Viking Heaven Kennels came into existence when I was finally able to fulfill a dream that started many years ago when I surprised my husband with a Border Collie puppy. I had always been a 100% cat person. Dogs were obnoxious and smelly! Of course, I had been brainwashed into thinking this by a dad who had been bitten by so many farmer's dogs that he had lost count. I was a lover of all animals, but dogs were far down on my list.
As most of you know, Border Collies are probably not the best breed to acquire as a "First" dog. They are a handful to say the least. As we learned the hard way, a Border Collie is a challenge at best, until they are at least 3 years old and begin to settle down. This proved to be true in our case as well. Although we loved this dog with all of our heart, one was enough. At least, one was enough as far as my husband was concerned.
Our son is really the one who led us to the Norrbottenspets. He had graduated from college and was out on his own. He had never had a dog and was ready to make a commitment. The only question was, what breed to choose. We loaded ourselves up with dog books and dog information and started our search. This was before the internet is what it is today. Google was in its infancy. We spent a lot of time looking at the "Dog Encyclopedia" with its over 400 breeds. One kept drawing us back; and of course, that was the Norrbottenspets (Nordic Spitz). We just couldn't get that dog out of our minds. It seemed too perfect, for what our son was looking for, to be true. Go forward a couple of years. Our son (Cory) shows up at our house with a printout "Norrbottenspets puppies due this spring". He had found a breeder. Granted, they didn't live in the U.S., but at least we knew the dog was attainable. It took an additional two years for our first puppy to be born; but we have never looked back. What a wonderful little dog, or should I say, medium sized dog. She was so easy compared to the Border Collie. She actually liked to play with toys rather than demand human being interaction at all times. She didn't get anxious when we had to leave for work and she was smarter than a whip, giving even the Border Collie a run for its money!
Here at Viking Heaven we raise two to three nice litters of puppies a year. We consider the Norrbottenspets a companion dog. They love their human beings. They get along with other dogs as long as the other dog is non-aggressive. The Norrbotten is non-aggressive in nature and loves children. They even get along with the family cats, although they will be the first one to chase a stray cat away from their yard. Well over half of the families who have Viking Heaven puppies also have feline family members.
Our puppies are raised in the home, right under our noses. We have converted our dining room into a puppy area. When the puppies arrive, mama and puppies go to live in this area right along with the whelping box for the first three weeks. After three weeks, the whelping box is removed and replaced by a kennel to be used at the puppy's and mama's leisure. At all times, the indoor area is connected to a huge outdoor puppy pen, enclosed by 8 foot deer fence. The puppies self teach themselves to go out the puppy door, down the ramp and potty outside as early as 5 weeks of age. As mama cleans up after the puppies for the first 4 weeks, I only have a week of "doggy duty" which makes my life easy. Don't we wish our children had been so quickly potty trained! The outdoor area has trees, and bushes and flowers and rocks and bark chips and all the fun things a puppy loves to play in. They can watch the "big" dogs through the deer fence as they run and play in the field and trees.
We live on 20 acres out in the country. All of our dogs wear collars for the invisible fencing system when they reach the age of five months. Fifteen of our twenty acres are enclosed by the invisible fence. Just recently we have added field fence surrounding an even larger area. Although the invisible fence is wonderful, it doesn't keep out other critters. We also want to place some grazing type animals on our property to keep the grass down for fire control. I of course am always happy to have that extra security of the field fence.
Our dogs have access to our house 24/7 via a doggie door. We have been known to close this door on occasion due to the dogs getting too close on their investigation of a visiting skunk. The older dogs have long since learned their lesson and know their safe zone. Unfortunately, the younger dogs have to go through the learning process. Spring is always an "aromic" time of year. We do not worry about our house when we are at work or not at home. The dogs are all well adjusted. When they are indoors, they are calm and you can usually find them lounging on the loveseat or on the floor. My highest count of Norrbottens on the loveseat at one time, to date, is six adults. I couldn't get my camera quick enough to catch the picture, but I will one of these days.
From the minute the puppies are whelped, I am showering the new owners with pictures. The last puppy is usually not even dry to the touch when the first set of pictures is sent out via email. I send photos a minimum of once a week. I think it so important that the new owners are involved as much as possible in the puppy's lives from the very beginning. I was not so fortunate (again, because of the times) and could only try and guess what my puppy was going to look like. I saw it when it arrived at the airport. I was of course not at all disappointed, but would have loved to have had access to pictures when she was a new born and up through those first few weeks of her life. I also try to email information on the puppy's personalities when they start to differentiate from each other. In my opinion, the Norrbottenspets is the perfect dog, both in size and in temperament. I wish we could take credit for making them this way during the few weeks they are with us before leaving to go live with their new families, but of course we can't. I hope that we have a little input though. It is a good thing that my husband is the practical one and says "No more Dogs" until I retire, or I probably would not be able to be doing this. All of the puppies would still be here! What helps me let the puppies go is knowing that I could never give the individual attention that each and everyone of them is getting and will be getting from their new families. I have also found so many new friends through this breed. Most of the puppies live far away from our little town here in Oregon; but with the ease of the internet and email and of course the telephone, I am still in contact with most all of the owners of Viking Heaven Puppies. Life doesn't get much better. - Founder Linda Erickson's words
Sue and Jacqueline Vareberg took over the kennel in January of 2012 because of the passing of Linda Erickson. We worked closely with Linda, so when she passed away we stepped up to carry on her legacy and to further promote this wonderful breed. Linda will live on forever in the dogs that she bred and raised.
Viking Heaven Nordic Spitz • Sue & Jacqueline Vareberg • The Dalles, Oregon 97058 • (541) 298-5682
