CERF Results

Hello Folks,

Well off to see the CERF vet this afternoon, picked up Jason after lunch and off we went to the vets.. its was a minor rodeo to get all the drops in eyes, and paperwork filled out and dogs in and out :)

So once again, was very pleased to see that my breeding dogs, both now and up and coming all have CERF normals.

Born in a storm, had a note on his eight Week CERF and we were not sure what it meant at the time, so even though he is altered, and not in a breeding program, I still felt it was very important to get his CERF done to see if anything was still there or not. Results is listed below. Both of Bjorns parents have CERF normals, in the case of his mother, four CERF normals.


Tofra Tobba Traustadottir- Normal
Pineridge Vaskur- Normal
Tofra Dalla Hektorsdottir-Normal
Folda-Normal
Greenstone Ajay-Normal
Greenstone Ada-Normal
Greenstone Alaxander the Great-Normal
Greenstone Born in a Storm- Normal right eye, Left eye Retinal dysplasia/retinopathy-geographic
Belglen Runa of Greenstone-Normal

Barks

Icelandic Sheepdogs -Kingston Show Results!!

Hello Folks

What a weekend! The Greenstone Icelandics were amazing, I am so proud of all of them, but once again Ajay stole the show when it came to group level, but both Belglen girls were simply stunning at breed level!!

So first off it was Hot! so we spent a great deal of the time trying to make sure that the dogs were comfortable, without melting ourselves.. and we also had a large rain storm on friday night that also created floods..

Ok, on with the show, Greenstone Ajay, Greenstone Ada, Belglen Runa of Greenstone and Belglen Roskva were at the show, all dogs were listed.

On Friday,
BOB - Greenstone Ajay
BOS- Belglen Runa of Greenstone
Reserve Winners Bitch- Greenstone Ada

Scott and Laura were just a touch to late getting to the show site and missed the group seven on Friday, but were there on Saturday and Sunday, as well as Friday evening..

Then came group and much to my surprise and great pleasure, Greenstone Ajay took Group 3rd! I was so pleased. What a great boy..

Saturday
BOB-Greenstone AJay
BOS-Belglen Runa of Greenstone
Reserve Winners Bitch- Belglen Roskva


and that meant that Belglen Runa was the second Iceland Sheepdog in Canada to finish her needed points to become the first female ISD Champion!!! WAY TO GO RUNA and BELGLEN Kennels!!

I have attached Runa's winning show photo to this email, if you would like it large enough to print off, then please let me know, and I will send it with a larger format so that it will look good.

Sunday
BOB-Greenstone AJay
BOS-Belglen Runa of Greenstone
Reserve Winner Bitch-Belglen Roskva

and then Greenstone AJay went on to take Group 4th!! Two group placements in one weekend, that is simply amazing.. Ajay has placed 3 times in two show weekend all under different judges.

On friday my favorite Judge comment, was that he was a very sound dog, with great drive and movement.

The Judge on sunday took more time telling me what he thought of Ajay, , Although young and needing to mature, he felt that he was wonderfully sound, great movement, good reach and drive, but the one that I loved the most was " this dog is in a class of his own, he says, Look at this breed" "Totally Eye catching" Got to love comments like that!!

It was a great weekend visiting with friends, enjoying fine but to hot weather, and wonderful times spent with my Icelandics..

As always there were many interested folks and lots of visiting about the breed..

Everyone have a great night.

Cerf exams booked for this year

Hello Folks

Well, it was a good day yesterday, I took the cutest sad photo of Ada in the tub and will share it here with you.. Forgive if it also ends up in the newsletter, I sent it to Laura for a grooming article that she is working on.

Otherwise, heard back from my CERF vet and its confirmed that all of my ISD are going on Tuesday afternoon to get their yearly updates, in the case of my older dogs they have been getting this done for years now, and it will be the first followups on some of my own first generation. They were all normal at pups, look forward to seeing if they still have good eye health.

This is one area that so far, I appear to have good lines across the board in, as Pineridge was kind enough to not only test Kolur again but also Lukka, and as the breedes in Iceland have been actively testing now, Greenstone Ajay, Ada, and Alaxander are third generation CERF normal so far, so Tera and Ajay's pups will be fourth generation on at least one side of the pedigee and third generation on the other.. which is really great, considering that when I started in ISD, it was hard to find a puppy that had one parent or one grandparent tested..

Everyone have a great day, off for agility classes tonight and then no updates for at least four days till I get back from the dog shows.

Barks

Dreaming Dogs

Hi Folks

Well, took three dogs with me for agility and to go pick up Jason last night, boy were they excited to see their dad :) For the first while, no one even wanted to notice that I was still there.. cracks me up, they get so happy when he comes home.

So off to the groomers in another hour but just watched something interesting and thought I would share.. I'm sure at some point or another you have all seen your dogs dream, I love it when they dream happy dreams, excited low woof, legs twitching or even running sometimes, rapid eye movement, I have always wondered what it is they dream about, is it a memory, the time I ran after the ball at the park, is it something they enjoy, and therefor create a new dream on what they have done in their life?

Anyway, the idea that my dogs dream has always interested me, but ever now an again, they don't just dream but they have a bad dream, and there is a difference, normally they seem upset and they cry out in their sleep.. I don't like it when the dogs have bad dreams and often will go over, and sit with them, gentle stroking their heads and talking softy to them till they wake up, I find they often will wake up wild eyed, and I again wonder, what in their life has ever been so bad that they would dream about it.

Needless to say, Lily just had a bad dream sleeping on the couch, and before I could get up to comfort her, her favorite girl Dalla, looked up, ran over, jumped on the couch, laid down beside her and started grooming her face, licking her eyes, muzzle and ears, and just as I normally continue to provide comfort after they wake up, so did Dalla, till it was clear that Lily was awake and fine.. Lily gave her a couple head rubs and the two of them laid down together to have a new nap..

There are days that I am amazed at the care that my dogs give each other...

Anyway, might be a slightly strange post, but I still thought it was worth sharing,

Barks

Jason coming home today/Agility training tonight

Hello Folks

Well, its been a busy morning already, and I'm taking a break while the floors dry from the daily washing..

The dogs are all good today, really love the new hotdog treats I made yesterday, and they thought their pizza buns were wonderful, Runa cracked me right up, she jumped up on top of the computer desk so that she was about three and half feet above the rest of the dogs so that she could ever so slowly eat her food without being bothered.

That little girl can jump, she reminds me of a cat somedays..

Otherwise, just doing training for both show ring and agility today, heading into town early to go to orleans for agility practise and then off to the airport for Jason..

Tomorrow, the three dogs go to the groomers in the afternoon, will have to see If I can remember the camera this time, I really wanted a photo of the dogs in the tub and being blowdried for Laura's grooming article.. see what I can do..

Barks

Soggy Doggies but O so happy!

Hello Folks

Well its Monday morning and I will admit to being tired this morning, between classes, dogs in heat, kittens and bottle feeding baby goat, plus all the regular chores, I sure do notice when Jason is not home.

So its been raining and raining!! I love it, we even had thunder, no lightening that I saw but I do so love storms, was interesting to watch the dogs, I honestly believe that most of the time if you love something the dogs will to, and that is sure what happens in my house, most of the dogs just relax and hang out, some look up as the thunder is overhead ect.

Well the dogs are all having to be kept apart as we have girls in heat and boys thinking that this girl is mine etc.. so not getting as much out time with mom as is normal, so I decided Rain or no Rain everyone needs a really good run.. So bundled up with rain gear and out we went.. well I tell you, it was a nice cool but fairly warm rain and the dogs loved it.. they splashed in puddles, rolled in the wet hay fields, and jumped all over their play partners, and by the time I was done my fifth set of dogs, I was just as wet LOL as they were.

But I have quiet happy sleepy dogs at the moment and that sometimes can be worth its weight in gold, got hotdog treats drying in the oven, morning housework chores are all done, just need to wash the floors, figured with the dogs all coming in wet, not much point in doing the floors yet this morning.

Looking forward to fresh bread later today, going to make pizza and buns, think I might make a bit of extra small buns for each dog, and put a little peice of meat inside as a extra special treat for them.

Otherwise in training, we are still working on "mark" and "table" this week.. Going out to do agility training tuesday afternoon, thursday afternoon and class Thursday evening and then heading off to the three day dog show Friday, Saturday, Sunday so it is gearing up to be a good doggy week..

Barks

Iceland Sheepdog Buttons are Available

Hello Folks

Well the Iceland Sheepdog Buttons are going to be made this coming week and will be available for sale at two dollars Canadian plus Shipping per button. We will be having Iceland Blue background and the Dark Brown Background made in this batch, as when we polled a number of CISC folks, we found that these are the two most popular colors to go with this dog.

We will be working on a Black Tri Button in the future, most likely with a green and red background. Updates to follow..

Well, other then that the honeymoon is over for Tera, and things in the house are somewhat settling down..

Very busy working on the different things I do for the CISC newsletter, running the farm without Jason as he is gone for a week, and trying to keep up on the dogs training etc..

Its been cool and raining for the last to days, which for me is lovely!, I am not a heat girl, I will take cool any day..

Barks Valerie

Agility Update June 9th

Good Morning Folks

Well, it was agility night last night, with Jason gone on a work trip, I decided to make the private an hour instead of one an half hours and we only worked two dogs instead of four..

So we had Ada and Runa out, Ada was on fire last night, she did everything we asked for her today in regards to contacts, etc.. but we found out that she is weak in "thinking " for herself, she really looks to me to find out what to do next, instead of looking a head..

So that is our current challange with Ada is to work on the "to bad" try something else, so that she can learn to think more about what is coming up, raither then freezing and giving me wonderful eye contact, in a coiled body waiting for the next command..

So this weekend we are a going to haul out a hay bay, that will be come "table" for her and we are going to see what we can do about getting her to think about it.. I have jumps and tunnels so will start doing a very short set with the table being the end.

Runa was havin a slightly off night, she came on strong and was doing well till she went up the teeter tooter to fast, and it went down with a big bang and then she was more concerned..we worked though it, the A-frame was fine, and we were working stays on two on two off mainly but she slowed down on the dog walk.. but by the end of class was more sure of herself...one step forward, two steps back appeared to be Runa last night.

Folda continues her honeymoon, which is great news.

Well I was to be at herding this morning but not feeling very well, so am staying home and doing housework instead..looking forward to the weekend, as we are to have cool temps with lots of rain, so will be able to keep working on spring cleaning of pens for the chickens/sheep/goats etc

Everyone have a great day..

Barks

OT-cute goat photo-Anna

Hello Folks

Ok, off topic of the dogs but to cute not to share, so I get up this morning to let dogs out for bathroom breaks and run to go to the ladies myself and the kittens have found the toliet paper and have the whole roll down and played with in bits all over the bathroom floor..hmmm

So I am working on cleaning the bathroom first thing this morning and little Anna baby goat is in the bathroom, and she introduces herself to the kittens and she is in love with the kitten size cat stands..

Well I started to laugh, and then laugh somemore..

So here is one of the cutest photos, its called...

You are the strangest looking kitten I've ever seen??

LOL

Barks

Honeymoon is ON!

Hello Folks

Well Folda Aka Tera and Ajay have started their formal honeymoom today, and they have been very good little love birds, so if all goes well, we will be looking at an Ultrasound in about 30 to 35 days from today, with little ones coming at about day 63.

They are so cute, Ajay grooms her ears and neck and they snuggle and flirt and she swishes her tail like a little feather boa, I'm so pretty look at me!!!

Ajay is quite the little gentleman, and is very sweet with her..

More updates to follow..

Barks

Ada Adopts Anna Anna (the Baby Goat)

Hello Folks

Well, much to my surprise Mimi decided this week that she only liked her son, and decide that her little twin doe was not to be part of the family so she is now living in the house with us being a bottle baby, as I have no one to put with her to keep her company, she is being crate trained at night just like a puppy, and has free access to the kitchen and I'm putting her out on the door for pee's in the grass as much as possable..

But she is still lonely, and so she goes from Dog to Dog saying, will you be my friend?? Bjorn as always likes all goats and so he is sweet to her but will not let her sleep with him.

However she asked Ada if she could sleep with her, and Ada just licked her head and ears and said, ok, I will share my sleeping space with you, so Anna laid down between Ada's legs and cuddled into sleep.. and now when she is looking for a sleeping spot she seeks out Ada and they curl up together, I really need to try and get a photo of it, its so cute.

Anna is doing well, and we hope she will continue to do so..

Barks

Fun runs by Iqaluit, Nunavut Canada

The dogs running up the ridge from the wallfalls in winter just outside of town on the Radar Road, in the summer time this is a favorite fishing spot, when the tide is in, its a lake, and when the tide goes out its a waterfall..

Barks

Old Artic photos

Hello Folks

I was visiting with a person on sunday and we got talking about the tundra and the artic, which of course is were we use to live with the dogs.. got me a little homeesick for the north, so I took a look today at some photos.. They made me smile, laugh and maybe a little wet in the eyes all at the same time.. So I'm going to post a few with notes on where there were at..

So the first one is a herd of musk ox that we saw out on one of our camping work trips.. Jason was filming then with the video camera and he was very quietly talking away, then realized that they were to close, and that one of the bulls had moved past his hiding hole in a pile of rocks and he could not longer leave at free will.

He had to wait there, perfectly still for over an hour before, the herd moved away far enough that he could get up and walk away. Still we have some amazing video of the whole herd including the new babies nursing on mom and musk ox doing what they do :) Hope you will enjoy seeing the photos, and if you want to picture yourself there, nice big outcrop of grey rock is where you are laying on the ground, spring time, 24 hour daylight, and you are out hiking, taking rock samples..

Barks

Heats are here!

Hello Folks

Well, the girls are in heat now, Runa was the first one in heat, then Tera, then Oppa, then Dalla and still waiting for Ada.. who has yet to start.

So it will be a interesting and busy next two weeks making sure that all the females keep away from the males, other then of course the honeymoon between two of them LOL but we have to wait for the right time for that.

Well, I have finally made the choice, and CH Greenstone AJay will be the male used on Folda Aka Tera, mainly for three reasons, first is that Ajay has the best Front of the two boys, and this is Folda weak area, the more we can improve this area on her puppies the better structually they will be, or at least that is what we hope.

Second, as Tera only carries (yellow Gene ) Red, and no recessives colors, it makes no difference in the litter if we use a black tri on her, Ajay carries Black tri and chincilla, so the recessives will still be in the pups but all puppies will be yellow gene, and as Ajay is a nice darker red color himself, we can up the odds of nice deep clean red pups with him.. plus he has amazing tight tail set, (better then Zanders) and so does Tera, so we should be super type to the pups heads, great tight tail sets and plush undercoats (from Tera) but a great top coat from Ajay, he has more longer guard hairs then Zander, ( while Zander has a bit more of a proper harshness to his coat) and third, as most of the folks waiting on the list are wanting both family dogs and active dogs, Ajay is a good choice, While I like Zander better for a therapy dog temperment, I think for working/busy folks, that Ajay will be just as good perhaps even better as he really thinks he is something special.. LOL

So that is were we are at right now... The breeding should take place within the next week to two weeks depending on when she is ready to stand..

Will keep you all posted, and then comes the count down to the ultrasound..

Barks

Icelandic Sheepdogs - Kingston Dog Show Booked

Hello Folks

The Greenstone Icelandics are booked for the coming Kingston Dog Show, June 16, 17, 18th. Shows to be at the Rideau Acres Campground and Resort.

Greenstone Ajay, Greenstone Ada and Belglen Runa of Greenstone will be there, Scott and Laura are bringing Belglen Roskva up from Toronto for the show as well.

Friday -Mrs K Guimond-Sask
Saturday-Mr T Nesbitt-On
Sunday- Mr W Pinsher-NB

I will be interested to see what the different judges from across Canada think of the dogs..

Updates as always to follow.

Barks

Icelandic Sheepdog Agility updated June 1st

Hi Folks

Well we just got back from three hours worth of agility training with four dogs, Bella my yellowknife rescue and oldest Agility star, for ISD, we had Dalla and Ada out in private and Runa in class..

It was a ton of fun and despite the heat, lots was learned.. boy can that Ada move!!

Sent Runa in with Jason for class, and she was such a good girl, she did everything he asked her to, and with grace and bounce to her step.. There was a contest tonight to see who could do the fastest time for the A-frame, clock started when dog went up, and stopped when dog was two on /two off..

Four runs, one warm up, and then the next three counted, Runa took 2.9 2.3 and 2 seconds, the fastest three runs and I will tell you right now, she was not at a full out burn, she was still in control and will someday be alot faster, but as the rest of the class of eight was in the 3 second plus mark, I was still very proud of her times..

She really seems to like the weave polls, not have that in a dog before, but will take it as good sign..

Great night had by all..

Barks

Greenstone Icelandic Sheepdogs Born in a Storm

Hello Folks

Well I made the hard choice to have Bjorn (aka Greenstone Born in a Storm) altered this week, due to the fact that he only ever developed one family jewal, and as this is a passable trait, and as the ISIC recommended that we do not breed with any males with this issue.. I decided to Alter him and I will be looking for a new home for him in the future.

He is a lovely deep red color and it truly was a shame to have to remove him from the breeding pool, but really didn't have a choice..

Barks