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Our Beautiful Farm Dog
Rassie
earned her AKC Championship on August 29, 2010
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| 7.11.10 Best of Breed at Coos Bay AKC Show |
Rassie
is an all around farm dog: Extensive Therapy Dog Work, Passed Herding Interest Test, AKC CH & INT/Nat Conformation
CH, Canine Good Citizen, Evaluated as Structurally Sound by Pat Hastings, and our most beautiful temperament.
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| Winner's Bitch Reserve July 4th Bell Vernon Kennel Club Show. Pictured with her son, Thorarinn |
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| Never happier than when at play or work or, in this case, flying. Photo: M. Pease |
4.09 Each dog has her own personality and this could not be more true
than our two Iceland Dogs. Both love to work and play. Both insist on being with the family and one another. Kol is our elegant
show dog. She eats it up. Rassie is our farm dog. She has no interest in the conformation or obedience ring; she wants to
be free! She is most joyful when at work or play, specifically anything involving rolling, running, chasing, barking,
playing, loving and learning. She is our beta dog and gets along with everyone. We think it is important for our dogs
to be evaluated by judges, so we drag Rassie along to conformation shows and she has done very well in the conformation ring. She
is a beautiful example of the breed and a true love. Her all time favorite activity is snuggling on the couch. She is
a beautiful soul and we are so indebted to Helga for allowing her to be a part of our family.
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| Cooling off after pulling. Almost two years old. April, 2009 Photo: M. Pease |
AKC CH, INT/Nat CH, U-CH Kolrassa
Krókríðandi, TDI, CGC "Rassa","Rassie", "The Pas"
A UKC Top Ten U.S. Dog - 2007 & 2008
A FCI/AKC Registered Icelandic Sheepdog
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| #3 UKC Icelandic Sheepdog in the U.S. in 2008 |
On Februrary 21, 2009, Rassa
earned her National Conformation Championship at the 2009 All Breed Evergreen Winter Sieger.
On 10.19.08, Rassa became
in International Champion in the IABCA. She competed under two American judges, one Canadian and one German judge to complete
her points. She earned V-1A, V-1, V-1b and V-1 respectfully. She took BOB in two of the four shows.
Judges comments
included "Nice type, good coat and testure, lovely head, good bite, nice eye and pretty expression, good ears/set, decent
depth of chest, decent layback of shoulder, nice angulation, good top line, nice tail set and carriage and nice movement."
Show two: "Good profile. Easy moving. Tail carriage could be better on move. short muzzle, scizzored bite,
dark eyes, erect ears, chest to elbows, front angulation straight, good front, good dewclaws, slight tuck up, tail set high,
moderate curl, brisk moving."
Show three: Judgement- "Pleasant, nice type, excellent color, condition,
texture coat. Head is feminine and typy, Bite is strong, correct mouth. Dark eyes, well set, expressive. Ears are set on [the
head] well and used expressively. Chest is deep but could use more forechest. Front angulation: scapula is set wide and
could use more layback. Back angulation is good. Top line is strong, level, slight drop at croup. Tail is carried well but
set a bit low. Movement is clean and fluid."
Show four: "Typey compact bitch, exhibits well, friendly.
Overall impression: good potential. Coat: thick luxurious, full. Head: decent wedge, skull somewhat domed. Bite: scissors.
Eyes: dark, well set and expressive. Ears: wide set, erect, expressive. Chest: lacking some fill and depth. Front angulation:
well angulated. Back angulation: moderate bend of stifle. Top Line: Level and Solid. Tail: Curled well over the back. Movement:
Clean, somewhat jaunty.
In all four shows, she earned a V-1, the highest grade possible. She also took 3rd in
the Herding Group, competing against 12 other breeds.
On July 26, 2008, Rassie passed the Therapy Dog International (TDI) Examination at Hurricane Ridge
Kennel Club's AKC Show under Evaluator Chris Cornell. On that same day, she took Best Bitch under Judge Pat Hastings
in the AKC Misc Group.
On July 27th, she took Best Bitch again at the same show. We sure are proud of our
sweet girl.
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| Galdur listens to the judge while Rassie yawns. It's been a long day of fun! |
The ISD entered the AKC's MISC Class on July 1, 2008. On July 5th, while in her
summer coat, Rassa competed in her first MISC show and took Best Bitch and Reserve Best of Breed under AKC Judge Harold J.
Pybus (pictured). BOB went to Lavandel's Galdur, bred by Laurie Ball-Gisch, owned by Judy Vittetoe. While it was a thrilling
day for all those who participated, Rassie yawned while the judge talked. Hopefully, he didn't notice. Interestingly,
we were told that the judge was the person who played the judge in the movie, "Best in Show". Fun day! We are very
proud of our girl and Lavandels Galdur for such a fantastic showing.
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| Back at the hotel after the show and ISAA/NISC party. O-U-T like a light. What a fun adventure! |
The night before the show, we had the honor to take the CGC examination under AKC Judge Pat
Putman and her husband Ed. At 13 months old, Rassie passed with flying colors; literally. While taking the test, fireworks
were being shot off next door. Unphased, she cruised through the exam. Pat Putman worked for Sir Mark Watson as a young person
and whelped some of the first litters of ISDs born in the United States in the 1950s when the breed was on the brink of extinction.
She was honored by ISAA last year and presented with a lifetime membership in gratitude for her contribution to the breed. After
her experience with Watson, Pat became an AKC judge and has been doing the good work for over 50 years. So, it was particularly
meaningful to earn a title for "The Pas" under Pat. Happy day!
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| AKC Judge Pat Putman and Donna |
On July 26, 2008, Rassie was evaluated by AKC Judge Pat Hastings in Portland, OR. When Pat first
laid eyes on her, she said, "WOW! That is a beautiful dog." After her evaluation of Rassie's structure, she
noted that Rassie is an excellent example of the breed, has great proportions that meet the FCI standard, nice bone and beautiful
coat and tail. Pat scored Rassie higher than the show dog average in all five rating areas; front, shoulders, rear, topline
and eye. Rassie conforms to the FCI and AKC standard.
Rassie has a narrow underjaw or as they would say in Iceland,
"Snipey". We have found three potential studs who all have very nice strong jaws as well as wonderful type, temperament,
conformation, coat and function. Depending on Rassie's PennHip scores, we will breed her to one of those males in
late 2009 or early 2010 after Rassie reaches full maturity. There is great interest in the litter and we are developing
a puppy list at present. If you are interested in a Rassie puppy, please contact us so that we can send you a puppy application.
Excellent conformation is second to Rassie's greatest attribute which is her outstanding temperament. She is the
sweetest ISD we know of other than Hnuks Breki. We are so grateful to Helga for breeding this exceptional dog and for allowing
her to be a treasured member of our family.
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