Icelandic Sleddogs?

In November of 2008 Jon and I had quite the Adventure with our two younger boys Kaffi and Jolasveinn. We took them to a "Run what you Brung" offered by Catherine and Eric Benson of Maryland Sleddog Adventures, LLC

http://www.marylanddogsledding.com/Run_What_You_Brung_Gallery.htm

Yep that's Kaffi and Jolasveinns little Chocolate and Vanilla butts in the middle of the Benson's wonderful dog team. It's true what they say, unless your the lead dog the view is always the same

Jon, myself and the boys were introduced to mushing equipment, training and conditioning techniques, and commands. Catherine and Eric put all this information in an easy and friendly format, giving you a hands on experience. The boys learned terms such as "line out" a command to have them keep the lines out tight to prevent tangling and as in the photo above "Gee-over", or move over to the right

Yep, that really is Kaffi and Jolasveinn working as part of a Sled Dog team! Well Kaffi was working, Jolasveinn was playing, poor Kaff' was tired out by now -- or just plain annoyed with Jolasveinn and just really wanted to get away from him!

This Photo was taken by Eric Benson, one half of Maryland Sled Dog Adventures, LLC for more photos taken by Eric from our Adventure go to:

http://pets.webshots.com/album/568720583BHbZub

This was a really great autumn day for Jon and myself out with the dogs, and were the boys ever tired out on the way home. Catherine and Eric have several different programs throughout the Chilly months to introduce people to Dog Powered Sports. I also had the opportunity to be able to join them for one of their Boy Scout Programs... the review the Scouts gave "They all loved it!" For more info go to: http://www.marylanddogsledding.com/Index.htm

Fox Meadow Jolasveinn Meets Santa

Kaffi brought his son Fox Meadow Jolasveinn ( which means Santa Claus in Icelandic ) to meet the Jolly Old Elf himself for the very first time. Clearly our little guy was thrilled to meet the "Original Jolasveinn". I'm sure he assured Santa that he had been good all year.

Our Icelandic Landscape Crew

About the middle of summer, the grass always seems to start to fade and thin out under the two giant maple trees in our yard because of the dense shad, heat and lack of rain. Our all Icelandic landscape crew has completely transformed our yard so we set them to work on this project. They assembled their very best Lawn watering team for the task! Although their landscape designs might not be for everyone, our landscape crew provides us with hours of entertainment.

We have also been designated as an official wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation we are now Habitat No. 105,533. We have had countless rabbit families raised in the backyard, butterflies abound, robins hatch regularly, hummingbirds are frequent visitors and now we are raising pheasants for release next spring. I sincerely doubt that they had the kind of "wildlife" pictured in our little video in mind when they granted it that Certification. Kaffi and Jolasveinn have the very best time playing together.

A young Robin looking for a hand-out and one of our young pheasants

Kaffi and Jolasveinn havin' some Spring Fever

Kaffi decided to show his son Jolasveinn how much fun the farm can be in the Spring running through hay fields. They were having an absolute blast running through and bobbing up and over the hay like deer in a corn field. I was having just as much fun watching them.

Happy Spring Everybody!

Our Viking Herder puppy

Fox Meadow Jolasveinn meets one of our yearling rams Fox Meadow Gryphon for the first time today after we finished shearing; and lays down some ground rules for him
Alright everybody get moving, you too Pembrooke!

I said stay right there!

Don't even think about moving or maybe it was don't make me come back there!

Jolasveinn meets the sheep

After we finished some shearing today, Jolasveinn finally was able to meet the sheep. He was a little startled at first, he trotted past a lambing jug that our best ewe Fiona and her 3 day old twin lambs were tucked away safely in; she's a great mom and even though they were on opposites sides of a fence she stomped her feet at him then head butted the gate as he went by. The little guy quickly recovered and went out to meet the larger group.

He was immediately greeted by one of our Shetland rams Pembrooke, who gave him a little back off snort and stomp but otherwise was happy to let him be around his ewes so long as Jolasveinn didn't get too out of line with them. He ran them up from the lower pasture to the upper one, where the video stops he had also stopped to wait for us to catch up with him then went on to finish the job.

The Icelandic Sheepdog naturally herds in a droving style rather than Gathering like the Border Collie. They use their voice to move the sheep away from the shepherd, they can although be taught to Gather and drive the sheep toward the shepherd. The ISD rarely needs to resort to getting nippy or "grip" the flocks they herd. Our flock of Shetland Sheep are not dog broke and are not an overly flocky breed but even they can respect the authority of a 12 week old Icelandic Sheepdog

Fox Meadow Jólasveinn "Santa"

Fox Meadow Jolasveinn

"Santa"

There are alot of Christmas Carols about Santa but this year we like this one the best! Fox Meadow Jólasveinn is the first Chocolate Tri-Color Icelandic Sheepdog to be born in the United States. He's an awesome little guy who I think knows he's staying here with us. He was first to climb the stairs, then he trotted right up into our bedroom and plopped down on his Dad's, Kaffi's bed.

We are enjoying his little personality immensely and it seems he inherited only the best from Elsie and Kaffi. We are really pleased with how he's turning out and can't wait to see what he future holds for him.