About us
Ivy and Dan Underdahl with Blaze and Skye |
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About us
Ivy and Dan Underdahl with Blaze and Skye |
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I came into the world of Swedish Vallhunds by way of a blurb in a dog book. This book included some of the more “rare” breeds from all over the world. The description of a good farm dog who can chase rodents and varmints off the farm, plus the fact that they were from our home-land, most of my family being part Swedish, convinced us to go into the Internet for further study. Everything we found drove us closer to finding this amazing little cattle/farm dog from Sweden.
Finally I found the web site of a gal who breeds SVs, and was relatively nearby…in Texas!! This was Osafin Kennel owned by Cindy Kingsley. We began a series of phone conversations and emailing…which ultimately brought us the most amazing little being we had ever seen. Our little baby boy Vallhund we call “Blaze.” His full name is Osafin Blaze To Glory. The name Blaze came from his namesake, who, sadly had passed on the day our baby boy was born. In honor of UKC CH Kirkholme Oskar “Blaze,” Cindy Kingsley the breeder, asked her friend Marg if she could name the boy puppy after this amazing legend in the Vallhund world.
And so Blaze came to live with us, and about a year-and-a-half later a lovely little red stub-tailed female came to live with us from Canada. Ulla Gamberg was her breeder, and I flew to her farm in Ontario to bring our little “Skye” home. Her litter was the “storm” litter, as they were born on a wild and stormy night in Canada. Our girl is Vastgota Stormy Sky.
Now our family is growing, and we have added another little red-head named Umanoma Maijapoppanen which means Mary Poppins in Finnish! Yes, she came from Finland!
Blaze is expecting puppies any day, having been bred to Aros Adorable Amberley on Thanksgiving 2004.Amberley is owned by Ingrid Low. Our involvement in the breed has grown, and Ingrid, being from Sweden has been another great mentor, as is Cindy Kingsley. We even hosted the Swedish Vallhund National Specialty here in California in 2004. We also do agility, stock dog training, obedience, conformation showing, and back packing!
As you will see on my training page, I am a dog trainer, using the method of “Clicker Training.” All of my dogs are clicker trained from the day they set foot on the Solborg Farm. They excel in learning through positive reinforcement. The Vallhunds, honestly, have changed my life. I can’t imagine life without a Vastgotaspets….or LÄNSIGÖÖTANMAANPYSTYKORVA, in Finnish!