Category: Healing dogs

Articles about my dogs and my pack. Dog-training experience and the curious phenomena: The Icelandic dog-culture which is Oh so human.

The Dog Whisperer

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The first image that comes to mind when The Dog Whisperer is mentioned, is Cesar Millan, who is well known for his amazing shows on National Geographic Channel. I must admit that I haven’t seen all of his shows, but quite some, both on my box and some clips on Youtube. As often when mass media takes something and publishes everywhere, the public starts identifying it with … Continue reading


Positive Reinforcement in the pack

German Shepherd pure breds

Societies of the human kind are interesting, varied, and usually predictable. Of course the Chinese society is different from the Cuban and so forth. But some things are common in all of them. Friendship is always valued and love is desired everywhere. Deceit is usually despised and criminals more than not put away for a while. Tradition is something the society has agreed upon for a long … Continue reading


Chelsea Sunna II

Chelsea Sunna in her favorite seat

When she came into my life she had broken spirit, more than any dog I’ve met before. And I’ve met many. There was no way she’d speak to you with her eyes, for months No way she’d make a connection. All dog trainers know how to solve this, by playing with the dog. Sunna wouldn’t be tricked that way. She loves to play and she has uncommon … Continue reading


Chelsea Sunna

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When I first heard of her it was more in passing than not. She was the smallest and most fragile of the litter, the same litter as Birta comes from. As I’ve told before, I was away when Birta was chosen and my sister brought Ljufur, their father, to the litter to choose for me. He chose Birta and he chose the right one. There is no … Continue reading


La Principessa

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Birta loves to sneak onto her owners bed during the day. She always makes sure to have a view out the window and can stay there – quietly – for hours.    


When to train

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The spring of 2010 I began to suffer from post-imprisonment depression. I had been warned by fellow inmates that this would happen but didn’t believe it until it happened. Those inmates who I befriended and who had been incarcerated before had all suffered from this and all of them smiled when I claimed it wouldn’t happen to me. I was sure of myself because I had previously … Continue reading


Birta

Káta, Salka, Birta and Ljúfur

The opportunity came as a surprise to Ljúfur and me. A friend of ours saw a small ad someplace int the Net and pointed it out to us. We responded – or I responded for him – and a few days later he met with Ída for the first time. She was a few days into her Heat cycle and her owners felt she should have at … Continue reading


Salka

Snuggle with Ljúfur

Salka is in a leage all of her own. Her mother (Perla) is a “Labrador/Icelandic Sheepdog” and her father is a “Labrador/Border Collie”. When I met her she was only two months old, and I found her through an advertisement. A family nearby had taken her but she turned out to be to much for them and their two small children. Their ad described her as a … Continue reading


Point of no return

You big bad Sheffer, I'll show you ...

As it turned out I found myself being merry with my dogs, learning their language as I went along and they learning my language the same way I did. By paying attention to one another and experimenting with messages. As I entered my second year with Ljúfur I felt a need to learn more. I had met so many persons in the world of dog training, I … Continue reading


SAR training

On a break from snow avalance training

Within a month me and Ljúfur started SAR training with a group called Björgunarhundasveit Íslands (BHSÍ). It’s a group who has trained rescue dogs in Iceland for more than twenty years and they train together on a weekly basis all year round. Within three months we had gone to all training sessions available with the group and learnt all the techniques taugth there. Ljúfur showed in those … Continue reading


Ljúfur

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When Káta was two years old I met Ljúfur. We met in the same week of his second birthday. He is a German Shepherd pure breed, of the name Gunnarsholts Picasso. When we met I had never known German Shepherds (Sheffer) from first hand experience. I had many ideas about them, as is common, which later experience has changed. This dog breed is, along with Retrievers and … Continue reading