History
The
Icelandic Sheepdog is a spitz that
originated in Scandinavia. Skeletons
of dogs from the Stone Age
(Neolithicum) found in graves in
Denmark, Norway and Sweden bear much
resemblance with the Iceland
Sheepdog of today. The ancestors of
today's Iceland Sheepdogs traveled
along with the early horses and
sheep to Iceland in the open boats
of the Vikings. Once in Iceland the
dogs helped the farmers round up the
horses and sheep - a job they still
do today with great enthusiasm.
For
an unkown breed the mentioning of it
in cynological articles is enorm.
There are many different opinions,
most are silent about the double dew
claws. Also the describtion of the
ears are neglected or compared to
those of Shelties or Collies. Most
writers assume that the Icelandic
Dog share some of its genes with the
Greenland Dog and Border
Collies. Iceland remained rather
isolated and strictly there was no
interference with other breeds.
However in the Middle Ages there has
been already many trading between
England and Iceland and their dogs
probably romanced with the local
dogs.
Isolation makes strong but at the
same time weak for the dogs did not
have immunniy to the common European
diseases when import of other breeds
caused several epidemics during the
centuries. The last epidemic in the
early 1900's was responsible for
nearly wiping out the breed. It is
thought that the disease was
distemper and brought by the Border
Collie than mixed with the Iceland
Sheepdog by the farmers. About 75%
of the breed died and only in
distant and isolated valleys in the
north and west coast stayed pure
examples of the breed and they
survived. The price for one Iceland
Sheepdog in that time became so high
that farmers offered gladly one
horse and two sheep for one Iceland
Sheepdog!
%201956.JPG)
Auli of
Sledbrjót, Mark
Watson, Wensum Kennels
During WW II soldiers stationed on
Iceland brought their pet dogs and
the breed became mixed so the pure
bred sufferd again. Mark Watson, an
Englishman, concerned about the
breed, realized that the breed was
in danger of becoming extinct. He
decided to attempt this wonderful
breed and with help of Páll A.
Pálson he found some pure bred dogs
and took them to California. Some
time later Watson returned to
England taking a few dogs with him.
At the same time Sigridur
Pétursdottir from Olafsvollum felt
in love with the breed. With the
help of Pálson and Watson she
started organised breeding of the
Iceland Sheepdog in 1967 and used
the kennelname "frá Olafsvellir".
From 1968 she numbered the dogs by
year and from then the present form
of registration on Iceland was
employed.
The
Iceland Sheepdog is seen as part of
Icelands cultural heritage and work
is done to seek out "new"
unregistered dogs in remote areas,
because even today the typical
Iceland Sheepdog is very rare on
Iceland due to crossings with other
European breeds like the Belgian
Sheperd dogs . Also predominate
white in the coat color and loose of
pigment. (note: not mistaken
the dirty white called "leirhvit").
The most typical specimen of the
breed are to find in Denmark,
Germany and the Netherlands.
By
chance the Iceland Sheepdog
came to our regions on exhibitions
for Icelandic Horses, specially in
Germany. In 1970 Mr Faber of
Fityamyri Stable imported Iceland
Sheepdogs together with the horses
to Holland. He bred with them but
did not register them into the Dutch
Kennel Club (Raad van Beheer). Only
after Mrs. Ans Beer-Schell imported
Iceland Sheepdogs in 1985 and
1986 from Denmark and Germany they
were entered into the registry of
the Dutch Kennelclub. Today Mrs. Ans
Beer is an authority about the
Iceland Sheepdog and from her kennel
"frá Thytur Stadir" come all
the dogs we and all other breeders
in the Netherlands breed with dogs
out of her kennel.
...they're
talking about us.....(Farandi and
daughter Dimmalimm- March 2007)
sources: A Research on the The
Iceland Dog 874-1956 by Mark Watson;
Íslenski fjárhundurínn by Gíslí
Pálson
