The Icelandic Sheep Dog
The Icelandic Sheepdog, the national dog of Iceland, has accompanied the Icelandic people since the settlement era and is an inseparable part of the country's history and culture. In 2025, we will open a unique exhibition at Lýtingsstaðir in Skagafjörður, dedicated to this remarkable breed and its story. Come and experience this extraordinary exhibition - history, knowledge, and a truly memorable experience await you!
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Icelandic Sheepdog Heritage Center
This past Saturday, we opened the **Icelandic Sheepdog Heritage Center** (Sögusetur Íslenska fjárhundsins) at Lýtingsstaðir in Skagafjörður. The opening ceremony was well attended and full of wonderful guests. Behind the exhibition lies two and a half years of research and preparation. The goal of the center is to preserve the history of the Icelandic Sheepdog and to make it accessible and visible. We hope the exhibition will spark interest among locals as well as international visitors in the Icelandic Sheepdog as an important part of our cultural heritage. The center is **open daily throughout the summer from 9 AM to 6 PM,** and by appointment outside those hours. Since we live on-site, we’re also happy to welcome visitors during other times of the year. We look forward to seeing you!
Opening ceremony - Icelandic Sheepdog Heritage Center
**The time has finally come!** After two and a half years of preparation, we are finally opening the exhibition here at Lýtingsstaðir in Skagafjörður. It will carry the name **Icelandic Sheepdog Heritage Center (Sögusetur Íslenska fjárhundsins).** The center serves as a platform to preserve, share, and promote the history of the Icelandic Sheepdog. Our goal is to raise awareness among locals and visitors alike about the Icelandic Sheepdog as an important part of our cultural heritage. **The opening ceremony will take place on Saturday, May 24th at 3 PM.** Light refreshments will be served, and everyone is warmly welcome to celebrate with us! The exhibition will be open daily from 9 AM to 6 PM until October, and by appointment during the winter months. We are truly excited and look forward to sharing this with you!
The coat
**The coat of the Icelandic Sheepdog** is a double coat, thick and extremely weather resistant and repels water. The texture of the coat should not be very soft, but rather coarse. It is often an advantage that the coat has the self-cleaning property, especially in muddy weather. The mud falls off easily, and the dog remains clean. **The hair can have two variants**: short-haired and long-haired. In the [FCI breeding standard](https://www.dif.is/UmTegundina/289g05-en.pdf), it states: **"Short-haired:** The outer coat is fairly coarse, with a thick, soft undercoat. The hair is shorter on the face, top of head, ears and front of legs. It is longer on the neck, chest and back of thighs. The tail is bushy and the hair length is in proportion to the coat. **Long-haired:** The outer coat is longer and fairly coarse, with a thick, soft undercoat. The hair is shorter on the face, top of head, ears and front of legs. It is longer behind the ears, on the neck, withers, chest and back of thighs and with fringes on the back of the forelegs. The tail is very bushy and the hair length is in proportion to the coat." Short-haired Icelandic Sheepdogs are less common than long-haired ones. It is sometimes said that short-haired dogs receive worse evaluations at shows than their long-haired counterparts. Many people find long-haired dogs more beautiful, but of course, taste varies. Short-haired dogs are often referred to as the "old type." I once heard an elderly farmer say that farmers preferred short-haired dogs because snow doesn’t stick to them as much. Long-haired dogs, so called "Lubbar" sometimes had to have snowballs clipped out of their coats, as they were too difficult to manage. In my experience, however, a long-haired dog with coarse coat texture, like my own dog Sómi, never has problems in the snow—nothing ever sticks. On the other hand, my dog Hraundís has a softer-textured coat, and sometimes snow clumps on her paws. It is very important to preserve both coat types in the breed. I’ve read an interesting discussion by an American woman, Scotti Harvey, who kindly gave me permission to [refer to her post](https://www.facebook.com/scotti.harvey.9/posts/pfbid0HCYZRYMtFrt89T8nVjSdGDpdygU6asQx2Xa8BxCCy7gkQJXdRCFMj6ygKhkNoB23l?rdid=UrUfPD0YN3xvGRoK). She writes: > “As we attempt to preserve our working coats that protect our dogs in rugged terrain and Nordic climates, taking a peek at the population genetics can be an eye-opener. > > On my first trip to Iceland, I was warned that breeding long to long coats could change the structure of the coat. That it was important to preserve the short coat in order to protect the quality of the longer coats.” Scotti encourages the genetic testing of more dogs to better understand where we stand in our efforts to maintain both coat types. Research conducted so far suggests that the proportion of long-haired dogs is so dominant that we may be close to losing the short-haired ones from the gene pool. Although I myself have long-haired dogs, I always admire the short-haired ones and hope that breeders will actively work to preserve this coat type. I’m including a photo of a beautiful short-haired dog from Denmark, Nicu. The photo was taken by Blebea.photography.
CONTACT
Lýtingsstaðir, 561 Varmahlíð.
Phone: +354 893 3817
[email protected]
CONTACT
Phone: +354 893 3817
[email protected]
