Nelly delivers

Happy CoupleWe bred Mack Hill Nella to Stokk-Sels Bjorn Bangsi a couple of months ago, and right on schedule, Nelly delivered six happy and healthy little puppies overnight last night, Day 60 after the first tie. She was huge, so I knew she had a fairly large litter in there. Six is a nice size litter for my girls. This my seventh litter, and the counts there were 7, 5, 7, 6, 5, 7 now 6.

New puppiesI think the sex count is three boys, three girls, but it all happened in the middle of night, in a thunderstorm where we lost electricity, so I was using a flashlight to check. I’m letting the happy family bond right now, but in a few days, I’ll have a better idea.

Six new puppies I’m going to be adding a million photos of the puppies to this album on Flickr, per usual. I sort of know Flickr isn’t the thing it used to be as far as social media goes, but I have almost 20K photos there, all organized in albums and collections, and I understand how it all works.

Gaela (Nelly’s mother) was so involved in birthing these babies, right in the whelping box with Nelly, and Nelly was clearly okay with that plan. She helped clean off newborns at first, but then started staying with the already born ones as Nelly got busy delivering another one. No fussy babies that way! Then she’d nudge them all together, and was licking Nelly’s face so sweetly, soothing her daughter.

Until the thunderstorm got too much for her. Then, she and Stina sat on my lap and shook while we watched the last two born. I did a quick changing of the bedding, and we all went straight to sleep. What a night.

That storm was something else. It lasted a few hours, with lightening very close, loud thunder and pounding rain, power flashing on and off. I keep looking up Icelandic names for storms, lighting, thunder.

Nelly All the puppies are colored just like Nelly. No chocolate puppies at all, which proves I think that Nelly doesn’t carry it, despite Tofi as her grandfather. These puppies will all carry it, with Bangsi as their father. I love Nelly’s pattern, and I’ve had about ten similarly patterned puppies over the years. Look how handsome Loki is, for example.

Nelly is such a great mother, as I knew she’d be. She comes from a long line of good mothers. We are having pretty good luck getting her to eat and drink right in place, and she is located very close to the dog door, so can pop out herself in a flash and be back in no time at all.

Gaela's kids! Nelly helped the same with with Gaela’s last litter. I’d often find her in the whelping box, tending to her siblings. I’d tell her that spot was for babies only, and she’d tilt her head at me. What? I am a baby! This is my Mommy, too! She played so well with both Stina and Gaela’s litter, and with Angel. She LOVES babies and I can’t wait to see her play with her own.

Nelly and Angel Speaking of Angel, he would REALLY like to meet the puppies. When Nelly said no, her fierce bitch posse showed up to reinforce her point. They don’t realize he can look right over their heads because he is so tall now, basically a pony. Nelly and Angel are best friends, so I don’t think it will be long before she lets him meet them. I can hardly wait to see him playing with these babies! It’ll be like Maggie and our first litter of Icies, I bet.

Gaela is the sweetest about it, though. She gives him a toy or bully bite, to soften the sting, but he SHALL NOT PASS.

So three of these puppies are most likely going to people who already have a pup of ours from a previous litter, which I am thrilled with. It’ll be great for all involved. I have known families who adore and understand Icies already, and the pups will get a playmate who plays the way Icies play. Win win win.

I’ve got a list of other people interested, but I haven’t started phone conversations yet. I want to get an understanding of the puppy personalities so I know what types of families I’m looking for. If you are interested in one of my puppies, write to me at lisa.richards@gmail.com and we’ll set up a time to chat. I’m looking for active families, whether that’s hiking, dogs sports, or active young children, farms. Icies are smart and full of energy, velcro dogs who need to be part of a loving family.

We charge $1500 per puppy, and take a deposit of $250 to hold a spot.

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