Howling Northwind - Saarlooswolfhond Kennel

Happy Birthday Skadi!

2011-04-25T19:28:00.004+02:00

I thank this stubborn, slow and cozy bitch for changing my life completely 7 years ago, for making me laugh every single day and for giving birth to a litter of 5 wonderful wolfdogs. Skadi is the very best companion one could wish - hope we will have another 7 years together!

Happy Birthday Tova!

2011-04-23T21:55:00.003+02:00

Two years with this beautiful, as wild as sweet tempered dog and I am thankful for each and every single day! Working for and with this first Howling Northwind litter was, despite all the stress one of the best things I have done in my life so far. Gratulations to all siblings of Tova - may the gods grant you a long and happy life!

2011-01-22T11:18:00.002+01:00

Nej till ännu en licensjakt på varg!

2011-01-02T14:05:00.003+01:00

Nej till ännu en licensjakt på varg!

Once again the swedish wolves need your help - follow this link and support them with your signature!
[link]

Here's my translation of the text on the petition site for those who are not able to understand swedish - it might be far from perfect, but I think it's enough to explain the whole thing:

Say NO to another licensed Wolf Hunt in 2011!

On january the 15 th 2011 the starting shot will be fired for another extensive wolfhunt in Sweden.

In spite of the fact that the population is small and fragile, Sweden continues to shot wolves this winter.

Last years' hunt resulted in the shoting of many alpha leaders and that one of the last year's litters was left without their parents. There are no indications that these puppies might have survived. Furthermore, in relation to the size of the wolf population, too many wolves were shot and additionally the death rate has been unusually high after the hunt. The difficult genetic situation hasn't improved and any hunt will further aggravate the state. If genetic strengthening will work out is not known yet.

In 2011 there are plans to shot 20 wolves in the six counties Dalarna, Gävleborg, Västra Götaland, Värmland, Örebro och Västmanlands län. Again about 10 % of the wolf population are supposed to be shot, despite the fact that Wolves are a heavily endangered species in Sweden. The hunt will be carried out in the same way as last year, which means that there are no restrictions taking the wolves into consideration. Neither parental couples with puppies nor offspring from immigrated wolves are protected.

In Sweden there's no possibilty to appeal against the licensed hunt, even though it lacks a legal as well as a scientific basis. Therefore Svenska Rovdjursföreningen, Naturskyddsföreningen, Världsnaturfonden WWF and Djurskyddet Sverige reported last winter's hunt to the responsible EU-commission. A reply is yet anticipated.

The swedish government motivates the hunt with the argument that it obtains acceptance for wolves. However a majority of the swedish folk, even in regions with an occurence of wolves, has already a positive opinion towards wolves in Sweden. On the other hand there's no indication at all that the minorities which oppose the wolf have changed their minds to a more tolerant stance since last year's wolf hunt.

Show the swedish politicians that you take a stance against the hunt and support the wolf!

Make your voice heard and sign the petition below that will be handed over to Environment Secretary Andreas Carlgren.

Take the cahnce and become a member of the Svenska Rovdjursföreningen/Swedish Association for Predators: www.rovdjur.se.

Appeal!

* I protest against the licensed wolf hunt 2011 in Sweden and demand that it stops! No licensed wolf hunt before there is a wolf population in Sweden that is genetically healthy and viable!

* I also protest against the limitation of the wolf population to a maxiumum number of 210 individuals! Let the population grow and set a new preliminary aim of 400 wolves until there is a plan for a long-sighted viable wolfpopulation in Sweden!

Background information:

Sweden has one of the most vulnerable european wolf populations; it is small, isolated and genetically heavily impoverished.
Furthermore in Sweden a lot of wolves get killed, legally and illegally. The recent activities are completely out of the authorities' control and there has been a strong escalation in association with the licensed hunt. Just in 2010 about 40 swedish wolves have been shot legally - out of a total population number of approximately 250 individuals. Out of the total death rate of around 60 wolves in one year the majority of cases were due to hunting. Another unknown quantity of dead wolves has to be added due to illegal hunt.

- Any hunt corrupts the situation for the very vulnerable wolf population.

- The plan of releasing genetically unrelated wolves struggles against huge problems and is insufficient.

Collect signatures!
If you want to help with collecting signatures you can download the petition here: [link]

Send the filled in lists to:

Svenska Rovdjursföreningen

Masthamnen

116 30 Stockholm

Sweden

Thanks for your help!

namn - your name
ort - the place you live
yrke - your occupation
Epost - your e-mail adress

Skriv under nu! - Sign the petition!

Ice and Fire

2010-12-07T22:02:00.003+01:00

Last time it was Skadi - this time it's Isa's turn!
Doesn't she look truly beautiful in this wintry surrounding? Unfortunately it seems that she is the one of our dogs that likes this weather least... However we can enjoy these pictures of Ice and Fire!

The beauty of age

2010-12-05T12:55:00.004+01:00

Why only the youngsters all the time? Truly Tova and her siblings are much more often displayed here than our other two females Skadi and Isa, who mostly appeared as marginal figures in recent posts.
So this entry belongs to Skadi alone, who gets a very nice winterfur this year and from my point of view looks better than ever before with her soon 7 years... The following pictures were taken during this weekend so they are brandnew:

Tjalve again...

2010-12-05T12:43:00.002+01:00

Another great picture of Tjalve (this time with his father) I don't want to withhold... Looks like fun!

Tjalve in the snow

2010-12-02T21:40:00.003+01:00

Yes, I know - first there's no single entry in a few months and then I update this site every day - that's the way it is ;)
I got some brandnew pics of Tjalve today and of course I don't want to withhold them!

New website of "Hondentrimstudio Kiowa"

2010-12-01T21:48:00.006+01:00

Marleen, owner of Tjalve and Kiowa, has updated the website for her grooming studio and I think she has done a great job - check it out!
"Hondentrimstudio Kiowa"

Brothers

2010-12-01T20:51:00.004+01:00

Once again it took me some time to update this site - however, despite the very long periods of silence, there are still a lot of visits. Thanks to the faithful - these pics are for you!
They are not that new anymore either - I already got them in October (shame on me to keep you waiting such a long time). But the recent months have been troubled waters, lots to do and some unpleasant stuff, all in all I wasn't able to care for the worldwide web as much as I probably should.
Here are some shots from a meeting of the 3 brothers of the Alfa litter, the older brown male on some of the photos is Wateshni, Washita's comrade in arms. Enjoy!

Wahya getting famous, Tjalve and his father succeed at the Belgian Club Match and Tova's first eye examination

2010-09-10T19:48:00.007+02:00

Yes, I know, I promised to write more often but there were a lot of other things to do (actually I was very busy with my arts and craft stuff, creating some of my best works...) and there was nothing new on the wolfdog front that by all means had to be written here. But now I'll return with some really cool stuff (and a lot at once today;)):

1. Wahya is on the cover of the danish rock band Apollo's new album cover:

Here you can find even more pictures - just scrool through the songs! There are 3 pictures of Wahya

http://www.apolloband.dk/player/fullscreen.html

2. Tjalve and his Dad Kiowa were quite successful at the recent Belgium Club Match -
Tjalve won in the "young males class" with "excellent", his father won the "open class males" with the same result. Kiowa even won the clubmatch, is best of breed, best male and is now official Belgium Champ C.A.C. !!!

a father and his sons

3. Last but not least I am happy to say that the yearly eye-examination (by the way Tova's first one) was without any abnormal results for Skadi as well as for her daughter.

Saarlooswolfdog Summer Games - Swimming Tova

2010-07-20T01:19:00.000+02:00

Summertime

2010-07-20T00:50:00.000+02:00

Isa and Tova playing

2010-07-08T08:31:00.000+02:00

Howling Northwind Roffe

2010-07-07T13:24:00.003+02:00

New pictures of Howling Northwind Wahya

2010-07-06T14:45:00.001+02:00

This stick is not big enough for you and me...

2010-06-07T17:45:00.010+02:00

...even if it is quite big.This second entry for today is for those of you who are here for the pictures instead for a lot of words ;) especially for those who have missed Isa recently.
Just click on the pictures to make them bigger!

And Now for Something Completely Different

2010-06-07T16:49:00.004+02:00

Indeed this entry has not to much to do with our dogs or our kennel. It's not even about dogs in general. But hey - it's a blog and it is there to enable me to share my thoughts with you, dear reader. So I 'll show you something completely different today.
It's about nature and it's beauty, it's circles and it's necesseties.
Please look at this picture:

It's kind of beautiful, isn't it. Okay, it's not the human-made kind of elegancy and if you are a convinced big city dweller with no connection to mother earth at all, you might not be able to see the grace that is inherent in this nest. But then it is not that likely that you will read this blog anyhow.
Even if it is not of a ravishing beauty, it has this typical primordial charm. I don't know what kind of bird inhabited this wonderfully crafted home and if it's offspring hatched out and survived or if the neighbour's cat or even a wild lynx completed the circle of life in advance. What I know is that I found this little thing a few days ago after a windy night and that I took it and delighted in it.
Why did I post this here on a blog that mostly deals with my pack of Saarlooswolfdogs? If you look at it carefully you might guess the reason. I wrote these lines and uploaded this photo because of the fact that this nest is almost entirely build out of our dogs' wintercoats. They lost a lot of fur a while ago (and when I say a lot, I mean A LOT!!!), first of all Tova - it always seems to me their first winterfur is the most beautiful one!
We are used to brush them out in the garden - and with it we obviously do a favour to the rich birdlife of our area. This gives one a kind of feeling of affiliation. We can give something back to this world we call our home!
Another thing I want to point out, is that we all should learn (again) to enjoy the small things. Most of us got stuck in stress, problems and a daily routine, a sickness that kills our souls day by day.
But there's just this small advice this little nest can give you - the cure is out there and you will see it if your eyes are open!

/Freki

Brothers on the seashore

2010-05-31T13:04:00.004+02:00

Tjalve and Washita

Tjalve

Tjalve

Tjalve

Tjalve and Washita

Tjalve and Washita

Tjalve and Washita

Washita

Washita

Tjalve, Washita and Wahtesni

Tjalve and Washita

Skadi's birthday walk (posted one month delayed...)

2010-05-29T11:02:00.007+02:00

As promised you get another nice slideshow today. The pictures were made one month ago at Skadi's birthday, somewhere around here in the woods.
If you want to watch it in full size - klick here!

Tomorrow I will present some great new pictures of Tjalve and Washita on the beach - so don't forget to return ;)

Grandpa and the boys

2010-05-28T18:46:00.003+02:00

With this pic it's the same as with the ones yesterday - my wasted brain was totally convinced that I already uploaded it here... This shows Roffe, Tjalve and their 12 year old Granddad Arko!
Thanks to Marleen for this shot and the retouching of the collars, leashes and humans - good job! I tried it too and failed ;)
Tomorrow there will be another slideshow - so you see - a daily visit is worthwhile again ;)

New pictures of Washita

2010-05-27T14:04:00.004+02:00

Hell, I really thought I had already posted these new photos of Washita one or two weeks ago. Thanks to Steffi who reminded me of them you can finally enjoy this beautiful wolfdog now!

New pictures of Roffe

2010-05-26T16:04:00.005+02:00

Baltic Rumble

2010-05-25T19:41:00.003+02:00

Yes, you can believe it - as I promised yesterday, life will come back to this blog ;)
Today I present a slideshow of a picture set taken almost 2 months ago. That's the problem with taking a lot of photos and being a perfectionist at the same time - you always end up with 1000s of unprocessed photographs on your computer.
These shots were made on a trip to the baltic sea during a week I spent in Germany in april.
The weather was great and the dogs had a lot of fun - but enough with boring words - enjoy this pictures instead!

If you want to watch it bigger, use this link - it should work: Slideshow Baltic Rumble

Some cool pics...

2010-05-24T14:16:00.012+02:00

A while ago I decided that it would be quite nice to be a bit more active here and to post new entries on a regular basis. However I didn't find the time yet, even if there are some things going through my mind I'd like to share with you, dear readers.
Well, maybe I 'll manage it somehow...
Anyway - here are some of my recent photographs of our dogs (as recent as from march till may ;)), certainly some of my best shots ever. Just see them as a kind of teaser for some slide-shows that will follow soon.

Enjoy it!

It's a camera, not a bone...

2010-05-12T09:07:00.002+02:00

...which plays no major role for Tova and her ever-crunching jaws of destruction ;)

Howling Northwind Alfa Puppies One Year Old!

2010-04-23T20:20:00.004+02:00

It's unbelievable how fast time runs - now our babies are already one year old.
We want to use this way to send our best birthday wishes to all of Tova's siblings!
We hope you all got nice presents from your owners and have a little party with your pack mates tonight!

Here's a short video of Tova with her birthday present - a big size version of her favorite toy "Oscar the Octopus":

and a recent photograph of Tova and her mother Skadi, taken yesterday:

New pics of Wahya

2010-03-19T15:53:00.003+01:00

Tova becoming a young lady ;)

2010-03-19T15:32:00.006+01:00

Another step in the coming of age - in accordance with her wild cousins she decided that those last days of winter would be the best time for her first heat - together with her mother Skadi who also seems to be quite dependend on the passing of seasons when it comes to her natural cycles. It's just unbelievable how time runs...
Furthermore we finally tested Tova's rabies - antibodies so that we will be able to leave Sweden for a short trip to Germany very soon. And, as expected she had a value high enough to pass the border to Sweden again at our return.

Mother and Daughter

2010-02-24T08:43:00.002+01:00

Last year at that time we did not even know if Skadi will get puppies - and now she is on a par with her mother ;)

Some news from Tova

2010-02-02T16:36:00.010+01:00

Yes, I know - first I do not write here for more than one month and then I do 3 entries at one day...
I just found the time today ;)

Bodily build
With her 9 months she has already grown as big as her mother and even bigger, however she still appears somehow small. Maybe because of the fact that she is still like a puppy - a very big puppy.
She has a very wonderful bodily frame and it is quite amazing to see her run, play and jump around. I think that is due to her slim but still somehow vigorous build. Even if she is very slim, she does not have that greyhound shape. If you look at her it simply seems that everything is on the right place.
I am really curious how she will develope in her further growth.

Temper
If I should describe Tova's character in one word, I would call her "extreme"!
She can be everything from extremely tender to extremely annoying ;)

Though I recognise some traits of her mother in Tova's temper, she is much more extreme in all respects. She shows a lot of that typical Saarlooswolfhond-behaviour serious breeders would warn you of ;)
Having 2 adult Saarloos-bitches I definetely wouldn't call us unexperienced, but Tova really showed us new dimensions of extreme thievery, destruction, omnivorousness and playful ferocity.
You can not leave her alone for more than a few seconds without having another part of your furnishings or household destroyed. Of course the fact that she is able to open doors and cupboards does not make it easier for us!
There's of course one exception to this rule - if she sleeps she usually don't destroys anything - but the point is, she does not need that much sleep!
She is a really active dog and needs a lot of attention.
On the other hand, she can be extremely nice and charming and even after her worst malpractices it is nearly impossible to get mad at her. She looks you in the eyes and you are under her spell!
She needs a lot of stroke units, much more than Skadi and Isa.
A very interesting fact is, that there are situations she listens quite good even if I definetely wouldn't speak of obedience in this regard.

She is not shy at all - every visitor gets a very warm welcome after two short barks - even total strangers are okay if they want to play or give her food.

HungerShe is also extremely hungry - all the time! Her main occupation is looking for food. If it is still on the stove it doesn't matter for her at all - this way we lost big parts of our dinner more than once.
Not only that she does everything to get food - she also eats everything, it does not matter to her what it is - if we eat something, she wants it too.
So not even vegetables or fruits are save when Tova is on a raid.
Last week I took her with me into the hen-house - she did not even look at the chickens more than a few seconds and started to eat the chickenfood instead...

Not necessery to add that we love her extremely for being exactly the kind of dog we wanted!
Never forget: You get the dogs you deserve!

Tova's siblings

2010-02-02T16:30:00.004+01:00

It's time to show off some new pictures of our Alfa-litter.
The pictures were all taken in January 2010. We have no recent picture of Washita because his owners have no (working) camera - but I think this will come very soon.

RoffeWahyaTjalve

Winter in Brunnsberga

2010-02-02T16:23:00.002+01:00

More than one month has passed since my last entry here - a month with a lot of snow!
We have a real swedish winter right now - the first one since 10 years in this region.
The dogs are enjoying the white fun outside day by day - lot's of possibilities for me to get great pictures.
Some of them I'd like to share with you:

Yellow Eyes and a Blue Sky

2009-12-22T17:16:00.000+01:00

Some promotion...

2009-12-07T18:32:00.004+01:00

...for my artworks.
I think a lot of people looking at this blog are certainly interested in Wolves, so I guess one of my recent works could be interesting for you:

More pictures and infos can you find on my other blog: http://varglya.blogspot.com/ or if you are interesting in purchasing this wolf-clock you can go straight to my webstore: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Wodenswolf

7 months update for Wahya ;)

2009-12-07T14:08:00.006+01:00

Finally - with some delay ;) - here comes the story about Wahya you are all waiting for!

"Here is a little story about Wahya.
Wahya is our first Saarloos wolfhound and the day we got her, a wish of many years came true.
We have been breeding Golden Retrievers and Labradors for many years and have owned Irish wolfhounds for many years as well, but Wahya is quite different from any of the dogs we have had through the years.
From day one when she entered our house and our dog family, we knew she was very special.
She walked around in the house, like she had lived here all her life. She greeted our leader Easy with a little kiss and walked on to meet the other dogs. The first evening she entered our bed and placed herself between me and Lars for the night.
Tacy one of the Golden Retrievers became her aunt and teacher. Among other things she taught Wahya how to climb the stairs to our bedroom. Tacy took a few steps and waited for Wahya, then she took a few steps more and waited and as Wahya followed, they reached the top of the staircase. Then Wahya ran all the way down the stairs and up again like she was saying “look I can do it myself!”
During the months we have lived with her she has developed a very strong personality.
She is very observant. She looks and learns and she only needs to see something one time to know how it is done. She is able to open our dustbins. They have an electronic opener and you need to lead your hand across the sensor and then it opens. Wahya saw me doing this one time, and then she put her nose on the sensor and the dustbin opened.

Wahya is not a dog – she is a wolf – no doubt about that. She is made of wolf and German Sheppard and one should think that there will be some wolf and some German Sheppard in her, but I can´t find the German Sheppard in her. I have been training German Sheppards on the Royal Danish Air force dog school, where I worked and I believe that I know these dogs and their minds.
A German Sheppard is in fact one of the most easy dogs to train. They love to obey their trainer, and they love to do the same exercise over and over again.
It is fairly easy to teach a German Sheppard how not to bite in furniture, other dogs, walls, beds and clothes.
It is nearly impossible to teach Wahya anything, except the things she can see the meaning in. She have her own mind, and if she is told “NO” for biting in the furniture, she looks up – stare at you with her beautiful yellow eyes, and continue to bite in the table.
She loves her walks with the other dogs in our big field, and she is a very skilled mouse catcher.
She is the most charming dog, we have ever seen. It is impossible to get mad at her, because she know exactly how to turn on the charm, and make us laugh. She seems to have a way of looking into your soul, when you talk to her. She looks firmly into your eyes and talks loudly with a deep growl or a high pitched tone. She is very special to us.
We DO love her very much."

Lars and Merete
Denmark

Reinstate Federal Protections for Northern Rockies Wolves

2009-11-27T09:56:00.001+01:00

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/165659664

Please sign this petition!

6 moths update part IV

2009-10-27T18:50:00.003+01:00

Today it is time for Roffe:

When the First Brown male was born, i had an immediate connexion with him. I already said when there is a brown male in this litter, I want a pup.

And there was Roffe, he is a great dog. He is curious but has a strong character. When the pups were little he was the quiet one of the gang. He was always sleeping a lot when we visited the pups. Now he is a real strong-minded pup, he likes to do things his way. And if it is not going the way he wants, he don’t want to do it. He reminds me a lot of Thunga (his grandmother), she has the same strong-minded character. You see a lot of things coming back when you look at Roffe.

We go to the dog school with him and he is doing very well over there, there is also an other saarloospup in the school, Elanka, She is his best friend and they really like each other very much.

His best friend at home is Inca, they can really play like mad dogs and they are both loving it. Kamatz doesn’t like to play, he is really lazy and he is a little grumpy when Roffe wants to play with him, but Roffe don’t care, he tries every time again.

Then we have his grandmother, Thunga, and he can play with here, but he also has a lot of respect for her. They look quite simular and now Roffe Is getting bigger it’s sometimes very difficult to see if it’s him or Thunga. And that is sometimes quite funny.

And then there is Asco, he is a hovawart and he is the big boss in here. So Roffe really has a lot of respect for him. But he can do a lot with Asco, pull his ears, his tail, stand on top of him, it is all ok. But when Asco says enough, he stops immediately.

He is a really great pup and we really love him very much. He still has a lot of things to learn and I’ve noticed that he is getting a little bit more reserved in some situations, but that’s quite normal on this age of course.

His biggest hobby is eating. I think that it was already from the day he was born. He really loves food a lot. We are really happy to have him in our pack.

Bigg hugs from Katrien en Peter and of course the other pack members; Thunga, Asco, Kamatz, Inca and last but not least, Roffe

6 months update part III

2009-10-25T19:59:00.005+01:00

Let's look at our own little lady tonight - yeah, it's time for Tova (nickname "Angelwitch")
Well, she isn't actually that little anymore, but the youngest one is always considred the little one I guess.
She is truly our dreamdog's incarnation - her temper is exactly the mixture between a wild beast and a sweet and lovely pet you would expect from a young Saarlooswolfhond.
Being in contact with all the owners of her siblings I can say, that she is quite the same in her whole behaviour. She is very playful and cheeky and really has a mind of her own. However, compared to her mother, she loves to play with us and wants to involve us in any of her rampages and malpratices. Skadi always acted more discreetly when commiting her crimes. Nevertheless Tova is very obedient most of the time, at least in comparison to her adult pack members at that young age ;) The bond between us and her is so unbelievable strong...

When it comes to her behaviour in odd situations or towards unknown people, she is quite more open minded and stable than her mother was when she was younger. With Skadi it was hard work to get her as calm as she is today, Tova seems to be born with this doughty attitude towards the strange things in life. I suppose she got that trait for her father.

During the last few weeks we had different totally strange people in our house - one time two very nice women from the swedish Kennel Club who did a regular Kennel inspection (which was btw. without any negative annotation) and another time a chimney sweeper.
While the two SKK-ladies were not of a threatening appearance, the sweep looked quite suspicious with his black clothes and face and all his weird and loud tools.
At least Skadi seemed to have this opinion and met the workman with a healthy wariness. Tova on the other hand overwhelmed him with the same wild and curious fondness as any other visitor. His pursuit to clean our chimney was simply to exciting...
It seems we were successful with our socialisation.

Unfortunately we still have serious problems between our two adult bitches, Tova however loves both of them and shows the pronounced and varying social behaviour of a sane wolfdog-temper.

to be continued...

6 moths update part II

2009-10-24T21:03:00.008+02:00

... Arn/Washita

Washita with his brother Tjalve

The "pups" are 6 months now

2009-10-23T21:59:00.004+02:00

After a while without any update (sorry, but there's a lot going on right now with almost no time for internet-activities) we want to celebrate the puppies becoming six months old today.
To celebrate this, we will post a short text about every one of the litter written by the pups owners.
Let's start with Tjalve:

Tjalve 6 months!

Since the day he was born I fell in love with this small brown new life!

Kiowa, Tjalve’s dad was my first Saarlooswolfdog and I always had the dream to welcome his son one day…

Of course I felt really proud when the pups were born. All of them beautiful pups with their own character and temperament.

Kiowa and Skadi had become a wonderful couple together and now they have their offspring.

Tjalve was from the beginning a very curious and open-minded pup with a strong character.

He likes to do things “his” way ;-)

From the first day her in Holland he saw his dad as his big idol

His auntie Kaoni as his best friend

His uncle Timber as his big teddy bear

Together a pack of four in nice harmony!

Well, back to Mr. Tjalve himself…

During my daily work ( Grooming Studio) Tjalve is my best assistant.

He likes it a lot and this way he gets to know a lot of different dog breeds. He likes them all, big or small…

Except for one old English Bulldog…In Tjalve’s mind this dog makes strange noises and has a funny face ;-)

Of course we go for nice walks in the forest…into town…the beach…

At the beach we mostly walk with other Saarlooswolfdogs, a lot of fun for dogs and humans with afterwards all together at a nice beach-restaurant.

Today Tjalve weighs 24,5 kg and with his longer hair a very handsome young fellow ;-)

He still is very curious about everything and everybody, still open-minded but with a healthy doses of reservation.

He is the clown of the family and makes a lot of people laugh. When he wants he can be very cuddly too.

He also thinks of himself as the tough guy and knows all about the world already.

Lately he is trying to be a bit dominant over his dad, but of course dad laughs about him, or ignores him, or punishes him (the Saarloos way). It all depends on the way Tjalve has mis-behaved.

Well, Tjalve is just a healthy young male with nice puppy behaviour…

Everybody who lives with a Saaorloos will know what I mean ;-)

Now at the age of 6 months he still is my little red Viking who makes me laugh all the time…

To be continued…

Marleen and Tjalve

2009-09-29T22:08:00.002+02:00

One of the most passionate and warm-hearted people we ever knew has passed away. The gap that she leaves as a person, breeder and animal lover won't be possible to fill!
Martina - We are grateful that we became acquainted with you and even if we did not spend as much time with you as we wished to we wouldn't hesitate to call you a real friend!
It is for people like you, that I wish there may be an afterlife - May you rest in peaceful pleasure - reunited with Tilla, Clyde and Ayasha!

The long awaited update!

2009-09-22T12:34:00.009+02:00

Well, it has been a very long time since my last entry even though I wanted to post something all the time. But there were a thousand reasons keeping me away from my computer.
First of all I had to get my buisness running again after dedicating all my time to the dogs under the first months of this year. So I was working a lot and used the computer/internet for this purpose almost exclusively. Furthermore the weather was great and I prefered to spend some more time outdoors.

Then something happend which forced me again to give all my attention to the dogs again - Skadi and Isa had a fight!

Everyone who owns multiple dogs of the same sex knows and fears this problem, being one of the most terrible things that can happen and menace the peaceful continuity of the pack.
Fortunately Skadi and Isa have a very deep and special connection which couldn't be destroyed by one single occasion like this. However it shows that something was going wrong and that some work is needed to put their relationship and with it the order of our pack back on the track.
A lot of motion is always a helpful first step, so we spent very much time into the forest these days!
Now the pack is at peace again and there are no visible tensions between the two adults, however we have become very careful now.

Little Tova isn't that little anymore - actually she is already quite big and heavy. She has about 22 kg and it wont take very long until she is as big as her mother.
Her set of teeth is almost completely changed at this point.

Tova is a real nice dog, not shy at all, she is very curious and active, loving to be outside in nature. She likes new people and wants to play with everyone. She is also a lot more cuddly than her mother. With a few exceptions her urge for destruction is limited to her toys - at least inside the house ;)
She loves her mother and auntie Isa very much, however she is occasionally still a bit to wild for them.
Additional to the fotos above a little slideshow with some pictures from the last weeks:

Wahya in a good shape again...

2009-08-13T10:28:00.004+02:00

Wahya is totally recovered and she is back in her old shape - if I look at the pictures I see a lot of similarities between Tova and her favourite occupations.
Biting into furniture:
Biting into other dogs:
Actually biting into everything:But she is beautiful!

Great picture of Tjalve

2009-08-10T11:44:00.002+02:00

Arn visiting his birthplace

2009-08-09T09:21:00.010+02:00

Unfortunately I did not have the time to drive up to Värmland again last week. But instead Arn and his family visited us yesterday on their way back home to Germany.
They had a wonderful time in the midst of a wolf-territory (yes, they even heard them howl!), but only one week in Sweden is always to short...
So the last bigger stop in Sweden was a certain highlight for the dogs again - Arn enjoyed being on known territory, playing with his sister and his fellow Kaya... The videos show how much fun they had:

But also Skadi was involved in this rampage around our house - no matter if with her offspring or youngster Kaya - she was behaving almost like a pup herself.Skadi looks a bit terrible at the moment - after the stress with the rearing of the pups and especially the Tova-Monster she lost a huge part of her coat - the summer heat is doing on last thing... She has nearly no black or darker colored dorsal hair left which makes her kind of strange looking unicolored.For us it was a weird feeling to see our Arn in this familiar surrounding again - the following picture is a good example - I remember him like yesterday, standing there with 4 or 5 weeks...
And now he stands at the same place, in the same pose but a lot bigger - strange and beautiful feeling!
Stefan and Annika, it was really a pleasure that you visited us - Thank you!!!

Update on Wahya

2009-08-06T08:18:00.005+02:00

Wahya is now entirely convalesced, recent blood samples show normal values again. The terrible disease which threathened her young life was a case of a Klebsiella infection. Klebsiella is a bacterium which usually can be found in the gastro intestinal system. If it's quantity explodes (for whatever reason) it causes this serious infection in the stomach and the the guts.
She is very hungry now and devours between 1 and 1 1/2kg daily!
Wahya is very active again and plays a lot with her Retriever-friends.
The picture above shows her sleeping in the office of her owner and was taken yesterday.
We are pretty eased to know that she is fine again!

In the footsteps of his parents - Tjalve the digger

2009-08-03T21:24:00.007+02:00

Our pups are very aware of traditions it seems. At least Tjalve is following in the footsteps of his parents and obviously aspires a career as a digger!

Tova's first night away from home... Camping in Värmland

2009-08-03T21:14:00.004+02:00

For our visit in Värmland we had to stay one night up there and we chose a camping place with small huts for this purpose. This was the first time for Tova that we didn't sleep at home - so a completely new experience for her. But actually she seemed to like it after a short time of wariness. The next morning I even had the feeling that she would love to stay there for a whole holiday... But we had to leave to meet her brother Arn and that's another story.

Arn visiting Sweden

2009-08-03T20:17:00.007+02:00

Arn and his new family is in Sweden right now, they stay for one week in a little cabin in northern Värmland. This is of course absolutely great for us and we took the chance to visit him yesterday. We spent the whole day there and it was a big fun for us and the dogs who also enjoyed the reunion a lot!
I will probably go up to Värmland again this week and take only Tova with me. Then there will be more pics!
Arn has become a very,very nice dog - my breeder's heart is full of pride I must admit. He looks great and has a wonderful character as well. A very charming and open dog that everyone has to fall in love with immediately!

More pictures can you find here: Arn visiting Sweden - a small family reunion in the north

New pictures of Arn

2009-07-29T18:02:00.002+02:00

New pictures of Tova

2009-07-28T11:50:00.004+02:00

I thought to post some more pictures of Tova today, so I decided to do it as a small slideshow.
Enjoy it!

Back to the Beach

2009-07-28T10:52:00.008+02:00

Another nice walk at the beach we missed... Tjalve and Roffe, Daddy Kiowa and Grandma Thunga - a real family excursion. Furthermore they were joined by a half-sister of Thunga called Ciranoush and of course some human killjoys ;)
But here are some fotos which show how much fun it must have been:

Here can you find more pictures of this trip: Back to the Beach

Wahya on the road to recovery

2009-07-26T13:28:00.004+02:00

Wahya feels much better now (and so we do to!). She has begun to eat again and to play with the other dogs. She doesn't vomit anymore and is becoming stronger every hour. She also bites into furniture, fingers and leashes - so she is finally herself again!

Thanks to you all for crossing your fingers, saying prayers or casting spells - it seems it helped!

Wahya is home again!

2009-07-24T21:35:00.002+02:00

We just got a new message from Danmark that Wahya could leave the hospital! She is still sick but there is a clear betterment and her treatment will continue in her familiar surrounding. She was very happy to come home and glad to meet the other dogs again - a pretty good sign. Let's hope and keep the fingers crossed that she will recover soon!

Wahya in Hospital

2009-07-24T18:44:00.002+02:00

These news are unfortunately very up to date and of the worst kind I can imagine.
Our sweet little Wahya is currently in a hospital. We do not know that much about her condition today, the last days it was quite critical. She did not eat since monday and lost some weight. The examinations showed high liver values and a bad intestinal virus infection.
Since we know about this situation we are of course very worried and afraid - our thoughts are with her and her owners Lars and Merete in Denmark!!!
If you, dear readers, believe in any god or divine intervention, please say a prayer or light a candle for her tonight!

Roffe at his first showing!

2009-07-24T18:33:00.005+02:00

This news is not really up to date, it was already the 19. July he was at a little CAC show in Lokeren. He did it very nice and the judge had only good comments for him!
Well done!
Here some pictures:

New pictures of Roffe and Tjalve

2009-07-22T21:28:00.007+02:00

More pics can you find here!

Tova in the city

2009-07-22T21:11:00.005+02:00

After few days of silence some news from our little Tova. She is doing really well - a sometimes wild and sometimes calm, friendly and cuddly pup, not anxious but in strange situation a bit reserved - that's how we like our Saarlooswolfhond!

As we live in a quite unpopulated and calm area, we have to go a bit by car to show Tova the big world out there - something we regularly do to make her familiar with all the weird things going on in the city!
From time to time she is a little skeptic but also very curious. She don't needs much time to adapt to new situations and she is never panicked, so far she show a very stable temper.
One thing that still is a big problem for Tova is to go by car - she is vomiting everytime - it seems that she - as the only pup of the whole litter - comes after her mom in this regard.
Skadi still hates to go by car with her 5 years of age.

News from Wahya

2009-07-15T08:25:00.003+02:00

Today we got some new pictures of our little Wahya - she isn't that little any longer as you can see. We are glad to see how great she developed and what an obviously happy life she has in Danmark!
Together with her companion Tasy, she spends every day in the Barf-clinic of Lars and Merete where she meets lots of dogs and humans - something she really likes. No matter if puppies or adult dogs and even people - she loves them all!
Just look at this curious and happy little dog at a walk with her owner at Rungsted haven north of Copenhagen - Beautiful!

Tova in the Woods - Summertime in Skaraborg

2009-07-14T10:40:00.012+02:00

Today it is time for some new pictures of our pack - or at least of our youngest member Tova.
She is almost 12 weeks old now, stands 43 cm high at the shoulder and had a weight of 11,5 kg at the last measurement with 11 weeks.
We are enjoying the summer now - the weather is quite passable at the moment - it is not hot, some rain and some sun. The first wild fruits are ripe, you can find wood strawberries...
...blueberries and even some mushrooms - in deed I had my first chanterelles yesterday for lunch. This weather is of course perfect for nice walks in the woods - Tova loves it and I guess every little dogs would like to grow up in a surrounding like that:

More pics here!

New pics of Roffe

2009-07-08T16:02:00.005+02:00

Some pictures of Roffe with his new girfriend Elanka Shenadoah. She was born just 5 days after Roffe in the german Kennel Terra-Loupa and is also living in Belgium now:

op bezoek bij Roffe - here you can find some more pictures of Roffe, his pack and his girlfriend!

New pics of Arn

2009-07-08T15:55:00.004+02:00

Arn...

...with his playmate Kaya...

...and his friend Scotty

New pics of Tova

2009-07-08T15:54:00.003+02:00

SEO - just some back linking

2009-07-08T15:47:00.003+02:00

If you are interested in my norse artworks and handcrafts, then you can check out the following links - so if your are only interested in dogs, just ignore them!

Norse and Viking Leather Art, Bone Jewelry and Drinking Horns by Wodenswolf:

http://varglya.blogspot.com

http://wodenswolf.deviantart.com/

http://www.wodenswolf.etsy.com

http://www.squidoo.com/wodenswolf

New photos of Roffe, Tjalve and Tova

2009-07-03T20:06:00.003+02:00

Tova

Tjalve with his big idol - his daddy Kiowa

Roffe with his best friend Inca

Roffe and Tjalve

2009-07-01T12:39:00.003+02:00

There is a nice thread on the Wolfhonden Online forum with pictures from a walk in Belgium - among others, you can see some new pictures of Roffe and Tjalve there:
http://www.wolfhonden-online.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6106
Also note the gorgeous photos of their grandmother Thunga!

Summertime - Tova and the pack

2009-07-01T11:59:00.007+02:00

More pictures you can find here:
http://www.wolfhonden-online.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?p=90929#90929

Arn and Wahya - New pics

2009-07-01T11:42:00.006+02:00

Well, these pictures are already some days old, we had some serious internet problems - some days we had no connection at all.
However, I think you can enjoy the new photos of Wahya and Arn in spite of this delay ;)
By the way - all of the puppies still are doing very well at their new homes - it seems we have made a good job, hehe.

But now let's look at the pictures:

Arn Wahya

Hammerhearts - Saalooswolfhond puppies from the north

2009-06-30T13:07:00.002+02:00

If you prefer to watch this video offline on your computer, you can download it here: http://rapidshare.com/files/250272974/Hammerheartspro.wmv

Alfa - nine weeks

2009-06-25T21:21:00.004+02:00

Today I got some really nice pictures of Tjalve with his dad Kiowa. Their owner Marleen told us, that Kiowa treats his son totally different than other pups, like there is some kind of familiar recognition. He always keeps an eye on little Tjalve, protects him from foreign dogs. It's great to see the two together - if only on photos...

Little Tova went with us on a little trip to our small town Tidaholm were we did a short walk around the town square. She is the only one of the pups that still hates car rides that much - on the way back she vomited again. But it is getting better anyhow.
One more week is over and so we weighed the only left puppy again. It is hard to break with dear customs, you know ;)
She has 9,5 kg now.

and Tova?

2009-06-24T12:25:00.007+02:00

Our little Tova still misses her siblings a lot. Of course it is quite boring now without her playfellows. Therefore she is looking for other kinds of activity - like havoc and destruction ;)
But that's how we love our Saarlooswolfdogs, right?!

Yesterday we made a small trip to Jönköping (the next bigger city) and visited a petshop.

After some hesitation in the beginning, certainly caused by her persistent nausea from the previous car ride, she really liked this place full of toys and, before all, fooooood!

On our way back home, we stopped at a small lake we regulary visit in summertime to get a little cooling. As you can see not only Skadi and Isa but also Tova already loves this place.

However it is a hard thing to be the "little one"...

The Alfa pups at their new homes

2009-06-24T11:22:00.009+02:00

A few days have past since the puppies of our Alfa-litter left us.
Enough time to get a feedback from all of the future owners.
How are the pups doing? Where and how do they live now?
Some answers to these questions you will get here and now:

Arn

...

Roffe

Big Roffe had, like his brother Tjalve, the privilege to come into a pack which is quite related to himself - he indeed lives together with his own grandmother Thunga in Belgium! Furthermore there is his uncle named Kamatz, a female Saarlooswolfhond with name Inca, Hovawart Asco and of course his humans Katrien and Peter. As the other pups also Roffe adapted very well to his new surrounding and likes his new pack very much. Yesterday he visited the puppyschool for the first time. Driving by car is no longer a big problem for him, which is quite suprising for us ;)

Wahya

Wahya was the first one who left us and had therefore the most time to accustom to her new home in Denmark. But she did not need much time at all! Like all of our pups she came into a new home with lots of other dogs, not less than 12 Golden Retrievers and 2 Irish Wolfhounds will be her future companions. She liked her new home right from the start and her owners Lars and Merete also do a lot for her further socialisation. So she can follow with them to their barf clinics, where she already has a lot admirers.
Going by car is no longer a problem for her either.

Tjalve

Like Roffe he will stay in the family - the picture above shows Tjalve with his dad Kiowa.
Together with him, his uncle Timber, his aunt Kaoni and his humans Marleen and Arthur, Tjalve will live in Holland. He is also very happy in his new home, but he misses his siblings. But already on saturday he will meet Roffe again, based on their relatively close residences they will certainly be the ones of the litter who will meet the most.

...often new ones await

2009-06-20T21:34:00.006+02:00

For those of you who may wonder how this blog will continue - I can tell you that the daily entry won't go on like in the last two months. The puppy book of our Alfa-litter can be closed soon and new tasks and adventures are waiting for our pack. However you will get some more informations and pictures (hopefully - if the new owners provide us with them;) in the next days, like summaries about every puppy and the answer to the question: "How are the pups doing in their new homes?" In the future we will post regularly updates about the development of the pups and of course about the remaining pack up here in Sweden:

Mama Skadi,
Auntie Isa
and of course Tova

So just cast a glance from time to time!

Farewells - At the end of an adventure...

2009-06-20T21:19:00.011+02:00

Today it was time to say farewell again - Roffe and Tjalve left very early in the morning, Arn in the late afternoon! We want to thank all the future owners for giving our precious puppies new homes and wish them luck and happiness with their new family members!
Now let's look at the farewell fotos:

Farewell Roffe!

Farewell Tjalve!

Farewell Arn!

Alfa - day 58 - The last day

2009-06-19T21:29:00.007+02:00

Tonight we celebrate the Midsummer evening together with the future owners of Roffe, Tjalve and Arn. Roffe and Tjalve will leave us tomorrow in the morning, Arn will depart tomorrow in the evening. Now the pups and Kaya, the future companion of Arn enjoy the wonderful eventime after a rainy day as you can see in the picture above.

Arn
Roffe
Tova
Tjalve

Alfa - day 57

2009-06-18T19:03:00.005+02:00

Arn
Weight: 8,5 kg

Roffe
Weight: 9,25 kg

Tova
Weight: 8 kg

Tjalve
Weight: 7,5kg

Farewell Wahya!

2009-06-18T18:56:00.006+02:00

Today, with exactly 8 weeks of age and a weight of 7 kg, Wahya was the first of the puppies to leave us!

We will miss her, but we know that she drove into a happy future with very nice humans and a lot of other dogs!

Lars and Merete - we wish you all happiness and fortune with our small Wahya!

Alfa - day 56

2009-06-17T20:29:00.013+02:00

Hell, what a feeling - the hardest part of the whole breeding adventure is coming closer without any mercy. Today was the last day with the whole pack united - already tomorrow Wahya will leave us. It is unbelievable for us, how other breeders are able to give away all of their pups. We will awfully miss little Wahya with her permanent cheerfulness!
To her honor she gets this extra picture today - a picture that couldn't be more characteristic. A friendly dog full of energy that will give a lot of pleasure to her new owners - I am sure about that!

Furthermore you will get this small video beneath, showing the progress of the habituation. The two bravest dogs when it comes to household applinaces are certainly Wahya and especially Tova.
However Tova is the last one when it comes to strangers - in this case it is always Arn and Wahya again who are the first to welcome them. We saw this again today, when we were visited by 3 adults and two children. Arn likes children very much it seems. Tova and Roffe needed a while to overcome their scepsis.
Tjalve is medium in both cases, seemingly dependend on his mood.
But in this video with the vacuum cleaner, which seems still to be the most "dangerous" item in the whole house, you see that Tova knows no fear of dead things at all, even if they are loud. Wahya comes into the game when I add the tube of soft cheese to the scenario ;) Tjalve comes passing by, however still more sceptic than hungry.

Arn
Roffe
Wahya
Tova
Tjalve

Alfa - day 55

2009-06-16T20:48:00.005+02:00

Today we were at the veterinary again, all pups got a check-up (which went good for all of them) and, apart from Wahya (her owners will do it themselves), their first vaccination. The car ride was a vomit orgy again - though it is getting better. Most of the time they were sleeping. At the vet they were very calm and patiently endured the check. No signs for fear or shyness at all so far.

Arn
Roffe
Wahya
Tova
Tjalve

Eating in the car

2009-06-16T11:00:00.006+02:00

engine off

Here are some videos of the car habituation training. As you know if you follow this blog, for our puppies (as for the most Saarlooswolfhonds) the car is still a very unpleasant issue.
To increase their tolerance for this necessary evil we give them most of their food in the car these days. In the video above you see, that as long as the engine doesn't run there is no problem with the car at all. They willingly follow Steffi to the rear door to get into the automobile and immediately start eating.

In the videos beneath you see the same exercise with a running engine - the pups are a bit unconfident. In the end the result is the same - all of them are eating. The fact that they eat in the car is certainly an advantage - our adult dogs mostly still refuse to eat in the car.

Part 1 - running engine

Part 2 - running engine

Alfa - day 54

2009-06-15T21:35:00.006+02:00

Yes, the time of departure nears - at the end of this week all puppies but one will be in their new homes. Fortunately little Tova won't leave us at all - she is the one we will keep.
The first one who leaves will be Wahya on Thursday - we don't want to think too much about it yet :( It is unbelievable how they can take your heart by storm - after these 8 weeks they already seem like family members each of them...
However - it is a good feeling to know that they will come to very nice homes!

Tomorrow we have another date at the vet to check up the pups one more time, to give them the first vaccinations and so on.

Arn
Roffe
Wahya
Tova
Tjalve

Alfa - day 53

2009-06-14T20:29:00.005+02:00

Arn
Roffe
Wahya
Tova
Tjalve

Alfa - day 52

2009-06-13T21:10:00.008+02:00

Today's video shows the progress the puppies make in the car. We made a longer trip today which lasted 1 1/2 hour each route and it took 35 minutes until the first one vomited on the way there. On the way back none of them longer driveled or vomited - should there really be something like a betterment?

We see it as a good sign anyhow. Maybe it helped that Skadi was together with them today.

Arn

Roffe

Wahya
Tova
Tjalve

Socialistaion and habituation training with our puppies

2009-06-12T18:33:00.009+02:00

As promised I will write some words about the socialisation and habituation training now.

The training of the ability to get along with the requirements of the humanly coined enviroment is an obligation every breeder has toward the future owners of the puppies as well as toward the dogs themselves. This is nothing special for the Saarlooswolfhond and applies to every dog of any kind.
However it may be much more crucial to do it in a right and sufficient way with a wolfdog.
The first weeks are important for the whole life of every dog and may be determining if a SWH ever will be able to lead a healthy and relaxed life in a human companionship.
Therefore we try our best to grant this basis for a happy life to our pups. However these trainings have to continue at the puppies' new home and I am sure that all future owners of the Howling Northwind offspring will do a good job with that!

Let me tell you something about some of our methods now.

Socialisation
One thing we tried from the beginning was to present as much different humans to the pups as possible. I have to admit that we, because of our isolated location, lack the crowded enviroment a breeder in a town or village could offer. However we saw to it that there were as much visitors as possible since the puppies opened their eyes. To our big delight they are still not shy yet - after more than 7 weeks of age.
We tried to secure that they made only positive experiences with humans so far and some of them are even really fond of humans. Also all of the future owners, who more than once visited us, were really helpful for these efforts.
For tomorrow we plan a small trip to some friends of us, so they will also be able to meet other people on foreign terrain.
Another part of this socialisation training may be the method of disguise, using "weird" outfits like masks, hats and hoods, coats and so on, even if this already overlaps with other parts of the habituation training.

Habituation
There are different kinds of habituation training. Some of them are of a more passive nature and some of them claim a bigger amount of interaction between the puppies and ourselves.

Passive Habituation
This is actually going on all of the time and one of the most important requirements for the success of this part of the training is plain and simple that the puppies live with us inside the house, in the center of everyday's life.
So they got used to all the noises and sounds of human life like music, tv, kitchen appliances, washing machine, vacuum cleaner and so on since they were able to percieve these impressions.
They are able to move around in almost the whole first floor of our house, as well as in the garden, so they got to know a lot of different floor surfaces like linoleum, wood, grass, sand and stone. They could play around with toys of different materials like wood, leather, metal, plastic and fur, as well as with toys that made noises or other strange effects.
The possibility to be outside in the yard brought them into contact with cars and lawn mowers, got them used to passing trucks, airplanes and even horses. There was even some woodworking going on here the last days.

Interactive Habituation
I call this part of the training interactive because it includes some of the above mentioned stimuli, but with the difference that we humans consiously use them in addition to postive reinforcement.

This video shows (even though a bit bold) how we habituate the pups to the sound of this hand mixer:Other recurring tools of the daily training are:

The habituation tankThis may be one of the biggest challenges for the small ones - this radio-controlled German Tiger may look scarry and sounds very dangerous - but with cheese on the turret it looses a lot of it's harmful charisma. Even if the first reaction of the pups was panic and escape - now all of them more or less appreciate it as a nice toy and a precious supplier of a snack in between.
Tova and Roffe are real tank fans indeed!

The trumpet of doom
None of us is able to properly play this instrument which makes it even more useful. The eery disharmonic sounds we charm out of it are certainly an impertinence for the fine ears of our small ones - however they aren't disturbed by it any longer and Arn even loves it!

Besides further tools like noisy toys, keys and so on, there are other interactive habituation situations like riding by car, taking a shower and the examination of the pups including ear-cleansing, clipping the claws.
These things are also repeated on a regular basis.

Alfa - day 51

2009-06-12T18:22:00.007+02:00

What a bad weather today - really unfriendly, windy and rainy. It's a kind of weather to stay inside the house - so are the today's fotos taken inside - showing the reign of destruction ;)
Today's car ride was a bit more relaxed, only Wahya was vomiting, the other ones fell asleep very fast. And after our return they immediately got their breakfast inside the car and all of them were eating with big appetite.

Arn
Roffe
Wahya
Tova
Tjalve

Alfa - day 50

2009-06-11T20:50:00.010+02:00

Our car ride today led us to the woods again where the puppies could take a small walk and play around a bit. The trip itself was still a mess and if you look at the video you will see that they are not really happy in the car. However we have the feeling that there may be some kind of betterment. We also gave them their evening meal in the car today, so they can also connect something positive to this otherwise unpleasant situation. Same goes for the small walks in the forest which show them that going somewhere by car can lead to a nice thing.
We had to try another kind of weighing today - a funny variant I have to say. We used a fishing-scale and I suppose the results are even more vague than before, but it is the best option we have - and the dogs had fun!

Arn
Weight: 6,5 kg

Roffe
Weight: 7,5 kg

Wahya
Weight: 5,75 kg

Tova
Weight: 6,5 kg

Tjalve
Weight: 5,75 kg

Persistent Pupillary Membrane

2009-06-11T12:41:00.002+02:00

Well, after all these very pleasant puppy stories I wrote on this blog so far, today it is time for a more serious report. But as we do have the claim to be reputable breeders, we see it as our duty no to draw a veil of silence over these less pleasant aspects of breeding.
In this case we have to speak about a congenital defect called Persistent Pupillary Membranes (PPM).

These PPMs are remnants of a fetal structure covering the pupil before an animal is born, supplying the developing lens with blood. This pupillary membrane completely absorbs but is still partially present and continues to disappear in neonatal dogs. Sometimes this absorbtion isn't complete when the puppies open their eyes and small strands can be seen across the pupil. If these strands do not disappear by the age of four to five weeks, they become PPMs.

Wahya obviously has PPMs - we got the confirmation yesterday when she was examined by a specialised veterinary.
She has theses PPMs on both eyes, however it is nearly invisible on the right side, situated only around the pupil. In the left eye it also crosses the pupil as seen on the picture above. But also on this eye it is a rather small variant and won't cause any considerable visual disturbances. It is even possible that it will almost disappear during her adolescence.
We are very glad that there is no secondary cataract, which is a possible consequence of this problem, at least if the strands have a connection to the lens. But Wahyas PPM strands only reach from iris to iris, without any connection to lens or cornea.

Some words about inheritance of PPM
In some breeds like Chow Chows, Mastiffs, Pembroke Welsh Corgis, Yorkshire Terriers and especially Basenjis PPM is a know hereditary defect. However in other breeds it rather seems to be a sporadically occurring problem.
We have dealt a lot with inherited diseases before making this litter and we have never heard about this problem in Saarlooswolfhonds so far. Therefore it is very unlikely that it is a hereditary problem in this case.
However, if you dear reader have any further information about this defect in the SWH-population, please contact us!

Alfa - day 49

2009-06-10T20:55:00.010+02:00

No, it's no dachshund shown on the picture above - it is Arn after taking a shower...

What a day this was, the puppies may think and if you look at the individual pictures of the small terrorists, you will see them in a quite unusual condition - in a deep slumber while being placed on the armchair for taking the fotos.
Let's tell me something about our eventful day.

First of all it may be interesting to tell that we have a visitor again, a good friend of us who will help a bit with the socialistaion and who will stay till next week.

As you can see on the picture, they loved him from the first moment - so they have one more person to bite into, steal shoes and pee upon clothes...

Today we had two dates at the veterinary - one for ID-chipping and DNA-testing of the pups and another one for an eye examination of Wahya (about which I will tell tomorrow).
This meant a one hour trip by car to the next bigger city Jönköping, all along poor swedish country roads - really perfect for car sick little Saarloos.
Our friend, joining the pups on the back seat, was clad in water proof rain clothes - a precaution which panned out after the extreme reaction of our small dogs - all of them were puking and driveling, Wahya even took a dump (on Tova and Tjalve btw.) - so it was a nasty trip!
At least it seemed that a kind of acclimatisation occured and they learned that sleeping is an option to avoid the worst.
At the vet they were very calm, still paralysed by the car ride, but not anxious at all.
Next week we will return to the vet for an inspection and a first vaccination. The reason why we chose to already to go there today was simply the obligation of the DNA-testing of Skadi and all the puppies. Probably you don't know it, but in Sweden it is an obligation to do this for SWHs, it is a rule of the Swedish Kennel Club - we still hope that we can get the pedigrees in the right time.
So of course for this sake we also had to do the Id-marking today.
The way back was much more relaxed with only two of them vomiting (Roffe and Wahya, again)
but after the arrival it was pretty clear that they would have to learn one more unpleasant procedure - taking a shower. But it also worked out very fine and after maybe one hour of sleep, they are awake again - let the rampage go on! Check out this video taken before today's supper:

Arn
Roffe
Wahya
Tova
Tjalve

Alfa - day 48

2009-06-09T20:28:00.006+02:00

The picture above shows the progress with the habituation to car rides.
Tjalve is driveling, Roffe is vomiting and Tova's look says everything else.
Today we took a ride of maybe 10 minutes to a nice and calm place in the forests near by. There the pups could run around and play before we returned home. Well, the way to the forest was very easy going - no problems at all, not even a single whelp was driveling...
On the way back 3 of them (Roffe, Wahya and Tova) vomited, all of them but Arn driveled and were totally exhausted. Arn only wanted out, but he was very fit. He immediately jumped out of the car after the arrival and waited for the other ones to play. Unfortunately they needed some more time to recover...

Arn
Roffe
Wahya
Tova
Tjalve

Alfa - day 47

2009-06-08T18:58:00.007+02:00

After their first contact with the car yesterday, we decided to make a little 5 minute ride today.
Well, it went much better than we feared - only two of the pups vomited (Wahya and Roffe), only one driveled (Tjalve) and none of them had to take a dump...
Tova was very brave - it seemed like she had no problem with it at all, at least not visible.
Arn hated it and wanted out but did not lose the control about his body fluids. We will repeat this exercise every day now, in addition to occasional feeding in the car.

Arn
Roffe
Wahya
Tova
Tjalve

Alfa - day 46

2009-06-07T19:41:00.009+02:00

Today we had very nice visitors again. The future owners of Wahya came to see the pups for the second time. And we were glad to see that all puppies still are very fond of humans. Although they now start to be more suspicious towards strange sounds and objects, they are still open and happy about every visitor. But we also progress with our endeavours of socialisation. The next days, if I find the time, I will post some examples here and describe our methods a bit more detailed.
The most important experience they made today was the first contact with our car - a crucial part of socialisation when it comes to Saarlooswolfdogs.

Arn
Roffe
Wahya
Tova
Tjalve

Alfa - day 45

2009-06-06T20:56:00.006+02:00

Arn
Roffe
Wahya
Tova
Tjalve

Alfa - day 44

2009-06-05T18:10:00.007+02:00

Arn

Roffe

Wahya
Tova
Tjalve

Alfa - day 43

2009-06-04T21:59:00.013+02:00

They are 6 weeks old today - this means you get the newest weight update tonight. Well, the weights are a bit rough, as we use a scale for humans now.
To celebrate their completed 6th week, we played a bit around on this website:
www.photofunia.com.
Thanks to Marleen for this nice hint!

Arn
Weight: 5,4 kgRoffe
Weight: 6,1 kg
Wahya
Weight: 5,2 kg
TovaWeight: 5,7 kgTjalve
Weight: 5,4 kg

Alfa - day 42

2009-06-03T21:44:00.004+02:00

Arn
Roffe
Wahya
Tova
Tjalve

Underground dogs

2009-06-02T23:07:00.004+02:00

As I wrote in my today's post, they love to go underground. Here you can see how they spend a huge part of their time nowadays... You can see that Skadi is everything but happy - she don't likes them to go under the terrace because they aren't under her surveillance down there. But she can blame herself - she digged the holes which made it so easy for them to find their ways into the underworld.

at the fireside...

2009-06-02T23:00:00.003+02:00

...after a hard day of sleep, food, rampage and destrcution - only the fire is missing ;)

Alfa - day 41

2009-06-02T19:26:00.011+02:00

This blog entry was in danger again - we had no internet connection most of the day and I almost resigned myself to the fact that we wont be able to update you today. Fortunately it seems to work now, so I will use this lucky circumstance and hurry a bit before it is breaking down again.

First of all, sorry to all of you who may wait for an E-mail response - in addition to our broadband problems these days, I lack the time to answer as fast as I would like to. But maybe you can imagine how it is to shepherd a bunch of steady nibbling young dogs...

We also started with some socialisation practices now, using "tools" like vacuum cleaners, balloons and so on.

Yesterday all of them made initial experiences with their first little collars - you can see it on some of the pictures of "Alfa - day 40".
I will tell you which one got which colour: Arn - dark green; Roffe - blue; Wahya - light green; Tova - orange; Tjalve - purple.
Thanks for the collars and the additional leashes to Marleen!!!

Everyone of them also got the first little feeding bowls last weekend and of course it is still a bit chaotic - they are steadily changing from one to another. And if there are two or more eating from one bowl, you can be sure that the other pups will also move to this one, because it must be better than their own...
Thanks for this fine feeding bowls to Lars and Merete!

As you can see on the pictures the pups are now outside almost the whole days - which is fine for me, because this lessens the destruction of our furniture, books and shoes ;)
The have found some very nice places and most of them prefer to lie under the terrace, where Skadi digged two big "entrances" a few days ago.

Arn
Roffe
Wahya
Tova
Tjalve

Don't mess with auntie Isa

2009-06-02T13:41:00.002+02:00