur and is a very sweet and active little girl. She will be two years old in August, when we will have her hips x-rayed and scored. Her CERF test was 'Normal'.
We plan to have her first breeding after we get her health check results and assuming they are fine, will breed her with Alfur.
Pineridge Alfadis
Alfadis was a very good little mother but is quite a small little dog, so we have decided not to breed her again and hope she will soon to go a one dog family where she will be a most important member of that family.
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