Grants for 2026

The year 2025 is drawing to a close, an eventful year in which we achieved the major milestone of opening the Icelandic Sheepdog Heritage Center here at Lýtingsstaðir in Skagafjörður.

With the opening of the Heritage Center, a venue has been established where the history of the Icelandic Sheepdog is preserved and made accessible to all. It is my hope that the center will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in exploring the dog's history as part of Iceland's cultural heritage, as well as its life and role in the modern era.

However, the physical exhibition is not the only focus; this website is also a key component, accessible to enthusiasts anywhere in the world. My vision for the future is to continue developing the website, gradually building it into a comprehensive and accessible database for Icelands national dog. I won't claim it will contain "everything," as it's impossible to find and collect all information. However, I will do my best and hope it serves as such a resource. In that context, it’s fitting to briefly mention the website's statistics.

Since the website launched on June 3, 2023, it has received over 38,400 visits. The average visit duration is 1 minute and 55 seconds, which is quite good. The most popular blog posts are "Dogs Banned in Reykjavík for 60 years" (in Icelandic and English), "Mark Watson – Saviour of the Icelandic Sheepdog" (in English), and "Origin of the Icelandic Dog" (in Icelandic).
Of the visits, 51% came from Iceland, 19% from the United States, 10% from Germany, and 3% each from Sweden, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Denmark, and Canada.

What lies ahead?

My idea of creating an exhibition on the history of our national dog would never have been possible without the generous grants the project has received over the years. It is therefore a great pleasure to announce that we have been approved for further funding for the upcoming operational year, from both the SSNV Development Fund and the KS Cultural Fund. I am incredibly grateful for this support and goodwill. As the new year begins, I will share more details about the upcoming projects for both the exhibition and the website.

As I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year, I want to express my deepest gratitude for all the help and support that has made this project a reality, and for its wonderful reception.

Christmas greetings from Lýtingsstaðir,
Evelyn Ýr and family, along with the dogs