Icelandic Sheepdog
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| Icelandic Sheepdog | ||
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| Alternative names | ||
| Icelandic Spitz Iceland Dog Íslenskur fjárhundur Islandsk Farehond Friaar Dog Canis islandicus |
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| Country of origin | ||
| Iceland | ||
| Classification and breed standards | ||
| FCI: | Group 5 Section 3 #289 | Stds |
| AKC: | Herding (FSS) | Stds |
| The AKC Foundation Stock Service (FSS) is an optional recording service for purebred dogs that are not yet eligible for AKC registration. | ||
| CKC: | Group 7 - Herding | Stds |
| UKC: | Northern Breeds | Stds |
The Icelandic Sheepdog is a breed of spitz dog originating from the dogs brought to Iceland by the Vikings. Later, dogs were taken from Iceland to the British Isles and became the basis for Border Collies and Corgis. In the Shetland Islands, it was crossed with the Norwegian Buhund and became the Shetland Sheepdog.
The icelandic sheepdog is often described as a large dog in the body of a small dog.
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[edit] Appearance
The Icelandic Sheepdog's distinct features are pointy ears and a curly tail. It is of medium height, and is commonly golden, reddish, black, or grey combined with white. The coat may be long or short. Because of this variety it may be difficult to tell that two different dogs are the same breed.
[edit] History
The icelandic sheepdog very much resemblance dogs found in graves in Denmark and Sweden from about 8000 B.C. Dog imports to Iceland was limited and from 1901 even forbidden.
In 1650 sir Thomas Brown wrote "To England there are sometimes exported from Iceland ... a type of dog resembling a fox ... Shepherds in England are eager to acquire them!"
Plague and canine distemper destroyed over 75% of the breed in the late 19th century, leading to a ban on the importation of dogs. The purebred Icelandic sheepdog was again bordering extinction in the late 20th century and in 1969 the Icelandic Dog Breeder Association (HRFÍ) was established, which had among other aims to preserve the breed.
[edit] Miscellaneous
The breed is sometimes denoted in Latin as canis islandicus even though it is a breed and not a species.
Like the name implies it's a sheep dog, but it was also used as a guard dog and general working dog. When herding the icelandic sheepdogs was not mainly used to take the sheep from one point to another. However, the dogs were in charge of moving horses and other animals as well. When herding failed, the dogs "drove" the animals by barking. Although this can be trained out of Icies ( as they are affectionately reffered to), they have a natural tendency to bark when they want something. In the Icelandic landscape sheep often got lost and it was the job of the dog to find them and bring them back to the pack. They are used to work on their own and they figure out things for themselves so owners have to beware so that they don't learn things they shouldn't. As a guard dog their main task was to alert the inhabitants that somebody was coming so the icelandic sheepdog tends to bark a lot when it sees people approaching. Icelandic Sheepdogs bark, but don't bite. The only predators in Iceland that were a threat to the sheep was eagles so an icelandic sheepdog will have a tendency to bark at birds and aircrafts. The icelandic sheepdog is very loyal and wants to be around it's family all the time. It follows its owner everywhere. Unlike most working dogs, the icelandic sheepdog calms down when indoors and will happily lie down next to its master's feet.
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